Who: Isabela, Miranda, Aria and NPCs Oriana Lawson and Henry Lawson What: Oriana was kidnapped by her father. Miranda recruited Isabela and Aria to help her take down her father and this Hydrabus facility When: November, right before Thanksgiving Where: Undisclosed Hydrabus research facility Warnings: High for violence, patricide and language
It had been a difficult time since Oriana had gone missing. Miranda had flipped her shit quite literally. And underneath the surface, she had blamed herself for not being vigilant enough to keep her father from taking her sister. She felt like she’d failed her sister in not being able to uphold her promise to keep her safe. But she didn’t have time to sit and dwell on the negative things she felt towards herself. Miranda was a woman of action, and after Isabela had talked her down from acting rashly, she put her mind to use, as well as utilizing any and all tools at hand to find where her father was.
She’d confirmed that he had indeed kidnapped her sister, and she’d found the place he was using as a base. It was a laboratory, one that was masked as the American expansion of his business. And it drove Miranda up a wall. Especially when it was confirmed he was being funded and protected by Hydra. Which was why she and Isabela had decided to recruit Aria to help them. Another gun and powerful biotic was definitely good to have with them.
Aria had even helped plan how to approach the base and have a plan of attack. Her days spent as an Asari Commando actually came in handy. Sometimes having lived for one thousand years gave her skills she never knew would come in handy somewhere. Aria had brought both her shotgun and her submachine gun from her dreams. Miranda had also come armed with the pistol and submachine gun she’d gotten from her dreams. After all, despite them both being overpowered biotics, their powers needed time to recharge. While Aria was more like the Energizer Bunny in terms of biotics, Miranda couldn’t rely only on biotic attacks.
“Everyone ready?” Miranda asked as they took in the security around the perimeter of the lab.
“I’m always ready for a fight,” Aria replied. She had her human disguise in place. After all, there was little need to display the fact that she was an alien to these assholes. Though she was wearing the outfit she had from her dreams, largely because it was easier to move and fight in it than the Earth clothes she typically wore.
Isabela, for her part, was mainly only here to provide support. She had no biotic powers or fancy guns from her dream world, but she'd managed to salvage her dream weapons from the wreck of her yacht. The daggers were strapped in custom crafted sheathes against her shoulders, and she'd opted for a pair of stretchy leggings and breathable, flexible body armor that wouldn't get in her way. Mainly because her own dream outfit left nothing to the imagination and had absolutely no protection on it at all. It wasn't as good as a SWAT team outfit or kevlar suit, but it would hopefully do in a pinch.
She didn't really expect to get hit, if she was honest. Isabela wasn't good at many things, but this kind of dance? Was her speciality. So long as the two gorgeous women at her side didn’t prove to be too distracting.
"My daggers are sharpened and thirsty, and I guarantee you they won't see that coming."
For Miranda’s part, she had no intention of distracting Isabela. She was focused on saving her sister and killing her father. Or at the very least beating him within an inch of his life. But she was hoping to be able to kill him and be done with the bastard once and for all. Her blue eyes looked exceptionally icy at the moment as her cold rage was simmering just beneath the surface. Everything her father had put her through in her life, the years of raising her sister and doing whatever it took to make money and support both of them, it was all coming front and center currently, but she was clamping down on it to keep herself focused. She’d let herself be emotional over it all later when they were all safe.
“Then I suggest we move,” Aria noted, checking something on her omni-tool. While she and Miranda lacked armor of any sort, they both had the invisible shields that would absorb some of the bullets coming at them.
“Right.” Miranda checked her shield before she began moving. Aria had mapped out their approach. Miranda used her Overload ability to short circuit any cameras in the area before slipping towards the door they would use to enter the facility. But just before Miranda reached the door, bullets started to fly.
Aria ducked and targeted one of the shooters. “Come here you fucker,” she said, using her Lash biotic ability to grab the guy and violently jerked him towards them, priming him for another attack.
Miranda ducked and spotted another shooter. She utilized her Slam biotic ability to pick the guy up and promptly turn him into a pancake with the force of the slam.
