Chapter Eleven

Subject One

Miranda and I were sitting on her bed, roaming through the files while I was searching through another half of them. They'd at last all been decoded, which meant all we had to do was find out what all the fuss had been about for hiding. Miranda and I had split them kinda at random, seventeen for her and eighteen for me, whatever we had really of no consequence. Marco was busying himself with sleeping, snoring up a storm across the room.

Each one we read through, we'd then show the other and decide if it was actually worth anything or not, some of which could easily be thrown out because they were just a room call for some fancy meal or wine. From what I gathered, her father was pretty rich, and liked to show it too. Considering he grew Miranda from a test tube as she'd told me, I guess he'd have to be fairly loaded. It sounded damn expensive to grow your own kid that way instead of finding someone and having a child with them. Whatever his reasons, I could already tell they were weird.

But despite that 'weird', I honestly had only thought about what she'd said on the ship what, twice? One being just now. I didn't care really, origin stories are always weird when they get told, either weird and unbelievable, or boring. No one ever tells the boring ones. Not like I had much room to speak anyways.

"Hey." I nudged her a bit, holding my omni-tool towards her. "Audio file, wanna listen?"

"Sure."

I hit the play button and the holos turned into a sound file, waves vibrating with every noise made. "This is Lawson," the call started, only this side of it seemed to have been recorded, "I'm well aware that we're on a time crunch. I've gotten a few more contracts signed, Horizon will be fully supplied by the end of the month." It ended there, almost too abruptly. Maybe the other person spoke for a while and the machine bugged out? Maybe. I played it again, listening closer this time. Her dad sounded rather powerful actually, like, that quality in his voice. Deeper, gravely, aged but still in his prime.

You could tell a lot of things from a person's voice; race, gender, age, confidence, those sorts of things. Pick it apart and you can find out really interesting things about some people, like if they truly believe what they're saying or if it's some sort of front. He sounded pretty certain of himself, a bit annoyed too like he had been dealing with paperwork or trivial problems most all day.

"What's Horizon?" I asked Miranda after the third play through.

Her face was guarded, like when you know more than you should about something. "It's a garden planet in the Shadow Sea cluster, and I've had some dealings with it before."

"That being? Is it some sort of big Cerberus place?"

"No," she quickly shook her head, "at least not as far as I know. Horizon is a human colony that got hit by the Collectors a little while back. Shepard managed to save about half the colony, and it's been in a rebuilding stage ever since. My guess, is that my father wants to play a part as a benefactor for the colony and gain profits from it after it's operational again. At least, that would be the least insidious path my father could be taking."

I nodded my head, but honestly all my mind was buzzing over was my cousin. Miranda seemed to have known who she'd become quite a bit, while I only had faint memories of when we were kids, especially me. As I swiped through to another log that hinted at when he was leaving, my curiosity was rising to uncontrollable levels. I mean, sure, I would have plenty of chances to ask about it when we were traveling but how would I even begin to bring up the topic without it being some sort of awkward conversation.

No, this was my best chance.

"What's she like?" Miranda blinked from her omni-tool to me, one brow raised for a bit of clarification. It should have been obvious but I guess she was just actually doing what we were supposed to be. "Jane."

"Oh," she said, nodding her head and turning to look to the side for a moment. "She's... nice. Jane and I became good friends I'd like to imagine."

"Nice?" I smiled. My heart was starting to get a little excited, not quite racing but certainly getting close. "She was always sweet when we were kids."

Miranda nodded her head. "Fairly diplomatic too, there were a lot of conflicting personnel on the mission, but she managed to keep anyone from killing the other."

A laugh escaped me, just picturing Jane standing between two furious Cerberus agents who'd want to throttle the other. "She was always good at defusing situations before they got real bad," I replied. "Who were the troublemakers?"

Her hinting smile dropped a bit and Miranda sighed. "Actually I was one." Really now? "One of my squadmates, Jack, and I didn't really get along."

