Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Bioware or EA Games have constructed, only these ideas that form in my mind.

If the assassin was honest with herself, and she usually was, she was shocked at how well the horizontal wolf striding next to the vertical one beside her was fitting in. Thane didn't look out of place one bit, something that stunned Miranda. She had assumed that the green sheen to his fur would make him stand out some, but that didn't happen at all. If anything, it made him blend with all of the flora that tastefully decorated Illium.

Aria had decided to remain in her bulky armor because when the party had arrived back in the city, it was nearly dusk. Just a handful of hours until the exchange took place. Walking down the lamp-lit streets, Miranda cast a glance at the Pirate Queen walking on her right. The monarch had the infuriating habit of capturing her attention and holding on with a vice grip. Miranda knew that the queen was old, ancient even, and she wore her age very well. The Cerberus operative couldn't spot a single wrinkle on the smooth, tan skin. The only things maiming the skin were two raised lines that started a few centimeters into the woman's forehead and disappeared into her thick hair. Miranda had wondered, when she had originally seen the marks, where she had gotten them. They looked eerily liked scars. The young woman knew better than to ask, though. Likely, Aria would evade the question and provide some distraction. The monarch was notorious for that.

"Miri," the Pirate Queen spoke up. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop ogling at me?"

"And how many times do am I required to ask you to stop calling me that?" Miranda retorted.

"You know I do whatever I want, so why protest?"

"The same could be said for me," Miranda replied.

The group had stopped walking, due in no small part to Aria. The older woman looked directly at Miranda and said, "There's a great deal that could be said for you."

Miranda heard the insinuation that the low voice poured out and furiously attempted not to blush.

Aria wasted no time commenting. "If your face was any redder, you would match the tapestry of my club."

"Why don't you ever shut up?" Miranda asked, exasperated.

"Because, dear, I'm only quiet in bed." Aria turned away from the young woman and continued walking in the general direction of the warehouse where the exchange was to take place.

Miranda tried not to let the woman's actions irritate her. Tried and failed. Miranda decided to just ignore the comment and continue walking down the crowded streets of Illium.

"What will be my duty when we arrive at the warehouse?" Thane asked Aria.

"Kill anyone who poses a threat to us," the woman replied. "If things start getting hairy, then you can change into whatever form you prefer for combat."

The group arrived in the busy market bazaar and began the arduous task of worming their ways through the throng of people. Despite being just past nightfall, the open market was still rather busy. The oil lamps were had been filled to the brim by the city workers so they wouldn't wink out during the night. Everything looked the same as when Aria and Miranda had originally entered the bustling metropolis.

It took the trio roughly fifteen minutes to make their ways across the vast plaza, but they eventually made it. Miranda quickly led the way to the warehouse, pulling out three knives from hidden spots inside her armor. She'd had to relocate all twelve of her blades so the city guard wouldn't see them. Aria, being the proud and generally indifferent woman that she was, had proudly displayed her swords and pistols, not seeming to care if a guard harassed her about the weapons.

After turning the last corner, the warehouse where the exchange would take place came into view, looming over the buildings that were adjacent to it. Miranda could now see lights inside the seemingly abandoned building.

"Okay," Miranda muttered to her two companions. Such strange company she found herself with. "Let's test out the original plan. Then, if or when that fails, we go in and take out the opposition."

"It damn well better work," Aria said coldly. "If not, I'll have their heads on plaques."

"That sounds a bit extreme," Thane spoke quietly. "Even for you, Aria."

"Yes, well, they disobeyed their commander. Me. Odds are, they're looking to overthrow me as the ruler of Varris. Mercs are notorious for things of that nature."

"You sound paranoid," Miranda commented.

"Not paranoid, just well-informed." With that, she pulled down the silk hood and strode forward to meet her rebellious soldiers. Miranda couldn't help but to be absolutely mesmerized by the way the monarch carried herself. The woman walked predatorily, yet gracefully, with her shoulders back and her chin held high. Suddenly, Miranda remembered something she had seen earlier and decided to ask Thane about it.

