AN: Apologies for the incredibly late update... The writing spark is back up and running, and I hope to finish this before Mass Effect 3 (which I own nothing of, all belongs to Bioware) is released. Excited for it? I am! :D I've taken account of suggestions left in reviews, and to who is still following this story, I hope it surprises you. Anyway, enjoy.
Miranda had hoped things would have gone better with the issue she had to deal with concerning the crew earlier that morning. She felt embarrassed and childish to have been caught in a brawl with Jack by the well respected justicar and her spirits were low, though she knew she wasn't the only one feeling so. The confrontation with Zaeed had put everyone's minds to thinking about the reality of being separated from each other, and most bothersome being separated from Shepard. They had in fact grown into more than just commander and crew, senses of a more family-oriented atmosphere had developed throughout the Normandy that could be felt by any stranger who walked aboard. Their bonds were strong and unbreakable, a team made of heroes to all and known to many. The last night spent before venturing out to fight the reapers, Miranda remembered, had been one of the most memorable times when the crew pulled together to comfort each other through what they were to face. Feelings were not set aside as they should have been being a commander and crew, but the strengths of friendship was what lead them to victory.
She reminisced and a smile crept upon her face thinking of the crew as a bunch of siblings, fighting amongst each other or supporting each other when they needed it and Shepard being there for each and every one of them like the role of a mother. Speaking of which, she thought, Shepard had what it took to being a good mom, had all the best traits one could hope for in a loving parent. Again she smiled and looked across from her desk at Rheia who was on a play mat on the floor happily fiddling with various toys. The XO decided to get up and accompany the child for a few more moments of playtime before putting her down for a nap. Once the baby was asleep she could shower and relax. Their morning had been busy; the crew had spent most of it cleaning the mess hall and searching for any more signs of Shepard's runaway hamster which they found very little traces of. Just more chewed food containers and certain gifts left behind by critters.
Before joining Rheia, Miranda got out a towel and prepared clean clothes for her shower. She opened her drawer to get her under garments and was horrified at what she saw. Her favorite pair of silken black panties were shredded to hamster bedding. Upon the sight of the mess she wrinkled her nose and voiced her frustration, the toddler looking up at her curiously. That woman just has to make things around here difficult...
"EDI, scan the room and see if you can find any traces of that rodent." she ordered angrily. "I need to get Rheia out of here until I thoroughly clean this office..."
"Of course Miss Lawson." the AI responded. Miranda picked up the toddler and went to the closest room to her office eager to pass the baby on and get down to the engineering room to shoot Jack out an airlock. She entered the port observatory room where Kasumi sat comfortably on a leather sofa with her nose in a book.
"Hey there!" the thief greeted them cheerfully glancing up for a moment, then back to her book.
"Kasumi, can you watch Rheia for a while? I have a mess to clean up and rodent to find..." Miranda asked rather annoyed.
"Oh, sure. I haven't really got the chance to get to know her." she replied. "Should be interesting."
"Should be as interesting as your book." the XO ran a hand through her hair becoming impatient with the thief.
"What?" she looked at her now. "Sorry, the story's getting good!"
"Great, here. Take her please." Miranda said, handing the toddler out to the thief. Kasumi set her book down and took her from the angry woman. "If she gets fussy just give her to Tali."
Without saying another word Miranda left the room. Kasumi got up with Rheia in her arms and glanced around. There wasn't much to occupy the toddler with and Miranda didn't bother to grab any toys for her before leaving the office. She thought for a moment then got an idea after seeing the drawing on her wall that was made for her by a little girl she had rescued in the past. "Of course! Would you like to color, Rheia?"
"Blue!" she responded happily.
"Alright, let's set you down for a moment." Kasumi said. She set her down on her bed and went through the drawers of her desk. She shuffled through paper and books until she found what she was looking for. An old coloring book of various cartoon-like animals found on earth and an eight pack of colored crayons. Perfect! Setting Rheia down on the carpeted floor, she sat down with her and opened the coloring book to a page with a cat and handed it to her. The toddler looked at the picture curiously, tracing a little finger over the odd feeling paper. She then giggled pronouncing her R's as W's, "Hehe, Garrus kitty." Kasumi laughed and opened the pack of crayons and dumped them before her, handing Rheia the blue crayon while she took the brown.