"Why?"

"Jack has a past with Cerberus, much like yourself." Woah wait really? "I was Cerberus then, so, naturally any hate towards them was also towards me. And I'll admit I didn't do much to help the situation."

"How does he have a past like me?" The thought that someone else out there could relate was just absolutely exciting and relieving and terrifying. I mean, no one should know this kind of pain and suffering, but that someone could understand at the same time... I can't lie and say it didn't give me some hope. It shouldn't, but it did.

Miranda grew quiet for a moment, like she was trying to decide what to say which only made me get anxious. I hated waiting for responses, I really really did. I was about to speak again when she did. "Jack is an immensely talented biotic, however, she was abducted as a child by Cerberus to be tested on to enhance these capabilities."

Oh it's a chick? Wouldn't have guessed that. "So, they did the same shit to her that they did to me just with biotics and element zero?" I pressed.

The woman besides me nodded her head with a grim look. "Essentially, yes."

"What a bunch of bastards." I leaned my head back with a deep sigh. "How many others have they done this to? I thought I was the only one but I guess that was just a bunch of bull." And she was connected with these people? What more beyond defying death has she done? "Did you ever supervise this twisted shit?"

"No!" Miranda shook her head besides me, her tone getting defensive. "I was unaware of any of these projects until meeting Shepard and Jack, and then you."

I glanced back at her, glaring at her hardened face. "So you don't know if there are other freaks running around with human superpowers?"

"The only two people I know of with enhanced abilities are you, and Jack." She was firm, refusing to allow a hint of skepticism or judgement on my part. I had to just take it and believe her when she was ex-Cerberus and Cerberus was nothing but manipulative lying assholes.

Snorting, I shook my head and scooted a bit away from her. "Right, well, let's hope that's true."

She was silent besides me, the only sound coming from her omni-tool as she returned to reading the data. Dammit, I needed to focus, stop asking questions that would get me hurt or upset. But now, as I tried so very hard to read through the last bits of data I had, all I could think about was this Jack person. What was she like? Somebody opposite to Miranda I guess if they had to be tempered by Jane. Was she angry about what Cerberus did to her? To us? No, I shouldn't go there, I shouldn't compare myself to her.

We were similar, but not the same.

At least I hope.

What if she has nightmares? Does she? It seemed likely, what with abduction and testing and isolation, at least one of those had a good shot at giving someone terrifying dreams. When the memories slipped into your mind like a fog at night, invisible until it's upon you and you can't find your way out. Goddess I hated them. If she had them, how did she cope? I was still learning how to, hell, I needed help. Did she get any?

I wanted to meet this Jack, really badly, perhaps more so than Jane.

"Look at this," Miranda suddenly said, slicing through my thoughts and practically shoving her omni-tool in my face. I blinked, eyes adjusting to glaring orange for a moment before I made out the text. "He checked out, just yesterday."

What? We missed him by that little? "Any idea where he may have gone?"

"Horizon would be my best guess, but that's just a guess. My father wasn't generally one for getting his hands dirty."

"Okay so then where would we be able to get more intel on him? A trip to the Shadow Sea wouldn't be too long but we'd probably still waste a lot of time if he wasn't there. And then finding him there wouldn't be quick either."

Miranda's lips were pulled into a faint line. "We should go to the Citadel."

"Why?"

"I found this," Miranda said as she swiped the screen and there was a half deleted log from a terminal, probably the one that had been in his room. "Whoever is supplying Horizon has a warehouse there, we might be able to find out more about what he's shipping if we infiltrate it."

Nodding me head, I closed down my omni-tool. "Sounds good. Let's go, we should move on this fast." Miranda nodded her head and we both slid off the bed, woke up a grumbling turian and gave a quick explanation before we started out. My mind was still filled with Jack.

