This chapter was betad by SomeoneCrazy back at QQ forum

Chapter 3


A cloud of pure energy twisted inside itself to follow the intentions carved into its core. Each individual wave became colossal multidimensional particles, each one exuding an essence so esoteric that it could be called magic, forming a fundamental Root and anchoring itself into the infinite walls of my Soul.

Gulping down the rest of the taco I was sacrificing for my insatiable teenager stomach, I started to analyze the new power rooted in my soul. It worked by misleading any thinker power that targeted me directly, making sure any answer they got by focusing on me comes out wrong.

I think that combining this with the blank I have for any thinker power not directly focused on me will make me Cauldron proof, for now.

I'll need to invest more on the misleading power. I really don't think being a complete blank would be a good idea, as far as I know very few things are completely blank to precogs, so if a cape shows up being a blank it would bring a lot of attention from really powerful people. So I'm thinking of dismantling the blank power once the misleading becomes powerful enough.

But that's in the future, which is precisely what I need to consider.

Right now, in the immediate future, things are under control. The merchants I scared to death wouldn't make a fuss over a new cape in town because capes come and go in Brockton Bay, it's common for a new cape to annoy one of the gangs for a few days before disappearing completely from the city, usually by some tragic happenstance.

I stood up from the bench and start making my way to Capital Hill Park's public bathroom. I'm pretty sure my power changed my appearance a while ago, and it was time to see the damage.

Turn out the damage was… Not bad.

Ok, I had to stifle a gasp when I saw it.

The teenager in the dirty, broken mirror looked like a male model, someone you would find in a pretentious perfume commercial only younger. It was still me, I could recognize my features, but everything looked…Better, for the lack of a better word, my face had become more symmetrical, my skin problems were all but gone, my eyes looked shinier, my hair looks stylishly messy instead of like an animals fur, and other minor things changed to add to the whole. It's like all my good traits were accentuated and all my bad traits were diminished.

Yeah, that's gonna raise some questions.

But… Does it really matter?

I mean, sure I'm still vulnerable for now, but give me a few months - no, weeks, and I'm pretty sure I can become invincible to pretty much anything from Earth-Bet.

I was not considering Scion of course, given that even in the web novel he didn't use his true power and he still managed to fight an army of parahumans and kill millions of people in alternate dimensions, so I don't exactly have a good grasp on his power.

So when dealing with him it is wise to assume that I'm always underpowered, but everything else on this earth is a fair assumption.

…The obvious thing I need to do is reach that point, that's no other way about it. I will become invincible, that's just the safest option, that means at least going low for a few days and waiting until I am powerful enough, with the four charges I have left I could make a pocket dimension or something.

But then what; do I wait some more to be powerful enough for Scion? Save the world?

I mean yeah that's a given. I kind of live here. But just doing nothing else? That sounds boring as fuck.

But again, concerning everything else, why should I care? Soon, I am going to be strong enough to not need to care.

…Holy fuck, what a pretentious train of thought.

I'm old enough - well I'm not physically, but the thought is what counts- to know that nothing good comes from thinking like this. I was given a tremendous opportunity, maybe the absolute one; to free myself from the shackles of everyday life, things like mortality, helplessness, and even difficulty would soon be a foreign concept for me. I will eventually be able to do anything, and that leads to some very dangerous and depressing paths.

Ending up like Dr. Manhattan doesn't sound fun. Hell, Even Eidolon didn't escape this kind of depression, and that supposedly caused the Endbringers.

I don't know the answer for this, of how to keep life from becoming dull and boring, but I do have the experiences of a reasonably well-adjusted adult inside of me. So I might as well draw from some of his wisdom.

I exit the bathroom and take a deep breath from the mercifully clean Sunday morning air.

I just have to keep sight of what's important. And find some people to keep me grounded.

Life didn't have meaning before I was playing in god mode, and this doesn't change now that I am. What's truly important was the meaning I gave to life.

…It won't stop me from doing whatever the fuck I want of course, but at least I can make things interesting.

For now though, I should stop feeding my recent god complex and start to feed my actual stomach. That taco wasn't nearly enough.

Time to partake in the proud tradition established by the new capes in town and take money from the gangs to give to myself.

-0-0-0-

I arrived back at my apartment two charges poorer and a few thousand dollars richer.

