A/N: Hello, FFnet. Sunshine here, posting DaGeekGoddesses very first fanfiction! Yay. So, I invite all of you to come read it, review, and whatever else. Please, no absolute criticism, along the lines of you-suck-and-so-does-your-writing, but constructive criticism is very much appreciated. Before you read, I will warn that this story will have language, violence, and other... suggestive themes. I'm just giving the K+ rating because this story also isn't exactly M rated. I just don't know how to rate it, honestly. So, enjoy, lovely people. Killjoys, make some noise!
My eyes open at the sound of the first shot.
Immediately, I'm on my feet, grabbing a turquoise gun from a holster at my hip, running, twisting around to face the abominations on the other sides of the guns.
Damn Dracs.
I'm firing as quickly and accurately as I can, seeing the target and hitting, and onto the next. But they keep coming.
Well? Bring it on.
I dive farther into the fray, and my limbs get into it, too, hitting the white clad soldiers in the chest, kicking them down relentlessly. I could do more - lots more - to them, but that would give me away, along with everyone else.
A slim, petite figure steps in to fight with me. She has dark hair with purple highlights, medium short, pulled into high, anime-ish pigtails. She has a tight shirt, a fluffy black miniskirt, fishnets, and boots on. She kicks every oncoming Drac square in the chest, hits, or does whatever, before shooting it dead. The perfect combination of martial arts and pure adrenaline fighting.
Now, more of us are fighting the masked enemies. A boy with neon green hair and a patched jacket. A young man with a colorful mask that glows in the dark. A young girl with strap on rainbow wings.
"Angel! Behind you!" I scream, before turning around to shoot a Drac straight in the face. When I turn back to the little girl, she's killed the soldier behind her, but she's getting surrounded. I dash to her, put my back against hers, and start fighting for her blind side.
"We're losing - they keep on coming!" she yells at me.
"We'll make it!"
"Not without kicking it up a notch!"
Dread creeps into my heart. I realize that she's right. We're outnumbered at almost seven to one. This is stupid.
But kicking it up is suicide. It will immediately notify all the locality's Exterminators that there are Freaks in the area. And that would be the end of us.
We're all close to each other now. I turn and yell, "We're gonna have to kick it up!"
Someone else screams. "No! We can't!"
At this point, we are outnumbered eight to one.
"We will die," I hiss.
And then, four Dracs freeze. They are shot down immediately.
I switch my gun to my right hand and outstretch my left to the ground.
It explodes around us, knocking thirty down.
I hasten to raise a hand to the sky, which has been overcast since last night. A few flashes commence, before lightning suddenly starts pelting the ground. Dracs are zapped back and forth. The whole time, I'm laughing like crazy.
I know I'm losing control. But just a little more.
As I let my power seep away, the last of them, now writhing messes, bring guns to their heads and put themselves out of their misery.
And we don't hasten to run into the van to drive off into the night.
The second youngest of our group, a boy with hazel-brown eyes no older than seven, looks up. "Dracs?"
"Fifty of them, at least," I mutter, "We barely made it out alive.
A mild cry of a baby queues. The girl in the pigtails takes the baby from the lap of the seven year old, holds it close to her, and sings softly.
Soon, she - the baby - is asleep.
We are the Killjoys. Welcome to our nightmare.
I wake up with a bad taste in my mouth.
I prop myself up in the van, and look around to see what's going on with everyone else.
My eyes first lay on Skeleton Leopard, the oldest of us hooligans. He's passed out in the drivers seat. His dirty blonde hair falls in strands to his shoulders. His trademark spotted mask is pulled up onto his forehead. A black jacket with patches of leopard print dotted everywhere is draped over him like a blanket. He groans, and mumbles something like 'sheep, pie, shepherds pie' in his subconscious. Maybe his dream involves eating.
Next - Neon Heartthrob. He might not be much of a heartthrob, but he certainly is neon - his fluorescent green hair is like a Draculoid beacon. The scar on his cheekbone is more apparent in the early, pre-sunrise light. He sighs, and turns to his side.
The Paintball Sensei is after that, in the back. Her pigtails are loosened from their hold, the purple highlights brighter than anything on her petite body. Unlike the rest of us, Sensei is Japanese. I think that also makes her prettier than us. She's curled her body around Burned Paradise, the baby in her arms. Paradise is hers. It was a shock when we found out she was pregnant - she was sixteen at the time - but it's been a godsend. Paradise is in black and red, garments Sensei and I stitched from old clothes.
