35: Trust But Verify

Despite his association with Cerberus, Oleg Petrovsky was a lauded name among Alliance military circles for his past acts. Hero of the First Contact War, he was plunged head first into leading his unit against relentless turian forces for weeks. Despite his age he still maintained his impressive size and stature, while also offering a much more generous side to himself when not giving orders with a stare that could only come from seeing the horrors of war firsthand.

As Petrovsky sat in loose shackles across from Miranda, he appeared a bit confused by the meeting but still maintained a gentle disposition when dealing with his former colleague. "I take it all is well with you, Miranda? I'd offer you something to drink but we must maintain this deliberate illusion of my incarceration."

"Illusion, of course."

"I believe you have also had dealings with a Captain Reynolds, did you not? He seems to be the unofficial mediator between Alliance and former Cerberus. Nice man, one of the Fifth Fleet's finest."

Cerberus originated as a black ops offshoot of the Alliance. While not a charter member of the organization Petrovsky had served the Illusive Man for decades, longer than Miranda had. Her rapid rise in the ranks had been seen by others in the organization to create an inevitable clash of the two for the prestige of being the Illusive Man's right hand. With the Lazarus Project, that position was all but Miranda's. Until the Collector Base.

Miranda's eyes narrowed, "Yes, how brave you were to be former Cerberus, helping the Alliance with intel after it was clear your hold on Omega had ended."

"I agree it wasn't as harrowing as your tales of surviving multiple attempts on your life, or your own cleanup work, but it has had its privileges. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. A lesson you should know all too well with your time as an operative."

"I expect better from you, Oleg." Just another cheap attempt at trying to diminish her accomplishments on the part of her looks.

Fingers open as wide as his hands would allow, Petrovsky's head dipped slightly. "I apologize, I didn't mean it in that rather vulgar way. As long as I knew you in Cerberus you seemed to be focused on achieving your goal, no matter what. But simply looking at you now, it's clear someone has had a rather profound effect on you."

Miranda didn't take the bait.

Oleg waited for a response but never got one, shrugging slightly and moving on, never losing his rather cheerful demeanor. "Anyways, a gentle attitude, locations of Cerberus cells, stories of my own past to humor these fine marines we have around us, and I may soon find myself pardoned, much like you and Mr. Taylor. Wouldn't that be grand?"

"And one of the cells you disclosed while being pampered, would it happen to be near Eden Prime?"

"Absolutely, my dear."

"Yet your information provided nothing about the adjutant formula Santelli had, a formula that came from Omega."

"Ah, the adjutants." A stroke of the still trimmed beard increased his theatric recalling of his last assignment. "It's a shame that didn't work out, they would have been a useful tool for fighting the Reapers. Much like the Collector Base."

Laughing slightly Petrovsky moved his head forward, "It seems the new Captain certainly made life harder on the Alliance than necessary..."

Tilting her head back slightly Miranda's eyes narrowed. "To even try and place blame at Shepard's feet is beneath you. Santelli's actions nearly caused Eden Prime's capital to be destroyed."

"My admiration of the work accomplished on Omega does not mean I forgot the threat the Adjutants possessed."

A sincere look crossed Petrovsky's face. "The only other Cerberus location I know of that had the formula was Horizon, a facility you helped shut down."

"Horizon..."

"Perhaps if you had been there to help, those...gruesome experiments wouldn't have been necessary." A look of regret covered Petrovsky's face at that statement.

Both of the occupants of the interrogation room sat in silence, one having lived through the ordeal and nearly losing her life, the other hearing about and seeing the video evidence from Battlespace and other news reports.

Somber remembrance from Petrovsky slowly turned to a passing of guilt. "Miranda, your resignation created a severe vacuum within Cerberus-"

"Cerberus created that vacuum themselves when they continued to eliminate their own scientists."

"-Instead of preparing for the Reapers you ran, choosing the cabin of that Spectre over protecting humanity." Petrovsky's words remained calm and defiant at Miranda's irrefutable fact, something he simply ignored.

Playing along this time, Miranda crossed her legs as she place her hands in her lap, "the fact that Cerberus paid for that bed made my resignation that much easier."

"Yes, yes," Petrovsky nodded, "you were given quite the resources. Not only to bring Shepard back to life, but the SR-2. In this instance I guess I truly was jealous. The Elbrus was a lovely ship but nothing compared to that frigate."

Miranda couldn't help but smile slightly at the admission. She didn't need it, not anymore, but the validation that she and not Petrovsky was given the mission to defeat the Collectors proved her place in Cerberus eighteen months ago.

"We select few knew what we were giving up when we took these roles. Our sacrifices would truly be remembered, possibly never duplicated. For Shepard and yourself to refuse that calling was selfish."