Turn out having a father high up among the merchant's dealers let me know the places where they do business. Places, which were quite full from the Saturday party rush.

I could have gone in like a wrecking ball, breaking any merchant in my way, but what's the hurry? I'm not really interested in making a name for myself right now, so why not take things slow.

And to do that, I used my new stranger power.

I made it based on Imp's power, the ability to make myself unnoticeable to those around me, the only difference is that I have to consciously activate the power for it to work. Aisha, if I remember correctly, is the opposite, her power is always 'active', and she has to consciously deactivate it to be perceived by another.

I also put invested another charge in it, to allow me to control the power better, and direct it to the actions and things I wanted to stay unnoticed.

With this, it was easy to clean the money from the drug dealers, and without any violence too.

This power will also be useful when I go to school tomorrow; it would keep people from noticing the obvious change in my appearance. And yes I decided to keep going to school, for now, the main reason for it being to satisfy my curiosity.

Namely Taylor Herbert.

I can't remember her to save my life, I know of her, as the closet girl everyone was talking about in January, but I never really pay attention to her, and she certainly doesn't stand out from the mass of students from Winsdow.

I do remember the trio though; Sophia Hess is the track team star, so she is fairly recognizable, I definitely remember Emma Barnes, being one of the hottest girls in school, who I and many others had fantasies about in the past, and I kinda remember Madison Clements, but mostly by association.

Still, haven't decided what to do with the canon situation, I'm leaning to leaving it alone, but I'm hoping that seeing them for myself will help me decide. At the very least I could copy the powers available there.

Speaking of copying powers. I was unable to copy Panacea's today. When I arrived at the hospital (on my second try as I went to the wrong hospital at first) she was already gone, but maybe tomorrow I will be luckier.

Wait- Ah fuck.

I could have gone to their house! All it would require was a quick search on the Internet to known where they live. It would have been a power buffet!

Ah fuck, miss the opportunity- Ok, tomorrow I will actively try to gather powers, instead of stealing money for drug dealers.

Annnnd the front door is open, why the front door is open?

Father couldn't have come back yet. He probably wouldn't until morning; the Sundays Evenings are too lucrative for him to miss. He's probably in some merchant party somewhere.

A thief? No that's unlikely, Father is pretty high up as a merchant dealer, and while the gang doesn't have a well-organized structure, he was 'friends' keeping watch over the building entrance. So it most likely an acquaintance, probably also a member, trying to get something. Not really an uncommon situation.

You see, becoming a merchant means that nothing you previously owned is solely yours anymore, the others member can and regularly will crash in your house (if you have one) and sometimes take your stuff. In my Father's, and by extension my own, case the guy needs permission first, but I made a habit of not having anything too valuable for a reason.

Well, I won't find out by standing here.

Inside, the place has clearly been searched. It was evident from the state of the small living room/kitchen we have, every drawer and lock having been opened and messed around with, the sofa was out of place and its cushion was on the floor, the television (which I'm surprised is still around) was in a completely different position from last night, and someone was in my room.

Is it the police? It better not be the police.

Instead of a cop, I'm greeted by the sight of Celia, kneeling on the floor searching for something in a pile of clothes near the open closet. She was wearing black yoga pants and a white tank top, had her hair in a low ponytail and had a recent bruise on her left cheek, just beneath her eye.

Okay, that's… weird.

"Oh!" she breathed out, sounding relieved, "It's just you, Danny," her shoulders relaxed once more, " What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

Though it is a good question. I still have two charges left so that pocket dimension idea is still on the table.

"Oh. Right," she said awkwardly. Then, she notices what she must look like, kneeling in my room with my underwear in hands "This, um, I was just-"

I shrugged "Don't mind me, just do your thing I guess, I'll be over here."

I threw my bag on the bed; my body followed a second later.

There are a few moments of awkward silence after that, during which she looked very conflicted, opening her mouth to say something but giving up halfway in. Finally, her shoulders slumped, and she went back to the search.

I kept watching her as she moved. She clearly felt my eyes; her movements were a lot more uncertain than before, and she kept sending me furtive looks.

It was weird seeing her messing up the apartment instead of cleaning it, and is even weirder watching her act all hesitant under my glance.

She flinches a little at the sudden question but seems to think about it.

Finally, turning her face back to me, she asks with a waver in her voice.

