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At the Edge of Heaven	By : Kabraxal Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 33511 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do now own the copyright for Mass Effect or its associated characters. This story is simply for fun and I do not make any money from this work.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
She felt on edge. The cold metal grating clanking under their feet and sterile walls were normal, but there was a thick suffocating cloud of cruelty and guile hanging in the air. And most of that aura was not coming from the prisoners. Her wary eyes scanned around her diligently, her suspicions screeching in her head and her muscles already tensed to lash out at any possible moment. It was a good thing Shepard was no naive Alliance fool. The pistol at her side and the assorted weapons on Shepard and Garrus’ backs eased her worry. Walking armouries were never a bad thing to have around. At least they could try and fight out of this hellish ship.
That anxiety was only increased when Shepard’s face darkened as several loud grunts mutely echoed as they wound around a corner and slowly walked in front of a small enclosed room. One guard calmly watched as another viciously beat at a helpless prisoner huddling in a small ball beneath each blow. Shepard glared and Miranda flexed her fingers in anticipation as he simply walked up to the calmly watching guard, energy humming within her, her power at the ready.
“Is there something I can do for you?” the dispassionate voice echoed slightly within the guard’s helmet.
“There is no excuse for beating a prisoner that can’t fight back.” Shepard turned briefly to look at the guard before glaring back at the beating with a dark glare.
“This is a massage compared to what his victim’s went through.”
Miranda tensed at Shepard’s clenching jaw, paying little attention to the prisoner or the other guard. She had seen far worse over the last twenty years, maybe even done far worse according to some people, and she really couldn’t feel any sympathy for what was most likely a brutal murderer. But apparently Shepard was more noble than that. Or hot headed. Maybe both. It was hard to tell with him.
“I wasn’t asking.” his voice was laced with surprising menace.
“You’re in a high security facility with guns and cameras everywhere and you’re threatening me?” the guard was incredulous as he turned to almost laugh at Shepard. Miranda tensed at the escalating atmosphere.
“Those guns and cameras won’t be fast enough to save you.” Shepard only gave a glance in the guard’s direction.
“Is that right?” the guard’s voice rang with hollow confidence before Shepard and turned to step right into his face, eyes blazing.
“I told you to stop.” his face was set rigidly and his gaze deadly. The guard hesitated only a few seconds before turning meekly away.
“Call it off.” he tried to wave off the threat as Shepard nodded lightly. The other guard looked in confusion between the two before stopping tentatively. “At least for now.”
Miranda eased off at the quick retreat by the guard at Shepard’s imposing will. Shepard barely took second notice of the guard after ensuring the beating stopped. With one last solemn nod he turned and continued to the end of the corridor without a second thought, ignoring the prisoners calling out as he passed. Miranda gave a quick look to Garrus, who simply looked back and shrugged briefly at the brief little interruption before following quickly. She took one last look back at the prisoner and the guard who was shaking his head at his comrade in the room before walking past. Apparently the reports didn’t exaggerate as much as she had suspected. Three against an army and he had managed to talk the guard down with ease. She was impressed.
Shepard paused briefly ahead of her as the door opened to the processing chamber and she took several long, quick strides to close the distance and slide in only a few feet behind him as a worker pointed to the doors in the back and Shepard nodded. Aside from that little hiccup, the whole transfer was going relatively quickly and painlessly. She was surprised at the ease of the transaction. Given Subject Zero’s nature and track record, she would have thought there would have been some resistance or hesitation. Maybe money was enough to silence those worries. Or maybe Shepard had a reputation in a lot of places. Not that she really minded. The last few weeks had been stressful enough.
She shook her head at the slight tangent at the end as Shepard reached the final door. No use wondering about an assignment that went smoothly. The door opened only to reveal an empty detainment cell. Miranda sighed. Maybe not so smooth and easy.
“My apologies Shepard,” the warden’s voice resounded in the room and all three of them turned to glance around at the dawning realisation of the trap. “you’re more valuable as a prisoner than a customer. Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed.”
Shepard shook his head in disgust. “You talked up your noble intentions with this prison.” he drew his shotgun and nearly growled “But it turns out you’re a criminal like the rest.”
“Activate systems!” the warden’s worried yell rang out as she and Garrus quickly drew as well and slid into quick cover as the door they had entered slid open and several guards swarmed in, firing as soon as they crossed the threshold. Shepard fired two quick rounds into the oncoming guards, one glancing off armour as the second shot tore into a guard’s leg. He screamed and buckled at the blow before Garrus fired two quick shots into the guard’s chest from behind his cover. The guard gurgled only briefly as he collapsed and died, but the other guard merely shot at Shepard as two more pushed into the room with a small mech.