"So, let's color kitty Garrus." the thief chuckled, "It's easy, all you do is..." Kasumi gave the tot instructions, coloring the body of the cat brown as she explained. Rheia picked up quickly, holding the crayon with a fist and scribbling over the page. A smile came to her face as she did so, grabbing other crayons to test out on the paper. Soon she had both hands scribbling busily over the picture bringing a smile to Kasumi's face. With Rheia occupied, the thief got up and grabbed her book eager to finish the chapter she was almost done with. She sat back down to her spot on the couch and began to read.
I felt you fading away... Your heart fell to the lies and hatred that surround you. Your soul fought, your heart bled guilt, you dropped to your knees in surrender; you had been conquered.
Kasumi occasionally glanced over at Rheia to make sure she was okay and wasn't exposed to hurting herself. So far the happy toddler continued to color.
Leaving behind I hear your silent voice as I scream your name. Tears are frozen as reality emerges from the depths of love; the fragile bond shatters into pieces. Desperately holding on, the shards only pierce my palms reminding me of hurt and the end.
She glanced over again, the baby still scribbling with various colors. So far, so good.
All the moments of my dreams are razed away, the heartless being of which you became appears to stay. Remembering the time we shined like shooting stars across the skies, the shattered pieces I release slow.
I have let you go.
Kasumi continued to read, her full attention caught in the grip of the story as her eyes paced back and forth as fast as they could go. No! She thought. Her chest felt crushed, saddened by the character's loss. How could they break up? The thief's eyes raced across the page, fully focused on the story. Her focus ended shortly though after hearing a loud "rip!".
Turning her attention to the toddler she saw that a few of her books were scattered about the floor and in the tiny blue hands was a page. A page ripped right out of one of her precious books. "My books! No no Rheia!" Her face dropped and she jumped off the couch to collect the sacred belongings. Rheia only stared innocently at the frantic thief with the page still in hand.
I only took my eyes off of her for a second! Kasumi began to stack her books back on the shelf but stopped when a little hand held out the page to her. "Sorry..." the baby said quiet and shyly. Kasumi took the paper carefully and looked at the page with scribbles over the words. "For me?" She could still read them, another love story but with a happier ending. She often read that story as she usually became engulfed in a fantasy world where she imagined a happy life with Keiji.
Kasumi smiled gently, the stress over her books vanishing. "Thanks little one. I'll keep it forever." She got up and found a tac in her drawer and hung the drawing on the wall just above her desk. She stared at it for a second with a content look on her face when a tug on her leg made her look away. Rheia held the page with the colored kitty up at her, "For kitty?"
"I can't say no to those big blue eyes." Kasumi picked her up, "Let's go give it to him." The toddler smiled as the door opened and they were stopped. Jacob stood just outside the door, his hand reaching for the button to the room for permission to come in. Upon seeing Kasumi he quickly straightened up.
"Oh, um, Kasumi..."
He was obviously nervous, the thief could tell. "Yes?" she made a friendly smile in attempt to calm him. It worked as he smiled in return. They shared those friendly smiles an awful lot.
"I wanted to know if you would like to join me and the rest of the crew. There's tons of fairs and celebrations going on since the defeat of the reapers. One's not too far away we're going to walk down to." Jacob jerked his thumb in the direction behind him. "I think it would be fun for the baby girl here, too!"
Kasumi's eyes lit up. A chance to go out with Jacob, maybe push things further, sounded wonderful. "Oh it would! We'd have to get Miranda's permission to take her though...who's all going?"
"Well, everyone really. Took a bit of convincing to get Tali away from the engine and Mordin out of his lab. Still trying to get Samara to go... Haven't seen her come out of her room much since we've been docked."
"Sounds fun! Let's see if Miranda will go and if we can take Rheia, then speak to Samara. It would be good for her to get out." Kasumi said excitedly shifting Rheia to her other hip.
"I agree." Jacob said. "Glad your coming along."