"Do you…Do you know where your Father keep his stash?"

…Well… This was obvious in retrospect; he has been complaining about her habits lately, which is something new for him; father usually lets his girlfriends have whatever they wanted. Celia must have been putting a dent in the business.

"There's a loose tile right beside the toilet-"

"Already looked!" She chirps loudly, but take back control soon after. "Do you know somewhere else he might have hidden it?" she asks with a slight edge.

Her entire body seems to shrink in disappointment when my head shakes. Sighing, disheartened, she went back to the pile.

Makes sense he would have changed the hiding place, with the amount Celia takes every day, it wouldn't be viable to keep it there.

Wait, if I remember correctly, I did take some a few days back, and with my recent disinterest for anything drug related, it must mean that…

Yep, there it is, a little baggy of white powder right where I had hidden it in my bag, I have no idea how the time affected the drug, but oh well, I don't want it anyway, so not my problem.

Wait… an idea began to form, a very exciting idea.

"Here, I still have some."

She snapped back to me so fast that I almost thought she broke her neck, a brilliant smile appear as soon as she sees the bag.

I close my fist around it and raise my arm high; she instantly followed, unintentionally rubbing her body against my own.

We got into a somewhat award position, with me sitting on the bed, my back against the wall and my arm raised high, and her wiggling on my lap, trying to open my fist using her hands. With her attention so focused I don't think she realized that her boobs were practically on my face.

Dropping down properly on my lap, she sends me a hard look.

"Give it to me Daniel. I'm not joking." … Seriously? 'Cause it's kinda funny.

I couldn't help the smug grin.

"No. I'm not convinced that you really want it yet."

I saw anger pass through her eyes, but only for a brief moment, before being replaced with confusion. She seemed to consider my actions until now and leaned closer to have a better look at my face.

Oops, forgot about that.

I activate my Stranger power to take away her perceptions of the changes in my attitude and appearance.

She blinks in momentary confusion before her face turns angry again and she tries to move from her position, but stops after she feels the very evident bulge that was caused by her struggles.

"Like I said; I'm not convinced yet." I can't deny that I was feeling a little nervous right now.

"Oh." She mutters, gyrating her hips once again, her eyes lighting up in comprehension and a teasing smile spreading on her face. "Well, look at you being all manly today, what brought this change?"

I considered that for a second. "There is only so much a hot woman can push a man before he explodes," she lets out a little happy sigh, grinding a little stronger, "S-So what do you say." Goddammit, teenager cracking voice! If this cost me achance to get laid, I swear…

But she only laughs at my blunder; it only seems to encourage her. "So the hot aunty only needs to convince you, and you will give aunty what she desires?"

She leans in some more, planting a kiss under my jaw. Her hands start to roam over my body, and her hip now seems to grind in the precise position of my length.

Perhaps I should have waited a few days to gain better control over this teenager body, but I wasn't about to back down now.

"If you make a good argument." I manage to say that with a controlled voice, gaining a muffled little laughter and a mutter about fancy words.

Her hands start playing with the edges of my jeans before going up and beneath my shirt. "Don't worry." She hums in appreciations for my new lean muscles, "Aunty Celia is very good at convincing, big, manly, men." I feel her warm tongue tasting the skin of my neck, while her back deliberately arched, showing me the curve of her very sizable rear.

I didn't trust myself to deliver a proper response.

She descended quicker than I would expect, interrupted only by some kisses and nibbling along the way. It makes sense, I suppose, the faster she finishes this, the sooner she gets the drug. The fact that she is going to the trouble of making any kinda of foreplay shows me how much she is enjoying it.

And the swaying ass makes up for it; I swear that jiggle must be a master power of some kind.

Soon, she was keeling on the floor, her hands massaging my inner thigh, and her tongue working on the button of my jeans.

Yeah, my boner was out in no time at all.

Celia lets a sound between a purr and a hum when she saw the member. I admit I spend a shameful amount of time on a public bathroom playing with my new biokinesis; as minor as the power is, it was more than enough to comfortably put me in the region of well-endowed.

"Well, well look who is packing more than expected," she leans down and lays a warm kiss at the base, making my legs twitch at the sensation. She breathed out, "Aunty likes," and an equally warm tongue joins the lips.

