Chapter 5
It had taken several hours before the rain finally stopped, but though Miranda's body had appreciated the rest, her fatigue had now been replaced with hunger. All of their provisions had gone down with the ship, and as they reached the outskirts of the capital, she wasn't excited about the prospects of finding anything appetizing soon. The center of the city might have survived well enough, but here, the devastation was extensive. The buildings that lined the streets were shattered shells, and rubble lay strewn about everywhere. So, too, were bodies. Here and there were unburied corpses from the fighting, Reaper troops and the inhabitants of Typhon alike laying where they fell.
Miranda paused, looking down at the remains of an asari ripped apart by husk claws. She reminded her a little bit of Liara, but she had darker skin and was even younger than the Shadow Broker. Scavenging birds had been at her belly and the stench of rot and blood was enough to nauseate even the hardened operative.
"This is a fucking shitshow," Jack coughed out before stifling a gag.
Miranda took two steps back before replying, cupping a hand over her nose to mask the stench. "Indeed. The bulk of the dead seem to be non-human."
"Yeah, I'm sure your old Cerberus buddies weren't too worried about saving a bunch of aliens."
She was too hungry and disgusted to bother arguing with Jack about whether she and Cerberus were friends. "No, I suspect they were not."
While the dead were out in the open, the living were harder to find. As they walked on, Miranda caught glimpses of motion at the edges of her vision, but whatever survivors lived in this neighborhood seemed too afraid to come out and meet them.
Not that I can blame them, after what they must have been through.
The quiet made the whole tableaux even more unsettling, but it did not last long. A few minutes into their journey, Miranda suddenly heard a booming voice. It seemed to come from several directions at once, but one of the sources was clearly nearer, and so that was where she headed.
Around a corner and a block or so away, someone had erected a vid-screen on the side of one of the more intact buildings. Projected up on it was the massive image of a man at once familiar and strange. When Miranda had seen Anthony Ford a few years earlier, he looked every inch the clean-shaven military man, even when laying on her operating table. Now, he sported a well-trimmed snowy beard on his hard, angular face and in place of his hospital gown, he wore white and brown robes that simultaneously tried hard to appear humble while still projecting an aura of majesty. Behind him was, unsurprisingly, the logo of Cerberus, but it too had been changed. This one was made of gold, and gleaming out from a black banner, it seemed more holy emblem than organizational signifier.
"Long have been our tribulations," Ford was saying, "But I tell you that they have not been in vain. We have come out of the wilderness of the Reaper War, and now, we have begun our climb towards the new Eden. The future we move towards is one that must be untainted by the sins of alien deviants, and unstained by the weakness and greed of those who once enabled them. It is a future that belongs to every human being, and it is one that Cerberus will lead you into, just as we have preserved you through the long, dark night that has just ended."
"What the fuck!?", Jack snapped, disgust and rage mixed in her voice. "Shepard preserved your dumb asses, not this jerk-off."
"But this path will not be an easy one," Ford continued, unable to hear Jack's complaints. "Every one of the brethren will have to play their part. Traitors and cowards will only divide us, weakening our resolve and opening our hearts up to the sins that the Reapers came to punish. Sadly, for some, this path has been too hard. In Redemption Square at midday, all shall see an example of what happens to those who give in to sin. Who give succor to the aliens who nearly destroyed us. This is no time for weakness. This is the time of struggle, and only the righteous shall survive. Blessings be upon you all."
The screen blinked off and Miranda turned to see Jack, nearly incoherent as she stood there fuming. Wisps of biotic energy were floating off of her body and, with a snarl, she let one of them loose on the vid-screen, cracking it in half and sending chunks of glass raining down into the street.
"Fucking, no-good, piece-of-shit, Cerberus asshole," she ranted. "He can't really believe that bullshit, can he?"
"I don' t know. The man I met was nothing like this. But these have been strange times." Here I am, working for you, after all. "Religion can be a powerful tool to manipulate others, especially when they are frightened and desperate. Ford offers the survivors a narrative; someone to blame for their pain, and a leader who will save them from it."
Jack sighed. "Yeah, I know the drill. I was in a cult once, remember? Same bullshit, smaller scale. I just hate seeing people buying into it from Cerberus."
"We still don't know how many of them really believe or what they know about Cerberus' true nature. Perhaps we should find out where this Redemption Square is and get a better look at what we're dealing with."
