Sweat droplets begin to run down his face and back as he prepared his batting stance. He exhaled a big breath to calm his nerves.
He tried to remember all he learned regarding baseball when Dad once rented the Yankees stadium just to play a game for themselves. Dad even invited The Mets to be their opponent. The Avengers are all there, except Thor, Uncle Rhodes is with them, Pepper, Happy, Agent Hill, Director Fury, and they all wished Agent Coulson could've been there to join them. It was the first time he learned how to play the sport with Steve as his teacher, along with the guidance of The Mets team. He has been fond of sports ever since he was a kid, but when his lungs were impaired from the dengue fever, over time he just had withdrawn from being a player to just being a watcher.
He's pulled back into the present when Flash mockingly laughed in front of him as the pitcher. "Ready this time, Penis Parker?"
His facial muscles around his mouth grew tense. It's their last attempt to score before the other team can win and he hates how middle schooler's can be unforgiving and competitive when it comes to sports.
"Don't mind him, dude." Ned murmured beside him who's the catcher. He gave his bestfriend a tight-lipped smile. "Yeah." I can do this.
Game starts and Flash as the best thrower of their team, flawlessly throws the ball to him, but before he can even hit, Ned catches it.
"Too slow, Parker! Are you even going to hit the ball?" Flash shouted while giving a sneer.
"Come on, Stark. Throw some juice in there." Coach clapped and game starts again.
Why do I have to suck at sports? Why can't practical's at PE just be written exams?
He pushed away his bickering thoughts and this time, with a more convincing fluid swing, he managed to hit the ball and it flew into a long distance. Loud cheers from everyone erupted as Peter realized what he did. This is the first time he managed to swing perfectly like that!
He runs as fast as possible to the first base and made it while the center fielder is still trying to catch the ball.
Ned beamed proud and Flash's mouth agape as he disbelievingly watched his most hated classmate attempts for a home run.
Come on. Come on. Come on. "Lungs don't give up on me now." Peter muttered as he made it to the third base. One more base to go!
The center fielder catches the ball and immediately throws it to the baseman near Peter. The girls screamed and he grinned as he's about to reach home base, he's finally there!
But his excitement was cut short when suddenly a baseman with a ball in its hand tagged him out. And just like that, a different cheer was heard. The other team won and Flash jumped in happiness, while Peter started to feel the exhaustion and sits back at the ground catching his breath. It was the farthest thing he ran at the shortest time. The adrenaline pushed him through and now his lungs are catching up with him.
As he watches the other team rejoice, heaving heavy breaths, a hand reached in front of him and helped him back up.
"That's a pretty badass swing." Ned tapped his arm.
"Thanks. Congrats though," Ned just smiled and shrugged his shoulders and they started to walk back inside as Coach gathered them up.
"My legs feel like jello."
"You'll sure do after running like that."
After having a relaxing hot shower and devouring food at lunch, Peter and Ned started to walk back to their locker area to gather their things. Ned was recalling how Liz and the other girls started cheering on him when he was sprinting onto the bases, and Peter can't believe of that ever happening.
They were on their way to class when he saw a bunch of people in white coats coming towards them, and Peter stopped in his tracks which made Ned look back at him.
Ned's brows knitted in confusion. "Peter? You okay?"
He just found himself frozen as color drained out of his face. He looks at his hands now shacking and the memories of his abduction started playing in his mind like a broken record. It's been almost two years now since he has been kidnapped, a year since he last had a panic attack. His counselling sessions had lasted for a year and his psychiatrist cleared him already. We thought it's gone now, he thought it's over, he can freely see some Doctors at the R&D labs and it didn't bother him. But why...
Flash bumped along Peter's back as Peter still can't move a muscle, he and his friends were on their way to the same class.
"Well, well.. What do we have here,"
Flash tapped his shoulder wearing a sarcastic smile, "Nice try earlier, wimp. Too bad, Jones tagged you first,"
Flash called out to Jones who's now coming their way, "Hey, Jones! Say sorry here, Parker looked like he just shit his pants!"
A booming laughter roared around and Peter just heaved heavy breaths as people around him started to thicken, different laughter, different noises seem to blur around.
"I need- I need to get out of here." He mumbled under his breath.
He feels like he's being sucked out of air. Peter tried to walk free but one of the boys clutched his hoodie. They started circling around him.
