The Illusive Man

I closed the latest report from Lawson and took a long drag of my cigarette, followed by a sip of my whiskey after releasing the smoke. My frustration from these reports might lead me to attempt Hallex to settle my nerves from these reports. Yes, Shepard is making progress securing the loyalty of his team and removing more tumors from my galaxy like the Ardat-Yakshi. Yet while I can rest assured that Lawson's ultimate loyalties continue to remain with me, the open animosity between her and Shepard endanger the mission. This cannot be solved by simply telling the two to get along. No, that's impossible. What I need is an event that will grow trust between the two. A working relationship where they can truly set their differences aside.

The best course of action? Shepard needs to see a side of Lawson that she'd never openly or willingly show except under dire circumstances to humanize her as opposed to the 'Cheerleader,' as Subject Zero puts it. And Lawson needs Shepard to help her out of a dire situation, just as Cerberus did. And so long as she continues to doubt the validity of the Commander's history with my organization, her ultimate loyalty should, by all accounts, remain with Cerberus.

Yes… this should be more than sufficient. Oriana. Currently on Illium, still living with her foster family. Lawson's personal network to keep an eye on her has been enough to throw Henry off in the past. But I have access to her network, considering I've supplied her with more than a few of her contacts. Contacting and informing Henry Lawson as to his perfected wayward daughter's location, and providing enough information on the net cast by his imperfect daughter to cause a blackout should be trivial. No, this is almost perfect. I can't have Shepard being distracted every other week as Henry hunts her down. I need it leaked to Henry, but through a contact. One that might be hesitant to reveal more. It would be simple to work in a thanks to Cerberus. Yes, Niket. Close to Miranda, a tie to her old life. He would want it done peacefully, quietly. He'd can be the leak, while withholding exact information. A partition of EDI can discreetly calculate the best timing to have Lawson tipped off while Henry puts his pawns in place, allowing for the Normandy to arrive and rescue Oriana. Not only should this cement a layer of trust between Lawson and the Commander, providing this information to Henry should return a sizable investor to Cerberus' fold. While maintaining enough plausible deniability of my double play.

True, EDI could be considered a risk for leaking this information if it calculates the data, but putting a block on the information and memory of it would be simpler than having it calculate in the first place. The only potential for a leak sprouts from the removal of the physical blockers. And between the Commander's own memories of the Geth, and the fact he's bedding the Quarian, they'd all sooner destroy EDI than free it.

Miranda Lawson

Two days ago, Shepard had assisted Samara with her fugitive, and I had pressed him for at least enough information to fill a report for The Illusive Man. Unfortunately, that questioning had to wait until first thing the following morning. Reluctantly, he had complied. I hadn't heard of Ardat-Yakshi before. I can admit that the Commander's mental fortitude is both impressive and fortunate. I admit, part of me can't help but wonder if his relationship with the Quarian helped. Since the questioning, Shepard both received and accomplished a request from Admiral Hackett. The Alliance had recently raided a Blood Pack communications/mining outpost near Illium in retaliation for a period of raids on Human colonies and freighters. And the comms outpost gave them a lead for a Blood Pack base of operations and Vorcha breeding grounds. That was too deep in Terminus for the alliance to strike at, so naturally, Hackett requested that Shepard take the Normandy and infiltrate the outpost from the chasm beside the base and detonate the nuclear reactor. As expected, I was not selected for the ground team, and I further find myself resigned as little more than a clerk aboard this ship. The shuttle is already returning with Shepard and his team, and it's time for the second of my daily check ins with Oriana. The moment the clock struck seven PM; I received a wave of notifications from my Omni-tool. Eight all clears. Two have not checked in. One is not unusual, and they likely check in moments later. But two? That is disturbing. Very disturbing. Hopefully they will check in shortly.

Commander John Shepard

We returned to the ship, mission accomplished, and Hackett already informed. Quick and easy. The only unusual thing was that as soon as we had disembarked, EDI informed me that Miranda was asking that I go to her office. And that it was important. Strange, but fine. I'll get out of my armor afterwards. When I entered Miranda's office, she was pacing back and forth behind her desk. Her usual effort to hide emotions that weren't anger or contempt, and replaced with what was at the very least extreme nervousness, or borderline panic attack.

"Shepard," she started, realizing I had entered, and fighting to regain some of her composure. "I'm sorry. I find- I'm in- damn it," she cut herself off. "I need your help. It's a personal matter, but it's drastic."

"What's happened?" I asked. In full honesty, I was suspicious of even this. A nagging sensation that this was an act or ploy on her part. But, being honest with myself, I know that might just be paranoia. I'm already inclined to believe anything negative about her anyway. But I'll hear her through.

