Ciell couldn't believe it, in fact at first she didn't. She maneuvered enough so that the first shot wouldn't crater her chest, but it wasn't enough. The impact took her away, and her mech landed heavily upon its back, axe flying from her grip. When she got back to her feet she realized something was wrong, and though it took a moment the loss of feeling in her right arm slowly became evident. [color=0076a3][/color] She tore her arm from the link nodes connecting her to the mech's systems in a panic. There was no pain, and there wouldn't be, the numbness was nothing more than a side effect of the damage. When the mech had lost control of its arm, she felt it, and it would be some few minutes before the senses returned to her limb, even if she could move it fine. A screen popped up displaying the damage, and she saw that Hayden's rifle had punched a hole clear through the right shoulder of her mech thanks to the lack of shielding. Not an easy repair, but that didn't matter, nothing else mattered except for the fact that she'd lost. That alone boiled her from the inside out, her teeth grate together, eyes full of fury and denial, then she heard his voice. <"Is that all you got? the prodigy defea--"> Once again she cut his comm's short prematurely, but it took her a moment to realize that without a mental link she couldn't just think him quiet. So she did the next best thing, and smashed her numbed fist against the comm screen, shattering the glass with an angry growl. When she pulled it back her suit was torn around her forearm, glass shards here and there, Ciell didn't care. The screen could be replaced, the blood could be cleaned out, but the damage this would do to her reputation would be irreparable. Her mind focused so quickly on those that she had bested before, the grudges held amongst the "elite" that were only fueled further by victories and losses. The reminder hit all too quickly that she was not well-liked among her peers, and that this incident would likely haunt her sooner [i]and[/i] later. And mother... Without a word Ciell brought her mech back to the descending platform and waited for the machine to bring her back down to the docking bay.