AN:- Miranda's loyalty mission.
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Prodigal
The mercenaries were on them in under a minute. Two gunships coming up fast behind them.
"Dammit!" Miranda said, opening the throttle. "Eclipse mercenary gunships, they'll be dropping troops in the cargo areas."
There was a conveyor belt below them and a stack of cargo crates that would shield them from the bulk of the mercenaries. "Put us down in that cover behind them."
"Let's hope they really do wanna take us alive," Garrus said as Miranda swung them down behind cover. Gunfire sparked off the outside of the hover car, then stopped suddenly.
The door was opening even before they landed, Miranda throwing herself out and stalking towards a man dressed in Eclipse gear and carrying an assault rifle. Shepard hurried out after her, checking the two guards on a raised platform and another mercenary near the conveyor belt. As she left the car she felt her sniper rifle leaving her back. Obviously Garrus thought he needed it, and she trusted him on that.
"Since you're not firing yet I trust you know who I am."
"Yeah, they said you'd be in the car. You're the bitch that kidnapped our boss' little girl." Little girl? Later.
"Kidnapped! This doesn't involve you. I suggest you take your men and go." Shepard drew level with Miranda and kept her eye on the mercenary by the conveyor belt.
"Think you've got it all lined up, huh? Captain Enyala's already moving in on the kid. She knows about Niket, he won't be helping you." That sounds pretty ominous. Could he have turned? Also later.
"You're not getting Miranda's sister," she said. "If you push this, it'll go badly for you."
"Captain Enyala ordered us to give you one chance to walk away. But this whole time we've been talking, my men have been lining up shots." Shepard tensed, resiting the urge to go for her gun. Hopefully they hadn't spotted Garrus. "When I say the word, we unleash hell on your squad. So I suggest you walk away nicely, unless you want things to get ug-" A bullet blew through his head and out the other side. He toppled slowly sideways as Miranda stepped forwards, pistol in hand.
"Works for me."
There was a loud crack from behind them and both the mercs on the platform dropped. Shepard had her own pistol drawn before the last merc could even move, blasting open the faceplate. "We have to move. There could be an army between us and your sister."
"That's not gonna stop me."
She ran off, Shepard waiting a second for Garrus to catch up, grabbing her sniper rifle as he threw it to her.
The Eclipse mercs were better than the Blue Suns, and leagues ahead of the Blood Pack, but they fell easily to Miranda's rage. She barely even needed Shepard or Garrus, her biotic field barely even flickering until she reached an elevator. Half a dozen dead bodies were strewn behind her. She was kneeling next to one of the dead commandos.
"Hang on, I've got one of their radios, I'll patch us in, see if I can get an idea of what we're up against." She avoided meeting Shepard's eyes as she stood and led them into the elevator. "Shepard, I think I owe you an explanation. Oriana is my twin, genetically. But my father, grew her when I was a teenager. She was meant to replace me. I couldn't let my father do to her what he did to me. So I rescued her. She's almost a woman now."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm very protective when it comes to my sister. There are people who would us ether against me." She finally looked Shepard in the face. "I, I'm sorry I didn't trust you sooner."
Shepard almost smiled, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. "If Eclipse knows where Oriana is, they'll be moving in on her soon. We need to hurry."
"Agreed, I'm a bit worried by what that merc said. If they've got to Niket somehow, this is going to be a lot harder than I planned."
Shepard thought about asking her if Nike was truly trustworthy, but before she could think of the best way to put it the doors opened. "Let's go."
Ahead of them was another conveyor line, bringing heavy storage crates down to the loading dock. The mercenaries were holed up on the other side of it, only moving when the crates would give them cover.
"We need to get to the other side," Miranda said as a bullet sparked off her shields. They ducked for cover and Shepard assessed the room. There was a narrow walkway that would take them to the other side of the line, but crossing it would be suicide with all the mercs firing on them. There was a lot of cover to their right though, which gave her an idea.
"Miranda, you're going to be the distraction. You move in as close as you can to that walkway, draw their fire while Garrus and I get an angle on them from the top of those boxes."
"That's going to be tough with the crates in the way," Garrus pointed out.
"If a moving box was all it took to stop you I wouldn't have brought you along."
"Point taken." He put his rifle back on his back and drew his pistol instead. "Ready when you are Shepard."
Miranda burst from cover, and Shepard didn't waste time seeing if she was alright. She and Garrus scaled the boxes at double time, reaching the top just as Miranda slid to cover behind a low wall. Shepard unslung her sniper rifle and tried to find a target, but the conveyor line blocked her shot. "Can't get a clear angle," she said.
"Me neither. What was plan B?"
Shepard watched as the heavy crates moved past them. Fast enough to make it hard to target, slow enough to keep your balance on. "Plan B is watch my back."