Another laughter was heard. "Trying to get away now, Parker? We're not yet finished."
"Let me go." Peter clasped the straps of his bagpack as fear crossed his face, he can't be in a tight closed space.
Oh no, no, no. I can't, I can't go through that again.
It's one of the things that trigger his PTSD, but no one knows about it, not even Ned. He doesn't want anyone to know. He doesn't want anyone giving him a pitying look, he doesn't want anyone to look him the same way they looked at his previous school, that's why he begged Dad to never tell anyone in school about what happened in Florida, cause he doesn't want to add it to the "list of things people need to be wary about Peter" kind of list.
"Get away from him! Peter!" He heard Ned now shouting at the back but he can't see him, these guys are much taller than them.
His breathing hitched, antagonizing memories splattering as laughter grows.
If he doesn't do anything now, he's sure he's going to die. In a jolt of reflex he reached out to the emergency side pocket of his bagpack and pulled out his piñata for a cricket/flare canister, closing his eyes, popping the piñata open.
In a split second a flashing light appeared, but not just that, a loud screeching noise echoed across the whole hall almost deafening to those surrounding him. Flash and his mates went on their knees and covered their ears.
As all of them recover, some of the boys started to get up and run, afraid of getting caught. Ned stared shocked on the scene that unfolded and hurriedly helped Peter back up. But before they can even run for their classrooms, Principal Morita showed up outraged as he inspects what happened.
"All of you, my office! Now!"
"Should we use the repulsors you designed for SHIELD?" Bruce asked Tony as he helped in designing the specs for Veronica.
The Science Bro's are on their toes again as they tweak and prepare the final design for the Hulkbuster armor that they're going to fly in orbit satellite in a few weeks.
Over the past six months, Bruce asked Tony, if they can build a backup armor in case The Hulk goes on a rampage and can't be controlled. Tony agreed, no questions asked, it's about time they build some precautionary measure for their big green guy, they all know how difficult it is to calm down The Hulk even on a planned fight, how much more it is if it's mind got disrupted.
"Yeah, we can, and we'll make it stronger to sustain flight even on increased weight. Let's throw in some rockets in there as well." Tony waved his hand as he includes rockets on the holgrammed armor in-front of them. He wanted to make sure this mark44 is capable of taking down the Hulk at any given circumstance.
"What are they going to do in it anyway? Did you ask?" Bruce looks over at Tony's side while he perfects the repeating systems and Tony raised a brow at him.
"There's no use asking cause we know SHIELD and their level of secrecy, clearance shit, whatever. Fury won't budge even if I asked him if it was to upgrade or repair their Helicarrier. He just said "It was for the greater good." Whatever that means."
"But you tried to sneak in?"
Tony now gazed at him serious. "Well, yeah. But I can't seem to break in. Weird thing is my codes get deleted as soon as I started going through their deep shit. JARVIS can't even get through."
"Any word on Steve and Natasha?"
"Still nothing for like, what? I think two weeks now."
Bruce forehead creased. "Are they going solo now? Like Thor in London? I hope they don't forget we're still "The Avengers". Protectors of the free world, hello?"
Tony chuckled as he never thought of Bruce saying that. He clearly remembered the scientist saying that they're just a chemical mixture that makes chaos, but now things have turned upside down. He once thought that he's the only protector and defender of the free world when it's just Iron Man in the superhero business but now he has team that he can rely on.
Steve and Natasha soon came back at SHIELD missions after a month of being at the Tower after the battle on the norco. They rarely get to see their other team members and only on special occasions. Any world threatening event that may have occurred recently, it seems all of them already figured it out on their own as with what happened with Thor in London just a few months ago. They only saw the portals through the news and the ruins it caused from his battle with the other alien creatures.
"Forgive me, Banner. Malekith has this dark magic powered by the Aether, which can't be subjugated by any humans, although it would be a delight to see you try and smash him into the gates of Hel."
Thor put his hand on Bruce shoulder smiling and put his other hand into Tony's shoulder. "And you my friend, of course could have more powerful devices than Selvig's, but you know, my Jane did handled all of it, and there's no more time to call upon here."
After the Battle of Greenwich, Thor came back to Jane, but then came back at the Tower soon after a month. Whatever the reason was, it was surely their love life under the rocks.
