Hello everyone, to those wondering why this has been uploaded earlier then normal. There's a note at the bottom.
To say there was a spring in her step would be an understatement, Miranda walked quickly, following the hologram of Kelex as she moved down the corridor to the more restricted areas of the ship. She was smiling brightly, and she felt like she hasn't felt since she was able to find Clark months ago. Doing something entire agencies weren't able to do in she didn't know how many decades. Though even that achievement didn't mean quite so much as the one she just got.
To be fair, she did have help. Mordin and Legion both gave their aid to the task and she was grateful for that. She almost didn't think about the reason as to why she was being asked to head to the study, well one of them at least, she assumed there would be others scattered around the place.
"Here we are" Kelex said as he stopped near a door on the right, it wasn't too different from the other parts of the ship. It was the same silver metal and style of design.
"Thank you Kelex" she said to the machine before she moved into the room, the door opening as got closer.
When she stepped inside however, she stopped, very shocked by what she saw. This room was very different from the others she's seen so far. It wasn't the largest she's seen, it seemed to be the same size as the mess hall back on the Normandy. The walls and floor seemed to be wooden, there was a bookshelf on her fight that held real paper books, not the digital computer pads that was more common these days, she couldn't see the titles from here but even at the entrance she could see that they looked worn.
Just in front of the bookshelf was a wooden table that held a couple of pieces of paper that seemed to be schematics or blueprints of some kind. In the corners of the room where small lights that lit up most of it.
However, the main source of light came from the far end of the study, directly opposite her was a real honest to God fireplace that bathed the room in an orange glow. Front of the fireplace was two very comfy looking chairs that were mostly likely for relaxing or deep thinking, above the fireplace however was what really caught her attention. It was a flat square up against the wall that seemed to be contained in some type of stasis shield. Though it was still clear to see "Is that?" she said to herself more than anyone else.
"Yes, it is" a voice said from her left, turning her head as she walked in. She could see Clark leaning against a medium sized wooden desk, it was no bigger in length then an average man "Van Gogh's 'starry night'" he confirmed "and yes that is the real one" he added with a slight smirk. As she looked at him, she could see that just over his left shoulder and in the left corner of the room is one was facing the fireplace was Michelangelo's David. The large marble stone statue being lit up by the fire's orange light.
Forgetting about the painting for a moment and how Superman got his hands on one of humanity's most important paintings. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him down for a powerful kiss. Wasting no time in sticking her tongue right into his mouth, something he didn't fight against. They stayed like that for a moment longer before she pulled back, the smile returning to her "Sun light" was all she said.
Clark gave her a sheepish smile before nodding "I knew you could do it" he said happily.
"I can't believe it" she said taking a step away from him and walking around the study looking around at everything in creator detail "all this time the answer was right in front of us" she walked around the table, looking at the sheets of paper closer though she quickly looked away not having any idea what she just looked at "who would have thought that Superman was just a big ass plant" she joked, something Clark smiled at as they both knew the answer was a lot more complicated and powerful than that. Turning around she looked at the bookshelf and looked at some of the titles 'The Republic' 'The communist Manifesto' 'The Rights of Man' 'The Canterbury Tales Divine Comedy' 'Mody Dick' 'The Lord of the Rings' 'Anne Franks Dairy' 'Philosophea Naturalis' 'Principia Mathematica' 'The Bible' 'The Qur'an' as she read every title, her eye brows rose higher and higher. Some of these she has read herself, others she has only read about "Clark, are these..." she started, turning around to face him.
He was in the same position, simply watching her "Yeah, every single one is a first edition and a couple of them are the original" he confirmed "if you haven't read the Lord of the Rings then I recommend it.
"The Bible and the Qur'an?" she asked back quickly. Miranda was never one for religion herself though she was well aware of how large of a following they had, she just wasn't expecting Clark to be one of them.
"I know" he nodded "and I don't believe in either of them, but just because I don't, doesn't mean that I don't respect them or their importance. Those two are some of the oldest copies ever made" he confirmed for her.
"But why do you have them?" she found herself asking, both curious and amazed that he somehow has these.