"How did Aria get those scars on her forehead?" Miranda inquired quietly.

"That is a long and painful story, and not mine to tell," the wolf replied politely yet firmly. "I am sure that if you ask her politely enough, she will inform you. I will leave you with this, though. She acquired them very early in her life."

By now, the woman in question had arrived in front of the two mercenaries guarding the wooden door. The man and woman had indignant expressions on their faces; they seemed intent on defying whatever Aria had to say to them. Miranda spotted the telltale signs that the brunette was becoming angry; her gloved hands were clenching and a deep blue aura began to surround her forearms and fists. Miranda saw the exact moment the queen snapped. Her demeanor became deceptively calm, like that of a tiger before it viciously attacks its prey.

And attack she did.

Aria snatched out a power-infused hand and grabbed the throat and chin of the male Eclipse soldier. She swiftly jerked it to the side, effectively snapping his neck. The woman then tossed the corpse to her left, the body landing five meters away and kicking up some dust from the street. Aria quickly turned her attention to the female mercenary and brought a swirling blue fist to the blonde's nose. Aria's hand smashed through the soldier's face and her head, as if the bones and muscle were no more than a thin sheet of paper. The shorter woman collapsed onto the stones, dead and crimson blood still spurting from the gaping hole in her skull. Aria knelt down and wiped her blood-soaked glove and bracer on part of the cloth of the body's outfit. She crouched and flicked her gaze to her left to see another Eclipse merc creeping toward her with his sword drawn. Aria stalked in his direction, not even caring when the bulky man thrust his blade through a chink in the queen's armor. The man's face lit up with a malicious grin when he saw that he'd pierced his this offender's armor. Miranda heard Thane utter a low growl, likely from pain. She knew that the queen and the wolf were connected, feeling each and every wound that was inflicted on the other person. Miranda watched, strangely captivated, as Aria literally tore into her opponent. Though, if Miranda was being honest, she didn't really feel like this mercenary was much of an opponent when Aria could throw Miranda around as if she weighed no more than a few kilograms. The pulsing energy surrounding the monarch's body flared even brighter, spewing its light on the user's environment. Aria pushed her hands inside the man's armored chest, tearing through the metal as though it didn't exist, and yanked outward. The cavernous and jagged space created from Aria's unbridled power immediately spilled the soldier's insides and bright blood onto both the woman's black armor and the street below. The flow quickly pooled around the body as it landed face down on the pavement. Aria then turned to face Miranda and Thane. Red fluid coated her hard features and her armor. Even from this distance, Miranda could see how the older woman's eyes glowed in the darkness.

"Get over here," Aria announced, her voice echoing off the stone and wood walls. "It's time we get this over with."

The assassin and wolf walked silently down the alley and joined Aria.

"Please be a bit quieter," Miranda whispered harshly.

"Please be a bit nicer and we have a deal," Aria replied, not caring to lower her voice. She opened the thin, wooden door and stormed inside, not caring if Miranda or Thane followed.

Aria's POV

Numerous thoughts flow through my head, the priority being to take care of the job at hand. The lesser ones include the pair I just left outside of the warehouse I walk into. Then, seemingly unacknowledged, the bodies I left in various states of disrepair. I'm surprised that the Eclipse mercs had the balls to stand up to me like they did, however pitiful their resistance was.

The interior of the warehouse was not as I had imagined at all. There are large, metal silos with wooden stairs leading up to the tops. There are easily fifteen rows of twelve, all spaced out evenly over the length of the building. Wooden cargo containers dot the floor, very few of the same size. Oil lamps hang overhead, illuminating the alcohol refinery and casting a hazy light over everything.

The door closes behind me again and I immediately felt two figures behind me. I don't bother turning around; instead, I walk further into the dimly lit building. I hear multiple sets of footsteps on the stone floor ahead of me.

"Halt!" a woman's voice shouts. Another trio of mercenaries arrive before me, their pale armor nearly glowing in the hazy atmosphere. The woman, probably the one who yelled, is flocked by two burly men, one with shoulder-length blonde hair and the other with short black hair and stubble on his face. The woman has cropped black hair that frames her pixie-like features. I notice that she's easily a foot shorter than myself.

