OMG Yay! I am so excited to post this chapter! i have been waiting since i started this series to post this chapter!
The wait is over, and if you don't know why... well, it is. So, without further ado, please enjoy.
Don't mind the errors :) i'm only human.
As the party from the balcony descended the stairs and we rounded the corner, I was able to stop the flood from the sprinklers before everyone was completely soaked. Aside from El limping towards us no one was missing or otherwise hurt.
"You flung that thing like a hot wheel!" Dustin exclaimed hugging El and Mike.
"Lucas?" Erica said, and I watched as her brother stared at her in disbelief.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Ask them it's their fault." Erica remarked, pointing to Steve and Robin.
"True, yeah, totally true." Steve nodded and I turned my attention back to El holding both her shoulders so I could look at her. There were tears in her eyes, but she smiled back at me.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"The Mind Flayer, it attacked us." Mike answered for her, and I scowled looking between them.
"I thought you went to the cabin?"
"We did. It found us." El explained.
"It was so much bigger than the first one, it came looking for her. It wants El." Mike said, and I could hear the panic in his voice.
"Shit." I cursed bowing my head before taking El into my arms and hugging her.
"I don't understand. What happened to the car?" Robin asked and I turned to watch everyone look at each other before Dustin smiled and started to respond.
"El has superpowers." Dustin answered with a wide grin before his eyes fell on me and I tried to silently tell him to stop talking but it was no use. "So does Roni."
"Wait what?" she asked, turning to me and I dropped my head with a sigh.
"Superpowers. She threw the car with her mind." Steve explained. "Same way Roni started the sprinklers..."
"Yeah, and how she blew the door off the hinges down in the bunker to save you two." Erica added.
"Exactly." Steve said before scowling and looking at Erica then me. "Wait what?"
"So that's El?" Erica asked, pointing to the girl next to me.
"Who's El?" Robin asked, looking around.
"I'm sorry who are you?" Nancy spoke up and I looked at her.
"I'm Robin. I work with Steve." Robin said with a smile, but I could see the skepticism and confusion on Nancy's face. The group was like a family, new people meant trusting more people. It was a hard thing to fully do after everything we had all been through.
"She cracked the top-secret code." Dustin added.
"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve said.
"Wait there really are Russians?" Nancy looked at me and I rolled my eyes.
"I told you it was hard to explain." I sighed.
"Those were Russians?" Max asked, looking at the bodies littering the floor.
"Some of them." Erica shrugged.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked.
"Roni, I thought you sent the code red?" Dustin looked at me and I scoffed.
"I did... or I tried to, your battery died remember." I said crossing my arm only to wince and look back down at my arm. Sure enough, the bullet had grazed the outside of my bicep and the sleeve was slowly becoming stained. Readjusting my hands, I kept my arms lightly crossed and brought my attention back to Dustin.
"We could hardly hear anything." Mike confirmed.
"Goddam low battery." Dustin mumbled.
"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve criticized and I watched as the two started bickering, my attention being drawn away by El who had slowly started stepping away from the group.
"Well, everything worked out, didn't it?" Dustin asked.
"Worked out?" Erica laughed. "We almost died." I scowled as El started holding her head before her breathing quickened. Stepping away from the group I was behind the girl just as she collapsed.
"El?" I asked panicked.
"What's wrong with her?" Erica asked. The group was now crowded around us, Mike on the other side of her holding her hand.
"My leg," she said weakly, her eyes glancing down at her leg. Following her eyes, I noticed the wrapping around her leg and the blood that stained the ripped part of her pants. "My leg."
"Her leg." Jonathan acknowledged making quick work of unwrapping the injury.
"What the hell happened to her leg?" I asked looking up at Nancy before looking back at the injury. As Jonathan removes the blood-soaked wrap around El's leg the injury came into view. There was a large gash running from her ankle to her calf. The injury itself was inflamed. The skin was red and swollen and when I moved down to exam it the skin was warm. "It's infected." Just as I went down to touch the injury, movement under the skin made me pull my hand back. El groaned loudly as the 'thing' moved under her skin and I watched as tears fell down her cheeks.