While the girls let their biotics fly, Bela ducked into cover. This was probably the most important thing she was going to do with the both of them this month, what with all that was on the line for Miranda, and she definitely didn't want to get injured or lose focus, herself. In normal fights she might have goofed off, truth be known, but not today. The raging ice in Miranda's eyes was all she'd needed to see to know this was not that kind of moment.
When Aria lashed someone towards her, she got out her daggers and plunged one right into the guy's throat. Then she nodded at the two of them. "Draw more closer and I'll take care of them. I'm shite at range."
Miranda was used to banter during fights from her dreams. Though currently, she was laser-focused on their goal. If she hadn’t been personally involved in what they were doing, she might be more light-hearted. But as it was, she was too focused to be light-hearted.
The three of them actually worked well as a team. Even though Aria and Miranda both had biotics, their skills with it were different enough that they covered a broader spectrum. Where their biotics and guns fell short, Isabela would be able to step in with her daggers. Though of course, Miranda wasn’t going to risk anyone’s life getting to her father. Except possibly her own, but that was more out of she would do anything to make sure Ori, Bela and Aria got out of there safely. And if that meant Miranda would die here, then so be it.
Once the guards outside were taken care of, Miranda took a breath as she moved to the door they would enter the facility in. “Alright, my father will probably be in the main lab with Ori. Keep your eyes open, I don’t know what we’ll be walking into in here.” She wasn’t that worried about Aria, the old Asari had plenty of experience under her belt for getting in and out of these sorts of things. But Bela, Bela was someone Miranda had come to care for and she’d be damned if she’d lose her here.
Opening the door, she lifted her submachine gun and kept her eyes open. Aria motioned Isabela to go next, she could protect the rear. She checked her own guns before she brought up the rear.
Nodding to Aria, Bela took up the mid guard, going in after Miranda and keeping her eyes sharp for traps. Anything at all that Miranda might miss, something her laser focus wouldn't spot. If that was even a thing, she wanted to be sure to notice it. Both daggers out, she lowered her voice. "Your handy tools might be able to scan for something we can't see in here."
She'd never dealt with these enemies. Cerberus, Hydra, whichever they were, and had no idea what they were capable of. But she figured if they could capture Ori out from under both Miranda's watch and hers, she wasn't taking any chances. "Chemical traps or sommat. Wouldn't put it past these folks."
Miranda had learned from her dreams. Sure, she’d needed to track her father down by herself in the dreams because Shepard had been busy trying to unite the galaxy against the Reapers, but she’d had a desperate need to just do it herself. Of course, it had nearly cost her her life given her fight with Kai Leng. Only Shepard’s warning had kept her from dying at that bastard’s hands.
This time, she wasn’t going to go in alone. And she was also prepared for whatever they may encounter in here. She didn’t think Kai Leng actually existed in this world, but she was ready in the event someone like him was here. After all, she knew how Cerberus worked, far more than even Aria did.
“Yes, former Cerberus operative, what traps might await us?” Aria asked. She was deliberately twisting that knife. After all, Aria had a very personal and deep hatred of Cerberus.
“Don’t even start, Aria,” Miranda practically hissed. However, she activated her omni-tool to run some scans. She didn’t detect any traps, but that wasn’t reassuring. “I don’t think there’s any traps here, at least not ones that my omni-tool can detect. But that probably means there are more soldiers or mercenaries to go through.”
“Oh good. I don't think we've had nearly enough fun yet. There's always time for another dance with a bunch of trained soldiers." Bela quipped. The tension between the two women was thick, and she was glad that she'd come along. For all of the other reasons, but also because she could act as a buffer if need be.
"So. We walk in, you both throw your biotics around, and I kill whatever's left over. Sounds like a plan, eh?" Without any traps to deal with that they could sense, the only way forward was ‘through’. Piles of people, in this case.
Miranda was having more than a little bit of a flashback. This felt eerily similar to Sanctuary. She was expecting Reaper forces to be on the other side of the door fighting Cerberus soldiers amongst the remains of scientific experiments having been conducted on people. Of course, she was already aware of the fact her father had taken blood samples and some scans of Cosima, but why? It was seriously bothering her.
