If Cloud's usual routine had been a finely-tuned motorcycle, then now it looked like it had crashed head-on with a cargo truck, and been run off the Midgar cliffs. Mostly, because he just couldn't stay away from Zack. Cloud kept himself functioning by predictability. If he always did "b" after doing "a" then it wouldn't matter if he had a bad day or an episode; chances were he'd continue his routine, by rote if nothing else. Zack thrived on spontaneity. If he had eaten in the SOLDIER cafeteria yesterday, he might decide to go to the lunchroom on floor fifty the next day. Or eat on floor sixty-three for a week, then decide that they should abstain from all sustenance until they had located the fabled "Turk cafeteria" that even the Five Secretaries couldn't prove the existence of.
Apparently, even walking down the hallway could become too routine for Zackary, and so now they were attempting to get to training room three using a combination of wall and ice and jumping from block to block midair, before they lost control of the spell. Zack was cackling like a maniac, but Cloud was concentrating too hard on forming Barrier's abilities around the chunks of ice to join in. That didn't mean he wasn't having fun.
Genesis and Luxiere caught them at it, and if it had been Hewley, there would have been a lecture and a lot of clean up to do. As it was, they were stopped, so Genesis could inquire minutely into how they had done it; then the whole group moved to the VR room to try it in a staircase formation. After deciding they would need a mastered Elemental linked to a Fire, before they tried the blocks with fire instead of ice, Luxiere stopped gripping his Revive quite so convulsively.
"Well, kid, it looks like you found a friend as crazy as you are." He said shakily.
If it was anyone but Luxiere, Cloud would have taken insult, but the SOLDIER didn't have mean bone in his body, and wouldn't have meant to offend.
"Zack isn't crazy." Cloud told him firmly.
This is of course, made Luxiere chuckle, and Genesis and Zack joined in, when it became clear Cloud wasn't upset.
"You're not crazy either, Cloud." Zack said, ruffling Cloud's hair, and grinning.
It was nice Zack thought so, but Cloud knew differently. He was just now managing to talk coherently again. Soon after Zack had arrived, and Cloud had started to form his days around following Zack like a lost chocobo chick, the episodes had gotten bad.
Usually, the memories Cloud had from Zack only popped up during particularly stressful situations. Cloud would freely admit, he often pulled on his friend's personality to accomplish things. Cloud could do deliveries all day, if he didn't have to interact with anyone to do it. There was a reason his delivery service had been a cross-country affair involving little contact with people. But all the errands for those secretaries, the times he had to haggle with a merchant, sometimes even talking to Freyra, Cloud would find himself making use of the part of him that knew how Zack responded to situations.
Zack was good with people, he liked talking to them, and had no trouble understanding them whatsoever. Whenever Cloud would try to get through a conversation on his own, without double-checking with Zack's innate skills, Cloud would end up with people looking at him like he was nuts. Freyra was still giving him odd looks whenever Mideel came up.
If Cloud didn't think about Sephiroth, time was running out now, then there wasn't anything stressful about Zack being here, because he was alive, and seemed to enjoy Cloud tagging along to whatever he was doing. So, why the episodes flared up was a mystery to Cloud, but just like all those evenings in the Firsts' office, they got worse, before they got better. During the worst of it, Cloud quit talking at all, and stayed mute until it was over.. He still wasn't sure what happened in that interview, and then Cloud had told Hewley's section about Zack before he came to Shinra, and Cloud didn't want to know what would slip out this time.
Now the episodes had stopped, and that odd shifting in his head was over, and Cloud was still trying to adjust. Because Zack's memories were still there, just like memories of Sephiroth were, but they stayed distant and only came up if Cloud pulled. Like they happened a long time ago, and didn't belong to Cloud. Which would have been fine, if Zack's people skills had remained, but they were even more distant. So Cloud was...probably more like his own self than he had been since before Hojo. It was blessed relief to have a quieter mind, but a lot harder to function in social situations. Still, with Zack around chattering to everybody, Cloud could mostly just smile and fade into the background. He smiled a lot these days.
