The alarm was blaring at full power in the tower, violently ripping Raven from her dream and sending her tumbling to the floor along with the chair she had fallen asleep in. Muttering a few curses under her breath, she scrambled back up to survey the monitor. It had brought up a map of the city and a mark was blinking at the mall. Raven however nearly choked on her own breath when she saw the mark; it was an 'S'.

"Raven, can you hear me? We've got a situation here!" Robin's voice suddenly yelled seconds before an image of him was brought up beside the map on the screen.

"Yes, I've noticed it. Someone's terrorizing people at the mall. Police is already on sight but they're pinned down on the street" Raven explained calmly. He nodded before talking again.

"Alright, I think we can handle this on our own. Raven, you stay put, alert us if anyt…."

"Robin" Raven interrupted him, her voice still calm but now had a sharp edge to it. Robin looked at her irritably.

"What?" he asked, annoyance plainly visible on his face. Raven knew that what she was about to say next would provoke Robin to extreme levels but as leader, he needed to know this piece of information.

"It's Slade" she simply said while averting her gaze from his. The silence that followed that statement was nearly painful for Raven. When she looked back at Robin, the hateful and frightening face she saw would probably even leave the Dark Knight in need of a new pair of underwear. This was going to end badly, Raven just knew it. Suddenly another red dot appeared on the city map. Raven looked at the new stream of information that came with it before turning to Robin again.

"There's something going on at the docks. A worker there claims that he heard gunfire from a warehouse at pier 40" Raven said. Robin looked infuriated to say the least that something else had come up just when he was about to face his most hated enemy again.

"Alright, I'll send Starfire to investigate it, you continue to monitor what Slade's up to" Robin said. To that statement Raven glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"With due respect, I'm closer to the docks then you are, and I can simply teleport there. You'll need Starfire against Slade, so you four go and deal with him while I deal with this" Raven firmly stated, making it clear that she would not take a no for an answer. Luckily, Robin knew when he was beaten and relented.

"Very well, report back when you're done" Robin said before hanging up. Raven analyzed the red dot carefully for a few moments before heading towards the door.

"Once again he tries to keep you out of the loop" the voice said in her head. That brought an irritated growl from her throat.

"Shut up!" Raven responded angrily. She then stormed out of the living room but stopped in the hallway when her vision started blurring. Raven leaned against the wall and put her right hand against her forehead but she felt something warm and sticky in her palm. Looking at her hand in alarm, she saw that it was smeared with blood. As soon as she saw this, an image of a pair of dead blue eyes staring pleadingly at her flashed past her eyes and she thought she heard Starfire scream. It only lasted for a few seconds and when she looked at her hand again, the blood was gone. Dismissing it as a figment of her imagination, Raven kept on walking towards the elevator.

…..

The sight that greeted the Titans at the mall was one of chaos; with several cars burning, nearly every window shattered, the main entrance to the mall blown wide open, a handful of corpses strewn at the entrance and on the open street and all the cops hugging whatever cover they could tightly. Behind the wreckage of an ambulance a police officer, along with two others, was waving at the Titans, indicating they should come closer. The Titans started moving towards him but followed the cop's example and moved quickly from cover to cover with their heads held low. As soon as they reached the man he smiled reassuringly at them.

"Finally you're here. I was starting to worry we'd have to deal with this ourselves" he said to them. He had a blood soaked bandage over his head while the guy to his right was slumped against the back of the ambulance, his left leg gone from the knee and downward. The last of them was standing at the edge of the ambulance, cautiously peeking around it at the mall. The man with the bandage stretched out a hand at Robin.

"I'm Jim by the way" he said

"Nice to meet you. Now can you tell me what the situation is?" Robin responded while shaking Jim's hand.

"Well it's not good, I can tell you that" Jim said before gesturing at the mall.

"Some psycho blew a bomb outside in the parking lot and then went on a shooting rampage inside. By the time we got here everyone had either died or fled the scene. We tried smashing our way in through the front door, but the bastard had booby trapped it with shrapnel mines and well; you can see the result yourself. Next thing you know, someone started taking headshots at us, already gotten ten men. We've tried to pinpoint his exact location but he's like a damn ghost" Jim explained angrily.

"We heard it was Slade, can you confirm this to us?" Robin asked, muscles tensing as he mentioned the name Slade. Jim looked thoughtful for a moment before responding.

