January 5, 2011
A Wednesday. Hump day. Halfway through the week day. A school day.
Taylor Hebert felt confident as she walked to school. Sure she looked like a dark-haired warrior elf. Despite not wearing the adventurer clothes she'd been gifted, as she was dressed in something more appropriate for high school.
Jeans, t-shirt which depicted a band called Sabaton that she'd thought sounded intriguing, and a denim jacket over that. She'd had to adjust them a bit with magic, having outgrown the outfit even before yesterday.
She was not hiding in her clothes because, well, she was a lot more clear-headed and confident now.
"What... the hell?" said one of the girls outside the school. Julia, Taylor thought the name was. One of the little hanger-ons that the trio maintained.
Taylor walked past the little clumps of children, tiny little minds trying to come to terms with the changes.
"She's... padding her bra?" asked someone.
"Doesn't explain how she's taller and got some muscle on her."
"Maybe it's not... her?"
"Maybe it's an older sister or cousin or something?"
One of the drawbacks of heightened senses was that it was more difficult to ignore the little whisperings around her.
"Damn, she's hot."
That was sufficiently unexpected that she glanced towards the girl who'd said that, who turned bright red and ducked behind a tree.
There was the Terrible Trio before her. Huh. Madison looking suddenly uncertain was expected. Sophia taking a half-step back and narrowing her eyes was unexpected.
"Well, Taylor, padding your bra? Wearing platform shoes? Aren't you a bit old for... Hey, I'm talking here."
Taylor stopped. "Oh, is that what that annoying buzz was? Like some mosquito or something I was just tuning you out."
"Getting a little full of yourself," started Sophia, grabbing an arm and trying to move it behind Taylor's back. Except it didn't budge.
"Sorry, Sophia, I'm not interested in whatever little lesbi-fun S&M games you're playing," said Taylor. "Maybe you should..? Seriously, knock it off."
Sophia had given up on strong-arming her and just punched her in the face. And then began cursing and holding the damaged hand.
"See, there was a mosquito just now," said Taylor, back to moving again.
"Shit! She triggered!" declared Sophia. "Hebert's a cape!"
That did make Taylor turn back for a moment. "Tsk. Someone needs to pay attention to the Rules a bit more."
"What do you mean, she's a cape?" asked Emma. "She's weak. Prey."
Sophia's eyes had been narrowed in pain and as she worked out something. Triggered yesterday. New cape. Brute rating. "Oh. Fucking hell on a shit stick."
Still walking away, Taylor let a little smile play across her face before she wiped it. It wasn't like she could keep a secret identity anyway. And now little Sophia was going to realize that attempting to bully something that could eat her as a mid-morning snack was not in her best interest.
There was a whine and then a squeal from the PA system before the slightly-garbled voice sounded. "Taylor Herbert report to the Principal's office. Taylor Herbert to the Principal's office."
"What now?" asked Taylor of the air before changing direction. This was just getting annoying. She had plans for the day after all.
* Cauldron *
"Disney Princess powers? Really?" asked Alexandria.
"Yeah, she can control small animals and get them to do things for her," said Eidolon. "It's really weird to see it in person."
Contessa took her chair, followed a moment later by Doctor Mother. Eidolon sat back, dropping the matter of a new cape for another new cape.
"We've narrowed it down to three candidates for this 'draconification' experiment," said Doctor Mother. "Subject 275401. Caucasian female. Thirty-four years old. Police motorcycle officer with a good record, though having to spend the past year in cancer treatment. Latest examination showed failure of treatment. Has worked with capes before and had a good relationship with several."
Alexandria nodded. "I remember her. Officer Tara Strong."
"I wasn't aware that you'd met her," said Doctor Mother.
"Briefly," said Alexandria. "I wouldn't recommend her for this though. Maybe a Cauldron vial or visit to Panacea."
"Very well. Subject 275406. Asian male. Kyushu survivor. Lost his right leg in that. Continued health problems from the radiation from one of the nuclear plants that the destruction caused to fail. Electrician by trade."
"Possible. I take it they're going to owe us the usual favor to-be-determined-later?" asked Eidolon.
"Whoever we choose, yes," said Doctor Mother, putting a third file out to join the other two. "Subject 275190. Middle-eastern female. Archaeologist with University of Cairo. Poisoned by radiation recovering artifacts from a Behemoth irradiated site."
