After the familiar flash, Ted, Shawn, and Erika are now in a vast desert. A scan of the entire horizon revealed only the dilapidated husk of a long abandoned oil rig to their northwest, according to the setting sun. However, while the land was empty, the sky was filled with a fleet of enormous warships.
"Don't like that," Shawn said.
"Guys," Erika said in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "You're not gonna like this either." She read from the wheel, "Universe 10V. Growing up, Ben Tennyson was heavily influenced by his paternal grandfather, Max Tennyson, a former Plumber with a chip on his shoulder for being dishonorably discharged. As a result, Ben has a general disregard for others and a warped sense of morality, viewing evil as relative."
"Ben?" Shawn said distraughtly.
"That doesn't sound like the Ben we know at all," Ted added. Before Erika could continue reading, a loud thud drew their attention toward the rig. The three turned into their speediest aliens and zoomed across the desert, stopping on ridge of a sand dune, to see a fight between a Fourarms and three heavily armored, orange and black robots in a crater below.
Something was vaguely familiar about the humanoid robots; perhaps they had seen that color scheme before. One swiped at the Fourarms but he caught it's arm effortlessly, and punched it with two fists, sending it's body flying, but tearing it's arm off. He swung the severed arm at another's head, knocking it down.
The third robot jumped on his back, trying to strangle him, but he caught it's head with two hands and elbowed in in the chest with the other two elbows. He then swung it like a sledge hammer over his head onto the one on the ground. The first robot, missing one arm, fired a red laser beam at the Fourarms, the first attack that seemed to faze him. As this robot prepared to fire another beam, the other two grabbed the Fourarms from each side, but he swung them into each other with enough force that the trio felt the shock wave.
The first robot's laser welded the two others together. The Fourarms spun around and sent the two mangled robot corpses flying into the base of the rig. The whole tower came toppling down, leaving a massive debris field. The Fourarms confidently dodged the falling chunks of twisted, rusty metal, but an I-beam pierced the last remaining robot.
The Fourarms leapt several feet into the air and landed in front of the trio, sending sand in all directions. To their dismay, he transformed into Ben. He looked practically identical to the last time they same him, but something was off. Could it be that his hair was darker, or his green eyes were somehow… less green?
Ben looked them up and down, no doubt noticing their Omnitrixes, but not letting on that he did. "You three must not be from around here," he quickly realized. He spoke slowly and deliberately. They didn't reply, but wondered why he didn't recognize them. Without warning, he activated his Omnitrix, causing the three to jump into defensive stances, ready to transform.
He chuckled dismissively. "As fun as it would be to fight you, I think it would be more interesting to keep you alive." They never knew he could be so intimidating. Ted glanced at the robots behind him. "Since you're new here, I'll give you a free piece of advice, as a welcome gift of sorts," Ben said ominously, "I wouldn't crack open those cans if I were you, unless you're prepared to get a little… messy." Was he implying that there were people in those robotic suits? Or, at least, once were?
"Or better yet," Ben said as he walked up another dune, " Do look. You'll see what happens when you stand against me." He pressed a button on his Omnitrix and was teleported away, presumably onto one of the warships above them.
After a pause, Pr. Paradox appeared behind them and said, "You needed to see for yourself."
"How could this happen?" demanded Shawn.
"Sometimes it only takes one bad decision to cause a cascade of problems," Paradox answered, "and none of us are immune from heading down a dark path. Which is why we have to remain sure that what we're doing is right."
"Especially when manipulating the future," added Erika.
"Every decision we make manipulates the future," Paradox corrected, "I've come to learn that free will and destiny coexist and apply simultaneously. I'd explain how, but it might make you as crazy as I am."
"But killing people?" replied Ted, "How do we convince him to come back from that?"
"I'm afraid there is no coming back for Ben," Paradox responded dourly, "That's what makes this mission different from the rest."
Erika read from the wheel, "Ben was a general nuisance to anyone fighting for justice, like the Plumbers, until the fateful day that through pure spite or sheer boredom, he joined forces with the World Conqueror Vilgax. He went from general nuisance to galactic threat." Ted and Shawn are stunned. "However," she continued reading, "we have reason to believe that now is the time to strike, not to defeat them, but to break their alliance."
"You want us to turn Ben and Vilgax against each other again?" Ted clarified.