Next to her is Crimson. He used to be the youngest of us, until Paradise came, at seven years old. He's the bravest kid I know. His light brown hair sticks up in odd spikes, his eyelashes flit with his eyes darting under their lids. An oversized aviators jacket sits on him, and a cherry red helmet rests in his lap.
My little sister, Arsenic Angel, has her head on my shoulder. Angel's ten, but has the brain and shot of a thirteen year old. Her dark brown hair is pulled into messy Thumbelina buns, which have finally started to come apart after two weeks. A smiley face tank top and striped tights are certainly a highlight of her outfit, but the thing that gave her the name is a pair of rainbow angel wings, found in an old costume shop. We haven't met many more Killjoys - a good deal of them have died already - but they always commented on her wings.
She stirs, twists, and looks up. "Hey."
I smile at her. "Hey."
"We gotta leave the area now. Freak alert."
"It's a miracle we've stayed here for this long."
"True," she whispers. "We're gonna have to leave. We're gonna have to leave-"
"Elliot's grave."
Angel and I have referred to him as Elliot since he died. Everyone else still calls him his Killjoy name - Hydrogen Hellhound. But we have rights. We were the closest ones to him.
"Cyanide? Are you still listening to me?"
I look down. "What?"
"Nevermind."
I guess this gives me permission to introduce myself.
I am Cyanide Siren, age 17. Older sister of Angel, twin of Elliot. Or Hellhound, if you prefer that. My signature clothes are a 'keep calm & blast music' t-shirt and XXL-Hi Converse that are now covered in Sharpie ink pop art.
And, like everyone else in the van - I'm a Freak.
Leopard can see what other people are doing thousands of miles away. It's a great skill - he knows which Exterminators are after us. He just closes his eyes, and BAM! Suddenly, he sees BLI's headquarters, or the nearest Drac camp.
Neon can freeze people. He turns them to stone. It's scary when he does it. It's like you've walked into a forest of sculptures, but their still living, breathing.
The Sensei is extremely smart - and her IQ of about 190 doesn't end there. She can take what you know. I'm not kidding. She looks into your mind, finds what you know, and then has it as well. Doing that, she's become fluent in thirty languages, a doctor, and another sputter of random facts - as if I wasn't enough.
Crimson hasn't had his powers for long, nor does anyone know the extent of them, but we think it has to do with telepathy. He reads minds - everyone's. And he sends people messages through dreams. He's sent me dancing skeletons in my dreams. Now that was scary.
Angel has the coolest powers yet. She travels time. I'm not kidding. Travels time. And space, for that matter. She'll disappear occasionally, and then come back, telling us that she just visited the Eiffel Tower in 2001, or saw President Lincoln when he was a boy. But we do have a rule for her, just one:
No re-watching Mom's, Dad's, or Elliot's deaths.
It's a good thing that no one can see her when she travels. Otherwise, she'd bring everyone back from the dead.
And finally, my power:
I'm telekinetic.
I create stuff, move stuff, and screw with the elements. I've had my powers for the longest of anyone, so mine encompass the most. When I first got them, I only could move stuff. But also, it's the most dangerous power. I can lose control. Quickly. I do practice, and I have gained control of them to an extent, but they do still get out of hand. One mistake, and voila! Someone I love is dead.
And that's part of what killed Elliot.
Paradise stirs, and starts moaning, causing her mother to wake up.
"What is it, darling?" Sensei asks, turning to look at her daughter.
Leopard groans. "I swear, Sensei, if Paradise wasn't your baby..."
"Shut up."
Soon, everyone's awake.
"We gotta go," Neon says, immediately.
"I think we know that, dumbass," I mutter darkly.
"Watch the mouth, Siren! Crimson's here."
"Yeah, Siren, I'm here."
I look back at the seven year old, and chuckle, ruffling his hair. "You're used to my mouth."
"Yeah," Sensei spits, "But that doesn't mean my child is used to it."
"Maternal, are we?"
Sensei gives me a dirty glare. I smile and blow a kiss.
Leopard starts the car. "Come on, we gotta get out of here."
"Angel and I have to see Hellhound's grave first."