Shilly-shally, dilly-dally, whispered Tifa. Cloud sighed. The project had sort of gone on hold. Which wasn't wise, because Zack was here now, and the SOLDIERs spoke grimly about Wutai like it would happen soon, and that meant that Nibelheim loomed closer. So Cloud burned the midnight oil to put in the necessary work on the plan, so he could spend the rest of the time with Zack. When Cloud got used to his friend being alive, maybe he'd try to stop acting like a chocobo chick. Cloud knew he was, because he had raised the birds; there had been a little black one whose parents hadn't taken care of it, and Cloud had taken over. That bird had followed him everywhere, kweh-ing about this and that, and Cid had thought it was hilarious. Cloud supposed it must have been funny to see him crawling underneath machines and motorcycles and vehicles with an ever-growing black chocobo perched nearby, peering at what he was tinkering with.
ooOOOoo
The only problem with hanging out with Zack; he really did like everybody. Spending so much time with Hewley was expected, he was mentoring Zack, after all. What Cloud hadn't realized up to now, was how much time the three Firsts spent with each other. They spent some of their work day, and nearly all their free time together, in varying combinations. Hewley, Cloud could tolerate, and Genesis he liked, but...Sephiroth.
The man was normal. There was nothing about him that shrieked madman, so it was little wonder no one believed Cloud when he warned them. Sephiroth was quiet, and orderly, and had a sense of humor. He didn't really joke, but when someone said something funny, he laughed. Especially at Zack. Maybe that was just Zack, though; Cloud hadn't felt the urge to laugh much before he showed up.
Zack would chatter away to them all, and Cloud would watch and worry, because Zack being friends with Sephiroth was a bad idea. Zack would laugh at his dire warnings, and nag at Cloud to call Hewley by his first name, and trick Cloud into speaking directly to Sephiroth. Cloud usually caught on, but there were times he found himself talking about things with the man. Sephiroth was exceptionally good at drawing details out of Cloud. He hadn't told Zack that he liked chocobos, or working on motorcycles, and Cloud still wasn't sure how that man had managed to pry it out of him. Also, the pleasantries were apparently a tradition Cloud wasn't allowed to skip even now, and he received no ally in Zack, who thought it was hysterically funny. If only he knew…
There were also days Cloud simply couldn't stand being around so many people, and would sequester himself in his room. By evening, when Zack would drag him off to see the Firsts, he would usually be able to handle things again, but sometimes…
Zack ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I guess I'm just not getting that part, Cloud. How does someone destroy the world anyway? All by themselves, even."
"I have wondered that myself, Zackary Fair." Sephiroth replied quietly.
Meteor. The worlds exploding, The Planet withering. Cloud sucked in a breath, and hissed out, "If you don't know already, then I'm hardly going to give you ideas."
Yes, some evenings it was better if Cloud just stayed in his room, and worked on the project.
ooOOOoo
It was done. It was delivered. It was a failure. And Cloud couldn't let on about any of it. He couldn't hide in his room, or avoid Sephiroth, or bolt out of Shinra Tower. Because this time Cloud had tried for the "I didn't have anything to do with it" angle. He was really starting to regret that, because while his escape attempts had failed worse than his attempts to kill Sephiroth, at least before he didn't just sit here in the same room as the man. They were in the cafeteria, and Sephiroth had stopped to tell Zack something. Zack chattered happily away, while Cloud's hands shook so badly, he could hardly keep his grip on his fork.
"I really need to be going Zackary; be sure to tell Angeal about the schedule change." He nodded to Zack, then turned to address Cloud. "I have to handle a situation with Weapon Development. It will be such a headache, I won't feel up to destroying the world afterwards." He stared at Cloud for just a moment too long, then turned and walked away, without waiting for the reply anyone near Cloud required him to respond with before life could move on.
Cloud gave up on trying to look innocent and went to his room. Sephiroth knew. It wasn't paranoia, Cloud could tell, the way he knew which chocobo would win a race, the way he knew what sword to use for which monster, the man knew.
The Turks hadn't come to take him away, but Cloud thought that running for the exit would still be an effort in futility. So he waited. All day, all night, the next morning, and then Zack dragged him off to eat lunch, and no one came to take him away.