Miranda sat busily at her terminal as she checked through her messages for any news from her sister, but so far she had only newsletters or spam. Since the defeat of the reapers she had still held her job to helping Shepard manage important news, requests, and various other information regarding their "treason" toward the Illusive Man and Cerberus. Though the majority of his army had been defeated and the man himself was locked away, Shepard still faced constant threats. It worried her, and she knew Shepard was still most bothersome by it. Miranda expressed her loyalty to her commander by constantly looking out for any new threats or dangers. As she scrolled through the seemingly endless list, one particular title stood out in full caps that read, "CITADEL SECURITY: WARNING."
Figuring the message was important being how they were docked on the citadel, Miranda opened the page and began to read;
Greetings officer of the SR2 Normandy,
We have received various reports of an active geth aboard your vessel. Due to the amount of threat the synthetic beings may be, a warrant has been issued to inspect and secure the geth. Citadel Security officers will be conducting a thorough inspection of the reported vessel this afternoon-
The XO didn't bother reading the rest as she found the report to be absurd. Miranda's blood couldn't have boiled anymore then it already had she was so angry and irritated. Shepard had cleared Legion's name a long time ago and his name was documented in the security's system allowing him to be on the citadel but accompanied by Shepard at all times. As irritated as she was, she snapped at the sound of her door opening and her attitude lashed out at whoever it was intruding in her space.
"Whatever it is it can wait till later. Get out."
Kasumi and Jacob stood stunned in place by the hostility Miranda expressed, but it was something they were used to. Jacob knew how to push her buttons and get the answer he needed. Straight and to the point, there was no beating around the bush.
"Miranda. We'd just like permission to take Rheia with us to the fair this afternoon." Jacob stated, expecting a quick reply. His expectation failing, he continued. "We'll have the whole crew watching over her at all times."
Miranda sighed, the thought of the toddler calming her for only a few seconds. "I suppose there's no harm to it. I must stay here, the ships to be inspected in a few hours by citadel security. Whatever you do you keep that child safe."
"Inspected? Why?" Kasumi asked curiously.
Miranda folded her hands neatly on top of each other in attempt to remain calm. "Because some idiots think Legion's a threat to the citadel and to all civilians even though he's obviously not causing any trouble being aboard a docked ship or going out and randomly shooting at people."
"I see..." Kasumi shifted her eyes away from the angry woman. Feeling slightly awkward standing there she began to shift her feet with Rheia quietly in her arms. Jacob noticed, with his question answered it was time to get the hell out of there.
"Well, we will be back within a couple of hours. I'll inform you of any emergencies if need be." Jacob told the XO, then he and Kasumi left her to be. Leaving Miranda's office, the two had a few eager crew members waiting for them near the elevator.
"Did you get the okay? Do we get to take the kid?" asked Jack who leaned against the elevator door with her arms crossed.
"We did, but Miranda isn't going." Jacob answered as he and Kasumi approached them.
"Damn, I wanted to dunk the cheerleader..." Jack almost looked saddened by the fact Miranda wasn't coming along. "Or have had the chance to throw a pie in her face."
Jacob snickered as Rheia got excited at seeing Garrus. Still in her hand was the colored cat she had wanted to give to him. Holding out the page to the turian, she squealed "kitty!" excitedly with a bright smile on her face.
"What have you got here?" he asked the girl as she was handed to him and taking the paper she held. Looking at the colored page, Garrus grinned as she reached for his mandibles again. "Thanks for the lovely drawing, kiddie. I think I'd be more like... A majestic panther, strong, beautiful to look at..."
Tali shook her head as Garrus propped the girl up on his shoulders and began to roar. Rheia giggled and held on to him as he pranced around bearing his triangular teeth.
"Hey hey I want to have fun too can we get going?" Jack interrupted the turian's impersonation of a wild animal.
"Yes, shall we?" Tali agreed, clicking the elevator button slightly annoyed. Garrus stopped in embarrassment, his mandibles twitching once. His attempts to impress the ladies usually ended this way.
"Uh, yeah, sure..."
"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna try to convince Samara to go..." Kasumi told the three. Everyone stepped into the elevator, "Well hurry up!" Jack told the thief before the doors shut.
