Morinth knew things would get interesting the second she saw the Eclipse gunship flying next to them. Even without Miranda stating the obvious. She was hardly surprised when the Eclipse mercenaries started shooting at their air car as they came in for a landing. On the contrary, Morinth was only mildly surprised when the mercs stopped shortly before they touched down.
'Touched down' was perhaps being generous, but at least they were still in one piece after that rough landing.
Shepard and Miranda got out quickly, Morinth took her time getting out of the back seat before following them.
"Since you're not firing yet, I trust you know who I am." Miranda told the apparent Eclipse leader in an authoritative voice. Miranda always had to be in control of the situation.
Morinth turned her attention towards the Eclipse merc Miranda had spoken to, who was now walking towards them with a single guard next to him. He was a human male, which meant he certainly wasn't the one actually calling all the shots on this operation. Morinth knew that on Illium the Asari Eclipse sisters held all the real power.
"Yeah, they said you'd be in the car," The Eclipse lieutenant spoke with misplaced cockiness, "You're the bitch that kidnapped our bosses little girl."
"Kidnapped?!" Miranda exclaimed somewhat offended by the notion, "This doesn't concern you, I suggest you take your men and go." It was a feint, Morinth knew, Miranda never expected them to leave so easily, but was simply trying to stall for time. Well she could certainly help with that part.
"I suggest you heed the woman's advice." Morinth said in her perfect Justicar voice as she walked up next to them, "Interfere and you will be subjected to a Justicar's judgement." Instantly it was clear which of the Eclipse mercs were asari, regardless of their helmets; They were the ones now rattled by the realization that they were facing down a Justicar. Their leader, of course, was human, and therefore completely clueless.
"Think you got it all lined up, huh?" The merc lieutenant replied. "Captain Enyala's already moving in on the kid. She knows about Niket. He won't be helping you."
Enyala? Morinth thought to herself, Oh this should be fun. Enyala was a skilled biotic and one ruthless bitch, but that went without saying among Eclipse leadership. However Enyala was also smarter then she looked, which in Morinth's opinion wasn't saying much. Nevertheless Enyala was not some dumb merc just looking for a paycheck. It was likely she figured out what they were doing. Which meant this group of Eclipse soldiers was simply here to keep them occupied. Morinth thought about saying something but one look at Shepard and she knew the Spectre had already considered that as a possibility.
"Let me be clear." Shepard spoke up suddenly, she was no longer interested in stalling, "You're not getting Miranda's sister. Leave before this goes badly for you." Something about seeing this primal, deadly side to Shepard always made Morinth's spine tingle.
"Captain Enyala ordered us to give you one chance to walk away." A shame that fool of an Eclipse merc was so oblivious to just how dangerous she really was, Morinth would have loved to see him squirm in fear.
"You've got it backwards." Shepard warned him, for all the good that would do, "This is your last chance. Get out of my way or become a corpse at my feet."
"You think you scare me?" The idiot merc continued, completely missing the look Shepard sent Miranda's way. "This whole time we've been talking my men have been lining up shots. When I say the word we unleash hell on your squad. So I suggest you walk away nicely -urk!"
His speech was interrupted when Shepard grabbed his arm and spun him around suddenly. The lieutenant was too off balance to stop Shepard from grabbing his head and twisting sharply in an expert maneuver that would have made Thane proud. The man's fancy tech armor proved a useless defense against having his neck snapped, reducing him to a corpse at Shepard's feet just as she had promised.
Miranda didn't hesitate, bringing up her sub-machine gun firing controlled bursts at the other Eclipse guard at the same time Shepard made her move. Caught completely off guard, the other Eclipse merc never stood a chance.
Morinth didn't hesitate either, immediately raising a barrier that made the small arms fired their way by the remaining mercs in the distance completely meaningless. Shepard clearly must have noticed the barrier's strength from the way she so calmly and casually reached for her heavy pistol then aiming it up at the large crane moving the massive fuel barrel behind the line of Eclipse mercs shooting at them. A few shots from her caused a catastrophic failure of the crane's clamping mechanism, dropping the carried barrel resulting in a massive explosion.