Miranda threw out her arm, energy pulsing deep inside before it exploded out of her hand and collided with the mech. She then quickly aimed and squeezed the trigger in quick succession, three blasts punching into the dog like mech’s head. With a scrambled whine it exploded, slamming one of the guards against the wall with a grunt before Shepard vaulted his cover and charged, shotgun blasting through the first guard closest to him before he spun and emptied a round into the chest of the second new guard. Quickly, Garrus and Miranda both fire into the guard against the wall before Shepard slammed into it for cover as the metallic scraping of two more mechs drown out the chatter of the mobilising guards.
With a quick click he ejected the overheated heat sink and slid in a new one. Garrus ran from behind the table to the other side of the door and nodded to Shepard as Miranda held back to watch the two swing into the door and fire into the two oncoming mechs. She couldn’t help but admire the calm and brutal efficiency. Shrapnel ricocheted off the walls as both mechs exploded. With a wave, Shepard pushed into the hallway. Miranda held her pistol at the ready, following behind the two as they made their way to the left. The warden had clearly not thought this through. She would have had twenty men outside the door... though that would have been pointless. She wouldn’t have let Shepard keep his weapons. Idiots.
Two guards popped from cover to pepper the trio with gunfire and Shepard leaned into a small bulkhead, rounds mostly hitting the metal though a few glancing hits pinged his shields. Garrus fired three quick bursts down the hall as Miranda knelt and provided cover fire for him as she ducked into cover to quickly reload a heat sink. She swore as three shots suddenly crashed into her shields, sending her off balance, as two more guards ran into the hallway in front of them. Instinctively she threw out her arm and sent a biotic pulse down the hall, grunts erupting as armour dangerously warps around flesh before Shepard popped from cover and fired off four successive rounds. Two guards crashed into the wall and fell dead at the vicious shotgun blasts as another spun at the impact before Garrus quickly fired into his back, killing him. The last guard tried to raise his gun and fire, but Miranda regained her balance and hollowed his head with one precise shot.
“You alright?” Shepard glanced at her briefly before she nodded.
“I’m good Commander.” she stood and moved forward, scavenging two heat sink clips from the dead guards as Shepard nodded and pushed forward to the end of the hall.
He waited for her and Garrus to set before raising his shotgun to the ready and cautiously reaching out to the panel. Her hands steadily raised her pistol as the door hissed open. She squeezed the trigger twice as one unarmoured man raised a pistol. It didn’t even level at her before he dropped to the ground, two holes in his chest. She was annoyed at the sloppy efforts to contain them so far. People really needed to have more pride in their work. Shepard quickly scanned the room before walking over to the control console.
“If we hack that control, every door on the cell block opens.” she nodded to the console, remembering the details from the specs of the prison they had garnered. She always planned for people to do something stupid like try to capture Shepard.
“It’s the only way to get Jack out of cryo.” Garrus added before Shepard nodded.
“I’m doing it, be ready.” he hacked the console quickly and released the locks, the giant crane quickly swinging up and around to unlock the unit itself before pulling up. Miranda calmly watched as a chair rose from the frigid mist, a bald and heavily tattooed woman strapped into it.
“That’s Jack?” her voice tinged with a smidge of surprise. Understated was something that would never be levelled at this woman, ever. And almost as if by cue, Jack’s eyes opened as her arms strained and the braces over her wrists quickly snap before she rips the collar from her neck.
Miranda shook her head as three YMIR mechs started to press around the newly released prisoner. This wasn’t good. She then blinked as Jack suddenly let out a wild shout and charged forward. She stood in shock for a second before a biotic wave flashed and an explosion rocked the room.
“We have to get down there!” she stated the obvious as she regained her balance from the explosion and readied her pistol. Shepard quickly turned and opened the door and rushed down the ramped hall, a mechanised voice blaring warning before another explosion rocks the room. “Sounds like heavy fighting.”
Shepard simply pushed into the room and Miranda followed, noting the destroyed mechs with a slight sense of shock. Shepard quickly checked one of the destroyed mechs before turning to the hole blasted in the wall as the warden barked orders off the intercom. She didn’t pay much attention, instead scanning the destruction wrought by Jack as they move down the hallway to another hole blasted into a wall. She gripped her pistol tighter as they slowly walked into the massive bay, fires roaring in multiple places as the giant crane loudly creaked then crashed down to the floor. She shook her head. Talk about pent up frustrations.
