Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers... (sniff, sniff) and I never will. (runs away crying)
Alrighty then! This chapter was sort of miserable for me to write. (You will find out why) Once again there are a few O.C.s in this one, a couple of new ones:) Nova-flame, Striker, Underhand, etc. These characters are mine! No touchy! Onward. There is some alien cursing in this chapter along with a lot of energon and gears flying everywhere, so if that disturbs you, I would suggest not reading. Enjoy (I hope) Read and review please! :D
Chapter Two
The femme Commander stares out into the darkness from the height of the gates surrounding Metropolis. Her regal helm is lifted as she strains her blue optics. Cybertron's two moons are dim on this lunar cycle, making it impossible to see further than a few hundred meters out. For all the femme knows those Decepticon cyber-wolves are mobilizing to attack her city.
Well, it's not her city. It used to be under the protection of Galania Prime, the only fembot Prime left on Cybertron that was still online, until recently. The Decepticons have been relentless in their assaults and had eventually managed to offline the ageing femme. Galania's sudden departure for the Well of the All-Spark had left her young S.I.C. as active Commander and protector of the war ravaged city.
The counsel composed of the remaining Primes was far too busy to try and appoint another Prime protector over the city of Metropolis. Not that the Commander could blame them. Megatron took up all of their spare time and that left the less important matters sitting on the back burner. Sure, the Commander is capable enough to ensure the survival of her city for a while longer, but it is only a matter of time. The seeker, Starscream continues to pound violently at the city gates with all explosives he can get his claws on and is offlining her troops faster than she can recruit them.
The pink femme Commander scoffs aloud at the very thought of that incompetent, sniveling, pit spawn actually succeeding in one of his attacks on Metropolis. It will happen eventually, this she knows without a doubt. One solar cycle(1 earth day) that sick, sadistic, whine-bot will conquer the city she is protecting. One solar cycle(1 earth day) his armada is going to prove too powerful for her ground based army's dwindling numbers.
"Elita," the pink femme turns at the sound of her designation being called. Her older sister Chromia looks troubled as she approaches the Commander. "They're coming," the older fembot mutters sourly, looking out in the direction that the idiotic seeker always attacked from. "The scout you sent out came back and told me they are mobilizing to move even as we speak."
Elita1 bites back the curse that springs to her processor as she hears the news. Oh well, it's not like she wasn't expecting Starscream to return. He seemed to have a particular penchant for trying to offline her. The seeker never was the forgiving type, and the time she had yelled insults at him while he was flying just out of her reach must've irritated him more than he'd let on. Sure he had personally tried to cut her helm off after she had shouted her piece at him, but that is to be expected from any mech that is called a femme in front of their troops.
"How soon?" Elita asks as calmly as she can make her vocals sound.
"A couple breems (1 breem=8.3 earth min.)," Chromia answers with her optic ridge furrowed.
This time Elita doesn't curb the curse, "Slag!"
Chromia chuckles dryly at her sister's frustration that is seeping through her usually composed front, "Is it that bad?"
"It is worse, Chromia, much worse," the Commander says in a more even tone. "We are still recuperating from the last assault, and are in no way prepared to meet Starscream's armada in an all-out battle. Our army is strong, but few. I'm sad to be the one to admit this but…" Elita shakes her pink helm with a dark look cast in the direction of the seeker's armada, "we can't win this one."
Chromia shrugs like she hasn't a care in the world, "We've dealt with bad odds before, and this time will be no different."
"No, Chromia," Elita hates to be the one to cloud her older sibling's ray of hope she has forged for herself, "I've gone over everything. We cannot win."
Chromia's faceplates twist into a scowl. She glares off into the darkness at the impending danger that draws nearer with every intake of their vents. Her engine growls lowly as she also goes over their resources mentally. Her sister is right. Starscream trumps them every time, no matter how she figures it. Chromia's processor starts to hurt at the taxing she is giving it. She should really just let the tactical bots do what she is trying to. Maybe they will be able to pull a fast one that will win them one more battle against that little winged fragger.
"Hey, I've heard that the Well is nice this time of the vorn(83 earth years)," her words make Elita stare at her. Her sister's mouthplates sag a little in shock at Chromia's carefree outlook on a possible offlining.
"That's not funny," the pink Commander snaps.