The look on the Salarian merc's face as one of his Eclipse comrades flew by him like a rag-doll tossed by the explosion was absolutely priceless.
With the explosion also came the opening they needed, and the three of them moved to capitalize on it right away.
Shepard picked her spot behind cover, calmly pulling out her sniper rifle as she surveyed the battlefield. She only needed the time it took for her rifle to fully deploy before she was picking off her first target. Miranda was moving expertly through the combat zone from cover to cover, picking her shots carefully or unleashing a biotic attack depending on the situation.
As for Morinth, she opted for the more direct route. She strode forward in plain view knowing her barriers would hold against the merc's basic attacks. It was intentional, and not just because she was suposed to be fighting like a Justicar. She knew both Shepard and Miranda would pick off anyone dumb enough to take the bait and attack her.
One of the Eclipse mercs even thought to fire a rocket at her. Morith simply swept the missile aside with the burst of a biotic push, deflecting it away from her and sending the explosive into another group of Eclipse soldiers behind cover. With her other hand Morinth used a sharp biotic pull, ripping the missile launcher from the merc's hands, which also pulled the merc out of cover where Miranda's Warp finished her off.
Still Morinth knew not to press her luck, moving behind one of the larger crates whenever the bullets started wearing her barriers down. She noticed Shepard would make sure to keep her covered while she built up her barriers once again. Morinth would then return the favor by pulling any of the more stubborn Eclipse mercs out from their cover spots where Shepard's rifle would take them out.
Indeed, Morinth was completely impressed just expereincing Shepard fight. No matter where she was, Shepard was always ready to capitalize on her movements. More impressive, Morinth never actually saw the Spectre move. Appropriately, like a ghost she would simply apear in perfect position to take out her current target before disappearing again in preparation for the next kill shot.
It was almost depressing how easily the three of them made it to the cargo bay entrance.
There an electronic filtered voice caught their attention. Miranda walked to the source of the voice picking up a comm unit that had belonged to one of the fallen mercs. She quickly went to work patching into the signal so the three of them could listen in on their enemies communications. By that point Shepard was simply looking at her with a disappointed expectancy.
"You have a question." Miranda confirmed.
"That merc back there called Oriana a little girl." Shepard said strictly, "I doubt he was being poetic. You said she was your twin sister."
"Shepard ..." Miranda began but it was obvious there was no way around this one, "No, you're right, I owe you an explanation." Shepard and Morinth both stayed silent as they waited for Miranda to continue. "Oriana is my twin, genetically. But my father ... grew her when I was a teenager." She was speaking much more emphatically as she pleaded her case, "She was meant to replace me. I couldn't let my father do to her what he did to me. So I rescued her."
"Why didn't you tell me we were saving a kid?" Shepard demanded.
"She's not a child," Miranda replied, "She'll be nineteen this year."
"Don't give me that crap." Shepard interrupted her, "I mean why didn't you tell me the truth from the beginning!"
"I ..." Miranda was momentarily at a loss, "It didn't seem relevant at the time, I suppose."
"Not good enough, Lawson." Shepard shot back.
"There are people who'd use her against me Shepard." Miranda frowned, she was determined this time, "I'm very protective when it comes to Oriana."
"I'm not one of them!" Shepard responded, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to protect your baby sister. But we're supposed to be part of the same crew. If you can't trust me, then how the hell do you expect me to trust you?"
Morinth couldn't stop herself from staring at Shepard's words. She knew the Commander was serious about that. She wondered if Shepard felt the same way about her. That was part of the reason she was there, after all, to prove whether she could be trusted. That had never been an option for her before.
"... You're right." Surprisingly Miranda admitted, "I'm sorry I didn't trust you earlier. You deserved to know."
"Alright," Shepard nodded, "So tell me why you took a young child from her father."
"If you knew my father you'd understand." Miranda began pacing as she spoke, showing just how deep her emotions ran on this matter even as she tried to keep a lid on them, "I wasn't the first one he made. I was only the first one he kept. I was brought up with no friends, pushed to meet impossible demands. I wasn't a daughter to him, I was ..." Miranda's emotional shell cracked once more before she looked away and forced herself to regain control. Even then her voice was noticeably sadder as she added, "I don't know what I was." She looked up saying confidently, "Oriana has had a normal life, I made the right decision."
