Chapter 20
Jack clenched her blood-stained fists as she admired the scene before her. The crack of gunfire and the hum of biotics echoed through the halls of Cerberus' once-glorious fortress. The alien rebels were still pouring in through the makeshift entrance they had blown into the wall. The parade of their footsteps splashed in the thick puddles of red blood that decorated the previously spotless tiled floor. The ground level of Ford's tower now looked like something out of a horror vid, with the bodies of aliens and armored troopers alike covering the entryway in heaps.
"One floor down, a whole shit load left to go," Jack commented as she turned to her new companions.
"How many stories does this place even have?" Alfina asked as she slammed a fresh thermal clip into her Avenger.
Seris favored her right leg as she limped forward, leaning up against a nearby wall for support. "At least seventy by my estimation."
And there's no way of knowing which one of them the cheerleader is on, Jack thought, her earlier enthusiasm diminishing.
"I'm sure the humans aren't going to make this easy." Alfina grunted, "If that welcoming party is any indication, this place is crawling with those freaks."
"Guess it's too much to hope the elevator is working," Seris remarked before she winced in pain.
Alfina's stern expression softened as she laid a hand on her bondmate's shoulder. "You're not climbing any stairs with your leg like that. Let alone fighting."
"I'll be fine, Alfina."
As the two asari bickered behind her Jack's attention turned back to gruesome remnants of the battle. Her gaze found one body that stood out from the bloody crowd. A lone human woman wearing a lab coat emblazoned with Cerberus' insignia was buried under the hulking corpse of a dead trooper. Her stiff arm was locked in a final act of desperation, reaching up from the pile in a hopeless search for rescue.
For a moment, Jack thought on the likelihood that she would find Miranda in a similar spot, and the idea was enough to make her heart nearly stop in her chest. Fuck that, she tried to assure herself. The cheerleader can take care of herself. I just need to find her.
Suddenly the dead Cerberus woman's arm caught her eye once more. A bright orange light shone as her omni-tool sprang to life around her stiff limb. Jack cocked her head to the side to read the text that now scrolled along the display.
"Security breaches on floor 1 and 52. All personnel on alert!"
Breach on floor 52? It's her. It has to be.
"Hey!" Alfina's hard voice pulled Jack's attention back. "You said Ford was on the top levels right?"
"That's what I heard," Jack confirmed as she pulled a shotgun from the grip of a dead trooper and salvaged some thermal clips.
"Let's move then. We need to make sure he's dead."
"Right behind you," Seris said before Alfina turned back to her.
"You've done enough, Seris. This part was always my strong suit remember? Stay here and help our wounded. The human and I will take care of this."
Jack shook her head. "I'm not here for Ford."
Alfina's eyes widened. "What?"
"Like you said, that fucker's probably dead already, and if he's not, you and your people can handle him. I came here to get Miranda."
"So you used us?!" Alfina spat, her tone somewhere between angry and hurt. "You used all of us just so you could get in here and rescue Miranda?"
"No, I…" Jack shook her head. "I meant what I said. Cerberus has to go. I just gotta do this too. She can't die for me."
Seris shrugged, as usual calmer than her bondmate. "I suppose there's no talking you out of this."
"No." Jack hoisted up the shotgun and set her shoulders. "But don't worry; I'm sure I'll kill some more of these Cerberus assholes on the way."
Alfina nodded. "Good luck then, human. Go get your girlfriend. We'll meet again when this is over."
"We will." Jack turned to leave, but even as she jogged toward the staircase, she couldn't help yelling back, "And she's not my fucking girlfriend!"
Dammit.
Miranda winced as she dragged her wounded leg behind her. She'd barely escaped the stairwell alive but that didn't mean she'd gotten out unscathed. Her right knee was collapsing under her, but she steadied herself on the wall with one hand, smearing a bloody palm print on the white paint as she hoisted herself back up.
She kept one hand pressed tightly to the bullet hole in her shoulder while the other tightly gripped the pistol she had relived a dead trooper of. Her broken ribs screamed when she leaned against the wall and stared back at the automatic door she had sealed behind her to cover her escape from the stairwell.
The door won't hold them for long. Think, dammit.
Already she could hear the horde of soldiers on the other side of the wall assembling while one of them decrypted the lock with their omni-tool. Miranda cast a look behind her and saw nothing but an empty lab full of white light and sterile equipment. Her only exits were through the men on the other side of the door via the 50 story drop out the window. In that moment, the latter almost sounded pleasant to her but there wasn't much time for such planning. A moment, later the door slid open and Miranda dove for cover behind the nearest workbench as a Centurion shouted, "Open fire!"
