That was the beginning of a fascinating relationship between Jack and Miranda. Annie had to admit she found it hilarious, the two women constantly at each other's throats. Sometimes she thought they liked the commotion they stirred up, both "on the verge" of using their biotic abilities and blowing up the Normandy. Despite how big of a game they both talked Annie knew it would never happen. While killing in cold blood wasn't a problem for Jack or Miranda, Annie could sense they saw something about this mission worth hanging around for. Which she supposed was nice.
In truth, though, Annie didn't really speak with Jack outside of missions; she simply couldn't contain her annoyance towards Jack when she did. Jack was so focused on what Cerberus did to her that it clearly made her the woman that she was, which was a woman incorrectly using her potential. The "bad girl" image was just a farce to show how truly terrified she was. Though if ever-mentioned Annie was sure Jack would attempt to show her otherwise.
Annie supposed that's why she found Jack walking in on her during some of her training. Apparently Jack hadn't appreciated Annie's put-down on the prison during their first meeting. Annie was doing her set number of pull-ups as Jack came around from behind her, hopping up onto a nearby crate while Annie dropped to the floor. "So is this just some sort of fancy ass training room specifically for the captain of the Normandy?" Annie rolled her eyes, rubbing at her sore shoulders as Jack stepped from her seat.
"It's available to anyone, Jack. Just helps me clear my head," Annie muttered while Jack scoffed, stepping ahead of Annie into the center of the room.
"Well come on then, let's use the space," Jack held up her fists and Annie sighed. This wasn't going to go well. "Or did the Cerberus cheerleader tell you not to?" She taunted and Annie found herself taking Jack's challenge, for the simple reason of officially putting her in her place.
"Alright, first to get the other on their back wins," Annie stated, holding up her fists as Jack smirked. Instantly she charged the commander, an attack Annie expected considering her aggressive nature. Annie sidestepped, grabbing Jack's shoulder to use as a pivot point but she was quick to react. Jack twisted away, pulling a punch into Annie's right cheek with enough force to break the skin. It stung and Jack chuckled as Annie wiped at some of the blood.
"Looks like the Cerberus captain isn't so perfect after all." Annie growled, Jack could call Miranda every Cerberus name in the book, but Annie refused to be placed in that category. She swung back, sending punch after punch as Jack blocked and backed away to try and return with some sort of attack.
"My name is Commander Annie Shepard of the N7 unit, captain of the Normandy, and Spectre to the galaxy. The Alliance holds my loyalty, as does the safety of the galaxy. The only fucking reason Cerberus is even related to me is because they spent trillions of credits bringing me back from the dead. And then they spent several more trillions reconstructing my ship in hopes that I would save the galaxy once again." Jack's back hit a metal pillar as she gave a grunt from the force as Annie stopped, panting, some sweat dripping into her cut and making it sting. She gave a heavy swing at Jack's face, breaking her lip open as she spit blood onto the floor.
"Ya, well it all smells like bullshit to me," she snapped, kicking Annie in the center of her chest to push her back as Jack readied herself again.
"Bullshit? I lost two fucking years of my life; I'm still trying to catch up, to find out what I lost. You have no idea what that's like because rather than facing your fears you just shoot them in the back and run away."
"Well it's kept me alive," Jack sneered, rolling away from a kick as she slammed her boot into Annie's back, causing her to stumble forward. "You have no idea what Cerberus did to me."
"Oh?" Annie turned around as Jack readied herself for an attack, seemingly learning that aggressive force wasn't getting her anywhere. "Did they kill your parents in front of your eyes? Did they tear you away from your siblings and treat you like an animal going to the slaughter? Did they beat you every time you fought back and then beat you some more every time you cried? Did they burn their mark into your skin so that you always knew you belonged to them? Did they make you watch every time they murdered someone like you?" Jack blinked, watching while Annie grew angrier and angrier, hot tears dripping down her cheeks.
"I…" she started as Annie hand sprung her body forward, her legs looping over Jack's shoulders and slamming her into the ground to knock the wind out of her. Annie shifted, pinning Jack's arms down with her knees as Annie straddled the biotic's shoulders.
"Cerberus works for me. And rather than letting others direct my life, I took it and made it my own. Don't you ever tell me that I should pity you and don't you ever tell me that I let someone hold my hand just because of where I am today. Read a fucking news report once in awhile, maybe you'll learn something," Annie hissed before stepping off of Jack and heading to the elevator.