Shepard was quiet for a while before she turned to look back at Morinth. Before the Asari could read anything into it, however, she quickly looked back at Miranda.
"I promise you Oriana will be safe." Shepard spoke as if her words were a universal fact, a bygone conclusion, no matter how many Eclipse mercs there were to the contrary. Morinth was surprised by how much she believed her. Going by the look on her face, Miranda probably felt the same way.
"Let's get moving." Shepard commanded suddenly, "Sounds like your friend Niket might be in some trouble."
Miranda nodded out an agrement before adding, "If they got to Niket somehow this is going to be harder then I planned."
"It's a good thing I came prepared." Shepard said jokingly as she moved forward to the next wave of Eclipse mercs. It was not lost to Morinth that this scenario was pretty much the reason Shepard choose to bring her.
The Eclipse mercs on the other side of the warehouse weren't much more of a challenge, particularly now that they could listen in on their comms. Which is how they learned Niket was in fact working with them. Not surprisingly Miranda didn't take the news well. She was still in denial as the three of them made their way onto the cargo elevator.
"Maybe the Captain knows we're listening in and she's feeding misinformation about Niket making a switch." Miranda speculated.
"With respect, Miss Lawson." Morinth spoke up while Shepard triggered the lift to take them to Dock 94. "I have fought many of these Eclipse sisters before, and I do not believe that they are capable of such refined duplicity." Enyala was smart, but she wasn't that smart.
"Well maybe it means something else." Miranda tried again, "Niket wouldn't do that." Finally her desperation broke as she forcefully hacked the lift controls yelling "Damn it, why won't this thing go any faster!"
"What makes you so sure Niket wouldn't turn on you?" Shepard asked. Morinth could tell that like herself Shepard wasn't convinced of Niket's innocence.
"He could have turned on me when I ran away." Miranda continued her defense, "I'm sure my father tried to buy him off. If he didn't do it then, why would he do it now?"
Shepard answered her question with one of her own, "Did Niket know you took Oriana from your father?"
"No, he just found out about that recently. It was too personal to involve someone else." Midanda said.
"In other words, you didn't trust him with the truth about your sister either." Shepard said.
The realization grew on Miranda's face, "I never really thought about it but maybe ... no." She firmed up her resolve, "He'd have to understand why I did it. He knows what I went through."
"I'm not so sure," Shepard told her, "The message on the radio seemed pretty clear."
"He wouldn't betray me." Miranda insisted, "We'll be at the transport shuttle in a moment, and we'll clear this up."
It didn't take long to clear up the matter, unfortunately for Miranda. The moment they stepped off the elevator the three of them were greeted to the sight of a mousey human going back and forth with two Asari. Morinth had no idea who the first Asari was, probably one of the dock workers about to have a bad day. The other Asari she knew right away. Unlike her, Enyala had done nothing to change her appearance from the last time Morinth had seen her. Though she had never met him, Morinth was fairly certain who the human male was.
"Niket." Miranda said quietly, her face filled with equal parts rage, sadness, and disappointment.
Shepard walked up next to her, her face was all rage under her focused gaze. The Commander really didn't take betrayal well, even when it was not directed at herself.
"Miri!" Niket was not expecting to see her.
"This should be fun." Captain Enyala joked even as she jumped to her feet pulling out her massive shotgun. Poor Enyala, Morinth thought, always trying to over-compensate.
Shepard and Miranda immediately brought out their own respective guns against the Eclipse captain. Morinth chose to wait it out, priming her own biotics so she could generate a powerful barrier or a devastating attack as needed. All three of them noticed the movement of additional Eclipse mercs behind their Captain, getting ready to join in the fight the moment the action started.
The poor dock worker completely lost her nerve at the impending gunfight and took off running. Enyala simply turned and shot her in the back. The force of the massive shotgun sent the unfortunate asari flying like she'd been hit with a powerful biotic push before her dead body landed unceremoniously on the floor. Morinth was about to jump on the opening, but Shepard held up a hand to stop her. She was confused why Shepard had chosen to waste that opportunity until she noticed the look in Miranda's eye. Miss Lawson had a few things to discuss with Niket first.