"Why are you here?" she asks, as though she has the authority to make such demands.

"I can ask you the same question," I say through gritted teeth.

The woman seems to notice the assassin and wolf behind me, because her face morphs into something more hostile.

"We were told you would be coming for the girl," the blonde man snarled.

"You got that right," Miranda's accented voice rang out.

I pull out one of the two pistols from the leather holsters on my chest and hold it loosely by my side. Apprehension briefly crossed the three mercenaries' faces, but they recovered.

"You really should consider disobeying direct orders," I tell the group, my voice deceptively calm. "After all, you and the rest of Eclipse fall under my rule."

A look of recognition crosses the black-haired woman's face. "With all due respect, Aria T'Loak, you can take your orders and shove them up—"

Having heard quite enough, I dart forward, rapidly closing the distance between us. I steadily reach out my hand, already pulsing with energy, and grab her face. Then, with enough force to launch a cannon ball through a stone wall, I throw the short woman into one of the wooden crates, shattering it into thousands of splinters. The soldier screams the entire way, her shrill cry piercing the air. The atmosphere is then permeated by a thick red mist.

I turn to face the remaining mercs. An evil grin spreads across my lips.

"Now, unless you want to meet the same fate as your captain, I suggest you—"

I'm interrupted, quite rudely I might add, by two meaty fists connecting with each side of my face. My head snaps back a few centimeters as their hands make contact with my skin. I roll my eyes and swiftly shove the gun back in its sheath. I pull back my left hand, already in a fist, and fling it at the blonde, punching through his skull like I did with the one outside. I give the man with the beard equal treatment, that way no one can say I'm not fair.

"Why do you feel the need to be so violent, Aria?" Miranda asks me.

I face her and say, "That's who I am, Miranda Lawson. Violent, seemingly uncontrollable, and just plain cruel. If you weren't able to deal with that, then I wouldn't be here."

The assassin just shook her head and walked past me. As she passed, I caught the scent of vanilla and roses. I watched her form disappear into the gloom. Thane came to stand beside me, his quiet breath washing over my back.

"Cease acting around Miss Lawson, Aria," the wolf uttered. "I know what goes through your mind when your thoughts are wrapped around the woman."

"Then what would you have me do, Thane?" I snap lowly.

"I have told you before. I do not enjoy repeating myself." His emerald eyes bore into mine, his head level with my own. "But I will say it just once more. Be your usual self. If that means taking a sword thrust for her like you would for me, then you do it."

I grunt in affirmation and basically ignore his command. However, somewhere in the back of my mind, I understand why he wants me to do that. Understand and admit that he's right. We then walk forward to find Miranda crouched behind a crate.

"There are over two dozen mercs in that clearing over there," Miranda mutters. And I can see my sister next to one…"

"You realize that there is a mole, don't you?" I tell her. "That's why the mercs are here in the first place."

"There are only two people that know about this," Miranda replies softly. "Lanteia and Niket. But neither of them would betray me like this."

"That isn't the case anymore, it would seem." My tone has lessened in its severity. "It's either Lanteia or Niket that double-crossed you. Whichever one you trust more is the one who stabbed you in the back. So let's figure something out so we can get Oriana out of here unscathed."

"How about Aria provides the distraction while you and I rescue your sister?" Thane suddenly asks.

I look at Miranda; I can practically see the gears turning in her head. "I see nothing wrong with it. We'll just have to make sure Thane and I get a good enough head start that the mercs don't try to use Oriana as bait."

"I won't let that happen," I announce firmly. Miranda manages to catch my gaze and holds it, silently asking a question I don't think I can answer without lying. "Just go. I'll wait two minutes while you two flank the group. No more. Now go."

The pair stalk off silently, rapidly disappearing among the maze of cargo crates and silos. I set a mental timer in my head.