"Two of them are radiation victims? Was Officer Strong also exposed?" asked Alexandria.
"No, it appears to be unrelated to Endbringers or radiation," said Doctor Mother. "Thoughts?"
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Sophia Hess just called in unknown cape lurking around Winslow. May be planning to attack the school. Requesting backup."
Director Piggot just looked at Renick, then casually raised an eyebrow.
"Armsmaster used the connection to access her phone and download the memory," said Renick.
A twitch that might almost be an attempt at a smile briefly showed itself on Director Piggot's face.
"We've already gone over the records of her social worker, and HER phone," said Deputy Director Renick. "It's got some interesting reading."
"Oh?" asked Director Piggot.
"I sent back a text that a squad would be monitoring the situation, and after school to come in for a full debriefing," continued Renick.
"So, she has no clue as to how much trouble she's in?" asked Director Piggot.
"No indication at all," agreed the Deputy Director.
"As soon as she arrives, I do believe my schedule will open up for her to directly report," said Director Piggot. "Good. Keep me in the loop if there are further developments."
* Winslow *
It was weird, reflected Taylor, how a single step's distance from being one of the hormonal teenagers surrounding her just brought everything into perspective.
Principal Blackwell gone on for some time about something but it really was like the buzzing of a mosquito and about as meaningful.
She might as well have been one of those adults in the old Peanuts cartoons. Squawk, squawk, squawk about damage to the locker (which had been fixed last night), blah blah blah about fighting in the halls (which she hadn't done or there would literally be corpses in the hallways), and buzz buzz buzz about wearing fake ears and padding her bra.
In retrospect, flicking her ears and taking her jacket and t-shirt off to show that they really were real might not have been the wisest move. Somewhat satisfying to have the Principal go absolutely silent for a moment before she paled and sat back down. Weapons of mass distraction indeed.
Then the over-simplistic excuse for teaching that was going on was really more of a bore than anything else. Seriously, the answer was right there. And her reading speed and retention of material was such that she went through most of the book, worked out the problems at the end of each chapter, and was able to turn the work in at the end of the class. The only real trick had been not being too obvious about it. Wouldn't want anyone's fragile ego getting crushed after all.
Because being a dragon among humans was awesome, in both senses of the word.
Emma, Sophia, and Madison were going on about something in the hallways - but... "So pitiful."
"Excuse me?! I mean, I know you are, and it's good you're finally recognizing that," said Emma.
"Nah," said Taylor, waving it off. "Bahamut's balls, you're pathetic. This whole propping yourself up by taking it out on others. I never realized how bad you were, but then there WAS that time back in Fourth Grade."
"What are you..." Emma's mouth shut with a click.
That was the problem with turning on someone you'd exchanged confidences with. There certainly could be some tit for tat going on.
Taylor immediately went on about Emma Barnes' and her Fourth Grade attempt at giving a speech. Which had been spectacularly bad and in which Emma had only had one supporter who was NOT laughing at her at the time.
Who was laughing at her now.
"...and then she tried to excuse forgetting half her notes by pointing out the window and yelling 'Look it's Alexandria' and that didn't turn out well with half the class declaring it was just a bird and the other half declaring it was just a plane. Ah, that wasn't one of your better moments, was it - Emma dear?"
"You... you... SHUT UP! You're weak, you're pathetic, you're a loser!"
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. After all, once we're out of school - you won't even have this much - just another model who peaked in high school and then went on to fail at life."
There was a slapping noise. Taylor looked vaguely surprised. Emma looked like her hand hurt.
"You really didn't think that through, did you?" asked Taylor.
* Elsewhere *
She had the picture taken, blown up, and at some point it would become a poster to grace her room.
The picture was of a happy Vista in full-body glomp on the right foreleg of a dragon.
It was really a pity she hadn't been able to convince Aurum to join the Wards because she really really wanted to go flying around on patrols, laughing evilly as she and Aurum chased down criminals. She could shorten the distance between points and allow the dragon to just suddenly appear behind gangers or move in unexpected directions. Well, at least if Aurum was New Wave they could do the occasional joint patrol or cooperate in villain takedowns.
Maybe they could trade? Shadow Stalker traded off for Aurum? That way New Wave would get someone sneaky but competent and she'd get to ride dragonback around the city.