It slips out before I have time to stop it.
"Al... Alright," Leopard stammers, "But we can't stay for long."
Angel and I walk out of the van first.
From the pocket of my cutoffs, I bring out a flower bulb, ad kneel at the side of a grave.
One where the epitaph reads, "Only the good die young and brutal."
I plant the bulb in front of the tombstone, before turning to the stone.
"Hey, Elliot," I say, "It's me. Naomi Britain. Your twin. I'm with Sia. And we have to leave now. We got really ambushed by Dracs. We got exposed. So we're going. We dunno where. Just away. And..." I feel a tear slip away from my eye, "I love you, Elliot. I still do, even now. I'm not going to forget you."
I turn back to the van so no one else will see my tears.
I look at my reflection through the window of the van - long, ratty chestnut hair with blue tips, held back by a turquoise bandanna tied at my forehead. Tanned, dirty face, peeling in areas. Bright green eyes that stare out at the world.
I guess I look kind of odd.
I listen in on Sensei.
"Hey, Hellhound. Um... I guess everyone briefed you on the circumstance. So, I guess this is goodbye. You were a great guy, and I'm sorry you never got to meet Paradise. You're the only one who didn't. I'll tell her about you. I'll give her my memories of you. It won't be the same, but it's the best we can do. You were a great friend, Hellhound, but now... I have to say goodbye."
And soon, we're driving away forever.
Sit down, reader, and let me tell you the tragic tale of this boy.
Elliot Britain was born on April 16 of 2002 to Quinn and Diane Britain, one of a set of twins. His twin? Naomi Britain. The polar opposite.
Elliot and Naomi were inseparable since birth. They were best friends. They went everywhere together. When both were six, they wanted to play both piano and guitar. They learned them together, with dreams to change the world with their music.
When they were seven, their sister, Anastasia Britain, was born. They both started calling her Sia, immediately.
And when they were ten, disaster struck.
First, drastic fires came. They raged across the Front Range of Colorado, spanning into the mountains and the vast plains.
The three Britain children were shoved into a basement. The last they heard of their parents was:
"We love you all to death. Naomi? Elliot? Take care of your sister."
Their parents died in the Fires.
If only the Monsoons came a few days early.
The Monsoons were rains that lasted for weeks. It calmed the Fires, yes, but it flooded everything. Dried rivers were filled to the brim, cutting across a bare environment.
And in the first five minutes that it stopped raining, the Britain twins thought it was safe to come out.
And then came the Acid Rains.
Leftover radiation from various power plants wrecking and a few bombs going off mingled with the atmosphere, causing the clouds to become laced with radiation.
And as soon as the three came out, it started raining.
The Britain children went back in as quick as they could, but the damage had been done by then. All three had severe burns on them. And though they healed weird things started happening to them, starting with the worst of the children:
Me.
Yes, I, Naomi Britain.
It started with things breaking, flying off shelves, shifting when I got angry. We thought it was a ghost, at first, being that juvenile. But then we realized that it was more than that. Far more.
Then, Sia would disappear and reappear at random times. It scared us every time, but she would always reappear from time to time.
Finally, when we escaped from the shelter, we lied low for a couple days. Then, we were attacked by our first Dracs.
We were shot at, attacked. I got a few shots to the shoulder, and Sia was almost killed.
And Elliot just stood in their presence, and looked at them. No shots made it past three feet in front of him. I joined him, summoned all I had, and ripped soil from the earth, pelting the monsters with rocks, until they bled.
He had turned to me. "You're hurt," he said, and placed a finger on my wounded shoulder.
Elliot was a shield. He could protect and heal.
We fought like that for a few days, Elliot defending, me attacking, until Skeleton Leopard - then, Brent - had found us. He was sixteen at the time, and the oldest person we knew to have survived. He took the three of us in, and told us everything. It had been seven months since the Fires, three since the Acid Rains. Everyone, almost, had died. That, or missing. Brent had already passed his drivers test before the Disasters, so he had been living in an old warehouse with a van, raiding various old gas pumps and abandoned cars for gas. He had stocked up enough for about ten years by then.
He took us back to his warehouse, and let us stay there, with him. He offered us sleeping bags, a fire, food.
He became an older brother to us in a night.