Shepard quickly pointed out two zones on the nearby bridge and she nodded before running with Garrus and sliding into cover as Garrus provided quick covering fire from his vantage point. She focused briefly before popping up and shooting at the guards in cover, providing covering fire as Shepard ran behind her and to the far side of the bridge, slowly trying to outflank the three visible guards. She dropped back down into cover as Shepard slid behind fallen piece of debris, her heat sink hissing as she ejects it and throws in a new one. One of the guards tried to press forward, but Shepard stood and fired two rounds into his chest. Blood splattered the floor as a hole was blown through the guard’s chest and his body rag dolled backwards from the force of the blow.
The two remaining guards ran forward wildly at the sight, spraying the area with rounds as the distinctive stomping of a mech shook the ground slightly. Miranda peeked over the railing before hissing and ducking back down as sparks erupted off the railing from the mech’s rapid fire. Garrus tried to distract the mech with careful shots as Shepard swung around his cover and shoulder blocked one guard while shooting the other in the face point blank. He then quickly dropped his barrel and blasted the downed guard before he can recover.
The mech continued to suppress Miranda, ignoring Garrus’ shots. She took a deep breath as she focused her energy, catching sight of Shepard from the corner of her eye pulling free the grenade launcher. She nodded and exhaled before rolling from cover. Her shields took several hits and wavered threateningly with her power surging before she pushes it out and into the mech violently. Its joints whined only slightly, but it was enough to stop the constant barrage and give her shields a reprieve as it sought to regain its balance. Shepard didn’t give it a chance. It exploded into a hail of fire and debris as the grenade hit it square right above the waist.
Miranda stood and rolled her shoulder, slightly sore from the hits her shield had taken, as debris rained around her. She waved off a glance from Shepard before EDI chimed on the comms.
“Shepard, the warden has locked down the area behind you. You must find another exit.” Shepard merely nodded and continued forward, stopping by a body briefly and saying something to Garrus before picking up a discarded rifle.
She was only noting general words, her eyes and concentration drawn towards the flames and the wreckage more than anything else as they walked. This level of destruction wasn’t normal for any biotic and she was beginning to second guess the choice of this particular individual for the mission. Of course she wasn’t too pleased with her to begin with. Rash, violent, unpredictably chaotic... and if she caused this much damage routinely, she wasn’t sure she would like that chaotic violence to suddenly explode anywhere near her. Hopefully this was just a case of pent up rage and energy from the incarceration. Miranda sighed. She hated the growing variables in this mission.
A round ricocheted off the floor and shook her from her slight meandering and she ducked into cover as Shepard rolled through the door and into the next bay. Several guards sprayed gunfire from a balcony just across from them, keeping Shepard pinned down. With a quick flick, one of the guns shorted in a guards hand and he growled in pain as the other guard was slightly thrown off balance. Shepard quickly popped up and fired two bursts into each guard’s chest then ducked back down as a third spun around debris on the floor. He didn’t get a single shot off as both Miranda and Garrus shot him in the chest, shield’s failing immediately and blood spattering lightly as the guard’s body was jolted back into the debris as he died.
Miranda quickly ejected her heat sink clip and inserted a new one as Shepard knelt and scavenged several more clips from the bodies. More guards could be heard down further in the bay and Shepard adjusted his rifle then briskly marched forward and aimed down the sights. A quick burst erupted from his rifle and then a grunt and light thud as one guard was quickly downed. Miranda fell in step a few paces behind and took aim as well, though it wasn’t needed at all. Shepard shifted just slightly, the barrel of his weapon sliding gracefully before fire burst from it again. Within a matter of seconds as he calmly marched ahead the guards in the little dip in the bay were dead. She shook her head at the speed and efficiency of that man. He was a damn machine practically.
Her eyes set in recognition as his hand signalled and she nodded before tucking slightly and sprinting ahead into the cover he had designated. Garrus quickly followed similar orders as Shepard set himself in between the two of them and knelt behind cover, rifle still at the ready as another YMIR Mech lumbered at the far end of the bay, slowly making its way towards them.
“Miranda,” his calm voice carried remarkably well despite the distant gunfire and constant explosions rocking the facility. “Bring that thing’s shields down.”
She merely nodded and focused before stepping out of cover. She flung out one arm, omni tool flaring to life for a brief moment as the surge exploded from it and into the mech’s shields, and her other levelled the pistol and she fired off a half dozen rounds before quickly snapping back into cover as the mech swung towards her, a stream of bullets biting into the metallic floor before bouncing harmlessly off the structure she took cover behind. The mech’s shields flickered briefly at the assault before shorting and with a quick hand signal, Garrus swung out of cover firing as Shepard calmly stood and fired in quick successive bursts. Miranda hissed slightly as several rounds barrelled from above her and into Shepard’s shields and she shot out of cover and quickly scanned the bay before seeing guards on the catwalk at the end of the bay. She took aim and fired, her rounds tearing through one guard’s chest with no resistance before two perfectly placed shots punched through the other guard’s shields and through his skull as the familiar whir of the mech’s system overloading sounded off to the side before the huge machinery tumbled uselessly to the ground. Another heat sink hissed as she ejected it. These people hadn’t done their homework at all... this wasn’t even a challenge. She was getting disappointed.