“I think that sounds like an excellent plan. I always do enjoy a good bloodbath where assholes are concerned.” Aria responded, checking her gun before she crossed the room to the door leading out of this area.
“Keep your guard up. There’s no telling what we’ll find on the other side of that door. But knowing my father, none of it will be good.” Miranda was ready to put down as many people as was needed to carve her way to her father and Ori. She just hoped that the bastard didn’t hurt her sister before she was able to get there.
Once they were ready, Aria opened the door, Miranda being the first through the door. It was quiet. The kind of quiet where you knew some large monster was going to pop out unexpectedly. Miranda only took a few steps before she was hit from the side. She went flying sideways into the wall and hit the floor hard.
“Fuck,” she grunted. Nothing had snapped, but she was going to feel that later. She looked up to see a man who looked far too much like Kai Leng. He had a metal arm, maybe even two metal arms.
“Your father sends his regards,” the man said as he charged towards Miranda. However, Aria sent him flying with a blast of biotic energy.
“You aren’t going to win this fight,” she said coldly, also connecting the dots to Kai Leng. That bastard had been on Omega with the one who killed her daughter.
“That remains to be seen,” he said as he righted himself. It didn’t even look like he’d taken a hit, whereas Miranda was a little slow to get up. She’d been punched just under her ribs on her left side.
“He’s far stronger than he looks. Be careful,” she warned as she tried to shake off the attack.
There was nothing Isabela could do to stop the attack, and she tried not to hover around Miranda. Even though she was more concerned than she wanted to let on, they had far more pressing matters to deal with.
Like a vicious looking guy who possibly had two metal arms. Bela spun her daggers in her hands and gave him the sort of glare that would have frozen water. "If he's got flesh, I can still cut it off of him."
She sounded as pissed off as she felt, though it was the calculating sort of anger that, in her dream world, meant her enemies were in very deep trouble. Isabela started closing the distance with the man, taking on one of the stances she liked best as a duelist. "Let us dance, you and I."
Aria and Miranda were the likely candidates for finishing the man off, but she could keep him busy for a bit while they formed a strategy.
Miranda was grateful for the breather, though she knew she wouldn’t have much time. Still, she would take what she could get as she got back to her feet and slowly straightened up. She definitely felt a bruise was already forming where she’d been hit.
Aria let Isabela take the lead on taunting the guy, though she did position herself to protect Miranda if needed. And it turned out it was necessary because several other soldiers stormed the room.
“Evening the odds, are you? I’m flattered,” Aria purred as she cocked her shotgun then tossed one of the soldiers back with a biotic blast.
The Kai Leng clone kept his steel gaze on Bela. “Think you can keep up with me?” He said. He didn’t have any weapons in his hands, but he assumed his own stance before he attacked Isabela. Miranda was his target, but he’d go through this woman if he had to.
“Isabela, be careful,” Miranda warned. And if Bela went and died here, Miranda would bring her back just to kill her herself for dying on her.
"No worries, sweet thing. This certainly won't be my last dance." She assured Miranda, before turning all of her attention on Kai Leng and his attacks. She'd never fought anyone quite like him before. He seemed more agile than a normal human being, stronger, and faster. Bela had just enough time to process that information and notice his cybernetic looking bits and pieces before they were locked in a heated battle.
One Bela kept mostly on the defensive. It saved energy for the other soldiers and bided time for Miranda to close in on him. It was exhausting work, trying to keep up with someone like Kai Leng, but she gave it her all. As disparate as the worlds they came from were, combat was still combat. At least from where she was sitting.
Blocking and dodging, weaving and ducking, she managed to hold him off for a minute or so before one of his attacks came a little too close to call. Bela slid to the floor and rolled off to the side, trying to catch her breath for a moment before he closed in again. “Shall we swap dancing partners, ladies?”
Aria briefly thought about utilizing her shotgun, but she instead holstered it and decided to go for her biotics instead. Luckily she’d gained excellent control over her abilities, which left Miranda’s capabilities in the dust. But that was largely more due to Aria being an Asari and having advanced biotic capabilities than humans. Even a genetically engineered human.