"Can't say really, though some of the boys claim they caught sight of a large man wearing a half orange half black mask. So unless you know another supervillian with that kind of mask, I'd say it's him"

"You stay outside, we'll go in and take care of him" Robin said. Jim just nodded before Robin began sprinting across the open road, not even stopping to give any orders or encouragements to his team. Seeing no other option, they warily followed him. Thankfully they reached the entrance without incident and as they peered in, all they saw where the smashed shops and the occasional corpses. As they cautiously entered the mall, everyone of them were ready for a sudden attack; Robin had his boo staff extended and tightly gripped in both his hands, Cyborg had his sonic cannon ready and constantly aimed it at everything he looked at, Starfire hovered a few feet above ground with starbolts loaded in both her hands and Beast boy prowled ahead as a tiger.

As they reached an escalator they stopped dead in their tracks, for at the top of it stood none other than Slade. He was largely obscured by shadows but they could still make out his mask and his single eyes staring intently at them. He stood absolutely still with his hands clasped behind his back. For several heartbeats, both side stood as immobile as statues. Finally Robin, with a wild battle cry, rushed up the escalator and smashed his staff straight into Slade's head sending him crashing to the ground in a heap of limbs. Robin pounced on him in an instant, crushing him against the floor and violently ripping the mask of his face. However, Robin was left speechless from surprise and confusion when he looked on the face of the dummy in his grip. The other Titans had now joined Robin and they were equally as confused as Robin.

"Dude, that's not Slade" Beast boy burst out, stating the obvious.

"Could this be another one of Slade's tricks?" Starfire asked. Robin turned around to face Starfire.

"I have no id..." he began but stopped when he saw light being reflected in something small a few floor's up. Reacting on instincts, he rushed forward and tackled Starfire to the ground. Mere seconds later a bang echoed in the mall and Robin felt a bullet whistle overhead. Beast boy and Cyborg stood dumbstruck for a few seconds before they dived behind a pair of pillars. Robin meanwhile managed to crawl into the cover of a stone railing and dragged Starfire with him just in time before another bullet buried itself in the floor where Starfire had been a second earlier.

"Impressive Robin. It seems you have got the reflexes of a cat. But sadly you also got the predictable temperament of a bull" a voice called out. Robin was a little puzzled by the voice since he could clearly hear that it was not Slade at all. Robin guessed that his best chance would be to keep the man talking so he could pinpoint his exact location.

"Who are you and where's Slade?" he called out.

"To answer your first question boy, you can simply call me the Hunter. As for your second question; Slade's not here and he never was. In fact, he's not even involved in this!" the Hunter responded. Strangely enough, it sounded like his voice echoed across the entire mall. But Robin was more concerned about what he had just heard.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"A skilled hunter always learns everything he can about his prey before hunting it. An interesting fact about you Robin is your fanatical grudge against Slade. You have gone to extreme lengths in the past to capture him, even at one point crossing the very line between hero and criminal to do so" the Hunter explained. Robin's breath got lodged in his throat as he heard the last part. Did he know about the Red X suit?That was a thought that raced through Robins mind.

"You also have a tendency to forget all about tactics and caution whenever you face him, instead giving in to your hatred and impulses. A truly despicable weakness in a leader if you ask me" the Hunter continued. Robin felt his anger grow as the Hunter insulted him.

"But that habit also gave me an advantage over you, since I knew what would really aggravate you enough to make you come to me. If you want to lure a prey out into the open and into a trap, you have to use the right bait" the Hunter concluded. Robin felt his anger grow to newer levels by that statement, but now that anger was also directed at himself. This was his entire fault, because of his recklessness they had walked straight into a trap.

"Yo! If you're not one of Slade's goons, then who's your boss?" Cyborg suddenly called out.

"That's information that I'm not at liberty to share with you. Suffice to say that it's the same one who also hired that psycho Iron Mask" the Hunter responded.

"Why am I not surprised by that?" Robin muttered sarcastically.

"Personally I'm glad that he failed in killing you. I'm hoping to test my hunting skills against you before I go after the big game" the Hunter continued to explain.

"Just what are you babbling about?" Cyborg asked.