"What is that?" Erica asked somewhere behind me.
"There's something in there." Mike stated and I looked up at him before looking at Jonathan.
"You said the Mind Flayer grabbed her?" I asked and he nodded before I looked up at Nancy. "How did you get it to release her?"
"Lucas." Nancy said, looking at the boy next to Max. "He cut off the tentacle arm."
"Yeah, but it was still attached to her." Mike explained and I scowled waiting for him to continue. "I had to rip it from her leg."
"Did you get all of it?" I asked and he seemed confused by my question.
"Of course I got all of it. I mean I pulled it off her." He responded but I could hear how unsure he was as he thought back to the events. "I didn't see anything, but I didn't look."
"Jesus Christ." Dustin mumbled.
"Keep her talking... keep her awake okay." Jonathan exclaimed, getting up quickly and running towards the far side of the food court.
"Here take her." I said looking up at Steve before following Jonathan. As I left, I could hear Mike telling her to stay awake. "What are you looking for?" I asked once I caught up to Jonathan in one of the shops.
"Gloves, knives, something for her to bite on." he said quickly. Nodding I jumped over the counter and helped him rummage through drawers. Finding a knife, I held it out to him. When he took the utensil, my stomach rolled with the realization of what he planned to do with it. I watched as he placed the knife over the flame of the stove before he looked up at me. The look on his face told me he wasn't excited about what he had to do, but we both knew it needed to be done. Running back to the group Steve moved out of the way and let me slide in. Mike with El's head cradled in his lap as he tried to keep her alert.
"Okay," Jonathan said taking a deep breath. I watched as he put the gloves on his hands and then looked at El. "All right, El... this is gonna hurt like hell okay."
"Okay." El sobbed. Looking at Mike I motioned for him to hold onto her shoulders while I moved down to help Jonathan.
"Need you to stay real still." Jonathan said.
"Mike hold onto her, I got her legs." I said, looking up towards Mike and then Jonathan, who nodded at me.
"Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay." Jonathan handed a spoon to El who looked at it skeptically before putting it between her teeth.
Jesus Christ..." Dustin started pacing behind Jonathan. Holding the knife, he held it just above the injured flesh and hesitated, looking up at me. I took both my hands and placed them on either side of the leg. The action caused El to let out a muffled cry as the thing moving around started moving faster trying to get around my hands. Meeting my gaze, I could see the slight tremble in his hand and took a deep breath before nodding. Jonathan then looked up at El and Mike.
"Do it." Mike said pursing his lips together holding El tighter.
"Okay." Jonathan nodded and he lowered the blade to the skin. As he pushed down one the blade the skin was sliced open and El screamed against the wooden utensil her leg bucking under my hands as I applied pressure to keep it still. My stomach turned as the infected area began to ooze and Jonathan stuck his fingers into the wound. Turning my head I closed my eyes, continuing to hold her leg down, listening to her cry out and hearing Jonathan curse at thing as it tried to burrow deeper into El. Feeling tears burn in my eyes, I looked up at El who had broken out into a sweat and was panting, her hands holding onto Mike. Her eyes met mine and she shook her head pleading for the pain to end.
"Stop." she yelled pulling the spoon from her mouth.
"Jonathan stop!" I said, grabbing his hand.
"Stop, stop." El cried out of breath.
"I know, I'm sorry, but it needs to come out." he said, guilt radiating from him. El's hand came down onto mine still holding her leg and I looked up at her. I searched her eyes and nodded.
"You trust me?" I asked quietly.
"Yes." she said softly.
"Okay." I nodded, turning, looking up at Mike again. "Hold her. Jonathan... you and Nancy hold her leg."
Holding my hand, fist clenched, over the open wound a few inches above it, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. In my head I searched for the monster until I could feel it moving. Opening my fist, I reached into the wound with an invisible tether and wrapped it around the wiggling thing and started pulling it towards me. All the sounds around me were muffled and muted but I could make out El screaming as the monster was pulled against its will towards the opening. With every yank, El cried out louder until my eyes shot open and the thing was pulled from her leg. El made one final scream of agony as it was wrenched free and the glass from the shops around us exploded.
