Author's Notes: Hello there my fellow obsessed readers! It's chapter seven of Moments of Love, and I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far! And for the loyal readers who've subbed to this story, I love you guys so hard for sticking with me through all my crap and procrastination! :P Alrighty then, time for the story!
"Alright Miranda…you ready?" Commander Russell Patrick Shepard asked as he brought up the holographic interface to release the krogan from its tank.
"I'm ready when you are Shepard." I replied, my hand on my hip where my Locust was holstered as Russell woke the krogan up after ignoring EDI's warnings.
Finally, the krogan woke up as it fell to its knees, coughing and spluttering out the viscous, nutrient rich fluid that it was submerged in the tank with. When it regained its breath, it stood up and eyed both Shepard and I before charging Shepard and ramming him into a stack of crates, pinning him there with its massive krogan mass as I fired up my biotics and aimed my SMG at the krogan, who seemed to be completely oblivious to me.
"Human. Male. Before you die, I need a name." The male krogan growled as Shepard just maintained his serene expression, signaling to me not to do anything at the moment.
"I'm Commander Shepard, captain of the Normandy, and I don't like people who pin me up against crates."
"Not your name, mine. I am trained, I know things, but the tank…Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow. Warlord…legacy…grunt…grunt. Grunt was among the last. It has no meaning…it'll do." The tank-bred krogan mulled.
"I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me." Grunt continued in his low growl.
"Why do you want me to try and kill you. I definitely can, but…why?" Shepard returned as Grunt looked momentarily stunned at this question.
"Want? I do what I'm meant to-fight and reveal the strongest. Nothing in the tank ever asked what I want. I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. That imprint failed, he has failed. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you." Grunt replied after a moment's thought.
" Well, my current enemy threatens galaxies, and I command the best, most powerful crew and ship to stop them. It would be quite dumb to miss out on the massive war we're bringing to them." Russell replied as I moved in and roughly jammed the barrel of my SMG into the back of Grunt's head.
"He's right, Grunt. The crew he commands is one of the best in this galaxy, and I'm his second in command. I'd advise you to let Shepard down now." I breathed threateningly to the krogan as he dropped Shepard, who landed on his feet rubbing at his chafed neck, and he turned to face me.
"Hmm. Human female. Soft, weak and squishy. And your body is extra squishy. I don't see how a weakling like you could be second in command." Grunt snorted as he tried to grab me, but before he did, I wrapped him in my biotic field and slammed him into the bulkhead at the opposite end of the port cargo hold with just half of the power I used. He made a sizeable dent in the bulkhead with a loud 'klaang' sound when his head made contact with the wall, and when he stood up, I could see that he was bleeding slightly.
Serves that dumb krogan right for insulting me and calling me a weakling.
"Ha! Your body hides so much power. You are powerful indeed, woman."
"Lawson. Not woman."
"Now let's see how strong you-" Grunt growled as he advanced upon Shepard, but he just smirked and enveloped Grunt in a biotic field of his own as he tossed Grunt behind us before tossing him right into the wall I just threw Grunt into with more force than I did while looking nonchalant the whole time.
"Ha ha! You are certainly worthy of your command Shepard. Nothing in the tanks indicated that you humans were so powerful, Shepard and Lawson. This is good. I'll fight for you." The krogan rumbled as he sorted himself out as Russell smirked.
"Glad you saw reason via pain. Oh and when you had me pinned against the crates, I had this pointed at your midsection." The commander informed him, showing his Phalanx off as I finally noticed the gun in Shepard's hand.
"Ha! Smart! Offer one hand but arm the other. I'm starting to like you Shepard. If I find a clan…if I find what I…want, I will be honored to pit them against you two." Grunt chuckled as we left, holstering our weapons as we left the hold to find a smirking Zaeed leaning against the bulkhead just outside the hold, slow clapping as Engineer Gabriella Daniels and Engineer Ken Donnelly were crouched behind him, nervously aiming their pistols at the doorway.
"Not bad at all you two. Not bad at all. Never seen someone talk down a krogan with no guns and that little application of biotics. Count this old man impressed." Zaeed guffawed as Russell smirked.
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the show old man. Now go make yourself useful." The commander ribbed Zaeed as they shoved each other without any malice and big grins on their faces as Zaeed got into the lift.
"Ah Commander Shepard, many thanks for the FBA couplings! It really lifted a load off us. Would you like to-ah, gotta get back to work." Donnelly said in his heavy Scottish accent as Shepard and I turned to regard him.
"You're welcome Kenny. Anything to help my crew. By the way, you wanted to ask me something?" Russell replied as Kenneth paused uncomfortably.
"What couplings? Why wasn't I notified about this?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as Daniels spoke up.
"Well ma'am, it was an insignificant detail and since the builders decided not to put it in, and we decided not to bother you with a requisition order for those parts." Engineer Daniels spoke up as I turned my attention to her.
"Engineer Daniels, anything that will make your work here more efficient and more comfortable is vitally important to me. The same applies to you as well Donnelly. So if you need something, don't hesitate to send me a requisition order." I chided them as they nodded.
"Anyways, what were you saying before Miranda cut in Kenneth? Don't worry, I won't get pissed or anything." Russell addressed Kenneth as he shifted uncomfortably.
"Well in that case…would you like to join us for a game of Skillian Five Commander?"
"Skillian Five? Engineer Donnelly, are you suggesting to the Commander that all of you should abandon your duties and play a card game while on shift?" I began, but was promptly interrupted by Russell shushing me.
"Skillian Five? I'm in! Gabby, Ken, go set up. Miranda and I will be playing. Don't worry guys, a little game of cards never hurt anyone." Russell grinned at the engineers as they grinned back and went down to the engineering subdeck.
"What the hell are you doing? Not only are you encouraging your subordinates to be derelict in their duty and deserting your own duty, you're dragging me into it!" I hissed at Russell.
"Oh learn to live more Miranda. Don't make it an order." The infuriating Commander just grinned at me as he dragged me down by the hand to the subdeck where the engineers had already set up the table and chairs and were now sitting down and drinking some cola.
"Alright then, let's play." Russell grinned, a devious grin on his face as Daniels began to shuffle the deck and distribute the cards.
Well, since I was here without a choice, I might as well play to win. "Don't feel the need to go easy on either me or Shepard. We're playing to win here." I smirked despite the fact that my first hand was one of the more disadvantageous ones while my mind started calculating my odds.
I was keenly aware of the time, and it was fifty two minutes later that we were nearing the end of the game. Both Donnelly and Daniels had lost badly to Russell and I, and I had lost about eight hundred and twenty credits to Russell. However, that was going to change if I drew the right card to complete my hand-
Jackpot! I inwardly screamed as I drew the last card and I knew that I could not be beaten. Russell was sitting there with his stone-cast poker face as he glanced at his cards. Donnelly was at the stage of throwing in the towel while Daniels was had paled significantly and was sweating more as the match progressed.
"Bet one thousand seven hundred and fifty." Russell announced as Daniels threw down her cards and Donnelly called him on it.
"Raise you a thousand and two fifty commander." I said, keeping my stern poker face on while subtly playing with my earlobe as Russell called and everyone showed hands.
Daniels' only had a hand of high cards, Donnelly had a three of a kind in his hand, and Russell had a four of a kind. Both engineers groaned loudly in dismay as Russell leaned back in his chair while a Cheshire grin as he coolly gazed at me.
"Oh Miranda, you do realize that your tell is kind of obvious despite you being discreet with it right?"
"Actually, I fooled you. Pay up Commander." I smirked as I showed my hand.
It was a straight flush, and I had to restrain the laugh that was threatening to spill from my lips when I saw how stunned and dejected Russell looked at being conned and completely fooled by me as both engineers started snickering at Shepard's expression.
Russell dumbly activated his omnitool and transferred three thousand credits to my account, all the while his jaw was still hanging open. When the engineers started to do the same, I stopped them. "Donnelly, Daniels, I don't want your credits. Just perform at your best at all times, that's payment enough for me." I said as I got up to leave as both engineers sighed out a relieved and grateful 'Thanks ma'am' in unison.
I got into the lift, feeling extremely satisfied at having suckered my irritating CO. Revenge felt so very, very good, and I sighed in satisfaction just as Russell trudged into the lift, hitting the button for the Crew Deck, not noticing that I had already selected it. I turned to him with a self-satisfied smile on my face as I turned to face him.
"So…Commander, how was that game of Skillian Five?" I purred as he turned to face me with tired eyes.
"Not bad Miranda, you actually played me at my own game. But I will get you Miranda, just wait." He grinned back at me as we exited the elevator.
It was the second lunch hour, and the mess was rather crowded with half the crew standing around in line with their lunch trays chatting away. Alternatively, they were seated at the tables eating while discussing their private lives. The aroma of food was positively delicious and it smelled like Gardner had cooked up some fried chicken.