Tony smiled while patting Thor's steady grip on him. "Yeah, yeah. We got it, point break."
The ringing of his phone alerted them after, and Tony went to grab it. A cold shiver ran through his back and he paled at the sight of the caller ID. Has something bad happened to Peter? His heart thuds frantic and he immediately answered the call.
"Mr. Stark. We need you to come here-"
"Is Peter, alright? Is he okay?" Tony felt like his stomach was about to turn upside down from anxiety. He can't take another bad thing happening to Peter. Peter has gone through so much already.
"He's okay now, Mr. Stark. We have something to discuss. It's best if you can come here immediately." He's okay now. Now? What happened earlier?
"I'll be there in five minutes." Tony immediately grabbed his blazer and signature red eyeglasses and went out of the lab while Bruce and Thor concerned gazes followed through. "Tony, what happened?" Bruce asked as he hurriedly followed along.
"I don't know. Something happened to Peter, I need to be there." His head was spiraling out of fear. Peter may have been cleared of his PTSD, but there's still a possibility of it being triggered by unforeseeable circumstances. Did he had an attack? Has he been attacked? Has he been bullied? Is he hurt?
"Hey, Tony. Tony, where are you going?," Bruce finally catches up to him and grabbed him to stop. Tony was going the wrong way instead of the garage where his car is, he's going where the Iron Man suit is.
"Hey, breathe. They said he was okay? Right?," Tony nodded, "Okay then, you don't need to blow up a bunch of kids at school using the suit. We go to the garage, to your car, we'll come with you."
Tony was about to refuse but figured Bruce was right, and he doesn't have any time to argue. The three of them hopped into the car and it was the fastest driving speed Bruce and Thor ever witnessed and felt in their entire life. Tony still insisted that the suit come with them. The mark43 landed on Midtown Tech the same time they arrived.
He hurriedly went to the front doors to the Principal's office while Bruce and Thor followed behind. They silently thanked that no students roamed around the halls at this hour as all classes are still on-going. As his steps go nearer, the heavy feeling of worry burrowed through his gut.
Peter looked down at his hand fidgeting as he receives dagger looks from Flash in front of him. Ned was with him earlier as they explained everything that happened. Principal Morita insisted that all who's at the sidelines go back to class and all the boys with Flash will receive detention for a week. Since Flash was the one who primarily bullied Peter and Peter was the one who triggered the canister, they're the one's left for displaying hostile behavior on school grounds as they wait for their parents.
He's worried about what Dad's reaction might be. Is he going to be upset, to be disappointed?
The principal's office door swung open and Tony's eyes immediately searched for his son.
"Dad." Peter was startled, in fact all of them are, especially Flash. Principal Morita has always been star-strucked everytime he's infront of Tony Stark, and now they can even see Bruce and Thor in the flesh.
Without even glancing at anyone in the room, Tony's arms flew straight to Peter embracing him and kissed his side of the head.
"Are you hurt? What happened?" He heaved a sigh of relief once he observed his son is still perfect as he always is, he glanced at Principal Morita waiting for an explanation.
"Dad, I'm sorry," Peter started to ramble as he tried to explain, "I panicked, I used the canister. There were men in white coats and I just, I don't know... I can't move, then my classmates started to circle around me, I don't know what to do. I didn't mean it."
"Hey, bud. It's okay, it's okay. You did what you have to do. I'm not mad." Tony looked at his son directly, calming him and caressed his cheek.
Right then, the door opened again and Mr. Thompson came in and immediately went to check on Flash. That's when Tony realized, since he's too preoccupied in checking Peter as his top priority, that he forgot there's another kid in the room.
His hunch was right all along, it was because of this bully.
Principal Morita started to explain what happened before any of the parents can get ahead of themselves and conclude things the other way. He also explained that the men with white coats are part of the American Medical Association's program that gives talks of inspiration to middle and high school students to take Medicine in the future.
"I'm sorry Mr. Stark. We didn't know that Peter still has the white coat syndrome. I initially thought he was cleared from it."
Tony shot a look at Bruce. "We thought so too since he always see Doctors now at the tower, but then maybe, it just isn't present when we're at home because he always feels safe in there."
Principal Morita now turned his gaze to Mr. Thompson to conclude the incident.
