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[sub]–Piece by piece-[/sub]

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Penny was grateful to see another friendly face, or at least someone who wasn’t going to attack her, as she wasn’t sure if she could consider Shannon a friend but knew she wasn’t an enemy. Being lifted slightly Penny had a better look across the lake to the castle [color=9e0039][b][u]”You talking about the fight or the fact I survived?”[/u][/b][/color] She would ask as she watched the castle with curiosity, mainly due to the ringing that could be heard coming from the tallest tower. 

That curiosity was quickly forgotten as a pillar of light was shown forth from near Alicia, and normally that wouldn’t be anything impressive, but Penny couldn’t help the shiver that ran down what was left of her spine as the monster inside of her could tell that was Beacon magic. Penny didn’t have any issues with that from a logical perspective, but the Beckoners always put the cyborg on edge due to her blighted heritage. Still she wasn’t going to voice her discomfort to them, or anyone really, not a good idea to tell people just how close the monster was to the surface most of the time. 

It did mean that she saw her mechanic coming however; though with Sylvia calling out her approach it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise anyway, and Penny did try and hold still but the first aid felt so weird and nearly ticklish, not that she said that [color=9e0039][b][u]”I’m trying, but it’s kinda hard when you get poked in places that are normally inside of you”[/u][/b][/color] she quipped in return even as she keep a steady lock on her mechanic.

[color=9e0039][b][u]”Most likely and the Earth Bastion got caught up in the same blast that did this to me, one of the crazies that was guarding this place went nuclear, and I say that quite literally.”[/u][/b][/color] Still despite her prickly demeanor at the moment, Penny was always a bit weary around member of Beacon she didn’t know, she could tell that the first aid was working, but even better was the radiation was fading away.

Closing her eyes Penny shut out everything she could, and focused on the feeling of her regeneration at work. She had always known that she had some operative control over it, but she wasn’t aware of everything she could do with her own systems, not like her monstrous half was. Thus every time it rose to the surface she learned something new about herself, as much as she wished that wasn’t the case. This time she had learned about the power rerouting trick, and she knew herself well enough that if she could shunt power away from the regeneration she could also redirect power too it.

Outside the sound of machinery would grow, as Penny poured as much power to her regeneration as she felt comfortable in doing. The sight that Shannon and Slyvia would be witnessed to would be rather bizarre as the missing endoskeleton would rapidly start rebuilding itself from jagged spikes of steel that would seamlessly emerge from the melted wounds. 

After a few minutes the sounds coming from Penny would return to their normal quiet murmur and her eyes would open moments later letting her see that which she already knew, she was now mostly functional. She was missing a few of the outer layers of her platting, and her blade ports were still out of commission so she would have to be cautious if another fight broke out soon, but she was self-mobile again even if she looked half built. 

[color=9e0039][b][u]”Thanks for the pick-me-up”[/u][/b][/color] Penny said to Slyvia as she checked herself over once more, mainly to take note of her standard regeneration speed, before nodding to herself. She looked worse for the wear but that would be taken care of in a few minutes, which wasn’t surprising considering the density of her outer platting. Plus she looked a hell of a lot better then she had been a short bit ago. 

Without waiting or prompting Penny started back towards the lake shore, she wanted to check up on Alicia, and be near someone that she didn’t feel the need to be on guard with. She wanted to trust all the beacon members on sight, but it was hard not to see to distrust and disgust in most of their eyes. 

The sight she encountered when she did make it back to Alicia was rather confusing to the mechanical mahou, and she stood there for a few moments with her confusion plain on her face at the sight of first aid being given to an enemy who by all rights should have been dead. Her right hand flexed a few times as Penny fought against the urge to simply break Kimble. With a force of will she shoved that desire away, back in the dark parts of her mind.

[color=9e0039][b][u]”Careful with the tail, they tend to be really sensitive”[/u][/b][/color] Penny was confused, but she could tell what Alicia was doing even if she couldn’t figure out why. So she sat nearby, and offered what little help she could as she started and pulling back the pieces of the Earth Bastion, as well as her old parts, with her feeble magic using the same connection that had been used earlier. Only this time she was just pilling up the wreckage off to the side rather than merging with it, not that Penny could merge due to the radiation, and her inability while not under metamorphosis.
 
All the while small part of her couldn’t help but feel dread at her confusion, she was missing something she could tell.