Bab 16: 13 – Stealing from Cerberus
MIRANDA POV
My name is Miranda Lawson. I was made by my 'father', who used his genome to create me, so I have no mother. My father is a lunatic, for lack of a better word.
I was 'perfect', or so others say, and had everything others ever wanted. Biotic powers, appearance, physical powers, aim, etc. I had it all but at the cost of not having a life. My father, the lunatic, dictated everything I did, from what I ate to who I could talk to.
I endured for some years until I couldn't anymore. So I ran away from home. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to run away from my father, as he was rich and had connections everywhere. But I did it anyway, as I had no other choice.
At first, everything was going okay, as I used all that I learned and had to stay out of trouble, but everything has limits, even I. So, after a few years or so after running away from my father, I decided to get help, as the situation was getting more and more dangerous.
The problem was that not everyone wanted me, someone being hunted by one of the most rich people in the galaxy, on their team. My father would not stop until he got me back, and I cannot imagine what he would do to me to stop me from running away again, meaning I could never be caught because if that happened, I would probably be lobotomized or something along those lines.
So, I started to look for groups powerful enough to shield me from my father, but only had a few opinions, and when I asked, the majority backed away after learning about my past.
Unitl I found Cerberus. They seem decent from what I could gather. While they received funds from my father, they told me they would take me anyway. It certainly means they would lose his support, but I guess I'm valuable enough for them to risk that.
So, I'm extremely grateful to Cerberus for accepting me. Then, they sent a message to meet an agent of their organization, so he could take me to the leader.
I then made my way to the rendezvous point, London, and was waiting in a park for the agent of Cerberus to come and get me away from there. It was a public place, and I was still afraid it could be a trap or something like that, so I had my guard up. But suddenly, without my noticing, someone sat beside me on the park bench.
I immediately reached for my gun in case it was someone my father sent, but when I looked at the person, I noted it was a young-looking man, not older than 20 years old, and he just smiled while looking at me, completely ignoring that I had my hand on my waist, meaning I had something there.
The young man said, '' Hello there.''
I continued in silence and with a hand on my gun, but the young man continued, '' Well, I expected that. You might be confused or think I'm one of your father's men, but I assure you I'm not.''
When he finished saying that, I knew he knew who I was. I immediately tried to take my gun out, but he overlapped the hand I was holding my gun, preventing me from drawing it. I was about to use my biotic powers to send him flying away when I noticed he was pointing a gun at my stomach with his other hand, '' Don't be like that. I'm here to help.''
Even with my biotic powers, I don't think I was fast enough to be able to block that bullet at so close range. So, I had no choice but to calm down a bit.
The man noticed that and slowly, he removed the hand that was holding my gun and put his away. I relaxed a bit after that, but I still couldn't trust him, as he appeared out of nowhere, aimed a gun at me, and then said he was gonna help me. Any sane person would not believe it.
''Who are you and what do you want?''
''My name is Samael, and I'm here to recruit you.''
'' ... I'm sorry, but you're late. I tried to reach out to various organizations to see who would take me, but only one said yes.'' The way he was talking, meant he knew her situation, so she was honest with him.
While he did point a gun at me, my instincts said he wasn't hostile.
'' Cerberus, right?''
I was surprised but hid it well. '' How do you know?''
Samael smiled, '' I have my ways... But you will regret joining Cerberus.''
I was a little taken aback. ''What do you mean?''
The man in front of me used his Omni tool to pass some files to me and said, '' You're running from a lunatic right into the hands of another.''
Confused by what he said, I started to check the files and was horrified by what I was seeing. It was a lot of files, and I only saw a bit, but that small percentage was enough to make me have some chills run down my spine.
''Is this true?''
The man nodded and said, ''I can give you more information if you want.''
Samael then started to send more files to me.
As I noted more and more files coming into my OmniTool, I realized I had already fallen into a trap. With chills down my spine, I thought, 'What could have happened If I joined them... '
I thanked Samael, '' Thank you... I would've made a big mistake without your help.''
Of course, now that she couldn't join Cerberus, she was back at square one. She had to run away from her father once more, and hope a group take her in. But she already lost hope of that, because the only group that accepted her, did things worse than her father.
Samael did offer to recruit her, but she wasn't sure he was strong enough to hold her father at bay.
But Samael continued saying, '' Again, I'm here to recruit you. I can protect you from your father and Cerberus too. Are you interested in joining?''
'' How can I trust you weren't the same as Cerberus and my father?'' I was even more suspicious of everything now, after what I just learned.
'' True. How about this? Join me for a bit while I make a trip across the galaxy. Then, you decide later on if you want to join my team or not.''
'' You'll be leaving Earth?''
'' Yes, in a few days at most. I'm just waiting for my ship to get ready.'' The ship Samael was talking about was top-notch, made from the best materials and the best companies under LD, so it took a few years for it to be done and it would arrive at his place today, alongside the materials to make RR a body.
The upgraded stuff had to be made by him, so that took a while too. He would never trust that technology from 20 years into the future to get into another hand.
Miranda knew she didn't have many options right now, and from what little she could gather, this Samael looked trustworthy. But so did Cerberus...
But, again, she didn't have any other choice. It was this or trying to run from her father, knowing that without support, he would get her eventually.
''Will you be able to protect me against my father AND Cerberus?'' From what I could gather, Samael knew about my situation in its entirety, but I asked just to make sure he knew what he was getting involved with.