"Exactly," Paradox answered, "and for that, you may need some friends." He held up one hand, calling their attention to Ted's Rooters ship which was now parked behind them. Their team, made up of Servantis, Albedo, Rook, Kai, Tack, Ida, and Spellbinder, stood in front of it.
Shawn ran and hugged Ida. "It's been so long!" he said, not wanting to let go.
"Really?" she replied, because to her, it had only been one day, "What have you been up to?"
"Oh you know," said Erika, "The usual stuff; chasing pirates and fighting zombies and evil corporations."
"We have been busy planning," said Rooter Rook Blonko, "The good professor says that getting Ben and Vilgax to break up will be like, mega hard." They had almost forgotten that Ben's Rook taught Ted's Rook how to speak like an Earth human.
"Indeed," Paradox agreed, "but standing around talking about it isn't going to make it any easier."
-- -- --
Later, Pr. Paradox had explained the plan in great detail while Ida had flown them in the cloaked Rooters ship to a fighter bay in the bottom of one of the warships in the sky. It was filled with fighter jets shaped like small versions of the Chimeran Hammer. The ship elevated up through a floor made of forcefield and attached to a platform which slid toward them. "So you're sure Ben and Vilgax are not on this ship?" asked Shawn.
"I'm not sure about anything," Pr. Paradox explained, "But in every version of this event I've witnessed, they were not."
"But you did witness us winning, right?" added Erika, "Professor?" He was gone.
"Okay, well," said Ted, "I'm sure he has a good reason for doing that. In the meantime, remember the plan, and good luck." They split into three teams and the mission commenced.
First, Erika transformed into Astrodactyl, and then she, Spellbinder, and Kai went down hallways leading to the communication sector of the ship. They made no effort to be quiet or to stay out of the view of the cameras. When they encountered a squad of Vilgax's robot soldiers, Spellbinder dropped to one knee and conjured a glowing blue magic shield. Kai pulled out a folding Plumber rifle and began firing laser bolts from behind him.
Erika flew over them and whipped one into the wall, shorting out all kinds of unknown alien equipment. "Come on guys," she instructed, "we didn't come here to be slow and precise! Hit 'em fast and hard!" Kai holstered her gun and pulled out a sword, spinning and slashing away at several robots. Spellbinder tapped his own shield, cracking into into six pieces. With a special hand movement, he caused each piece to spin rapidly like a saw blade and sent them flying into the remaining robots. "That's more like it," said Erika.
Soon, they reached the communication sector and destroyed the robots inside. Kai tapped away at the strange, bulbous alien computer, as Spellbinder formed a shield at the door. A screen appeared above the computer and Kai said, "You're ready to go."
Erika cleared her throat and, impersonating Ben's deeper voice as best she could as Astrodactyl, said, "Attention! This is Ben Tennyson. Ship Epsilon 27 has been hijacked by rebels! Deploy all fighters, and fire on that ship immediately!" After Kai turned off the screen, Erika laughed, "That should get the attention of old Squid Face!"
Meanwhile, Shawn transformed into Shock Rock and went with Ida and Rook toward the main cargo bay. The plan was to destroy some of Vilgax's stuff and draw troops away the other two teams at the same time. They made it to the massive room with little resistance. Narrow raised walkways on platforms went along above a maze of crates on the floor below. Big hooks on chains attached to the ceiling hoisted crates and pallets around like a giant claw machine in an arcade. Among the normal cargo were barrels with bands around the top and bottom that pulsated red. "Are those… explosive barrels?" said Ida.
Shawn formed an electric ax and cut through one of the hook chains. A Vilgax drone came hovering toward him, but he swung the hook like a mace and batted the drone right into one of the red barrels. BOOM!
"Oh man," she replied charging up the Ruby Ray of Rouleau, "This is gonna be a blast!"
"Bet," Rook agreed, readying his Prototool as a swarm of drones approached, "It will be lit, for real for real."
"Let's make some noise!" shouted Shawn.
Ted transformed into Arcticguana and took Servantis, Tack, and Albedo toward the command center near the top of the ship. When they met robots along the way, Ted froze them and Servantis smacked them around with his pronged taser batons. As they rode an elevator upwards, they hear booms and the light's flicker. "Sounds like it's going according to plan for the rest of the team," said Ted.