Making her way down the hall, Kasumi entered the starboard observatory where Samara stood staring out into the galaxy. She stood tall and proud, her arms neatly behind her back.
"Is there something you need?" Samara asked without turning around to acknowledge the presence of the thief.
Kasumi never found it difficult to talk to anybody, she spoke confidently to the justicar. "Hey there! The crew's heading out to the fair and everyone thinks it would be nice of you to join us. It would be good to get out, you know?"
"I do not partake in such celebrations. I'm afraid I must refuse the offer." Samara said calmly, her voice soft.
"Can't take a break from your code for a few hours? Just a little? We're taking Rheia with us..." Kasumi tried her best to get the asari woman to go.
"A justicar never recieves a break. Our code is our life." Samara turned to face her, hands unclasping from behind her. "But in this case, I have given Shepard my loyalty and therefore I will be there to guard her family. I will go."
Kasumi felt happy and smiled, "Well great! Everyone will be glad. Try to have fun at least." Samara grinned slightly, then followed the thief to join up with the others.
Shepard and Liara were just finishing lunch with Ashley and her sisters, the group of women spent the time talking about memories, the good and bad. They sat around a table with an empty pizza box in the middle and drinks all around. The humans enjoyed the food, however Liara had difficulty handling the pepperoni. The poor asari woman made a face at her first bite that the human ladies couldn't help but to laugh at. She had to take a big gulp of water afterward to get the awful taste out of her mouth. Her first time eating the foreign delicacy, Ashley poked fun at her while Shepard had peeled the tiny pieces of pepperoni off and ate them for her.
"T'soni, you'd never make it as a latino with that kind of sensitive taste." Ashley teased her. "I mean come on, pepperoni, hot?"
"There's a lot of things I can't really handle, sis." Sarah, Ashley's younger sister said feeling for the poor woman. "Remember gramma's homemade chile? Woo, that was some hot stuff."
Liara's face had turned a slight shade of purple, "There is food spicier then this?"
"Yep, a lot more." Ashley said. She grinned, "I know the skipper likes spicy food but I think she's been satisfied with the hotness you added to those dance moves..."
Her face now fully flustered, Shepard nudged her in the side softly with a grin on her face trying to ease her embarrassment as the sisters giggled. "I suppose the coat stripping was a little extreme..." Liara admitted bashfully.
"Girl, you have not been to a real club. That was nothing, don't be so embarrassed." Lynn told her.
"And when did you go to a real club?" Ashley asked the younger Williams with an authoritative like tone.
"Well Abby went too..." Lynn was met with a sharp elbow to the gut by her older sister, only making Ashley cross her arms and quirk an eyebrow at her younger siblings.
"Hey, who wants to go swimming?" Lynn asked around the table as she and Abby scooted out from the booth eagerly to evade one of Ashley's protective parent like lectures.
"Gotta wait an half an hour, we just ate." Ashley told them, her look stern.
"Oh yeah...kay, we're, um, gonna hit the arcades then, bye!" the two sisters hurried away from the table.
"Don't think your off the hook, girls!" Ashley hollered with a finger pointed after them.
Shepard stood up and took a sip of her drink before deciding that hitting the arcades sounded like a good idea. She loved having the spare time to play games and nothing was better then having a best friend and bond mate there to join in. "Playing a few games actually sounds great. They've got that virtual zombie survival shooter I want to try out..."
"There's no way your gonna beat my kill count, skipper." Ashley said, her hand under her chin and a mischievous grin on her face.
"I do believe those are 'I'm challenging you' words..." Liara interjected, smiling softly at the competitive yet friendly nature of which Ashley and Shepard shared.
"You've seen me in action, Williams. You sure you want to do this?" Shepard stated, throwing in her acceptance. "Liara and I VS the Williams sisters."
"Bring it on, Shepards!" Ashley hollered competitively as she got up from the table while Liara and Sarah only looked at each other in silence. Shepard took Liara by the arm, "Come on, hun. I danced for you, now you have to help me show Ashley who makes a better zombie survivalist."
