Chapter Twenty-Five
Taming of the Black Widow
{Welcome to Sanctuary. You have reached safety. There is no war here. We offer food, medical supplies and shelter to all. Please proceed to the registration desk where your needs will be assessed and we will help you. You are safe-}
The speaker broadcasting the message was abruptly silenced. Only a few wires and a tangle of blackened metal remained when Miranda Lawson reholstered her Carnifex.
"Go fuck yourself, Father." Miranda turned her back on the camera. "You won't be luring any more colonists to play in your sick game."
Before her impulsive act could draw any Reaper attention, Miranda broke into a nimble jog, deftly avoiding dead Cerberus troopers as she moved. So far throughout the war she had done nothing except hide in the shadows, running for her life from the Illusive Man's assassins. Even if she did nothing else, or died in the attempt, she would bring her father's operation down.
It wasn't as though Miranda had a death wish. With her perfect genes she could naturally live two hundred and fifty years. However, living that long with the knowledge that she had done nothing to stop her father, would be worthless. As she ran, she did not allow herself to dwell on was the brusque, no-nonsense visage of Ashley Williams. She knew that if she allowed herself to give over to those particular thoughts, her desire to live would outweigh her mission.
You should have kissed her while you had the chance, she told herself. Regardless of whether or not she punched you afterwards, it would have been worth it.
Miranda pushed that thought right to the back of her mind. She was losing her edge. While she could handle herself against most of the Reapers that had invaded Sanctuary, she had absolutely no desire to go up against a Brute or one of the asari monsters on her own.
Keeping to maintenance shafts as she moved through the complex, she managed to avoid all but a few pockets of Cannibals and Marauders. At one point she found a husk had crawled into the shaft behind her, but she threw it backwards with her biotics and fired two quick shots into its chest. They were all secondary casualties, the real focus of her mission remained Henry Lawson and putting a stop to what he had created on Sanctuary.
Her resolve was only strengthened when she passed the tanks holding dead and dying colonists whose bodies were grotesquely transformed. All innocent people slaughtered at the altar of her father's deranged ideals.
Overhead, a skylight gave her a perfect view of the control tower high above. Miranda narrowed her gaze. It was time for a Lawson family reunion.
SSV Normandy SR-2
Shepard did not wait until she had finished one bite of protein bar before shovelling the next one into her mouth. As her jaw worked furiously around the brick-like substance, she didn't stop to reflect on the fact that it was barely palatable. Her body needed fuel. With the Citadel destroyed and supply chains faltering, the days of receiving anything remotely fresh were already a distant memory. It was either a protein bar or an MRE, and Shepard did not have the time for the latter. She polished off the first bar whilst waiting for the elevator, and had started on her second when it arrived.
"Commander...Commander!"
As she thumped her palm against the button for the shuttle bay, Shepard looked up to see Comms Specialist Traynor running towards the slowly closing elevator doors. She quickly thrust out her gauntleted hand and stopped the doors before they could close. With a grateful smile, the Specialist ducked inside and let against the wall. The young woman was obviously out of breath.
"You alright, Traynor?" Shepard asked, her mouth still full. "Were you able to get through to Sanctuary?"
"Sorry," Traynor seemed unmistakably nervous. "All communications in the vicinity of Horizon are being disrupted. I'm working on it but I don't think there's much I can do from up here. Which leads me to something..."
Shepard recognised the mannerisms of a crewmember who was trying to ask a difficult question. Usually she waited for them to spit it out, but she had little time. "What's on your mind?"
"I want to join the shore party," the Specialist announced suddenly.
Shepard stared at her for a moment, trying to fathom whether the techie was actually serious. Her jaw worked more slowly around her food. When she worked out the determined glint in her eye for what it actually was, she sighed. "I'm taking Liara, Vega and the LC," Shepard explained. "Along with a small squad to secure the LZ – initial scans reveal heavy fighting on the surface and I'm not taking any chances."
"I'll stay with the shuttle!" Traynor suggested hopefully.
"Look, Traynor, every one of those marines are battle-hardened soldiers. Have you even fired a weapon since basic?" Shepard asked, trying to conceal her irritation.
Traynor stiffened at Shepard's insinuation. "I keep my eye sharp, ma'am. I know how to shoot!" she replied fiercely. She then clamped her mouth shut, squeezing her lips into a tight line to keep from venting the rage that was obviously building inside her.
Goddammit, Shepard thought, studying the young woman. She recognised that determination in her eyes – it was something she saw all too often when she looked in the mirror. Tangled within that was a palpable helplessness. However, where Shepard herself had the skills and the experience to face whatever they found down on Horizon, Traynor did not.
"No, Specialist, and that's my final-"
"Bloody hell, Shepard, that's my family down there!" Traynor lost the fragile veneer of calm she had been struggling to maintain. "You can't leave me behind, I-I..." Her voice caught and trailed off as her anger gave way to despair. She struggled for a few moments before collecting herself – dashing the tears away with a swipe of her fist. "The Reapers don't distinguish between those who are soldiers and those who aren't."