With another wave of his hand Shepard moved forward, rifle at the ready. She and Garrus quickly fell into a tight formation behind him, both scanning their flanks and rear as they quickly moved to the end of the bay and to the door. Shepard pushed the panel and the door slid open.
An escaped prisoner dropped in front of them, dead, as two more were either running or hiding in vain. With two quick shots, one to a running prisoner’s back and the other to a whimpering and cowering prisoner’s head, it was over.
“You’re valuable Shepard.” The warden turned to them quickly, his shields glowing strong as he suddenly fired. The round ricocheted off a container in front of them, Shepard diving to the right as she and Garrus ducked behind the crates to the left. “I could have sold you and lived like a king. But you’re too much trouble!” he shrugged, the large sniper rifle exaggerating the movement. Miranda quickly shifted and darted next to Shepard in cover as the warden spoke “At least I can recapture Jack.”
*Not happening!” Shepard flinched as the warden pulled off a quick shot, the round punching into the crate near his head. “You’re a two bit slave trader and I don’t have time for it!”
“I don’t the hard things civil governments aren’t willing to! This is for the good of the galaxy!” he fired another shot at his declaration.
Shepard only shook his head then signalled his orders. Miranda nodded and spun out to his right flank as Garrus fell back and to the left, both aimed at the doors feeding into the room. Miranda smiled. Shepard knew what he was doing, that was for sure. She squeezed the trigger as the door slid open and a few guards tried to flank them. The first two shots pinged uselessly off a shield before the third hit home with a squeal from the guard. She shifted slightly, rolling in cover to the opposite side to get a better shot as the guards ran in, trying to find their own cover.
She could hear a faint curse from Shepard but didn’t turn around to see what was wrong. Two more guards forced their way through the door. She took a breath and lashed out with her biotics. Both screamed in agony as their legs crumpled beneath them, bones snapped and twisted at the force of her field warping the space around their legs. She ignored them and swept her attention back to the first guard. He had tried to take cover, but apparently he wasn’t too well trained or the gunshot earlier was too painful for clear thinking. She fired. His neck snapped back, head thumping off the wall with a wet crunch before he lifelessly slid to the side and to the floor.
“Amateurs.” she growled at the sloppy force, though she should have probably been far happier at the fact. What could she say, she was a complex woman. She hungered for a challenge.
She whipped her gun around at a second moving figure and quickly fired off several bursts. Much like the rest, it was too easy and the guard didn’t even get a shot off before he grabbed at his bloody throat gasping for air. She shook her head again then calmly turned back to the screaming and crippled guards. With two quick bullets, their screaming fell silent. She finally looked to Shepard, weaving through gunfire and cursing before slamming into cover.
“The pylons!” he shouted and pointed to one of the shimmering rods extended from the floor, beams of energy arcing over in a bubble to protect the warden.
She didn’t need anything more, with a quick flick towards one, she blasted a surge of energy into one of the pylons and it erupted in sparks and debris. It went down rather quickly and she smirked before turning to another and shooting it as Shepard through the rifle he had picked up away and pulled out the sniper strapped to his back and readied himself. Miranda smirked again then turned to the final pylon as Garrus covered them both from any remaining guards. In a shower of sparks the shield over the warden vanished and Shepard quickly snapped up. Two thunderous rounds echoed in the room and Miranda shook her head at the ringing in her ears. The warden simply crumpled where he had stood, the two quick shots depleting his shields then simply pulverising his skull. Quick and brutal. A perfect shot. She was getting disturbed at how often Shepard was impressing her.
Shepard stood and slid the rifle back into place before drawing his pistol, though the dead bodies littered across the facility probably meant he didn’t need it anymore. Miranda took a glance around and shook her head. Shepard had been good when he was near crazed with grief and shock, but this was something else. They were barely touched and they had just surgically sliced through their forces in under an hour. The files on him didn’t do him any justice. He really was something special. He was as damned good as advertised. She almost hated it as she just escaped a wince at a familiar pang twisted deep inside as one thought flitted through her mind for a brief second: and unlike you, he wasn’t engineered for it.
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At the Edge of Heaven