"You said it yourself, it's unavoidable. Besides who knows, we might be able to slag Starscream this time when he comes after you," Chromia says casually with a wave of her servo. Elita shakes her helm in amazement at her sister. There really is no end to the ways that Chromia surprises her. She should really start expecting the rough femme to make remarks like that by now, but somehow it still manages to take her off guard.
The roar of a seeker engine in the distance catches the femme's attention! Beside her Chromia swears softly and mutters something unintelligible about no-good seekers. Elita simply whirls and races down the stairs from the top of the gate.
The armada is early, very early. Elita mentally scolds herself for being caught flat-pede, but there is no changing that now. She hears the guard at the gate she was just on top of sound the alarm of an attack. Civilians scramble for cover all around her! Sparklings cry in protest against the noise of the siren! Elita's spark twists at the thought of all the bots of Metropolis landing up in Starscream's servos. Even as the Commander reaches the outside of her warriors' quarters she can see them assembling themselves. Just this little fact makes her proud of their ability to exercise discipline and control in the midst of the chaos around them.
Elita stops breathlessly in front of her troops, a mere count of one hundred and twenty-five. Starscream is bound to have twice that many. The Commander gathers her composure quickly as she positions herself in front of her mech and femme army to address them. They are all wonderful fighters and brilliant on the battlefield, but against an armada of seekers and grounders? They will give that little pest, Starscream a run for his victory, but they will be mowed over in the long run. The whole lot of them will be offlined before this lunar cycle comes to an end.
"Mech and femme warriors," Elita begins with her vocals strong, "the Decepticon seeker, Starscream is once again threatening our city!" Her words ring among the bedlam the alarm is causing in the citizens of Metropolis. "He is coming with his armada at this very instant! We will meet his assault with a full frontal attack! Do not leave one Con online! Our snipers will stay in the gates and take out their seekers when they near for a strike!" The pink Commander can see a visible fear come into the optics of a younger, light green femme standing in the frontline. Her designation is Nova-flame if Elita's memory files serve her correctly.
Nova-flame raises her voice, "And what of after the first attack against the armada?"
Elita stays silent for a moment in the middle of the pandemonium in the streets. The sound of the seekers draws nearer and she can almost feel the rumble of their powerful engines in the air. She glances up toward the two moons that have circled her home for generations before answering the lingering question. "There is no after that," the pink femme says and fixes her gaze on her troops, "And Primus be with you."
Chromia is by her side as she turns and leads the small army to the gates of Metropolis. The gates swing open to allow the small, doomed army to pass through. Ironically the march is quiet and solemn, almost like a funeral procession. As they take up battle positions, Elita wonders briefly where her younger sister, Arcee, is and if she is safe. The poor femmeling is probably scared out of her processor and worried sick about her two sisters.
: She is safe, don't worry. : Chromia tells Elita over their private communication link. A vent of relief comes from the pink femme as Chromia eases her sudden worry. Hopefully whoever has taken Arcee to safety will take her deep into the underground tunnels of Metropolis so that the Decepticons will never find her.
From the sides of Elita's optic vision, she sees her snipers lying on the tops of the gate, rifles primed and ready. She can sense her troops growing restlessness behind her as they wait. The rumbling in the air grows in volume and Elita can actually feel the metal beneath her pedes begin to shake with the advance of the grounders. Her spark pulses wildly with energy as the time for battle draws nearer.
To her right a scarlet mech whose designation is Underhand purges his tanks and then stand back rigidly in place after wiping his mouthplates with a quick swipe of his servo. A steel covered fear glints in his dark blue optics. It is a fear that is rational, and Elita can find no fault with him for it. Her own fright pushes at her chassis as the suffocating reality approaches even faster than before.
"Subspace weapons!" Elita's vocals are a lot more commanding than she had ever imagined they could be in such a situation. She can hear the sound of metal sliding smoothly against metal as her warriors follow her order. Elita herself pulls her rifle from her back with the intent of taking as many as she can out from afar. This isn't going to be pretty.
Beside her Chromia subspaces her two identical standard issue plasma cannons. They prime up with a high-pitched whine and whir evenly as she stands next to Elita. Chromia can tell that her own thoughts are being shared with her younger sibling. They are going to offline this cycle, but they sure as the pit aren't going to the Well alone. The older blue femme's engine revs aloud in pre-battle excitement.
