And It All Seemed Harmless: Chapter 20

(TW: mention of past non-con (non graphic) please proceed with care dear friends. Also, if you like the story and are worried about getting triggered, send me a message and I'll so summarize the chapter so you can continue reading new chapters without reading any possibly triggering stuff! )

Jack pauses at the landing door, bending down to her haunches to listen against the metal. Once again, Jack is greeted with the pleasant sound of nothing.

With a tap to the panel, the door separates, allowing the convict entrance. Unlike the floor above, the halls on this level are dark, outdated light fixtures blinking along the paths. Setting her hips into a combat position as Shepard had once instructed her, Jack holds her pistol ready before her, leading with her weapon as she edges down the hall.

The first hall has only a single unguarded door within it, the green light casting a reflection in the metal floor eerily bright in the dark. Though it is an unlikely place for Archer to be holding two very valuable hostages, Jack approaches it anyway, knowing better than to make any assumptions in the lair of a mad man.

Pressing the pressure pad with her shoulder, Jack immediately pushes her gun through the door, ready to fire upon anyone within the dark space. The room fills with light on a motion sensor in response to Jack's entrance, and what the convict sees is far more horrifying to her than a squad of armed mercenaries.

An apparatus made up of four large poles with innumerable tubes extending from them is in the center of the small chamber, a ring in the center sized to hold a single body. David's. The device is an exact replica of the disgusting apparatus the Commander had led them to find on Aite, perhaps smaller in size, but as far as Jack could tell, not a single component was missing.

So Shepard was right...Archer is behind this….and he has Miranda….

Jack's breathing is ragged, her body shaking as she stands before the tool that had ruined David's life. She wants to run. She wants to run to Archer and rip him apart for doing this, for planning on doing this again. She wants to run to Miranda, to tear away anything from their path away from this place. She wants to run to Shepard, she wants to hear her friend's comforting voice promising her it would never be her again….

She doesn't do any of those things. Her body stays motionless as if paralyzed by fear. Flashbacks suddenly assault her... tears leaking from her eyes at the memory.

She's in a cage, a needle being forced through her neck…

Stop. Stop fucking thinking, Miranda needs you….

She's in a makeshift arena, the screams of another experiment child drowning out her sobs as she's forced to tear them apart…

Get a hold of yourself….they will die if you don't move…

She's in David's place, countless tubes causing her body to ache, tears streaming down her face as she's unable to blink them away….

NO

Miranda is in David's place…

NO GOD NO

Jack nearly, sobs wracking her body. She does not fall somehow, and manages to will herself out of there, backing out of the room, her eyes still trained on the machine.

Suddenly, she's running. Jack has no idea when she started running, or where she's going, but she moves, barrelling down the hall to the next, and to the next.

A door comes into sight, guarded by two heavily armed men that don't open fire, but quizzically look at the half dressed sobbing woman barrelling towards them.

"Is that….."

"It can't be…"

Before either guard can finish their thoughts, they're both dead, laying on the floor with multiple bullet wounds in each of their helmets. Jack doesn't clearly remember killing them, but she knows she has, and she tosses them to the side unceremoniously before barreling through the door.

A guard is the next being to enter Jack's vision, and she grabs him by the neck, not even bothering to lift her pistol as she twists until the life leaves him, his body growing limp in the biotic's hands. Jack is vaguely aware tears are still streaming down her face, leaking onto the body in her hands.

"J...Jack?"

She drops the guard, her attention turning to the large cage-like cell on the far side of the room, containing Miranda and Liara. The room is meager, only a few crates likely containing equipment pertaining to the one item of horror inside it, a cage. The cage is massive, with rows and columns of thin metal bars all connected to an electric lock on the front of the structure. Between the bars, a light blue electric field is barely visible to the naked eye, but has a faint shimmer the biotic picks up on. The cage and the electric field building it spans from the floor to the ceiling, its length nearly spanning the length of the wall it is built against.

Jack has no idea which of them said her name, but each of them look frightened by the outburst, their eyes wide as they look at the convict. Liara especially seems unnerved, her eyes betraying her fear at the unstable biotic that didn't seem to like her much in a decent mood. Miranda recovers first, her face changing from that of genuine fear and surprise to one of...concern? Jack immediately rejects the idea.

Goddammit….I don't know why I'm here...the cheerleader might be a little bit like you. But she doesn't care about you. You are a mistake.

Jack steels herself, roughly wiping her face in her hands and attempting to put on her most convincing apathetic mask.

"Fancy seeing you here, Cheerleader. You're going to owe me quite a few bottles of ryncol and some peace and quiet from your high and mighty lectures for getting you out of this one."