"You remember what I told you of my father? Building a Dynasty? I went to Cerberus for protection beyond just myself." She began pacing again. "I have a twin sister and my father is still hunting her. Cerberus kept her safe and helped me build my own network to keep an eye on her and keep her safe. She's living a normal life on Illium, safe and hidden from our father, but some of my contacts have gone dark for far longer than has ever been normal. Not only does this have to mean my father knows, but he's breached my network. Until now, I've done everything possible to keep her hidden without impacting her life, but I'm out of options. I need to relocate her and her family before it's too late."

"Is the family ready to relocate?"

"The family knows nothing. Completely uninvolved, completely normal. But Cerberus is fabricating a positive reason for them to move of their own volition."

"And your sister. Why didn't she join Cerberus with you? Has she been able to keep things quiet?" I asked. Miranda sighed, looking out the window.

"She is my genetic, identical twin, Shepard. But I didn't flee my father hand in hand with my sister, but with her as a baby in my arms. She deserves a normal life and I will do anything and everything to make sure that's exactly what she gets." Hm, right. There isn't actually a mother, she's just a female, perfected clone of her father. Figures that the sister is just a 'newer model,' as fucking weird as that is to say about people.

"So what do you need?" I may hate her guts, but if this is the truth, it's all to keep a kid out of the hands of an absolute egotistical creepy tyrant of a man. She took another deep breath, allowing relief to peer through.

"I need to go to Illium immediately. I need to be there personally while Cerberus moves my family and keep his agents at bay."

"Then Joker will set course. Should arrive sometime tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Shepard."

Commander John Shepard

Surprisingly, or perhaps not all that surprising, once again our docking fees were waived, courtesy of Liara, and in the same docking complex as before. Miranda's contact was an Asari named Lanteia and would be meeting us at the lounge on the trading floor, Eternity. We would only be getting one Skycar to use to keep things inconspicuous, so that did limit my options for the team. Garrus is a must have, as is Miranda of course, since this is her mission. I'd say that leaves us covered for both tech and firepower. True, Miranda is a capable biotic, but aside from that being just one of us, she's also not a dedicated biotic. Hence, Samara.

The four of us hurried along to eternity and I allowed Miranda to lead the way. Miranda had requested I give them minimal information, and, this once, I'll respect her request. All they know is that Miranda's younger sister is being tracked by their fucked up dad and we're making sure they relocate safely. We entered the lounge, and Miranda led us in a beeline towards the private booths towards the back, and to one with a purple skinned Asari. The moment the doors closed behind us; she spoke.

"Ms. Lawson. Glad you made it. There's a complication. You listed a man named Niket as your trusted source? He contacted me minutes ago, a warning that Eclipse Mercenaries are making a sweep. The VIPs are still safe, at least for the time being. Niket suggested that the mercs are watching for you explicitly and has offered to escort the VIPs to the terminal instead." Niket is a new name to me, but Lawson can keep her secrets. If there's shit she doesn't want to tell me, fine. I'm here to help the kid.

"Is there anything else you can say regarding the Mercenaries?" Lawson asked.

"No. I can confirm that they are Eclipse and are working for the organization you warned us about. If you wish, I can alert the authorities, but the Eclipse have yet to do anything illegal."

"No, their involvement would only further complicate this. We can handle this ourselves. Follow Niket's suggestion. We'll take the car and draw their attention. Have Niket escort them to the shuttle, not just the Terminal, and give him full access to the itinerary, just to be safe," she insisted. Well she trusts this Niket an awful lot.

"Understood, ma'am. Your skycar is waiting at the lot on the other side of the trading floor." Miranda quickly led us out of the booth so Lanteia could probably make a call.

"So, the plan is to get shot down while your sister fly's off then?" Garrus remarked. "Sounds normal enough for us. As bad a sign as that probably is."

"The Eclipse have orders to take her alive. They'll have reason to believe she might be with us. They won't take lethal risks," Lawson responded.

"Well that takes the fun out of it," Garrus feigned a whine. We made our way quickly to the skycar lot and Miranda seemingly already knew precisely which skycar was for us. Naturally, she took the driver's seat.

"Shepard, I know you hate me. But I appreciate this. Eclipse wasn't part of the plan. But you aren't part of theirs," she spoke quietly as the skycar lifted off and she took us on our way. I thought for a moment, releasing a breath.

"I think you're either delusional or simply blinding yourself, Miranda. But I don't hate you. By some definitions, maybe. But not mine. I hate that symbol on your chest piece. And the man behind it even more. You frustrate me to hell and back and sometimes straight up piss me off, but it's not a hate of you."