She had hoped to have had a bit more alone time with Shepard, but visiting with Ashley and catching up was a nice surprise for her lover, she knew. Liara willingly accepted being volunteered as Shepard's partner as her heart skipped a beat remembering being referred to as a 'Shepard' a few moments ago. She felt warm and fuzzy again, liking the sound of that. Liara Shepard...
The women left the dining area and made their way to the elevator, descending down to the fourth deck where the arcades were. Just like the second deck where dancing and dining took place the room was flashing with lights and all sorts of noises usually heard in common video games. Crashing, burning tires, gunfire, punch impacts, beeps, clicks and clangs; there were many games to play and Shepard was eager to try them all.
Ashley spotted the game they were to have their challenge. It had it's own room, and overhead before one walked in it was titled "GamePhase: Rise of the Undead".Inside were many phase capsules which ported players into the game once they were given their controller; a visor that, once activated, equipped the player with a combat-like vest and gloves. It was set similarly to wearing tech armor. Though the visor, vest, and gloves glowed correspondent to the player's team color. The visor's purpose was to transmit game data from the GamePhase servers which allowed gameplay once they stepped through the port, and also served as the game menu where players decided on difficulty, settings, and was what brought them back to reality. It also kept scores and saved player progression through one's omni-tool; Ashley had a high player score and made it a challenge to beat the old score each time she played.
"So... How does this work?" asked Liara who had rarely ever played video games. She approached one of the phase capsules to get a better look of how the console worked and all it reminded her of was a fabled time machine.
"Pretty simple. Just put your visor on, activate it, then step in to the phase port and your in the game world." Ashley explained as she was handed her visor from one of the game operators. She setup her visor, the glow around her head and eyes lit up in blue. Sarah had equipped her visor with ease which also lit in blue marking her as Ashley's teammate. Liara had thought the younger human was new to the game like she was, but after seeing her ready her visor like a pro the asari realized she was the only one who didn't know how it worked... Or how to kill a zombie. Ashley activated her visor and looked at Shepard with a grin, "See you in the game, skipper." She stepped into the port and was phased into the alternate reality. Sarah followed after her and with a "swoosh!" she was gone. Liara looked uncertain after watching the two disappear into the port. "Shepard, is this safe? Is it possible that people get stuck in there?"
Shepard had got to putting on her visor, "Where, the machine?"
"The alternate world... What if we get stuck in a world with those creatures known as zombies? I don't know much about games, but..."
Shepard picked up another visor and helped Liara setup and put it on to fit her comfortably. "If you get scared, just tap this key," Shepard explained as she guided Liara's fingers over the command keys on the side of the visor. "You'll phase out and be standing right where you are now."
"You won't get stuck, ma'am." one of the game operators told her, a young human male that looked and seemed to know a lot about gaming. "If the servers crash everyone is ported out immediately... You just disconnect is all."
Shepard tapped the key on the side of her helmet and reached a hand out toward Liara. "Ready?" Liara pressed her key, their team color being yellow, and took Shepard's hand with a slight grin.
"Ready."
Together they stepped through the port and into a dark urban-like world. They were in the middle of a city that had looked like no sort of civilization remained; cars randomly flipped around, broken windows to nearby shops and other buildings, knocked over trash bins; everything out of the ordinary.
"About time you two phased in. Sarah and I are set; difficulty on easy for the noob." Ashley greeted them. Her gear glowed blue and in her hands were two luminous pistols that were colored a little darker then the rest of the gear. Sarah was equipped with a shotgun and grenades hung from her vest. The Williams looked like a team ready for an all out war.
"Hey now, Liara can handle herself in a fight." Shepard stated as she clicked a key on her right glove that opened up a radiant screen of weapons to choose. Assault rifles, shotguns, various types of grenades, pistols... Watching Shepard, Liara clicked the same button as her inventory displayed and scrolled through. Easy enough, she thought. Just like using an omni-tool. I'll just use my biotics to help with-
There are no biotics, love... Liara heard Shepard's voice through their mental bond. She glanced at her, the commander's face gentle with a smile.