"I'm a hunter. My whole life is about the thrill of the hunt. I have already hunted every animal on this Earth and none of them provides any sport for me. In order to continue my call, I came to the conclusion that only by hunting meta humans would I find the necessary challenge" the Hunter explained. The Titans were unsure what was most creepy; the fact that he hunted people like themselves or the fact that he could talk about it in such a casual way.

"So you're just here to kill us then!" Beast boy yelled at him.

"On a personal level; yes, that's my goal. But my employer instructed me to simply distract you and only kill you if I got an opportunity to do so" the Hunter explained.

"Wait, distract us from what?" Robin asked worriedly. He was of course very concerned, if this was all a diversion then who knows what could be going on somewhere else in the city.

"Shouldn't it be obvious to you? Or didn't you notice that you're one less team member" the Hunter said arrogantly. That brought a collective gasp from the Titans as the implications sunk into them.

"Raven" was all that Robin managed to say.

…..

Despite the time of the day, the docks where empty of people. Raven did not detect a single person down at pier 40 and that was troublesome news for her. She had expected a few officers to be on sight, maybe even a few workers. Heck, she had even expected to be met by gunfire from the culprit. She had definitely not expected this lack of response. As she warily walked around, trying to at least found whoever made the call, she stumbled upon a police car parked outside of an open warehouse. Peeking into the car, Raven saw no trace of its owners but suddenly she heard what sounded like a moan coming from the warehouse. Raven cautiously entered it to find hundreds of crates stacked on top of each other in several heaps, creating a labyrinth through the warehouse. Raven trudged past the crates at a cautious pace, eyes constantly scanning her surroundings for any threat.

"Help me" a weak voice suddenly said from up ahead. Raven immediately stopped and reached out with her powers to see if there was anyone up ahead. She detected one life form, but its aura was very weak. Raven made a quick sweep of the nearby surroundings to make sure no one was lying in ambush before phasing right through the wall of crates towards the voice. She found him tied to a chair in an open space with a single lamp hanging right over him. Judging from what was left of his uniform Raven assumed he was a cop. When the man heard Raven approach, he raised his head to look at her with alarm. He fearfully glanced around before focusing his stare at her.

"You must get out!" he rasped at her. Raven was a little puzzled by it but still moved forward and began working on the knots.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out" she reassured him. But he seemed to be anything but reassured.

"You don't understand! It's a trap!" he yelled at her. Seconds later a bullet went right through his skull. Raven backed away in alarm and instinctively formed a barrier around herself but no second shot came. This turn of event chocked Raven since she had made a sweep of the area and she had detected no other living being. But now Raven noticed something else; she had a strange feeling, as if she was sensing another presence. This feeling was identical to what she had felt when she had been lost in the cave network. But now when she thought of it, it was actually the same feeling she had felt in the presence of Iron Mask.

"It can't be…" Raven whispered. As if on cue, the windows were shattered by swarms of crows bursting into the warehouse. They swirled above Raven, obscuring the roof and drowning the warehouse in their croaking. But Raven paid these little heed, instead trying to locate the one controlling them.

"Bonjour ma belle Raven, comment vous sentez-vous en cette journée glorieuse?" Iron Mask cheerfully asked her from behind. Rapidly spinning around, she found him standing casually on top of a pile of crates. Once again she glared into that hateful iron mask he took his name from. Seeing her death glare, Iron Mask simply laughed.

"I see you're still somewhat furieuse at moi. I had hoped we could have pardonné each other by now" Iron Mask said solemnly. Raven's way of answering was by enveloping the crates at the bottom of the pile and pulling them out, causing the whole thing to come crashing down with Iron Mask. The moment he hit the ground, Raven formed a massive black hand and smashed it straight into Iron Mask's back. It carried enough punch to make a crater but Iron Mask just stood back up without any sign of discomfort.

"Less talking, more fighting" was all Raven said before hurling a pair of crates at Iron Mask. But this time he was ready and gracefully avoided both of them.

"Très bien" he said before making a gesture with his hand, causing the crows to attack.

…..

The stalemate at the mall had now gone on for fifteen minutes, with the Titans unwilling to run into the open and get in the Hunter's crosshairs while the Hunter apparently did not want to abandon his elevated position.