"Why not?", Jack shrugged. "At least we can probably knock some heads while we're there. But how do we find the place?"
Miranda looked up past the building with the cracked vidscreen and saw a pillar of smoke rising into the air. "We'll follow the smoke."
"Could just be some asshole burning shit down. This whole area is trashed."
"True, but at least it means there are people there, which is a start." Miranda didn't wait for her ostensible commanding officer's permission before she headed down a narrow street towards the source of the smoke. Jack ran up to her side a moment later, saying nothing as she followed.
Their path led them through more ruins, and more corpses, and they maintained a fast pace, both eager to get out of the bloody streets. The electronic street signs that had existed before the war were little more than scrap now, but in their place, someone had set up crude metal ones, with places names reflecting Ford's new order written in fading red paint. They hadn't yet reached the source of the smoke when they found one of them reading, "Redemption Square," with an arrow directing them down a narrow street.
They were pleasantly surprised to find less dead infesting this pathway but the corpses remained present and Miranda still saw the occasional pair of eyes watching them from behind broken windows or a humanoid shape fleeing down an alleyway. Soon they came across another sign for Redemption Square, only this time the paint was noticeably less faded.
It continued like this for some time until Miranda and Jack found themselves on an avenue at last devoid of bodies or other signs carnage. Nor was there a soul in sight, and the silence was overwhelming.
"This place is fucking creepy," Jack hissed.
"I'm willing to agree with you on that." As much as anything else, it was the implications of this place that disturbed Miranda. Was this the logical end of Cerberus' vision? She had always thought of the group as being more pro-human than anti-alien, but perhaps she'd just been naive.
Had it not been for the Normandy would this have been where I ended up? A rotting corpse on a forgotten world or perhaps one of those leaving it to rot.
They continued down the abandoned road for quite some time until at last they came upon what would prove to be their final sign. Hung above a dark and ominous-looking tunnel carved through the wreckage of a collapsed overhead bridge, a carefully painted sign told them they had arrived.
Miranda stared down the dark tunnel before turning to Jack. "After you," she offered with an extension of her arm.
Jack rolled her eyes and muttered, "Pussy," under her breath before marching forward.
Miranda shook her head and followed after Jack. As they walked towards the literal light at the end of the tunnel, a dull sound began to hit their ears. At first Miranda wasn't sure what it was but as they drew nearer to the exit, the sounds of a crowd cheering was unmistakable.
When they at last left the tunnel Miranda stood frozen in a rare moment of shock. There was an almost surreal, dreamlike quality to the change in their surroundings. The tall buildings that now surrounded them and the remarkably clean streets they flanked were pristine, any damage done by the war cleaned up. The stench of blood and death had been replaced with the smell of grilling meats. Some of the buildings were freshly painted black and gold, in Cerberus' honor she suspected. Banners carrying Ford's holy emblem hung from street lamps. Yet the most surprising sight were the people.
A stream of smiling humans were funneling around a corner down the block. All of them were dressed in a uniform Miranda knew all too well. It was the same Cerberus outfit her underlings used to wear when she herself was a part of the organization: a two piece uniform consisting of grey pants and a black and white shirt with the Cerberus mark on the breast.
"Jesus Fucking Christ." Jack muttered under her breath. "You must be coming in your Cerberus panties, cheerleader."
Miranda ignored the jibe and followed the group to see where they were flocking towards. Her heart skipped when they turned a corner and were greeted with the sight of a large park packed to the gills with men, women and children, all dressed in either the Cerberus uniform, or some hastily tailored approximation of it. The aroma of delicious food was thick in the air, children were laughing and people were smiling, while only blocks away was a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It was downright unsettling.
At the center of the park, a massive crowd was gathered around a large wooden stage of recent construction. Mounted there were two vid screens like the one they had seen earlier but instead of Ford's face they projected the Cerberus logo.
"What is this shit?", Jack wondered aloud.
"I...have no idea." Miranda admitted.
"Let's go check it out then." Jack started to march forward before Miranda snatched her by the back of her collar.
"We can't go in there dressed like this. Everyone else here is in something like a uniform. They'll know we're outsiders the instant they see us."
"What do you suggest?"
Miranda searched the park, finding a storefront with a big glass window. Just inside were two women conversing as they prepared what appeared to be food for the feast. "Follow me and keep your mouth shut for once."