The first seeker explodes from the cover of the upper atmosphere with a savage roar and dives toward them at lightning speed! He is followed closely by four more seekers who have the same unmaking war cries on their glossa. In one frozen instant, Elita wonders how it came to this. Cybertronian against Cybertronian, brother against brother, and friends ripped apart by the horrors of war. She knows this first hand, every time the pink femme walks onto the battlefield she takes up arms against one of her closest friends. She silently wonders as the enemy descends on her and her troops if she will ever see the aerial mech that chose the way of deception again, the mech that was her friend. Her snipers lying along the top of the walls guarding Metropolis offline the first seeker and he comes crashing down into a sparking heap of smoking metal by her pedes. As Elita stares at the unknown mech seeker that is lying in a scrap pile she wonders if Cybertron will ever be whole again, or if this war will end their planet as they know it, forever.
"Slag 'em!" Chromia's fierce cry breaks through her paralysis and the pink femme bursts into action, her gears turn and propel her frame into movement. Elita fires her rifle at a seeker who appears to be trying to take out her snipers. Her shot merely glances off his wing and he howls in pain and rage. More seekers rain down on them and the first wave of grounders sweep onto the battlefield!
Elita fires at the grounders, trusting her snipers to take care of the seekers that harass them from the air. Her rifle blast hits a small bot at the base of his helm and blows it to bits. A disgusted sensation fills the noble femme's frame as the energon spurts out of the tangled wires from the helmless mech's throat cables. Elita rips her blue optics from the sight and focuses on her next target, a larger mech. She fires and the blast catches the grey bot high on the shoulder. The mech snarls angrily at his pain and then at the source of it. With a smooth move of his arm he fires an explosive projectile at her, a sneer on his lip plates all the while.
The warhead detonates next to her and sends her sailing forward! Elita lands on her shoulder hard and feels her arm strut crack fractionally from the weight of her whole frame taxing it. She cries out and then mutes her vocals knowing that an injured bot is as good as offlined on the battlefield.
A slender arm wraps around her middle and pulls her up to a standing position. Elita can hear Chromia yelling at her through the disarray, asking her if she is still functioning. Numbly the femme nods and pushes away her sister's supporting arm. The next wave of grounders is coming! No, the next wave is here! They are outnumbered, out gunned! The seekers fire at the gates and Elita sees a white femme sniper, designation, White-Blazer, fall from the top, only a mass of wires and disassembled armor.
Nova-flame is beside her with a blue and white mech Elita knows as Striker. They fend off a grounder that comes at their Commander in her weakened state. Energon from the Decepticon grounder splatters over Elita's faceplates as Striker splices into the Con's neck cables with an arm-mounted blade. Dumbly, the pink fembot stares at the grounder as he falls and just stands there in stupor.
"Are you functional?!" Chromia yells again.
Elita nods again and brings her vocal processor back on line, "Yes." Her arm hurts like pit, and for a moment she considers shorting out the pain receptors there. The instant relief that will courses through her frame if she does taunts her processor unmercifully. The femme refuses to deactivate the pain with an angry resolve at her moment of weakness. It will make her slower, and more dull to attacks if she does and it will be the death of her. Elita grits her denta as the pain surges through her arm, and tries to ignore it.
In a quick survey of the battlefield the femme Commander realizes that they are losing even faster than she thought they would. Already the Decepticons have cut her rank's number in half. The greying offlined frames of her warriors litter around the outside of Metropolis' gate along with those of Con grounders and seekers. It is utter chaos as the Cons and Autobot forces clash in the darkness. Their battle is lighted only by the subtle beams of the two moons in the sky that casts an eerie light on the bodies of the fallen. The spilled energon gleams from wounds and on weapons as Elita searches for what is left of her troops.
In the middle of the ensuing mayhem Elita sees Starscream. He cuts down a dark green mech before whirling with a snarl. The commanding seeker's red optics narrows as he spies her, they blaze evilly as they rest on her. A wicked grin splits his faceplates as his facial recognition programs kick in. He is coming for her. No need, she will go to him!