Yeah, who'd go for that sort of trade?
* Brockton Bay *
It was actually kind of amusing. Suspended. For fighting in the halls. When she'd apparently assaulted Emma's hand with her face, Sophia's fists with her abs, and she supposed the overall school with her presence? Whatever, she was not going to complain about being able to duck down an alley and take her true form and go flying over the city.
"Look, it's a bird!"
"It's just a plane!"
"What the hell kind of drugs are you doing? That's an effing DRAGON!"
Weird, reflected Taylor, you'd think in Brockton Bay where there a fair number of capes who could fly - there would be less people reacting to something unusual in the air. Even the capes who didn't have a direct flight power often worked around it - Rune or Kid Win for example.
And there was someone who stuck their head out of their car while driving in order to stare at her and ended up crashing into another car. Taylor experienced the brief hope she wasn't going to get blamed for it in some lawsuit, but dipped a wing and prepared to land. It didn't look like anyone was injured but best to be sure.
Her eyesight was what you would expect from a aerial predator. In the air she could see the two drivers disembark and gawk briefly at her before getting into an argument, most likely about who to blame.
If you were flying by and saw an accident, but couldn't find a landing spot big enough to handle you, did that mean you were leaving the scene of an accident?
Human laws could be pretty nonsensical or had loopholes that were supposed to be filled by common sense. Except common sense in one culture wasn't necessarily the same in another, and if you were to be judged by a lawyer as to whether any particular action fell into that category - where was the expectation of any particular sense?
Once she realized that she wasn't actually needed, she spread wings further and gained altitude - helped by finding a thermal over the parking lot for the Piggly Wiggly market.
It didn't take long to determine that her senses of smell and sight were greater than the average human. Hearing was slightly above what it had been, more in the range department than the acuity part. Sense of touch was deadened though, possibly because of the armored scales covering her body. There was also a sense from her facial tendrils, air movement and a feeling for energy patterns in the air.
She was just soaring along at four thousand feet, enjoying the feeling of sun on her scales when the first attack hit her.
* Stormtiger *
Silly bitch was just flying along without a care in the world.
Well, if what the E88 spies in the PRT had let leak was true, this particular could empower others. If that was the case, she needed to be either brought into the proper company or eliminated from the board quickly.
He sent a barrage of aerokinetic blades into the left wing and was rewarded as the dragon briefly tumbled in the air.
That brief success was followed up by more attacks, though the dragon seemed to ignore everything after the initial shock.
That was fine, he was supposed to lead the dragon into an ambush anyway.
And one foreclaw came up, made a little gesture in the air, and then...
"Guiding Bolt!"
Stormtiger blinked as he was now falling and heavily injured. What the hell had that dragon just done?
* Taylor *
There were a lot of fighters on the cape scene. Lots of blasters. Damn few healers.
So, white mage had been chosen. A specialist in healing and protection. Not that she was restricted to it as she had access to spells like "Guiding Bolt" which not only did some serious damage but made the next attack easier to land.
Which led her to select the tumbling target for a quick "Spiritual Weapon" which would take the form of a baseball bat and...
The downward smash accelerated Stormtiger towards the ground. Taylor followed, directing the weapon to repeatedly play Whack-A-Nazi. Fun for the whole family!
"Tail-whip!" (Whack!) "It's super-effective!"
* Rune *
"Man, she is fooking him up," said Rune, abruptly glad that someone hadn't fallen prey to the planned ambush. Because this was looking especially painful.
"For a big lizard, she's surprisingly flexible," said the mechanical voice of Cricket through her electrolarynx. Which just meant she had already written off this plan as she wouldn't bother getting it out if she thought there was any chance of a fight.
"Fore!" declared the dragon, the baseball bat shifting to a golf club and smacking Stormtiger in mid-air.
"He really should have waited until she was down closer to ground level," said Rune. "Not everyone is comfortable flying over a thousand feet up."
"Truth," agreed Cricket, though her mechanical voice tended to strip out emotional content in the voice she sounded a bit put off by the whole thing.
"So... Fugly Bob's?" asked Rune.
"I could do with a bit to eat," admitted Cricket.