"Why?" she asked. I thought a moment longer.

"You're not an idiot, Miranda. You wouldn't have gotten where you are or accomplished what you have if you were. You brought me back from the dead for fuck's sake," I chuckled, in spite of myself. "But you've heard me recount the crimes of Cerberus, at least those that I know about, a million and one times. I don't hate you, Miranda, because you believe such actions, such events, are abhorrent and monstrous. What pisses me off, is that for someone so smart, someone who's probably well versed in Espionage, continuously searches desperately for the most paper thin reasoning or tiniest shred of circumstantial evidence to absolve Cerberus of those crimes and pin them on someone or something else instead because you feel like you owe them. You're not in disagreement, you're in denial."

"I…" she began, but paused.

"If you want to argue it with me, fine, I'll let this one happen. But only after we save your sister. Keeping the kid safe is more important right now. Agreed?" Miranda took a deep breath.

"Agreed."

Miranda continued taking us to the spaceport that her sister and her family would be making use of. Not a commercial spaceport, like where the Normandy was docked, but Ilium's Mass Transport hub. There might be smaller ones scattered across the planet. Think of the airports on Earth before Humans gained spaceflight. The airport in Atlanta Georgia was a hub that could get you a direct flight almost anywhere on the planet. And if there was a destination it didn't, it connected right to another hub that would. This is the same thing, except on a Galactic scale. Our trip there, as relatively short as it was, was silent after our little discussion. Until a squadron of Eclipse gunships flew by as the transport hub was coming into view. Nothing needed to be said, but Miranda obviously sped us up significantly. One went down to what appeared to be one of the luggage/cargo areas. Not terribly sure what to call it, honestly.

"Plan of action?"

"They're looking for me? They'll find me. I'm setting down behind the gunship," Miranda began as the gunship began offloading mercs. "In cover. Hopefully they really do want me alive," she remarked. Miranda arced the skycar down, the mercs noticing rather quickly.

And opening fire. Cursing, Miranda arced the skycar back up as something broke, the skycar staggering and beginning to plummet as, hopefully a good sign, the Eclipse stopped shooting. But we were quite clearly crashing. On the plus side, we crashed more or less where we intended, with the car right-side up. There were still crates

"Thanks fate. Very convenient," I muttered as the skycar doors opened and we launched out and into the cover of the cargo and shipping containers in the area. Well, Garrus and I did, but Miranda and Samara stood, Miranda slowly approaching. I glanced up over cover to see that a man in Eclipse uniform, an officer of some degree. And he gestured for his mercs to lower their weapons.

"You're not shooting. So you know who I am," Miranda called out. Gingerly, I stood from my own cover. I certainly wouldn't complain about the fact that the gunship was now taking off and leaving.

"Yeah, said you'd be around. Must be the bitch that kidnapped our client's little girl." Miranda scoffed.

"Of course that's the lie he told you. This is a family matter. Take your men and leave." The Eclipse officer grinned, confident.

"Think you got it all sorted, do you? We're already moving in on the kid. We know about Niket, he won't be helping you." Well, just go and lay out all your cards why don't you? "Nobody's going to get killed unless you all do stupid shit."

"My sister won't endure what I had to. Leave." Miranda warned. The officer crossed his arms over his chest.

"I was ordered to give you one chance to walk away. But this whole time, my men have been lining up their shots." He was stepping awfully close to Miranda. And in the back, I could see a squad of Eclipse with snipers, curiously on the same level as we were. And far to the left, a crane moving what looks to be a fuel container. It'll go right over their heads. "I give the word, and we unleash hell on your squad. So, you leave." Now.

"Grab him," I ordered through squad comms as I began dumping my entire clip into the crane. Miranda pistol whipped the officer, using the momentum to take him and use him as a meat shield. The crane released the fuel while Miranda, with her meat shield, gunned down the Eclipse mercs that remained close to their officer. Slapping in another clip, I opened fire on the fuel canister, igniting it right behind the snipers, the explosion killing the four of them, one just being blasted far towards us, a leg torn off in the blast. A Salarian between us and the snipers, considering one was blasted right beside him, appeared to start rethinking his life decisions. Before anything could come of it, however, he was enveloped in biotics and nearly flattened into a pancake against a nearby wall, courtesy of Samara. Well, that's the first squad taken care of. Miranda led us forward, past where the snipers had been, and around the corner. It appears that the detonation had blasted one of the merc's helmets around the corner, and its comms unit was intact, trying to broadcast to the now unresponsive team. No one needed to say anything, the boon was obvious, Miranda retrieving the comm unit and patching us in. Nothing important being said yet.