"Stop playing the martyr. You found yourself on the losing end of the battle and are doing your best to save face." For a moment Miranda wondered if she ever sounded this way over the years.

Petrovsky looked at the table almost resigned to his defeat, his eyes open and unable to be seen, but it was what he muttered next that punched Miranda right in her gut. "If only your father had agreed to our request for additional funding, perhaps we might have been more successful on the eve of the Reaper arrival."

Instantly Miranda's pupils shrunk, the simple mention of her father brought about a reactive hate she had had for the man since she was a teenager. But it was something about this sentence compared to the others Petrovsky uttered that made her take notice.

"What are you implying, Oleg?"

"I'm not implying anything, my dear Miss Lawson." By now Oleg's face had returned to look Miranda's head on, "As long as you worked for us, your father never stopped funding Cerberus."

"You're a terrible liar."

"A terrible liar because I tell the truth."

He leaned in, feeling the atmosphere in the room shift to his side. "You ran away from your father into Cerberus' arms for protection, and the Illusive Man told you exactly what you wanted to hear."

"Ridiculous. I was privy to documents-"

"That were chosen by The Illusive Man himself. You should know how easy it is to forge documents, funnel money from location to location. We let people see what we want them to see."

While Miranda's mind raced back to all the times she looked into the various accounts, Petrovsky continued, "You were one of Cerberus' best operatives, that I will never deny. But to believe that you were worth The Illusive Man sacrificing the financial backing of your father?" Oleg chuckled slightly to emphasize how massive such a decision would be, "even your twenty years of loyal service couldn't equal that."

Not relenting he continued, "When you came to Cerberus, your father did withdraw his support. At first. But some coaxing and inflating of egos mended that relationship quickly thereafter. I may be a martyr, but I am not a narcissist like Henry Lawson."

"But-"

Petrovsky brought his hands to his face to scratch his beard again. "Your father was a brilliant man, but like all men of his stature they craved the praise of others, especially those considered his equal among his social circle. The Illusive Man can act humble when necessary. Knowing you were excelling in the organization simply cemented his contribution to humanity on two different fronts. I believe the common term is that the Illusive Man was 'having his cake and eating it too.' "

"Yet Oriana remained safe for so long..." Miranda's voice was weaker, confidence decaying the more this set in.

"Your sister? Henry was simply informed that you hid her among a colony world, far away while telling no one of your actions. The batarians were so relentless at the time with their slave raids, it would be near impossible to know where she was placed. A simple lie that worked so well."

Petrovsky was now in control of the situation but he pitied how quickly she had succumbed to the information.

"Then Niket...her family moving...he deliberately-"

"A necessary decision on The Illusive Man's part that would have bore fruit either way. Either you succeeded in stopping her returning to your father, cementing your loyalty to him for continuing to keep her safe, or your anger and desire to rescue her again would fuel a survival instinct against the Collectors, focusing you on anything Cerberus needed as they helped you 'look' for your sister."

"I've heard enough of these lies, we're done here."

He looked across the table as Miranda's naturally pale face lost even more color. Her eyes quickly looked to the one-way screen in a belief that Traynor would get the hint. The young specialist wasn't privy to the conversation inside but would know when to call for the guards to end this meeting.

Afterwards Miranda simply stared at Petrovsky with a blank face.

"I must confess your simple acceptance of the matter is rather surprising. Looking for comfort from a replacement father figure? Is your own ego similar to your father's?"

Perfect teeth grind against one another just like any other teeth, and it was all Miranda could do as Petrovsky continued his revelation. Just as she pushed her chair back to dismiss herself, he continued.

"I feel that this verbal victory is a hollow one. Really, my dear, I know you are one of the most perfect humans in existence, but to believe you were worthy of the billions of credits that your father would have given up?"

His face changed from a taunting manner to a final, stern look of disgust, "you used your father's money to bring John Shepard back to life. Someone who the Illusive Man truly deemed worth that investment."

Miranda lost control in a way she never had before, her biotic abilities channeled as she slammed a fist down onto the table, collapsing it under the weight of the blow. Cleft in two she moved from her seat to the smiling Petrovsky as a wave of biotic energy detonated from her moving person.

Traynor watched from outside as the event unfolded, the biotic wave hitting the wall and the window, fracturing but not shattering the glass and it's electrical components. Looking on after blinking her eyes she watched in shock as her XO had slammed the Cerberus general into the wall. As Miranda's arm pushed into his throat her scream could be heard from outside. "You're a bloody liar!"

Unable to say anything other that surprised gasps and a flailing of her hands, pointing to the interrogation room, Traynor quickly waved to the two guards a few steps down the hall for them to intervene, but they were already on their way after seeing (and hearing) the glass crack.

Inside Miranda screamed in a way that caught her own self off guard. "You think it's a joke what I went through?! What I gave up? I was worth that sacrifice!"

