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From behind the washing machine, Maddie quickly glanced about looking for new cover to dive behind. She had revealed herself and that was, in hindsight, incredibly stupid. If that machine decided to unleash a volley in her direction, that would be it. Game over. A pitiful end to a pitiful woman. 

…no. Fuck that noise. If she was going to go out, she'd at least go out fighting. 

She held her left hand cupped open, palm to the sky, as a faint orange light poured over it. Softly at first, the light pooled at the bottom before igniting into a burning orb hovering a few inches above her finger tips. She scooted to the edge of the machine and peeked around it, ready to chuck the fireball the moment she saw an opening or use it to make another explosive get away if need be.

Rather than an opening, however, Maddie saw Joe send the murderbot sliding across a patch of ice. Her ice patch. That she intentionally made. On purpose. Mmhmm. That was going to be her story if she made it out of here. It was completely planned and not at all the result of her truly terrible aim. 

...IF she survived, she maaay want to spend a bit more time at the range. 

The warbot had taken a bit of damage from the entire exchange, which gave Maddie some hope. There was hope. This battle would be long and difficult, but there was a chance that they may be able to pull off some kind of...win?

Wait...what did the woman say?

Maddie watched as the X-1 stood by, passively watching the SOLDIER. It wasn’t moving. Or shooting. Or...anything. What? When Joe ordered the machine to shut down, it [i]actually complied[/i] or at least attempted to anyway.

The flame that Maddie held fizzled out, leaving only a burnt mako smell behind as evidence of its existence. She got to her feet, heart pounding and breath ragged. That was it? It was over? Actually over? Oh thank actual fuck. That was anticlimactic in the best possible way - y’know, the kind that DIDN’T end with her riddled with bullets and dying in a dirty junkyard in the slums.

As Joe started his speech, the young agent leaned against her trustworthy washing machine, propping herself up while she caught her breath. She offered thumbs up and a pained smile when he offered his thanks. The adrenaline was quickly wearing off now that certain death had been miraculously avoided and uh...yeah, her whole body was really fucking sore. Maybe ragdolling herself with a close range explosion was uh...stupid. And reckless. But mainly just stupid. Big stupid. 

Once Maddie had collected herself a bit, she crossed the small clearing towards Joe and the other woman just in time to hear her attempt to excuse herself. 

[color=8dc73f]"No problem. I had to help, it would have been a nightmare if it had gotten out of here. Besides I live here too, making it a bit safer is what I should be doing if I could. Now I should be going, got to get home."[/color]

Well...she certainly seemed to want to get the hell out of here. Maddie shot Joe a sideways glance before she called out to the woman.

[color=1BC6D0]“Heeeeey! Don’t be in such a rush! If you're heading back to town, let's go together. I’d feel a lot safer if I had someone as reliable as you around!”[/color] Maddie called out cheerfully despite her pain, clearly trying to impose herself upon the fleeing woman. She seemed spooked, and there was a very likely chance that she had overheard Joe calling her “Agent” which was...less than great. Moreover, she had managed to hack into an X-series unit. That wasn’t something that just any streetpunk with a phone could do. If she could pull that off, what else was she capable of doing? There was no way around it - that woman was dangerous. She would need to be watched.

Still, there was a chance that the woman ignored her or tried to escape. It didn’t matter. Maddie knew where she lived. Well...not exactly, but someone like that shouldn’t prove too difficult to find. Ms. Hacker had landed herself squarely at the top of Maddie’s list of “Persons of Interest.”

For the moment, however, Maddie turned her attention back towards the SOLDIER. His eyes caught her attention. They had that telltale eerie glow to them. Maddie had heard about it, but to be quite frank, she hadn’t really gotten a chance to see them for herself. Odd. Once you got past the initial shock of them, they were actually rather captivating.

...down girl. She had been staring at the guy for waaay too long in silence. It was bordering creepy. She needed to say SOMETHING before it got too awkward.

[color=1BC6D0]“You SOLDIER guys really are something else, y'know?”[/color] she said, offering a kind smile. [color=1BC6D0]“I don’t think we got a chance to properly meet last time - I’m Naomi. Naomi Chambers. Thanks for the heads up. I owe you one.”[/color]