Since she didn't get the reply she wanted, which meant no reply at all, it didn't help Maria feel better about herself and she bit her lower lip in order to stave off the anxiety. Muttering something under her breathe in reply, a needing to go ahead for this or that, she jogged ahead of him. Anna would want them to regroup, so she hurried to where she last saw the Major land so she could be there and not be a menace to the mission. She was honestly worried of not being useful. It wasn't an issue for her in terms of physical strength, she had that in spades (even if she didn't know what it meant), but she was more concerned in terms of mental strength.<br/><br/>She wasn't the brightest crayon in the bunch and even she knew that. But she didn't want the others to know and think she was a liability. It was shown when at the airport and she couldn't behave, which earned her a threat and warning to calm down. While it gave her some benefits, Oni taking care of her worn out system, not all of her blunders will come out like those. She'll get scolded, threatened...<em>hurt</em>if she did it wrong. It wasn't something she wasn't used to, she was a mercenary after all, but she had a feeling Anne (with Oni's help) could do something to harm her for good.<br/><br/>This team was actually a nice team. Sure some of them were scary, like Anne and Nikki and all the others, but they seemed nice enough. They didn't call her 'tin can' or anything like that since they too had cybernetics and this mission was a lot more fun the ones she was used to. Usually, she just knocked someone out or shot someone from a distance. She got to fly! If doing more fun things meant being with these people, than she had to let them, know she wasn't going to be a problem for their mission. And it seemed like the mission was really important to them since they killed two of their former team members in it when they weren't helping out a lot.<br/><br/>Though she couldn't be affected by bullets, she shuddered at the thought still at being hurt. Anne was smart. Scary smart. You had to be in a world like this. The Major would find a way to hurt her and make sure she stayed in line. Maria would behave and stay in line. Just let her please keep her brain not fried. She needed that for her (rare) thinking.<br/><br/>Well, maybe if she kept<em>quiet</em>about not knowing about the ball, she'll be fine. But... she asked Oni already if they were, which meant he knew. She could... err... say it was a joke and that's it. She was lost in her thoughts until she looked up and saw the new woman in the group. Eyes wide, she tilted her head and blinked. Ah... her brain made a distant echo and she remembered that this must be that person Anne was talking about earlier. One of the new people they had recruited earlier to make up for the sudden 'firing' of the other two women. Catching up to them, leaving Oni behind so she could introduce herself, she slowed down her pace to make herself more quiet and less noisy here. It wasn't hard, considering she was heavier than most due to her enhancements.<br/><br/>About to say hello, she stopped and realized she might not have permission to speak without Anne letting her do that. Did she need Anne's permission to speak now? Should she ask or should she need the order to do so...? She didn't want to risk it because that would be rude to the others here. And she also didn't want a gun to her face again. They were no longer a busy airport but in the middle of nowhere so whatever could happen to her may happen to her. Maria raised her hand and gave a subdued hand wave and nod of acknowledgment to them all. She was nervous and rather shy, obviously not wanting to incur the wrath of any of the women she was with.