2:00… 1:59… 1:58… 1:57…

I carefully watch the group of Eclipse ahead of me, searching for Oriana. I find her deep brunette hair against the pale yellow armor of a woman with deep red hair. She looked vaguely familiar, yet I couldn't put a name to the face. I decided to ignore her and focus on the younger Lawson.

1:03… 1:02… 1:01… 1:00…

I see two shapes move in the shadows behind the red-haired woman and Oriana. I see a glint of green and nod my head. I'm surprised by how quickly they got into position. Miranda darts out from the shadows and swiftly incapacitates the guard. Oriana looks at the shadow behind her and nods, then follows her sister into the darkness.

0:03… 0:02… 0:01… 0:00.

Show time.

"You fuckers think that you can defy me, the queen of Varris?" I shout as I step out from behind the crate. I make sure I stand directly under one of the lamps so my entire form is illuminated.

"You do not rule us!" a man's voice shouts back. "We're mercenaries. We don't have laws!"

I stalk forward, closing the large distance between myself and the two dozen soldiers.

"You have laws because I fucking say you do," I announce. "Even if you don't live in Varris, I still control you, as much as that pains me. You guys are fucking idiots."

I'm now directly in front of the large group, my signature scowl on my face. From my peripheral vision, I see various mercs give me a onceover.

"Who's in charge here?" I demand.

"I am," a woman's voice rings out. She steps forward and I get a good look at her. She has innocent features. Pretty, yet not memorable. A face that I could easily forget and not fit on a lowlife mercenary. Flowing, blonde hair falls over her shoulders and her green eyes bore into me. Her armor was significantly thinner than that of her companions, yet it was obvious that she was, in fact, the captain of this small regiment. "Captain Enyala, leader of Eclipse in Illium."

"Good," I say, another wolfish smile widening my lips. "Now I know which one of you bastards I get to kill first."

"You bitch," she snarls. "Get her! And make sure you don't scratch that pretty face of hers."

"Oh, sweet child, you couldn't cut me if you tried," I reply kindly. "You're welcome to try, however."

Something inside the captain seems to crack at my statement. Her green eyes flare with rage and she makes a motion with her hand, sending her underlings after me. I utter a dark laugh and summon up the ancient power that lives in me. I thrust my hands forward, the leather bunching up beneath my armor, and fling a wave of energy at the mass of bodies. They fall down like dominoes but quickly scramble back to their feet.

I crouch into a fighting stance and gesture with my hands. "Bring it on, you worthless pieces of shit. I need to get some pent up frustration out of my system."

Miranda's POV

Miranda, accompanied by Thane and her sister Oriana, quietly crept out of the refinery. The commotion that Aria was causing provided ample distraction for the trio to escape. Miranda felt a ping of regret at leaving the Pirate Queen in there to cause so much destruction and ruin all of the brandy, whiskey, and vodka that was in the refinery. The assassin also felt something else, another feeling she couldn't quite put a finger on; therefore she couldn't identify what it stemmed from. The main thing Miranda cared about was that her sister was safe with her. When they had escaped the warehouse and ran down a few different alleys to avoid anyone who could be chasing the trio. The entire time, Thane had grunted and growled in pain. Whenever he would make a noise, Miranda felt her sense of worry, something she reserved only for her sister, increase. She would then push it down and attribute it to worrying about who could've betrayed her and alerted the mercs. The more she thought about what Aria had said earlier, the more it became clear which one would stab her in the back. A sense of overwhelming anger briefly washed over her before she controlled her emotions and prevented them from showing on her face.

Miranda, Oriana, and Thane sat in the damp alleyway for what seemed like the better part of an hour before there was a large explosion. Miranda quickly snapped her gaze back to the alcohol refinery and saw a massive cloud of fire and black smoke rising from the rooftop. The flames illuminated the city, giving it a daytime glow. Shouting immediately broke out and innumerable sets of footsteps could be heard pounding across the cobblestone streets to figure out what went wrong. Thane began growling again, more ferociously this time, and the fur on his body bristled.

"She needs to learn to take better care of herself," came the wolf's guttural voice.