I felt a body come around me, guarding me from the flying shards of glass, but I couldn't look to see who it was. My focus was on the large, ugly worm hanging in midair just above El's leg, moving and fighting against the hold I had on it. As the thing continued to wiggle and pull against my hold on it, I tossed it across the room before falling forward on my hands breathing heavily. I felt hands on my shoulders but the sound of footsteps crunching on glass ahead of us had my head shooting up and my muscles tensing as I prepared to stand up and defend the group. As my vision cleared, I stood up quickly, my eyes settled on Jim as his foot stepped down on the worm crushing it under his boot. He stared at us, gun in hand, his eyes settling on me before moving to El the scowl deepening when his eyes found the damaged leg. Behind him Joyce looked relieved and ready to burst into tears, and next to her a man, looking a little crazed stared at us confused.
The next few minutes as everyone got reacquainted and moved away from the shop carnage went by in a blur. At some point I turned to find that Steve was the one holding my shoulders and had been the one that covered me when the glass exploded around us. Despite getting the shit beat out of him, drugged, ran around a mall, and shot at, the concern he held in his eyes was directed at me, nothing else around us. The feeling made my heart skip and all the anger I had had towards him earlier seemed to fade, but I wasn't ready to forgive him, tell him it was okay... because it wasn't... then again nothing about today or the last week was okay.
Helping El up, with Mike, we moved her towards the center of the mall common area before helping her sit on a bench. Jim moved quickly to sit beside her, holding her face, and going over all the injuries. Joyce came over with a towel handing it to Jim before pulling me into her. I heard her take a sharp breath whispering that she was happy to see I was okay, and my response was to wrap my arms around her and finally release the tension I had been holding onto.
"How the hell did you find us?" I asked after letting go of Joyce and watching her move to her sons.
"We heard the Russians say something about kids." Jim said nodding to one of the dead Russians. "Would one of you tell me what the hell is going on?"
"It's the Mind Flayer." Mike explained standing only a few steps away from El. "It built this monster in Hawkins."
"It was using Billy to gather... people for this monster." I added, crossing my arms as I turned away towards a vacant chair across from where Jim was sitting.
"Right, to stop El. To kill her and pave a way into our world." Mike nodded.
"El's the reason the thing didn't win the last time. She shut the gate." I sighed, placing my head in my hands before using one to rub my eyes. "It makes sense it wants to eliminate the thing that threatens its existence or chance to succeed."
"It almost did." Nancy pointed out looking back at the crushed worm across the room, and I looked up and watched as Jim pulled El closer. "That was just a tiny piece of it."
"How big is this thing?" Jim asked.
"It's big." Jonathan answered, "Thirty feet at least."
"Yeah." Lucas said, looking at Jim remorsefully. "It sorta destroyed your cabin... sorry."
"How did it find you at the cabin?" I asked, looking between the group. "When I left you at the hospital no one else was around."
"Billy found me and sent it after us." El answered, her voice small. I eyed her suspiciously and I knew she was leaving out something but just shook my head.
"What do you mean you left them at the hospital, why were you at the hospital?" Jim asked, looking at me.
"We were looking for Mrs. Driscoll." Nancy quickly tried to explain. "We were hoping to see if she could lead us to where this thing was hiding out."
"Yeah, but when we got there it was too late, she was gone and then a part of that monster took over Tom and Bruce and they turned into this blob that came after Nancy." Jonathan added. As they explained I watched Jim's eyes narrow before looking back at me.
"And after this thing flew out the window you left?" Jim asked.
"Yes." I said holding his hard gaze.
"Instead of sticking together and keeping each other safe..."
"Pretty sure you told me that wasn't my job." I shot at him, and I watched as the realization of what he said. "And yes, I left because I realized that the message Dustin got from the Russians and the power surges we have had, that all led here was going to lead them..." I pointed to Steve and Dustin, "into a trap." I watched as he opened his mouth to say something, but Joyce cleared her throat telling him to shut up. Letting out a small chuckle I stood up and shook my head at him. "They were safe... El was safe at the cabin. Isn't that what you preach? Why she wasn't allowed to leave? And for the record... I looked for you first. When this whole thing went down and Billy came after me at the arcade, I came looking for you and Joyce before anything else. So where were you?"