Shepard knew Traynor's words held more truth than she wanted to acknowledge at that point. She swallowed the hard lump of food that had been sitting at the back of her mouth throughout their conversation. It grated against her throat and eventually sat like a stone in her stomach. The remainder was crumpled in her clenched fist as she placed a hand on each of Traynor's shoulders.
"Traynor...Sam," Shepard said quietly. "I'm all for sticking a rifle in the hands of every able bodied adult and telling them to give the Reapers hell, but there are some people we can't afford to lose. You're far too valuable to the war effort...to me. I promise you that I'll find out what the hell is going on down there."
For a moment Traynor looked as though she might continue to protest, however she soon straightened and tilted her chin upwards in determination. "Ma'am yes, ma'am," she said snappily. The elevator door opened on the shuttle bay. While Shepard stepped out, Traynor remained behind to push the button that would take her back up to the CIC. "Give 'em hell, Commander."
The door closing cut off Shepard's curt nod and she turned to check that the rest of the squad was assembled. Vega, Liara and Ashley were all suited up and running through their last minute checks. Corporal Brake, promoted to replace Duquesne, led a small squad of marines as back up. Between them, Shepard was counting on having more than enough firepower to deal with whatever they found inside Sanctuary.
"Come on people, time's wasting and we've got a couple of psychotic Cerberus agents to tag and bag." Shepard propelled her people toward the waiting shuttle with an urgent swipe of her arm.
"What did Samantha want?" Liara asked as they settled into the shuttle.
"She wanted in on the mission," Shepard replied, yelling as the shuttle's thrusters fired up.
"Of course, Horizon...her family," Liara nodded.
Shepard briefly wondered when Liara had found the time to have a personal conversation with the Comms Specialist. It wasn't jealousy as such, more a realisation than she did not have the time to get to know her crew on such a level. Once there had been time for poker nights and drunken conversations in the observation lounge, now there was only the war.
"I told her no," Shepard said, beginning to question her decision. "Now however..."
"Should you have told her to put on a hardsuit and slapped an Avenger in her hands?" Liara asked in a level voice.
Shepard shrugged. "Her argument was that the Reapers don't discriminate. Your Dad was never a commando-"
"My Dad spent decades running with a Batarian warlord," Liara replied, a slight edge of pain to her voice. "The closest Samantha has ever been to live combat is a chess game. You made the right decision."
"I guess I did." Even as she said it, Shepard was not convinced. She braced herself as the Kodiak dropped from the bowels of the Normandy - feeling the familiar rush of her stomach trying to leave her body through her mouth. All she knew was that if she were in Traynor's position, she'd damn well want the hardsuit and Avenger – regardless of the consequences. She finally unclenched her fist and found the misshapen remnants of her protein bar. No longer hungry, Shepard folded in back into its wrapper and stuffed it into one of the webbing pouches on her suit.
Horizon, Iera System
Hard boots hit the ground, one set after the other. A rapid, precise coordination of movements from trained professionals. Shepard's squad disembarked the Kodiak and fanned out into a defensive formation. On point, Brake signalled that the LZ was clear. Shepard responded with a sharp nod and scanned the courtyard ahead. It was apparent from a preliminary observation that whoever built Sanctuary had a shitload of credits to spend. In her travels Shepard had spent time on dozens of colony worlds – none of them resembled the sweeping, precise architecture of the buildings that stretched out in front of her. Rather than create a sense of familiarity and ease, it sent shivers down her spine. The nearby buildings all carried evidence of recent fighting - back scorch marks and piles of rubble. Smoke drifted rapidly from a first floor window, and in the distance.
Shepard signalled Vega to push forward, which the burly marine did without hesitation. Moving surprisingly fast for someone of his bulk, he sprinted down into the courtyard, taking cover behind a still functioning fountain.
"Got anything, LC?"
Ashley kneeling behind a low wall, using it as a base for the Black Widow in her hands as she scanned the buildings in the distance. "Aside from the remnants of a fire fight between Cerberus and the Reapers?"
"What the hell?" Shepard hunkered down beside her and Ashley reluctantly transferred control of her rifle over to her. Ignoring the hemmed in feeling she felt whenever narrowing her field of view through a scope, Shepard scanned the courtyard. She passed over Vega who was still making his way forward and found the bodies the LC had been referring to. A number of corpses, belonging to both Reaper and Cerberus forces, littered the ground. "Well fuck me sideways," Shepard muttered, passing the rifle back to Ashley.
The Commander stood and turned to find Liara giving her a strange look. "What? It's an expression, it doesn't literally mean...oh come on - I must have used that one before?"
Liara shook her head. "That charming piece of verbiage has not crossed your lips in my presence, until now," she replied. "I know you have an extensive repertoire, but really, Shepard-"
"We're moving out," Shepard cut Liara off before she could continue insulting her limited vocabulary, even though she knew she was just teasing. She turned to Corporal Brake and noticed the marine was trying to stifle a smile. "The jamming will interfere with our short wave comms so I suggest keeping your eyes peeled at all times. I want this LZ held, Corporal, at all costs. Clear?"
