DISCLAIMER: We all know I don't owe nothing. Bioware does. Even parts of Rue since she is based on the in-game's Shepard. ;P Having that said, I'm glad Bioware is generous enough to let me borrow their chars and universe for a little while. :)

A.N: Ok, so I KNOW Miranda's father's name is Henry Lawson, but…how boring is that? He's supposed to be this man people look up to and are charmed by and admires because of his great empire, yet he works for the IM's lab? Err…so, I'm going to stick with my version of a very charismatic and authoritarian Larkin Hannoway. If you mind…well, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change it. I do hope it won't put you guys off and don't worry, I have a way of interpreting what happens in ME3, should I need to… Hmm…what else? Well, if someone feels like they have the time, I'm still looking for a beta reader. PM me if you feel up for it. :) This also means –seeing as my first language isn't English- there will be typos and some grammatical errors, please forgive me for that and don't be shy to point them out to me so I can change it. :)

If you do feel like keeping daily track of me I can be found on twitter as: LMjuniper, drop me a note! :)

Anyway, I hope you all like the new chapter and I really hope to be doing a lot more writing from now on. :) And as always thank you for your continued support and patience with me! And thanks for all the wonderful reviews and the subscriptions, they are the greatest thing. :)

~Elmjuniper

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Now that I know what it's like, to have someone who loves you, to love someone, I wonder how I ever went without. I used to love being on my own, reading by my desk in the dim light, the quietness my friend and confidant. I never knew silence could be so deafening.

THE ONLY WAY IS FORWARD

FINGERS LACED WITH FINGERS, SKIN burning against skin. The commander's aroused breathing surrounding her, her own moans bouncing back from Rue's chest like a soft echo. Rue's lips caressed her jaw line, her free hand taking her places she never could have imagined. The Commander was closer, closer than anyone had ever been before, filling her senses with her presence. She could feel her lover's well-toned arms holding her weight up. The commander was always so gentle with her, yet firm and dominant. She felt the intense, growling sensation grow into a storm inside her as she pulled Rue closer, sinking her teeth into her shoulder muffling her soft cry. Rue snarled at the sharp sensation her teeth caused her as Liara's fingers pushed her over the last edge, urging her to let go and embrace the swirling, overwhelming passion ensuing them both.

The first hint of morning tickled her face and her eyes fluttered open as the dream slipped away from her mind, like a secret lover silently leaves the bedside of his mistress. She stared at the empty side of her bed, her fingers stroking it absentmindedly. If she didn't know better she could have sworn Rue was there, but the bed was just as empty and cold as it had been when she had gone to...she sat up with a jolt, suddenly wide awake. This was not the side she usually slept on. She sat up on her knees staring wildly about the bed and the room. How had she gotten here? She could clearly remember getting up and going to work. She snorted. How could she forget work after the surveillance feed she had seen from Cerberus' Normandy? But then what? She rubbed her forehead feeling a dull throbbing at the back of her head.

"That man." She mumbled to herself. That man who had stepped out from the shadows out of nowhere when she was hurrying down the crowded streets of Nos Astra that she had crashed into. That was the last thing she remembered. Why? Still drowsy she tried to think of what she had done yesterday, but found she couldn't remember much. What had she been doing rushing down the streets anyway? Where had she been going?

Slipping out her bed she felt the cold unforgiving floor underneath her bare feet. That man was the key and the only way she could find out what happened was back at her office. Having feeds streamed to her apartment was like giving away credits account and affirmation codes at the same time, but regardless she would find out who this man was and when she did he would not be happy he crossed her path.

~•~

"Miranda." He said smiling widely. "It's good to see you after all these years." He could see the emotions raging inside his daughter, a mixture of horror and anger on her face. He sneered. She knew she'd been tricked. The commander stood next to her looking lethal, a stone cold and threatening expression on her face. He tried not to wince admitting that if he didn't have his small army standing like an ominous dark arch behind him he would have felt rather intimidated.

