Everyone filed into the Jet and Xavier rushed to the cockpit, starting takeoff procedure, everybody got nervous when Blob managed to squeeze in and yet the plane was able to take off, in fact rocketing away without signs of visible strain.
"Settle in everyone, it's going to be a long flight!"
"We been made..." Toad said. "Those Clan Akkaba jerks know our faces now."
"Could they sick the Egyptian Government on us?" Ororo asked, still twitching from the adrenaline of the fight, her glowing red eyes darting around
"I get the distinct feeling they like to handle their own affairs," Scott said with a grimace, examining the piece of armor he had snatched. "If they decide to come after us to rumble, it'll be on their own time and their own dime."
"Hey Wrinkles, you in pain?" Toad asked Mystique.
The elderly looking crimson skinned mutant with barbie doll anatomy looked down at her torso, filled with fresh holes and cuts, slowly, but surely sealing up.
"No actually. Most curious," Mystique replied in her thick East German accent, the golden skull implant given to her by Loki gleaming in the middle of her forehead. "It's also taking longer to heal from the wounds they inflicted then the ones I got from the bullets..."
"It could have gone better, but we're all alive...that's what's important," Power Princess said. "Perhaps they can be negotiated with?"
Ororo shook her head. "Nice thought Zarda, but I was their captive for a few days. It's their way or the highway."
"It doesn't mean we shouldn't try. We don't even know where, exactly, they fit into all of this. Think about it from their perspective; we broke into their territory, attacked their personnel, destroyed their property, and they don't even know why. We were the aggressors in this situation. If somebody tried to forcibly take MY stuff, I'd fight them, the same as you would in a home invasion," The Princess replied.
"Again, all nice, but for the fact they were about to dissect me..." Ororo said to the Princess in acid fashion.
Power Princess blinked.
"I stand corrected..." she replied, delicately flicking her long, curly midnight hair away from her face. She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her.
"Professor? We heading back to the Mansion?!" Scott called out, setting the backup Captain America Shield down.
"No! We're heading to the estate of Hank McCoy! We've got to get that Ruby Quartz examined!" Xavier replied.
"What is so important about Herr Zyklop's rock?" Mystique asked.
"It's the only substance that holds back the death ray in my eyes..." Cyclops answered. "Without this visor, a single blast could kill maybe everyone in this Jet. We came all the way to Egypt just to get it."
The newest members-all the women-leaned back in a mix of surprise and awe and fear.
"How is a mutation like that even possible?" Ororo wondered, staring at Scott the way one stares at a bomb that hasn't gotten off.
"I could ask you the same thing, Ororo..." Scott grunted. "Trust me...I didn't want it."
Ororo lowered her eyes for a second.
"Same here..." she replied, corners of her mouth twisting into a small frown. "My powers cause nothing but trouble for me most times."
"Surely, there must be some benefits, Herr Zyklop..." Mystique pondered.
"If I find one beyond staring my problems into submission, you'll be the first to know..." Scott replied with caustic sarcasm.
He was almost startled when Mystique, who sat directly opposite him, placed her hand on his shoulder.
"There is always a benefit, Herr Zyklop. You just have to look a bit harder..." Mystique said with a smile and a grandmotherly tone, completely incongruous with her unsettling appearance. "A little hope would not hurt either..."
"...I'll look for it..." Scott promised, though his expression remained as stoic as ever.
"That is all I ask..." Mystique replied, pulling away.
"His power is the literal equivalent of Odin's Razor..." The Princess noted.
"You mean Occam's Razor," Toad corrected.
Princess shrugged. "Same thing."
"Herr Xavier, how long will the flight take?" Mystique asked.
"A few hours!" Xavier called back. "Why?"
"May I see the Lattitude and Longitude?" Mystique asked back.
"Come on up. This ought to be good..." Xavier muttered as Mystique entered the cockpit section, her nude, wrinkled form sitting in the empty co-pilot's seat and examining the map display system on the dashboard.
She stared at the Lattitude and Longitude of their projected destination, concentrated, and touched the dashboard.
The sky outside seemed to warp around them before going back to normal. Xavier blinked.
"My word...we're here! Amazing!" he said as a compliment.
Mystique beamed. "Always happy to help, Herr Xavier."
Xavier then opened up encrypted communications.
"Hank? You there? Come in, It's Charles!" Charles called out on the comm.
"Charlie? What's going on?" came the Texas accent on the other end.
"It's serious Hank. Things are messed up and Loki is involved."
"Oh, dear, not her again. She's trickier than an Austin Squirrel in July..." Hank groaned. "Lemme open the landing bay."
"Thank you..." Xavier replied, the silent maneuvering thrusters of the Jet steering the vehicle into the back of Hank's large, white English style manor, the large backyard opening up to accommodate the currently invisible, silent jet as it settled onto a dark landing pad beneath the vast backyard. His home was just outside Houston.
The group filed out of the Jet, staring at their high-tech surroundings. Scott was reminded of Essex's torture lab in terms of sophistication.
"How wunderkind!" Mystique exclaimed.
"Hank? Hank, where are you?" Xavier called out, carrying out the chunk of Ruby Quartz they had retrieved.
"Hold your horses, Charlie..." came the Texan drawl of Hank McCoy in the darkness of the surroundings beyond. Scott detected a tinny electronic tone, very faint, but noticeable before he saw bright eyes that were a field of glowing green, towering over those present.