Samael didn't look fazed at all, meaning he knew and didn't care, or didn't know and didn't care.
'' If you're on my team, no one in the galaxy could hurt you. And in the rare case they do, I promise they will pay a price they can't afford.''
That was enough for me. '' I'll join you as a trial. If I don't like what I see, I'll leave and try my luck with others.''
'' No problem. Welcome to my team.''
The duo shook hands. Then I remembered I was here to meet the Cerberus agent, so I informed Samael, '' What do we do about the Cerberus agent that was supposed to meet me here?''
'' I'll handle it, don't worry.''
As soon as the man said that, he used his omni tool to speak to someone, ''Do you have eyes on the target?''
'' Yes. He's approaching your location. How do you want to proceed?''
The man looked at me and with a calm look asked, ''What do you want to do? I'm not going to be hypocritical and say that my group doesn't kill, because we kill when necessary. But right now, the decision for this person's life is in your hands.''
I hesitated. I don't have a problem with killing people since in the galaxy it's kill or be killed, but maybe this agent doesn't even know about Cerberus's true face, since even I, who consider myself more intelligent than normal, didn't notice anything amiss.
Just as I was about to make my decision to spare the life of the agent who was coming, the man said something and handed me some files, "Before you make your decision, here are the agent's details.''
Once again impressed by the vast amount of information he had on Cerberus, I took a look at the files. And what I saw made me angry.
' Murders, experiments, kidnappings... That kind of person deserves to die.'
I immediately said, "You can kill him.''
The man nodded and said, "Take care of him. Try to be as discreet as possible. I know it's your first kill, so take your time.''
I asked curiously, ''First kill? I thought your group was more... experienced.''
The man stood up from the bench and said, ''I never said we were experienced, just that we can protect you from Cerberus and your father. And the person who's going to kill the agent is my ... disciple.''
I had nothing more to say since the transaction had already taken place and I was tired from all this situation.
My father is a lunatic and made me spend most of my teenage years on the run, Cerberus, the only help I found, was worse than him. Then, the person who exposed Cerberus to me offered to take me in.
It was a lot for me to handle, so I was really tired of it all.
"Shall we?''The man offered his hand for her to get up from the park bench and I accepted.
NORMAL POV
You may be wondering, why Samael let Cerberus act so openly. Well, as he often says, they're a necessary evil for the galaxy, at least for now.
Besides, they were busy building the organization up for him.
As their evil deeds still haven't been exposed to the galaxy, Cerberus was still respected. So, he just needs to kill the higher-ups, kill the real evil people who know its true face, and take over Cerberus.
While not powerful in this cycle, they were still a force to be recognized.
Of course, if they crossed a line they shouldn't have, he has all their files from future cycles stored away, their research, locations, all of their agents names, etc, so if needed, he could destroy them.
But Cerberus also tends to make things flow more 'normally', so he tolerated them and let them run free, but making sure they weren't too powerful. He almost made them run away from Earth, taking over their business left and right.
However, the moment Cerberus loses its function or does something to him and his group, Samael could and will easily make it disappear from the galaxy. He, after all, knew everything about the organization, from its secret bases and even future employees.
He didn't save Jack from them because of one reason: in the other cycles he saved her, and she died powerless. Cerberus kidnapping her was something that would shape her into a stronger person and that's what he needed against the Reapers. Of course, he wasn't going to let her suffer too much since in less than 3 months he was going to save her and it hadn't been a year since she was sent to the worst facilities of it all, and according to the plot, the worst experiments only happened to people who arrived there after two years, so even though they knew her potential, Cerberus was waiting.
He knew that because he already hacked into their database and was monitoring Jack situation. At any sign she might really die, he would break his timeline and save her.
Looking at Miranda who was sitting next to him in the SkyCar, Samael smirked at the thought of Illusive Man's reaction when he learned that he had missed his chance to recruit one of the most powerful humans in the galaxy.
Just then, his omni tool made a sound, meaning someone wanted to talk to him. He accepted, and Veronica's voice came out, ''Done. I tried to be as discreet as possible, but I don't know the result.''
"It doesn't matter if it was quiet or not, I've taken care of it.''
Even before Veronica killed the Cerberus agent, Samael had already instructed RR to hack into the central office and turn off all the electronic security equipment in the area.
'' Okay. Shall we meet at the appointed place?''
'' Yes.''
The call was then disconnected and Samael continued his journey to the meeting point.
It didn't take long for the three of them to meet and Samael introduced Miranda to Veronica, ''Veronica, this is Miranda. Miranda, this is Veronica. Let's get along!''
Miranda spent some time analyzing the young woman in front of her and was a little surprised, 'Although she's not a biotic or anything, my instincts tell me she's dangerous.'
By the way, her instincts also said that she shouldn't confront Samael at all costs.
And Veronica was doing the same since the young woman in front of her was the first time Samael had been proactive in going out to recruit. He had already informed her of his abilities, but seeing her in person it was a different story, 'Samael was right to recruit her.'
Although to this day Veronica has no idea as to why he created a mercenary group, she still follows Samael and his ideals.
The duo shook hands, '' Nice to meet you, and welcome to the team.''
'' Likewise.''
Then, they turned to Samael, '' What now?''
'' We will return to the base, rest for a few days, and go to Eden Prime.''
Samael goal was to save Javik, but first, he needed to put the upgrades he made on his ship, and that would take a few more days.
' I'll rescue him first, then go after Jack. Wait for me, both of you!'
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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