"You sold me out." Miranda told him.
"No more civilans around." Shepard commented with the same deadly intent that Morinth loved, "We can end this here and now."
"Not until I get some answers." Miranda demanded, mainly directed at the human in front of them. "Why Niket? You were my friend, you helped me get away from my father."
"Yes, because you wanted to leave." Niket explained passionately, "That was your choice. But if I'd known you'd stolen a baby-"
"I didn't steal her, I rescued her!" Miranda interrupted forcefully.
"Rescued her? She had everything anyone could ask for!" Niket argued, "And you took that away from her."
"Hard to claim the high ground when you're using Eclipse mercs to kidnap her." Shepard said with her eye on Captain Enyala.
"I'm not stealing her, I'm rescuing her." Enyala mimicked Miranda's words, she then turned to the human adding "Come on Niket, let's finish this bitch off and get out of here."
"Take your best shot." Miranda spat at her.
"I was just waiting for you to finish getting dressed," Enyala shot back, "Or does Cerberus really let you whore around in that oufit." Morinth was suddenly very tempted to burst out laughing at comment.
"No one's shooting anyone." Niket pleaded, "I'm here to make sure Oriana is reunited with her father without distressing anyone."
"Distress?" Miranda exclaimed, "What about all the abuse I suffered at my father's hands? You knew what my life was like. The life I'm trying to save Oriana from!"
"From a life of wealth and happiness?" Niket replied, though he lacked the conviction that Miranda had, "You weren't saving her. You were getting back at your father."
"Is that the line Miranda's Father sold you?" Shepard asked him disapprovingly. "What else did he tell you to get you to turn on Miranda?"
"They told me you kidnapped your baby sister all those years ago." Niket explained, "They said I could help get her back peacefully. No trauma to the family. I told them you'd never do that. They could go to hell. Then you finally told me what you'd done. I called them back that night."
"Why didn't you call me Niket?" Miranda pleaded, "We've been through a lot, you could have at least let me explain."
"I deserved to know that you'd stolen your sister, Miri." Niket accused her in turn, "I deserved to know you were with Cerberus, but I had to hear it from your father first." Morinth could sense the wave of guilt that swept over Miranda with the words that mirrored Shepard's earlier comments.
"Bullshit. How much did Miranda's father pay you." Shepard demanded suddenly.
"A great deal." Niket admitted, unable to resist the intense gaze that Shepard leveled at him.
"Dammit Niket!" Miranda shouted, all guilt gone from her face, "You were the only one I trusted from that life."
"He knew you felt that way, that's why he bought me."
"So you just took his money." Miranda chastised him.
"Don't get holy with me Miri. You took his money for years." Niket responded angrily.
"This isn't about the money!" Shepard spoke out, Niket's anger paled compared to hers, "Oriana has been with her family for years now. Why take that away from her?"
"Her father can still give her a better life." Niket explained weakly.
"You should know what my father plans for her is not a better life." Miranda confronted him.
"I know that I've been poor miri. I didn't much care for it." Niket insisted.
"You greedy piece of shit." Shepard said with obvious rage bubbling beneath her skin, then again that could have been the implants flaring up in response, "This isn't about Oriana. This is about getting paid, isn't it? Miranda's father didn't convince you with the truth. He just finally offered you a big enough number to buy your loyalty."
"She's right." Miranda added, risking a glace at her Commander, "Shepard grew up with nothing back on Earth, and she still would never betray me to my father." She looked back up at Niket as she continued, "He wants to take a girl away from the only family she's ever known. Doesn't that tell you what he really is?"
Niket went quiet, clearly cowed by her words.
"Don't waste your breath on him, Miranda." Shepard spat out, "If Niket knows about Oriana then your father does too. Relocating her won't work."
"Miranda's father has no information about Oriana." Niket admitted. Miranda looked at him questioningly, prompting him to explain further, "I knew you had spy programs in you father's system Miri, so I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows."