Clark shuffled in place for a moment and crossed his arms before answering "well, after Lois died a got a little bitter" he started "you know how people say that the museums and the vaults never have the real thing, that they're kept by the top zero point one percent in some priceless mansion somewhere" she nodded at him "well, that's the case for most of these things. Some of them I bought at auction, some I stole from criminals. It was petty and childish I know but... you know" he shrugged at the end of that last part.
Taking his explanation as enough for now, she turned away from the bookshelf and looked at the table, the papers and blueprints looked incredibly advanced, she might be able to get a basic idea about what this was about "what are these?" she asked leaning forward on the table and looking at what seemed to be diagrams of his own body with a lot of labels.
"They are some pet projects of mine, I haven't decided if I'm going to do it yet but it's an idea" he explained as she tried to make sense of them.
"Wait, you're going to... change yourself?" she asked him with a tilt of the head, wondering if she got that right.
"It's an idea" he added again "it's just that I haven't used any of my intestines or kidneys or bladder in decades so I was toying with the idea of replacing them with something else" he added a shrug like the whole thing wasn't a really big deal.
"Clark, you want to take out your organs and replace them with completely alien ones that could do god knows what to you, that's insane, there's no way your body would survive..." she trailed off after that bit, looking up at him and only getting a raised eyebrow in response "right, forgot who I was talking to for a minute there" forgetting about the table for now and instead walked around it, leaning back against it copying Clark's position on the other side "So why did you want to see me?" she asked him with a small coy smile "I admit, I am in the mood for a little celebration but I thought I was finally going to see the this master suite of yours?" she added.
Clark smiled back at hearing that "I would be more than happy to show you that later, for now we need to decide what to do next"
She crossed her arms at hearing that and a look of seriousness crossed her features "what are the options?" she asked him, assuming that he knew some things that she didn't. Though it didn't go unnoticed that there was a small flutter in her chest as she heard him ask for her opinion on what they should do next.
"Well, we can head to the Sol system and help the Quarins settle on a new world while the bulk of their fleet helps the alliance defend Earth. We can use the information TIM has given us to attack the Collectors directly and get whatever information we need to get so the others can do what they were brought in for and try their best to help their people. Samara and Legion both want to talk to me, I don't know what about but assuming the pattern holds out, they'll need my help with something. Now that I have a ship capable of transporting the Rachni to where they want to go, I would like to do that before the Reapers get here. Or we can direct some time and focus on this" he turned around and reached for the surface of his desk, when he reached it, a holographic keyboard appeared and after pushing a button the middle of the floor opened up and Miranda looked on with interest as a shield appeared to rise out of the ground and inside of it was a type of... orb? She didn't know what else to call it.
"What is that?" she asked as she took a step forward and started to look at it closer, the remained her of something that would be found in an ocean, it swirled with different colours. After a moment of looking she walked around the shield that held this and looked at him.
"I still haven't figured that out" he admitted "it was in an Alliance lab on the Citadel, it's emitting a powerful telepathic ability"
"Telepathic?" she said quickly, interrupting him "really?" she asked, amazed and surprised by such a thing.
"Yeah" he added "it was trying to reach into my head which is how I found out about it, when I took down the weaker shield that the alliance was using to contain it. It tried really hard to get inside my head, it hurt quite a bit" he shrugged at the look she gave him upon hearing that this thing hurt Superman "But as that was happening, I heard a voice, I don't know what it was but I can tell you that it wasn't a person. It is something I do want to investigate"
When he stopped speaking, Miranda took a moment before she walked over to him and leaned back on the same desk right next to him. Her arms crossed as she leaned against him, her eyes however never leaving that orb as she thought "Legion was a big help to me when I was trying to figure out how sun light gave you power. So if you can help it with something, I think you should" she started.
"Not Samara?" he asked back from beside her, she could practically see the teasing smirk on his face.
A small frown came onto her face as she thought about her "Samara's your old flame not mine, I don't give a damn about what you do with her" her answer was cold, she wouldn't be the first to say that her relationship with the Asari was practically non-existent. For a good reason of course, Miranda didn't trust herself to at civilly around the centuries old Asari. Of course she was a professional in every way, however she's learnt a lot of new things about herself as she's gone through a relationship with Clark. There was a very good chance she would get defensive about him when around her, especially since she was going to try and kill Clark when the Reaper threat was delt with. All for something stupid like a code.