“Alright you fuckers, get ready.” Aria practically growled as she activated her biotics. Using a Lash, one soldier was grabbed and flung into the far wall. His neck snapped in the process, and he wouldn’t be getting back up. Aria then threw a Flare, which took out several soldiers in a nine meter radius of the biotic explosion. That left a couple more soldiers and Kai Leng.
Kai Leng was locked in battle with Isabela. He noted her reflexes were above average for a human, and he had to give it to her that she defended herself well enough. But she wasn’t good enough to take him down. When she slid out of his reach, he spun around, his focus still on her.
“Gladly,” Miranda said as she’d surreptitiously maneuvered to get around Kai Leng. She’d noted his cybernetics, and that’s when she hit him with an Overload. It stunned him, though it would only keep him that way for a brief period. “Go!” Miranda said as she shifted around to position herself between Kai Leng and Isabela. The bastard wasn’t going to harm her friend, or anyone else, if she had any say in the matter.
It wasn't even a matter of pride for Isabela that this man had been able to nearly defeat her. She was in far over her head, and she gave Miranda a grateful glance before she pulled herself up to a crouch and slunk off to catch her breath. Aria's biotics were an amazing show to watch, and from a safer distance, Bela could stab a few of the remaining lackies while still watching Miranda at work.
Because that, too, was a show, one that she was more than happy to watch while mentally eating some popcorn. She knifed one of the remaining soldiers in the ribs as she made her way back over to Aria. "Not that you need it, but I've got your back."
Once Miranda and Bela exchanged places, Aria gave a glance to Bela. “I never mind having someone watching my back when they’re an ally.” And despite the fact that Aria was leery by nature, she did trust Isabela, and trusted that she wasn’t going to get a knife in her back, literally. She kept her guard up, but she trusted that if she didn’t catch anyone that might come at her from behind, that Isabela would before the Asari found herself on death’s doorstep. Or worse, wishing she was on death’s doorstep and left for dead.
Miranda was ready to wipe the floor with this asshole for multiple reasons, the most pressing of which was the fact he was slowing them down from getting to Oriana. The longer they were delayed here, the more time her father had to do terrible things to Oriana. And Miranda would forever blame herself if they didn’t get to Oriana in time, no matter what anyone else might say on the matter. To say that she took her sister’s well-being extremely personally was an understatement. Of course, she had raised her sister, acting more a mother than a sister to her, but that was besides the point.
“Your father told me about you, how you were the family disappointment. All he wants is Oriana, and there can be peace.” Kai Leng was of course baiting Miranda, trying to get her to act emotionally and not rationally.
“No one is laying a finger on my sister!” She retorted, throwing a biotic field at him, one that hurled him against a wall. Miranda was only half-rising to the bait, managing to clamp down on her emotions and assume that ice queen exterior that she was infamous for to keep herself in check.
“There it is. You are your father’s daughter. Pity you threw everything away, you would’ve been his perfect heir.”
That did it, though not in the emotionally explosive way, but the intense shock that washed over her. Miranda froze as she was clearly focusing on what Kai Leng just said, and he took the opening to charge at Miranda, a blur of motion. She managed to react, but not quickly enough to fully dodge his attack. She felt the sting of a blade cutting into flesh, but she’d managed to avoid a killing blow. However, she had a rather nice slash across her side and she was bleeding a bit obviously.
However, Miranda didn’t fall and she certainly didn’t stop fighting. She captured Kai Leng in a biotic field and she levitated him up into the air and then used another biotic blast that sent him flying through a solid wall. She knew that he wasn’t dead, so despite her wound, Miranda charged after him, though thankfully Aria and Isabela had taken care of the other soldiers so she didn’t have to worry about taking any bullets as she went after Kai Leng.