We stayed with him. Days, weeks, months passed by. He showed us the van. It was huge and awesome. Well, except one thing: The color. It was a dull silver, the paint chipping freely. It was a sorry thing.
Elliot and I turned eleven. Sia turned four. Time passed.
That was when Jamie showed up.
A boy with strawberry blonde hair and fractured blue eyes appeared under the van, using it as shelter. Clothes torn, feral looking, he told us his story.
Jamie was twelve, and had been, luckily, in a family fire shelter with his parents and sixteen year old sister when the Fires hit. They had stayed there for a few weeks, and tried to make it out during the Monsoons.
How wrong they were to think they could make it out.
His father was dragged under a stream trying to find food. His mother and sister were killed during the Acid Rains. He had just made it out, but, like the rest of us, not without a price: Jamie was able to freeze people. He had left living statues in his wake.
We soon had another brother.
Just as we were getting comfortable in our warehouse, a new danger came.
Better Living Industries. BL/ind, if you will. They were in whatever was left in California, and had an iron grip on whoever was there. An ideology for a utopian society: everyone's perfect. All are equal. No one was better than another. Brent had said that they had really studied up on their theory of communism. Whatever that meant.
Soon, we learnt of their malicious nature. They force-fed their citizens pills to make them obey commands from the government. So they wouldn't question whatever BLI was doing without their consent.
First came passing under their radar, so to not get detected, forced into their monstrous system. Then came the Dracs.
Draculoid: noun. 1. Servant of large, power hungry corporation known as BL/ind. 2. Soldier to Exterminator (see separate definition), known for dressing in white and donning vampiric full head masks so to protect identity. Commonly shortened to Drac for the convenience of rebels against BLI (see Killjoy)
Hope that helped.
They were meant for killing snot nosed brats like us. Kids who would otherwise go nowhere.
Within the month that we learned of BLI's presence, we discovered the work of Clockwork Thief, and her way of allying rebels:
109.
An underground movement of DJs had formed through the whole of North America, where BL/ind had taken over, and formed various stations in certain areas, all on one channel: 109. Thief had explained what was happening: a rebellion against BLI on a huge scale, directed by the maybe thirty DJs that had banded together. They were forming the Killjoys: dirt dwelling, technicolor wearing gunslingers meant to take down the people denying us our humanity. Color was dangerous to them. We'd be their bane.
The romance, the nostalgia, the honor of the whole concept was much too tantalizing. I was sold at the first sentence.
Immediately, we were searching for anything to wear that could make us stand out, become alarms to the world. We found neon green paint in the warehouse, and painted the car. That was a start.
But we needed clothes.
That was how we met Akira.
She had been dwelling in an abandoned mall at the time, and new nothing of the Killjoys, 109, or Better Living. All she knew was that her parents had died in the Monsoons, and she was surviving.
She was thirteen, four days younger than Jamie, Japanese American, and joined us in an instant.
We stayed in the mall for a few days, and got lost. We found shirts, jackets, pants, boots, anything, in any form obnoxious, and took it. We found an old hair salon, and took it over. By the time we were done, I had side bangs, done choppily and edgy. I had blue tips, Akira purple highlights, and Jamie had gone so odd as to dye his hair neon green, and the eyebrows.
We were crazy.
On the last day, tuning into Thief playing her loud party punk on 109, we discovered a costume shop.
And that was where Sia found her signature piece.
An angel was granted her wings.
And as I pulled on those Converse boots with whatever on them, I became Cyanide Siren.
When we got into a fight with Dracs a few days later, we attained our necessities: ray guns and transmitters.
And we were set.
We lived like that for almost three years.
Then, we met Alakazam, Black Dahlia, and their three year old son:
Crimson.
Since the young family had just escaped from the clutches of BLI, we let them lie low with us for a while. They were the sweetest people. They were from Utah, but were visiting family in Colorado, since their son had just been born, when the Fires hit, and stayed in a hospital with how many other people. They had been caught in the Acid Rains, too. They weren't sure if Crimson was a Freak, but they definitely were. Alakazam could control people with their shadows. Dahlia could soak nutrients from her surroundings. For the time they were with us, they were mentors. They taught us to control our powers. They taught us to survive.
Then, everything went downhill.
Alakazam and Dahlia had gone out for supplies, and never came back, not after a few days.