"Okay I think we're off track here." Max said trying to deescalate the conversation.
"Yeah, so just to be clear, this... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?" Steve asked, drawing the attention away from mine and Jim's starring match.
"Yes." Nancy nodded quickly.
"But, instead of screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made it's weapon, with... melted people." Steve asked and I watched as his brain processed and tried to imagine the thing he was describing.
"Yes exactly."
"Yeah, okay." he shrugged. "Just making sure."
"Are you sure this thing is still out there? Still alive?" Joyce asked.
"If it's anything like the one from the hospital it doesn't … die... it may feel pain but it's a pile of mush." I explained. "I mean it flew out a window and just slid into the drain."
"I mean El beat the shit out of it, but yeah." Max nodded. "It's still alive."
"So, if the Mind Flayer was able to finally create its monster that means they go the gate open." I thought out loud, avoiding Jim's glances at me as I paced past him and stood beside Steve.
"But if we close the gate again..." Will started.
"We cut the brain off from the body." Max nodded eagerly.
"And kill it." Lucas added before shrugging. "Theoretically." Mulling over the idea of closing another gate, our attention was pulled away but the crazed man from earlier yelling at us and wilely holding up a piece of paper. Moving to the table I had just been at, he laid the paper down.
"Okay this is what Alexei called 'the hub'" the man said pointing to an area on the paper. "Now the hub takes us to the vault room."
"Okay, where's the gate?" Jim asked having left El's side to stand beside me overlooking the man as he explained the drawing.
"Right here." He said pointing to another area of the drawing. "I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty fee or so."
"More like 500." Erica's sassy voice interrupted, pulling the man's attention away from the drawing confused. "What... you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"
"I'm sorry... who are you?" the man asked with a condescending tone.
"Erica Sinclair." Erica shot back crossing her arms. "Who are you?"
"Murray Bowman." The man, Murray, answered taken back by her.
"Listen Mr. Bunman," Erica stated, and I had to cover my mouth to hide my smile. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours, and with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."
"I'm sorry why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray asked looking to Jim and Joyce.
"I'm ten you bald bastard." Erica stated and Lucas quickly tried to get his sister to stop.
"She's right though..." I sighed ignoring the two as they bickered. "I was only down there for maybe two-three hours, and the place is a maze. I struggled to locate Dustin when I was down there, and once I did, we needed a cart to get to where Steve and Robin were."
"If you go down there, you're gonna die, Erica's right, but you don't have to." Dustin said squeezing into the small group around the drawn map. Looking up at Murray he pointed to the drawing. "May I?"
"Please." Murray said sarcasm dripping from his word and he plaster a fake smile on his face.
"Okay, see this room here?" Dustin pointed to an area on the map circling it, "This is a storage facility, there's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."
"You can show us the way?" Jim repeated and Dustin smiled nodding.
"Don't worry you can do all the fighting and dangerous hero shit." He shrugged. "And we'll just be your... navigators."
"No." Jim said simply, and I rolled my eyes turning away and walking towards Steve and Robin. "Nope." I heard Jim confirm with them again and I sighed.
"How are you two feeling?" I asked, eyeing both of them curiously.
"I'm... confused, but not because of the drugs... I don't think... unless this isn't real and I'm still tripping, which would totally make sense, because there is no way any of this is real. I mean you... you took that thing out of her leg, and before that the car came flying... Russians were after us..." Robin started rambling and pacing in front of Steve and I. Looking over at him, he was leaning with both elbows on the counter watching his coworker spiral.
"Robin." I said but she didn't seem to hear me, and continued pacing, her rambling becoming a jumbled mess of words I could hardly understand or hear anymore. Taking a step forward I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to stop, and her head shot up and looked at me, her eyes wide. "You may not want to believe it, but this is real... all of it is real, all of it happened."
"But like... how is that possible?" she asked.
"Long story..." I sighed letting her go and moving to sit on the counter of the food booth. "Basically, started with Will's disappearance two years ago and somehow snowballed out of control."