The warm tongue trailed each one of the pulsing veins one by one, undulating along the shaft like its a particular tasty Popsicle, the soft lips that accompany it leaving kisses behind, making the flesh hot and tingly, all while a hand gently massaged my sack and a pair of brown eyes sending a sultry look to my green ones.

I did everything I could to not cum right there.

My efforts must have been showing, because her eyes lit up with a tinge of humor. Then she begins to help me prolong the experience.

She lets go a couple of times, to give me opportunities to gather myself and to make the pressure build up more to a bigger climax. During those times she kept softly stimulating my member with deep sniffs and hot breathes, passing the tip of her lips along the length and leaving furtive kisses on the head. Once I wasn't in danger of blowing anymore, the intense licking would restart, and I would build up faster than before.

I'm not going to last much longer. This body is too hormonal, and Celia is too experienced for me to handle, she must have realized that, and apparently decided to give me a memorable experience. Again, its kinda touching that she is trying to make it so good for me, instead of moving to end it quickly.

Her hand massages my now naked inner thighs, as she had taken my jeans off during the ministrations, allowing them to spread further. The torturous tongue that keeps rolling along my engorged head retreats back behind those pillowed lips, andI open my eyes to see what she is planning and see a playful look on her face as she pushes her lips together in a perfectly formed kissy face and plants it on the tip on my member.

And then goes down.

My whole body jerked, and I let out a long groan as a warm, wet, mouth enveloped my dick with the familiar tongue moving to enhance the entire experience.

She moves with deliberately slow movements, raising her head a little to show each new glistening inch and dipping down lower each time, the tongue moving to stimulate my head, licking around the hole, before descending to greet each new part of the shaft and the wet, slurping sounds she was making sounded absolutely majestic to my ears.

I struggle to keep my eyes open, Celia looked absolutely breathtaking right now, and I want to give back in some way, so I move my shaking hand to grip her hair, the attention making her lips curl around my clock.

About two-thirds of the way down I felt my tip hitting the back of her throat, and she pauses for a second at that, taking a deep breath and sending me an almost smug look before she descends the rest of the way down with a decisive gulp.

That's it. I can no longer hold back.

The tightening of the grip on her hair, and the swelling of the cock inside her mouth was the only warning she got, as I am quite literally incapable of forming words, and my only response was shallow movements in the warm throat around me.

I am really gad that the non-real space worked on a different perspective of time than reality, because that's the only thing that allowed me to execute phase two of my plan.

With one Charge I created a power to transmute any fluid in my body into any type of chemical I want, with a minor tweak to control the production of it. And with the last Charge, I broadened the scope of chemicals I could produce and added a tinker sub power with the focus on chemistry.

The shock of various ideas and projects for new esoteric chemicals assaulting my brain was enough to delay the climax. Celia took that as a challenge, and began to move her head left and right, making my swollen member hit different parts of her throat.

I only have a few seconds to make the changes that I needed, and then my hips jerk forward, and I explode the tinker tech semen down her throat.

She swallows again and again, eagerly drinking the unnatural amount that I was releasing, humming hotly the entire time. Eventually, I manage to gather myself enough to stop the production.

Celia kept my cock inside her mouth for a few seconds after I finish, her tongue searching for any remains of cum left. That makes me raise an eyebrow, she's still looking for more after that much?

Then I notice that one of her hands isn't on my thigh anymore, and was vigorously playing between her legs.

Fetish, Its got to be some fetish.

Then she finally pulled off and took a much-needed gulp of air.

The entire experience left the two of us panting and looking at each other, but soon her second hand joined the first one, and she lets out a pretty loud moan because of the increase in her sensitivity.

"T-thas-Ah!-" she starts to fumble at words, "H-Hold on."

She buries her face in my groin, just beside my dick, and gives a deep, long sniff; her entire body seems to shiver.

"Oh fuck-" I watch her eyes widen, the sclera quickly acquiring a pink tinge. Her legs seem to quake, raising her hips high in desperate, grinding movements. "Something's wron-InnnNGH!" it was all she managed to get out before she suffered yet another pulse of pleasure.

Well, she just swallowed great quantities of tinker made aphrodisiac, its no wonder she is reacting like this.

I throw away my shirt and pull her back to my lap to keep her from falling to the floor. She wiggles the entire way; her hands were locked between her legs, trying to alleviate the intense arousal, her face pressed tightly against my skin, drawing inmy masculine musk, and her rapid breaths were quickly becoming frenetic moans.