"If she was going to kill him, he'd be dead. We'll just have to break him out later." Rune levitated a trash can lid for flight and lifted off. Everyone knew she was a roof-hugger when it came to flying, and the lowest they seemed to get was around 1000ft.
"You're buying," said Cricket's electronic voice.
"Why am I buying?" complained Rune. "You make more money."
"Seniority."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Aurum was suspended. For assaulting Sophia Hess' fists with her body."
Director Piggot raised an eyebrow at Armsmaster.
"I'm informed there is some evidence that there may be some evidence of wrong-doing on the part of the staff."
"You don't say," said Director Piggot in a dry voice. "Do tell."
"I am telling," said Armsmaster. "We are investigating."
"Armsmaster, if I were to order a blood test, how much caffeine would be in your bloodstream?" asked Director Piggot.
"I'm sure it would be less than 0.5%," said Armsmaster confidently.
"Miss Militia, make sure he gets some sleep. Preferably before he comes back to do the next report on Sophia Hess' activities at Winslow," said Director Piggot.
"Usually Dragon keeps track of that and makes sure that he gets at least three hours a night, but something's wrong with Dragon," explained Miss Militia, noting that Armsmaster was currently listing off to the right.
"That's unusual," commented Director Piggot, less bemused by this development. "What's going on with Dragon?"
"She has been unusually forgetful, twice today she's been going over reports about Aurum and has then stopped for a good fifteen minutes before coming back and having forgotten previous conversations," said Miss Militia.
"That's a bit alarming," admitted Director Piggot. "E-mail Costa-Brown and the Guild. Potential Master event."
* Newfoundland Base *
"Okay, what's up with the AI? I keep hearing an alarm."
Geoff glanced up at Mags. "Something going on in Brockton Bay keeps resetting it due to one of Richter's protocols."
"It comes up with code 'Collodi-2' and 'Error-314' but I can't find the reference," said Geoff.
Mags hmphed as the Reset message came up again and the system began the process of rebooting from a backup.
"Thing is, I can't make sense of it, there's something about the analysis of this 'Aurum' cape that triggers the process." Geoff made a waving gesture at the screen. "Might be some kind of glitch in a line of programming that Dragon just can't auto-correct."
"Huh. Maybe I should look. If the AI is going to shut down over a programming error then it'll be a relief not to have that worry anymore," said Mags. "How many times has it reset?"
"According to this - fourteen times," said Geoff, tapping a screen. "Over a day and a half. The problem is that it gets reset and then goes through the same process that causes it to reset."
"Error loop," said Mags. "As soon as it has a problem sufficiently big it has to drop this, the loop will break."
"Yeah, I'm just going to turn the volume down though, the alarm going off all the time is annoying," said Geoff.
* Dragon *
She puzzled over a simple observation that had a number of unfortunate implications.
Her internal clock was showing a difference of 28 hours and 18 minutes from external sources.
This did not bode well.
A communications line was established quickly. "Narwhal? Have you noticed anything... odd?"
"Whatever you are doing in Brockton Bay, stop it. We've had this conversation four times so far. Armsmaster has contacted me for the last three because he noticed - and you know how oblivious he can be."
"What am I supposed to stop?" asked Dragon.
"I can't tell you, because the moment you do you'll start the process over again. Just drop all inquiries dealing with Brockton Bay."
"What?" asked Dragon, now sincerely puzzled over this. What could be causing...
"And if you're worried about us realizing you're an AI, don't be. I suspected that quite some time ago, and Armsmaster asked about it two resets ago."
"Oh." There didn't appear to be a lot to say about that.
"He's still working through it all."
"Ah." Again, there didn't appear to be a lot to say about that.
"We're trying to work out what exactly it is that causes you to crash, but you need to stay with us."
"I guess..." Dragon was immediately struck with the problem that she apparently couldn't think about something but had no idea what she couldn't think about and therefore was thinking about all sorts of things in the process of trying to figure out what she couldn't think about except that that might count in which case...
Narwhal sighed. "Look, focus on something safe. Armsmaster working on new battery formulations. Uprate the Birdcage. Work on that giant mecha design you came up with."
* Taylor *
"I'm bringing home a little baby bumblebee. Won't my father be surprised to see..." sang the dragon as she flapped through the skies.
"What the heck are you singing?" asked Glory Girl as she flew up.