But then, the elevator suddenly halted and Tack said, "But not so much for us." Ted froze the metal ceiling, making it brittle, and Servantis busted it open with both batons. Ted pushed back the metal, dug his claws into the elevator shaft, and began climbing. Servantis and Tack followed, using magnets attached to their shoes and belts, and Tack held Albedo.
Several drones came down the shaft to attack them, but Ted froze them, until enough frozen drones piled up on the elevator that it broke loose and dropped to the bottom, exploding. Ted, Servantis, Tack, and Albedo leapt into the command center just before a plume of dust and smoke filled the shaft. In the commander's seat in the middle sat a slightly more sophisticated robot, but one that was still easily taken out by an electrocution from Servantis's baton.
Tack placed Albedo on a console and said, "You know how to work this?"
"Are you kidding?" Albedo scoffed, "This is rudimentary compared to Galvan technology. I'm insulted." He quickly accessed surveillance footage of the three teams sabotaging the ships. Instead of deleting it, he scrambled the timestamps to make it look like the three things had not been done simultaneously. Then he sent out various contradictory orders to the drones and soldiers, interfering with their programming.
"Alright," said Ted, "Let's head back to the ship."
-- -- --
On another ship, Ben sat kicked back in the commander's seat. One of the robots announced, "Incoming message from…" but was interrupted. A massive screen appeared across the front of the room and Vilgax roared, "What is this!?!" Beside his face, the screen displayed footage of the team sabotaging his ship.
"Security cameras," Ben answered thoughtlessly.
"I don't have time for your games, you facetious whelp," Vilgax responded angrily, "What is this?"
Ben examined the footage and quickly realized it was the three Omnitrix wielders he had encountered earlier. He couldn't help but crack a smile. "It's hilarious is what it is!"
"You can not cross Vilgax, and expect to…" Vilgax growled until Ben shut off the communication. He thought for a second, and then left the room.
Back in the cargo bay, Shawn is holding onto one of the hooks, swinging around and chopping boxes open, as Ida and Rook shoot incoming drones. Then, he pierces one drone with an electric spear. The drone goes haywire and heads toward a massive pile of the explosive barrels. "Get out!" he shouts as he tackles Ida and Rook into the hallway. The door slides shut just in time for a massive explosion to rock the entire ship. It lurched to one side, leaving the floor diagonal.
The three teams reunited at the entrance of the fighter bay. By now, chunks of debris were falling from the ceiling, and the ship was making awful groaning sounds. Outside the forcefield, a massive air battle was taking place between Vilgax's robotic fighter pilots. "Let's get outta here!" said Erika. The ramp into the Rooters ship opened up, and there stood Ben!
Everyone on the team gasped, and Ted said, "You can't take us all down!"
"Cool it there, Frosty," Ben replied, "It's not a battle I have for you, it's a proposition."
"What's that?" demanded Shawn.
"See, here's the thing," Ben answered, "I'm getting real tired of taking orders from Galaxy Conqueror Calamari Breath. And you three, even after seeing what I did to those rebels, attacked a warship and made Vilgax think I was the one doing it! That means you've got guts."
"And you want us to attack Vilgax?" said Shawn.
Ben tossed them a small electronic device. "That's a communicator," he explained, "I wouldn't turn it on if I were you, but your Galvan friend there should be able to use it to track the location of Vilgax's capital ship."
"So you team up with Vilgax and conquer the galaxy," Ted clarified, "But now you want to double-cross him because?"
"It's funny?" Ben shrugged.
"That's a good reason!" Erika replied sincerely.
"If you'd rather, we could stand around talking until the ship crashes and your watch-free friends all die," Ben suggested.
"We're in," said Shawn.
"Good," Ben replied, transforming into Jetray, "I'll see you there before sunrise, because if I don't, you'll feel the whole force of the Vilgax Empire." He flew through the forcefield, barely leaving them enough time to board their ship. They exited the bay just as the tip of the warship hit the ground. Ida had to crank the thrust up to max to escape the following explosion.
-- -- --
Later, the team has landed in the dessert amid the minefield of Vilgax fighter wreckage for a quick breather. Besides the lights of the Rooters ship, the only lights you could see were the stars, but there were millions of them. To the team, who were used to the sounds of crickets, coyotes, owls, and/or the busy city, this place was bizarrely silent.