And then, on 109:
"And now, Motorbabies, I would like a moment of silence for the lovely two that gave their lives for our cause. Come now, Killjoys, stop your Drac killin' and pause."
Her smooth voice and almost effortless rhymes caught me. I looked up to the rainbow boombox that was quietly broadcasting Clockwork Thief's voice.
"The lovely couple went by Alakazam and Black Dahlia."
The room froze.
"Their names were Adam and Kira Stonemason. They were 28 and 26, from Utah, and stayed in my Zones when the Fires swift in and set us all in the inferno. They survive in their son, Crimson."
The toffee eyes of the boy shimmered with tears. "Wha?"
"If we're gonna live this long, we gotta be be stupid and strong. The music is all I offer in being your leader and doctor. Thief, out, with 'The Funeral', by an old indie band called... Band of Horses. For Adam and Kira. Killjoys, make some noise!"
As plucked, broken chords played through the radio, shock pulsed through the room.
"My parents..." Crimson mumbled.
"Crimson, I'm sorry..." I put a hand on his shoulder.
He buried his face in my chest and started crying.
"My name," he murmured, "Is Alex."
Our family complete, we lived in a suspended existence for a year, getting over the turbulent adding of our youngest.
Then, we decided that if any other Killjoys passed by us like that again, we wouldn't get attached to them.
In that next year, we met the DJ of the Mountains herself.
Clockwork Thief herself appeared in our warehouse and asked to stay for no longer than two weeks. We had to. She was our idol.
One night, she heard Hellhound and I playing guitar and singing in the warehouse.
And right then, she decided to take out her recording equipment, and record all sixty something of our songs right then and there.
So, using two guitars, a near broken amp plugged into a dying outlet, a few various boards hit with hands as drums, and a piano recovered a year ago, along with Thief's microphone, all our songs were recorded, and poorly mixed off an old laptop of the Pirate DJ's, and, at the end of our leaders stay with us, broadcast on 109 as songs by the new Killjoy band, 'Poisonous as Hell.'
We thought it was a good play on both our names.
Then, she left, to touch more of us with her presence - calm down, Crash Queens, this chapter isn't over yet.
After that, life became somewhat weirder, and not just by hearing Hellhound's and my singing voices on 109.
Neon Heartthrob and The Paintball Sensei together: I guess we all saw that coming. They were adorable together. They were practically attached to each other.
But amongst the sudden peace in out lives, there were more warnings of BLI's presence. Like when they distinguished Freaks at the same danger level as DJs. Oh, well. We were screwed from the beginning.
About ten months later, Sensei got sick. Really sick. She couldn't eat anything, because she'd puke it back up.
When it was my turn to take care of her, she pulled me into a hug.
"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked her.
She smiled. "Don't worry about it. I figured out what's wrong."
I stared at her with wide eyes. "What is it?"
She grinned, a hand traveling to her midsection.
"Naomi. I'm pregnant."
I stared, letting it sink in.
"My parents would've killed me. "Akira, you've tainted the family name,' my mother would say. But don't hate me, please, Siren. I love him. Jamie. And I love our baby."
"Does he know?"
"No, but I think he's guessed. You're the only one who knows. But I'm gonna announce it tomorrow."
"Akira, you're sixteen."
"I know."
"You've basically cut your life out. You will be running from Dracs the rest of your life, protecting this kid. What if you die?"
She smiled. "I won't worry. I'll have all of you."
The next day, she announced it to the rest of everyone. The news was greeted by hugs and kisses, a few 'congratulations', and some confused looks from Crimson.
Despite the announcement being the best thing to happen in a few months, it meant that we had to lay lower than usual, to protect Sensei and the baby. We had to be careful.
And just our luck: some punk, druggie idiots caused a Drac sweep.
All of us were out getting supplies. Sensei must have been six months by then: she was near immobile, but we had to take her for the risk of this happening.
We were raiding an old BLI truck stop that had been long abandoned for gun and transmitter batteries, food, and gas for the van. Just as Leopard, Hellhound, and I had finished hacking the battery dispenser...
Shwoom!
Screech!
We turned to find four gleaming Drac cars staring back at us.
We didn't stop - immediately, we were running at top speed to the van, drawing guns and shooting at the soldiers. All we saw were targets: head then chest. Stomach. Dodge.
We could have been invincible.