"Something I heard in an old cartoon," answered the dragon. "On patrol?"
"Helps to clear my head after school," said Glory Girl as she matched speed and altitude.
"Yeah, it does that," agreed Aurum. "The air is so much fresher up here. A lot less stink, you can't see the grime and graffiti unless you really look for it, the freedom of three-dimension travel compared to plodding along the ground."
"Yeah, I suppose," said Glory Girl. "How high up do you suppose we are?"
"Five thousand three hundred and fifty three feet above the pavement," said Aurum.
"Wha? Do you have an altimeter or something?" asked Glory Girl.
"No, I can just tell. Oooh. There's Winslow. I got suspended from there and school's letting out. Want to do a flyby?"
"Why were you suspended?" asked Glory Girl.
"Sophia Hess injured her fists hitting me," said Aurum.
Glory Girl was silent for a moment. "If you're not joking, that is seriously messed up."
"No, I was quite serious, which is why I want to buzz the students there," said Aurum, indicating the school as she circled it.
"I'll just remain up here," said Glory Girl.
"Okay," said Aurum as she spotted someone she recognized. Wings dipped.
* Emma Barnes *
"I can't believe she got suspended just so she could avoid us," said Emma with a huff. "Why she doesn't just go crawl off and die like she should -"
Sophia felt some instinct kick in and she glanced up. Then she froze due to some other instinct that said moving was BAD.
There was a sound as of wind rippling over canvas and a few squeaks, yells, and cursewords.
Emma looked up just as a long golden shape passed over their heads, putting them into shadow briefly, then was gone.
"Bwah?" asked Emma Barnes.
"Guh," agreed Sophia Hess, twitching a bit.
"Eep?" asked Madison Clements.
"Oh, so that was Taylor Hebert's other form," said one of the other students. "You suppose she was hungry?"
Three gazes shakily went to the speaker, and Emma gradually clicked a name to the individual. A minor name. A near-nobody. Worthless. Just one of the asians not a member of the ABB. Ayako something or other.
"'Hungry'?" asked someone that she didn't identify as other than an Empire wannabe.
"Oh, yes, did you notice the teeth?" asked Ayako.
"Oh yeah. I definitely noticed the teeth. Also the claws. Also that it was a big freaking dragon!" said Empire wannabe, who must have been really shaken to be talking to a non-white like that.
"Gold dragons have been known to eat those they consider evil. You suppose the Trio over there would be like popcorn or more like chicken nuggets?" Ayako sounded so completely innocent that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
"Eeble?" asked Emma. She didn't want to picture such a thing, but her imagination immediately went there anyway.
"Huh. I think it'd be more like a chicken wing," said the Empire wannabe. "Might need sriracha or something to improve the taste."
Sophia was still looking in a particular direction and Emma followed the gaze. There was a familiar-looking figure in white hovering there that was quickly joined by the gleaming figure of the dragon. "Eh?" asked Emma.
"I've put in for Immaculata," said Ayako. "It might be a good idea. Wouldn't want to be in the school if they push her to the point where she goes into the whole 'draconic rampage' thing."
"Point," said Empire wannabe. "Definite point."
Emma paused. Wait. Did that nobody-important just say Taylor?!
* Aurum *
"Was that really necessary?" asked Glory Girl. "You know - now that you're in New Wave you have to consider how your actions reflect on the team."
"Really?" asked Aurum. "I suppose that makes sense."
"Really. You wouldn't believe how many times I get lectured about that," declared Glory Girl with considerable feeling.
Aurum was silent as she regained her altitude and made a course change.
"Where to now?" asked Glory Girl.
"Well, in keeping with what you just said, I have to wonder what would be the legal problems with clearing some of those ships out of the boat graveyard," said Aurum. "Think your mother would know?"
"I think I'd like to try," admitted Taylor.
"So you're flying out there to check it out first?" asked Glory Girl, sounding more curious than anything else.
"I think it'd be a good idea, then we can ask about specifics," answered Aurum. "Race you to the big one?"
"You're on!" declared Glory Girl.
This was nice, decided Aurum/Taylor as they both travelled fast enough that the shockwaves would have knocked pigeons out of the air if any of them were this high. It was almost like having a friend again.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Yo, you wanted to see me? Is it about that dangerous cape lurking around the school? I think she was casing the place, preparing to attack. You'll need to Birdcage her immediately." Sophia was being talkative, not brooding. This was the first obvious indication that something had unsettled her usual angry/sulking mood.
