Note- This story is a sequel to "Shepard and Liara Versus the Alliance" which I encourage you to read. However don't worry, you won't have to read it to understand what's going on here.

This story picks up one month later...

The Year 2173

"Fight!"

The word sent chills down the young girl's spine and her heart began to race as the restraints around her wrists were removed. There was a crowd of kids around her forming a ring. Some of them remained silent with fear evident on their dirty faces. Others howled in rage like a pack of wild animals. She stayed silent, they had never before let her out of her restraints outside of her room or the lab. This level of freedom was foreign to her and she turned back to the guard with wide eyes. "Fight, girl!" He repeated "Or there will be hell to pay."

She just shook her head no and the man slapped her hard across the face leaving a red mark and sending her crashing to the floor. Her teeth sunk painfully into her tongue when she landed and the taste of blood filled her mouth. "Get up and fight, Zero. Now!" The guard ordered.

Jack stumbled back to her feet and gave one last hesitant look to the guard before glancing over his shoulder. Dr. Nicholas Cardo was standing just outside the ring watching her with intense interest. A scowl plastered across his ugly balding head. Jack looked up to the guard one final time. "Please." she muttered.

She was rewarded with a hard shove that pushed her out into the center of the ring. The crowd parted and a second guard tossed another child on to the floor in front of Jack. He looked older than her but not by much. She guessed the boy was 13. The boy's head was shaved which made Jack jealous as she blew her filthy brown hair from her eyes. They expected her to fight him, to use her biotics and demonstrate the effects of their experiments.

Jack had no idea what a normal childhood is like but she knew it was nothing like being strapped to a metal chair for hours every day while doctors injected her with syringes and forced her to lift things with the power she never wanted. Or being beaten and raped by the doctors after they tossed her into her small room and left her to cry herself to sleep curled up in a little ball under her desk. But she knew what awaited her if she didn't do what they wanted so she swallowed her nerves and lunged at the boy.

Her biotics flared as she tackled the bald headed boy to the ground. She charged her fists and brought them down on his face before he rolled over on top of her and seized her wrists. The boy had a strange mixture of rage and terror in his eyes as her wrapped his hand around her slender neck and started to squeeze. He started slamming the back of her head against the hard ground and Jack's face started to turn red. In desperation she grabbed the boy's head and pulled him in close before sinking her teeth into his ear and biting it off in with a fierce growl. The kid screamed in pain and released her as he fell to the floor clutching at his bleeding wound.

Jack spit the ear in her mouth on to the floor. Blood trickled down her chin as she looked to Doctor Cardo again for any sign that this could be over but his expression was unchanged. The guard picked up the howling boy off the ground and shoved him back towards Subject Zero. He threw a wild punch towards her that clocked Jack in the jaw. She stumbled back and her rage instinctively unleashed a powerful storm of biotics. She screamed as she threw all her power at the boy, tossing him back to the cold hard floor. She charged at him with a glowing fist raised but he kicked up into her gut and before she could counter the boy tackled her.

They rolled around on the ground screaming and clawing at each other like animals. Jack sent out another burst of energy that pushed the boy away from her. Once they were both back on their feet he ran at her but she was ready this time and threw the best shockwave she could muster at him. The boy flew up in the air and came down funny on his leg bending it outwards unnaturally and snapping the bone.

The crowd of children surrounding Jack grew silent as the bleeding boy weeped on the floor and clutched at his bleeding wound where his ear used to be and at the bone poking out of his leg. "Did I win?" Jack asked the Doctor.

Doctor Cardo shook his head. "The fight's not over, Subject Zero. Finish him."

Jack's biotics fizzled out. "What?" she whimpered.

"Kill him, Zero!"

She looked back at the boy on the ground. Cardo could see her hesitance so with a quick command on his omni-tool he sent a shock to the collar around Jack's neck. She cried out in pain and fell to her knees before the electrocution ceased. Her hands were shaking as she summoned her biotics again and advanced on the boy. Tears filled Jack's eyes as she wrapped her skinny fingers around the boy's throat and attempted to strangle him but she soon found she couldn't do it when the boy squirmed and thrashed under her hold. She charged a fist and smashed it down on her opponents face stunning him and splitting her knuckles open.

The ring of kids around Jack stared in silence and terror as she continued bringing her fists down on the boy's face with her eyes shut as hot splashes of blood sprayed on her face. Finally she stopped and opened her eyes to find the boy's face was so beaten she could no longer recognize him but she could still hear the ragged sound of him gasping for air. She began to sob and looked back up to Cardo yet again. "Please...Please don't make me..." Her sentence was cut off by another painful jolt of electricity from her collar. When the shock left her she slowly wrapped her hands around the boy's neck again and hesitantly squeezed. The beaten kid tried his best to squirm free but he was too weak and after several agonizingly long moments he fell still and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Jack lower lip quivered, she was too young to have already taken her first life. Some of the other children started to cry along with her. Doctor Cardo strolled towards the young girl with his hands folded behind his back.