"So," said Erika, "I guess we should go after Vilgax now?"
"You should not," answered Pr. Paradox, once again startling everyone. "You see Ben did give you the correct location, but he left out a key detail. Onboard Vilgax's capital ship is an entire army of bioids, each with their own alien transformation derived from the Omnitrix. If you entered the ship the most logical way, you'd have to fight Vilgax and the army at the same time." Everyone slumped in disbelief. "Therefore," he continued, "Our best course of action is to enter from the rear and destroy them before you face Vilgax."
"Look," said Shawn, "We can hold our own against a small squad of robots, but an army of Omnitrix aliens? We can't do it!"
"You may be right," admitted Pr. Paradox, "But it's a good thing these aren't your only friends." With a brief light distortion in front of them there appeared several more allies: Dillon and Dakota Preston, Army, Barricade, and OneNine, Yocha Stravrats and Droney, Owen Olson and Kuvel, Rook Blonko, Kevin Levin, Gwen Tennyson, and the OG himself, Ben Tennyson.
"Ben?" said Ted, "Is it really you?"
"The one and only," he answered with a grin, "Ben Prime. Glad to see you again, buddy."
"So you haven't turned evil?" asked Erika.
"Uh…" he replied looking at his hands, "not that I know of."
"Unless you count bragging as evil," joked Gwen.
"If so, then he has always been evil," added Rook.
"The Ben who joined Vilgax is not the same Ben who visited your universes," Paradox explained, "He's an evil version from a parallel reality. Sometimes we even call him Bad Ben. I'm sorry I… I thought you knew that."
The team, now 24 strong, caught up for a moment. The Preston twins had been promoted in the Galactic Enforcers and now led a training program for future members from their headquarters. The were certain to drill into the heads of their recruits the importance of working together. Army was now big dog at the Tumbleweed, and OneNine and Barricade remained her most loyal fighters. Instead of ruling through fear and extortion, the Red Reavers gained the inhabitants' respect by actually protecting them.
Yocha had converted his old home into a supervillain rehabilitation center of sorts. After being locked in there, criminals would never reoffend for the fear of spending any more time with Quigmu'ut. Owen had let his hair and beard grow out, and Kuvel now wore a parka and sombrero. Traveling the world and living among the people again had really changed his perspective on things. He didn't come right out and say it, but they suspected that he and Kuvel had been in a hippie commune at one point.
Gwen had gotten her first teaching job at Friedkin University, her alma mater. Kevin had saved up enough to become part owner of the garage he worked at. Rook and Ben were still on the beat in and around Bellwood and Undertown.
"I hate to break up the reunion," Pr. Paradox announced, "but we do have a deadline here. Emphasis on dead."
-- -- --
The team crammed into the Rooters ship and flew towards the location in space that Albedo had retrieved from the communicator. They flew right past the hangar doors located on the front of the ship, which was three times the size of the warships on Earth, and located a smaller opening near the rear engines for maintenance vessels.
There isn't much planning you can do when your objective is to destroy an army of aliens. Upon entering, Ida would remain the ships pilot while Albedo, Tack, and Kuvel would man the ships weapons to take out the various flying aliens. Barricade and Rooter Rook would be perched on the ship's open ramp, sniping at the aliens from above. Servantis, Kai, Spellbinder, OneNine, Gwen, Kevin, and their Rook would rappel down into the fight and take out aliens where ever possible in support of the big guns, the Omnitrix wielders. Pr. Paradox would simply watch, and Droney was there for emotional support.
They entered the maintenance hanger and started blasting through the inside of the ship. According to schematics Albedo had retrieved by hacking into Vilgax's database via the communicator, the bioids were probably held in a massive deployment room in the center of the ship. The floor of this room was retractable, so Vilgax could just place his ship above a target and dump a battalion of destructive robot aliens on it from the sky.
When they reached the room, they saw a sea of white, featureless bioid heads arranged in rows. When one bioid spotted their ship, they began to transform in waves, becoming a sea of diverse colors. In no time, the enormous room erupted in lasers and lightening and fire and ice. Ben was the first to leap out of the ship, shouting, "It's hero time!"
"Oh yeah!" said Shawn, "Hero time! Why was that hard to remember?" The rest followed him into the fray. Ben turned into Humungousaur and pounded the floor so loud it echoed in the cavernous room. He then grew several feet and threw several punches. Luckily, the bioids were easily distinguishable by their white eyes and expressionless faces.