The SOLDIERs were forever training against Scarlet's robots and turrets. The better fighter you were the more you took on, and there was a bet going on how many someone could take out in one session. Also, the men sometimes tested out equipment WepDev had planned to give the army. SOLDIERs mostly provided their own armor, but Public Safety supplied the army from Scarlet's department. Cloud hadn't been sure why SOLDIER was testing it, but it worked out for the plan, so…
He had collected and tinkered with seven of her automated drone robots, and an experimental materia bracer. This was a lot more like the kind of stuff Cid had taught him, Cloud had thought. He rewired, and rearranged, and readjusted, then fiddled with the bracer. That was a complicated bit of work, but it turned out just like he intended. Then, Cloud had taken it all, piece by piece from where it was hidden, and returned it to WepDev's floor.
Sephiroth wasn't allowed to be part of the bet, he was simply too good at destroying whatever Scarlet sent after him. He was skilled enough at it, that the woman had started setting aside machines and equipment especially for him to test. Cloud thought they might have some bizarre contest going on, themselves, and it had been perfect.
The other plans had seemed to be too; this one had worked out just as well. Two tank-like machines, ten turrets, and fifteen drone robots. The seven Cloud had messed with were hidden among those. To wrap it all up neatly, as if with a ribbon, was the faulty materia bracer. Which was the only weapon Sephiroth was supposed to use to test it all out.
Listening to Luxiere gossip about what had happened informed Cloud of a number of things.
The Turks had investigated an explosion that had taken out most of the VR room. AVALANCHE had not been responsible for it; they had concluded it was the result of a "gross miscalculation" on Weapon Development's part, and "detained" Scarlet. Explosion? They weren't supposed to…
Apparently, several of the drones had switched into a highly aggressive mode that Scarlet was claiming not to have invented. If the rest of her creations hadn't all "malfunctioned" in such a way as to box Sephiroth in, while the aggressive ones went into murder mode, it might not have been such a dangerous situation. So why didn't it kill him?
Sephiroth would have died if it hadn't been for the also-malfunctioning materia bracer. That was his only weapon and defense, and when he charged a barrier, it overheated, short-circuited, and fused with the All he had equipped in another slot, which was linked to a mastered Fire. He gave a mighty leap, threw the bracer at the horde of killer machines, and they all melted and exploded in a wall of flames. Sephiroth was shielded from the blast by the mastered Barrier Genesis had given him. The VR room wasn't so fortunate. That...WASN'T supposed to happen that way.
Cloud dropped his head to the table and groaned. Overkill, that's what had done it. Without that bracer, it would have worked.
"Hey, are you okay Cloud?" Luxiere abandoned his rapturous telling of the story, to look worriedly at the moaning boy.
"I overdid it." Cloud said, pathetically.
"Well, haven't we been telling you to take it easier? Freyra's going to have a heart attack one of these days, when she realizes the kind of injuries you're getting, and never get treated in the infirmary. You aren't hurt are you?" Luxiere babbled in response.
"No… What's...happening with Scarlet?" Cloud hadn't meant to frame her specifically, he just wanted the Turks to think an unknown had snuck into the department, and back out again.
"Well, she's been cleared of any purposeful actions over the VR room incident, but now they're investigating her entire department, because they found evidence she embezzled over three million gil while building the Junon canon." Luxiere sounded downright gleeful, sharing this juicy tidbit.
Cloud...really hadn't seen that coming. Was every department head corrupt? Maybe not Reeve, but seriously, everyone else? How did Shinra keep running?
"They promised to get the VR room fixed as soon as they recover the money." Luxiere paused, and begged Cloud, "Could you pleasetalk Genesis into, y'know, not trying to recreate that bracer trick? I hate having to use Revive on you guys."
ooOOOoo
There were no repercussions from anyone, except maybe Sephiroth. The man definitely knew, but this wasn't the kind of reaction Cloud had expected. It wasn't as continual as him following Zack around, Sephiroth had to "go to work" most days, and Cloud didn't. He would swear though, that every moment off Sephiroth had, he spent near Cloud.
In the evenings, Hewley would show Zack some super-cool sword trick. Cloud would wish he'd just hit that growth spurt already, so he could lift the sword and try it as well. Genesis would sit and read, or dramatically recite something. Sephiroth would focus all his attention on Cloud. He knew the others were in on that part, at least, because they helped him.
Cloud would be watching the sword-training, and Hewley would mention something about a lighter blade, and before Cloud knew how they'd managed it, Sephiroth would be showing him a different move with a light sword Cloud could actually swing.