A loud crack was heard just as the guards entered the room screaming at the Normandy XO, disruptor ammo armed and ready to stop this assault by force.

"So he's talking to me on his omnitool as he's propped underneath this walkway in the Presidium, looking down his scope at that stupid bottle you and Garrus placed for God knows how long at this point, and he asks me if I can come help him out."

"To do what?"

"Bring him something to eat."

"You've got to be kidding, we have rations on us all the time."

"I told him that!" Ashley said with a strong confirmation as Shepard looked down upon the garden just below the Petitioner's Stage, smiling at the story of Vega and his assignment. "He said if he looked away he might miss the shot, so I should come feed him by hand."

"That doesn't go over well..."

"And I told him that too!" It had been too long since the two had just swapped stories like this, reminiscent of their time in the hangar of the Normandy SR-1. "So I tell him, 'James, just order some delivery, a job's never been important enough for you to not do that.' "

"I think I can see where this is going..."

Ashley leaned her elbows against the rails as her hands started to illustrate Vega's plan. "So he calls ten different restaurants to deliver to him, telling them there's a big tip if they can get there in ten minutes. So you have all these hovercars now flying over to a specific spot looking for whatever landmark he said to stop at-"

"Causing enough of a traffic jam so he can make the shot from his hiding spot."

"Exactly."

A slow clap of genuine appreciation at the Lieutenant's thoughtfulness echoed in the hall. "EDI told me he made the shot a few hours ago, but said I wouldn't like how he did it. But that's pretty smart thinking. It's either about endurance or looking outside the box."

"Well, he charged all the delivery fees to your account."

"Ah. Of course." Now Shepard's mind was thinking of a few ways to punish this unexpected fee. He easily had the credits to cover such a maneuver, but despite James' attempts to the contrary, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

"He claims that by using your information every restaurant in the Citadel would want to impress you with their service."

Acting a bit pompous at the flattery, Shepard pretended to look at his fingernails, despite his hands being covered in his armored gloves. "Well, when you put it that way, how could the savior of the galaxy be so offended by his follower..."

"Oh Lord, not this again," Ashley held her head in shame as Traynor's voice popped into Shepard's earpiece.

"Captain Shepard?!"

"Traynor, what's up?"

"It's Miss Lawson. She's currently being held by Alliance officials for assaulting a prisoner at these coordinates."

Shepard's omnitool registered the location yet his face remained neutral. Ashley saw the map appear in orange hue around his arm, wondering what exactly was happening. "If this is some elaborate joke you and Joker are pulling, it's the wrong day, Specialist."

"Sir, I know full when and where to mock my superior and I assure you this is not it. She's also being held for-"

"Traynor, delay them, tell them I'm on my way."

Shepard quickly ended his conversation as the hand that pressed the back of his ear now pointed to the Tower elevator. "Ash, let's go."

Miranda found herself in a holding cell all her own. Damage to the interrogation room and Petrovsky's face aside, once she was pried off her former colleague she offered no fight to the soldiers. They were simply doing their jobs. Before she was transported to a detention cell two levels up she was able to read Traynor's lips that Shepard was on his way.

Her mind though of her training and plans to deal with situations just like this. She could escape the omnishackles easily. It would fry her own omnitool but it could be easily replaced.

Escaping the facility could be done just as quickly, provided she chose to forcefully subdue those who got in her way. Two years ago she wouldn't have thought twice about such a maneuver if she truly feared reprisal from the Alliance.

Despite her contributions to keeping humanity safe over the years, Cerberus was more than willing to reveal her more...clandestine operations after she left the organization, mixed in with deliberate fabrications to gather ire against Miranda and essentially ferret her out of any potential hiding locations over the last twelve months.

Miranda's thoughts of breaking out ended as her cell door opened, the lone visitor she expected made his presence known with his first gentle boot step into the cell.

"Smile," It was the only thing she said as her eyes remained closed with her head continuing to lean against the wall as she sat in the room's lone chair. Miranda knew she would be in constant surveillance and out of spite refused to provide her captors with anything to watch. No movement, no motive, no accusations.

Shepard's footsteps contained both a grace and a weight to them that defied his figure, thanks to the N7 training. He was familiar to being under watch himself, albeit in a much nicer boarding. Still, standard Alliance surveillance was nothing if not predictable.

He moved to the obvious camera in the right corner, twisting it around gently and unplugging the lens from the cable that ran into the room. With his other hand free the Spectre's omnitool was pointed at the light source illuminating the room directly above, a quick loss of electricity was accompanied by a dropping blip of sound that indicated the secondary camera was offline. Finally he returned to the strike side of the door, quickly shorting the coin shaped listening device aimed just towards the center of the room, hidden among the metal trim that butted itself together in uniform fashion.

