Two security guards stepped into the elevator from the 52nd floor of the Hotel Tres Spades: the reserved, private suite for the hotel's owner. The two heavily armed guards dressed in black suits and sunglasses took out two earbuds from their pockets, little communication devices called COMS, and they each took one and put it in their right ear. As the elevator doors closed in front of them, they pushed the button for the lobby and watched it light up.

As the elevator started with a small jolt and began moving, the floor numbers began counting down and lighting up on the screen overhead.

First, they passed floor 51, the penthouse and its four private VIP suites. Then they flew right by floor 50, the hotel's casino. The elevator kept rolling down through the next fifty floors of hotel guest rooms until it finally reached the lobby on the first floor. Normally, the elevator would stop here, but one of the guards took out a key card from his jacket pocket and inserted it into the card reader. Suddenly, the number B10F appeared on the screen overhead: basement floor ten of the hotel.

The elevator started up again with a small jerk and quickly plummeted down the next ten floors, and once it reached B10F, the elevator doors slid open with a ping, and the two guards stepped out only to enter a secret, underground black market auction hall.

Amidst the enthusiastic chatter of the large crowd sitting in stadium-style seating, a bright spotlight shined down on the huge purple-colored stage. Two people were locked inside of a gigantic bird cage that was set right in the center of the stage, bound, handcuffed, and tied to each other back-to-back with rope.

The first person was a thirty-five year old man with chin-length brown hair and brown eyes, who stood at a height of five feet and nine inches tall. This man was dressed in a deep red suit, a black undershirt, a white tie, a black fedora, white dress pants, and expensive dress shoes. He was commonly known as Mitsunari Baba; easily the biggest womanizer you would ever meet. On the flip-side, his alias was an infamous master thief with a policy of only stealing from crooks, which attracted him quite the following. Thieves all over the world were a part of Baba's fan base.

The second person tied to Baba's back was a five-foot six-inch tall woman with waist-length black hair, bangs swept across her left eye that came to a point in the middle of her forehead, and dark red eyes. She was wearing a form-fitting leather jacket, skinny black pants, and black, high-heeled, platform black boots that came up to her knees. Her name was Halle Mitchell, but if anyone ever brought up that name in conversation, not a single red flag would be raised. However, if you knew and spoke the nickname given to her, "the Wraith," you would instantly silence anyone in a conversation just by uttering the horrifying name of one of the most brutal, ruthless, impossibly skilled, and intense killers in the world. In truth, Halle Mitchell, the gorgeous, young twenty-seven-year-old woman sitting locked up in the cage, was a notorious assassin.

And both of these two people were in a bit of a sticky situation at the moment, after having a rather...interesting afternoon together.

"I hate you so much..." Halle gritted her teeth together painfully hard, shaking her head slowly back and forth as she seethed her anger.

Baba seemed to sulk a little at her harsh words, and a nervous bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. "I know... I'm so sorry, Halle..."

"Save it." Halle bitterly snapped at him, unable to look at him in the eyes and show him the terrifying glare she was wearing at present due to being tied to his back. "The words of the man I am going to kill the second I get out of here mean nothing to me."

Baba's posture grew stiff and anxious as an audible gulped suddenly escaped his lips.

The ridiculously large audience all wearing masquerade masks looked upon the stage with eager eyes, and the auctioneer smirked a little as he addressed them.

"And now for the last item up for bid, our grand finale!" The auctioneer, a strange man dressed like a blue-themed Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, who was covered in bold face makeup that concealed his identity, turned to face the crowd excitedly as he introduced the new item. "A master thief and a lovely Englishwoman! I'm sure this man here could be of spectacular use to you! As for the woman, keep her as your slave, keep her as your toy... Do whatever you please with her. It's truly up to you!" He clapped his hands together, getting ready to begin. "And now we'll start the bidding. I have $500,000 from number five. Oh, and $1 million from number thirty! $1.2 from number twenty-four!"

One by one, the masked bidders held up their cards in the circular arena. Halle grimaced at the auctioneer's suggestions for what the bidder could use her for, unable to really believe that she had been put up for auction in the first place. After all, she had only regained consciousness just seconds before she and Baba were brought up on stage, and this was all insanely confusing. On the contrary, Baba knew exactly what was going on, and not as a result of being left conscious for the whole ordeal, but because he was one of the five people who actually set up and ran these secret black market auctions.