Kai Leng was just picking himself up, albeit slowly and painfully, when Miranda leapt through the hole in the wall. However, he didn’t stand much of a chance because Miranda used her biotics to pick him up and toss him against another wall, then she held him in place there as she used her biotics to pick up a rather large and heavy piece of wall and she hurled it at Kai Leng, effectively making him two-dimensional with a sickening squishing sound dotted by the sound of breaking bones.
Miranda had a steel gaze, feeling absolutely no remorse for having just killed that man. He had pushed one of her hot buttons, but she clamped down on those particular emotions. She couldn’t let herself get distracted now, Oriana needed her. She pressed a hand against her wound, hissing softly. She pulled her hand away and glanced at it. She’d live until the was all said and done, and she had taken precaution against potential poison being on the weapons. Knowing Kai Leng in her Dreams, she could anticipate what he might be equipped with here, so she didn’t even chance it. She pulled out a syringe and injected herself with an antidote.
“Come on, Ori shouldn’t be that far now,” she said as she led the way like she wasn’t injured. She was going to ignore that wound in her side for the time being. Her sister was more important than herself.
"Oh yes, let's just forget the hole in your side." The obviously bleeding one, that Isabela pointed at as she picked her way through the rubble and ducked under the gaping hole Miranda had left in the wall. It was a faster way to get around the complex, that was for sure, and she almost suggested it with that same cheerful tone. But Oriana was probably nearby, and now they were in a rush to get there before it was too late.
So instead she closed the distance with Miranda. "If you pass out in here, Aria's the one that's going to carry you. And I can't promise she'll be gentle. But go on, lets find your sister. Tell your father hello. With our weapons."
Miranda rolled her eyes a bit. She wasn’t in the mood for Bela’s remarks on her injury. Underneath everything, she knew Bela was only saying that because she cared, she was just not caring about anything except getting to Oriana before it was too late.
“The times I wish medi-gel existed here,” Aria quipped. “Still, being gentle is not exactly in my nature. For your sake, I hope you do not pass out.”
“Alright, can we just focus on the matter at hand?” Miranda snapped. She’d had worse than this. “And my father is mine to deal with.” Nothing short of murder would be good enough for Miranda right now where her father was concerned. And even then, murder was too good for him. But she didn’t exactly have time to draw and quarter him the way she wanted to.
She led the way, finally finding what seemed to be the main lab. Miranda paused outside the door to listen a moment before she opened it and stepped inside, only to have a bullet hit the floor in front of her.
“That’s far enough!” An older man commanded, pointing a gun at Miranda. His hair had greyed, but it was clear it had once been nearly as dark as Miranda’s. He also had a hold of Oriana, using her as a shield, in a way.
“You’re not leaving here with Ori.” Miranda spat.
“On the contrary, she’s staying. As are you and your friends. You keep interesting company. The people I work for are especially interested in you.” Henry turned his gaze to Aria.
“They can be as interested as they want. I’ll kill everyone they try to send to take me.” Aria responded coldly. She may look human, but it was clear Henry and Hydra knew that Aria wasn’t human.
“You, my eldest, are also of interest to them. Your abilities are remarkable.” Henry eyed Miranda like she was a lab experiment as opposed to his child, something that made her blood boil. “Perhaps I could recreate those abilities in Oriana here?”
“You’re not touching her you sick bastard!” Miranda spat.
“Now now, mind your tongue, girl.” Henry chastised. “And then there’s this one. Your...house guest. Quite a checkered life you have.” Clearly he had done his research, but despite how he was apparently trying to stall, there were no other soldiers, or people in general, in the lab with them.
"Oh, it's checkered all right. What a clever little man you are. And I do mean little. In every possible way." Bela sneered at Miranda's father, but there was only so much provoking she felt comfortable doing, given the stakes. Daddy dearest didn't seem keen on actually using Oriana as a hostage or a human shield, but Bela didn't want to be the person who got Miranda's sister killed.
She glanced over at Miranda. "Your call. Your business."
That's how it was done, and Bela respected that. Sure, if Shepard were there she might have talked Miranda out of it. Given her some kind of speech about preserving her humanity or making better choices. Bela knew better. She suspected Aria wasn't about to talk her out of doing what needed to be done, either.