"You touch her – you die." The commander snarled. He had no doubt she wouldn't hesitate to make good on that threat. Still he kept smiling. Never let your enemy know your fear.

"Rue Shepard, I've been looking forward to see you." He said coolly.

"I can't say the feeling is mutual." The commander spoke sternly, her eyes searching for a way out. He smiled inwardly. One had to be impressed by how the commander did not yet feel defeated despite him outnumbering them greatly.

He turned his gaze towards his daughter, his experiment. "You're looking as beautiful as ever. Then again, you do have the genes for it."

"What do you want?" She spoke in a hostile voice.

"To see you, of course. I have been looking for you for quite a while after all."

"We both know that isn't true." Miranda nodded towards the armed forces surrounding them.

He chuckled. "Just a precaution, my dear. After all last time my best men ended up like gruesome smear on the walls." He turned towards Rue. "She is very good with a gun." He turned back towards Miranda, eyes gleaming. "Wouldn't you say so daughter?"

She didn't reply. She loathed him. He could see it on her face.

"So how do you like my new facility?" He said holding his arms out demonstratively before smiling a little awkwardly. "You weren't really supposed to see this."

"So it was you who sent that clue." The commander stated.

"Very clever. Although I truly wished you hadn't seen this place..." His voice turned cold as he gave a small nod to his armed forces. "I had hoped that you had lived to keep peace in the galaxy Commander." He looked over at the pods hanging from the ceiling. They were so beautiful and they were all his. And the project had returned to the base, but she had brought the commander with her. Miranda wouldn't remember the procedure. He had programmed her that way all those years ago, for this day. The commander however would remember everything and if Miranda found out about her condition in the early stages she could terminate it, but after three months, there would be no returning for the project. It would not be possible to terminate. At least Dr. Banner had some good ideas of his own. Miranda's life was as dependent on the child's survival as the child was dependent on her for its.

"You see...I can't have you walking out of here alive." He said staring the commander dead in the eyes.

"Well, I wasn't planning on dying again anytime soon." The commander snapped before grabbing his daughter's shoulder twisting her body, shielding them both as a painfully bright light suddenly exploded inside the laboratory. He screamed covering his eyes, hearing assault rifles being fired, loud voices yelling. His vision blurred fiercely and he swayed forward. It only took him and his troops a few seconds to regain their senses still as they all stood firm on their feet again the spot where the commander and his daughter had stood at was empty. Feeling his rage explode he stared furiously around him.

"Find them!" He roared vehemently. This was his only chance. If Miranda escaped now she was sure to run into hiding even if it meant leaving Cerberus. The plan had already gone astray, this had to be sorted out or he would fail. He couldn't use anyone but Miranda even if using a random womb or even just keeping it in one of the pods would have been easier. Somehow Dr Banner had calculated that she was the genetic key. The reason none of his other subjects would survive after the initial stage was tied to Miranda, to her body, to her genetic build. Dr Banner had been astonished to realize that with a biologically engineered woman, the eggs could not survive in someone else's womb. The DNA was somehow locked to each other and the child would not survive in one of her replacements' wombs. It was like an amazing circle of life. The child and the mother would be dependent on each other for survival. One could not live without the other one the last stage had been entered. He couldn't lose her now, not when they were this close, he wouldn't allow it. Failure was not an option. Larkin rushed down the corridor behind his troops. He did not do failure, only weak people did. He sneered. Miranda was far more unpredictable than he had thought, but he had something she didn't. Pulling out the small device in his hand he shouted orders at his heavily armed troops.

"Do NOT hurt the subject, but kill the Commander if you must."

~•~

Growing up hadn't been as hard as she sometimes recalled it, in fact it had been quite easy. It was only the prying eyes of the curious and sometimes narrow-minded Asari around her that had made her feel different. It didn't quite help that her mother had chosen to mate with another Asari. It was strange, at the same time as she was an outcast from the society she grew up in they all expected her to become a matriarch and follow her mother's impressive career. She'd always hated the attention, both the good and the bad. Maybe that was what had influenced her the most to pick the career she had, it allowed her to run away, to hide from all those Asari and their expectations of her. It was easy, it had always been easy to be alone, but as shy as she was and as terrified of the commander as she was she couldn't help but feeling drawn to this enigmatic person and as curious as it was the commander had wanted to know more about her.