The focused spray of gunfire tore through the laboratory with terrifying force. Glass shattered, sparks flew, and Miranda could only return a few blind shots around the corner of the workbench and hope she didn't catch a bullet in the process.
When she heard the sound of the troopers advancing into the laboratory, her eyes turned to the large window once more. That's the best way, she decided grimly. Even a bullet to her own head might go awry and she had no intention of being taken alive. Gritting her teeth, she raised her arm and fired her last shot, shattering a large pane of the window. The wind roared into the room through the shattered glass, and Miranda took a last deep breath, but that was as long as she intended to delay the inevitable.
The broken glass crunched beneath her boots as she ran toward the shattered window. A handful of seconds seemed to last for lifetimes as each of her footsteps landed. There were many things Miranda could have recalled in her final moments. The Normandy, Shepard, Cerberus, her sister. Yet all she could think of as she drew closer to her fatal plunge was Jack.
But even that was purged from her mind a moment later. A mere six feet from her destination a strong, biotic force collided with her body and sent Miranda flying to the ground. Her teeth dug into her tongue and broken glass cut her flesh as she slid to a stop on the floor, and by the time she'd recovered her bearings, the soldiers were already around her, a half dozen of them using their rifles to press her back down. "End of the line," one of them chuckled, nudging the barrel against the back of her head.
"No, not like this," another of them snarled. "This bitch killed Father Ford. A bullet to the head's too good for her. She goes slow."
"I say we cut her up, piece by piece. Feed her to the Varren."
Miranda did her best to ignore their threats, instead trying to find the strength to summon a final biotic attack and at least force them to kill her, but before she could launch it, the ground shook. From far beneath her, the shockwave of an explosion rumbled, causing the group of soldiers to stagger. Cracks of gunfire sounded out as well, but Miranda didn't have the time to worry about what they portended. This was a chance that she couldn't pass up, and so instead of attacking, she put every last drop of power she had left into her barriers and hurled herself forward, snatching one of the men's sidearms from his leg in the process and firing a shot into the man's chest as she jumped to her feet. The man spun backwards and tumbled out the shattered window as his fellow soldiers stumbled back, struggling to level their weapons.
The startled soldiers weren't ready for the attack, and she managed to knock two more of them out of her way before they could regroup, dashing by the rest as quickly as she could. She could have made it to the window easily enough, but this unexpected opening had made her abandon her suicidal leap, instead making her way back to the stairwell as the men aimed their guns behind her. Only one of the soldier's shots landed and it merely bounced off Miranda's barriers as she turned the corner. The surge of adrenaline kept the pain of her injuries at bay as she sprinted. If somebody else was attacking the tower then maybe, just maybe, she had a real chance of escape that didn't involved plunging to her death.
Unfortunately, the distraction didn't last forever. She only made it down two flights of stairs before the shooting resumed, the force of fresh bullets on her barriers making her stumble. She crashed toward a nearby wall, and though her hands shot out to brace herself against the crash, the impact still made her fall to her knees.
Yet she wouldn't give up. Not when hope had somehow appeared once more. Her lungs burned and blood was in her mouth, but she kept stumbling down the stairs. The sounds of gunfire beneath her were getting louder, but unfortunately not as quickly as the footsteps of the soldiers coming from above. Even in her battered state, Miranda could tell she wasn't going to make it more than a few more flights before the battle before they caught up with her.
That's when she heard another set of footsteps, coming from the other direction. A single set, closing fast, but Miranda couldn't yet see who they belonged to, and the troopers were almost on top of her.
"Get the fuck away from her, you bastards!"
Miranda didn't know how it was possible, but right then, she didn't care. Jack tore into view, rounding the staircase with fire in her eyes, and a shotgun in her arms. The approaching troopers seemed to be just as surprised to see her there as Miranda was, because they didn't react fast enough. As they tried to adjust to her presence, the convict threw up an arm, and a massive shockwave hurled the first four of them from their feet all at once. Half the men went tumbling to their deaths down the center of the stairwell while the others rolled down past her.
Before they could rise, Jack's shotgun crackled, blowing a hole through the chest of the closest man, and Miranda was quick to join in, taking out the remaining survivor with a barrage of fire from her pistol. Her chest heaved with heavy, gasping breaths as she lowered her smoking gun and turned to her savior.
It didn't seem possible, but there she stood. Jack's eyes were filled with a mixture of joy and terror as she let her shotgun fall and closed to Miranda's side.
"Jack?" Miranda whispered, scarcely able to believe this was real.
"Thought you could just fuck me and then have all the fun on your own, cheerleader?" The words were Jack's usual, teasing style but her trademark smirk was absent, replaced with a look of genuine concern.