"Cyborg, now!" Robin suddenly shouted before covering his eyes. The other Titans did likewise just seconds before Cyborg fired off an intense light blast that blinded everyone that watched it. As soon as it wore off, the Titans sprang into action. Through their long conversation with the Hunter they had pin pointed his location to a cloth store two floors above. Starfire now bolted straight into the air and fired starbolt after starbolt at the store, Beast boy morphed into an eagle and took off towards the store, Cyborg added his own sonic cannon to the barrage and Robin fired a grappling hook to the second floor. The whole attack did not last longer than twenty seconds but by then the whole shop was destroyed.

When Robin reached the store, all he found was the remnants of a sniper rifle mounted on a stand and connected to a wireless control system. Soon Beast boy and Starfire had joined Robin as well and where equally as confused as he was.

"Where's the Hunter?" Starfire asked. In answer to her question, Cyborg suddenly cried out in pain. When they looked at where he was, they saw that he had a sword driven right through his stomach and a cloaked figure wearing a gas mask was standing behind him, pointing a gun at his head. Cyborg suddenly twirled around and swung both his hands at the Hunter who narrowly avoided them by jumping back. The Hunter fired five shots in rapid succession but while they would have gone through the human part of Cyborg's head, all they did now was ricochet off his armored chest.

Starfire suddenly came diving at the Hunter but he threw a ball at her. Seconds before making contact, the ball burst open and launched a net at Starfire who could not dodge it in time. She became entangled in it and crashed into a pillar. The Hunter aimed his gun at the now defenseless Starfire but Beast boy, in the form of a green tiger, pounced on him before he could pull the trigger. Beast boy pinned the Hunter to the ground while the Hunter grabbed Beast boy's front legs. Suddenly electrical volts shot from the Hunter's hands and into Beast boy, causing his fur to stand on end and making him morph back and forth between tiger and his usual form.

The Hunter threw Beast boy off himself and flipped back up on his feet, coming face to face with Robin who tried to smash his boo staff into his face. He caught it in both his hands and twisted it out of Robin's grasp, who immediately let go and brought his boot into the Hunter's stomach. He fell hard onto the ground and Robin came at him and tried to smash his boot into his chest. But the Hunter caught his foot as it came down and twisted it painfully around. Robin lost his balance and with a cry of pain he fell face first onto the floor next to the Hunter.

The Hunter jumped back up on his feet and pulled out a knife and turned towards Robin. A sonic blast from Cyborg then hit him in the side and sent him tumbling down the escalator. Cyborg came running after him with his sonic cannon at the ready but as soon as he came out into the open the Hunter pressed a remote on his arm and a minigun stationed on the third floor activated. It was wired to a motion tracking system which zeroed right in on Cyborg. He only realized his peril when a hail of bullets showered his armor. Thankfully his armor withstood the barrage but the sheer strength and ferocity of it forced him down on his knees.

Beast boy had by now recovered from his shock and flew straight at the minigun as a hawk. The minigun automatically locked on to this new threat and fired. Beast boy then morphed between all sorts of birds while trying to dodge all the incoming bullets. Finally he reached it and flew right over it and transformed into a hippo, crushing the minigun under his bulk. Robin had by then joined Cyborg and they both rushed the Hunter, although Cyborg lagged behind due to the sword still in his gut. The hunter simply stretched out his right arm and pressed a button on the underside of it with his left hand, causing a tube to be extended from underneath his sleeve.

Robin saw this danger just in time and narrowly dodged the jet of flames from it. Suddenly Cyborg burst right through the flames, his armored body protecting him from serious harm. The Hunter quickly retreated and threw a trio of discs at Cyborg. Two of them he managed to dodge but the third one lodged itself in his shoulder and sent a quick electrical current through his body. The Hunter rushed forward to finish him off but was forced back by Starfire sending several starbolts at him. She landed next to Cyborg who ripped the disc out of his shoulder while Robin and Beast boy also joined them. The Hunter just sighed.

"This is going to take a while" he said before he and the Titans attacked simultaneously.

…..

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" Raven chanted as she enveloped six crates in dark energy and began swinging them around, crushing dozens of crows. Already the floor was covered by hundreds of dead crows but still there seemed to be no end to them. She dropped the crates when Iron Mask appeared behind her and hit her in the back. The moment she hit the floor, the crows swarmed her. But she formed a barrier around herself and violently expanded it which sent the crows flying backwards.