“Stooping to insults, are we. How fitting,” Henry commented. “Now, you have two choices. Put your weapons down and we can end this peacefully, or someone will die here.” He then pointed the gun at Oriana. “One way or the other, I’m leaving here with one of you. At this moment, I don’t quite care which one.”
Miranda’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to Oriana if she could help it. So she instead settled on a course of action that should get her sister, Aria and Bela out of there alive. Miranda planned on getting out of there alive, but her father? Oh he was going to die here. Everything was going to end today. The running, the fear, the looking over her shoulder, all of it was going to stop.
“Take me. You’ve done your homework, you know what I’m capable of.” Miranda said, setting her gun down. Though she definitely didn’t need a gun to be dangerous, which was exactly what she was alluding to.
Henry seemed to be tempted by that offer. “I have to say, your abilities are very interesting. I want to know where they came from, how you use them, how I can replicate them.” He glanced at Oriana, then let go of her. The instant he let go, Oriana scrambled out of the way. However, once Oriana was out of the way, Miranda threw a biotic blast at him that sent him flying into the far wall.
She then raced across the room and picked her father up in a biotic field. “I refuse to be your experiment. And I want you to know that your legacy is ending here today with you. I’m taking your business and I’m going to erase you from every record. No one will remember you.”
“Miranda, wait, we can make a deal!” He pleaded. “Spare my life and I’ll give you whatever you want!” However, her response was to send him through the wall, and then she brought down rubble on top of him, crushing him.
“No deal,” she practically growled. Miranda stood there glaring at the pile of rubble waiting for her father to pull himself out, or to make some sort of noise or plea for help. There was nothing but silence. There was about a minute of tense silence as Miranda waited for any sign of life, but slowly, the immense weight that Miranda had been carrying for half of her life, ever since she’d taken Ori and ran away, melted off of her. The icy exterior she’d put on in order to stay focused dissipated and the rush of adrenaline gave way to something completely different. Silent tears started rolling down her cheeks and she started to feel the sting of the wound on her side.
“Miri, you’re hurt,” Ori finally said, breaking the silence as she went to her sister’s side.
“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch,” Miranda insisted. She set a hand on Ori’s shoulder, then she looked over at Isabela, giving her a little grateful smile.
Aria hung back, not exactly one for emotional things, but it also didn’t really involve her. She glanced to Isabela before deciding she’d keep watch to ensure there weren’t any lingering soldiers trying to sneak up on them.
Bela had put her daggers down the second that Miranda had disarmed, knowing as well as everyone else that there were fiercer weapons in the world both biotics had at their disposal. It made a nice front, pretending to be subdued, and watching Miranda throw her father through a wall was extremely entertaining.
She'd stepped in only once, and that was to make sure Oriana was okay as she scrambled away from the conflict. But that was all the interference she'd provided, and now that it was all over, she looked at Miranda and grinned at her.
It was an emotional time, and Bela was bad at emotional moments. But Miranda looked amazing without all of that weight on her shoulders, and Isabela had to restrain herself from walking over, taking her into her arms, and planting a kiss on her that would have taken another wall down all on its own.
Instead, she nodded at Aria and closed the distance a bit, looking around for something they could use to bandage Miranda's wound up. "It's not just a scratch, it's a bloody hole. Literally bloody, in fact. Your sister's an idiot when it comes to her own self preservation, but we're glad you're safe."
Oriana had to chuckle at Bela’s description of Miranda. “That’s just her way. She never does anything for herself. She was always more concerned that I had everything I needed.” Ori was more than aware that her sister never did anything for herself unless she was pushed to do so. After all, the only reason Miranda even had a college degree was because Ori had forced her to do something for herself for once in her life, and to not worry so much about her.
Miranda rolled her eyes. “So what, are you two going to gang up on me now?” Though she really couldn’t ignore the injury anymore. The pain was finally registering as the adrenaline in her body was wearing off.
“I rather think you brought this on yourself,” Aria commented as she also took to looking for something to bandage Miranda up with. They were in a lab, it stood to reason that there was some form of medical supplies around. Hopefully some of the bandage sort of supplies and not just the ones used to cut people open and experiment on them.