"Crystal, ma'am," Brake replied with a nod, the smile only a brief memory.
With Liara and Ashley on the flanks, the squad moved up in a loose line, careful to keep an eye on the windows above them. They moved past the bodies that Shepard had spied through the scope, evidence of what must have been a brutal fight. Had the surrounding circumstances been better, Shepard might have smiled a little at the thought of her foes taking one another out. As it was, all she could afford to focus on was finding where the hell Kai Leng and Aegir were and retrieving the stolen VI.
A drone in the air overhead brought her gaze upwards. She looked up in time to see a shuttle, familiar Cerberus markings on the side, with flames shooting from its body. In the moments before the wounded craft slammed into the courtyard, Shepard saw a harvester flying over head. Memories of Thessia and the brave commandos came flooding back, but for now all she could hope was that they would not target their small force. The Cerberus shuttle hit with a sickening crunch. Any hopes Shepard had harboured of its occupants being killed in the crash were dispelled with Ashley's warning.
"Phantoms!"
Shepard's keen eyesight caught a flurry of shadows moving in the distance.
Great, more than one Phantom, Shepard thought as she threw herself into cover. Up in front, she heard the rapid thump of Vega's Mattock as he opened fire on the nimble Cerberus assassins. The Lieutenant would be dangerously exposed in the face of several Phantoms. With their cloaking devices, they could outflank a soldier and slice them open within a few seconds. She searched her flanks and found both Liara and Ashley in moments. The LC was already lining up a shot with her rifle while her bondmate was pushing forward. Shepard kept pace with Liara, her Harrier trained ahead and ready to fire when she caught sight of the faint distortions created by the Phantom's cloak. There! A shimmer moved through the space directly behind Vega. Shepard could only watch as the dark shadow appeared as though folding out of nothing. The Phantom was preparing to strike when her entire body was enveloped in a stasis field. She was poised, almost elegant, until her head exploded on her shoulders.
Shepard let out a relieved breath of appreciation for Liara's handiwork. That's my girl.
Vega spun on his heels in time to see the Phantom's headless corpse slump to the ground. A loud retort echoed around the courtyard as Ashley opened fire, followed by two more in rapid succession. Shepard caught sight of the Phantom in the LC's sights as she tried to dart into cover. Her barrier was in all likelihood disintegrated after being hit by at least one of Ashley's shots. Shepard pursued quickly, determined to reach striking distance before the barrier could regenerate. As she moved up rapidly through the rubble, two shots slammed inches from her head, the third struck her shields and sent her reeling to the ground.
Shepard turned the fall into a roll, coming up with her Harrier firing. Several rounds clattered across the tiles of the courtyard, only inches behind the Phantom's heels as she cartwheeled away. With her brow furrowed in determination, Shepard stopped in a kneeling position. From the stable platform she was able to fire half a clip directly into the Phantom's body. Her death screams echoed off the walls but Shepard did not let her finger from the trigger until her opponent was a crumpled, bloody pile on the ground. There was movement out of the corner of her eye, a flash of steel and Shepard twisted. The third Phantom's blade sliced only air where her body had been moments before. The tip of her sword caught Shepard's rifle, across the stock – digging deeply enough to knock it from her hands. Rather than scramble to retrieve her fallen weapon and leave herself open to a second swing, Shepard extended her omni-blade. It was enough to catch the Phantom off guard. As the Phantom hesitated, Shepard brought the blade downwards in a fierce slash. The first swing was easily avoided, but she followed up with a second – refusing to be driven onto the back foot. She had traded barely half a dozen blows when a high powered shot brought down the Phantom's barrier. Seconds later, its head disappeared leaving only a bloody stump.
Liara and Vega were both nearby, having dispatched the remaining Phantom between them. Ashley holstered the Black Widow as she joined them, a slightly smug smile on her face.
"Nice work with that beast of yours, LC," Shepard said as she found her Harrier a few metres away.
"Just say the word, Skipper, I'll place a requisition through the Spectre Terminal and you can have one of your very own," Ashley offered, even as she selected the Valkyrie assault rifle she also carried.
"Not a chance," Shepard replied, examining the damage to her own weapon – thankfully it was only superficial.
The squad encountered no further resistance as they entered Sanctuary itself. Despite the carnage in the grounds outside and within the building itself, the automated PA system continued to broadcast the same messages of welcome received by those civilians lured by the promise of safe harbour from the Reapers. The overly cheery message added to the sinister vibe.
They came across the bodies of more dead Cerberus troops. It looked as though the fighting had been particularly brutal.
"This place looks kinda like a spaceport terminal," Ashley observed, scanning several PDAs on a nearby desk.
"Yeah, if you're planning on taking a one way trip to hell," Vega quipped in reply.
Shepard gave them both a frosty glare. "Stay sharp. There may be pockets of Cerberus personnel still alive, not to mention Reapers. If we can find out what went down here then we will, but our main priority remains recovering the Prothean VI from Cerberus."