"Which means that you're the only loose end." Miranda realized the meaning of Niket's words, "This isn't how I wanted it to end Niket, I'm gong to miss you."
Before Miranda could fire a shot, Morinth placed her hand gently but firmly on Miranda's wrist, stopping her from pulling the trigger. Morinth had realized that Miranda would kill Niket, just like she realized Shepard wouldn't stop her, but something else urged her to interfere. What Morinth saw, what Shepard failed to notice, behind Miranda's perfect exterior, was the deep terrible pain she felt at having to kill such an old beloved friend.
"Please, Miss Lawson." Morinth said softly, as gently as she could manage without breaking charater. Miranda looked up at her with a confused expression for only a heartbeat before the 'Justicar' turned towards Niket with her own pistol. "Allow me." Morinth added as she fired her gun. The bullet hit Niket right through his heart. Fitting, thought Morinth as she watched the Human fall over dead.
There was a moment of stunned silence before Enyala broke it with a cocky comment, "I was tired of talking anyway."
The Eclipse Captain suddenly found herself trapped in a biotic lift, the source of which was made obvious by the bright purple aura now surrounding Miranda. By the look on her face, the Cerberus Operative was done messing around.
"So Was I." Miranda said in a steely voice just before throwing a biotic bolt that collided with the lifted Captain, sending her flying back into the distant cargo containers.
As one Eclipse mercs started coming out of every entrance in response.
Morinth didn't recall much of the fight. In truth the Eclipse troops were boring her by then with how easily they were defeated. Only Enyala herself proved to be any sort of challenge, and even she succumbed quickly to Shepard's sniper rifle. Enyala's biotics and massive shotgun never had a chance to overcome the Spectre's vastly superior range. That left Miranda and Morinth to deal with any Eclipse that managed to get close. Needless to say they weren't enough of a challenge to be memorable.
When the last merc was left standing, Miranda rushed forward, unloading her submachine gun on full auto against the unfortunate Eclipse soldier even as she kept walking forward.
"That's all of them." Miranda determined as she ejected the expended heat sink of her weapon with a loud hiss. "We should take the elevator to the terminal upstairs to make sure Oriana is safe." It was clear she wasn't making a request. She was already hitting the elevator controls to call the lift down to them.
Shepard, interestingly, bent down to pick something up as she walked towards Miranda. Otherwise the Commander remained silent, only offering Miranda an acknowledging nod before following her into the elevator.
Morinth was about to join them when she heard a rough muted grunt aside from where the others were. A thought formed in her mind.
"You coming Samara?" Shepard asked her insistently from the open elevator.
"Go ahead, Shepard." Morinth replied, "I will double-back and make sure there are no Eclipse troops behind us that might endanger Miss Lawson's sister."
Shepard stared at her, no doubt wondering what her ulterior motive was. She would have objected right then but fortunately Miranda spoke up first, "We need to move Shepard!"
"Alright, meet up at the terminal as soon as you can." Shepard ordered her as she allowed the elevator doors to close between them.
Morinth allowed her predatory smile to spread across her face. There was no need to keep her disguise here anymore. She moved to an opposing side of the warehouse where a simple exit lead to a lonely alley. She looked down to see the trail of purple blood that she was looking for. She inhaled, relishing the sweet scent of death around her, it was always at its sweetest at this moment before any decay could set in.
She followed the blood trail at a calm pace, practically floating on her toes as she glided down the alley with her sultry gait. It didn't take long to find her target. Captain Enyala was in a sad shape to be sure. Multiple gun shots had penetrated her armor which still bore the burn marks from the devastating effects of multiple biotic attacks. Her breathing was hard as she forced herself to crawl forward. As bad as she was, Morinth knew Enyala was tough, and would certainly live if she made it to get medical help.
Too bad for her then.
"Enyala", Morinth purred with her own voice as she strolled up to the Captain.
The Asari mercenary twisted her head around suddenly. The worst of her injuries could be clearly seen as a gruesome wound on her head where one of Shepard's attempted headshots had managed to entirely shoot off one of the Asari merc's fringes. A mask of her blood now flowed over half of her face. Morinth was quite delighted with the way Enyala's eyes opened wide with terror when she recognized her.