Iron Mask came running at her again, a knife in his left hand, but she formed a pair of talons in her hands. As soon as Iron Mask got close enough she impaled him through his gut with her left talon and severed his left arm with the other. Raven used her powers to swing Iron Mask right over herself and smashed him head first into the floor before tossing him into a pile of crates. The crows ceased their attack but Raven did not let her guard down this time. And just as she expected, a few moments later Iron Mask stumbled out of the rubble.

"I thought that herós did not kill" Iron Mask said. Raven remained as impassive as before.

"We don't kill living beings. And last time I checked, undead psychos did not fall into that category" Raven responded sarcastically.

"Yes, I suppose you're right on that account" Iron Mask said. Suddenly Raven made a cutting motion with her hand, as if imagining slicing Iron Mask with it. Dark energy remained in the wake of Raven's hand and when she was done, a dark energy blade had formed that speeded towards Iron Mask in the blink of an eye. Before he could even react, his remaining arm was sliced off.

"Now that's tricherie!" Iron Mask angrily exclaimed, the stumps of his arms waving comically in imitation of a pair of real arms. Raven did not respond, simply made a similar attack again. This time however, several crows moved into the blade's path, wearing its energy down until it dissipated without even coming close to Iron Mask. But Raven saw that several crows also surrounded the area where his arms would normally be. Then, the crows seemed to melt into liquid darkness and attached themselves to Iron Mask's stumps. Within seconds the liquid darkness had hardened and formed a new pair of arms for Iron Mask. He made some stretching's with his arms and flexed his fingers before facing Raven again.

"Magnifique, don't you agree?" Iron Mask nonchalantly asked.

"Oh great, an undead with the ability to replace cut off limbs. This is going to take the whole day" Raven whined before forming a trio of arms that moved towards Iron Mask. Before they reached him, the crows suddenly dived towards Iron Mask and obscured him from view. Then they scattered away but Iron Mask himself was gone.

"If you liked that trick, then you'll aimer this one" Iron Mask said, his voice echoing from all around Raven. Suddenly ten Iron Masks jumped out of the swarms of crows. The first one came running at her and delivered a kick into her stomach which sent her straight into the arms of a second clone standing behind her. Raven immediately formed several black blades and shredded the one holding her before thrusting her right arm forward and sending a dark energy beam speeding towards the one that kicked her. The clone was impaled through the chest and the body dissolved into crows. The beam suddenly changed direction and speeded towards a second victim. The next clone saw the danger and tried to dodge it but it matched the clone's movement perfectly and a second later impaled it too, causing it also to dissolve into crows.

Two clones came running at Raven and she redirected her beam at them. Seeing this imminent danger, they split up and came at Raven from two directions. The beam caught up with one of them and went right through its skull. That gave the second one time to close the distance to Raven and try to tackle her to the ground. But a black pool was formed underneath Raven and she sunk through it and reappeared behind the confused clone. Raven grabbed it with her powers but suddenly got hit in the back of her head which sent her sprawling on the floor. Two clones, the one she had grabbed and the one that hit her in the head, rushed towards her but in desperation she unleashed at black barrier at them. The moment their bodies past through that barrier they dissolved. That attack left her drained of power and she drew in ragged breaths. Then another clone appeared above her and grabbed her throat. Drawing on the strength she had left, Raven sent a dark tendril right through the left eye socket. As that body dissolved into crows, Raven weakly staggered back to her feet but something hit her in the back and she landed heavily on her stomach. Before she could get up, a weight pressed her down to the floor while a pair of hands gripped her arms tightly and held them behind her back. Looking slightly over her shoulder, she saw that the remaining three clones where holding her down.

"You fought bien, but you've lost now" Iron Mask said from all around her.

"Show yourself, coward!" Raven shouted at him. She was scared at the moment since she had no strength left to defend herself, but she would not show such weakness in front of an enemy. Raven suddenly noticed that several crows were converging on the same spot, a few feet in front of her. She also noticed that Iron Mask's iron mask was carried in that swarm. Then, with overly dramatic slowness, the crows melted into liquid darkness and began to form a human body with the iron mask serving as the head. Soon, Iron Mask was standing in front of her.

"Contente now?" he asked.

"If you're going to kill me, then just get it over with!" Raven snarled. But to her surprise he just laughed.