The main terminal seemed to lead nowhere. The only logical path took them to a dead end, a large and incredibly ugly ornamental pool. Unsurprisingly, it was Liara's keen analytical mind that worked out it was merely camouflage.
As soon as Shepard saw the lengths to which Cerberus had gone to cover up this aspect of their operation, she began to dread what they would find in the rest of the complex. Knowing Cerberus as well as she did, it could not be anything remotely benevolent.
Once they entered the hidden part of the complex, all pretext of Sanctuary being some sort of benevolent haven were stripped away. Gone were the faux messages of compliance, replaced by the chilling cold of a purpose they could not yet fathom.
"Skipper!"
Ashley had stopped in front of a console seemingly stuck on a loop. Shepard and Liara joined her. There was a face but it was unrecognisable until the Lieutenant-Commander hit replay. The scene rewound itself, revealing none other than Miranda Lawson – her expression furious and agitated.
{If you're seeing this message then you've already come far enough to realise that Sanctuary is not what it seems. This is a Cerberus facility operated by my father Henry Lawson. You will find no safety here...only death.} Miranda paused and glanced over her shoulder as though she feared she might be being watched. When she turned back to face the screen, there was a tinge of fear on her face that she struggled to mask completely. {They are using this facility to attempt to turn people into Reapers-}
Liara could not suppress a shocked gasp while Shepard, Ashley and Vega all uttered 'fuck' in different tones as Miranda's recording continued.
{Rest assured, I will not allow him to perpetrate this evil one day longer. He will be in the control tower...and that is where he will fall.} The last was not so much a warning, as a promise.
"What the hell is she doing?" Shepard growled in the moments after the message reset and started from the beginning.
"She's alone...with those Cerberus assassins," Ashley whispered, fingers tightening around her Valkyrie as though the weapon was a lifeline.
Shepard frowned for a moment, wondering if she had misheard the emotion in her friend's voice. Without dwelling upon it further, the Commander clamped a firm hand on her shoulder. "She'll be fine, Ash. Miranda is..."
"Resourceful," Ashley finished quickly.
"We push forward, double time." Shepard turned and nodded towards Liara and Vega. Her squadmates moved forward to secure the corridor. She followed, however when she turned to glance over her shoulder she found Ashley still staring at the console. "Ash!" she urged.
It was enough for the marine to tear her gaze away and resume walking.
It was easier than she had expected – almost too easy. With his security in tatters in the wake of the Reaper attack, Henry Lawson's surveillance systems were probably blind to her approach. It wasn't until she was standing behind him with a biotic field dancing across her fingertips that Miranda realised he had been expecting her all along.
He did not even turn away from his work as she purposefully tapped her foot on the floor to get his attention. "It's good to see you, Miri."
"Don't call me that," Miranda snarled. She had been determined not to lose her temper, but her resolve fell to pieces in the presence of the man who had created her to be the first of his dynasty.
Henry Lawson turned. There was several days' worth of stubble growth on his face. He looked haggard and old. Nevertheless, there was a small smile on his face.
"Why not? You are my little girl. My Miri."
With a savage growl, Miranda unleashed the warped fields with a thrust of her arm. They smashed into one of the overhead consoles, showering the elder Lawson in sparks as it exploded. He merely laughed as though she were a child that had just demonstrated some particularly precocious talent.
"I see you have lost none of your spirit!" he chortled as he brushed a few glowing embers from his sleeve before turning his attention back to her. "My darling daughter. You look a little worse for wear, have you not been sleeping well?"
"I ceased to be your daughter the day I ran away from home amidst a hail of gunfire. Now I'm just another name on the long list of your enemies."
"Miri, don't be ridiculous-"
Another biotic attack, another console exploding above Henry Lawson's head. "Shut up, old man."
Her father's face twisted into a sneer at the unbridled vehemence in her tone. "You always were an ungrateful little wretch. I thought giving you everything you wanted, catering to your every need, would see you grow into a dutiful daughter. How wrong I was. You grew wild and completely obstinate."
"You would have seen me grow into a monster. Just like you!" Miranda spat.
"You filthy little-"
Summoning a much larger field, Miranda unleashed it without hesitation on Henry Lawson. It caught him full across the chest, hurling him back toward the window behind him. His back slammed into the glass with enough force to cause several cracks. Dazed by the impact, he started to slump towards the ground. Miranda was on him before he could fall. Trussing him up with her biotics, she hauled him back up until only the tips of his toes were touching the ground. It wasn't necessary to hold him in place, but she wrapped one hand around his throat for the sheer hell of feeling her thumb digging into his windpipe.
"Miri…please!"
Her only reply was to jam her thumb savagely into his skin as she forced him harder against the window. The cracks in the glass lengthened audibly.
"For god's sake, I'm your father!" he gasped. "We're...family."
