AN: I don't own Mass Effect, the characters or the locations.
Commander Shepard strode through the crew deck of Normandy SR-2, intent on the XO's quarters, her face a mask of grim determination. She was dressed in coarse orange and brown clothing, devoid of any Cerberus logos. And clutched in her right hand was a small, black object which on closer examination appeared to be made out of lace. Approaching the XO's door, Shepard keyed it open, not bothering to knock.
Behind the room's desk sat Miranda Lawson, the Cerberus Operative in charge of the Lazarus Cell. Presently, she was typing her daily report for The Illusive Man. Surprised at the unannounced intrusion, the tall brunette looked up. "Hello, Commander," she said in greeting, her surprise quickly quenched.
Silently, Shepard closed the door behind her and set the lock so that they would not be disturbed. Turning back to Miranda she hissed through clenched teeth, "What the hell is this?" and tossed the black lacy thing at the taller woman.
"Commander?" Miranda asked. Met with an unflinching glare from Shepard, Miranda began unfolding the lacy object and inspecting it. "It appears to be a bra," she said, "from Stephanie's of the Citadel. A very expensive brand, I might add."
"And what size," Shepard asked coldly, "is that bra from Stephanie's of the Citadel?"
After a quick inspection, Miranda replied, "It's a thirty-four C. What's this about, Shepard?" she asked, her brows furrowing as she tried to determine why the Commander was upset.
"Would you care to tell me what else you changed, when you were trying to put me back together, 'exactly' as I was?" Shepard asked, keeping the anger and fear she was feeling out of her voice. She crossed her arms, waiting for the other woman to respond.
Miranda set the bra down on her desk and stood up. She was taller than the Commander even without heels, the boots of her uniform making her tower over the petite marine in front of her. Calmly, so as not to upset the Commander further, Miranda said, "I do not know what you are talking about."
Unfazed and unintimidated by the fact that she had to look up some six inches to look Miranda in the eyes, Shepard laid out her concerns. "You know very well, what I'm talking about, Miranda. My tits are bigger, my ass is rounder, I don't have ANY hair on my legs or armpits, and I can goddamn touch my nose with my tongue! The filling I've had since I was fifteen is gone. And on top of all of that, the only scars I seem to have anymore are from your skin grafts! Which Chakwas says should fade completely. And when I went to get myself shit-faced drunk after dealing with the council, I never got past tipsy!"
She'd suspected that this conversation was a possibility, even probable, but Miranda had hoped that it would have been in more controlled circumstances. 'Damn, Wilson, and damn him for being a traitorous cur,' Miranda thought for what she suspected was the thousandth time. Miranda motioned to one of her office side chairs, "Let's sit down. I expect that you'll have a few questions." Sitting first, Miranda waited for Shepard to take a seat as well.
Watching Shepard carefully as she spoke, Miranda began the speech she'd practiced in her head daily, sometimes hourly, for the last six months. "Commander, when your body was recovered the damage to it was quite extensive. We spared no expense to bring you back, and did everything we could to restore you exactly as you were. We reviewed every holo-vid we could find, every photograph there was. Everyone you've ever met has been interviewed about who you were, what you were like... What your habits were. Sometimes the information we gathered conflicted. Sometimes the sources we tried to collect from simply hadn't kept the data we actually needed."
Miranda paused and glanced at the bra on her desk, before deviating from her scripted speech, "I know that you did much of your lingerie shopping at boutiques like Stephanie's, and what styles you bought, but none of the receipts listed your size. And Alliance uniform size guides don't really help since they issue sports bras in small, medium and large. Alliance data tells me you're one point six three meters tall with a mass of fifty four kilograms and mostly muscle. I can tell you what all your FITREP scores are, who recommended you for the N programs, what minute you were born in. But to get your specific measurements, we had to make an educated guess."
"We spent weeks analyzing the pictures and vids of you we had," Miranda sighed. "And in the end, we had to make the best guess we could."
Shepard nodded slowly before prompting, "How extensive was the damage to my body? What else did you change?"
Shaking her head, Miranda said, "Commander I really don't think..."
"I want to know," Shepard interrupted.
Miranda frowned, wondering what sort of emotional damage could occur if Shepard saw the Lazarus Project files. When she looked into the Commander's eyes and saw that she was determined to know, Miranda made a decision. "If you really want to know how badly damaged you were, I'll let Kelly go over the files with you. As to what else we changed... We had to use a hybrid of biological and synthetic techniques to bring you back."
"And?"
"And you're different. You're tougher and stronger than any other human, you'll outlive me by a fair span. Most poisons won't kill you; although you may wish they had. We used synthetics when there was no other practical choice. And when we used synthetics, seamless improvements..."
In a flash, Shepard was on her feet and had crossed the space to Miranda's desk. "Seamless improvements?" she asked, her voice low and very cold. "Is that all I am to you? Another piece of technology to be pointed at the Reapers like Normandy and EDI?"
Astonished by how quickly Shepard had moved, Miranda spoke slowly and calmly. "No, Commander, you're not a piece of technology. You're the human that has the best chance of stopping the Collectors and the Reapers. When we... When I rebuilt you, I made the decisions that I felt would best allow you to do that."
"Except that you were overruled on the control chip," Shepard said flatly.
"Except for that."
"Miss Lawson," Shepard said icily, as she turned towards the door, "see to it that Kelly has the full set of files regarding how you found me and rebuilt me." With that, Shepard released the lock and exited Miranda's office.