"Our school policy does not tolerate hostile or bullying behavior Mr. Thompson, and to say the least your son has shown this over the past year and we have already warned him of not doing it again. Now, this incident has shown, it has reached its limits when Eugene went too far and cornered Peter along with his friends. Those kids would face detention for a week, but Flash would have to be suspended to reflect on his actions for being the main offender in this incident."
Mr. Thompson irritably stood up, the anger he's trying to conceal ever since he got the call, has eventually erupted.
"Suspended? Eugene as the main offender? Are you serious? Who did open that goddamn device that almost deafens and blinded every student especially my son? It was him, isn't it?" He pointed a finger at Peter and Tony stood up to protect his son, releasing his own anger out.
"Don't you dare point your finger at my son, or I will end you."
Tension was felt around the room, as Tony piercingly stared into Mr. Thompson's soul with intent to kill. There are no hesitations, in any second he can summon his Iron Man armor waiting outside, or even without his suit, he can surely take on this guy. If it's about protecting Peter, he won't have a second thought. Anyone who comes after his son is dead now anyway. He's been trying to be casual and conceal his anger while Morita explained everything to them earlier, for the sake of Peter.
But to accuse my son of being offensive? He's just trying to defend himself, you son of a bitch!
He specifically designed that weapon and gave it to Peter in case of emergency. Ever since the kidnapping, he developed small weapons that Peter can use anytime, anywhere, in case he's not around to protect him. He promised himself to not let the same thing happen all over again.
"Tony, calm down." Bruce whispered to Tony as he tries to push Tony back away and put some sense into him before he can make any rash decisions that can eventually put him behind bars, but Tony won't budge. That's when Peter and Flash started to pull their Dads back down; Mr. Thompson put his finger away now and started to go back to his seat.
When Tony felt his son enveloped his arm around him, it's when he finally started to calm down. Principal Morita continued and explained that Flash will have a three day suspension with C- on his conduct, while Peter will have a one day suspension for bringing and using an offensive device on school grounds. The kids accepted their punishment even though Mr. Thompson still has a disappointing sneer left on his face.
All of them went out of the office but before they went back to the Tower, Peter visited Ned first, and they boy's face lit up as he saw the rest of the Avengers with them.
"Oh my God, Mr. Thor, Mr. Banner!" Ned gushed outside the classroom as he stared at Bruce and Thor who now awkwardly stands in front of the kid.
"Hey kid, nice to see you again." Thor greeted smiling as he pats Ned's hair.
"Come by at the Tower some time." Bruce said and it seems as Ned suddenly developed heart eyes at them. They watched as Peter told his bestfriend what happened and said his goodbye.
Tony observed as Mr. Thompson now started to scold Flash as both father and son walked away from their direction. How can he blame that kid for acting in such disturbing way to other people, when his father can be so demanding, just noticing all the kid's mistakes and not his triumphs. He somehow understands what Flash was going through, and decided to give the kid a break. That kid just wants love and understanding, attention. Something that he also experienced when he was a kid. He hopes Thompson will just realize that one day.
They next day, Peter stayed at home to spend his class suspension and stayed at the lab with Dad and Bruce. Peter sat at Thor's lap as he taught the god how to use the Starkpad and phone while Tony and Bruce finished designing Veronica. For almost two years, Peters still has his baby face features, as a 10 year old kid, he has grown a few inches taller but he's still the skinny kid in their class. His vision has also blurred and he's been wearing graded eyeglasses for almost a year now.
JARVIS was about to begin construction when Thor argued that they don't need a hulkbuster anymore since he's there to stop the Hulk anyway.
"You couldn't stop me before. Could you? The Hulk is unkillable, Thor. And this is for worst-case measure in case any of you guy's weren't around to stop me." Bruce answered putting the argument to rest.
"Except me, of course," Tony cut-in. "Someone still needs to control this armor from the inside."
Thor just nodded his head in agreement still not fully convinced. He's just so sure of himself that he can defeat the Hulk. "And why the name, "Veronica"?"
Tony gazed over at Bruce with a coy smile and laughed, mockingly teasing Bruce. Bruce was quite hesitant to tell the story for a bit but decided to let it out anyway.
"You know Archie comics, right? Do you know that?" Bruce's eyes squinted walking over at them.
Thor gave Peter a "What's that? Help me." look and Peter started to show Thor what it is on the Starkpad. "What's the connection?"