"So, you really have like superpowers?"
"Eh... it's not really a superpower." I shrugged looking at Steve from the corner of my eye.
"It's a superpower." Steve interjected and my eyes narrowed at him shaking my head. "What? It is."
"A superpower would be like flying or super strength." I scoffed before looking down at the tear in the sleeve of my arm. "Or like indestructibility, which would have been really helpful today."
"Ohmygod." Robin said quickly startling me and I looked up at her she was already in front of me her hand hovering over my arm. "You're still bleeding, okay, it's fine, just stay here. I'll be right back." and before I could stop her, she was running into the back of the store we were in front of.
"Is she okay?" I asked concerned looking behind me before back at Steve.
"She'll be fine, considering everything she's been through she's taking it better than I thought she would." Steve answered with a shrug.
"How about you?" I asked. I may be upset with him, but his black and blue face forced the concern for him forward and the hurt I felt down. "That looks pretty bad."
"At this point I'm kind of getting used to it." He chuckled and I smiled nodding. "You don't want to hear it... I know, but I really am sorry... about all of it."
"Okay I think I found something that I can use." Robin came back just as I opened my mouth to respond. She looked up at the two of us and raised an eyebrow curiously, "Am I interrupting?"
"No." I cleared my throat shaking my head and looking away before looking at the contents in her hand nodding to them. "What'd you find?"
"I found some alcohol, and a gauze thingy, and some bandages." She said placing all of the items on the counter. "I'll be completely honest I have no idea what to do next."
"I'll take care of it." Jim said and both Steve and Robin looked up at the man wide eyed. He nodded to them, and they both seemed to understand.
"Uh, Robin, let's go see what Erica and Dustin are doing." Steve said awkwardly and both him and Robin both walked away only to look over their shoulder at me quickly before distracting themselves with Dustin and the blueprints on the table.
"Let's see it kid." he gruffed and I narrowed my eyes at him. Part of me wanted to be stubborn, to stand my ground, but after a few seconds of intense staring I sighed heavily and pulled my arm through the sleeve of my sweatshirt pulling it over my head. Turning slightly and held out the arm that had been grazed towards him. I watched as Jim pursed his lips and put the gun he was holding down before bending his head down and examining the injury. The bleeding had slowed to a small trickle in one area, the rest had already started to clot.
"It's not that bad." I said quietly. Jim continued to examine the area before grabbing the alcohol bottle and a gauze pad. I turned away and watched El and Mike over Jim's shoulder as he started wiping the blood from around the area before lightly touching the broken skin. I hissed jerking my arm slightly. Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw trying to relax as he continued.
"What I said earlier…"
"It's fine." I said blinking a few times before letting out a tense breath.
"It's not your job to keep the kids safe." He continued taking the bandage and wrapping my arm. "you're right, what I said was unfair and…"
"I should have stayed with her." I said quietly.
"If you had the others would still be held by the Russians, right?" Jim questioned, and I shrugged. "you were put in a hard position in deciding where you were needed most… and I'm sorry you have to deal with any of this at all."
"It's not your fault."
"I should have been here." I looked up at him and saw his scowl deepen as he released my upper arm only for his hand to brush over and examine the bruising over my wrist and lower arm. I watched as his eyes filtered to the other arm and I sighed pulling my arms back and grabbing my sweatshirt from the counter.
"It's been a rough 24 hours." I said jumping from the counter pulling the sweatshirt over my head. I started to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back into his arm around me in a hug. I stood stiffly in his arms until I let out the breath I had been holding and hugged him back.
"I'm not good at this… any of it, you know that and seeing you and El in the state that you're both in…" he paused and pulled away only to lean down so he was looking in my eyes. "I lost my daughter; I couldn't save her. In the span of two years, I have nearly lost both of you, you and El, and I told myself I wouldn't watch you die, helpless. It wasn't fair for me to say what I did to you, I just… I cant…"
"We aren't going anywhere Jim." I said softly. "And we can take care of ourselves."
"I'm realizing that." He chuckled before hugging me again. Eventually we converged with the group and I sat beside El watching as Jim went around and grabbed the guns from the ground left by the dead Russians.