"Ah, the old favourite." He had already guessed what she was doing, and had moved to the back of the crate to give himself a better run up.
They sprinted together, leaping as one to come crashing heavily onto one of the cargo crates, setting it rocking. There was no time to catch their breath as it was nearly level with the walkway. Shepard jumped and landed hard on her shoulder on the other side, already drawing her SMG left-handed. She heard one of the mercs yell, "they're here!" and aimed to where the noise came from.
Her arm shook with the recoil as she got to her feet and drew her pistol, her vision finally settling and she was able to see half a dozen mercs, all turning to shoot her. She swept her SMG over them and then finished them with head shots. From behind she heard the crack of Garrus' pistol and his pleased grunt as he hit something. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Miranda sprinting across the walkway, weapon in hand. The final mercenaries dropped.
Miranda led the way again, taking them through a sparse metal corridor and out onto another loading bay. There were LOKI mechs ahead, spraying them with assault rifle fire, but they clearly only had basic defence programming, and it was a simple matter to put them all down. Another conveyor line was to their right, with mercenaries on the other side, but this time there was a wide gantry with enough cover for them to cross. Once they were on the other side Miranda flared blue and lifted an enormous packing crate before flinging it at a band of mercs crouched behind a low wall. The crate broke apart, leaking some sort of viscous fluid, and the fire suppression systems went off, covering the area ahead in thick white foam which set rock solid in an instant. The two mercenaries left uncovered by the goop ran for it.
They followed the only available path, listening to Enyala ordering her guards to kill them. Apparently only she was now heading for Oriana. That thought gave Shepard some hope. These mercenaries were only dangerous in large numbers, so the fewer surrounding Oriana, the easier it should be to fight through them.
The bodyguards rushed them in the next room, rocket launchers and biotic flares exploding around them. Shepard spotted a trench running through the middle of the bay and ran for it, ducking under a rocket and vaulting the low wall. From below she had a series of perfect shots on the bodyguards' legs, dropping them to floor where she could finish them off with ease. Any who tried to run were forced to stand, giving Garrus and Miranda a perfect shot.
Ahead Shepard could see another elevator, the door cycling open the reveal three mercs, who were quickly put down. The radio crackled as Miranda and Garrus caught up with her.
"Niket is reaching the terminal, he'll switch the family to our transport."
Miranda slowed to a stop. "Niket? But that can't be right…" Shepard grabbed her and pulled her onto the elevator, Garrus smacking the control.
"Maybe the captain knows we're listening in and she's feeding misinformation about Niket making a switch." Miranda was babbling. "Or maybe it means something else. Niket wouldn't do that." She looked up suddenly, walking to the controls and slamming her hand against it, her omni-tool flickering red. "Damn it, why won't this thing go any faster?"
The music shut off and the elevator sped up. "You know him Miranda," Shepard said, stepping forward and holding out her hand, stopping just short of placing it on Miranda's shoulder. "If you don't think he'd betray you then I'm sure there's another explanation."
"I don't know damn it." She regained some of her composure. "But I guess we'll find out soon enough."
The doors opened to reveal a bearded man and an asari with a huge rifle, arguing with a third asari wearing the clothes of a dock supervisor.
"Miri," the man said when he saw them come through the door.
"This should be fun," the asari said. The transport clerk ran for it, but she was shot in the back. Shepard snarled and drew her pistol, but she didn't aim it.
Miranda had no so restraint. "Niket you sold me out."
"How do you wanna handle this Miranda?" Shepard covered the asari, hoping Garrus was moving to a better position. They were completely in the open.
Miranda wasn't listening to her. "Why Niket? You were my friend. You helped me get away from my father."
"Yes, because you wanted to leave, That was your choice, but if I'd known you'd stolen a baby…"
"I didn't steal her, I rescued her."
"From a life of wealth and happiness? You weren't saving her, you were getting back at your father!"
It was time to put a stop to this before it went any further. "If you're working for Miranda's father, that means he knows about Oriana, We need to find a new solution."
"Miranda's father has no information about Oriana." Shepard's eye switched to Enyala, who was looking greedy. "I knew you had spy systems in your father's system Miri, so I kept it private . I'm the only one who knows."
"Which means that you're the only loose end." Miranda straightened her posture. "This isn't how I wanted it to end Niket, I'm going to miss you."
Shepard grabbed her arm and twisted the gun away. "Miranda wait, you don't want to do this."
"This has to end here Shepard, my father will keep trying to find Oriana."
"Maybe Niket can help, talk to your father." She fixed Niket with her harshest glare. "Just say you got here first."
"I'll," he caved. "I'll tell him that you hid her. That I don't know where she is."