Genesis would read something aloud about an incident involving monsters, ask Cloud a question, and Cloud would be discussing materia theory with Genesis one moment, and somehow in the next, he'd be explaining how to apply it in fact, with Sephiroth.
Zack was still up to his earlier trick of getting Cloud to talk about random stuff, and then slip the conversation over to Sephiroth. Either Zack was getting better at it, or Cloud was getting worse, because it succeeded with alarming frequency.
It was unnerving in more ways than one. No one had ever focused so intently on him. Cloud wasn't sure he would have known what to do with the attention if it had been Zack, but this was Sephiroth, and it was just that much stranger. Cloud tried telling himself it was because of all of his attempts to kill the man. Keep your enemies closer, and all that. But something about that was wrong. Cloud frequently misconstrued conversations, or social situations, but he could tell when he was missing something, and this was one of those times. Zack would know, but there wasn't enough left of the imprint within Cloud's mind to explain it, and he couldn't ask the alive one, because Zack didn't know the whole story.
It seemed like everyone wanted him to get to know Sephiroth, and Cloud was, without true willingness on his part; but they didn'tunderstand. It didn't matter what Sephiroth was like, he was going to destroy the world.
ooOOOoo
SOLDIER was primed and ready, the Turks were just a little too tense to pull off neutral, and everyone knew that when the President returned from the latest "negotiation", war would finally be declared on Wutai. But the ship carrying the President, those accompanying him, and the ship's crew never arrived in Junon. Halfway between Costa Del Sol and its destination, it blew up in a spectacular display; the most explosive AVALANCHE had ever managed to date.
When Reeve Tuesti walked into a windowless office on a mid-level floor for a "meeting regarding Public Safety's dispersal of funding", six other men were already there.
"I've never been to one of these meetings before." He remarked mildly.
"In person." Rufus Shinra gave him a knowing look.
Tuesti smiled faintly and inquired, "Is there a reason beyond tradition we aren't on floor sixty-six?"
"The Meeting Room is well known, surrounded by windows, and a security nightmare." Tseng said tightly.
The room settled into grim silence. Rufus stood and rested his hands on the edge of the table. "Gentleman, this company was initially created for the purpose of making money by selling electricity. Power hungry war mongers have drawn us to the edge of a precipice, and I have been pulling Shinra back from the brink for years." He paused, and no one asked him to clarify whether he meant the company, or the recently deceased President.
"We are returning to our original purpose, and while the last two years and this latest bombing has brought the company to an all-time low, we will emerge triumphant.
"There will be no more building of armies, there are going to be well-maintained roads, so we can deliver that which we sell. We are no longer spending millions of gil on giant canons or malfunctioning robots, we are making weapons for general defense and selling them. We are no longer allowing mad scientists free reign, we are researching illnesses, and making medicines, and selling the cures.
"Before we do this, however, we are going to address the issue of Wutai and AVALANCHE. Tseng."
The Director of the Turks handed out reports to each man present. "That is a map of all the locations AVALANCHE had a laboratory, research facility, house, bolthole, vehicle, or favorite restaurant. With SOLDIER taking over our usual duties," Tseng nodded briefly to Lazard and the three Firsts, "the Department of Administrative Research was able to investigate AVALANCHE thoroughly. The violence of their attacks escalated with the removal of these, and they started to retreat to what we believe is their home base, as it were. It is in Wutai."
Lazard broke the stunned silence by asking, "How is disbanding the army a good idea then, Rufus?"
Rufus was pacing, and didn't acknowledge the question.
Tseng pushed another report forward. "We also discovered that AVALANCHE is only receiving support from a group of Wutaien fanatics who are wanted by their own government. They are terrorists on all sides."
Rufus spun around and faced the group. He spoke as though telling a children's story. "Several years ago, Shinra approached their neighbor Wutai, and offered to sell them electricity. They said our ways were unacceptable to them, and didn't want to trade, or buy and sell with such people.
When a group calling themselves AVALANCHE started threatening and bombing the company, Shinra knew who to blame. That is why the negotiations with Wutai have been so...hostile." By the end, Rufus tone was less like a story, and started to become more calculating. "When Shinra realized it wasn't all the people of Wutai who hated them, but only a few dangerous criminals, we immediately sought to rectify the situation."
Rufus paused and focused intently those present. "AVALANCHE has destroyed several of our facilities, killed some of our best researchers, and its latest work resulted in the death of the former President, Heideggar, and counting Veld, four of my Turks. You are going to end them." Rufus breathed hard, then gathered himself and continued.