"You!" the word shot forth from the Captain's mouth with a mixture of shock and accusation.
"Me." Morinth said with a simple understated joy.
"I thought you were dead." Enyala spoke her disbelief as she tried shuffle away on her back.
"I hear there's a lot of that going around." Morinth joked thinking at some of he reactions Shepard often received from old acquaintances she met.
"You're working for humans now?" Enyala said derivatively.
"My my, Enyala, the way you say that, someone might think you don't like humans." Morinth teased, her eyes floating over the Eclipse merc's broken body like it was a toy to play with. "If it makes you feel better, I'm working with them, not for them."
"Hey, you can do whatever makes you happy, right?" Enyala conceded, she probably came to the conclusion that the best way to stay alive was to keep Morinth happy, "I'm just saying, they don't seem like your type."
"So you think you know my type now?" Morinth said with subtle patronization.
"I know you like danger, and power, and the sort of things that cost a shit ton of credits." Enyala tried to smile as much as she could in her condition. "Just so happens you can have all that with Eclipse."
"Really Eny, begging for your life already?" Morinth shook her head slowly in blatantly faked disappointment.
"Hey, I know where I stand." Enyala said submissively, "You always did get what you want one way or another. Not dumb enough to get in your way."
"You always were a smart one, Enyala." Morinth laughed softly as she leaned down next to her prey, "So tell me, just what is it you think you can provide me that I would want."
"Just name it." Enyala offered desperately, "We got ships, we got people. You can have a different girl every night. Swimming in Hallex and Alcohol. It's a big galaxy out there, and with Eclipse behind you no one could stop you."
"Hmm. Tempting." Morinth's bored tone showed that she was clearly not sufficiently tempted by the offer. "But unfortunately that's the wrong answer."
"Then just tell me what you want, I'll make it happen for you." Enyala begged.
"I want your backup." Morinth said with simple confidence.
"W- what?" Enyala managed to mumble out.
"Don't play dumb with me now." Morinth told her, the subtle shift in her tone suddenly gave off an incredibly threatening presence, "You had people everywhere covering the cargo area; waiting in the wings when the fighting began. You don't really expect me to believe you didn't have a couple of girls held back in case everything went to shit. Well everything's gone to shit, so whoever they are, I bet they're getting ready to execute whatever backup plan you had cooked up." She turned her menacing gaze directly into Enyala's eyes, "I want them, Eny, I want to know where they are and what they're up to." She intentionally paused to let her words sink in before adding the final command. "Now."
"Sniper team. Just two of them. Former Commandos." Enyala admitted through heavy breathes, she knew she didn't have any options left.
"Go on." Morinth's calm voice demanded.
"They're at the top level, should have a sniper post setup covering the lift exit." Enyala offered, "They have instructions to kill the humans the second they step off the elevator."
"See that wasn't so hard was it?" Morinth said patronizingly, "Now how about that nav point?"
Morinth knew that, unlike Shepard, Enyala had no problem sacrificing her subordinates to save her own hide. Enyala struggled for a moment as she reached for her omni-tool, it didn't take long for her to transfer the data over. "There. All yours. What ever you want. Just let me go."
"Oh Eny" Morinth smiled mischievously down at her prey, "You didn't really think I'd do that, did you?"
"Come on, that's the deal right?" Enyala pleaded pathetically, "Let me live and I'll give you whatever you want."
"That was your mistake." Morinth said almost philosophically, her head tilted slightly as she looked down thoughtfully at the Eclipse captain. "So desperate that you're willing to give me whatever I want. What's the fun in that? I prefer to earn my plunder, to hunt down my prey, go for the kill when they least expect it. I take what I want, I don't need it handed to me." Morinth tilted her head down with a facade of disapproval, "You know my mother once offered to give me anything I could ever want too. Of course, all I had to do was live where she wanted me to, act how she wanted me to. Now she's dead." Her words were so casual as to be terrifying under the circumstances, "I didn't accept the offer then, why would I do it now?" She shook her head before looking back with unusual determination, "I'm part of Shepard's crew now. There's nothing you could ever offer me that's better then that."