"Me? I'm afraid I'm not very interesting Commander." Liara could still remember their first conversation and she smiled shaking her head slightly where she sat behind her desk searching through her channels, hacking into the city's virtual dumpster. That's what they called the server which held all the surveillance coverage of the city until it became scrapped and turned into nothing but thin air. Most people thought a deleted file had been removed once it was deleted, but this is where everything hovered, like the limbo of all virtual life. She squinted at the screen. This wasn't really stealing anything. It was merely recycling whatever others had thrown away.

"I hear humans appreciate such things." She muttered to herself. "Let's see how much you will like it once I've found out everything there is to find about you." She added triumphantly as she pulled out a folder with surveillance footage from Nos Astra's Market floor, the last place she remembered from four days ago.

Her face turned grim. Nyxeris had left nearly twenty messages, 'where had she gone?', 'why wasn't she returning her calls?', 'why hadn't she been to the office?', and 'was everything ok?' Four days she'd been gone for and this man had something to do with it. She watched the screen, her meticulous eyes sweeping across it until she found the mystery man. His face was hidden by shadows and she swore under her breath as she tried to pull up the picture in the facial database register.

"Who are you?" She squinted at the screen. This man must have known about the security cameras. No matter the angle his face was always covered by either shadows or the sun's bright light blinded the camera. She watched herself walk into the man then someone had altered the clip. One minute she stumbled into the man, the next the spot they'd been standing on was empty without any trace of either of them. She looked up from her screen. Who could have manipulated the footage without leaving any trace?

"The Shadowbroker…"

~•~

Chairs and desks flew across the room, shattering into a million pieces in the air around them as they sprinted through the underground facility. Rue could feel the informant press towards the exit next to her. Miranda kept throwing whatever loose objects she could find at their followers who easily crushed them with their bullets and biotics. Gritting her teeth Rue swiped her guns at the side of her thighs before twisting her body, releasing the bullets. They tore from the Phalanx's mouth with a loud hiss digging themselves into their targets. Scrambling towards safety she leapt across a desk that had been shoved in front of them by one of Larkin's biotics to block their way. She landed clumsily, but kept running, grabbing Miranda's arm as the raven haired woman was hit by a file cabinet and nearly stumbled. The sound of the battle was deafening as they navigated the maze of corridors, her shoulder blazing with pain as she crashed through one of the lab doors. The biotic had tossed her like she weighed nothing. She had met many biotics throughout her time with the Alliance, but this one was stronger than the regular biotic. How was that possible? What did that crazy man feed them?

Heavy armoured boots crashed across the slick floors behind them, their commander shouting out orders at his soldiers. What the hell did he want? It wasn't just about seeing Miranda. Rue had met many men like Larkin Hannoway and she knew what they were all about. It was all about the power and there was always an ulterior motive, she just didn't know what it was yet and by the surprised and shocked look upon the informant's face she suspected Miranda was just as unknowing as to what it could be.

She could hear Miranda's breathing next to her, strained and laboured. Throwing her a quick glance Rue growled. She had two more grenades. A bullet grazed against her armour and she shouted angrily, grabbing one of the grenades, tossing it behind her as they sped through the corridor.

"This way!" Miranda shouted next to her as she suddenly dropped to the side sprinting down a short corridor pushing a thick iron door open.

Rue followed firing her guns at their pursuer, hilts spraying all around her, their soft clanking against the cold floor a rhythmic companion to the popping sound of her pistols. She saw the informant use both her hands to blast the closest enemies with a biotic wall, her whole hands and arms seemingly ablaze with blue biotic flames. She pulled up next to the informant releasing her last grenade before shutting the heavy door close, barring it from the inside. Stairs. They were underground, stairs meant a way to the surface.