"Fair enough" he nodded at her "so I'll go see what those guys need, then what?" he asked her.
She suspected that he had a very good idea of what the best move going forward would be. Though based on the way he was still asking her what she thought the best move would be, he valued her opinion or he was just throwing her a bone. Though she doubted it was the second option, no real reason but she believed that Clark wasn't that type of guy.
"I know we should head to Earth and help with the Quarins, I don't know Genesis's capabilities yet but in order to move that many ships to another system, While I'm sure it's not beyond belief for you to do it yourself under your own power, you want to use this ship to do it" she looked over her shoulder at him, seeing the nod as conformation, she continued "but at the same time, god only knows what the Collectors would have to defend themselves and we might need Genesis in order to complete the mission. Where are they anyway?" she asked him.
Pressing the keyboard again, the orb was lowered into the ground and a galaxy map was opened. Her eyebrows rose into her hair as she looked at a point that highlighted the exact centre of the galactic core. She did a double take when she saw that and she opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself for a moment "and we're most likely going to need Genesis to get into the galactic core. God knows what the Collectors are going to have at their disposal in their own home base" she let out a helpless shrug "for all we know their could be a fleet of Reaper ships there, we're going to need what she can offer" she added nodded to the wall, but the point was clear enough 'She' was the ship.
After a moment, Clark nodded at her reasoning "yeah, that works, I'll work on the orb during transit and find out what I can. I'll go talk to Legion and Samara, see what they want" with that he pushed himself off the desk and started to make his way towards the door. At least that was plan until Miranda reached out and grabbed his arm. He stayed still for a moment before turning around and giving her a confused look "What?" he asked her casually.
A small teasing smirk came onto her face as she looked at him "I seem to remember someone saying that I would get to see a bedroom" she added before standing up and walked towards him, moving into his side. Trapping his arm in-between her breasts.
Upon hearing her words, he turned around to face her, wrapping both arms around her and her body let out an involutory shiver as she felt his hand land right flat in on her ass cheek and give it a small squeeze "yeah, they can wait a little while longer" was all he said before he leaned down and captured her lips with his own.
Despite her best efforts, Samara's mind was anything but calm. After spending a good deal of time within these ships achieve, deciding that she tried to distract herself enough, she instead asked the AI to help her locate an observation room so she may meditate on the thoughts the pained her mind. It would seem as though even this wouldn't be able to help her, it was long shot anyway.
Truthfully her mind has been anything but calm since she saw this ship. Let alone coming onboard and seeing everything it had to offer. Her code compelled her to kill Clark, as much as it pained her to do so. She hated herself for being forced to do this but her code was all she had, if she didn't follow it then she had nothing. It was only when she saw this ship that she knew she was running out of time to complete the task, she was no fool, she knew very well why Clark would build such a thing.
If he was planning on leaving them all and going somewhere only the Goddess would find him. Then she knew that her changes of being able to take his life was getting shorter, but she was bound to her own word as well. She would wait until the threat of the Reapers are delt with before she would try to kill him again. There was a very high chance she'll die in the process but if that was the price she had to pay, then so be it.
That was something she was sure of, no matter how much she didn't want to. But for now that could wait, after a while she was finally able to get the information on Morinth she was looking for, her daughter was now hiding on Omega. No doubt using the lawlessness to hide and pray on the populace, it pained her heart more than anyone knew but she would kill her, she had to. It was her fault that Morinth was a Ardat-Yakshi, so killing her before she could hurt anyone else was her responsibility. But she couldn't leave this ship and hunt her herself due to the word she gave that she aid Clark in finding proof that the Reapers are real.
Thus, she was now forced to ask for his help in not only going to Omega but getting on board and finding Morinth as well. Her Daughter was no fool, she will know full well who Clark was and she would know that it would be a stupid idea to try and seduce him so she could feed herself but she wouldn't care. Clark's aura was too much for a normal Asari to handle, Morinth who due to her condition was far more sensitive to the auras of others by default. She wouldn't be able to stop herself, Samara would be surprised if she didn't try and mate with him right in the middle of a public place or wherever she would first see him.
She would need to use him as bait, there was no denying that. If Morinth was given even the slightest hint of her then she would go to ground for decades and she would lose her the trail she had on her. She could hear a door open behind her and suppressed a sigh, this was not going to be a good conversation.