Miranda's mind travelled to the moment where she had stepped across and planted a light kiss on the corner of Shepard's mouth on the Presidium Commons. The exact moment when she realised that she had finally made a friend. "That's where you're wrong, Henry. I have people out there that actually give a fuck about me. When I throw you off this tower, no one is going to mourn you."
Behind Henry Lawson the cracks in the glass continued to move outwards, accompanied by several loud pops. A harsh odour assaulted her nostrils and she looked down to see a dark stain spreading out across his trousers.
"Go on, say something else," Miranda hissed. She was watching the fear steadily take hold in Henry Lawson's gaze. "Anything...please. Push me over the edge, father."
"Wait, there's someone else. You have a-"
Before Henry Lawson could finish, Miranda was suddenly propelled backwards. Her back slammed against a console on the opposite side of the room. With the air driven from her lungs, Miranda collapsed to the floor. She was dragging herself back to her feet when she lifted her gaze to find herself staring down the barrel of a pistol. When she focused on the individual holding the weapon, she found herself staring into a pair of blue eyes that were the coldest she had ever seen. They belonged to an asari Miranda did not recognise.
"Oh thank goodness!"
Her father peeled his body away from the cracked window as a second figure approached. Miranda looked past the pistol in her face to see the masked figure of Kai Leng. The assassin scanned the room, his blank gaze passing from Henry to Miranda in one ominous sweep.
"Where the hell have the two of you been?" Henry demanded. He stabbed his finger in Miranda's direction. "This crazy bitch was seconds away from murdering me."
"We were occupied," Kai Leng murmured, barely paying attention to the shrieking fool behind him. His gaze was fixed squarely on the daughter who was still in a half-crouch.
"Cerberus doesn't pay you to be occupied when you're supposed to be protecting me!" Henry yelled. Spittle formed at the corner of his mouth as he ranted. "Your boss will hear about this, about how you and that blue bitch over there left one of his closest associates open to attack."
"I'm sure," Kai Leng replied.
The assassin gave Miranda a long, steady stare. Even though his eyes were merely twin slits of light, she knew in that moment exactly what he was there to do. Henry Lawson was hovering just behind Kai Leng, still ranting, possessing not the faintest clue of what was about to happen.
When Kai Leng moved, Miranda was not even sure that she had seen the sword pierce her father's body. One minute Henry Lawson was standing upright, the next he was bent forward staring at the hilt of the katana sticking out of his chest. Any satisfaction that Miranda might have felt at seeing her father gutted on the end of a sword was tempered by the fact that she had wanted to kill him herself. The Cerberus assassin withdrew the sword in one quick motion. Her father sank to his knees. His expression was set into a mask of disbelief. Even as he was dying, he could not comprehend the fact that the Illusive Man had declared him expendable. He wavered on his knees as blood bubbled forth between his lips. As Miranda watched, in one fluid motion Kai Leng spun lightly on his feet. His katana flashed as it moved in a perfectly positioned arc, the tip a narrow smile across her father's throat. While it was not deep enough to sever his head, a bright spray of blood accompanied his falling body. Henry Lawson was dead before his body hit the ground.
"No tears for your father?" The asari's voice was as smooth as silk.
"He was not my father," Miranda said. She warily watched the asari out of the corner of her eye, but her main focus was on Kai Leng. "He was my creator."
With just the one attack, Miranda couldn't gauge the strength of the asari's biotics. However, with several hundred years training over her, the asari would probably be more than a match. She knew enough of Kai Leng to know that he was the Illusive man's best assassin. One-on-one, Miranda knew that she would struggle against either. With the pair of them together, any offensive move on her part would be nothing short of suicide.
As she drew in a shallow breath, Miranda weighed up her meagre options. There was very little point in keeping them talking. Stalling for what? She'd come alone without informing anyone of her plan. There was no back up. Likewise with begging for mercy, she already knew the Illusive Man wanted her dead. Enough assassins had tried and failed over the preceding months. Several of them had even been half-decent.
"I would say thank you," Miranda began. Her legs were starting to cramp from the crouch she remained in. "But you spoiled my private party."
Kai Leng may have been opening his mouth to reply, or he may merely have been laughing at her, however Miranda acted in that split second. Instead of rising to her feet in the expected move, she drove her body downwards into a roll and took the asari's legs out from beneath her. Before Kai Leng could react, she overloaded his shields. With the assassin pinioned in place for a few scant seconds, Miranda drew her pistol and fired two shots at his head. Both slammed into a hastily erected barrier. She didn't pause long enough to curse the fact that she had been a fraction too slow, she was already moving. Kai Leng's flashing blade narrowly missed carving one of her arms off as she twisted. She threw a warp field at the moment that the asari dropped her barriers to move position. The field hit and sent the asari flying over one of the consoles.
