Canon through Mass Effect, following the Jack and Miranda fight, which Shepard solved using paragon, thus the two calling a truce.
Operation Overlord
Shepard led them down the dark and increasingly creepy hallways, toward what ever god awful menace the VI had planned for them. Miranda considered herself a level headed individual, but the screaming of the VI through every possible technical interface was truly disconcerting. When Shepard had tapped her to go along to investigate Operation Overlord, her trepidation was only hightened when she learned Jack was also to be joining them. The little civility between them already hung by a thread, and then to put yet another rogue Cerberus base into the mix? Miranda was seriously starting to question Shepard's judgement when it came to one Subject Zero. And as they wound through the mischevious maze being laid out before them, Miranda could feel the rage forming in her squadmate by the second. She only hoped Jack could focus that rage on getting the VI offline rather than be distracted by her already poisoned opinion of Miranda. It wasn't until Shepard was suddenly taken over by the VI and suddenly separated from the two that Miranda really felt this "team" was about to become unravelled.
Jack darted toward the door just as it snapped shut, cutting her off from Shepard. Her slight panic turned to angry in the blink of an eye, and the sight of her most hated teammate standing helpless beside her only bolstered her fury. "What the fuck is this, Miranda?"
Of course her suspicions immediately went to Miranda. The Brunette scoffed and threw her arms to her sides. "How should I know? Clearly this is the VI's doing!"
"It's Cerberus, isn't it? Don't try and act all innocent!"
Miranda paced in frustration of not only Shepard disappearing but also the infuriating hot head she was left stuck with. "Yes, an AI that went rogue! It was Cerberus that sent us here to fix it, or does your conveniently selective memory not recall that part?!"
Jack threw her hands up questioningly. "Well I don't fuckin know, I don't trust any of you Cerberus assholes to tell the fuckin truth! For all I know, this is a goddam set up!"
Miranda put her hand on her hip and leaned on one foot. "A set up to what, pray tell, to lure the human we spent two years and billions of credits to literally bring back from the dead only to kill her again? Or perhaps it was for you, Subject Zero, whom we went out of our way to free from cryogenic prison when we could have killed while you were so conveniently getting freezer burnt? Brilliant, as always."
Jack got up in Miranda's face, blue fist hovering in the brunette's face "Don't you fuckin call me that, bitch or I swear to GOD!"
Finally Miranda took a breath, realizing that this bickering would get them no closer to getting to Shepard and shutting this facility down. She put her hands up into submission, one still holding the pistol. "Look," she breathed, closing her eyes and licking her lips. "We don't have to like each other. Or even trust in each other. But we do need to work together to help Shepard. She's the one common denominator between us. We both trust her and she put us together for some ungodly reason on this mission. So I suggest that we put this aside...again...for Shepard and figure out a way out of this mess. Together."
Jack quelled her anger for a moment long enough to listen to what Miranda said. Goddam it, she was right. Fuck! "Shit. Alright, fine. But it doesn"t mean I fuckin trust you. Just...For Shepard."
Miranda sighed in relief and nodded, even slightly smiling as Jack lowered her fist and let the blue biotic fade. "Alright," she muttered, out of breath. "Good." She slowly caught her breath after the tense exchange and started looking around.
"So? Now what?" Jack ungritted her teeth and tried to make the best of this increasingly shitty situation. It was hard to think with that damned AI screaming every few seconds.
Miranda had already fired up her omnitool. "Well, this door has been so heavily fortified with tech, it would take days to hack it. But there are other doors. Look around, see what you can find. I'll see if any of these others can be hacked."
Jack huffed at being bossed around by the Cerberus bitch, but couldn't deny that she was one smart cookie. I mean, she would most definitely deny thinking it. That was her own thought. Instead of coming up with some backhanded comment, she simply activated her omnitool and started scanning the area. For Shepard's sake. Not because snot bag Miranda asked her to.
It wasn't long before Jack announced, "Got something." She brought up a schematic as Miranda came over to see what she had found. "Looks like blueprints."
Miranda squinted and reached over to thumb through the holographic image emitting from Jack's omnitool. "Its the layout of the facility. We may not be able to get through this door, but it seems ther's an alternate route...here," she had to lean closer to Jack to point to the area of interest.
Jack felt Miranda's shoulder against her own, and startled at the warmth. She stiffened immediately and promptly shoved Miranda off her and shot the woman her best look of disgust.
Perhaps it was the relief that they found a way to get to Shepard, or maybe it was the clear obviously forced show of annoyance from Jack, but Miranda ignored the rudeness and simply smiled. "Well done, Jack."
She hesitated only a moment. "Fuck off," she spat before turning to the door that would bring them to Shepard and hopefully, away from eachother.
Miranda chuckled to herself before joining Jack at the door. "This door isn't fortified like the other. But its still virtually unhackable."
Jack thought for a moment. "Not as fortified, as in..." she let her hands light up, biotics sizzling.
Miranda thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes. It's too strong for one of us, but perhaps..." she paused to look up and find brown eyes peering at her in feigned annoyance.
"Let me guess...together?"
Miranda nodded and stood more erect. "Indeed. Together."
Jack chuckled and shook her head as she faced the door. "Well, fuck me sideways. Fuck it. Together. For Shepard." She made sure toninclude that last part.
They found nothing in the means of defenses except for the door lock outs the VI had thrown up. But there were so many doors, and the heavy use of biotics was weighing on both of them. Halfway through, Jack began counting down how many doors were left to blast through before they got to the main chamber, where they could only hope to find Shepard.
Jack and Miranda both collapsed to one knee, gasping for air. There had been so many doors, 20 or so, and they were well past the point of trying to prove who was the stronger biotic. Jack was struggling, her lungs burning but managed to get out, "Last door. Should be through here."
Miranda just nodded and sucked for air, neither her or Jack ready for the next surge. It wasn't until the sound of rifle fire came quietly rattling through the door that they finally held their breath and paused. They simply looked at eachother and said in unison: "Shepard."
They came busting through the door in a tumble, stumbling to their feet with pistols raised. But thankfully for them, the battle was over. They looked to see Shepard gazing up with a bewildered look on her face. They took their place at Shepard's side and looked up.
Miranda felt her stomach churn. It was a young boy. Strewn up there like a scarecrow. Tubes coming out of...everywhere. tortured. And for what? She became all too aware of exactly what Cerberus was capable of. She could tiptoe around it all she wanted, but this was who they were. Strung in her face like this, she had no choice but to accept the truth:Cerberus was evil. She fought tears as she watched the boy struggle, unable to even blink his eyes. It was a flash, and suddenly it wasn't a skinny brother up there. It was a young girl. It was Jack. Stolen from her family and any semblance of a childhood or normal life. It suddenly became clear to Miranda that she had gotten it oh so wrong that day on Pragia. She thought Jack the monster. Jack the freak. Jack the convict. But she was the victim. Jack had tried to explain but Miranda simply didn't listen. A throng of guilt and sorrow overtook her as she had to pry her eyes away from the harrowing scene before her. She reluctantly looked over at Jack. The rage and disgust was evident. But Miranda looked closer and she saw pity and sorrow in Jack's eyes. To this day she still won't admit to the tear she saw forming, only to be sucked back in by the sheer will of the incredibly strong woman beside her. She barely registered the conversation going on between Shepard and the boy's brother. But as she looked-finally looked at Jack for the first time, she would not have objected if Jack wanted to kill him with her bare hands. But as the woman, instead of lashing out, simply looked down and let Shepard decide his fate, Miranda finally realized that for the first time in her perfect existance, she had been utterly, undoubtedly wrong about the convict. And she undoubtedly needed to make it right.