Morinth moved down to her knees before crawling forward like a playful cat towards her next meal. "Sorry Enyala, the galaxy thinks I'm dead, I'd prefer to keep it that way." She moved between the fallen captains legs, almost seductively if not for her murderous intent, until she was completely on top of the other Asari. She straddled Enyala's body with her legs, putting her face only inches from the merc's own.
"No Please" Enyala could only beg pitifully now. The Ardat-Yakshi's mere presence was overpowering now, making it impossible for her to move even as she wanted desperately to escape.
"Oh don't be scared," Morinth cooed seductively as her eyes turned completely black. Morinth reached one hand all too gently behind the soon to be former captain's crest, pulling her head even closer, "I promise you this will be the most pleasurable experience you can possibly imagine."
Morinth pushed forward with her lips, pressing them tightly against Enyala's own, passionately taking her in even as she reached out forcefully with her mind. Enyala tried to scream as the intrusive meld sent waves of unimaginable pain through her entire overloaded nervous system, but her voice was trapped by Morinth's mouth. Enyala tried to reach out desperately with her broken limbs, barely aware of how they spasmed violently in response to the Ardat-Yakshi's attack. Morinth savored the sensation of her power flowing through the other Asari as it devoured her mind, body, and soul. Morinth didn't stop until there was nothing left in the body of her prey, which had already stopped moving by then.
Only then did Morinth let go and moved to stand over the remains of the former Captain. She licked her lips tasting the sweet flavor of the merc's blood left there from her intense contact. With a smile she added out loud, "Well, for me anyway."
She took a step before, as an after thought, she pulled out her pistol, shooting Enyala's corpse through the emptied skull. Shepard had been so kind to provide the perfect cover to hide her kills, it seemed rude not to take advantage of it. Holstering her gun, Morinth looked at the Nav point she had received from Enyala. The Commandos were setup fairly high above her current position. She had a lot of ground to cover if she wanted to reach them before Shepard and Miranda got off the elevator. Fortunately the elevators were slow, and such a height was easily surmountable by a powerful enough biotic. Easier still now that Morinth felt so ... invigorated.
With a series of powerful biotic bursts, Morinth rocketed herself up the side of the tall building next to her.
It was some time later before Morinth walked out onto the public transport terminal. She recalled how she had seen her mother walking across this very terminal not that long ago. Now she was doing much the same thing while pretending to be her. Strange how much things had changed since then. For the better, Morinth had to admit.
She noticed Shepard and Miranda up ahead, Morinth followed their stares to a human family waiting for their transport. They had a young woman among them, there was an noticeable similarity to Miranda. This was her sister, Morinth realized, and she was safe. Morinth was a bit surprised with how satisfying that realization was to her. Looking back she saw Miranda turn to leave, the clear weight of her sadness pressing down on her. Until Shepard grabbed her arm, trying to convince her of something. Miranda tried to counter the argument, but it was obvious Shepard was not going to let her off on this one.
She managed to convince Miranda to speek to her own sister just as Morinth was walking up to Shepard. The Spectre watched Miranda walk up to her Sister's family nervously; the Commander had a satisfied smile on her face.
The smile disappeared once Shepard turned to look at Morinth. The Asari was confused for a brief moment wondering what would make Shepard's mood turn sour so quickly until Morinth realized Shepard was specifically staring at her chin. Morinth casually rubbed the back of her glove against her chin and came away with some of Enyala's remaining blood that she had missed earlier. Rather then try to explain the blood away, Morinth simply gave the Commander a sly smile.
"I don't wanna know right now." Shepard spoke up finally, "Come on, let's leave Miranda with her sister."
Shepard began walking quickly back towards the Normandy. Before joining the Commander, Morinth took one last look up at the roof of the building across from them, where a sniper's perch had been setup by the two Eclipse Commandos she had encountered there. It was a great hiding spot, Morinth would have had trouble finding it so quickly without the intel she retrieved from Enyala. She wondered amused how long it would take for anyone to find the two Asari bodies that now lay there.