"Well, I had a past girlfriend- lover... Anyway, her name is Betty. This Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, they're one of the main characters in the comics. And Veronica, she's the complete opposite of Betty, so I figured, just name it after her."
"Betty can't stop the Hulk so maybe Veronica will," Peter concluded and a silence came, but everyone soon laughed after.
"That's just silly." Peter giggled and Thor decided to fix them something to eat while he holds Peter's hand with him.
They were on their way out of the lab when the automatic windows of the whole Tower shut closed on lock down. Ever since the invasion and the destruction of the Malibu mansion, Tony and Pepper have upgraded the design of the Tower and doubled the security of it. The lock down only happens if Tony commanded it on purpose or if JARVIS knows and sensed that an incoming threat is about to approach.
Tony's forehead creased as his mind wandered alarmingly to what might be going on and he immediately went to Thor to hold Peter in his arms.
"JARVIS, talk to me. What's going on?"
"Our systems have just intercepted what's going on in DC, Sir. SHIELD built three new set of helicarriers as part of Project Insight designed to proactively strike out against potential threats to the US before they actually happened. But Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff relayed on a coded message that they found out that Hydra infiltrated in all of SHIELD."
JARVIS summarized all the details in a hologram in front of them.
Tony was very familiar with Hydra because of Howard's tales about it and he knows Hydra's obsession with absolute control of everything. He was surprised that Fury didn't even sense that Hydra was hiding all along in their organization. And the fact that JARVIS didn't even hacked this information when they were in the helicarrier when they were still locating the Teserract means that Hydra's plans were buried deeper than they expected.
"Where are they now?"
"They're currently in Triskellion now, Sir. HYDRA planned on using Arnim Zola's algorithm to root out individuals that would oppose or threaten HYDRA's goals. The algorithm used every variable of a person's life such as bank records, voting patterns, and even standardized testing scores. They will use this Helicarriers to kill all these individuals and there's no stopping it once it goes online."
"Who are these targeted individuals?" Tony asked out of curiosity and the list of all the targeted individuals goes on in hundreds of thousands all around the US. The list includes hundreds of his scientist and doctors inside the Tower. Them as the Avengers as he suspected but the one that shocked him the most is that why is Peter included. My son is just a kid, who would even think that he's kind of a threat to anyone? His anger and tension grows by the minute as anytime now, his son might get targeted. He's sure of the strength and durability the lock down can hold, but it depends on how much force it can withstand.
"How many more minutes, JARVIS? Get me Hill, Fury or anyone that can talk to me." In a few seconds, Hill answered the call.
"Hill, how long we've got? Why didn't you called for help sooner?"
"Mr. Stark, I'm sorry but it's too risky. When Steve and Natasha found out, they insisted that they take care of this on the inside. They know Peter will be safest there with you, Bruce, and Thor. They're already on their way to change the targeting systems of the helicarrier to fire on each other. They're close, we got three minutes."
The call ended and all of them stared in silence as the seconds' ticked-tock. There must be chaos happening in DC right now. If Hydra will succeed, it will be catastrophic to the world, hundreds of thousands will be lost, but they have nothing now but hope that the team in DC will succeed on their mission.
Peter gripped his hand tightly around Dad's waist.
"The defense system of the Tower can protect us for a time period but it is limited on how much force it can withstand," Tony started to type in and releases the metal containment shell that has finished completion months ago. This is the first part that will be added to the hulkbuster. Bruce and Thor immediately got what Tony was doing when the shell was opened.
"Bruce, Thor, protect the targets inside the Tower once the carriers infiltrated through. We find a way to destroy the helicarrier, after. I got Peter right here."
"Dad, no." Peter gripped into Tony securely and won't let go.
One minute left.
Every second counts and Tony will absolutely protect Peter at all cost even over his dead body. "Bud, I'm just right here. I have the suit, but we have no choice. I can't protect you here alone. I need to keep you safe."
Peter buried himself more into Tony's. He's afraid, he's afraid that something might happen to Dad again.
They all stared at the clock in the hologram screen mirrored from Hill's data, 10 seconds. The systems are still targeting. Tony summoned his mark43 and in a second he puts on the Iron Man suit. Thor put on his battle suit in a plunge of his hammer and Bruce got ready to release the Hulk.