"Jack…" Miranda repeats again, her face etched with concern for the younger woman. However, Jack's walls are already deployed again, and the agent is very aware there would be no comforting the tattooed woman.

"I'm surprised to see you," Miranda says softly.

Liara nods, her voice soft, as if he was afraid of speaking too loud would trigger the unpredictable biotic's rage. "As am I."

"Stop looking like a scared puppy, T'Soni. I'm here to rescue you too. Hoping if I do, Shep will give me her fancy new flamethrower she told me I'm not allowed to touch."

Neither woman sees to believe the lame excuse, but Liara looks grateful nonetheless, offering Jack a small smile.

"Is….is she here?" Liara inquires. Jack cocks an eyebrow in response, stalking around the room to evaluate the large metal cell the two were being held within.

"She has the coordinates. I beat her here though. Do either of you have working omni-tools? We need to contact her. They're using a biotic dampener, technology I know from Pragia. If our Vanguard moron tries to light up blue she could shock herself to death."

Miranda's face falls when Jack mentions the use of Pragia tech in their current situation, and Jack tries to ignore her concerned gaze practically burning into the side of her face.

"I said, call Shepard!" Jack grits her teeth impatiently.

"On it." Liara responds, tapping away at her omni-tool already. The asari's fingers are trembling slightly, slightly shaken from Jack's mention of Shepard having the ability to hurt herself if they didn't reach her.

"Who is they?" Miranda asks, attempting to keep the concern she has for the other woman out of her tone. Jack was very clearly uninterested in it.

"Archer. Shepard said she had a hunch he was involved. She was right. There's a cell just down the hall with an exact replica of that fucking machine he had his brother in on Aite."

"Oh God..."

"We can talk about what to do with that evil fucking prick later. How do I open this fucking thing?" Jack snaps, gearing up as if she was planning to punch the bars.

"You need credentials to open it manually. With your skills it would be possible to tear the door open manually, but if what you're saying is true, I guess biotics are out of the question."

"IF what I'm saying is true?!"

"I did not mean it like that. I meant I personally have not attempted to use my biotics in captivity due to the weapons trained on our heads for the duration, so I have no verifiable knowledge a dampener is in play. The guards guarding us were not biotics."

"Well trust me for one goddamn moment and don't fucking use them unless you want the kind of verifiable knowledge that hurts like a stake up the ass!"

"I believe you Jack," Miranda replies coldly, narrowing her eyes at the convict. "It was in the Cerberus file on Pragia. I know a dampening device exists and I trust you to be able to identify it if it is here."

Jack doesn't respond to the operative's statement, and instead begins to search the body of the guard she had broken upon entry.

"You won't find the right credentials on him…"

"Do you have anything fucking good to say?"

"He's a disposable guard, Jack. Didn't you learn in your numerous stints in prison they don't leave the key to the cells with any random hired gun?"

"Stop fighting!" Liara's voice is shrill; her sudden outburst directs both of her companions' attention to her. Liara's cheeks redden when they turn to her, as if embarrassed for the interruption.

"I...Goddess….I'm sorry. No...I'm not sorry. You both need to control yourselves if we're going to leave here alive. I tried to contact Shepard as you suggested Jack, she's not responding. However, there is a static response from my omni tool when I attempt to contact her."

Jack stares at Liara as if she was the dumbest person alive, crossing her arms.

"So? What the fuck does static have to do with fucking anything?"

"Jack!" Miranda scolds, turning her nose up at the convict.

God forbid she miss an opportunity to be high and mighty...

"The static is an indication Shepard's communicator is in close proximity, leading to feedback. Shepard is here...somewhere. Her communicator must be silenced while she's in the building…" Liara continues.

"Great. Where the fuck is she?"

"Unknown. I don't understand why you came in before her. The Commander is a superior soldier capable of dispatching almost every one of these guards even without her biotics. She's a proven marksman." Miranda interjects, placing her hands on her hips.

"Save it."

"If I may…." Liara straightens up, her eyes brightening slightly at the idea Shepard was somewhere close, and very capable of navigating the dangerous building without her signature biotic charge. "The guards mentioned before Jack arrived that one of our captor's associates would be coming down shortly to film us in our predicament for a vid message to lure Shepard here. Perhaps that associate is still on his way? You said you hadn't seen Shepard...they most likely haven't either. She's...very capable of protecting herself. I...think." Liara remarks, dragging out her last sentences as if she were only trying to convince herself of its truth. Jack wants to roll her eyes at the irrational concern, Shepard was more likely to kill everyone in this building than get killed herself.