“Sit down,” Ori said as she took Miranda’s arm and didn’t even bother to wait for a response before making her sit down. “A little more self-preservation wouldn’t hurt, you know. I only have one sister, and she’s not one that can be replaced.” Ori chided as she looked at the wound before looking back at Miranda.
That struck a little cord in Miranda. She felt a swell of emotion, though she tried to keep it inside. She didn’t want to turn into a blubbering mess here. Perhaps once they were home, but not here. Oriana was the only family she had, and she’d spent so many years protecting her and raising her that it was hard to stop worrying about her so much. But their father was gone now, they wouldn’t have to keep looking over their shoulder. Or at least Miranda wouldn’t. And she didn’t exactly know how to handle that. All she really knew was how to run and protect herself and her sister.
Miranda didn’t know what to do with the newfound freedom she’d just won them, and it was immensely frightening.
"I'm glad someone in this room knows how to get her to do anything for herself at all." Isabela snorted through her nose and started opening various drawers in the lab. "Though I guess I'm just about as bad a patient as she is, considering everything. But honestly Ori you should come around more often now that things are safer. Maybe you could talk her into relaxing."
A drawer by a large sink revealed a selection of medical supplies, and Isabela started pulling out the things they'd need to patch Miranda up. "What do you think, girls? Do we need stitches? I've got some suture kits here as well as all the rolled gauze and antiseptic we could handle."
“I’ll definitely be coming over more often now, don’t you worry about that. Though relaxing? That’s not a word that’s in Miri’s vocabulary. Believe me, I’ve tried to get her to relax plenty of times before.” Ori mused while she got a look at Miranda’s wound.
“I’m sitting right here, you know,” Miranda stated, a bit put off by being talked about like she wasn’t there.
“You did bring this on yourself,” Aria commented. Finally satisfied there weren’t any lingering soldiers and as Isabela found medical supplies, she put her gun away and went to join the others. The Asari looked at the wound, though she didn’t get overly close. “I’m not a doctor, but living as long as I have I get a general sense of how serious wounds are. I’d say this one looks borderline needing stitches.” That earned a groan of protest from Miranda.
“I’m fine. Just stop the bleeding and put a bandage on it. It’ll be fine in a couple days.” Miranda did enjoy the fact she healed quickly. Though it would probably be more than a few days before this wound healed entirely, but she wouldn’t need stitches. Or at least that’s what she liked to tell herself.
"My first instinct is to trust the woman who's been around forever and has seen these sort of wounds before, but since I'm the one that'll have to live with you after this, I suppose we could opt on the side of steri strips and then pack it with gauze." Isabela decided, though her tone betrayed the fact that she wasn't as confident with that approach. After all, those were guaranteed to stop bleeding. It was why they were invented.
Still, she would rather have Miranda in a pleasant mood than not. Hand Miranda did have the benefit of healing faster than most humans did.
She handed Oriana some medical supplies and then glanced at Aria. "If it's still bleeding heavily tomorrow I'll argue with her about it then."
Ultimately, Aria wasn’t surprised by Isabela giving in and not fighting the stitches at this moment. Aria well knew how stubborn Miranda could get when she had her mind set on something. “I think a better means would be to simply knock her out and take her to a doctor than to argue with her about it. But let us hope it does not come to that.”
Oriana took the medical supplies and went about cleaning up the wound first. Miranda hissed when some gauze was pressed against it, attempting to slow the bleeding before it was bandaged so they could get out of there. Because staying around there much longer would no doubt land them in trouble. And they’d had enough trouble today.
“Alright, this should hold until we get back home and I can do a better job.” Oriana announced after a minute of carefully packing some gauze and bandaging it.
“Thank you. Now, I suggest we get out of here before more trouble comes this way. We’ve had enough of my father’s hospitality.” And this was Henry’s version of hospitality. Not for the first time, Miranda was glad that she’d taken Ori and run away so long ago. It had been incredibly difficult, but they’d survived, and Miranda had come out of it as strong as diamond.