"Celia, hey Celia," I grab her face with my free hand, as the other was in her lower back, helping her stay upright, her eyes slowly focusing on me, "Do you need any help with that?" I push my still hard dick against her ass cheek.

Refractory periods are a thing of the past, it seems…

I can practically see her brain struggle to make sense of what I said.

"Helsh, Yesh, I need, mmmGH!, Danny I need," She tries to raise her body but ends up falling to the bed with a loud gasp.

Her hips were up immediately after, while her head groaned against my pillow, her hands grabbing a portion of her pants and trying to pull them off, having difficulties passing it around the large globes.

The sight would be comical in any other circumstance, but now it looks hot as fuck.

I grab the edge of the fabric myself, making sure to take the edge of the panties too, and roughly pull it down to her knees, ruining the material and leaving the remains clinging on her legs. She lets out a moan of relief from the contact with the cool air and arched her rear up, essentially shoving her dripping pussy only inches from my face.

I drank in the sight; plump dark brown lips with a hint of pink inside, thick strings of juice flowing from it, and a bit of pubic hair of top as apparently the landing cut was left a bit neglected lately, but it wasn't to the point of being a mess.

It seems like I spent a bit too much looking, as a pair of fingers appear in my vision and spread the opening wide, showing more of the pink inside.

"Come Onnn, Ah, AH- Danny I need it…" I grab her hips before she started swaying, raising to my knees.

"What do you need, Celia?" I tease, rubbing my head at her entrance.

"Fuck mmeee!" She whines hoarsely, pushing back against me.

Well, I can't just leave a lady waiting.

The wetness made it easy to pop my head inside. Immediately, the walls clench tightly around it, and her body quakes as the intrusion broke the dam build around the pleasure.

Celia lets out a high pinch squeak through gritted teeth, her upper body rising suddenly and her back arching almost painfully.

Normally I would wait for the convulsions to pass before going further in, but after getting a taste of the warm, inviting tunnel, that wasn't an option. With one hand to push her body against the bed once more, another steadying her shaking hips, I drive myself the rest of the way in.

Warm, clenching flesh folds itself around my cock, trying to milk it for all it worth, her pillowed ass pushed against my waist and a fresh round of squirts began to drench my balls.

The sensation was much better than I remembered.

I manage to hold back the first instinct of rutting her like an animal and instead drop my body on top of her, putting my head over her shoulder and appreciating the fact that I could cover her entirely with my new size.

Her head eventually falls back into the pillow, the silent scream changing to a muffled moan, the violent spasms becoming slight tremors.

I breathe hot, impatient breathes on the skin of her neck and move to nibble her ear.

"Can I move?" I asked, pushing against her hips, the tip of my length hitting her insides in different ways.

She groans deeply, but nods her head in response, the curled legs spreading out even more and her ass flexing against my waist.

I slowly draw myself back until I was almost out, her walls still clinging tightly along the way. I couldn't help but grin when I saw her tensing her muscles, preparing for what would come.

My second thrust provoked a similar reaction to my first one, and a new series of gasped breaths accompanying it. I grind our hips for a few moments, before pulling again. Each subsequent thrust brings new kinds of sensations to both of us.

Soon she begins grinding back, her movements meeting my increasingly frantic pace.

Her ass was cushioning the force of my thrust, sending ripples through the supple flesh and making the slapping sounds to mix with the orchestra of squeaks and groans. My hand go below her, pushing her tank top up, and grabbing one of her sizable breasts, gripping the nipple between my fingers, testing the pleasure. The other goes down, grabbing her clit.

She screams in pleasure, thrashing more violently than before. But this time, I couldn't stop even if I wanted to, so I force a passage through her tight, quivering depths, which only seems to prolong her delightful screams.

I feel the moist cave trembling against me, nursing my cock with relentless devotion. The pressure building up was almost too much, and it seems to stimulate the Tinker's ideas in my head; I got overwhelmed by the need to experiment, as much as the need to cum.

I drive myself deep, feeling my head hitting something deep inside, making her jerk violently; I couldn't register what it was before I erupt deep inside, filling her with a potent torrent of modified cum. Her walls convulse wildly against my length; theyalmost seem delighted by finally receiving what they were craving.