"Just how old is your sister now?" I asked. Are we saving a child? A teen? Young adult?

"Nearly nineteen. I'm sorry, too many would use her against me, I have a habit of leaving her as a strictly need-to-know. I should have just told you."

"And why exactly did you take her?" Garrus asked.

"I'm not the first 'daughter' that my father made, just the first he kept. Oriana was my replacement. I was completely isolated from the outside world. No friends, impossible demands with physical punishments for failure."

"You know, sometimes I think the Normandy isn't so much a crew as it is a large group of people with daddy issues," Garrus remarked.

"Both of my parents were Asari," Samara stated calmly.

"See? Not even Samara has a father! Let alone a good relationship with one!" I admit I couldn't help but smirk. And… I think even Samara found humor.

"So, new plan?" I asked Miranda.

"Here, this should be an elevator," she gestured at a nearby door, already starting to approach. She continued speaking as the doors opened, proving her right and she selected a floor. "I reviewed the specs of the entire complex. We need to cut through the cargo processing yard to get to Oriana. If not for our Skycar getting shot down this would be faster."

"And what of Niket? Trust him still?"

"He's the one friend I was ever able to make while under my father, and the only person I didn't cut ties with when I fled, and one of the few who knows what he's truly like. I refuse to believe he'd be complicit in sending Oriana to him. I trusted him with my life when I ran from my father. He won't betray me now." I simply nodded, and the elevator soon came to a stop. There was a conveyor line ahead, cranes carrying large, heavy pieces of cargo, obviously designated for freighters opposed to transports. Need to time our shots, as there were Eclipse on the opposite side. Waiting. There was cover for us, but we had to run up first. Just-

Fuck, my shields up and vanished, an overload, forcing them to cycle and leaving me vulnerable. I dropped to the ground as bullets whizzed overhead, Garrus and Miranda doing the same. Samara didn't technically use shields, her barrier being stronger than any personal shields. Fortunately, she realized we had all hit the ground, so she stopped, and with a wave of her arms, formed a barrier in front of all of us. Letting us get back to our feet and progressing forward to actual cover. The Eclipse tried to break through the barrier, but Christ Samara is powerful. With their ambush thwarted, our job was a lot easier. Samara and Miranda working together to either leave the Eclipse vulnerable, or a biotic detonation to take out the cluster of Eclipse techs that overloaded our shields. The moment they were dead, we pushed on to the next conveyor belt. The Eclipse had a line of LOKI's waiting for us, and beginning their fire. But before our shields collapsed, Samara brought back her barrier and tech attacks from the rest of us made very short work of them. Only a token force of Eclipse waited on the other side of the conveyor, relying more on the mechs for their firepower, and drastically shorthanded without them. Garrus braining one of them, and Miranda simply flinging the other off the platform with her biotics. Finally, the comm unit told us something useful.

"Divert everyone except my personal guard from Niket. I'll handle him and the kid personally." An Asari, the Eclipse Captain Enyala ordered her troops. And now we were closing in on the next elevator, but the remaining Eclipse were making this very tedious for us. Stalling, which is all they needed. They had a lot of tech savvy troops, overloading our shields or harassing us with combat drones. At least there was little they could do to stop the biotics. We were still making progress, but Garrus and I were having a hard time assisting whenever our shields got overloaded. By the time we reached the elevator, another squad was exiting it. Finally allowing Garrus and I to actually shoot since now they were being taken off guard.

"The Eclipse have attempted to slow your advance by locking down the elevators," EDI informed. "I have overridden their attempts." AI cyberwarfare is quite the trump card. As we were taking down the last of the merc's present, Enyala updated her forces again.

"Niket has reached the terminal. He'll switch the family over to our transport and then extract."

"No… they must be tricking him. Or lying to throw us off," Miranda murmured as we ran to the elevator. Miranda inputting the proper destination. I'm guessing either the last layer of the loading bay or even wherever the Eclipse have their transport. "Damn it, why won't thins piece of shit go any faster?!" she exclaimed, slamming on the haptic interface.

"Did he know about Oriana?" I asked.

"No, he only learned recently. It was too personal to involve anyone."

"Miranda…" I was able to stop the groan from becoming evident, but, once again for someone so smart… "You really should have told him long ago. Repeat what you just said to yourself."

"I… I admit I never really thought about it, but he knew my father, Shepard. He'd have to understand! He knows everything I went through."

"You didn't trust him enough to tell him, Miranda. Whatever the justifications, that would have stung. How much do you think he might be questioning?"

"My father is a monster, Shepard! He knows that, I trust him," Miranda glared. Evidently not as much as she claims.