Elita charges into the Cons' midst vaguely aware of Chromia following her, bawling out a battle scream that could freeze the energon in anybody's wires. Elita is automatically engaged in combat with a huge black mech that sneers at her wickedly. The Con bellows at her and fires his cannon in a direct line with her spark! She dodges lithely and tries to snub the screaming pain in her shoulder. Landing to the side of the enormous mech she crouches in preparation to strike and, with a roar of her own, Elita attacks him. She relies on stealth as her main weapon against this powerful Con. With a long blade fused on her right arm she leaps around him and jumps upon his back. There, at the base of his main energon line, she buries her sword! The huge mech's frame groans loudly as he falls with the femme Commander landing on top with her pedes on his back!
Jerking her blade out of the huge Con, Elita tries to ignore the blue staining its metal. Focus! She orders herself heatedly and hunts for Starscream. She has to offline that whiner-bot if no one else! If nothing else comes of this doomed battle it will be said that this was the cycle that the Decepticon S.I.C was offlined! Her optics scans the fray for the seeker and her processor panics slightly when she cannot find him.
Something hits her hard from behind and sends her flying through the air! Elita lands on her shoulder again and feels her arm strut break the rest of the way through! An agonizing cry rips from her vocals before she can stop it. Her sword has broken off from her tumble; her rifle is lost somewhere in the masses of shrieking, offlining Cybertronians! A dull pain rings solidly in her processor as her optics flicker wildly to regain her bearings. A heelstrut steps into her optic vision.
"Well, femme it looks like this is where it ends for you," the high heeled pede kicks her broken arm and she bits back the scream of anguish that tries to force its way out of her mouthplates. She rolls over with the kick, transforming her uninjured arm into her plasma cannon, and fires! The blast strikes Starscream in the chassis and sends him staggering backwards with a biting curse! Elita rolls to her pedes and fires at him again, this time hitting him in the shoulder, tainting his shining grey armor black, scorched, and cracked! She leaps toward him and transforms her cannon into her sword… her broken sword. Oh, slag!
Starscream notices her mistake and takes advantage of it by catching her by her neck in midair! She lets out a strangled gasp and kicks her pedes in a frantic, but vain effort to regain her grounding. Primus, this is it?! This is how she is going to offline?! Starscream cackles and wriggles his talons threateningly. Elita grunts and tries to kick him by thrashing her legs wildly. With a flash of his long, sharp digits, the seeker stabs his long claws into her pink armor! Before Elita can deactivate her vocals an excruciating scream erupts from them!
"Take a look around, Elita1!" Starscream says disdainfully through the noise of her lingering scream. "This. This is where it ends!" Elita claws at his servo holding her captive in suspension. Her neck cables protest the seeker's tight hold on them. "You troops are gone!" The Decepticon S.I.C. holds her out so she can see the remainder of her warriors and snipers being slain. Nova-flame is cut down, a hole blown through her abdominal plates; orange sparks fly from the energon gushing wound. Her blue optics flicker and go dim as her frame falls silently to the ground. Elita tears her optics from the sight with a shudder running down her frame. "This is the cycle that you offline, fembot! You will offline with them!" Tears threaten to form as Striker is stabbed while fighting protectively over Nova-flame's frame. The whole gate is blown by a Con missile, and the pink femme tries to pretend she doesn't see the armor plating and decapitated limbs flying from the explosion. But she does.
A single tear slips down her faceplates. This is her fault. She knows this without a doubt. All of these warrior bots was her responsibility, they were under her protection, her leadership, and she has failed them sorely. She is a failure as a commander.
Starscream sees her tear and leers cruelly, "Such a waste of femme. If you had been a Decepticon things would have turned out much differently. Who knows, maybe it still can, hm?" The seeker hisses using his free servo to finger away the liquid spilling from her optics freely now. He brings her closer and whispers with malice into her audio, "Come with me, femme, and be mine! It is the only way you will survive this cycle." Elita kicks at him manically and only succeeds in dinging his armor. He holds her away from his frame again anyway, wary of her flailing legs. "What say you, Elita1?" His shrill vocals question her with the assurance of offlining if she denied his bargain.
"You," she gasps out as his tightening servo starts to cut off her main energon flow in her neck cables. "You… can go… to pit! You… fragging fem—" he clenches her throat tighter as he realizes what she is about to say. Her processor begins to shut down protectively as he grips her neck!
"Fine then, have it your way, femme!" He throws her to the ground on her back with a growl and activates his arm missile! Starscream's mouthplates quirk in a bad upward tilt as he aims at her, "Have fun in the Pit!"