A heavy set of footsteps thudded closer to the trio. Miranda pulled out a knife and readied herself for a fight. Only then did she realize that the footsteps sounded irregular, as though the person was injured greatly. The figure stumbled through the dense fog and smoke that had befallen Illium and nearly collapsed before Miranda darted forward and caught the injured human.

"Eclipse sure does know how to throw a party," a woman's raspy, yet highly familiar, voice whispered.

A strange and unexpected wave of relief crashed over Miranda.

"That really hurts, by the way," Aria T'Loak said. "You can set me down on the street. I don't need to be coddled like a child." The queen's lupine-like, cerulean eyes found Miranda's ice blue ones. "Unless, of course, you enjoy holding me." With that, Aria's burnt and charred face twisted into a knowing grin.

Miranda, currently having none of this woman's incessant taunting, unceremoniously dropped the Pirate Queen onto the ground, kicking up some dust. The older woman's ebony armor clanked on the stones. Aria only laughed, then winced as her body tried to realign itself from the massive explosion. The skin on her face was healing at a remarkable pace; Miranda could only imagine what it looked like immediately following the eruption. It must have been blown to hell. The only thing on Aria's body that wasn't repairing itself was the black and golden armor. There were gaping holes in the metal plating, the leather armor was torn to mere shreds underneath. With all the pieces missing or ripped apart, Aria was nearly naked. A sight Miranda had yet to see, and an increasingly large part of her wanted to see.

Miranda quickly glanced around and found a large, roughspun blanket lying on the ground. It was filthy, but she picked it up and tossed it over Aria's body.

"Wrap that around yourself," Miranda said, her voice coming out lower than she intended. "My sister doesn't want to see that."

"A shame," Aria replied. "I would've thought you two would have more in common." Reluctantly, Aria covered her bare skin with the large cloth.

Miranda turned to face her sister, who was dressed in typical city garb. A deep blue dress with a white vest clothed her body and her dark chestnut hair was neatly combed and fell past her eyes and ears.

The younger Lawson abruptly pushed her hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her right ear, something that seemed to be a habit stemmed from irritation. "Miranda," the girl asked, "Why do you have a direwolf and this woman with you?"

Miranda sighed and rubbed her eyes, stinging from the smoke. "Let's get back to Nos Astra and we can talk about that." The Cerberus operative directs her attention back to the woman lying on the ground. "Do you need help walking or are you fine?"

The woman in question easily rose from her horizontal position and stood. "I'll be fine." She grabbed the cloak from her shoulders and tore it off. "However, I refuse to robe myself in something so foul."

Miranda only rolled her eyes and turned away. "Fine. Let's go."

"I think that this is as far as Thane and I go," Aria spoke up. "We helped you save your sister. We're going back to Varris."

Miranda felt disappointment wash over her, along with sadness. She knew exactly why she felt that but the assassin chose to ignore it.

"All right, I guess this is it," Miranda said. Inner turmoil showed on her pale features, her thin brows drawn together and confliction showing in her glacier eyes. She didn't look at the queen, only off down the flame-lit alleyway. "Next time we see each other, you won't live through the encounter."

"Duly noted," Aria said evenly.

After the Pirate Queen said that, Miranda gestured to Oriana and the woman walked down the street with her sister in tow. She and her sister walked roughly ten meters before Miranda felt a set of hands gripped her waist and whipped her around to face the queen. Not a second passed before Miranda's lips were aggressively connected to the Pirate Queen's surprisingly soft ones. The assassin's hands unconsciously came up to knot themselves in Aria's thick hair. The grip on her waist tightened as she felt the other woman's arms circle around her body. Their lips seem to fit together as a lock and its matching key would. Miranda felt teeth graze her bottom lip and a shiver traveled leisurely down her spine. She barely prevented a moan from escaping her throat before she had to pull herself back to catch her breath. What she saw when Miranda looked at the sapphire eyes, they had morphed into a blue so deep that they looked black.

"Now you can go," Aria muttered, her voice rougher and deeper than usual.

AN: So, I caught wind recently of a brand new Mass Effect game and I am absolutely pumped about it. As always, your reviews are greatly appreciated yet not required.