They snuck around the outskirts of the park, using the foliage for cover as they drew closer to the store. As luck would have it, Jack was actually capable of being discreet for three minutes and soon enough, they reached the building's entrance.
Miranda waved a hand in front of the door's console and it swooshed open. She and Jack darted in, crouching down below the glass counter the two Typhon women were chatting behind, their backs turned to the newcomers.
"Excited for the show?", one of the women asked.
"Of course. Father Ford's been talking about it all week."
Miranda glanced back to Jack and the convict simply nodded to let her know she understood the plan. The two biotics sprung to their feet and before the Typhon women could even cry out, Miranda and Jack's fists silenced them, the food they were preparing hitting the floor at the same time as their bodies. Miranda looked back over the counter and through the glass storefront and thankfully saw no sign that they had been spotted.
"Quickly," Miranda hissed as she stripped one of the women of her uniform shirt after dragging her limp body into the back room.
Jack followed suit and before she even undressed the Typhon woman, she stripped herself down to her panties. Miranda stood frozen for a moment when the convict pulled her wet tank top over her head, leaving her pert breasts on full display. It wasn't that Jack wore much clothing to begin with, but Miranda had always made an effort to not look too closely.
A web of colorful and beautifully crafted tattoos was scrawled across her lean, muscular torso, only a few burns and scars marring the otherwise impressive mural. Even her breasts were not untouched. A small symmetrical circle of unconnected but parallel black lines were tattooed around each of her prominent nipples in a starburst pattern, while her torso's pattern of black markings also covered part of her tits.
Miranda quickly averted her eyes and turned her back to her partner as she finished removing
the Cerberus uniform from the unconscious woman. She didn't waste time, unzipping her damp catsuit and removing the garment before setting it aside. Now, she stood before the convict wearing nothing but her plain black underwear. Miranda didn't turn to see it but she swore she could feel Jack's eyes crawling over her perfect body as she pulled on the shirt. Someone else might have been uncomfortable, but she didn't bother with such feelings. Miranda knew she was attractive; it was how she had been designed after all, and the attention of others was only natural. Yet her confidence suddenly left her when she slid the form-fitting uniform pants up her long legs and found that their climb was suddenly halted. She tried to fight it but a blush colored her cheeks.
Oh, please no.
Miranda looked down in dread and found her fears confirmed. Her shapely ass would not fit into the tight pants. She gave them another tug and the uniform climbed up slightly further but she knew it was no use. The fabric simply refused to pull over her rounded ass cheeks. A moment later, she let out a defeated sigh when she heard Jack cackling hysterically behind her.
Miranda looked over her shoulder and found Jack pointing. "You have got to be shitting me! You can't even fit it into regular pants?!"
"Keep your bloody voice down. This isn't amusing," Miranda snapped as she tugged on the waist of the pants once more.
"Are you kidding me? It's fucking hilarious," Jack wheezed out before launching into another fit of laughter.
"Shut up! Can you just…"
"Can I what?," Jack teased, the smirk on her face as broad as the operative had ever seen.
She couldn't believe she had to say it. "...Can you help me?" Miranda said with a huff.
"Help you fit your huge ass into those pants?" Jack clearly was going to milk this.
Dammit, you are such a child.
Miranda nodded, fully aware that her face must be turning six shades of red. "Yes. Will you do it or not?"
Jack rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of the waist of the pants. Together they tugged and thankfully, when Jack hoisted her partially off of the ground, gravity finally finished the job. Miranda buttoned up while trying to hide the color in her cheeks. The pants fit her uncomfortably, displaying her rump even more prominently than her catsuit had.
"Never speak of that again," Miranda ordered, knowing even as she said the words that it was too much to hope for. There was no way Jack wasn't going to milk this for all it was worth.
"In your dreams."
She sighed, deciding to just change the subject for now. "Let's get out there and see what this is all about."
Miranda shoved past the other woman, and with the help of their new disguises they quickly merged with the crowd gathered in the center of the park. The smell of food was tormenting Miranda's hungry stomach but she ignored it as she weaved through the crowd on her path to the stage. Even from afar she could clearly see the large vidscreens on the stage and a curious wooden pole that rose up from its center. She stopped a few rows behind the front, and Jack came up beside her, tugging at the collar of her new uniform.
"Wearing this shit feels wrong."
"Sell it, Jack or we're both screwed," Miranda hissed.
Jack looked around at the crowd. "What the fuck is this anyway?"