Elita's optics widen at the sight of her fate and her venting turns even more ragged. She is going to be blown into smithereens like her snipers! Her frame is going to be littered across the carnage of the battlefield! The bots that find the piles of offlined wreckages probably won't even be able to identify her! She will be listed as MIA, her young sister Arcee will never know what happened, and the poor femmeling will be left alone in this cruel world.
Someone will look after Arcee. If nothing else is spoken of the three sisters Chromia, Elita, and Arcee it is said that they have many friends. Yes, someone will take the femmeling in and will look after her. This thought brings peace to Elita's processor, and in final resignation to her doomed fate, the pink femme offlines her electric blue optics to await the inevitable. But it doesn't come.
Explosions of high ranking officers' cannons resonate around her! The battle cries of new voices reach her audios! Starscream screeches in horror in front of her and the sound of an energon sword biting into metal brings her optics back online with a vengeance!
Is she offlined? Has Starscream blown her to the Well of All-Sparks?
A mech almost twice the size of Elita stands halfway over her, defending her from the seeker's wrath! His broad back is toward her as he battles the Decepticon! His energon sword flashes brilliantly as he attacks Starscream and drives him backwards! The huge red and blue mech heel kicks the S.I.C. Decepticon in the chest plates and the action sends the seeker sailing rearward to land on his aft! Energon flows from sword wounds in the Con's armor. Starscream leaps up with a snarl, red optics blazing with anger at being interrupted in his slaying of the pink femme.
The mech standing over her suddenly transforms his sword into a ridiculously large energon cannon and aims it at the seeker. Starscream's optics grow in size and he leaps up into the air to get away from his foe's new attack strategy. As the seeker is changing into his aerial alt-mode the big mech fires after him, the blue blast of hot energy narrowly misses Starscream's helm! His aerial form rises in the air swiftly to escape the new mech's fire power that rains after him that scarcely bypasses him each time!
The large red and blue mech glances back at Elita, "Are you functional?" His vocals are deep and rumbling. Elita's processor feels fuzzy and off balance. Is she offlined? The femme has to wonder this again as the giant mech turns slightly to get a better look at her. His battle mask retracts suddenly as he looks at her with worried blue optics. Elita stares up into what she deems as the most handsome facial plates she has ever seen. She is offlined, she has to be. Elita1 is offline and in the Well of All-Sparks.
The handsome mech reaches down and helps her to her pedes. His servo grazes her broken arm strut and she bits back a cry of pain. Is there supposed to be pain in the Well? She wobbles slightly as she regains her balance. The mech's arm remains around her for support when he sees her shakiness, and she stares up slightly in awe of him with a befuddled processor. Yes, this confirms it! She is in the Well.
A young, black and white, Praxian mech rushes suddenly up to the side of her rescuer, "Optimus!" He shouts above the noise right next to her audios, "There are more Decepticons coming up from behind! It looks like it is going to be another whole wave of fresh fighters!" Okay, she is definitely not in the Well.
"Where is Ironhide?" Comes the regal reply.
"Busy! He seen them coming! If we pull back then launch a counter attack from the side we may be able to cut our losses rather than if we just meet them head on!" The Praxian's roaring in her audios is really starting to give her a processor-ache. Is it necessary? She blinks her optics blearily at the doorwinged mech.
"Go aid half of our mechs and the remaining Metropolian troops in a counter attack!" The blue and red mech called Optimus orders, his deep voice sending waves of calm into Elita. The remaining troops! That means some of them are still online! Relief quickly courses through the pink Commander's wires as the information sinks into her processor. The doorwinger nods with an emotionless mask coming to his faceplates as he turns back to wade into the ruckus of battle once more. Good, he is gone! He was starting to annoy.
Optimus' optics is on Elita again with concern radiating clearly from their electric blue depths, "Femme, are you functional?" This is the second time he has asked this, she must look like slag. Elita opens her lip plates to reply only to be cut off by an even louder screaming command.
"Decepticons!" Starscream shrieks, "Offline the Autobots! Leave the pink femme Commander for me!" His words are howled out like a crazed cyber-wolf, even as his voice rings out across the battlefield the new horde of Cons swarm into the fight! Starscream himself dives down toward Optimus in a strike attack! His grey frame becomes barely a streak in the atmosphere as he plunges downward toward the blue and red mech!