"I never wanna see you again Nik-"
Blood sprayed out of his stomach and he fell to his knees. Enyala raised her rifle to aim at Shepard. "Done. Now if you don't mind, I have a shipment to deliver."
Before Shepard could go for her gun the asari rose into the air, frozen in a biotic field. "You'll die for that bitch!" Miranda yelled. She threw a ball of biotic energy forward, blasting Enyala across the bay into a wall on the far side, where she slid to the floor in a heap. Before any of them could move a dozen mercs burst in from the far side of the room, swarming to protect their boss and pouring fire at the three. Garrus' rifle cracked and Shepard looked back to see he was crouched behind a computer desk. Miranda dived forwards to avoid a rocket and rolled to a stop behind a crate.
The mercs split up, half of them moving to fire positions while the others led Enyala to safety. Shepard headed directly for them, firing a burst from her SMG to slow them down. She sprinted right past one mercenary, barely breaking stride as he turned to fire on her. A second later his helmet exploded as Garrus put a bullet through it. The four mercs and Enyala were right ahead of her now, the asari holding an arm across her stomach. She drew level and elbowed one of them hard in the head. The other three went for their pistols but she was faster. She kicked one between the legs, hard enough to crack the armour plate, he collapsed into another merc, knocking them both over. She grabbed the third one by the arm and head butted him hard in the chest.
Enyala came at her, but she was favouring her left side. Shepard slid easily past her defence and kneed her hard in the side. Two mercs were back on their feet now, pistols in hand. She dodged a shot from the salarian and got behind him, wrapping her arms round his head and twisting. His neck snapped easily and she kicked his lifeless body into the other one, knocking him down. She walked up next to the downed mercs and brought her boot down hard on his chest, cracking the breastplate.
Shepard looked down at Enyala, who was on crawling away. "Get on with it," she snarled.
"Not my job," Shepard said. "But we can't have you running away." She stamped down on the asari's back as hard as she could, the crack of her spine audible even over the gunfire. "That's for the clerk."
The last mercenary had surrendered, and Miranda was policing their weapon. "What do we do with her?" She said.
"Leave her. The police will pick her up soon enough. I have something for you."
She didn't watch as Miranda walked over to Enyala. She tried not to listen to the screams that were very suddenly cut off, and she didn't look down as they walked past the body to the elevator. In the elevator Miranda finally broke down, dropping to the floor and leaning back against the wall.
"I can't believe Niket sold me out, I didn't even see it coming."
Shepard knelt next to her. "Even with all your upgrades, you're human just like the rest of us."
"But I let it get personal; and I screwed up. Why didn't you let me kill him? I could have handled that. But watching him get gunned down by that asari bitch…"
"You still cared for him, even if he betrayed you."
"You're right, and my father knew it, he used it against me." She bowed her head, her hair covering her face completely. "It's always been like this. My father gave me anything I ever wanted, but there was always a hook, an angle for his long term plan. I threw away everything he ever gave me when I ran. Except Niket. Weakness on my part."
"You still have Oriana."
"My father didn't give her to me. I rescued her." She looked up, her eyes red but dry. "But yes, you're right. I still have something. Thank you."
They had reached the transport bay at last, and through the door they could see a dozen shuttles, people milling around and chatting. It seemed to be entirely civilian. "Garrus?"
He nodded, heading out to make sure there were no mercenaries left. Shepard helped Miranda up and they walked out onto the concourse. "Thank you Shepard."
"Don't thank me yet, we need to be sure."
"Not for that. For everything. You didn't need to do this for me."
"You're on my crew."
"That's what you said last time as well. What does it mean?"
Shepard nodded towards Garrus, sliding through the crowd with surprising grace. "That's what it means. He doesn't know what's going on. He barely knows you. He doesn't like Cerberus. But he's here because I asked him."
"I think I understand."
"No sign of Eclipse, it looks like we're clear." Garrus was on the other side of the room, still watching the crowd closely.
Miranda pointed to a small group standing away to one side. The daughter was the spitting image of Miranda, only with shorter hair and nearly ten years younger. "There she is. She's safe, with her family." She turned away. "Come on, we should go."
"Don't you even wanna say hello?"
"It's not about what I want, it's about what's right for her. The less she knows about me, the better. She's got a family, a life. I'll just complicate that for her."
Shepard stepped in front of her. "She doesn't need any details, but would it really be so bad for her to know she has a sister who loves her?"
"I guess not." Miranda looked to the family, then back to Shepard.
"Go on," Shepard said. "I'll wait here."
AN:- What I enjoyed most about this episode was the little moments between Garrus and Shepard. Just the two of them working together as a team makes me really enjoy writing them.
I do like Miranda as a character. She has so much potential.