Miranda Lawson

Miranda Lawson was a human Cerberus officer, genetically engineered before birth to be a specimen of human perfection. Well traveled and well connected from Citadel space to the Terminus Systems, she led the Lazarus Project that restored Commander Shepard to life and then served as the Commander's second in command against the Collectors. For all her engineered gifts, Miranda was driven by the need to escape and outdo a father who had made her, and to protect the sister she had hidden from him. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

A designed daughter#

Miranda was conceived not naturally but from a modified copy of her father's own genome. Her intelligence, physical constitution, biotic ability, and appearance were all engineered to excel; she healed faster than other humans and expected to live longer. Yet these gifts were a burden. Her father, wealthy and influential, never showed approval, always demanding more, and forbade her a social life, wanting a dynasty rather than a daughter. The constant pressure drove her to relinquish her privileged life and run away as soon as she could. (Mass Effect 2)

She approached Cerberus and joined the organization in exchange for protection, knowing of it because her father had once been a backer of its human-centric agenda. When she enlisted, he ceased pursuing her and cut his ties to the group. Miranda agreed with Cerberus's stated aim of helping humanity and valued the latitude its clandestine work afforded her, rising to become one of the few who answered directly to its leader, the Illusive Man. (Mass Effect 2)

The Lazarus Project#

After Cerberus recovered Commander Shepard's body, the Illusive Man placed Miranda in charge of the Lazarus Project and its cell. Over two years she oversaw the immense effort to bring Shepard back to life. When the research station came under attack by a saboteur, she woke Shepard, guided the Commander to the last shuttle, and killed the traitor before bringing Shepard to be briefed. She had wanted to implant a control device to regulate the Commander's actions, a suggestion the Illusive Man refused. (Mass Effect 2)

When Shepard investigated the colony of Freedom's Progress, Miranda joined the crew permanently, serving aboard the Normandy SR-2 as Shepard's second in command and as a proxy for the Illusive Man, to whom she reported. She was at first skeptical of the value placed on Shepard, but soon admitted the Illusive Man's estimation had been correct. Despite her accomplishments she did not believe she had truly earned them, feeling she lived under her father's shadow, and she confessed a quiet envy of Shepard, whose achievements owed nothing to genetic design. (Mass Effect 2)

Oriana and the Collector Base#

Miranda revealed to Shepard that she had a twin, Oriana, created as part of their father's intended dynasty, and that she had joined Cerberus in large part to hide and protect her. Their father had never stopped searching for Oriana, and when Miranda received word that he had found her, she asked Shepard's help to ensure the relocation went safely. A confrontation aboard ship with the biotic called Jack tested whether Miranda would acknowledge Cerberus's role in Jack's torment; she refused, blaming a splinter group, and Shepard could side with either or settle the matter without picking a side. (Mass Effect 2)

During the assault on the Collector Base, Miranda played a prominent role and helped plan the attack. If she was present at the end and Shepard chose to destroy the station, she defied the Illusive Man's direct order to stop the Commander, telling him to consider it her resignation from Cerberus. (Mass Effect 2)

The Reaper War#

If Miranda survived the Collector Base, she returned during the Reaper War, by then having resigned from Cerberus and gone on the run as the Illusive Man sought her death. She spent much of the war searching for Oriana, who had been abducted by their father after he joined forces with the Illusive Man on a secretive project. Over the course of the war she could request Shepard's aid more than once, and the Commander's responses, including warnings about the agent Kai Leng and the granting of Alliance resources, shaped her fate. (Mass Effect 3)

Miranda traced Oriana to her father's facility, Sanctuary, on Horizon, only to find it under Reaper attack, and she was gravely wounded in a running battle with Kai Leng. When Shepard arrived, her father held Oriana hostage, and the situation could be resolved by negotiation or by force. Whether Miranda lived through the encounter depended on whether Shepard had secured her loyalty, warned her of Kai Leng's return, and granted her resources. If she survived, she left with her sister, joined the war effort against Cerberus, and in some endings she was later seen helping lead reconstruction after the Reapers were defeated. (Mass Effect 3; Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut)