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SHADE

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"Fancy seeing you here!"

Shade blinked at the sudden intrusion only now entering their group. He was still hard at work making sure that the Princess would remain comfortable on his back when Shen suddenly came back with another person in tow. He didn\'t even get the chance to prepare himself as the crazy Marquean lady from before introduced herself once more.

Of course, it helped immensely that she was very much attractive, but even he had limits to how much he could tolerate for the sake of respect beauty when he saw it.

"It\'s surprising to see you here, Nicole," Shade nodded, keeping his cool even as he made sure to cover the Princess using his own body. "Are you here on behalf of Marquee as well?"

"Nope! I\'m here for that thing over there," Nicole happily thumbed towards the massive pillar of light coming from the crater. "I was actually about to be on my way to Port Decima when this all happened. Look, I even have my stuff with me already."

Sure enough, Shade noticed the haphazardly stuffed suitcase hanging off Nicole\'s right hand. It was as massive as it was bursting from the seams, and he could only imagine what kind of clothes a woman of her... mental capacity would bring with her on their journey.

"Anyway, I take it that we\'re only waiting for Guidance and Moriya?" Nicole excitedly asked as she sat down on the nearest piece of slab stone, crossing her legs together as she giddily vibrated on her seat. "I\'ll just wait for you guys to leave so that I can come with."

"Why?" he couldn\'t help but ask. "Don\'t you care that we\'ve essentially destroyed a part of your city?"

"My city? This city belongs to the Intellects. Specifically, the Head Intellect," Nicole shrugged. "I don\'t really mind. They\'ll just rebuild anyway."

Shade blinked at the complete lack of care in Nicole\'s tone. It was absurd. Even he felt a little bad for their enemies, and as much as Shen thought she was subtle, he knew that their mechanic was healing as many survivors as she could. They were neutered anyway. Without their numbers, they\'ll probably just cut their losses and focus more on the humanitarian effort to keep things from descending into further chaos.

But this lady... Nicole sounded so callous just now that it really sounded like she had a blatant disregard for human life.

"Anyway, as I was saying to Shen here, we have the time, right?" Nicole blabbered, her energy almost threatening to drown out their collective exhaustion. "I wanna study this pillar of energy here before we go."

"Uhm... I can\'t guarantee that we\'ll even have the time should the rest of our group become available for... extraction," Shade diplomatically replied, making sure that he wouldn\'t say anything that could possibly trigger their new, possibly psychopathic prospective member. "We\'ll have to leave as soon we can, and you\'ll have to leave anything that you haven\'t brought with you already."

"That? I\'ve already packed everything I need with me," Nicole scoffed. "Any of my schematics are stored up in here," she pointed at the temple of her forehead as she smirked. "All I need are the clothes on my back and some of my other essentials."

Shade would\'ve made a joke about her more \'womanly\' essentials, but he was pretty sure that she might just not care about them at all. Besides, even he knew not to lay it in thick with someone that they haven\'t spent much time with yet.

"How about any friends? Family?" he further asked.

"They\'ll understand," she nonchalantly shrugged. "I have a feeling they\'ll even be happy about it."

He held in a sigh as he looked away from the woman for a brief second. Currently, they were situated just a bit away from the barrier separating Lady Guidance and Moriya from the rest of the world in their own \'instance.\' Maruki was standing guard by the side, while Shen had taken it upon herself to build them a makeshift shelter as they waited for the dust to settle.

"I see..."

Letting out a breather, Shade only shrugged as he went ahead and took a seat close to their new addition. it would fall to him to make sure that she wasn\'t there as some kind of plant to catch them off guard. And while they\'d already hashed out an agreement even before this whole disaster happened in the first place, it was better to be careful especially since they were about to take in someone that was clearly connected with the Marquean government.

"Won\'t Lewis be averse to this decision?" he asked, recalling that the old Academic had specifically fought them for her well-being. "He seems worried about you."

"Him? Again, I\'m sure he\'ll understand," she scoffed. "I\'m sure he\'ll just be glad that I\'d finally stop being a pain for him and his paperwork obsession."

Shade nodded. "You really don\'t care about leaving then."

Nicole grumbled. "How many times do I have to say it? I already decided to go with you all so long as I get to do what I want and continue with my studies and experiments."

"And that can be arranged so long as you don\'t mind sticking to a few rules."

Her eyes narrowed. "What kind of rules?"

​ He stiffened at the sudden attention. Looking at her now, he didn\'t think that he was working with the Nicole from only a few seconds prior. She was clearly mad, but there was a genius in her as well. Then again, that was the reason they even decided to have her on board in the first place.

"First off, you answer to either Shizu, Lady Guidance, or Moriya in that order," he pointed out. "If they\'re not present, you answer to me."

"That\'s a given," she rolled her eyes. "What else?"

"No experimentation that would involve a distinct lack of consent," Shade worded out. "This means before you commit to an experiment, you must tell us about it just in case something goes wrong."

"Annoying, but understandable," Nicole nodded.

"We also get to tell you if you\'re allowed to do said experiments in the first place."

"Now that\'s just unacceptable."

Shade inwardly sighed. Of course, the crazy lady wouldn\'t like to have her experimentation privileges revoked.

"That is non-negotiable," Shade firmly replied, keeping a level gaze at Nicole\'s brilliant eyes as he laid down the law. "Should you try and commit, we will stop you regardless of your feelings for it."

"But that\'s just a deal-breaker," Nicole whined. "Am I gonna be limited to boring work then? Is that it?"

"No. You can work on whatever project you want so long as you get a majority vote to proceed," he explained. "As we are now, the group works on majority rules. If you can get the rest of us to vote in your favor, then you\'re free to do whatever you wish."

"Oh, so it\'s the same as the Board then," Nicole grumbled, her hand landing on her chin as she deliberated. "Annoying, but workable."

"It\'s more than workable," Shade chuckled, doing his best to sell her on the idea. "You\'ll also get a vote on some of the more important matters that might need addressing. As part of the crew, you\'ll be responsible for your portion of the [Rig], as well as its general maintenance."

"And that also includes adding upgrades and tweaking with the systems, right?" she excitedly asked.

"That is correct."

From where she stood, Shen shivered, and Shade saw it happen in real time even as he kept his attention on their recruit. Why Shen felt the need to do so, he didn\'t know. But what he did know was that the two would be closely working together once everything had settled. This was the exact reason why they hired Nicole in the first place. They needed someone to man and upgrade their failing engine, and Shen clearly wasn\'t able to do that with her current level of expertise.

It was a necessity. One that made them accept someone with even a modicum of skill.

"Hmm... If that\'s the case, then maybe I won\'t be averse to it after all," Nicole beamed. "Once again, I\'m looking forward to working with you guys!"

Shade almost blinked when he saw her offer her hand out to her. Nodding, he shook her hand, ignoring the crazed gleam in her eyes as she quickly set her sights back on the pillar of light. Her grip was tight, but he made sure to avoid returning the favor just to make sure that their conversation wouldn\'t be seen as too aggressive.

"Now if you\'ll excuse me, I have a bit of studying to do," she grinned. "Call for me when we\'re about to head out."

And with that, Nicole stood up and walked up to the crater, leaving her suitcase in their care with the clear intention of going back to them. Likewise, Shade simply sighed, hoping that their decision to hire this woman had been the right choice.

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