Being sold at your own auction... Yeah, that stung a little.

"$2 million for seat number five!" The auctioneer's booming voice rang through the auction hall, and he held up his hand as he began counting down on his fingers. "Going once..."

Halle couldn't believe her ears. They were being bid on for $2 million!? Who in the hell would pay that much for...

Her eyes suddenly landed on bidder number five, who was sitting in the front row. Even though he had a mask on, Halle could easily tell he was a greasy old creep that was staring at her in a way that made her feel very uncomfortable.

Was he going to buy her? She definitely didn't want that!

The man in seat number five leered at Halle, and the auctioneer's voice gained her attention once more. "$2 million, going twice!"

Halle felt a shiver run down her spine. What was going to happen to her if he bought her for that much money? The auctioneer said she'd be a slave or a toy...

Just...ew.

Well, Halle supposed that if she ended up being sold to the sleaze bag, she could just kill him and escape, but she really wanted to avoid going through the trouble of disposing of the body if it was at all possible.

The auctioneer paused for a moment, scanning the crowd for any sign of someone else placing a bid. "If there are no other bids, it will be sold to the man in seat number five."

Halle felt the intense anger she had been trying to hold back start to bubble over, and she could force nothing but a scowl on her face as the auctioneer got ready to sell her to the creepy guy in seat number five.

But, just then, the auction hall suddenly began buzzing with commotion.

"Seat number one hundred with a bid of $20 million!"

Halle whipped her head around to stare at the auctioneer in shock, certain that she must have misheard that. "What!?"

Baba seemed relieved, and he sighed and relaxed against Halle's back. "Oh, thank god..."

The auctioneer seemed surprised by the sudden jump from $2 million to $20 million himself. "Are there any more bids!?"

Through Halle's angry glare, she could see the bid amount flash on the big screen. $20 million... That was just completely insane! All she could do was stare up at the sum of the winning bid, completely dumbfounded. Who would pay that much for her and Baba!?

A bell suddenly sounded, calling the auction to a close. The auctioneer snapped his fingers and pointed up to the special VIP seating at the highest floor in the auction hall. "Sold to the man in seat number one hundred for $20 million!"

As the auction came to a close, the cage Halle and Baba were in was carried over to the edge of the stage, and two masked security guards approached them. They then unlocked the cage and got Halle and Baba out of there, removing the ropes that tied the two together. Strangely enough, they removed the handcuffs from Baba's wrists, but they left the handcuffs around Halle's as if they were following some sort of orders.

"This way." One of the security guards stood behind Halle and Baba, guiding them somewhere through the auction hall.

Before they could get any further than two steps off the stage, one of the guards draped a bag over Halle's head, and her vision went black as she blindly stumbled around and followed the security guards to wherever they were taking her and Baba.


The security guards ended up taking them up to the 51st floor of the Tres Spades: the penthouse. Halle couldn't help but wonder why the penthouse, of all places, was where they were taken. Out of all the hotel employees, only the manager was ever allowed to come up here, aside from the four guests who lived in the penthouse suites. Although, to be fair, Halle was still having trouble believing that there were black market auctions being held in the hotel in the first place...

"We brought them. Here's the girl." One of the security guards spoke gruffly to someone, clapping Halle on the shoulder as if to draw someone's attention to her.

Halle grimaced at the brightness adjustment as the brown sack was suddenly jerked off of her head, and her hair stuck up a little oddly for a moment before it fell back down into place. Still handcuffed, she rose an eyebrow as she locked eyes with two men sitting on a sofa with their legs crossed.

"We bought you." A man dressed in a custom-made black suit, a light purple undershirt, and a checkered pocket square locked eyes with Halle as he spoke.

He had short, spiky brown hair and sharp brown eyes, and unbeknownst to Halle, this was Eisuke Ichinomiya. He was twenty-nine, five-foot-eleven, and the head of one of Japan's top corporations: the Ichinomiya Group.

"So we won you after all." The other man with black hair that was slicked back and dark grey eyes was dressed in a grey suit, a navy blue undershirt, and a light blue tie. He crossed his arms over his chest as he stiffly looked at Halle.