Annie didn't know what Jack did after that but she made an obvious job at avoiding the commander, though she assumed Jack would ask for her help at some point. Being on a Cerberus ship Jack had been able to get her hands on classified files that Annie was sure had to do with that weird facility she'd been imprisoned in as a child. If Jack planned to do anything about it while on Annie's ship, she'd have to run it by Annie first.
But they had to move onto the next person on their list, a krogan named Okeer. Annie had had mixed feelings about krogans. The majority that she met were far too focused on the genocide – that occurred almost a thousand years ago – to seem much like the terrifying force they were supposed to be. Wrex, though, he'd been different, he'd been proactive. But she guessed the main reason Annie was even retrieving Okeer was more for his fighting abilities than his ideals.
Of course, though, when they arrived things weren't completely going as planned and they were forced to fight through an army of Blue Suns and "failed krogan." These creatures had apparently been test tube creations of Okeer's. They were his attempt to cure the genophage and seemed to be unable to reach his high standards. Then again, it was probably better for the world to have a handful of "pure krogans" versus an army of dangerous and mindless ones.
By the time they finally reached Okeer, though, the alien had initiated some sort of emergency protocol, flooding the room with poisonous gas before they could get to him. He left nothing more than a video describing the giant tube with a single krogan inside. Okeer referred to the grunt as a perfect krogan, but just seeing it in a test tube made Annie nervous. No one knew what he would be like mentally when he got out, not even Okeer.
"There's too many unknowns to just wake him up," Miranda explained as Annie looked at the massive thing, which had now been transferred to the cargo bay of the Normandy.
"Doesn't that interest you?" Annie blinked as she realized she sounded surprisingly like Liara just then. Miranda rolled her eyes.
"Krogan fight best in close quarters…it might not be the smartest to let him go in such an enclosed space," Miranda explained as Annie pulled her fingers from her chin.
"Then I suggest you step back," she smirked, pressing the necessary commands into the console as the water quickly drained from the tube and the glass slid open. Tensing, the women watched as the krogan fell to his knees, coughing the water from his lungs and then slowly started to take in his bearings, Miranda had moved to a position much closer to the door.
Suddenly he charged, grabbing Annie like a twig and slamming her against the wall, his forearm tight against her windpipe. "I require a name," he growled as Annie gripped his arm, ensuring it didn't push down too far. Then again, from what she knew about krogan if he wanted to kill her he simply would have.
"Commander Shepard, captain of this ship and I suggest you back down before you get hurt," Annie snapped. Krogan didn't tend to respond well to soft words or pleading. If you wanted something from them then you were to treat them as the brutes they were.
"Not your name, mine. Okeer's words are hollow, his imprint was lost on this…this perfect krogan, this 'grunt.'" He paused as Annie watched the cogs in his head turn, "Grunt. Yes. I am Grunt."
"Wouldn't you want something more fitting to a perfect krogan? Like Legacy or Okeer?"
"No," he snorted, "Grunt is short and meaningless. Now," she felt the pressure from his arm increase, seeing Miranda ready to call for help in the corner. Annie gave her a quick wave of her hand to show she could handle this. At least she hoped. "You are a leader but I do not follow one whose enemies are not worthy."
"I assure you," Annie grunted, "Our enemies are worthy." Grunt seemed pleased, backing off to let her drop to the floor as she gave a few coughs, the air slowly returned to her lungs. "We could use the help of someone with your skills. But don't think I won't hesitate if you step out of line." At that Grunt gave a loud laugh, reminding her very much of Wrex.
"Offer one hand and arm the other. Very well, Shepard, I will follow you. And when I find a clan…a place where I belong, I will feel honored to pit them against you." Annie smirked, offering her hand and gripping his forearm as he did the same to her before nodding and leaving the cargo bay. Miranda walked silently next to Annie till the two entered the elevator, as if worried Grunt might hear.
"That…was impressive. How did you know to do that?"
"I found myself in the same sort of situation with Wrex on Virmire," Annie explained, stepping from the elevator onto the CIC. "You have to appeal to their violent and honorable side, to point out that doing one thing would make them look like a turian or a salarian or whatever. They're brutes, so treat them as such."