"Are you all right?"
"Where are you?"
The words were uttered at the same moment after the comm link opened, showing each of them a holographic image of the other. It had barely been a month since their all too brief rendezvous on the Citadel, but Evan looked as though she had aged years: face drawn, eyes shadowed. She looked even worse than Miranda felt.
"How many ribs?" she demanded sharply. She knew that body as well as she knew her own, knew by the way that Shepard was holding herself what the likely injury was.
"Three," Evan replied dismissively. "They're healing. Where are you? I could come to -"
"No," Miranda cut her off decisively. "I can't stay in one place for long. I'm dodging Cerberus assassins." A lot of Cerberus assassins, and as much as she wanted to lose herself in the sight of the woman before her, a large portion of her awareness was tuned outward, alert for the slightest sound or vibration in the air that should not be there.
Emerald eyes grew nearly incandescent with fury, then cooled to chips of green ice. "Should be a few less of them now."
"I heard about the attack. I don't know what he's thinking." She'd followed report after report in recent months, her appalled disbelief growing with each incident, but the most recent had been breathtaking in its insanity. Cerberus trying to take over the Citadel? It was as though the Illusive Man was trying to obliterate all the gains made by humanity in the destruction of Sovereign and the Collectors.
"He's lost his fucking mind," Evan snarled. "Udina turned traitor … hell, maybe he was one all along. The son of a bitch tried to use Ash, told her that I was the one working with Cerberus. We damn near shot each other, and..." She trailed off, the wounded, haunted look back in her eyes. "Thane's dead."
Oh, God. "Evan, I'm sorry." Shepard had grown to like the stoic assassin, admired his skill, his control, his desire to atone for the sins of his past. "What happened?"
"Cerberus was trying to assassinate the Council," Evan replied tonelessly. "The Salarian councilor was the one who tipped me off about Udina moving large sums of money that he shouldn't have had. I think maybe that's what triggered the attack; they knew he was about to be exposed. They sent an assassin after her; a professional. The name Kai Leng mean anything to you?"
Miranda felt her heart stutter, terror trying to blossom in her chest. "That bastard's still slithering around?"
Evan nodded. "Slither's a good word," she agreed grimly. "Never saw anyone move like that. He's the one who broke my ribs. Thane took him on, kept him busy long enough for us to get the councilor away, but the bastard ran him through with a monoblade. They didn't have any drell blood at the hospital. Kolyat donated, but it wasn't enough. The Kepral's … it was just too much for his body to handle." Green eyes dropped in sorrow. "He died a hero. And he got to see his son one last time … but Leng got away."
"Evan, stay away from him." Miranda could shoot the head off a mech at a hundred yards, but Kai Leng was unmatched at close combat, using a monomolecular blade and biotics in deadly combination.
Shepard shook her head. "The bastard is mine," she vowed. "Anderson sent me a dossier on him -"
"Anderson doesn't know the half of it," Miranda warned her. "He's former N7, but the things that Cerberus has done to him, the enhancements, the training... He's dangerous, Evan."
"So am I." Miranda knew it was true, but it did nothing to quell the rising fear.
"You have boundaries, things you won't do. Kai Leng doesn't. Stay away from him, Evan. Promise me."
Shepard's face tightened with stubborn anger. "Only if you promise to stop looking for Oriana and come back to the Normandy."
"I can't do that!" she responded, stung by the request. "Ori is -"
"Your sister," Evan finished for her, calm again. "Your family. You can't turn away from that. I know. But Thane was one of mine, and that bastard killed him. I won't turn away from that. He'll be back, and he won't surprise me again. What have you found out about Oriana?"
The change of subject meant that the matter of Kai Leng was closed. Miranda didn't like it, but there wasn't a damn thing she could do but pray to whatever higher powers might be listening that her lover's luck and skill would continue to hold.
"My father definitely has her," she replied, trying hard to make the words just another report instead of the soul-rending knowledge that they were. "I don't know where yet, but there's something else." She drew a breath, pushed ahead. "I think that he's working with Cerberus on something. Something big."
"Your father working with Cerberus?" She could see Evan turning the words over in her mind, pondering the implications. Likely she would soon reach the conclusion that Miranda was still fighting against.
"He's desperate to preserve his legacy," Miranda told her, sneering the last word. "There's not much he won't do for that goal. I just don't know what they're up to yet."
"Nothing good," Shepard predicted. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just be on the lookout for anything that might point me in the right direction." She still had many of her contacts, still had her analytic skills, but Cerberus had apparently figured out that she was using Shepard's Spectre codes, and tapping into the extranet for any length of time inevitably drew the hounds. The number of her pursuers, and the intensity of their pursuit, indicated that she was getting close to something.
Evan nodded. "I'll have Liara and Traynor keep their eyes and ears open."
"Traynor?" Miranda tried to keep the edge from her voice. "Is that the little Oxford tart?"
"Oxford tart?" Shepard looked baffled. "Sam's a communications specialist, but how'd you know that -" She broke off, staring at Miranda, a slow smile spreading on her face. "Miss Lawson, are you jealous?"
That smile did more to still her insecurities than any number of impassioned denials. "I'm jealous of anyone who can reach out and touch you any time they want," she replied honestly.
Evan's face softened. "Don't be," she said gently. "Sam's a good kid and good at what she does. She's been giving Cerberus fits intercepting their transmissions and figuring out their plans, but I don't need a bedwarmer. I need you."
"I … need you, too," Miranda admitted, then cursed silently as one of her alert algorithms signaled that her connection was close to being targeted. "I have to go."
Evan nodded. "We'll try to keep the bastards busy enough that they don't have time to bother you," she promised. "Just be careful."
"You too." It wasn't a promise that either of them could realistically make, but Miranda no longer rebuffed the request, or held back from requesting the same. It was as close as she could come to the words that she didn't yet dare speak aloud. She ended the link, but there was no time to sit and wax melancholy over her lover's absence. Tucking the OSD into the small pack that held all her possessions, she shouldered the bag and headed out in search of a crowd to blend into, hunting and being hunted.