"Aah…dee-licous. Wait where are you going Miranda?" Russell sighed deeply before he noticed me walking back to my office.
"To my office to file up some requisition orders. I'll eat whatever's leftover later; I'm not really hungry." I said dismissively, walking into my office and powering up my computer.
I had just finished up the first paragraph of my requisition order and was halfway through my second when Shepard waltzed into my office with two massive trays of food, which contained coleslaw, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and a huge glass of soda that looked more like a vat. He then set down the trays which looked like they contained a double-and-a-half portion instead of the regular portion right in front of me, effectively preventing me from working on the requisition order as he took a seat on the chair in front of me.
"Shepard, what-"
"I brought you lunch Miranda. Gardner claims that this fried chicken is his secret home-style recipe and you can't find it anywhere else. Also, you can consider this an act of my gratitude for you consistently working so hard. Ohh…this is so good…"Russell groaned in delight as he bit down on the chicken and chewed on it.
"Well, if you'd actually stop being so lazy and start filling out your after-action reports instead of avoiding them, thus making me file those reports by default, I wouldn't have so much work to do." I returned, picking up a piece of the fried chicken and biting into it. It tasted so good I let out an involuntary moan and a shudder when I took that bite, and I could actually hear a soft but audible crunching when I bit into it. Gardner was definitely getting a raise and whatever he wanted would be put into my requisition orders from now on.
I was interrupted from the delicious epiphany by the sounds of Russell chuckling loudly and I looked up to see him still holding onto his half-eaten piece of chicken as his entire body was shaking with mirth. "What's so funny Shepard?" I asked, a little miffed at him.
"You were moaning so loudly…and your expression made me think for a second that you were going to have an orgasm." He chortled as he took a big bite.
"Pervert. It's really delicious; I'll have to thank Gardner later. Oh, and thanks for bringing me lunch."
"You're welcome Miranda. Besides, it's a show of my appreciation for all the hard work you've put in. And about those reports…touché. Touché, Miranda. Alright then, I'll start doing those damned after-actions while you focus on other things. That should help you out a bit."
"It will help a lot, thank you very much. So, I'm assuming you didn't just bring me lunch only because you felt indebted to me." I replied as I chewed on another big bite of chicken.
"Ah, of course. I want to talk more about your past. Thought that a lunch date would be a good opportunity to learn more about my XO."
"Oh? I didn't know we were dating?" I raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to laugh while trying to hold in the forkful of coleslaw he'd just swallowed.
"What can I say Miss Lawson? I'm irresistible to the ladies and I know it."
I snorted with restrained laughter, trying my damndest not to choke on my food. After a few difficult seconds of struggling, I managed to swallow down the food before replying.
"That was a really horrible joke Commander. But in all seriousness, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well, I still can't believe that you were genetically engineered from the ground up. How is that even possible? But that aside, how exactly did your father abuse you? I got the feeling that he was abusive from the tone and words you used to describe him."
"It was mostly emotional abuse. He never complimented me or showed me any sign of approval no matter what I did and how hard I tried to please him. He even went as far as to call me a 'bloody disappointment' a few times, and he always had this look of contempt whenever he looked at me." I sighed, trying to push down the pent up hate, disappointment, grief and vexation I felt ever since I was a child. Damn my father! Damn him to hell! He left these scars on me that would never leave me even though I had escaped from him a long time ago.
"No kid should ever undergo that kind of emotional abuse. You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to Miranda." Russell said kindly as he leaned forward, his arms on my desk.
"It's alright Shepard, I'm fine. So, I try my best to make him happy for the first thirteen years of my life, but after that I gave up and rebelled. I didn't even bother listening to him, and that's when he started physically abusing me as well." Goddammit, why was I opening up to him so much?
"This definitely can't be easy for you, and I'm assuming that you've never told anyone about the abuse."
"You're right; I've never told anyone about this before. And before you start thinking that my 'rebelling' means that I became a thug who did drugs and slept around, I didn't. My rebelling was just simple resistance and refusal to respond to his commands, and I had a friend of my own that my father didn't approve of or explicitly recommend to me. Also, I did get a tattoo when I was sixteen after drinking too much."
"The uptight Miss Lawson getting a tattoo? Well I never! By the way, is the name you have now your real name?"
