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Nicole cringed at the sight and sound of Penny being slammed against the wall. Instinctively she lurched forward to help, especially after the noise of pain Penny made when that awful thing grabbed her arm and torqued it as easily as one of them would twist the cap on a bottle. It didn't matter that she knew about as much about bare knuckle boxing or martial arts as your average toddler - most of the girls had hit it off on the spot, and the pain of one felt like an assault on all of them. Well, maybe not Astrelle, but some people were just works in progress, right? How many times did she hear one of her girlfriends use the [color=ec008c][i]I can fix her?[/i][/color] line about a guy? 

[color=ec008c][i]Usually it sounded pathetic when one of them said it, but y'know, shelve that right now, Nicole, things to do, Voids to exorcise.[/i][/color]

Instead, Nicole responded to Dana's distress, scooping up the wounded soldier as best she could to take some weight off Dana. [color=ec008c]Here, I got him. Good job with the first aid, babe. You're doing great."[/color] She smiled at the Norban girl reassuringly and scooted closer to the wounded man. Hefting him upright seemed easier with two of them than one; she could see Dana's unsteady trembling starting to ease, but it also had the added effect of taking another girl, untrained as Nicole was, out of the fight. Vanna would need to step in fast if one of them was going to help Penny.

[color=ec008c]"We have to get him around this thing,"[/color] she urged Dana. [color=ec008c]"Vanna's helping Penny and making an opening for us - you're doing great, babe!"[/color] The arm she had braced the soldier with stiffened slightly, and she made a little finger gun that fired appreciatively at the Duodecim girl, along with her best supportive, beaming smile. [color=ec008c]"When she does, I'm gonna take most of his weight and make a jump for it. I [i]think[/i] I can get across. You can either run across, or I can make another jump over for you--or maybe Astrelle can help, since someone's gonna have to keep this guy standing."[/color]