"One moment please," the customs lady said as she processed our departure. It was annoyingly difficult to get her to hurry up, every small act that I guess she didn't like making her move even slower. There were several cameras, screenings, forms, all that crap that we had to get through only to have this woman pull us aside a moment before we were out to the docks.

"We have to get back ASAP," Marco argued, "what's taking so long?"

"Our scans have detected an anomaly with your baggage," she was saying as she typed away at a terminal behind a glass panel. Shit-shit-shit they found our weapons. "It'll only take a minute to check." The turian woman glanced up at us, a look in her eyes as if daring us to argue with her.

Miranda scowled with annoyance besides me while I was trying my best not to look guilty. We had to put our cases through a screening process that was more invasive than when we had landed, and they were far from where we were, probably getting ripped open right now while these fatcats make sure to keep their secrets with them here planetside. We were totally screwed.

"We haven't even bought a damn thing here," Marco growled, fingers curling around a small counter that protruded from beneath the glass panel. "And we were all fine and cleared when we landed."

"Sir, I understand the frustration, but there is no need to get so hostile." There was this look on her face that I was starting to hate. Suddenly she held a hand up to the side of her face where her comm was, and her pleasant smile dropped just a bit before it spread across just a cheery as ever. "All done, if you'll please continue on to the luggage claim area, we can sort out the last bits of this mess." She waved a hand to our right, where a pair of armored security guards were conveniently waiting.

We were so fucking made.

I stiffened, and started towards the area she wanted us to go, Miranda and Marco closely walking besides me. It took a lot not to freak out, at least on the outside because I was in total panic mode on the inside, as we strode past them. They were gonna grab us, they totally were gonna jump out and force us into some room where we were gonna have to find some escape from. They'd found the-

Nothing happened.

We walked right past them and were clean and clear, totally able to grab our stuff where it waited on the carousel and carry our way to the ship. I could hardly keep myself from sighing in relief. The terror faded and I shook it away, smiling to Miranda and Marco who both looked equally more relaxed. "Well that just about happened," I shrugged.

"It would seem so," agreed Marco with a chuckle as he grabbed his case.

"Let's just hope we can get out of here before something else nearly happens," Miranda said as she took the guns case. We both nodded in agreement, and started towards the docks.

They were tight and efficient, just enough space to land your ship and that was just about it. Marco had to be careful as he pulled us in to dock not to scrape the paint off some other ship. It was a good thing he was flying. We were closer to the processing half of the spaceport, I guess a privilege of a small ship or something. The cold was growing as we got closer to where it was waiting us, an empty place on our right.

I idly glanced around, and spotted a ship coming in to dock, moving towards that empty spot. The longer I looked at it as it slowly flew through the docking bay, the more it looked... familiar. Oh shit! "The Ilsa!" I hissed, looking back to Marco and Miranda. "Justine's caught up to us!" Without another word we were running to our own ship, Marco fiddling with his omni-tool to get the airlock to open up before we were there.

How did she possibly find us so fast? Was Miranda making us obvious or did I screw up back on Anhur? Dammit dammit dammit! We raced so fast into the airlock we might as well have only blinked, but I could hear a ship landing besides us and that could only mean Justine. What luck for her to land right there! "Marco get us out of here..." I said urgently, though it wasn't like he needed to be reminded.

I was just freaking out, like always, when she showed up. It was like she never slept or something, because she was chasing us more relentlessly than should have been possible. Did Cerberus just shoot her up with drugs or some shit? The turian raced up to the cockpit while Miranda and I rushed to windows, staring out and trying to see if Justine was running at us with biotics or something. It's not like she could stop us now but that woman was sure as hell gonna try.

As the engines started up, far too slow if you ask me, I could see that silver eyed woman walking towards the customs and processing area and... she wasn't alone. There was a blonde man that looked like a fucking mountain walking besides her, close enough that it was clear they knew each other. "Who is that?"