"D-Did I do good?" Jack asked.

"No." Cardo answered. He reached behind him and randomly grabbed another child and threw her to the ground in front of Jack. "Again. And this time you will use your biotics properly, Zero!"

Jack's eyes jolted open and her chest heaved as she gasped for air. For a second she didn't register where she was so she jumped out of bed and felt the cold air on her naked body. Slowly she recognized the familiar sight of her bedroom and her heart stopped beating out of her chest. Her whole body was in a cold sweat as she sat back down on the side of her bed and buried her face in her hands.

A soft hand caressed her back and snaked up around her shoulders before she felt a pair of full lips press against her neck. "Another one?" Miranda asked.

"Yeah." Jack admitted.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

The convict shook her head. "No."

Miranda sighed. "Jack, please let me help you."

Jack turned around a placed a long loving kiss on Lawson's cheek. "You do help me. But some of this shit... It's just better staying in my head. Trust me, cheerleader."

"Was it your students again?" Miranda wiped her tired eyes clear and moved to sit next to her lover.

"No. Just drop it."

Lawson took her hand. "We're going to be married soon. You can't just ask me to drop it when I know how much it's hurting you."

Jack stayed silent and Miranda wrapped her arms around her and dragged them both back down to the mattress and pulled the covers over them both as she spooned her fiancee. Lawson nuzzled her face against the back of Jack's neck and planted another kiss. They stayed like this in silence for awhile and Lawson had started to drift back to sleep before her lover finally spoke her mind. "I was twelve years old the first time I killed someone."

Miranda woke back up immediately. "You can't blame yourself for what happened at that facility. It was never your fault."

"I don't blame myself. I blame those fucking assholes who raped me, who tortured me and who forced me to choke the life out of another kid...and the really fucked up thing is that after a while they made me enjoy it."

Miranda held her closer. She knew Jack had been through hell on Pragia but every time the convict opened up about it the stories always seemed to get worse. She hated how much the woman she loved had suffered through as a child and she hated herself for ever being a part of the organization who did it to her. "Do you remember the names of any of the doctors at the facility?"

"Just one." Jack answered. "Doctor Cardo. There were a bunch of those bastards but Cardo was the worst of them all." The convict smiled. "But I fucked him up pretty good on my way out. I ripped one of the bastard's arms off when I escaped. The one thing I take comfort in is the image of that asshole bleeding out where I left him."

"All that's over now, Jack."

"I know. I guess I thought blowing up that place would have given me closure and all that shit."

"It didn't?" Miranda asked.

"No."

Miranda rolled Jack over so they were facing each other. She had almost expected to find tears in her lover's eyes but her gaze was vacant. "I promise that I'll find a way to make it right."

"You can't. No one can."

Lawson caressed her cheek. "For you I could do anything. You want closure? I'll find it for you."

The convict forced a smile and shut her eyes while Lawson fell asleep with her arms still wrapped around Jack

Jack awoke in an empty bed. She rubbed her eyes clear as she sat up. She glanced over to the nightstand and smiled at the diamond ring resting there. She picked up her engagement ring and slipped it on her finger. Jack didn't really buy in to the whole jewelry thing but Miranda had picked out a truly beautiful ring.

She jumped out of bed and grabbed a fresh pair of panties and a plain white tanktop which she quickly changed into. The convict went to the mirror and saw that she had a serious case of bed head. The one thing she hated most about having a full head of hair was all the bullshit maintenance she was expected to do with it. She shrugged, left her bedroom and padded into the kitchen.

Miranda Lawson was already changed into her catsuit and had her back to the tattooed woman. Jack never did tire of the sight of Lawson's backside so she stole a glance at her rump as she sat down at the kitchen island. Miranda looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Good morning, Jack."

"What the hell are you doing, princess?"

Lawson turned around with a plate of food in her hands. "Making you breakfast." She smiled as she set the plate of waffles in front of Jack.

"Uh...thanks. Since when do you make me breakfast?"

"Since now." Miranda answered and sipped on the cup of tea in her hand as she sat opposite Jack.

The tattooed biotic narrowed her eyes as she took a bite of waffles and she moaned. "Fuck." she said with her mouth still full. "This is amazing."

Miranda glared at her open mouth when she chewed and Jack rolled her eyes and made a show of chewing with her mouth closed that made Lawson smile. "I'm glad you think so."

"So what is it?" Jack asked after she swallowed her first bite.

"What?"

"What is it that you want that you need to butter me up with waffles for?"

"I can't make breakfast for my fiancee without having an ulterior motive?"

Jack glared at her and forked another bite into her mouth. "So I'm wrong?" She asked.

"Well actually..." Miranda began making her lover chuckle. "I was hoping that you might take a vacation with me."