Neon and Angel ran out of the building, both with backpacks full of food, drawn guns, and determined looks.
We all dove into the van.
"Go, Siren!" my twin yelled.
I jumped in. Hellhound followed, shutting the door. The van sped off, Leopard flooring it.
The Drac cars followed us in a frenzy. I big my lip.
"Siren, you have to fend them off."
"What do I do?"
"I dunno! Just something!"
"They're gonna know we're Freaks!"
"Freaks, or dead?"
I sucked in air, leaned behind me to see the rear of the car, and held out a hand.
The asphalt of the road crumbled and exploded at the Drac cars.
"Brent, slow down!" Hellhound screamed at the driver.
"Why?" he asked, but did it anyway.
My dear brother opened the van door, used one hand to hold onto the car, and the other to shoot Dracs.
Boom! The first car swerved into the other, causing an inferno and certain death for those inside. The next car tried to get off the road, but I held out a hand, and dirt rifted underneath it.
One last car.
We looked at each other.
"Good Luck."
"You too, bro."
The last car managed to get on the road, too close for me to break the asphalt without hurting us as well. I hung out of the door with my brother, looking for a good shot at the car. I started with the tires, attacking them freely.
A loud bang, heat bubbling into my face, and a scream next to me.
I pulled my brother and I into the van again. Crimson pushed the door back as Leopard sped up.
"Naomi, are you..."
"Yeah, I'm fine, are you..."
The words died in my throat at he smiled at me so sadly.
"I'm sorry, Naomi."
His dark blue shirt was soaked through with blood.
His blood.
He lay down against me. I pulled his head into my lap.
"Isn't it ironic? I can heal others, just not myself."
"Asshole," I cursed under my breath, but smiled.
"Naomi."
"Yeah, Elliot?"
"Nay, you have to promise me that you'll survive. You will live to see BLI fall to their death."
"Ell-"
"And keep Poisonous as Hell going."
"I..." I let a tear fall onto his face. "I promise."
"Naomi Britain, you are going to live. I know it. You're going to meet some amazing people. You're going to find a great guy - or girl, but most likely a guy - and you're gonna be happy."
He turned to our sister as the van stopped.
"Sia, you truly are an angel. You are a prodigy. You are a phenomenal girl. You will move mountains, God knows we need to."
"Brent. You were like the cool older brother to me. You looked out for me, you made fun of me, you taught me everything I know today. Dude, you're cool. Go spread it to others."
"Jamie. The first time I saw you, I thought you were a freak. Not in our power sense, but just scary. But you're my best friend. And death isn't going to change that."
"Akira. I thought I didn't need any more sisters, but you ended up one anyways. But you're the responsible one, the anchor. With young and ambitious in the rainbow, and crazy and fearless above me, I needed a sibling like that. And, I'm sorry I never could meet your baby, but make sure it knows who I was." he reached a hand out to pat her bloated abdomen. "Hey, there. Your uncle Elliot loves ya."
"Alex. This isn't the end. I'm always going to be there for you. Every step of the way. Your parents were great people. You're gonna be at that same level."
He turned back to Sia and I. "Sia. I don't care where you go when you travel. Just do yourself a favor and never review this. Got that?"
"Yeah."
"Naomi."
He smiled sadly at me.
"Change the world, and know that death isn't gonna get the best of me. My spirit. I... I love you all."
And his emerald eyes shut one last time.
Elliot Britain died in July of 2018. He was sixteen.
I called Clockwork Thief that night via transmitter.
"Cyanide! Got enough songs yet? How's your brother?"
Silence.
"Oh, God, no."
"Today. We just buried him."
"You want me to..."
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
"Elliot Britain. Sixteen. From Denver. He was one half of Poisonous as Hell."
"And what song?"
I don't even doubt it.
"Death Will Never Conquer. Coldplay. Do you have it?"
"Yeah."
As it played that night, I died inside.
If sweet death should ever conquer me, I'll be down where the water flows... I hope sweet heaven has a place for me, let me know, boys, let me know...Sensei's baby was born three months later.
They named her Eden. Eden Elliot, not caring about the gender of the second name.
But now we had to leave.
A/N: So, whaddidya think? Awesome? Terrible? As earlier stated, constructive criticism is welcome and perhaps needed. Mille Grazie (a million thanks), despite not being Italian!
~Sunshine