This man was Soryu Oh, a Chinese mobster. He was twenty-eight, six feet tall, and a high-ranking member of the Hong Kong mafia: the Ice Dragons.

Eisuke looked a little surprised as he traced his gaze over to a man standing right next to him. "You know this woman, Baba?"

"Er...yeah, I do. How should I explain...?" Baba's gaze faltered as he simply looked at her, unable to really say anything else.

"You bought me?" Halle's eyes widened when she saw Baba standing over by the two strange men, who was not handcuffed or restrained in any way possible. "Baba, what is going on...?"

"He means we won you at the auction." A new face suddenly appeared in front of Halle, and the man with orange hair who just spoke smiled at her. "For $20 mil, the boss must've gotten dragged into it, too."

Halle recognized this man instantly, and her jaw fell open in shock. "Wait a minute... Aren't you Ota Kisaki? The famous modern artist?"

Ota smiled at her from being recognized. "Yes, that would be me!"

Ota Kisaki was twenty-four years old, five-foot-seven, and a famous artist in Japan. The media just couldn't get enough of this talented, multidisciplinary artist and high fashion model, and he was constantly on TV and in newspapers. Halle remembered his face from the covers of a few magazines she had passed by on newsstands while walking around in town.

Halle scrunched up her face a little as if she suddenly just got a brain freeze, and she brought her handcuffed wrists up to her face and pressed them against her forehead. "Wait a minute... You guys can't buy me! I'm a human being!" She pleadingly looked over at Baba for help, forgetting her anger towards him for a moment. "Baba...!"

Baba sweatdropped awkwardly, and he took off his fedora as he ran a hand through his hair. "Anything and everything is for sale at that auction. Unfortunately, that guy we tried to rob today put us up for auction after we were captured, so...we were sold."

Ota quirked an eyebrow suspiciously at Baba before he dismissed it, and he looked over at Halle to further explain the auctions to her. "That's right, anything can be sold. You can buy stolen art, secret information about politicians... Even hire a hit man."

"What?" Halle tried to blink back her shock at that last part. She was a hit man! How come she had never heard of this form of advertising before now!?

"If there's someone out there to buy it, you can sell it." Baba nodded his head, smirking a little as he rose his arms up to cross them over his chest. "There are no rules." He then looked a little reluctant as he stared off at a wall in the luxurious, richly-furnished penthouse, avoiding Halle's sharp glare. "This is actually the first time a person has been auctioned off, though."

Ota suspiciously looked over at Baba, not too surprised by this. "You must've done something pretty bad this time, huh?"

Baba grinned sheepishly, grabbing at the back of his neck anxiously. "Ah hah hah...you have no idea."

Halle was still in shock from all of this crazy information being dumped on her so suddenly, and it was taking her a little while to process this. "There's no way an auction like this would ever be allowed... Who in the world would approve..."

"I did." Eisuke suddenly cut her off, answering her question for her.

Halle snapped her eyes wide open in shock. "What!?"

Eisuke smirked arrogantly, crossing his arms over his chest as he boastfully looked in her direction. "If it's worth anything, it's here."

"You're reckless as always." Soryu glanced over at Eisuke next to him, looking completely bored. "This woman isn't worth anything."

Halle took offense to that as she dropped her jaw. "Hey...!"

Eisuke completely ignored her as he looked over at Soryu with a rather serious expression on his face. "But won't it be fun thinking up ways to use her?"

Halle's whole face erupted into a huge glare as she lost her cool and snapped at Eisuke. "What gives you the right to decide that!?"

Eisuke snapped his head around to level a terrifying glare at her, briefly looking away from Soryu as he paused their conversation. "Who gave you permission to speak?"

Halle drew her head back a little in shock, temporarily frozen by the scary look on Eisuke's face. "What..."

"Don't open your mouth unless I say so." Eisuke firmly silenced her, completely serious as he glared at her.

Halle was stunned by his sudden cruelty, not having expected to hear him say that. "Baba...!" She suddenly shot the master thief a harsh glare as she whined his name, more pissed off than she was before.

Soryu crossed his arms, looking pretty sadistic as he smirked over at Halle. "If you gotta problem with it, would you rather go back to bidder number five?"