With the final piece removed Miranda spoke freely. "They're going to send someone down here to check out what you just did."

"Let them. Ashley's right outside to give us time. Besides, Spectre authority." Miranda's eyes opened up as she felt Shepard kiss her forehead softly, letting her know it was clear to talk for the next few minutes.

When her eyes opened she saw Shepard kneeling on one knee, a concerned look on his face, almost mixed with pity as he gently rubbed her left knee. She wanted to lash out at him for looking at her so, but knew she had no leg to stand on. If the situation was reversed she would probably offer the same look. Relationships.

"Do you feel better?"

It was something Miranda didn't expect to hear, not initially. Perhaps a mocking lecture about the Alliance codes of conduct, but not a feeling of empathy. It shouldn't have surprised her though, coming from Shepard.

"Petrovsky. While everyone else was celebrating I thought it would be a good time to look for information on the adjutant experiments he allowed on Omega and their connection to Eden Prime. I should have left it at that, but I decided to gloat a little too much."

"Don't worry about it. Now that you can admit you have a problem you're on your way to recovery."

"Ass." Miranda couldn't help but smile at his attempt at levity.

"He brought up some information regarding my time in Cerberus. Personal information, the kind that only The Illusive Man knew about. Things...did not go well after that."

"From what I can tell. A broken jaw with a concussion, nice work. Plus a bill for a new one-way window and table." Shepard lifted himself up, taking Miranda's hand lightly to motion for her to rise as well.

"You're being very accepting of this, it's making me feel a bit awkward."

"If you could handle Jack's insults for seven months and not tear into her, Petrovsky must have really deserved it. Some people just need to be punched."

"God, you're good at talking."

"Oh, is that all I'm good at?"

Shepard pulled her close as she still kept her arms in front of her, both resisting her lover's gesture yet at the same time welcoming it as her hands grabbed hard against the collar of his armor.

"My father was an evil, manipulative bastard, John."

"I know, Miri."

"...so was the Illusive Man."

Despite the assassination attempts and the depths the Illusive Man turned to in the last year, there was still a sense of respect given to the person whose ideals matched her own for all those years. In some weird sense the attempts on her life simply became a business decision, something that just came with the territory. Only upon knowing the Illusive Man's indoctrination aboard the Citadel did she finally realize how far he fell. But it was these revelations delivered by Petrovsky that erased any held respect, filling her heart with an anger that constantly ignited the more she thought about her past.

Shepard tilted his head down slightly in order to make Miranda look in his eyes, hoping to get something more out of her than vague insults that seemed to do very little to settle her nerves.

As her eyes met his there was anger, the kind that seemed self-imposed to keep Miranda from crying, absolutely refusing to let her body succumb to that. Her eyes then went into a thousand meter stare, in a way begging for something to take her mind off what she had just discovered.

Shepard could sense this and again kissed her forehead, lingering his face against hers to snap her out of it.

"Let's get out of here and you can tell me whatever he said. Or not. It doesn't matter."

Miranda pushed away from the embrace as she used her hands to straighten out her slightly mussed hair before looking at his sincere face. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Of course. Whatever you need, I'll do it. Or I'll find it. Or shoot it."

It was only natural for Miranda to feel defensive around those she trusted right now, doubt can easily spread into other areas of a person's life with revelations like these. Petrovsky's last words to her still echoed in her mind. He had been worth all that money, all that time. She was worth nothing but a lie, a lie that probably became more humorous to the Illusive Man as time went on. How could she not hold a grudge upon discovering this?

Yet looking into Shepard's eyes, all she saw was love. A love that immediately smothered the doubt in her mind as effortlessly as she would place a hand to his cheek or a kiss on his lips. No, this man truly was special. Not only to the galaxy but to her.

"Thank you," Miranda said quietly in a satiated sigh as she squeezed his hand in affection. With that the two quietly stepped out of the cell as they heard Ashley calmly tell off her fellow marines she was blocking from interrupting their conversation.

I have a feeling that revelation might upset some people, but one thing we learn over the series is The Illusive Man always had other things in motion, and always knew how to make things look one way simply to get them on his side, such as stocking the SR-2 with the best faces of Cerberus. I almost expected this to be revealed during the Sanctuary mission, as it's an important factor whether Miranda survived ME2 or not.

In that respect, it would definitely make sense that he would do everything he could to both have Miranda as an operative while maintaining Henry's resources. When you also take in how demanding Miranda's upbringing was, she would also, on an almost subconscious level, not even think to suspect The Illusive Man as long as he maintained this aura of truth, the ultimate Good Cop/Bad Cop routine. You just have to remember that here is a desperate teen on the run with her infant sister trying to deal with a man who was in charge of a highly organized black ops cell and master manipulator.