"Well, that settles it." I heard Erica say and I stood up and walked over to her and Dustin. "He's gonna die."
"Way to be positive." I rolled my eyes.
"Yep." Dustin agreed and I groaned. "Most likely."
"You guys survived." Lucas shrugged.
"Barely." Dustin replied. "And only because Roni came to our rescue, we could've really used you guys down there."
"Could've used you up here too." Mike gave his friend a small smile.
"Yeah man, we missed you dude." Lucas added.
"Big time." Will agreed.
"I missed you guys too." Dustin smiled and I watched as they all hugged, crossing my arms I smiled taking a few steps back.
"Please don't cry nerds." Erica said.
"Erica." Lucas groaned pulling away from his friends.
"Keep saying my name, see what happens." Erica shot at him and I covered my mouth as I laughed.
"Hey," Jim called from behind me and he stalked towards us tossing a walkie-talkie towards Dustin. "You can navigate, just from someplace safe."
"It's not that simple." Dustin shook his head.
"The signal won't reach," Erica added with all the attitude she could muster, hand on her hips.
"Not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower." Dustin said holding up the walkie-talkie like it was junk. "But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins. Oh wait. That's me. If you want us to navigate, you got us." I watched as he paused before looking back at Steve and Robin and then to Jim again before giving the older man a wide smile, "but we need a head start and a car."
I stood off to the side as Jim talked with Steve and Robin, handing him a set of car keys. Whatever Jim was saying he had a scowl on his face and his tone was firm. Once the directions were given Steve called to Dustin and Erica and the group slowly walked towards the front of the door. I was struggling with how I was feeling. I spent so much time not saying what I felt, or how I felt and with the way today and was shaping the fear of everything going unsaid was weighing heavily. Before I could talk myself out of it, I ran towards the front door just as they exited the mall.
"Steve." I called pushing the door open as they stood by the car, I assume Jim gave them the keys to. Steve was quick to turn towards me and put his finger up to the others before coming back towards me. Looking to my feet I took a deep breath and looked up into Steve's soft brown eyes as he stood in front of me. "Look… I'm still pissed at you. You didn't trust me and that…" I stumbled over my words and I had to close my eyes and take another breath before continuing, "look I'm pissed but I'll get over it, but if you aren't careful… if you get hurt or die… I won't forgive you for that." Without thinking I pushed up on my toes and placed a very light, chaste kiss to his lips and pulled back looking up at him. "Just come back safe." Giving him a small smiled I turned to head back inside.
I no more than reached the handle of the door when a set of hands spun me around. The hands moved from my arms to hold my face and Steve was kissing me before I knew what had happened. As soon as the shock faded, I relaxed and let my arms wrap around him, one hand on his back the other running through his hair. Pulling me closer he deepened this kiss until eventually we had to pull away to catch our breath. Keeping my forehead on his I took a shuttered breath removing my hand from the back of his head and curling them in the front of his shirt, afraid that he would disappear if I let go.
"Sorry." He said quietly breathing heavily, "I just didn't want you to walk away thinking…"
"I'm glad you did." I whispered shaking my head smiling. A horn honked making us jump, but Steve held firmly to my shoulders, almost pulling me closer as we looked up to the car where Erica, Dustin, and Robin sat all staring at us, all with their own looks of amusement.
"Let's go man!" Dustin called earning him a smack on the back of his head by Robin.
"You should probably, um…" I smiled feeling my cheeks heat up and I looked down at my feet biting my lower lip. Steve lifted my chin, so I met his eyes leaning down kissing me again. "You better be safe…so we can talk later." I whispered and I felt him nodded, kissing me one more time before pulling away and running to the car. I smiled lightly touching my lips as I watched Steve jump over the driver's side door and starting the car. I heard Robin say something about 'about time' and Dustin adding 'took you long enough' which only made me laugh to myself and roll my eyes before going back inside.
There is about one more chapter left in season 3 for me to write, and then on to season 4... which i am still working out. I have several ideas for certain part, however i am still working on putting it together. So if you have any suggestions or thoughts i am open to them.
Let me know what you think, comments, suggestions and likes are always appreciated. :)