"Joker! Can you read me?" She shouted as they scrambled up the narrow stair, Larkin and his soldiers working frantically at the blocked door. A little biotic and some fire power would solve their problem. It might have bought them a few seconds and seconds could be the difference between life and death.

"Commander? We've got your location, taking ground in T minus ten minutes!" The helmsman's voice crackled through the static.

"Make it quick, Joker." Rue confirmed through gritted teeth.

"Almost there!" Miranda quickened her pace reaching for the door's handle when Rue suddenly felt her head spin and her vision blur, her body feeling as if it was suddenly heavy as cement.

"Wha...?" She nearly hit the ground before the informant caught her.

"Rue?" Miranda's words rung oddly in her ears, like a distant muffled echo. She stared around in bewilderment, her eyes working frantically to remain focused. "Stand up!" She heard the informant shout.

Feeling a wave of nausea take over she tried to stand up, her arms and legs not obeying her. I can't move! She tried to scream through the thick fog building up in her head, but her lips didn't move. She felt Miranda pull her arm around her neck dragging her towards the opened door. The soldiers' shouts and bullets being fired made odd uneven noises, slowing then suddenly increasing and intensifying. Feeling herself dragged across the roof of the building, something warm trickled down from her nose and ears.

"Shepard! Come on!" She heard Miranda struggle with her moving closer to the edge of the rooftop.

"There is nowhere to run, Miranda." Larkin's cold voice rang through the air. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it from the heavy fog as Miranda spun them around, her one hand glowing with her biotics.

"Don't get any closer." She warned him.

"She's going to bleed to death unless you do as I say." Larkin held a small device in the air almost triumphantly. Rue could feel Miranda waver when she saw her and suddenly the biotic that had been building up in her hand seemed to flicker with uncertainty reminding Rue of an engine burning out. What are you doing?

~•~

Banner Grenway stood inside the room staring at the petri dish with a knot building slowly in his stomach. Was this right? What they did. Did he really have this under control? He had calculated it so thoroughly in his head, made estimates and planned, but then he had seen her again –Miranda- and suddenly he didn't feel so certain anymore. There had been something about her. Maybe it was how she'd seemed to stop breathing for a slight second at the sight of her father or maybe it was the determination to escape him once again that bothered him. His hands shook as they moved towards the small dish. There was no turning back now. What Miranda wanted, could he really sacrifice the possibilities this would open for that? For the greater good.

"This must be done." He whispered quietly to the petri dish almost as if he expected an answer, a blessing of some sort, then he released it and it slid over into the palm of his glove clad hand. There was no turning back now.

~•~

"You didn't think you could run from me, Miranda? Never forget...I created you." Her father wore a triumphant look on his face, "time to say goodbye to the commander."

"NO!" Miranda heard herself scream, her biotics exploding like a storm of fire, engulfing her completely.

"Marvelous." Her father's eyes gleamed as he stared at her in wonder. Then a blaring bang went off and Rue slumped down, blood spilling onto the grainy rooftop. "Toss her." Larkin motioned with his head as one of his guards walked up to the commander's lifeless body.

Miranda threw herself at him, the sudden surge of biotic power reverberating through her body, unlike any sensation she had ever had before. The biotic raged within her, but before she could grip it and channel it, it swept through her lashing out like flames all around her and before she could reach the guard she felt two pairs of strong arms restrain her. Fighting desperately to free herself she tried to reach Rue where she lay as she felt herself dragged backwards towards a waiting helicopter. Miranda tried pushing off the ground with her feet, tried jerking her arms free, her biotics burning her skin as she screamed in anger. The guard dragged the commander across the roof top until he reached the edge where he put his foot on Rue's arm. Then, with one swift motion, he rolled her over and she toppled off the edge and Miranda felt the world stop and shatter as her legs folded beneath her. She stared numbly at the thin line of the edge were Rue had just lain, blinking away the tears as the sound of her ragged breath pounded in her head. The two thugs locking her arms behind her pulled her back up on her feet then a black linen bag was pulled over her head and her world turned black.

TO BE CONTINUED...