"Only non-Wutaien members of AVALANCHE. Up til now, SOLDIER and the Turks have worked parallel, now you are going to cooperate. They have the locations, the complete list of everyone involved, and are familiar by now with the various traps and bombs the terrorists favor.
Rufus directed his attention to the SOLDIERs. "When you destroy AVALANCHE's facility, leave every Wutaien alive. Truss them up, undamaged, and take them to Wutai's capital.
"Sephiroth, now is when SOLDIER proves this extra training has been worth it. You'll have to travel from one end of the country to the other. Do it fast. Injure no one. Receive no injuries yourselves. You are going to arrive in Godo's Palace having harmed not one Wutaien hair, and deliver their members of AVALANCHE to the Emperor himself.
"Rhapsodos, make an entrance. Write a script if you have to, and memorize it. SOLDIER is going to swan their way into that palace, and no one is going to be left in doubt that the only reason they haven't been ground into dust, is because SOLDIER didn't feel like doing it." Here Rufus cleared his throat, "And, of course, because Shinra wouldn't do that sort of thing." He turned to Angeal Hewley.
"Hewley, you have the most important part, success or failure will depend entirely on you. You are going to convince Godo that all of what I have said is true. It is," Rufus insisted, when Hewley began to frown. "We do not want to war with Wutai. We just discovered that AVALANCHE was allied with Wutaien criminals. Are you going to claim SOLDIER couldn't crush them under your heel?" Rufus smirked and waited. After several minutes to ponder the matter, Hewley nodded, once.
"Good. When you are done talking to Godo, I want them under no doubt that we want peace, that we have no intention of harming anyone in their country, leave them with the impression that this was all AVALANCHE's fault. Except..." Rufus trailed off, and smiled at those gathered. It was a terrible smile.
"It really wasn't, was it? If Wutai had nipped their own criminal activity in the bud, AVALANCHE would never have gained a foothold. We would have been able to root it out entirely, before now. The President would be alive. Invaluable members of this company would still be alive." Here, Rufus' mouth became a thin, straight line.
"Angeal Hewley, you make them weep for this dereliction of duty. I want them to writhe in shame for their lack of honor. We could have been good neighbors all this time, look what they have allowed to come to pass. We are owed remuneration.
Rufus Shinra sat down again, folded his hands, and smiled beatifically. His eyes gleamed. "When the Turks and SOLDIER return home, we won't have war looming on the horizon. We won't have a hostile border to watch. We will have...indebted customers."
ooOOOoo
Things on floor sixty-three had gotten very still, then very busy. Cloud was told, "You're wanted in the Firsts' office." By a SOLDIER who had rushed up to him, then rushed away. Everyone was packing things, organizing armor, and passing messages while moving at full speed and employing fancy footwork to keep from crashing into walls or people.
When Cloud arrived, only Sephiroth was present. He was filling out what Cloud recognized as requisition forms.
"If you write 665UX at the top in blue ink, they'll send it straight through." Cloud offered. If the rest of SOLDIER was any indication, something big was happening, and those forms could take a while to process.
Sephiroth smiled, and proceeded to do so. "Thank you, Cloud. Come sit down, I need to talk to you."
After Cloud had settled into his usual chair, Sephiroth pulled his own closer, and sat down nearby.
"All of SOLDIER is leaving for Wutai within the next twenty-four hours. Most of the Turks are going as well. We'll be gone for about a month, give or take a week."
Cloud knew the war was close, so it wasn't a total surprise, but, "You mean years. The war is going to last for years."
"No, we're not going to war, after all. There is going to be one...skirmish, then a march, then a diplomatic negotiation, then SOLDIER is coming home. The Turks may end up staying a little longer, but we won't be gone much longer than a month."
"You mean, SOLDIER will fight for a month, then come back here, then go back to Wutai in sections. Because the war is going to take longer than a month." Cloud didn't remember most of that portion of time, but he knew for a fact the war had lasted years.
"There isn't going to be a war at all, Cloud." Sephiroth said patiently. "We're going to settle a situation involving terrorists, then come back to Shinra."
Maybe this was how it started last time, and then escalated to war. Cloud nodded. That was probably it. He was going to miss Zack, but they wouldn't be deployed all the time. "You'll get leave occasionally, to rest up in between, right?"