However when she shifted her focus back to Kai Leng, Miranda found herself with nowhere to manoeuvre. Even as she decimated the remainder of his shields with a second Overload, he sprang toward her. Miranda lifted the Carnifex in her hand but the solitary shot she squeezed off merely winged him in the shoulder. With a grunt of effort, she forced him back with her biotics at the moment his blade thrust across the distance between them. Had his strike not been unbalanced, it would have pierced her gut with a fatal wound. Twisting as she was, it drove into her right side. The cry of pain from her lips was accompanied by a desperate wave of biotic energy that smashed into the assassin's body. As was knocked backwards, Miranda slipped to the ground utterly spent. The pain arcing across her right side was severe as she jammed her palm into the wound to stem the bleeding.
"Leng!" It was the asari yelling from the other side of the room. "We've got company. It's fucking Shepard and her cronies!"
She must have been staring at one of the video feeds that were still functional. As she dragged herself behind a nearby console, Miranda tried to suppress the hope that had kindled. Through half-lidded eyes, she peered around her cover and watched as Kai Leng hauled himself to his feet. He threw a dangerous look in her direction but he was already moving away.
"We need Lawson's data!" he barked at his companion. "Leave the bitch to bleed out."
For a brief moment Miranda thought that she could lift her Carnifex and pump several shots into Kai Leng as he turned his back on her. However the pistol merely twitched in her palm as her strength ebbed away.
Her vision started to haze, folding in on her as she slumped face forward to the ground.
Shepard and her squad entered room after room as they made their way through Sanctuary, all the while accompanied by an eerie cacophony of familiar sounds – the grunting of husks and even the chilling wail of a Banshee. The squad continued to move – efficiently, leaving no corner unchecked. As they entered yet another sterile, cold laboratory, Vega pushed forward to the opposite end of the room. His Mattock swept his field of vision in carefully controlled arcs as he moved.
"Clear, we've got a door up here, Commander!" Vega called over his shoulder.
"Well bloody use it then! That's what doors are for," Shepard called ahead, unable to suppress the irritation in her voice. She was already sick beyond belief of this so-called Sanctuary – sick of its sterility, sick of the evil perpetuated on innocent people who had simply sought shelter.
"Evan," Liara said quietly as she moved past, trying to curtail that irritation.
Her bondmate clearly felt the same way; she was just more practiced at withholding her emotions. Shepard gave her a tight lipped smile in reply. As she followed in Vega's wake, Liara kept her Carnifex at the ready. Her scientist's eye picked up on the fact that this room was different than the others they had passed through. It was not a holding or processing room, but rather something far more sinister. Pod-like tanks lined one wall, each one evenly spaced. As she peered cautiously inside each, they appeared to be empty. Liara pushed past, trying not to dwell on the purpose on such tanks. In her already tense state, a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye was enough to make her gasp audibly.
"Liara!" Shepard's concerned shout responded to her gasp.
The response only made Liara feel foolish, she gave a very human 'thumbs up' but the positive gesture faltered when she saw the source of the movement. Not all of the tanks were empty.
"By the Goddess," Liara whispered.
Instead of shrinking backwards, she edged towards the tank. Within lay an asari, her face jammed against the plexi-glass where she had fallen forward. Her wide, glazed eyes pleaded with Liara for a moment before her body contorted, teeth bared in a rictus of immense pain. It lasted for several seconds before she calmed and lay gasping. By the time Shepard reached the tank, Liara had her fingers jammed against the lid, straining for some sort of leverage to open it.
"Help me, Shepard, please!" Liara demanded, desperately trying to prise the lid open.
Torn between helping her lover and protecting her, Shepard approached the situation more cautiously. "Liara, I'm not so sure opening that tank is the best course of action."
"And I will not leave her to die in there!" Liara replied fiercely. She stumbled backwards from the pod with searching eyes, trying not to look at the asari in the tank. Her chest was heaving from the abrupt exertion."There must be a control panel!"
Shepard glanced back to Ashley. The LC responded with a non-committal shrug that managed to convey both 'you're the Commander' and 'it's your girlfriend' at the same time.
"Are we pushing forward or what, Commander?" Vega called out. "That slippery Cerberus bastard isn't just going to sit around and wait for us ask nicely for our VI back."
"I have it," Liara announced triumphantly. Without requesting permission, she tapped out a series of commands on the console near the pod. With a hiss of escaping gases, the door opened the barest fraction. It was not wide enough for the asari to squeeze out. Against her better judgement, Shepard gently moved Liara aside so she could open the door. She placed one foot on the pod for leverage and gave the door a swift yank. The asari tumbled out, too weak to make any moment to arrest her momentum. She fell into Liara's waiting arms with a gasping cry of pain and relief.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice cracked and hollow.
Liara fumbled for her canteen, opening it with one hand. While the asari drank deeply, she risked a glance towards Shepard. The expression on her face was somewhat stony, and more than a little agitated. She was conflicted between her need to push forward as quickly as possible and her desire to help.
"Go," Liara urged, nodding her head towards Vega and Ashley waiting at the far end of the room. "I'll catch up."
"Liara-"
"For Goddess' sake, Shepard, just go!" Liara demanded, her own voice cracking with strain as the asari's body spasmed again. "I will be fine."