"Well...great." Liara huffed, feeling the title of "noob" fitting it's place over her. Scrolling through the weapons, she chose a high powered pistol. She tapped the button and in her hand the gun appeared. It flashed until she gripped her hand around it.
"There you go, you have it equipped now." Shepard said, picking out her favorite assault rifle. "Oh, you can also find health injectors in the inventory in case your health gets low, and adrenaline shots to revive me if I go down."
"Yeah, if the mobs get to you your vest is what records your health, it's your hit box. You should see it displayed in a vertical bar on the left of your HUD screen through the eye piece." Sarah helped to explain as she readied her shotgun.
"Oh okay. Thanks." Holding her gun tight and making one final adjustment to her visor, Liara felt ready. "I am ready to begin."
"Let's... DO THIS!" exclaimed Ashley as she started the game with a click to her helm. The dark world they were placed in suddenly lit to life, the four players separated in different parts of the map as the undead began to spawn. Liara was placed onto a barren street only surrounded by old buildings and a horde of oncoming zombies which she found to be slightly intimidating. Their skin was gray and pasty, a few had missing limbs, torn clothing...The way they staggered towards her with mouths agape, arms cringed abnormally, lifeless eyes...the sounds of their groaning and heavy breathing only made her more anxious.
"Uhhh, Shepard? Can you hear me?" She pressed her hand against her helmet in a panic. "Why am I not with you?"
"We were supposed to spawn next to each other...Ashley I thought this was easy mode!" Shepard hollered through their chat connection.
"What the hell, sis?" came a shout from Sarah after Shepard.
"Haha! It's an extreme survival game. More mobs, less firepower... Gotta get to your partner if your gonna make it, T'soni!" Ashley snickered through the link as gunfire was heard in the background.
"Liara, hold your position. I'm on my way!" Shepard said, "Aim for the head, it's the most efficient way to kill them."
"Get here... fast." ordered Liara. She quickly glanced around for a spot to take cover, but there wasn't much to hunker down behind. There was no way she could defend herself in the open. The mobs drew closer and she aimed her gun firing a few shots and blasting their faces away. They looked real as did the environment... she felt almost as if it wasn't a game but a real scenario of survival. "What happened to the classic chomping of pebbles to progress? This is gaming to the extreme!" She tapped on her glove to reveal the map and player status, spotting Shepard's yellow dot a few blocks away. Figuring to stay on the move was the best idea, Liara picked a route to follow to get to her partner. Firing a couple more shots at the pursuing dead, she dashed down the back way of an alley to keep a few off her tail; or so she hoped. On her HUD screen she saw the sister's points quickly racking up as her team score slowly increased... Her kill count total was four; Shepard had nineteen and counting. How many could be behind her now if Shepard had faced that amount already? Liara didn't dare look back, she kept running. She sprinted around a corner only to have flesh hungry creatures waiting there almost as if they knew she'd be there. Squealing in surprise, she fired her gun on sight but it seemed like no use... It was one after the other. What to do what to do... Liara's heart raced as her fingers trembled over the keys to open her inventory in order to select another weapon. The grunting and growling grew louder as the zombies came closer to reaching her, their clawed-like fingers stretching to grab her. Just before they reached her, she found and equipped the shotgun and blasted the horde in front if her into a bloody mess... She suddenly felt her vest shaking around her torso and her HUD screen began flashing in red. The ones behind had caught up.
"Ugh! They've got me!" she screamed.
"Shake em' off! Hang in there, I'm not even close to your position!" Shepard told her.
Liara struggled in the grips of the zombie trying to get a better hold of her shotgun as it munched on the holographic vest. More zombies were close behind the one that had her and once they reached they swiped at the vest causing her body to rumble from vibration of the gear being attacked. She was down to seventy-five percent health and decreasing... When things couldn't get any worse the shotgun was flung from her grip and now she had nothing.
"Shepard...!"
"Liara choose the light blade in the inventory and chop away at them!" Sarah suggested through the link.
"The light blade is cheating!" Ashley retorted with a whine. "No way T'soni has it at level one anyway!"
"Not a cheat if you rank up..." Shepard piped in. "In extreme survival mode your partner has access to all your weapons, and I just hit top level. Light blade away!"