"I hope I'm wrong." The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. Past the doors was an Asari woman, wearing the uniform of the transport hub and holding a data pad mid conversation with another Asari in Eclipse uniform sitting on a crate, and a human man beside the Eclipse. Obviously, that has to be Niket. His clothes looked a bit patchy, but with attempts to make it look nice at least. Work pants, boots, and a worn polo a size or two too large.

"Miri…" Niket spoke quietly, a sad look on his face as he stared at Miranda. The merc, Enyala I'd bet, smirked, sliding off the crate and too her feet.

"This should be fun, as she pulled a Claymore shotgun from her back. I assume modified so that the knockback wouldn't blast her arm off. Garrus and I took aim at the merc, Samara's biotics flaring. Enyala, gave a sideways glance at the worker, who immediately started to bolt for it terrified. She smirked, and began turning her Claymore to the side. No you fucking don't. Commence mag dump.

"Shit!" Enyala exclaimed as she stopped her attempt at playtime before Garrus joined his gunfire to mine, her barriers broke down, and she was riddled with bullets, falling to the ground.

"Niket... You sold me out," Miranda murmured. Shaking her head. With the Eclipse dead, I lowered my weapon. But not putting it away yet. "Why? After everything, why?"

"You wanted to leave, Miri! That was your choice! I had no idea you were stealing a baby!"

"Steal her?!" Miranda shouted. "I was saving my sister!"

"From a life of health and wealth and happiness? You were getting back at your father," Niket accused.

"Happiness?" Miranda scoffed. "You know him. How'd he turn you?"

"He told me," Niket's voice softened. "He told me that you kidnapped your baby sister all those years ago. They said I could help get her back peacefully, without any trauma to the family. I told them to go to hell, that you would never do such a thing. Then you tell me as much yourself?" Niket shook his head. "I called them back the same night."

"And why not me? Everything we've been through, you could have let me explain!" she exclaimed, cracks in her voice.

"And how could I trust you anymore? You never told me anything about your sister. You never told me you were with a terrorist organization! Instead your father was the first to tell me! For everything about the man that you so fervently hate, why are you so insufferably similar?"

"Don't. Compare. Me. To him. Ever," Miranda murmured.

"All of that aside," I interrupted, trying to keep this from getting too heated. "She's been with this family all her memory."

"But her father can still give her a better life," Niket argued, calming down.

"You don't know what he wants from her," Miranda growled.

"I know that I've been poor, Miri. I didn't exactly care for it. She'll never go sick or hungry."

"She never has! I've seen to that! He wants to take a girl from the only family she's ever known to use as a tool! Doesn't that tell you everything about him?" Miranda shouted again; gun still pointed at Niket.

"How much does her father know?" I asked Niket. He glanced down a moment.

"Only that I knew where she was. I knew you have spy programs in your father's systems, Miri," he started to approach. "So I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows." Miranda paused a moment, a tear going down her face.

"I'm sorry, Niket." Damn it, Miranda don-

A shot rang out. Niket slumped to the floor. The silence was deafening as Lawson returned her pistol to its holster.

"You didn't need to do that," I stated, biting my tongue to keep the fury out. She's a killer.

"You already regret it," Garrus added. Lawson didn't say a word. Just began walking towards the elevator to the public areas, where Oriana's family will probably be waiting.

"I need to check on her," she spoke quietly. Fine. We followed, silently. I leaned against the wall of the elevator. She has utterly disappointed me. Perhaps proven me wrong about some of the good I thought I saw in her. The elevator shortly came to a stop and we exited into a crowd. Clearly, Lawson knew where they would be, and made her way in that direction. Across the crowd, waiting at a terminal and talking to an older man and woman, was the near spitting image of Lawson, dressed as a civilian. Her hair was shorter, she had more of a tan, and she looked happy. Lawson did a visual scan of the terminal, before returning her gaze to her sister. The sad look remaining. "No sign of Eclipse. We… we should go."

"Fine, I grunted, already moving along the paths to the terminal's exits. But Garrus, behind me, I noticed stop Lawson.

"Shepard kept me from the first regret you made today. Don't make this your second. Believe me, I know how badly this one will hurt." Right, he is strained with his family.

"The less she knows about me, the better. She has a family and a life. I'll just complicate it all."

"Then drop the details. But every night I wonder if my family even knows how much I care for them," Garrus argued, still holding her back. I don't know if my little sister knows how much her older brother would do for her. And that's all my fault. If she knows she has an older sister who loves her, it'll only be good for her." Garrus released Lawson. "Make your choice." He turned and followed, Samara, Garrus, and I leaving Lawson to make that choice.