"Yes it is. I think you may have heard of my father. He's Brendan Lawson-"
"The owner and CEO of ExoGeni Corporation and the Vice-Premier of Australia. Shit." Russell cut in, obviously stunned that I was the created daughter of such a powerful man.
"Exactly. Ever since I was eleven, my father would start forcing me to go on dates with boys who were the sons of CEOs and politicians, and I remember one of my forced dates being a full decade older than I was. I was never a daughter to him; I was merely an object, a tool for him to use to gain whatever he desired."
"Well, he definitely fits the profile for an egomaniacal sociopath with a severe God complex. Big job, big responsibilities, big power, yet it can't satisfy him. For men like these, the world is not enough. I doubt the galaxy will fare any better." Russell sighed, shaking his head as he shoveled a huge forkful of macaroni into his mouth.
"You're right. He never had enough power. He was always scheming for more power and prestige. I know for a fact and have the evidence that he killed off several of his opponents, and I just know he killed off many more, but there just wasn't any proof."
"Terrible. Then why the hell would he want a daughter if he has such an overblown ego? By the way, you might want to finish up your lunch before it goes stone cold Miranda." He sighed as he sipped at his soda, and I began eating again as I continued the chat.
"Only God knows. Other than him wanting me to carry on his delusional empire, I don't see why he wanted me in the first place. Besides, isn't a son preferred for an heir?" I wondered in between bites of coleslaw.
"Males are generally the preferred sex when it comes to heirs. We'll probably never know. Anyways, I assume Cerberus and Timmy know about the whole sordid story?"
"They do."
"And they approve of your genetic enhancements and abilities?"
"Of course. Cerberus fully endorses anything that advances the cause of humanity, genetic alterations included. But unlike my father and his own selfish reasons, Cerberus and the Illusive Man believe in a greater good. They see the bigger picture...and I feel like I have a purpose here." I concluded as Russell swallowed down his massive bite of fried chicken and macaroni before he replied.
"You talk about yourself like you're just a…tool to be used. By your father, by Cerberus. It's quite obvious to me that your father ingrained this mentality into you when you were young to try and get you to perform to whatever expectations he set for you."
"Maybe. I like to know where I fit in this galaxy, and it helps me find meaning in how I was created." I mused, sipping on the mysterious asari fruit flavored soda.
"You had an existential crisis? Not surprising given how unique you are. That being said, you are who you are, Miranda. You don't need to make excuses for it." Russell smiled at me as I felt my cheeks heat up. Oh God, no!
"Well that's easy for you to say. We've both been engineered for greatness, Shepard. The difference is that you were great before we rebuilt you... I'm great only because of it." I replied, unable to keep the hint of bitterness that crept into my voice out.
"Your spirit and personality are what make you great. It's what makes anyone great. Besides, you achieved greatness on your own. No amount of dad's meddling can make it not yours. Genetic engineering or not, you're still one hell of an amazing woman."
"Oh. That's kind of you...I'm not sure I believe you, but thanks for saying it. Wait, are you hitting on me?" I smiled at him. Stupid Miri, stupid! Where's your professionalism? Where's your Ice Queen demeanor? You're just his handler Miri, nothing more! Now quit playing along to his flirting!
"Maybe I am. Wanna find out?" Russell smirked as he leaned back in his chair.
"No thank you, that's quite enough. Thank you for the lunch, but I must get back to work." I smiled back at him, my brain finally coming out of its cursed muddle and finally shutting down the utterly infuriating man seated in front of me. I then proceeded to drop my now empty tray into Russell's lap, giving him a blatantly insincere smile as I turned on my heels and went into my bathroom to wash my hands.
I could feel his shocked gaze linger on me for the few seconds that it took me to walk from my desk to the bathroom, and as soon as I turned on the faucet, I heard him chuckle to himself in disbelief before him left the room, as evidenced by the soft hissing of my door as it slid open and close. I splashed water onto my face, wondering why in hell I became an irrational, downright stupid tongue-tied schoolgirl whenever Russell was around. Goddammit Miranda, you're a professional, aloof woman who's had her fair share of lovers, men, women and asari included, not some virgin schoolgirl who's having her first crush! In addition to all that, you hate the man you're taking orders from! Get it together Miranda Chloe Lawson! I raged internally, staring at my reflection in the mirror for a few seconds before I dried off and headed back to my computer to finish up my reports as I heard Shepard asking Joker for the ETA at Zorya, to which Joker responded with a bored sounding reply of three hours. I mentally made a note of the ETA as I turned on some AC/DC on my computer before going back to my reports.