Optimus releases Elita instantly and allows her to fall back to the ground before pulling his energon cannons back into play and firing in quick succession at the enraged seeker! Starscream roars his anger as he transforms and crashes directly into Optimus, knocking the heavier mech to the ground and then wailing to the other seekers for backup! No one comes to his aid so the S.I.C. leaps up, turns and runs for the new Con fighters as they clash with the Autobots! He is cursing his armada aloud all the while as he runs. Perhaps he can lead Optimus away from the pink Commander and then can circle back to exact his revenge on her while the rest of the Decepticons keep the Autobot leader distracted.
Optimus is on his pedes again and he fires after the seeker's fleeing silhouette. The blue blast of energy courses after the seeker and collides with Starscream's aft in a burst of flames! Starscream's cry of pain and rage is enough to confirm that he is hit. He limps franticly for a few steps, before transforming and taking to the air again. Starscream soars over the slaughter, firing upon random Autobots as he does. He will more than likely double back and try once more to take Optimus out.
Elita1's rescuer turns to address her, "Femme, stay here and stay down. It is unlikely a Decepticon will come this way." Optimus turns to follow the seeker's path toward the battle.
"What?" Elita's vocals are sharp enough to stop the mech in his tracks.
"You appear to have sustained minor damages to your command unit, which is why you have a difficult time with staying upright. You will be safer here," Optimus answers her angry question before rigidly snapping his battle mask back into place and plowing into the ensuing free-for-all.
Elita glares after the mech and pushes herself shakily to her pedes, searching the Autobot forces for a familiar face from her troops. She can see the scarlet mech Underhand is still online and is engaged in a deadly battle of swords with a dark grey grounder. Energon flows from many wounds on his frame, but he is still fighting with a ferocity that says he isn't seriously hurt. Underhand is the only one she sees at the moment. Where is Chromia?! Elita franticly whirls quickly in a circle, her uninjured arm flailing wildly to keep herself upright, searching the wreckage for her sister! The pink femme calls to her sister through their private comm with a panic evident in her voice.
: Chromia?! : No answer. : Chromia, come in! : Elita sways then stumbles and overcorrects her misstep. With a grunt she crashes to the ground on her skidplate. Minor damages to the command unit, huh? More like damage to the entire balance systems!
: I'm a little busy at the moment, Elita! :
Relief fills Elita's entire frame as her sister's voice comes through their private link. She is online! Of course she is! Chromia has always told her that if it came down to a 'last bot standing' fight that she would be there. Elita is glad for once that her sister is as rough as she is. Deciding then not to distract her sibling, Elita cuts the communication and focuses her attention on the battle playing out before her optics. There has got to be somewhere that she can be useful!
Elita catches a glimpse of Chromia in the chaos fighting back to back with a black, brutish, Autobot mech with huge cannons welded to both of his arms. They battle in a deadly synchronized style that leaves nothing but energon and grey offlined frames in their wake. Chromia stabs her short sword into the gears of a Con grounder and leaves it to whirl and blast another to the pit! The huge black mech pivots to keep the femme's back covered. He grabs her abandoned sword with a savage bellow and jerks it upward, splicing the dark purple grounder neatly in two! His colossal cannons prime up with a whir and he turns suddenly and fires over Chromia's shoulder to completely dismantle a Con that is giving her trouble.
Chromia will be alright, Elita decides with her processor still fuzzy. The mech will look after her. With that resolved Elita stumbles to her pedes once more and staggers in the direction that Optimus went after Starscream. She will find that sick little winged Con and she will offline him permanently for what he did to her troops. For all she knows Chromia and Under-hand are the only ones left of her army. Just this thought enrages the pink femme to a point of her seeing red. Without another care for her well-being she primes her uninjured arm's plasma cannon and clambers unsteadily onward toward the turmoil of the battle.
Who is this mysterious black mech with the enormous cannons that is fighting alongside Chromia?! lol I'm sure everyone already knows. Anyway, hope you like it. Please review!
P.S. A BIG thanks to Nightshade who is my very first reviewer... ever. I was so thrilled that I flopped on the floor and rolled around squealing for a long while. Yeah, it was intense for a bit. And I hurt my knee while I was rolling, but I didn't feel it until after the happiness wore down. Which took a couple of hours... *,,*