"Damn, you don't need to warm me up to that idea. Where you wanna go?"

"Illium."

"Alright." Jack said as she continued eating. "Why there?"

"Oriana lives there. And i'd like for you two to finally meet before we get married."

Jack scrunched up her nose. "Shit, why?"

"She's the only family I have."

The convict let out a sigh. "Fine."

"Really? Just like that?"

"If it's important to you than fuck it, I'll meet her. Plus it'll be good to get away from the Alliance."

Miranda smiled. "Thank you, Jack."

Suddenly Rahna Berk wandered into the kitchen wearing nothing but one of Kaidan's t-shirts and a set of underwear. "Hey guys." she greeted them as she took a seat next to Jack.

Miranda turned around and grabbed the pot of coffee she was making and poured a mug for Rahna. The dark skinned woman accepted the mug with a smile. "Thanks, Miranda."

"My pleasure. "

"Sorry for crashing here again. But this house is so much better than the crap officer housing at HQ."

"We know." Jack said.

"It's no trouble. And It's nice to see Kaidan with someone..." Miranda searched for the word.

"That isn't a total fucking bitch." Jack finished her lover's thought and Rahna giggled.

"Well I'm glad to hear I'm not a total fucking bitch." She said with a smile as she sipped on her coffee.

Then Kaidan made his way in to the room already dressed in his uniform. "Morning ladies." he greeted them then looked at Rahna and Jack. "Why aren't you two dressed?"

"We have the day off dumbass!" Jack said.

Kaidan's eyes widened. "Oh...right."Miranda shook her head and handed Alenko a cup of coffee.

"So have you two settled on a date?" Rahna asked.

Jack arched an eyebrow. "A date?"

"For the wedding." She clarified.

Miranda chuckled. "I don't think we're going to be doing anything grand."

"You surprise me." Kaidan teased.

"As long as it's got booze, Miranda in a dress and a nice bed nearby that sounds like a pretty damn good wedding to me. Hell, i'm even flexible on the bed. A nice hard floor is good enough." Jack said.

"How very romantic, Jack." Miranda said with a smile.

"I'm with Jack." Rahna said. "Big weddings suck. Only the people you really care about should be there. My wedding was this gaudy monstrosity which it turns out was a pretty good representation of the marriage that followed." She chuckled.

"I just can't believe my girls are finally getting married!" Kaidan said "They grow up so fast. Seems like only yesterday they were pretending to hate each other and sneaking off to have sex in a utility closet at work behind my back."

"We never had sex at work!" Miranda cried.

"Oh shut up, cheerleader. We did that all the time." Jack forked the final bite of her breakfast into her mouth. "We still do that all the time."

Miranda shut Jack's mouth as she chewed with one finger under her chin. "Well...only when there's nothing important going on." she admitted before turning to Kaidan, "I have good news for you."

"Oh?" Kaidan said as he sipped on his coffee and took a seat next to Rahna who smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Jack and I are visiting Oriana on Illium so we'll be out of your hair for a few days."

Kaidan smiled. "You know I love having you two around. But it'll be nice to have some silence for a change when i'm trying to go to bed."

"If all your doing is sleeping while we're away i'm gonna be very disappointed in you." Jack said and winked at Rahna.

Kaidan laughed. "Enjoy your trip."

"We will."

Illium

Oriana Lawson sat near the stage in one of her university's large lecture halls. Thanks to Miranda she now attended one of the finest universities in the galaxy that was still standing after the reapers, Nos Astra University. While most schools were still closed down across the galaxy Nos Astra University had been one of the first to open it's doors following the war and hopeful students and professors alike flocked to the school. Now almost every brilliant mind on Illium could be found on the school's campus.

Today Ori's professor had dragged her class to some boring lecture by some old doctor who taught some of the upper level science courses at the school could babble on about something. Oriana couldn't focus on that now, not while Chris Wagner sat just one row in front of her. The blonde haired boy rested his bored head on one hand and Oriana let out a sigh.

Chris turned his head and smiled at her and Ori's heart melted as she blushed. "This is stupid." He said to her.

"Totally. So stupid." She agreed with a dumb smile on her face.

The boy smirked and turned back around. Oriana shifted her attention to the stage as the old bald doctor hobbled on to the stage. She guessed he was in his late 50s. "Welcome students. My name is Doctor Nicholas Moser. Perhaps you've seen me around campus. " He turned around and brought up a large hologram display that projected a generic human form. "Today i'm going to be discussing humanity's untapped biotic potential." The doctor said.

Then Oriana noticed something weird about the speaker as he raised his arms to gesture to the hologram. One of them was fake.

Notes- And so begins my final Miranda and Jack side story before "Rise of the Asari" Thanks to ReavansMask for giving me some much needed feedback! So I hope you enjoyed the first part. There's gonna be even more glimpses into Jack's past in the coming chapters. Please tell me what you thought in the reviews and have an amazing day!