"Why is he still coming down here a fucking good thing?"

"Because he might have a credential to open our cell."

Jack nods at the response, finally understanding the asari's plan.

"So I hide, kill them with the element of surprise, then we all walk out of here and find Shepard."

"Precisely."

"A fucking plan that makes sense...I can deal with that. I stole two extra pistols, can you two shoot at them through those bars and cover me?"

"Firing into a an electrically charged field sustained by bars is suicide, Jack," Miranda replies matter of factly, as if Jack should somehow be as knowledgeable as her about their current predicament.

"Sorry Cheerleader, I don't put people in cages so I don't know all about the newest trends in them."

"Are you fucking KIDDING me Jack?"

"Stop it!" Liara hisses as the sound of a large company of boots echoes down the hall outside the door to the small room.

Jack immediately leaps into action, piling the few crates in the room into a makeshift wall nearby the cage. Taking her position behind it, Jack affords herself a final glance to the cage to look over Miranda.

She looks okay, not badly injured or anything. They didn't dare do anything to make her any less hot, or an experiment again.

Jack decides not to think about the relief in her chest at seeing the operative mostly intact, and immediately chastises herself for thinking of Miranda's attractiveness.

Cool it, she's still the Cheerleader. Perfect tits and all.

Before Jack can really analyze that thought, the metal door is sliding open with a hiss, a rather formidable squad of mercenaries entering along with a skinny man in a lab coat.

Why the fuck do they need so many guys to take a video?

"Jack!" Miranda whispers harshly, and Jack shimmies closer to the cage behind her hiding spot.

"There's too many of them. We need a new plan."

"I'll kill all of these fucked up pricks."

"Not with that goddamn pistol Jack!"

"Excuse me?" The man in the lab coat interjects, walking before the cage. "Did you say something to me?"

"No, I was just asking how long you plan to hold us," Miranda replies coolly, her face hardening as if she was of course telling the truth.

"Not long at all."

A wicked smile spreads across the man's face, and he gestures to one of the guards in his detail to the cage's control panel. The guard swipes a thin chit before the sensor, and the large metal bars part and slide open. The moment it does however, every guard in the room trains their weapon on the two hostages.

"We are under the impression that you are now a liability to Dr. Archer's magnificent plan. Since you hold no value to our goal of continued scientific progress without being attacked by our previous employer for simply making strides in research, your captivity and lives end here."

No….no, no, no…

Jack nearly leaps from behind the crates then, but the six guns trained on Miranda and Liara's bodies keep her in wait, looking for an opportunity.

"That's all you want? Protection from the Illusive Man? Don't you know who I am?" Miranda's voice is admirably steady for the amount of weapons ready to end her life.

"I do not need to know, I know you're worth less to the Illusive Man than Shepard. And at this moment, that is quite simply at that matters."

Miranda cocks her hip, as if she is actually offended their captor had not heard of her. Though Jack had to admit, it was strange a man who previously worked for Archer and Cerberus wasn't aware of who Miranda was.

"My name is Miranda Lawson. I'm one of the few Cerberus operatives that directly answers to the Illusive Man. My companion is Dr. T'Soni, an asari that has the Illusive Man in her debt for services rendered years ago. I don't believe killing us is going to put you on his good side," Miranda states coldly.

Jack analyzes their reactions carefully, ready to take her chances with the small force if they decided to complete the execution they had been assigned. Instead, the man raises his hand, and each guard lowers their weapons.

"I have heard of you. Perhaps Dr. Archer was wrong, you may be of use."

The tone of his words unsettles Jack. If it bothers Miranda, she doesn't show it.

"You," the man points to one of his guards, beckoning him to attention. "Go see Dr. Archer, tell him we have Henry Lawson's daughter in custody. His attention could be worth far more than that of the Illusive Man. I won't allow them killed until this new development is discussed."

The guard nods, and wordlessly leaves the room. Jack had heard Miranda mention her issues with her father in passing enough before to understand the vague situation. It was to her understanding the cheerleader's father had engineered her to be perfect, then tossed her aside, leading to her immense daddy issues. She does not expect the effect a mere mention of him has on the operative, and wonders if the engineering was quite different than she imagined.

"Henry...Lawson?" Miranda manages, her face as white as a sheet. To Jack's annoyance, Liara seems to understand the facts behind the unsettling situation a bit more, and puts a comforting hand on Miranda's arm in a gesture of support. The operative squeezes it gratefully before Liara releases her.