Shawn turned into Crashhopper and kicked the robots to pieces, easily jumping out of the way of their attacks. Erika as Buzz Shock zipped through robot after robot at blinding speed, leaving only an explosion and her mischievous laughter in her wake. Ted as Blitzwolfer shredded the robots with his claws and teeth, and then let out a howl that disintegrated everything in a radius around him.
OneNine, Kai, and Servantis stood back-to-back in a triangle, taking out the alien robots with their energy blade, sword, and taser batons respectively. Dillon and Dakota turned into Heatblast and Big Chill and launched a beam of fire and ice, seemingly at each other, but they actually aimed at robots behind each other. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dillon asked.
"No," Dakota replied, "you're thinking what I'm thinking!" They both flew upwards and shot a beam at a central location. The result was a violent explosion of fire and steam and water and ice, destroying a swathe of robots. The twins high-fived, but it hurt their hands.
Army turned into NRG and shot a red beam of radioactive energy from her furnace-like helmet. Spellbinder opened three portals; one in front of Army and two across from each other. She fired into the portal, creating a beam between the other two. He sent the two portals flying forward, destroying everything in the beam's path like the giant swipe of a sword.
Rooter Rook, on the ramp of the ship, used his Prototool like a sniper rifle, and added a point on a digital counter on his sleeve for bioid he took out. When Barricade realized Rook was keeping score and that he was ahead, he lined up a shot that ricocheted three times and took out four of them. Rook rolled his eyes and evened up the score.
Owen as Slapback said, "I had almost forgotten how much fun being an alien can be!" A robot Humungousaur smashed him with both fists, but instead of being injured, he split into four of himself. The four jumped into the robot's face causing it to topple, crushing several smaller robots beneath it.
Kevin absorbed the metal floor and tackled a Diamondhead. He raised both fists, fused them into a metal sledgehammer, and shattered the robot's head. "Could that be some pent up rage I'm sensing?" asked Pr. Paradox who just appeared near him.
They watch as Gwen forms a pink mana whip and throws a Feedback toward Rook Prime. He impales it on his Prototool sword and slings it back to Gwen, who crushes it between two columns made of mana. "Looks like I'm not the only one," Kevin chuckled.
Yocha as Pesky Dust hovered around putting robots to sleep.
"I appreciate the effort," said Ted, "But you may want to transform into someone a little stronger than a Nemuina."
"Stronger than Fairy Face?" Yocha thought aloud. He then transformed into Molestache and said, "How about Mustache Face?"
"Try the spinning it randomly thing I suggested," said Shawn.
He turned back into Yocha, spun the dial, and slapped it down without looking, transforming into Way Big. "Giant Face is good?" he asked.
"Giant Face is very good!" Shawn answered. Yocha then crushed a pile of the robots between the wall and his arm fin.
After the long arduous battle, any bioid that remained active was buried under a heap of its destroyed comrades. They landed the ship and the team headed towards the door leading to the front of the ship where Vilgax was located. Yocha turned back into himself to fit through. "That's step one," said Paradox, "Step two is facing Vilgax."
"Is that all?" Erika replied sarcastically.
The door to the deployment room slid open and there stood Bad Ben.
"You lot are smarter than I gave you credit for," Bad Ben said. He then noticed Ben Prime and said, "Also, there are more of you now. Hello Ben."
"Ben," Ben replied, "I think anyone can change."
"You know," said Bad Ben, "I'd have to agree." The team followed him down another hallway to another set of doors that slid open to reveal Vilgax and another army of bioids! They began transforming as soon as they saw the team. "Vilgax," Bad Ben announced proudly, "Here are those rebels I delivered to you, just like you asked!"
The team was stunned. "Well this certainly didn't happen any of those other times," said Paradox.
"Step aside!" the imposing Vilgax roared. His already muscular body seemed to bulge and contort around these black rods protruding from his body, becoming even bigger. Since the team was already exhausted from fighting a literal army minutes earlier, Vilgax easily fended off laser and magic attacks, as well as an assault from an NRG, Heatblast, Big Chill, Slapback, Buzz Shock, Crashhopper, Blitzwolfer, and even Humungousaur. He slammed them each into the wall or floor as they timed out, leaving them dazed and vulnerable.