Miranda tried to think of some clever reply, but the words caught in her throat, and all she could managed was a mumbled, "What are you doing here?"
The biotic swallowed, seemingly as overcome as Miranda herself was. "Long fucking story," she said after she found her voice. "Right now, we gotta finish this shit."
Above them, Miranda could hear the remaining Cerberus troopers storming toward her, and yet she no longer feared their approach. Beside her, Jack's thin frame crackled with biotic energy, and Miranda's own pain felt as if it was dulled and distant. The galaxy had already delivered her one miracle today; she would make sure that was enough.
"So this is the great Father Ford?"
Alfina cast a disdainful glance down at the bloodstained body of the fallen Cerberus leader and snorted. They had found him a corridor on the way to the medical wing, surrounded by the bodies of the troopers who had been taking him there.
Miranda nodded. "It was." Ford looked smaller somehow now, not the tyrant who had terrorized an entire planet, just a dead old man.
"Hard to recognize him without that big, dumb beard," Jack snorted. "I guess it was just more of his bullshit."
"What matters is that he's dead." Seris maneuvered herself behind her bondmate, attempting to apply medi-gel to a long cut that ran along her back. "Now, stand still dear. I have to get this patched up before it gets infected."
"I told you, I'm all right," Alfina insisted, but Seris paid her no mind, continuing with her ministrations. Miranda could still feel a dull in ache in her own shoulder where the asari had patched up the bullet hole, but the lingering discomfort was overwhelmed by the simple fact of her survival. The tower was now in the hands of the rebels, and somehow, she was still there to see it.
Of course, being alive meant she had other problems to deal with. After the initial moment of relief when they had first reunited, Jack had said very little to her, instead maintaining a wary distance. Not that I can blame her. I knew she'd be angry at me for running off the way I did. I just never thought I'd have to face that anger in person.
"This isn't completely over," Seris pointed out as she finished seeing to Alfina's wounds. "There are still plenty of Cerberus soldiers out there. They may be leaderless now, but there could still be trouble cleaning them up."
"Not to mention a planet to get the hell off of," Alfina added. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had enough of this shithole to last me a very long lifetime."
"I can agree with that," Jack said. "Fuck this planet and fuck Cerberus."
"Well, you saw to the last part rather effectively," Miranda offered. "I don't think they were expecting this sort of all out assault, or realized that there were so many aliens arrayed against them. I certainly didn't."
"You deserve your share of the credit too," Seris said. "If you hadn't killed Ford, if he'd been able to coordinate their defense and recall the troops Cerberus has out in the field, this attack might have had a very different outcome. As it is, I owe you two humans my thanks."
Alfina laughed. "Betcha never thought you'd be saying that after these last few months. I certainly didn't."
"Perhaps not," Seris agreed. "But it's true none the less."
Miranda winced as she offered a hand to the asari. "If you hadn't assisted my…" Her eyes turned to Jack as she realized she didn't know what to call her. "Friend, I wouldn't be standing here. Thank you."
Alfina smirked and shook her hand. "Just friends?"
Jack's cheeks turned red even while she tried to cover her embarrassment with a roll of her eyes. "Shut up. You just make sure you take out every last Cerberus bastard on this rock before you go."
"It will be our pleasure," Seris promised.
"But not every human we've met on this planet was sympathetic to Cerberus. I hope you'll remember that too," Miranda added.
Seris gave her a nod, "Don't worry. I have no intention of being the monsters these assholes made us out to be."
"Well, if you ever find yourself on Earth, I owe you both a round." Jack gave one last appreciative smile before turning back down the hall towards the stairs and calling out. "Let's roll, cheerleader. We still need to find our ride back home."
Home? I'm not sure where that is anymore. The notion of returning to Earth filled Miranda with unexpected dread when she turned to follow her partner.
"Take care of yourselves, humans!" Alfina cried out while Miranda followed Jack in silence down the ruined stairway. She noted with some satisfaction that the bodies of Cerberus soldiers outnumbered those of the alien rebels as she stepped over them, but two levels down her injuries caught up with her once more. Miranda let out a grunt of pain as her knee gave out under her, and she had to brace herself on the blood-stained wall to keep from collapsing while she caught her breath.
"I've got you, Miranda." Jack said softly, and she felt the convict's arm wrap around her shoulders.
Miranda gave her a small smile before leaning into the woman's embrace. She knew there would be much to discuss once they reached the bottom of the tower, but for the moment Miranda simply allowed herself to enjoy the warmth of Jack's company.
No one can say I haven't earned the break.
Notes- Only one chapter left before Jack and Miranda story is done! Our heroes are reunited and the last head of Cerberus has been cut off. We hope you enjoyed the chapter!