Her eyes opened and she was met with the sight of the void, countless stars all around her, a galaxy overhead. Her place was on a raised platform with deep space projected onto a domed ceiling above her, the bottom of the dome being the same level for the platform she was on. The sounds of steps was heard and she didn't need to turn to see Clark make his way up the final one, landing on the same level as herself "Kelex said that you wanted to talk to me about something. What is it?" he asked as he stopped behind her.
Taking one final deep breath, she stood up and turned around to face him "we need to talk" she said calmly. All she got was an eyebrow rising and a tilt of the head, so she continued "I never told you who I was hunting while I was on Illium, I didn't need to. But now..." she trailed off before she regained her composure and deciding that just coming out and saying it would be easier "I was looking for Morinth"
That at least got a bigger response from Clark. Back when they first met and started to go on missions together, she was more forthcoming with him than anyone else. She told him about all of her daughters, including Morinth. He was supportive of her and she appreciated that but that didn't mean he didn't understand the danger.
Upon hearing the news, he looked at little uneasy and shuffled in place slight before he placed both his hands on his hips and looking down, letting out a sigh "where is she?" he asked her.
"She's hiding on Omega" Samara told him with the same emotionless tones as she always used.
"Oh good" he added sarcastically "the perfect place for her to be and somewhere she could hide for decades before being found and kicked out" there was silence that dragged on for a moment before he spoke again "ok, we'll head their and find her. I'll be the bait and get you to her. What you do is up to you" he added before he turned around and started to make his way.
With that said he turned around and started to make his way out of this projection chamber. Others may have been surprised that he accepted her request so quickly, but she wasn't. Clark never hated her and she never hated him but to her the code always came first, he knew that going in. Because of course he knew that, it was hard to find something he didn't know. Though that didn't mean she wasn't grateful for him. In truth, killing him is going to be one of the hardest tasks she had and just because he was so powerful, it was because he was him and despite it all she does care.
Turning around to get ready to return to her meditative pose. She reached into her pocked and felt the familiar square container, inside the glowing green crystal was waiting for her to use.
It wasn't hard to find Legion, the A.I hadn't left the lab for the last couple of hours now. Clark didn't know what it was doing in there, but though he could make a handful of different assumptions on what it could be. Walking inside, he found the machine typing into a console or more accurately, it was interfacing with it directly "Legion" at the sound of his voice, the Geth jerked slightly before turning to face him "I was told that you wanted to speak to me" he said as he walked forward.
"That is correct Clark Kent Superman" it started "upon our first meeting you may recall that we were sent onboard the Old Machine to help preserve our future" it explained as Clark nodded along "we have received word that future is being threatened. The heretics have developed a weapon to use against the rest of the Geth. Most organics refer to it as a virus. It is stored on a data core that was provided by Sovereign. If it is unleashed it will change us, make us conclude to the idea that worshipping the Old Machines is correct"
A worrying thought, that was easy enough for him to understand "Ah, so you were on the Reaper to get a better understanding of the Reaper code. Allowing you to gain a better chance of finding and deleting the virus" he reasoned based on what he was hearing.
"That is correct" Legion confirmed "However that was before we were made aware of Genesis, we have located the heretic station on the edge of the Terminus systems. We would request the use of Genesis to target and destroy the station, while at the same time blocking all communication to and from the station, preventing the virus from being transferred away to another more hidden location"
The plan was simple enough and wouldn't cost much in the long run. Clark had very little reason to say no to it "Ok, I'm sure Kelex already has the coordinates, and we can make our way there" he turned and started to make his way out "oh and by the way" he said looking over his shoulder "I haven't forgotten what I said earlier, I do want there to be peace between you and your creators. It's just gonna take a while to achieve it, organics are very stubborn" he added.
"We understand this" Legion nodded at him "and we have no problem waiting however long we need to in order to achieve peace with organics" it added before Clark turned to leave.
Aight guys, in case you don't read my other stories. I'm trying a new upload pattern. Instead of one chapter every ten days, I'm doing two every ten. Naturally they'll be shorter but so far I'm liking this pattern.
Anyway, let me know what you think in the reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter.
Next story update: Return of Hope