Of course she fucking knows more about Cerberus' daddy issues than I do. She is an information broker. Why do you even fucking care to know about him?

"My father was an associate of yours Ms. Lawson, I know very much about you. And what your father is capable of," the man says, looking over Miranda appreciatively, There is a danger in his eyes Jack immediately identifies. The way his eyes linger on Miranda's body causing the operative to squirm uncomfortably make Jack want to tear him apart. "We were hoping to use our captured Commander as trading material to recover our subject matter and ensure we wouldn't find ourselves the target of Cerberus assassins for defecting, but you can't trust Cerberus to leave you alone when you truly leave. Henry Lawson could give us protection in return for you."

At the mention of Shepard being in their custody as well, Liara's eyes widen, her mouth opening in shock as if she were fighting for the words to retaliate only to find none. Jack wishes she could tell her to relax. They weren't planning on killing Shepard, she was in the least danger of all of them. The real danger in the man's statement was that with Shepard in their clutches, the faction had no use for the rest of them. The bastard could kill them now if he wanted. The asari needed to focus on that. But telling Liara any of that probably wouldn't change her panic anyway, she seemed irrationally freaked out any time danger found the Commander.

Why the fuck is she worrying so much? Shep is fine.

As if to answer her own question, realization dawns on the biotic.

Because she loves Shepard too.

Well isn't that peachy. Maybe they'll fuck and stop being shitheads about this. I'm going to smack the tentacles off her head if she doesn't tell Shepard.

Jack is brought out of her thoughts when she notices the lab coat wearing man is now very close to Miranda. Too close for Jack's comfort.

"You were of so much use to your father, I bet he was quite incensed when you left him."

"I escaped," Miranda says in a shaky voice, her eyes narrowing as the man came closer to her. "I didn't like being of use to him."

"Your talents surely haven't faded...you'll probably be more valuable now than you were years ago. My father knew yours years ago when he was a biotic researcher, a man who explored the possibilities of the reave capability in a human biotic. Henry Lawson tried to buy his research so many times...but never did seem to convince my father to allow him to have it. Then one day, that research goes missing, and my father hears a rumor Henry Lawson's biotic experiment…" The word experiment drips out of his mouth with disgust, his eyes flashing with hate as he faces Miranda, "...is one of the only humans managing to perform a successful reave. Not surprising, when your father stole anything, it was usually something to improve upon his little pet."

Miranda's eyes are red, brimming with tears. She says nothing in response, a silent confirmation she was well aware her father had stolen countless amounts of research data, and used it on her as experiment.

For the first time, Jack really sees Miranda. She sees why the cold woman clung to Cerberus so tightly as if it were a safety blanket for a child. Her father hadn't just rejected her, she had been abused to be nothing more than an experiment just like Jack had been. In different ways, probably to different extents, but the parallel was there, and it was not lost on the convict. Jack wants to leap from her hiding place and tear the lab coat's head off for invoking Miranda's past, but she forces herself to remain hidden. With Shepard captured and a handful of guns ready to kill her caged companions, Miranda's negotiation could be their only hope to walk out of this as alive as Shepard would be.

"Do you know how your father stole my father's research, Ms. Lawson?"

Miranda doesn't respond, and looks down at the ground, her breathing fast as if the story was invoking a panic in her Jack didn't know the cocky woman was capable of feeling. The operative was always so self assured and in control of every situation. It frustrated the convict, but at the moment, she wished for that bitch to surface, to tell off the horrible prick torturing her.

"I'll tell you if you don't remember." Suddenly, the lab coat has his hands on Miranda, one on her neck, and the other on her back, holding her body close to his. Liara takes a step towards them in response, only to have one of the guards point his rifle at her chest, stopping her in her tracks.

"Henry Lawson lent his daughter to my father's head of security as a plaything for a night, and while he was allowed his way with you, my father's research curiously went missing. All because Henry Lawson was able to weaponize your unnaturally engineered body, my father was ruined! Tell me, did you volunteer to be with so many older men for their resources? Or did he force you, you worthless harlot?"

If Miranda was going to respond, she isn't given the chance. Jack has heard enough, and she can't stand his hands on the clearly vulnerable cheerleader a moment longer. Before she can think through a rational plan of attack, the biotic is already moving as if on a rage fueled autopilot. She rips the man away from Miranda in a split-second, and sinks the shards of her broken omni-tool into his neck, piercing his body again and again in a blind rage.

"You don't fucking touch her!"

"Jack!" Miranda cries out, but it's too late. Several guards have their weapons pressed to the heads of Miranda and Liara, rendering them helpless as another fires into the body of the small biotic.