Sephiroth sighed a little, "We'll be back in a month, Cloud. But Zack and Freyra, and all the rest of us will be gone, and I want you to do something while we are."
It wasn't a question, and Cloud wasn't going to agree until he knew what the man wanted. He narrowed his eyes and gave Sephiroth a suspicious look.
"Why haven't you poisoned me?" Sephiroth asked, with peculiar tilt to his expression.
What? "Why would I poison you?" Cloud asked in bewilderment.
Sephiroth laughed. Then he sobered, and asked seriously, "Cloud, you've tried to 'kill me' several times now, why haven't you tried poison?"
Cloud really didn't know what kind of question that was. What did Sephiroth think Cloud was trying to…
Sephiroth nudged him in the arm. "Explain out loud." When Cloud just looked at him, the man raised an eyebrow, and waited.
Why not? "There isn't a poison that could take you down fast enough. Everyone carries healing natured materia these days, and the infirmary is close by. Even the most deadly would just make you really sick. You'd get better."
"But I would suffer terribly, first."
"I'm not trying to make you suffer, you just need to..." Cloud trailed off. Even he could tell this was a bizarre conversation. Cloud eyed the door. He should really get going. Sephiroth was a busy man.
"Die, because I'm going to destroy the world?" Sephiroth finished calmly.
Well, yes. Cloud nodded slowly.
"What if I wasn't?" Sephiroth asked, in the same tone you asked what the weather was doing.
"What if you weren't what?" Cloud asked warily.
"I'm not going to destroy the world. Ah." Sephiroth stopped Cloud's interruption. "If I wasn't, would you still need to kill me?"
No. But that wasn't going to happen. It was going to, that is. The world, and Meteor, and Cloud shook his head. No, but Sephiroth would, and so…
"It's going to be pretty quiet around here while we're gone, and I want you to do some things." Sephiroth handed Cloud a list.
Cloud read it with bemusement. "Freyra and Luxiere are going to be gone, so they wrote out their nagging on paper?"
Sephiroth huffed a laugh under his breath. "Oh, Cloud. You noticed when Zack had used up too much manna, and needed a Mega Elixer. You could tell when Genesis hadn't been sleeping for several days. Have you looked in a mirror?"
And people thought Cloud was full of non sequiturs. Also, mirrors were something Cloud was careful to avoid.
"You might look in the mirror as if you were looking at someone else."
That was the problem. Cloud hadn't tried it since the episodes had petered off, though. He might, if Sephiroth had a good reason. "Why?"
"Because you look terrible." Sephiroth said flatly. "Follow the 'nagging list' while we're gone Cloud." Sephiroth looked at him sternly. "One other thing. I want you to think, seriously think, about why you say I'm going to destroy the world. You have never given us a good explanation. Try to figure out why." Here Sephiroth raised his brow, and that was a question, though unspoken.
Cloud nodded, and then quickly made his way back to his room. It was jarring, that he had conversations with Sephiroth these days. After a fair amount of time to churn it all over, Cloud wondered. He didn't have one in his room, but he knew where most of the mirrors in Shinra Tower were, by now.
Cloud...didn't look terrible, exactly. He looked way better than he did, back when Hojo...maybe they all had a point. Cloud looked at the list, then back to the mirror. So, he didn't sleep very much, or eat right, or rest or relax. He didn't have time to relax, he had to kill Sephiroth. Cloud resolutely did not think about what the last few months had been like. It didn't matter, Sephiroth was going to destroy the world. Cloud had to remind himself of that a lot, lately. Still, they had a point. Cloud looked at the list again. Wutai would take a long time, and it all happened after that. Cloud was tired. Sephiroth wouldn't be accessible for most of the war's duration. Maybe Cloud could rest, just for awhile. He re-read the list.
The next day, he said goodbye to Zack, who assured Cloud he wouldn't be gone that long. Cloud agreed sadly; no point in arguing. Then Sephiroth swept through the ranks to lead SOLDIER away. He was wearing that leather trench coat, finally. Cloud didn't panic, because he could almost hear Genesis' disdaining dusters; closer to dresses. So there was no double-vision, but...time was running out. So much for resting. He walked slowly back to deserted sixty-three, and started to plan.