Halle opened her mouth to snap at him for that, but Baba beat her to it as he quickly stepped in to save the day. "C'mon now, Boss... Soryu... You should be nice to girls. Plus, we need to figure out who gets to keep her."

"Yeah." Ota agreed, reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes as he smiled lustfully. "I'm pretty fond of her already..."

"What do you mean, who gets me?" Halle's eyebrows shot up into her hairline, very alarmed and on her guard now. "Is one of you going to buy me?"

"That's right." Ota smirked a little, but he then frowned a little and clapped Baba on the shoulder. "But unfortunately, it can't be me. I already agreed to pay for Baba."

"Which is a shame, too." Baba frowned a little, clearly disappointed. "If I wasn't up for sale with you, I would have bought you, since I'm the only good guy here."

"Says the world famous thief." Eisuke scoffed a little, delivering Baba that verbal slap to the face harshly. "But you would say something like that, eh?"

"You're just trying to lower Baba's stock." Ota smirked a little, finding Eisuke's comment to be rather amusing. "Eisuke, you've got tons of groupies. Just play with one of them."

Eisuke laughed a little, crossing his arms tightly as he leaned back into the couch. "Soryu's the one who could have his pick. I'm sure there are lots of women who would do anything to be the lover of a Hong Kong mobster."

Halle's eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she looked over at the man named Soryu. "Hong Kong...mobster?" She was speechless for a moment as she wondered just who the hell were these people, but she quickly pulled herself together. "I don't care who you are! Human trafficking is illegal, and you can't buy me. I can just report this to the police and get away from you."

Eisuke frowned a little, glancing over at Soryu. "Soryu, you see a cop anywhere?"

Disinterested, Soryu turned his gaze to a worn-out looking man standing by the window, smoking a cigarette. "Yeah, right over there."

"Damn it." The smoking guy cursed his luck, turning around lazily as he looked completely annoyed. "Don't just blow my cover like that!

"Better now than later." Ota laughed amusedly, running his hand through his hair again. "Right, Mr. Detective?"

The man pulled the cigarette from his mouth, placing his hand on his head as he sighed exasperatedly. "Grow up, Kisaki."

This man was known as Mamoru Kishi, a thirty-year-old career police officer who was lazy and put little effort into his job. He was five feet and eight inches tall, had short, shaggy black hair, grey eyes, and was dressed in a grey suit, white undershirt, and a black and grey striped tie.

Ota rolled his eyes, not removing the smile from his face once. "There you go again, always acting like you're the only adult here."

Halle looked at Mamoru, completely appalled by this revelation. "You're a detective...?"

"Yeah, well." Mamoru lazily stuffed his hands into his pockets, not really caring too much about this woman here.

Halle dropped her jaw as she realized even the police were in on this. As someone who used to work for the government as a top-secret, high-ranking agent for the Japanese government for eight years of her life, she was completely horrified by this. Yeah, she was now an assassin who broke the law, but she took out criminals and scum who deserved it only. She didn't condone a black market auction being held that encouraged murder and human trafficking, and the fact that the police were in on it just pissed her off even more. Even though she had gone rogue and was dishonorably discharged a year ago because she didn't respect the, "no killing unless we order you to," rule, she still had a lot of pride and respect for her country.

"Doesn't look like we're going to reach a decision anytime soon." Ota sighed a little, smiling tiredly as he looked at the auction managers in the room.

"Well, Boss, at times like these..." Baba hesitantly looked over at Eisuke, and Halle found it curious that he addressed him as 'Boss.'

"Right." Eisuke shook his head, completely agreeing with Baba's unspoken thought. "I don't want to waste any more time on this." An evil smirk crept up into his face as he suddenly locked eyes with Soryu. "Soryu, you take her."

Ota's mouth fell open in surprise at Eisuke's sudden order. "Are you serious...?"

Baba seemed to be sharing the same thought, and he nervously shifted his weight from one leg to the other, knowing Halle's unique personality and the chances of her getting along with Soryu all too well. Which were not very good, by the way. "Er, Soryu's a mobster, and Halle is an assassin. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"She's an assassin?" Eisuke's cruel smile only grew more evil at the sound of that, and he looked over at Halle judgmentally. "Well, then that's all the more reason to give her over to Soryu. He'd be able to make the most use of having an assassin on his payroll."