With an anguished glance that said she was only a split second away from hauling Liara to her feet and propelling her forward, Shepard wrenched herself away. Liara listened to the comforting sounds of her boots on the floor until they were little more than an echo in the distance.
The asari in her arms regarded her through heavily lidded eyes. She was obviously fighting an internal battle – one which she was gradually losing.
"You know what you have to do," she whispered in a broken voice. "For the love of the Goddess, please?"
Liara bowed her head and closed her eyes. Unbeknownst to her, tears began to flow from beneath her lids. "Yes."
She was forced to grip more firmly as her body shook yet again, by far the most violent spasm. When she stiffened and went still, her eyes were an inky black that swallowed all light.
"My name is...Lamia Gellis," she said, each word an effort. "I was born on Sanves. My mother's name is..." Her brow furrowed, not in pain but in an attempt to remember. "My mother's name is...Allegra."
The Carnifex jumped once in Liara's hand. An almost neat pattern of blood coated the tank behind her. Before sobs could overtake her, she gently extricated herself from beneath the dead asari and stood. Without glancing back, she turned and ran the length of the room as quickly as her trembling legs would allow her. By the time she caught up with the rest of the squad, her face was a mask of perfect composure. When Shepard reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, she let the touch linger for only a moment before darting forward under the pretext of impatience.
The squad passed through several more rooms lined with the same pods – there were few occupants and those they did find were all dead save for one fully transformed husk. It was difficult for them all to remain emotionless in the face of what they were seeing. Shepard could not look at a dead husk without asking herself whether it was Traynor's mother or father. She was however thankful that she had refused the Specialist permission to join the shore party.
"This place is a warren," Vega remarked as they passed through yet another room seemingly identical to the last. The burly marine grunted in frustration and searched for the way ahead. "What's behind lucky door number two?"
Several metres behind him, Ashley was using the scope on her Black Widow to scan the facility as best she could. As Vega's palm stretched towards the door, her eyes widened at the thermal image displayed in her scope.
"Don't open that door!" Ashley's frantic shout came a split second after Vega slapped his palm on the door control.
'Holy fuck!" No sooner had the door cracked slightly open than a sea of soulless eyes and gaping mouths surged forward. Vega's frantic shout was almost drowned out by a cacophony of hungry moans. In the seconds that followed the door opening on the hellish tide, Shepard and her squad reacted on instinct. Ashley unloaded her three-shot clip into three successive husks with brutal efficiency. As Vega unloaded a desperate concussive shot into their midst, Shepard moved forward.
"Vega, down!"
The Lieutenant dove into a sideways roll without question. Shepard immediately tossed two frag grenades into the husks as they surged forward. The resulting explosions tore apart the front ranks of the creatures. Behind her, Ashley had holstered her Black Widow and opened fire with the more nimble Valkyrie. Liara threw a singularity in their midst – detonating it after several husks were drawn up into the vortex. As Vega scrambled backwards, Shepard covered his retreat with rapid bursts from her Harrier, shredding flailing limbs and torsos. First one clip and then a second were exhausted as the husks continued pouring through the narrow door.
"We need another way out!" Shepard yelled over her shoulder. The muzzle of her Harrier was already red hot.
There was a door to their right, earlier discounted because it was partially jammed. Liara jammed her shoulder into the gap, but she could not force it through physical strength. Gritting her teeth, she created a mass effect field and slammed it against the door. It buckled inwards, creating enough space for a body to squeeze through.
"Move!" she yelled.
Vega was the first through, barely managing to squeeze his bulk through the narrow gap. Shepard and Ashley backed toward them, keeping their attention focused on the husks as they moved. Liara threw up another singularity, refusing to step through the door until both her squadmates had passed. She lost track of the number of detonations she triggered, channelling all of her pent up rage and fury into a chaotic thirty seconds. When Shepard physically shoved her through the gap in the door, Liara saw for the first time that it opened onto a landing adjacent to a crane. Vega had already overridden the controls to move them forward. As it whirred into action, gears grinding and spinning, Liara turned to see Shepard grappling with a husk that had managed to latch onto her. A scream was lodged in her throat in the moments that Shepard threw off the creature and then threw herself towards the moving platform. The distance was a struggle for someone wearing full armour. Shepard pitched forward, her body slamming into the side of the crane. She was hauled upwards by Ashley as several husks mindlessly dove after her. Other creatures scaled the walls around them, heading towards the roof.
"There's an exit ahead," Vega pointed to the left.
"Let's hope there are no surprises behind door number three," Shepard muttered, shivering unconsciously when she glanced over her shoulder at their pursuers. "I hate those fucking things."
"Next time you want to dance with someone, Commander, ask me," Liara said, folding herself close to Shepard.
"I'd just stand on your toes," Shepard replied lightly.
The crane came to a jarring halt. All four of them jumped the short distance to the other side of the gangway and made it through the door before most of the husks came within striking distance. Shepard couldn't resist decapitating their nearest pursuer with her omni-blade. The door close shut on the others, the only thing getting through were their moans of frustration.
"Commander!" It was Ashley who spotted the elevator first.