We spend several minutes just lying there, before I slowly pull out my cock, causing a meaty pop. I move my hand over her glistening back, massaging the tense muscles while I rise to a kneeling position. Soon I was off her; Celia drunkenly twisted herself to lie on her back.

"Huff, Huff. Da-Danny." She was having difficulty moving her tongue, the worst of the fire was calmed, but her eyes still held a pink tinge, in a few minutes she would be energized again, and the arousal would start to build once more. Hm, it was quite dangerous for a normal human, now that I think about it, but again it was a rush job. "You came inside, Danny, Mgh!" she rubbed her lower belly, drawing a moan from herself and causing more of the thick white substance to spill out of her, It also directed my attention to her state. "You-You shouldn't have – huff- done that-ah!- it could end up with-"

I know she was saying something mildly important, but my perception of anything else flew away in favor of the vision of the hot woman lying in front of me.

The dense layer of sweat made the brown skin sparkle with soft trails of light; the deep rise and fall of her chest made her voluptuous breasts bounce majestically, a feminine face wet with tears and drool that had escaped due to the overwhelming pleasure, and more importantly, the bruise on her cheek plainly healing in front of my very eyes, as the regenerative solution worked on her insides.

It hard to explain the feeling I was having, beyond the exuberance of losing my new body's virginity and having a fantastic sex I was seeing the result of a substance so above the present scientific levels that it might as well be called a health potion, a substance that I created, and created using sperm!

"…Seriously." Celia whispers, no doubt noticing my new erection.

"Celia…Can we go one more time?" I half ask half plead, barely containing myself from jumping on her.

She gulps, her eyes flashing with the inner conflict, and her hips roll with the beginnings of the arousal. The sensation brought newfound energy to her. "Ah, fuck it." She spreads her legs, raising them up to grab the knees. I feel my eyes widen as the position made her pussy very evident. "Come on Danny, let's see how much you last."

I don't need any more incentive to dive in.

-0-0-0-

How long has it been?

"Oh fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuuuuuuuck!" Her walls convulsed around my length once more.

I grunt loudly, drive myself deep, pouring my release in the stuffed womb, some spilling back due to the fullness in the organ, but most of it contributes to the visible swelling.

We might have gotten a little out of control…

I was currently pounding her against the kitchen table, our actions long since spread to the rest of the apartment, essentially fucking on top on every available surface and sometimes against the wall.

Currently, she had one leg planted on the floor while the other was over one of my shoulders as I pounded her from the side.

Over the last few… Hours? I filled her up with enough cum to make her belly swell a little; the many different substances had visible effects on her body.

All the damage from long-term drug use was essentially gone, a lean musculature had developed under her voluptuous form, and the lines that were beginning to form on her face had all but disappeared, making her look several years younger but thankfully not unrealistically so, many marks and scars had vanished from her skin, which was acquiring a healthy, vibrant tone.

With a show of her newly acquired flexibility, she rose from the table and twisted to attack my face with clumsy kisses.

Celia's speech had long size devolved into a monosyllabic and incomprehensible puzzle. Her mind was overwhelmed by the insane pleasure; she was only functioning because of the energizing substances that I was literally injecting into her, the same ones that were slowly changing her body.

Well, it looks like my secret is out unless I erased her memory before she regains the ability to think clearly again.

"Oh Danny, DANNy! FuckAH aH Fuck Againn" She lays kisses around my lips trying to stick her tongue inside, that's another thing, she has become really cuddly with me, trying to rub the maximum amount of skin together, crying in delight each time I got up close and personal.

Whatever.

I drive her to the table again, leaning my weight upon her, our tongues fighting for dominance, which she quite eagerly conceded. Her happy mewls turn into a musical gasps as I begin thrusting once again.

I don't care about that right now. The warmth inside her was so inviting that I wouldn't mind staying here forever. It just feels so natural to fuck this quivering ball of pleasure that reacts to all my actions in the most delicious way, letting out the most delicious sounds, I honestly don't give a fuck about anything besides the soft, bouncing woman beneath me. The other worries have to wait their turn.

Her muscular legs crossed behind my waist, her tongue-

"WHAT THE - THE FUCK IS THIS?!" A furious roar echoes throughout the apartment.

Wut- Oh.

I forgotten about him…

…Ah, well.