The intercom from the other line announced. "Firing in, three, two, one..."
Tony kneeled in to hug Peter keeping him safe in his arms while Peter burrowed his head in Dad's neck.
"Charlie locked." Captain America's voice echoed through the silence of the lab and they all stared into one another heaving a sigh of relief.
The shield windows around the tower automatically reversed back, powering down and JARVIS announced to all the floors that it is now safe.
Over the next few days, the Triskellion SHIELD HQ was destroyed, public officials who were goons of Hydra were arrested, Fury was dead or what he would like others to believe, and Natasha decided to inform the world of SHIELD's secrets, even if it includes her red ledger's past. They thought secrets kept the world safe, but it is these secrets that made the world more vulnerable, so instead it is time to let everything out, let transparency be the disinfectant of this world against vicious schemes.
But before the world can ever read or share Mary's files, Tony made sure that he's the only one who have it, he deleted it from SHIELD's servers, deleted the traces before anyone can ever see it. The one thing that bothered him though is if Mary's pet was included in that Triskellion ruins, has this research got destroyed along the ruins in the fall of SHIELD?
He certainly hopes so.
Natasha recounted the story of everything that happened the day after her committee hearing. Steve and Nat moved in with the rest of the team in the Tower. Hill and other agents that wanted to seek employment to Stark Industries were given opportunities.
And since SHIELD is no longer, Tony decided to re-brand the Stark Tower, and made it to the Avengers Tower as their main HQ. Soon, the old warehouse will complete its renovation, and it will be the official Headquarters of the Avengers.
It was one chill Saturday afternoon when the team were all around the living room of the Penthouse. Clint is just mostly out for an unknown reason and just visits every once in a while. Each of them has their own rooms downstairs but everyone just feels comfortable hanging out with the Starks in their pad every once in a while. There's a silent music in the background as each do their own thing.
"Hey guys.." Thor said as he tries to capture the attention of everyone but a familiar song suddenly played through.
You are my fire
Tony raised a brow, and gazed upon Peter who just sang one of the most popular songs of the 90's while answering his homework.
He smiled as he joined in... my one desire
Peter stared at Dad who sang the next lyrics and laughed.
In a half-asleep presence, Bruce continued... Believe when I say
As Natasha put on the juices she prepared to the table, she thought why not... I want it that way
Tell me whhhyy! Clint suddenly burst out singing and Peter laughed.
In a chorus they all sing... Ain't nothing but a heartache
Telllll me why! Clint sang in a more falsetto voice, more dramatic this time.
Ain't nothing but a mistake
Tell me why…
Tony got up from laying on the sofa, I never want to hear you say
Peter stands up dramatically and loudly sings, I WANT IT THAT WAY
It is as if it's a show on broadway, Steve and Thor stared at each other and stared to them speechless of what's going on.
"Wha - What?" Steve and Thor muttered clueless and the rest of them lost it and burst out in laughter.
"Oh that was fun." Tony said as he brushed a tear that just formed from laughing.
As the team recovered from their show, Thor tried to continue and open up a topic that's been boggling him for days now.
"So, as I was saying, has any of you seen Loki's scepter? Was it ever recovered from SHIELD's mess?"
Suddenly, the room fell silent and all of the them looked at each other thinking. Ever since the invasion, no one has seen it. Where was it?
"Steve? Natasha?" Tony asked the former agents.
Steve and Natasha gazed at each other and both know that it slipped off their minds. The whole time with their missions, they thought it was on a safe place. But really? Is it?
"Clint?" Bruce asked.
Clint shacked his head for a no.
Steve's expression hardened. "None of us knew, no one has ever seen it since and we can't ask Fury now." The rest of the team thinks Fury's dead but they don't know that Steve also doesn't know how to contact the man.
"Then I guess we better start finding it." Thor said as mjolnir flies into his hand.
AUTHOR's NOTE:
I hope you all enjoyed reading! A post from spidxyyy in tumblr gave me an idea to include the last scene cause I thought it was too cute, credits goes to him/her. I know i said i will update weekly but realized I can't. What I can do realistically is just a monthly update. My med journey is starting in a few weeks and I need to prioritize studying over anything. Writing really gives me so much joy though so I'll do my best to finish this story even on a monthly update.
Your reviews, favorites, and follows are all appreciated. Thank you so much for reading!