Suddenly the mob erupted into raucous cheers when a tall, muscular man with bushy mutton chops and dark brown hair stepped onto the stage and came to a stop by the strange wooden spire in its center. He was followed by a squad of Cerberus troops dressed in full armor with rifles in their arms. Like everyone else, the squad's leader wore the Cerberus colors but Miranda recognized his uniform, festooned with medals, as that of a captain. The man himself was barrel-chested and long limbed, with tanned skin and a scar stretched all the way across his throat.
"Brother Givoni!", a woman cried from beside Miranda.
Givoni raised one fist into the air and the crowd mimicked the action as they fell eerily silent. The vid screens on either side of the stage jolted to life and projected the image of "Father" Anthony Ford once more. The bearded man sat in an austere wooden chair as he addressed his people.
"Brothers and sisters of Cerberus, I know the path to humanity's destiny is a daunting one. Every last one of us has suffered. Suffered from the Reapers, from the Alliance cowards who abandoned us, and from the alien devils who brought death to us all, who came to steal from us, to take what rightfully belongs to humanity!"
The crowd murmured in anger, apparently agreeing with their leader's sentiments. Beneath their superficial enthusiasm, Miranda could feel the ugly, hateful currents swirling. These were people filled with rage, looking for targets to vent it on.
"They are the enemy. They mean to destroy everything that we stand for. It is only by standing together that we shall defeat them and claim our destiny. Yet there are traitors in our mix. Sinners who would sooner see aliens reign over us then join in our cause. Who would sooner feed an asari harlot than his human neighbor. Today we gather to bear witness to the crimes of those who seek to betray us, and to their punishment for those crimes."
Givoni stepped off the stage and when he returned, he was dragging two men in his massive arms. The prisoner's hands and feet were bound and their mouths were gagged. Miranda turned to Jack, and was suddenly relieved that everyone else was watching the stage. The convict had balled her hands into tight fists and her eyes were narrowed in a look of pure hatred than no one observing her could have failed to spot. Not wanting to draw any more attention to Jack, Miranda looked back to the stage in time to see Givoni tie the prisoners to the wooden pole.
"Gregory and Fredrik Toole sought to steal food from our mouths, medicine from our doctors, and clothes from our backs. They sought to distribute it to the aliens beasts who plague the outer city. These sinners would rather provide the killers, rapists, and cowards who brought the Reapers to our home with food and safety than their own kind. For this… There can be no forgiveness."
One of the men strapped to the pole managed to spit the rag out of his mouth. "Fuck you all! You Cerberus bastards!", he screamed. "You're following a madman! This is murder!"
"Brother Givoni. If you would do the honors." Ford said, paying the man no more mind than he would a buzzing insect.
The crowd took a step back as they hurled swears and hatred towards the two brothers while Givoni got off the stage, followed by the Cerberus troopers. The large man raised up his arm and a jet of flame shot out from the gauntlet he wore. The crowd's curses turned to cheers as he turned the fire at the stage, which Miranda now realized was covered in a thin layer of hay. It took only seconds before first the straw and then the wood was on fire, the flames rising up underneath the two brothers.
"Oh, Jesus!", the ungagged brother screamed, kicking his legs in a desperate attempt to delay his fate. "Someone help us!"
Miranda looked back to Jack who was staring at her with pleading, angry eyes but all she could offer was a shake of her head. "We can't."
Jack gritted her teeth and looked away but Miranda needed to see what happened next. The men's feet caught fire first, and whatever final words they might have had were lost, turned into nothing but a long, high wail of pure agony. The flames consumed ever more of their bodies, but even while they burned, Ford resumed his speech.
"Cerberus will rise, brothers and sisters. We shall reclaim our homeworld. The Alliance will bow to our will and our might. The galaxy belongs to humanity, and no traitors shall stop us from achieving our glorious destiny!"
Even after the men stopped thrashing, the crowd never stopped cheering. Only when the screens had turned to black and the fires had begun to die down did some blessed measure of silence return, and Miranda let herself avert her gaze. Without a word, she turned and followed Jack out of the crowd. There was simply nothing more to say.
Notes- Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will share your thoughts with Revan and I in the reviews. The first chapter of Book 3 of Rise of the Asari will be coming soon, in the meantime I suggest you check out Revan's awesome alternate universe Mass Effect story "Little Problems" which just wrapped up. Wonderful story, especially if you like smut, Jack and Liara. Thanks again!