Soryu didn't say anything at all, and all he did was glare at Halle. He briefly looked at Eisuke and wondered what exactly he was planning before he hardened his glare. "Do whatever you want. Who knows what'll happen to her, though."

"Baba!" Halle angrily glared over at her partner in crime, holding up her handcuffed wrists. "You're not seriously going to let this happen, are you!? Unhandcuff me!"

"Nooo way!" Baba shook his head back and forth, furiously waving his hands in front of his face. "You'll kill me the second I do!"

Halle dropped her hands back down to her lap, expressionlessly staring over at Baba now. "Oh, so you think you're safe because I'm in handcuffs, do you?" She met his terrified gaze emotionlessly before her flattened lips suddenly curled up into a cruel smile. "Well, then we'll just have to fix that, now won't we?"

As Baba's eyes widened in horror, the five auction managers watched as Halle suddenly threw her head back with great force and slammed it into the face of the first security guard standing behind her. She turned and delivered a roundhouse kick with her high heeled boot to the stomach of the second security guard before turning back to the first one she head-butted, slamming her handcuffed fists down on his head as hard as she could. As the first security guard lost consciousness and fell to the floor, Halle intercepted the attack of the second one and made sure his punch missed. When he lunged for her, she stepped to the side and let him charge past her, and she quickly looped her arms around his neck from behind and began choking him with her handcuffs. Seconds after a choked, strangled sound was drawn out from the guard's mouth, he limply fell out of her grip and hit the floor very hard. Halle stood straight up and flipped her hair back behind her, and the five guys all saw now that she had a handcuff key in her mouth. Halle rose her fists up to the key pinched between her teeth and twisted the key in the lock, disengaging the handcuffs and letting them fall to the floor. She spit out the key and reached up into her jacket sleeve, pulling out a rather large throwing knife.

"I'm seriously going to kill you for this, Baba!" Halle angrily shouted at him as she thrust the knife towards the thief as hard as she could, following through with her arm.

"Aaah!" Baba yelled in surprise as he clapped his hands in front of his face suddenly, narrowly catching the knife in-between the palms of his hands. "Careful, Halle! That could have killed me!"

Halle slowly began stalking towards him, and she had the look of a concentrated hunter on her face as she glared at him. "That was the idea..." She lowered her voice evilly and reached into her jacket, pulling out an even longer knife as she lunged forwards and swung it at Baba.

"AH!" Baba shrieked girlishly as he ran away from Halle, ducking behind a couch. "Please don't kill me, Halle! I'm really, really sorry!"

"You're sorry...?" Halle scoffed, taking another swing at Baba as he deflected it with a chair he picked up from the floor. "Sorry isn't gonna cut it, you moron! Do you have any idea what you've cost me!?" She swung her arm harder and harder, getting closer to slicing Baba's face open each time she thrust the knife towards him.

Baba was slowly backed into a corner as he held up the chair defensively in front of his face. "I'm sorry, Halle! I know Moniko drained both our bank accounts, but we can make that money back in a few months of hard work! I promise!"

"HAH!" Halle just laughed at that, tearing the chair out of Baba's hands. "Are you kidding me!? Maybe you can make your money back, but I'm flat broke, and how am I supposed to take on any jobs now that I'm apparently owned by somebody!?" She lunged forwards and gripped Baba's throat harshly, thrusting him back into the wall he stood against. "Your stupid mistake on the job today cost me all of my money, my freedom, and who knows how badly my reputation was damaged because of your incompetence!" She tightened her grip on his throat, getting all up in his face as she glared as hard as she could at him. "No one will want to hire me for jobs once they hear I was captured by one of my targets on a job, and instead of being killed, I was put up for sale at a secret auction!"

"Ack...!" Baba made a strangled sound as his hands flew up to Halle's that was around his throat, and he tried to pry her strong fingers off as he choked out his words. "I'm...sorry...ack! Please, Halle... Let...me...go...!"

As Halle's eyes caught on fire and she held the knife up to Baba's throat, drawing a little bit of blood, the other auction managers watched this fight in utmost confusion. Ota was stunned by how quickly things escalated, Mamoru was a little disturbed by the kid's sudden shift in mood, Soryu was actually kind of impressed with her hand-to-hand combat skills, and Eisuke just thought this whole thing was hilarious.