"I can't tell," Miranda said besides me as the ship detached from the dock's locking arms. "But it looks like Justine doesn't work alone anymore..."

"Fuck..." I uttered, pressing my forehead to the window as the ship rattled for a moment. "Just fuck."

No one relaxed until we were in the open, and zooming out of the planet's atmosphere. I sighed, shaking my head and trying not to get swamped with dread and fear but that was harder than it sounded. Miranda was seemingly deep in thought, sitting down in the dining area and pooling over some data already. I glanced at Marco who seemed spooked still, and it's not like I can blame him. Not exactly certain what to do now, I returned to the cupboard I stashed my only link to Aria in and opened it up. The datapad was blinking blue.

Aria.

I nabbed it so fast I accidentally smacked the side of the storage compartment and drew the attention of the others. "Sorry!" I quickly said, grabbing it and rushing to the bedroom before they could ask anything. I could practically feel their eyes trailing after me with confusion.

I sat down on the edge of the bottom bunk, completely ignoring it wasn't mine, and unlocked the machine. It hummed with power in my hands, the display blinking over and over again. She'd left me a call? Aria never called, so why now? I pressed the play button, and just... hearing her voice made everything fade away.

"Athena," she started, a loud noise in the background but I could still make out her voice. Goddess I missed her voice. "I'm on the Citadel, holing up in the shittiest club I've ever seen. I want to talk to you, in person. This isn't a request, it's a demand, so I expect to see you within a week of receiving this. Whatever far flung fringe of the galaxy you may be sailing through right now, I don't care, get your ass here pronto."

It ended, a bit of text attached to the call that was some housing location on the Citadel. All I could think about however, was that asari. She wanted to see me, she was demanding to see me. Before I could stop myself I clutched the datapad against my chest and smiled so wide my face started to hurt. I guess I'd been worrying this whole time that Aria might not care as much as I did, or that with the distance she'd find someone else to occupy her mind.

But I guess she hadn't, and that thought was making my body tingle with excitement and hope. Her voice, just that alone made me so happy I probably looked like a fool, just grinning and suddenly off in my own world. I just couldn't help it.

"What's going on?" I blinked up to Marco who was standing in the doorway.

"Aria called me!" I smiled wider. He tilted his head. "She's on the Citadel Marco! I can see her!"

A frown was pulling across his face faster than I could blink. "I don't... know if that's the best decision."

"What?" Bliss ended and I was scowling at him. "This is Aria we're talking about, not some two-bit merc."

He quickly responded, trying to put out the growing flames of my anger but it wouldn't be that easy of a feat."I know! And I'm happy she wants to talk with you, but it's dangerous Athena. And we need you to find the warehouse."

"I can't just blow Aria off," I gritted, rising to my feet and walking towards him. "you know that."

"I do but-"

"I think she should go." I blinked, looking around Marco to where Miranda was standing behind him. "Aria is a powerful ally, and a powerful enemy. I can handle doing some looking on my own, just take care of her and then be ready to break into the place afterwards."

The scowl on my face grew into a smile and I looked from her back to Marco who seemed unconvinced. What was his problem? "Marco, I'm going to see her, you can't stop that. I'll be ready for the mission later, but... I have to see her."

He dipped his head, and gave a submissive nod. "I know." With that he turned back to the cockpit.

Why was this a problem? Aria would never do anything that could hurt me, I was dead certain of it. Miranda was lingering, looking at me with crossed arms. "What does she want with you?"

"That's... private," I replied, "Besides, don't you know about my past with her?"

"I know that you worked for her." She casually shrugged.

My ears burned a bit. "Oh, well, she and I got close."

She blinked, and then replied, "I see..." With that, making me wonder just what the hell that meant, she walked back to the table and started to review some data. I stood in the bedroom doorway for a few moments before walking back into the bedroom itself. I can't believe I'm about to see her again. Giddiness ran up my body without warning and I smiled to myself.

I was going to see Aria!