"Whaaaaat?" Ashley was in disbelief. "Where'd you get the time to play and get up there so fast?" Top level: One hundred-fifty. Light Blade; A powerful blade infused with holy light that, once wielded, disorients all nearby undead into a blinding cower for the duration of the wield and increases damage dealt by one hundred percent...
Glancing at the glove that now had a new shining button on it, Liara punched down in it desperately. A loud sound of a sword being unsheathed could be heard through the chat link as the legendary light blade appeared in the asari's hands. Her struggles ceased as the undead released her and cowered in fear, some blocking their eyes and others vanishing to dust as the yellow team's score zipped up in numbers.
"Haha, go Liara, go!" Sarah cheered her on.
"Cut em' up baby!" Shepard encouraged.
"No fair!" yelled Ashley.
Liara regained her strength and charged at the horde of zombies. "Raaaugh!" She sliced the first couple, ending their miserable lives with clean beheading... The next set were no match, they were all sitting targets. She swung and chopped, the points rapidly jumped up to the thousands as the zombies numbers declined. Liara felt like a pro player wielding the sword as she swung it around like some kind of highly trained warrior. She grinned wickedly as she continued to increase her kill count, the last of the zombies dwindling about... BLAM!
Liara's reign of terror ended as Shepard appeared and took her last kill. She glanced over at her heavy gun wielding partner with a blank face, then upon seeing her blow the smoke from the barrel of her gun Liara smiled and laughed. The asari wiped her brow as the light blade faded away, it's duration over. She hurried to Shepard and threw her arms around the commander. "About time you got here...now keep me safe!"
"Liara, we won." Shepard said happily, hugging her too.
"Ha! Can't call me a 'noob' anymore, can you Williams?" Liara blurted into the chat link.
"I call shenanigans..." Ashley muttered. She was having fun, but enjoying more giving Liara a hard time. "Alright team Shepard won this round. Good game good game... Next round in three!"
Liara looked into Shepard's eyes, her face showing she didn't want be left alone again. "That... You mean the game isn't over?"
"This round is, but that's Ashley's way of saying she wants a rematch." Shepard laughed. "You up to the challenge?"
Liara hugged Shepard tight. She wanted Shepard to enjoy herself, but at the same time she wanted her to herself...it wasn't always Shepard and Ashley had time to hang out with their demanding jobs; Liara's patience would soon pay off. "Let's show her what Shepards are made of."
Shepard felt a ping in her chest at the sound of that and she smiled proudly. Liara had accepted her, had she always? She waited for the right moment, arguing with herself that is wasn't time. Shepard had wished many things, but haunts of the past blew away any confidence she held and made it hard for her to accept Liara's gentle affection and forgiving.
Brushing aside the thoughts, Shepard readied her weapon and smirked at the asari. "It's on Williams."
It had been about an hour after the crew left and the citadel security officers showed up to "inspect" the Normandy. Miranda had allowed the three officers on board, two humans and, oddly, a batarian. She didn't bother greeting them in a friendly manner, just her arms folded across her chest and a "follow me" was all they got. She lead them through the Normandy and as they stood in the elevator Miranda sensed one of the men to be uneasy. The obvious signs were fidgeting and looking around almost as if his conscious had the better of him. Maybe he was in awe standing aboard the ship of the hero of the galaxy, Miranda thought with a smirk. Or maybe he was afraid of geth? Whatever it was the XO didn't worry too much about it. She knew Legion was perfectly safe and hoped his non hostile behavior would shoo the guards out quickly.
"Just do your clearance scan quickly and get off our ship without leaving me with a ton of paperwork to deal with." Miranda stated as she and the guards approached the AI core. Dr. Chakwas sat her desk busily going through some data pads only glancing up to acknowledge them briefly.
"He's expecting company." she told them, seeing one of the guards reach for his weapon. "No need to walk in armed, sir."
The nervous guard lowered his hands to his sides as the batarian of the group elbowed him in the ribs, his six black eyes narrowing at the man. The two human officers entered the AI core as the batarian skimmed through a data pad he had brought with him, "No paperwork for you ma'am, thats a part of our job. Only a few questions while the boys inspect the reported synthetic and I'll just need your signature here afterward for our records."
