Nova's eyes drifted to Annalise, the worry evident in her own. The way she sat there, leaning against one of the chambers with a paler face than was expected, left Nova with a main priority for now. It dawned on the woman that she and Annalise had never truly met, at least not in the real world. She just appeared in her and Kai's life, and he brought her home; Nova took her in, and a happy enough family started to form. Even so, Nova was planning to stick to the promises she made to Kai while they were in the simulation. To take care of Annalise and help her achieve her goal. The almost maternal feeling she felt for the girl wasn't easily wiped. It felt etched into her very soul and written into the coding of her being. If that was the case, other things that happened in the simulation must carry over, too. Connections, experiences, knowledge.
Love.
But as she stood there shivering and damp in the tattered, thin dress, Nova wished her clothes had carried over.
At Nick's cough, Nova's eyes drifted back to the man. Cosette, whom Nova kept in touch with, always spoke so highly of her father. To Nova, Nick was basically a kid himself, 7 years younger than her, with Cosette being 9 years younger than the scientist. Even so, she couldn't help but admire their bond and learned to appreciate how people could become a family when Annalise came on her path, almost like a daughter of her own. "I'm not sure," Nova responded when questioned about the facilities details. Instead, her gaze went to check up on Annalise.
When she looked back, the blonde man had already snuck through the door, and the woman's lips parted in shock. Though she really shouldn't have been, with how she knew Nick to be like. He was the first to draw his gun at the battle at the Louvre and the first to jump into a hole. What happened to sticking together?! Thankfully, he returned soon, and she sighed, shaking her head at him. With curious eyes, she watched him take off his suit jacket before she felt its weight on her bare shoulders. Right, she wouldn't do much good freezing to death.
Curses to Kai's assistant for picking a dress this... revealing.
"Thank you," the scientist said, putting her arms in the sleeves and covering her upper body with the black jacket. Cosy's tactic made the most sense, one at a time. But Nova wasn't too keen on leaving Annalise alone. Her attention was stoled by Jay's answer to her inquiry, and the woman nodded. "Good, I'm glad," the told the woman.
People began filtering out the door, guided by the map and the cover of the curious bird. That was a damn handy asset to have in their group. "Come on, Anne, we're next," Nova told her after approaching, her hand reaching to curl around hers. "Stay with me, okay?" Nova couldn't help it. Annalise being with her seemed like the only normalcy she had left from life in the simulation, and she wasn't risking her. The girl's hand felt clammy, which only made Nova's worry grow, but it wasn't something she could do anything about as she snuck out the door after an okay from Jay under the cover of Axen.
She followed the map in her enhanced retina, trying to ignore how annoyed it made her that her augmentation enhancements had never truly happened. She opened the door for Annalise and put them both in the relative safety of the employee room. She smiled at Cosette, who was already eagerly looking around some lockets. Nova guided Annalise toward a surprisingly lush-looking sofa and nudged her head in its direction, hoping the girl would sit down. The jump, the girl's curious powers, took so much out of her.
The scientist approached Cosette, looking over her shoulder into the lockers. Her eyes widened. They could definitely get into some warmer clothes. Or, at the very least, less revealing ones. They could even serve as a cover. "Anything else goo-," Nova questioned, only to be interrupted by the opening door. She let out a relieved breath when she saw it was the man, Toren, who had a one-track mind for the fridge. Sure, she felt hungry too, faint even, but that seemed like a very unnatural way to approach sustenance.
Curiously, she witnessed Jay's reaction before letting her eyes drift back to the door. Where was Nick? Making significant strides towards the door, Nova could hear the sickening sounds Toren was making by the fridge, seemingly devouring everything in there. Antisocial, or abnormal? It didn't matter, for now; Nick had said they wouldn't split up, but he wasn't here. Pushing herself up on her toes, Nova looked through the small window just in time to see Axen being chased by the robot. "Shit," she said, her voice soft but loud enough for those in the employee room to hear.
She looked over her shoulder. "Jay, Axen is in trouble. I- I don't know how well this is going to end." And where is Nick? Desperately, Nova pulled up the message he had sent to her earlier, trying to connect to it and somehow establish some connection. She tried to ping for his location, anything, as she watched Axe scrape by the walls. Whirling around, her eyes scanned the room for some type of weapon.