"Kill you? Mon chère Raven. If I wanted you morte, I could just have let you die in that mine" he said. Raven looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I take it you don't remember. Très bien, I will remind you then" he responded.

…..

Flashback

The explosion threw Iron Mask back ferociously while ripping his left arm from his body. He was sent tumbling down a large fissure, his body nothing more than a scorched heap of meat. But Iron Mask cared little for the damage done to his body, he would just repair it at a later date. Iron Mask suddenly noticed that there was a large black sphere also falling with him. He easily recognized that power as Raven's. But Raven's fall did not go as smoothly as Iron Mask's. The sphere kept bouncing down along the walls and it was putting a huge strain on the already weakened Raven. Finally the sphere could take no more beating and shattered. Directly afterwards, Raven hit her head hard against the rock wall and blacked out.

"Merde!" Iron Mask cursed. This was not good for him, if Raven died his plan would just flush straight down the toilet. So he desperately tried to reach Raven, though the laws of gravity hampered his progress quite a bit. Eventually he managed to grab hold of her belt but what was worse, he was starting to see the bottom of the fissure.

"Temps désespérés appellent des mesures désespérées" he muttered to himself before chanting an incantation. A glowing circle appeared below them from which a wind blew that slowed their descent. Then the wind disappeared and they both fell through the circle which now served as a portal. They reappeared in a dark and ancient hall, straight above a massive spear. Iron Mask instinctively threw Raven aside to save her but was himself impaled on the spear right through the chest. He could feel that he held something in his right hand and when peering at it, he saw that Raven's communicator was clutched in it. Soon Iron Mask's spell wore off and everything around him turned pitch black. But instead of getting off the spear, Iron Mask decided to remain where he was. He needed to make sure that Raven actually got out alive and besides, if she saw him 'dead' then he could continue with his work with impunity. So all that was left was to wait for Raven to come around, which would probably take a while.

…..

Raven was quite skeptical towards that story but nevertheless, it actually explained how she had ended up in that hall in the first place.

"So you see Raven, I'm not your ennemi here" Iron Mask said. Raven just snorted.

"All evidence to the contrary" she said while jerking her head towards the clones of Iron Mask still pinning her down.

"Okay, so I'm not your copain either! But I'm something far more important to you" he said cryptically. Raven narrowed her eyes at him.

"And what would that exactly be?" Raven cautiously asked. Iron Mask did not answer at first, instead he walked over to a nearby crate and sat down on it before turning his attention back to Raven.

"Think about it. We both feel each other's présence before we even see each other. Do you know why?" he asked. Raven did not answer him, instead eyed him cautiously as if she expected him to attack her at any moment; which was exactly what she suspected.

"I take your silence as a 'no'. Très bien, let me put it plainly to you; I'm half daemon too" Iron Mask announced. Raven's eyes went wide and she was at a complete loss of words. Not receiving any reply from Raven, Iron Mask decided to go on.

"Did you actually think that you're the only one who was blessed with this gift? Though I must admettre that even among half daemons you're extraordinaire, I doubt anyone else can boast about being the child of the great Trigon" Iron Mask said. Raven meanwhile was still in shock and hardly even registered what he was saying.

"I for one do not have such a powerful patrimoine. Mon père was some nameless minor daemon who got a lucky shot with my mother" Iron Mask concluded. Finally Raven's shock wore off enough for her to speak but there was only one thing she could think of to say.

"Who are you?" she asked weakly. Iron Mask looked directly into her eyes before answering.

"You want to know who I am? Then I will tell you a story about a young man with a grand vision for the future, an extraordinaire man. Let me tell you the truestory of The Man in the Iron Mask"


Finally, the truth of who Iron Mask really is has been revealed. And just so you know, the next chapter will be devoted fully to Iron Mask's background.

Translation time:

Bonjour ma belle Raven, comment vous sentez-vous en cette journée glorieuse = God day my beautiful Raven, how are you feeling on this glorious day

Pardonné = forgiven

Tricherie = cheating

Aimer = love

Contente = happy

Mon chère = my dear

Morte = dead

Temps désespérés appellent des mesures désespérées = desperate times call for desperate measures

Copain = friend

Patrimoine = heritage

Mon père = my father

As always, I hope you can decipher the remaining words without my help.