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Nicole bared her teeth in a proud grin as Cordelia manipulated the fields of ruined glass to guide in their extraction. Her roommate had made a poorly kept secret of trying to fit into Astrelle's shoes, but clearly she didn't suffer from a lack of ability as an Ars Magi. It wasn't just pride that made the redhead grit her teeth, though; she was doing as much as Cordy was to keep them masked from the drones, and though her adrenaline was doing much to keep the winds at her beck and call, she was beginning to feel the tugs of effort upon the muscles of her limbs and face. 

It was enough strain to give any average girl some unsightly, premature wrinkles. She had no idea what the benefits of an Ars Armagus were when it came to the aging process, but Nicole wasn't about to use the core in her tummy as a crutch. Her fate and her skin care were just where she liked them - in her own hands.

Her eyes landed upon the two larger machines that Cordelia and the officer cadets pointed out. As much as she would have liked to completely ghost this extraction, she recognized the two machines and their specifications, at a glance, as the much gossiped about mecha from the gala. If she were a bit fresher, maybe she could have done more to completely mask them - but it was just as likely that, being such cutting-edge prototypes, they would have been found no matter what. That was more likely, given the parameters of the exercise. So she quit beating herself up over the unattainable dream of a "perfect record" and continued delegating.

[color=ec008c]"Alright, Cordy, I think we've done all we can to trick them from here. Focus on confusion instead of evasion with me, we'll see if we can keep them from targeting us directly. With our firepower we won't even give 'em a shot to react. [i]Penny![/i]"[/color] she called out to Team 3's smallest member, giving her the same exhausted, wolfish smile and sticking a thumbs up. [color=ec008c]"It's time to do what gotcha to the dance, babe. If you can kill them, great. If not, focus on weak points. Let's crack the biggest, most expensive parts we can eyeball wide open and let Dana shoot 'em up, yeah?"[/color]

[color=ec008c][i]Man, I love this.[/i][/color]

Being alive?

No. Something way less obvious than that.

Being an Ars Magi? 

No. Something even more egotistical than that.

[color=ec008c][i]I feel like such a [b]boss.[/b][/i][/color]

Yeahhhh. She [i]loved[/i] that.