The minute we stepped out of the shuttle, the massive heatwave and humidity of Zorya blasted us in full force. My armor just made the heat worse, and I wasn't even wearing a helmet. Jacob must've been positively roasting in the Cerberus Assault Armor he was wearing, and even Kasumi in her skintight light armor was starting to sweat profusely.
"Jesus Christ, this planet's an oven." Russell huffed as he shouldered his Collector Assault Rifle and proceeded forwards with Zaeed and Garrus close on his trail, the merc with his X76 out and Garrus with his Incisor out. I followed suit with Kasumi at my side as Jacob took up the rear, and we beat our way through dense foliage for a good ten minutes before we spotted a guard post, which was basically a series of metal barricades haphazardly erected in a 'front and rear' arrangement around the place and there was a long, raised platform further back.
"Okay Miranda, you'll lead the squad and take care of the mercs below, while Garrus and I will get those rockets and the sniper on the bridge before helping you guys mop up whoever's left. On my go." The Commander instructed in a low tone, holstering his rifle and swopping out to his Incisor as I simply gave him a thumbs up and pressed the butt of my Collector Assault Rifle firmly onto my shoulder while turning to Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi.
"Kasumi, you cloak, circle around their backs and do what you do best. Jacob, Zaeed, you'll both be on me as we move forward and take cover behind the barricades closest to the bridge, taking out the mercs as we go along." I ordered as I heard Zaeed chuckle.
"Hell yeah, I'd love to be on you. I'd prefer to be in you too." The old merc guffawed, causing me to glare at him in irritation and disgust while everyone else was chuckling.
"Alright…go!" Russell snapped, firing his Incisor at the sniper on the bridge, taking him down instantly with a headshot a second before Garrus' own burst cut clean through the sternum of a rocket launcher wielding merc, killing him instantly as I charged forward with Zaeed and Jacob while Kasumi was sprinting onto the mercs flank while cloaked. As I ran, I fired my rifle at a few mercs who were standing around behind the barricades, taking them down as I ran past the and towards the barricades I had pointed out earlier as both Zaeed and Jacob rushed forward with me, firing at the mercs who only had enough time to let loose a few wild, unaimed shots before they fell dead.
The mercs on the bridge were all dead, and Russell and Garrus were now sniping down any mercs that were taking cover behind the air-truck beneath the bridge. Unfortunately, we'd missed a sniper who was sitting down behind the truck, and he managed to get a shot off at Zaeed and he hit. The old merc grunted as his shields were depleted to half strength after absorbing the shot from the merc's M92 Mantis and he tumbled to the dirt.
"Zaeed!" I yelled, emptying my clip at the truck and trying to suppress the mercs as Jacob did likewise, and bursts from Garrus and Russell were only able to take out the other mercs due to the angle at which the sniper was hiding. However, Kasumi decloaked and backstabbed the sniper before spraying rounds at the remaining two mercs with her Locust SMG, killing them as well.
"I'm fine love. Buggering sniper got me good." Zaeed groused as he checked himself over and patted some of the dirt off himself just as Kasumi rejoined us.
"Alright then. Move out, stay sharp and try not to get shot." Russell said crisply as we nodded and followed him, Jacob taking point.
There were no more mercs as we headed to the refinery we were supposed to liberate as part of Zaeed's signup clause with Cerberus, and Kasumi hacked into the systems to extend the drawbridge so that we could enter the refinery. While Kasumi was extending the bridge, Zaeed signaled for her to stop the bridge extension as he listened intently to a merc comm. he'd took off a dead merc.
"Looks like fucking Vido knows we're here." Zaeed spat, utter hate in his growl as Russell turned to him.
"I assume you know this Vido guy?" The Commander asked, hefting his sniper rifle as Zaeed snorted.
"Yeah, I know him alright. We set up the Suns together. He ran the books, I led the men. Worked real well for a while until he decided to start hiring batarians. Cheaper labor, he said. Goddamn terrorists, I said."
"So he turned on you. How come I didn't know you started the Suns?" Russell asked as Zaeed shrugged.
"Sweetcheeks didn't tell you? Anyways, it's not common knowledge. He wiped it right out of the books. He paid five men to hold me down while he put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger."
Russell then turned to look at me, and I shrugged as well. "It wasn't in the dossier because we felt that it was a trivial point Commander."