"Well out with them then." Miranda ordered as she placed her hands on her hips impatiently.
The batarian began, "Alright..."
Meanwhile inside the AI core, one of the human officers stood in front of Legion who fully cooperated with the officers. He scanned over the geth being with his omni-tool checking for any flaws and asked questions while the other officer stood nervously to the side. "Everything has passed inspection, geth. We just need to make a quick scan over your installed programs and neural network to pass you off as no threat."
"We possess no threat. We are sworn to serve Shepard Commander and protect her people." Legion said. His flashlight head turned to follow what the officer had just received from his comrade, a blinking disc shaped item.
"Yeah..that's why we must get rid of you." The officer snapped a button as Legion's headlight flashed red, but before he could assess the threat the officer quickly placed the disc on his chest which beeped and began to overload Legion's systems. The geth struggled and juddered around as electrical sparks coursed their way around his body, disabling any defenses and shutting down every program.
"Sensory overload...S-systems offline. We are sworn-sworn to serve Shepard-Shepard Commander." Legion babbled on, dragging out his final words before falling to the ground motionless. The light on his head dimmed and soon faded out. The officer turned to his nervous partner with a smirk on his face.
"Wasn't so hard was it? Now hurry up and re-program it before the head bitch loses her patience."
The nervous officer nodded and knelt beside Legion, hovering his omni-tool over him and began to punch in various keys. "Can't believe I'm doing this..."
The other officer crossed his arms and frowned at the man beside him. "When the geth reactivates and snags Shepard's little girl, the cred we get for doing this will be worth it. Quit your belly aching."
The hack specialist quickly finished his job, making one final scan over Legion and pressing one more key. "It's done. Bringing it back online."
Slowly the light returned to Legion's head and he got to his feet, quietly standing in his usual spot as if nothing had happened. The officer looked him over, the motionless but ready look to obey made him decide their plan worked. "Do not speak to anyone aboard this ship. You await your orders. Stay here until the time has come."
Legion nodded his head and his light blinked, "Acknowledged."
"Alright final question ma'am. Has the geth ever threatened a crew member?" the batarian asked.
"No he has not, you've been asking the same questions over and over, only re-wording them..." Miranda answered hastily. Just then the two officers stepped out of the AI core.
"The geth has passed inspection sir. We can report it a safe artificial intelligence."
The batarian eyed them questioningly, and the hack specialist nodded confirming an answer. He looked back at Miranda holding the data pad out to her, "Well, just your signature then and we'll be gone."
Miranda scribbled her name onto the pad and shoved it back at the batarian. "Thanks, now take your leave."
The batarian nodded his head in acknowledgment and he and the other officers left without a word. Dr. Chakwas turned to Miranda then looking at her for a moment.
"Miss Lawson, you seem awfully down. Might I suggest joining the crew out on a night of fun?"
Miranda had thought about it but she didn't feel it was appropriate. Somehow the doctor knew she had been depressed, and still was. The look in her eyes told her she knew everything that was going on, there was no convincing the doctor otherwise. "Jack's out there...I rather not."
"You are being stubborn, letting such foolish things get in your way of happiness. Jack will be most likely be off on her own, you don't have to hang out you know. Get out there and enjoy yourself." Chakwas told her. Miranda thought a moment, then smiled softly. Maybe she could reason with Jack ,and she and the crew could have a good time together after all. Anything that didn't involve shooting up mercenaries or crazed aliens sounded good to her. "Well...alright, I'll go. Thanks for the convincing, doctor." she said with a smile.
Miranda made her way out the door. Dr. Chakwas got up form her seat and entered the AI core where Legion stood motionless upon her arrival. "I got her to go out." she said smiling at the geth. "I do hope she enjoys herself. Now I'd like to monitor Tali a bit more and her behavioral changes, what do you think Legion?"
When the geth didn't repsond at the mention of Tali, his "creator", Chakwas looked at him with concern and slight bewilderment. "Legion?"