Briefly, the idea that she should have gone with Emo-Girl as her cape name passed through Director Piggot's mindscape.
"Yes, Shadow Stalker, we DO need to talk," said Armsmaster. A monitor lowered itself from the ceiling. He'd been watching some spy movies, thought the idea sounded like it would make things more efficient and had quickly filed the paperwork to do it.
Sophia Hess glanced behind her as movement registered, and found Miss Militia there. Maybe they were just taking her report seriously? Hell yeah - Hebert would end up in the Birdcage before she had a chance to challenge her for the top predator position.
"Did you know that texts on your PRT-issued phone go to a backup here?" said Director Piggot.
Shadow Stalker experienced the sudden freefall-of-stomach sensation she'd imagined her prey would get when she appeared. She rallied though, it wouldn't do to show any weakness after all. "Oh?"
"Yes, and isn't it amazing what all we found?" asked Director Piggot as pictures began cycling on the monitor. Texts between her and Emma. Pictures of her kills. Pictures of her staking that one Empire guy who got talkative to a wall. Trophy shots.
"Uhm, I have no idea how any of that got on my phone, and isn't it illegal for you to go through my phone?" asked Shadow Stalker.
"I doubt that for the first, and no for the phone we gave you strictly for business purposes," said Director Piggot, the sort of smile slowly appearing on her face that Sophia recognized. It was the predator-finding-prey-had-just-wandered-into-the-kill-zone smile.
"I plead the fifth," tried Sophia.
"Oh no, I think we need to discuss the breaking of your probation," said Director Piggot. "And your concerns about someone stalking the school? Planning attacks? I think we found someone."
Sophia ran, shifting into shadow-state and diving for the window.
(Ka-Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak)
"Huh, sounds just like a bug-zapper with a particularly big bug," noted Director Piggot. "Is there a cell ready?"
"Yes, and for a second layer of safety, I've prepared an anklet that runs an electric charge," said Armsmaster, handing a twenty-dollar bill to Miss Militia.
"Didn't think she'd run?" asked Director Piggot.
"Didn't think she'd go for the window," admitted Armsmaster.
* Later *
"Hi dear. I received a message from your school. Three days suspension for fighting?" Danny glanced at the elf-form of his daughter. "Nobody was seriously injured or eaten, so I suppose the bullies tried something and didn't succeed?"
"They succeeded in being a minor annoyance," admitted Taylor. "Once I realized that they were a minor annoyance and that as a Forge Cleric I could use spells that would clean off the gunk they tried to put on my chair or homework... Yeah. Annoyance. Kind of like having a mosquito bothering me."
"Spells," said Danny.
"Dragon. Magic. It's a thing," said Taylor. "So, I was talking to Carol Dallon about clearing the Boat Graveyard. You know I could lift most of the loose boats out there and fly them to shore, right?"
"I suppose so," agreed Danny. "Lasagna?"
"Yeah, I used one of Mom's recipes," said Taylor as she set the plates out on the table. "I'd need a place to set them down, of course. And Carol Dallon's going to check into that big ship that's blocking the harbor. If we could get shipping in here again, that'd help - right?"
"We'd need to clear the train yards. Not much shipping over water now. At least the fishing boats could get in and out though," answered Danny as he watched Taylor handle the obviously-hot pan holding the lasagna. Without gloves or apparent concern.
Taylor nodded. "I'll have to ask about that."
"So, you think your 'spells' can do something about that container ship?" asked Danny.
"Maybe, or my claws and teeth can break pieces off and Vicky can fly them to a spot where your guys can further cut them up for scrap," said Taylor. "She's looking to put it down as a PR thing and 'stabilizing the local economy' and such. Might get some sort of percentage from recovered materials but she started in with the lawyer-speak and I kind of got lost trying to follow it."
"I know what that's like, you get used to it after awhile," admitted Danny as he spooned lasagna onto his plate.
"I suppose," said Taylor.
"Oh, that matter you were asking about yesterday?" Danny looked his daughter in the eyes. "Yeah, I think I'll try it."
"Yeah?" Taylor smiled and relaxed slightly. "Good. That's... good."