"So you're a double double crosser," Ben muttered as Gwen and Spellbinder formed shield above them, "Why?"
"I recognized you and the time-travel guy from the Chronosapien Time Bomb battle," Bad Ben answered.
"Time Bomb?" said Erika.
"Yeah, there was a battle between good and evil versions of me," said Ben, "and even a version of me from a universe without an Omnitrix. It was a whole thing."
"I thought, as much as I would enjoy seeing Vilgax betrayed," Bad Ben continued, "I would enjoy betraying you even more."
"Uh, you know he's right there, right?" Ben said.
Bad Ben stepped forward and confidently said, "Vilgax needs me more than I need him. He's the one that needs to watch his back.
Vilgax finally erupted, "I will not take this from an insolent little…" a flash of light interrupted him.
Bad Ben had Vilgax's knife sticking forward through his chest. His Omnitrix's fail-safe function had kicked in and transformed him into Goop in a fraction of a second. He tapped his Omnitrix, deactivating the bioids back into blanks and angrily grabbed Vilgax by the tentacles. " I will not take this from a pompous blowhard!"
He jerked Vilgax's mouth open and bolted inside. Vilgax swung at the air a few times, but then began clawing at his neck. He fell to his knees making excruciating chocking and smothering sounds. "That's enough!" shouted Gwen.
The liquid tubes on either side of Vilgax's head turned green from Goop, and his eyes started oozing green. Gwen formed a mana sphere around his anti-gravity projector and tossed it to Kevin who crushed it between his metal hands. Bad Ben turned into Ghost Freak and left Vilgax's body. Vilgax fell forward, face-first and laid there dead, brutally murdered by Bad Ben right before their eyes.
"I guess the galaxy is now mine to rule!" he said menacingly, but then thought for a second and said, "Nah, that sounds like a lot of work." He phased through the wall and flew off into space, never to be seen by the team again.
"Well, that was disturbing," Pr. Paradox said nonchalantly.
"What do we do now?" asked Erika.
"We get off this thing before it explodes," he answered, "Vilgax was as petty and vengeful as he was ambitious and egotistical. He rigged his capital ship to explode in the event of his death."
"Well then we have to get back to our ship!" Ida said hurriedly.
"There's no need," Pr. Paradox replied. He had instantly teleported them and their ship back to Earth. The sun was rising, but it was still dark enough to see the light show in the distant sky above them.
"It's kinda pretty," said Erika, "You know, in a horrifically destructive kind of way."
"So what becomes of this universe now that Vilgax is… out of the picture?" asked Gwen.
"In the resulting power vacuum, this galaxy falls into chaos," Paradox replied, "Every week, there's another mad scramble to be its new ruler… which means our job here is done!"
-- -- --
Professor Paradox then took the entire team back to the Plumber headquarters in Ted, Shawn, and Erika's dimension, where they shared a meal just like they had after their first adventure. The team members were becoming fast friends even though they may never see each other again.
"So your universe also has a version of me?" Azmuth asked Ben.
"Yep," he answered, "You would like him. He's just like you, and I know how much you like yourself."
Azmuth chuckled, "It's true."
The team members from the various universes began to leave through portals opened by Pr. Paradox. "Next time you need our help," said Dillon, "Make sure it's for something more fun and less threatening."
"Oh I don't know," said Army, "I thought it was pretty fun."
"You have a beautiful home," said Yocha, "But the food is bland and the air smells musty."
"Sorry?" Ted laughed.
"Seriously though," Ben said right before leaving, "Whatever you needs us for, if it's fun or threatening or anything…" He held up his Omnitrix and said, "It's hero time."
-- -- --
Several weeks have passed, and it's back to business as usual, patrolling the area and filing reports. As glad as Ted, Shawn, and Erika are to be back on Earth, their own Earth, they can't help but feel drawn to the multiverse. One night, without telling anyone, Ted quietly walks toward the Plumbers' artifact storage vault where the wheel is kept. He is startled by Shawn and Erika, each arriving from different directions.
"It seems we all had the same idea," said Ted.
"If we activate the wheel without Paradox programming a universe in first…" Erika started.
"We get sent to a random universe," said Shawn.
After a pause, Erika smiled and said, "What are we waiting for?"