"Next time, you damn well tell me every single detail, nothing left out." Russell growled as I nodded, shivers running down my spine at his tone.
"Yes Commander. Noted." I replied as Zaeed signaled to Kasumi to resume extending the bridge. Once it was fully extended, Zaeed was the first across snarling "Bring it on, you son of a bitch!" as he set a brisk, careless pace to the entrance of the refinery.
Strangely enough, there were no mercs outside the south entrance to the refinery, and I assumed that Vido had pulled all of them back to his own position. Kasumi hacked the gate open, and we walked into what looked like a shuttle bay and we spotted Vido Santiago, the cofounder of the Blue Suns and Zaeed's worst enemy, standing on a catwalk above us with a dozen of his mercs standing behind him.
"Zaeed Massani. You finally tracked me down." Vido snarled, his arms crossed around his chest as we all aimed our weapons at him and his mercs.
"Vido." Zaeed growled, going for his inferno grenades strapped to the chestplate of his armor.
"Don't be stupid Zaeed. I have a whole company of bloodthirsty bastards behind me, ready to kill or be killed on my command. Wait nevermind. Take your shot. Give my men a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. Again." Vido taunted as Russell spoke up over the radio.
"Miranda, Jacob, follow my lead." The Commander instructed as the both of us just nodded.
Just as Zaeed unhooked one of his grenades, Russell hurled a biotic pull field at the unshielded mercs-wait, they were unshielded all along! Jacob and I quickly followed suit, trapping all the mercs, Vido included, in our biotic pull field as we shot each of them down while they floated helplessly in midair except for Vido.
Finally, we released the leader of the Blue Suns from our biotic fields and let him drop to the floor right in front of Zaeed, who gave him a vicious kick to the face.
"Zaeed, please! It was nothing personal, it was just business, I swear!" Vido babbled, a radical one-eighty from his previously arrogant and condescending disposition just a couple of minutes ago.
"It was twenty years ago! I did you a favor-look at you!"
"Alright team, let's give Zaeed some time alone." Russell ordered us as we followed him outside, not wanting to see Zaeed's final revenge on Vido. Just as the gate closed, we heard Vido's screaming for more than a minute before a single gunshot rang out. Garrus and Jacob just looked down at the ground in disgust, Kasumi looked like she was going to throw up, I simply looked away from the gate in disgust, and Russell was simply standing there, his arms crossed over his chest with a blank expression on his face.
Finally, Zaeed came out of the shuttle bay to rejoin us, his armor covered with blood spatters and wiping his knife clean of the blood that was on it as he coolly regarded Shepard.
"Done. I owe you Shepard." Zaeed said gratefully to Shepard, who just gave a curt nod to him.
"If you're done, let's go save the workers and clear out the Blue Suns in here." The Commander instructed as he reopened the gate and we walked in behind him.
"Yeah, let's go."
There was a massive pool of blood and blood spatters on the floor where Vido had fallen, but there wasn't a body. I assumed that Zaeed had dumped it over the railings and into the wilderness just outside the refinery, but it didn't make the scene any less gory.
Liberating the refinery was a relatively mundane affair filled with gunfire as we took down the mercs, but as we neared the central loading bay where EDI had pinpointed the Blue Suns to be in, more and more mercs were simply dropping arms and surrendering to us as we moved through the refinery. When we reached the loading bay, all the mercs had already fled and taken their mechs with them as well, and we heard the massive cacophony on shuttles and gunships bearing the fleeing Suns taking off outside the bay.
"Alright people, we're done here. The refinery is liberated, and all hostiles have either been neutralized or they've fled. Good job." Russell said in a dull, robotic monotone as he headed to the loading bay outside where the Kodiak would pick us up from as the refinery workers were cheering at their liberation, some even lynching their former Blue Suns captors.
As I beheld the scene, I wondered to myself why we were even trying to save ourselves and people like this from the Reapers.
A little part of me died upon seeing living beings reducing themselves into an orgy of violence that would never end. Why were we even fighting?
A/N: Just finished Mass Effect 3, and it was UTTER BULLSHIT. I mean, what the flying fuck was that shit. The endings were pretty much the same, and the storyline (or lack thereof)…YUCK. Fuck you Bioware. You lazy bastards. Anyways, enough of my rant at how absolutely shitty ME3 was, I love you loyal readers, and as always, don't forget to review! Now I'll go into a corner and cry my eyes out over Thane dying and Miranda getting such a petty role even though Katie Shepard romanced her.