Ota leaned closer to Eisuke, not taking his eyes off of Halle and Baba as he quirked a curious eyebrow. "You got any idea what's going on here?"

"None whatsoever." Eisuke simply shook his head, watching this scene unfold with anticipation. He couldn't help but smile as he watched Baba get his ass kicked by a woman.

"Baba, this isn't the time to be fighting with your girlfriend." Soryu stood up and reached into his jacket for his gun, but Eisuke reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him from interfering.

Halle whipped her head around at Soryu's comment, looking completely enraged as she briefly pulled back from Baba and let him go. "Girlfriend!?" Her facial expression darkened exponentially, and her eyes were temporarily hidden behind her bangs as she clenched her hands into tight fists. "Are you kidding me!? The day I date this creep is the day hell freezes over..."

Baba gasped desperately for air and clutched his throat, looking completely offended. "Aww, Halle, that's so mean!" He quietly coughed out the words, looking up at her from where he had dropped to his knees on the floor. "You're breaking my heart! How can you reject a man so coldly like that!?"

"Because it's you," Halle firmly deadpanned her reply, turning her head a little to glare at him as she gripped the knife in her hand tighter.

"Wait..." Ota's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he looked back and forth between the two. "Baba, if she's not your girlfriend, then who is she?"

Halle stiffened her shoulders a little as a look of surprise came across her face. "My name is Halle Mitchell, and I'm a hitter." She slowly looked up from the floor and locked eyes with the four guys across the room, standing up straight and tall. "Baba is my partner."

...

The look of shock and confusion on the auction manager's faces quickly had Halle suspicious, but it wasn't until Ota spoke up that she figured out what exactly was going on.

"...wait, are you saying that you're Baba's partner?" Ota quirked an eyebrow suspiciously, and his nervous expression was unwavering. "That's impossible... Baba works alone."

Halle's expression froze for a moment, and then it suddenly darkened as she turned around to glower malevolently at Baba. "Is that so...?"

Baba sweatdropped awkwardly, and he laughed nervously as he met her glare. "Uh, Halle, I can explain..."

Halle crossed her arms over her chest, and she rose an eyebrow at him. "You've been telling them all this time that you work alone, when in reality I'm the one who practically does all the work for you on the big jobs that make you famous?"

Baba opened his mouth to say something, and he quickly just sighed in defeat. "...yeah, that's about right."

Halle gritted her teeth harshly as she suddenly started to roll up her sleeves, and she pulled out another knife from the inside of her jacket lining.

Baba looked a little nervous as he eyed the two knives in her hands, and he slowly started to back up on the floor away from Halle. "Uh, Halle, I know what you're thinking, so just...ACK! PLEASE DON'T STAB ME!"

"I AM GOING TO CUT YOU INTO PIECES AND DUMP WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR BODY IN THE OCEAN, YOU IDIOT!"


Hello, and welcome to my Kissed by the Baddest Bidder fanfiction! This is only part one of the intro, and chapter two will be part two of this scene! I just have to divide it into two chapters, because this is already longer than 5000 words 0-0 Anyways, I LOVE this game, and it's definitely one of my favorites that I've played of voltage's games. Personally, Soryu and Eisuke are my favorite guys for this game, but this fanfiction is strictly for my #1 guy: Soryu Oh, the Chinese mobster! I love him so much XD I'll probably write a book for Eisuke too, but for now, I shall fangirl over Soryu.

So, we've got a kick ASS MC again, and of course she's got a mouth on her. That always makes these things fun, right? I hope you guys like this story! I must warn you though, because this is Kissed By The Baddest Bidder, there will be a ton of foul language AND a lot more death, violence, and murders committed since my MC is an assassin. This book won't be insanely graphic or anything, but don't be surprised by curse words, fight scenes, and suggested mature themes that won't actually be shown, just suggested. You have been warned.

Honestly, I don't think it's that bad at all, but I felt I should be nice and give you a fair warning of what to expect.

Halle Mitchell (Hal-lee Mi-ch-ull): main character in all of my voltage inc fan fictions, except they each differ in age, appearance, background, personality, etc... The only thing they have in common is their name.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kissed By The Baddest Bidder, or its characters.

Claimer: I own my MC Halle and any changes in the plot.

Read, review, and enjoy!