Shepard uttered a slight sigh of relief that something was finally going their way. She checked the remainder of her ammunition as the four of them crowed into the small space – one clip and two frag grenades. If they did run into Kai Leng and Aegir, she'd probably be reduced to taking them on with her omni-blade. She couldn't help herself from casting a glance in Liara's direction. Her bondmate was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, grabbing a few precious moments to collect herself. It pained Shepard to have to demand more of her in that moment but she knew she had to push. If she did not demand everything out of her people in that moment, Kai Leng and Aegir would cut them to ribbons. The others looked to her as she took up position on point, she would be the first out of the door when it opened, the first target.
"These guys mean business," Shepard said quietly. "They're both fast, and talented at what they do. Do not underestimate either of them for even a split-second."
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Vega replied through gritted teeth.
When she turned to concentrate on Liara, Shepard found her bondmate stony-faced and determined but not looking at her. "Liara?" she said quietly. When she lifted her head, Shepard had to stifle the urge to kiss her. "T'Soni." She kept her tone hard and business-like, it helped somewhat. "I need you to deal with Aegir. Keep her occupied, whatever the hell you have to do to curtail her biotics. Can you do that?"
"Aye aye, Commander." Liara gave a short, curt nod, not betraying any hint of the fear she felt. She already knew that if Shepard knew how badly Aegir had beaten her less than a day earlier, she would not let her go face to face with the other asari again. This time she had to win, too much was riding on this.
When the elevator doors opened on the control room, the scene that unfolded in front of the tense, expectant squad was almost an anti-climax. Neither Kai Leng nor Aegir were in sight, the only others present were two apparently motionless bodies. Before Shepard's brain had even interpreted what was happening, Ashley was pushing past her. The Lieutenant-Commander scrambled the short distance to the nearest body. Shepard caught a flash of dark hair and a familiar black and white uniform as Ashley gently rolled the woman over.
"Miranda," Shepard whispered, feeling a slight pang of fear herself. Before she could give into her own need, she turned to Vega and Liara. "Vega, secure the room. Liara, I want that comm system up and operational."
Shepard herself approached the second body. It lay in an almost inhuman pool of blood. She knelt down to check the man.
"Don't bother."
She glanced back across to Miranda, the dark-haired woman's eyes were now open as she lay cradled in Ashley's lap. "Miranda?"
"The bastard's dead. Kai Leng gutted him like the pig he is," Miranda's voice was bitter.
"And Kai Leng?" Shepard's tone was not hopeful.
"Gone...him and the asari," Miranda replied. "I tried to stop them, but he carved me up too. I guess your arrival scared them off before they could finish me."
"Gone," Shepard whispered, feeling the now familiar tang of defeat. She heard footsteps beside her and did not need to turn to know that it was Liara. "What the hell was your father doing here, Miranda?"
The medigel Ashley had applied was starting to kick in as the ex-Cerberus operative stubbornly tried to sit up.
"Hey, don't move," Ashley scolded her, maintaining a gentle hold around Miranda's upper body.
"I'm fine," Miranda replied in an oddly soft tone.
Shepard's eyebrows lifted in subconscious surprise. She had to banish the expression when Miranda looked up at her a few moments later.
"My father was working with the Illusive Man, they were trying to-" Miranda paused, wincing in pain as she did so. "Study ways to control Reapers by using those people they lured here as test subjects. By god, Shepard, when I found out my father was working with the Illusive Man on a project, I knew I had to shut him down...I never expected him to be capable of this though."
"What did this have to do with Aegir and Kai Leng?" Liara asked, stepping forward.
"My father's research data...and tying up loose ends." Miranda nodded towards the body of Henry Lawson. "I'm fucking pissed that I didn't get to do it myself."
Shepard clenched her fists. All this way for nothing. "Liara, see if there's any data we can use left on the system...then we're making sure that no civilians come here looking for safe haven again."
An hour later, with Miranda fully stabilised and little else to show for her squad's trouble on Horizon, Shepard eased herself back against the hard seats of the Kodiak shuttle. The atmosphere inside was subdued save for Vega trying to inject some forced humour into his conversation with Cortez up front. Ashley was still holding Miranda on the seat opposite – the latter having falling into an exhausted sleep against the marine's shoulder. At one point Ashley caught Shepard staring at her and responded with a defiant expression – as if she expected disapproval. There was no whatsoever emanating from Shepard. A part of her wished she could summon up a smile for her friend, but a slight nod was the best she could manage in the circumstances.
"Shepard, we need to meld," Liara said abruptly, nudging Shepard out of a half-doze.
"That might be one of the most romantic proposals I've ever had," Shepard mumbled – trying to inject some enthusiasm into her voice. She did not open her eyes, but responded with a tired nod. "What I might have learnt from the beacon on Thessia...I know it's all we've got at the moment."
"By the Goddess I hope we are able to learn something from that head of yours," Liara whispered as she deposited a gentle kiss amidst Shepard's sweaty hair.
Shepard sighed wearily. "Goddess help us all."