Hank's feet came in thuds that shook the floor. The breathing of a powerful beast announced his arrival more than his walk as he stepped out of the shadows.
He was nine and a half feet tall, with the body mass of twelve of the biggest Linebackers put together with legs that were bent like a canine's, and a head and facial profile that were distinctly canine like, bristling with muscle everywhere, his unmentionables covered by a pair of black trunks. His fur was all over his body, but it was very short length, like a buzzcut almost. His snout was long, and his nose twitched as he registered each new scent.
"Mighty funny fellas you brought, Charlie..." Hank McCoy said, able to speak via a glowing red implant in his throat that made his vocal cord movements audible. "Reckon some of 'em ain't exactly local."
Scott was the only one who did not react, either externally or internally unlike the others who gasped in astonishment. He was getting distressingly good at processing each new insane development with barely a rise in heartbeat.
"This is Doctor Hank McCoy..." Xavier said. "He's an old and dear friend of mine. Hank, this is Cyclops, Blob, Toad, Ororo, Mystique, and Power Princess."
"A pleasure!" Power Princess said with a modest bow.
"Mein Gott, you're even bigger than Herr Dukes!" Mystique exclaimed. "Plenty of exercise and vegetables, ja?"
"Heh, I wish! Y'all can call me Beast, for short." Beast said. "So what's up Charlie? What's Blondie roped your cue ball self into this time?"
"Heavy stuff, Hank," Xavier replied, the physical and emotional exhaustion hitting him as he finally allowed himself to fully process what he had just encountered. "An Absolute Point will occur in nine months on Genosha. We have exactly that long to find out how and why."
Beast went still.
"She always brings the worst news..." he said, growling subtly.
"That's not all. It's of vital importance you examine this," Xavier added, walking over and handing the Quartz sample to Hank.
"Ruby Quartz. Where in the world did you get this?"
"I made a stop in Egypt," Xavier explained, turning to Scott. "Cyclops, I am going to need your visor. Hank will need to run comparison scans, and I'm going to need you on standby for blood tests among other things..."
"No problem..." Scott muttered, closing his eyes, removing his visor, and handing them to Xavier, eyes still closed.
"There's a lounge nearby if y'all need to relax...uh, ma'am, are you injured?" Beast asked of Mystique, whose wounds still hadn't closed fully.
"Yes, but I'll be fine in an hour or so, Herr Bestie," Mystique assured.
"Alright, Charlie, Lab time!" Beast said, walking off with Charles in tow.
...
The Lounge was large, most of the furniture titanium reinforced and designed to accommodate someone many times the size of most of the people present save Fred, who took a seat on a large couch, grabbing a bottle of water out of an ice bucket, and chugged it.
Scott, eyes still closed, took a chair close Fred's couch, sat down, and slouched back in it while Mortimer hopped over to a vending machine that had ice cold soda and pressed the button that had his favorite and hopped over to a beanbag. Mystique sat cross-legged in one corner of the lounge, in seeming meditation, her wounds having closed a little further. Power Princess floated around examining, touching everything. Ororo, stalked the lounge almost like a predator, lurking in its darker corners by a library shelf.
"So, Herr Zyklop, what is your real name?" Mystique asked.
"Don't need one for what I'm doing..." Scott said. "I'm just after Essex..."
"We all are..." Mort added, noticing a fly buzzing around, and catching it with his tongue.
"She must have hurt you greatly..." Power Princess said, sensing his deep hatred of Natalie Essex as she examined a book discussing Plato.
"Hurt...that is an understatement..." Scott replied quietly.
"I know Essex must be brought to justice Cyclops, but you must not let your desire for revenge blind you to people who may need help in the process..." Princess cautioned. "Make no mistake...many innocent people will be caught up in our search, whether you mean for them to be or not. It serves us no good if by capturing Essex, we ultimately end up becoming like her."
"I would have to try really hard to be like her," Scott replied dismissively with almost a growl.
"Not as much as you might think," Princess countered.
"You would compare me to her?" Scott asked.
"I know Obsession. And Obsession is adjacent to Love," Power Princess replied. "I do not say this to rile you up Cyclops, I am only concerned for your well-being."
"Noted," Scott replied.
"So, Wrinkles..." Mortimer said, hopping over to Mystique. "Loki called you a Mummudrai. What's a Mummudrai?"
"A Psionic entity from another plain of existence. We come into being without a conscience and are drawn to the living bodies of this reality," Mystique answered. "Most of our kind inhabit wombs with a viable fetus, copying the DNA of the Fetus, trying to win a mental battle that leaves us the dominant one. The one that is given birth to."
Mortimer's eyes widened in horror and astonishment. Everybody else but Scott and Power Princess looked frozen in terror. Scott only looked bored, even with his eyes constantly closed.
"What emerges when a Mummudrai wins is a fusion of organic and psionic," Mystique continued gently. "My kind usually is the physical and mental superior of whoever they copied. I chose a different method from the rest of my kind. I tried to inhabit a body that was already fully grown and copy my DNA from that, because I sensed a near limitless genetic potential."
"Who?"
"I sensed it in someone who I later came to understand, as I gestated in that sewer, that they did not deserve such potential. A vile monster who enjoyed killing often for its own sake. Mummudrai emerge as the opposite of whoever their doner is, mentally and emotionally speaking..." Mystique answered.
"So, the only reason you ended up nice is because you just happened to inhabit someone who was an absolute discredit to humanity as a concept?" Ororo asked, the very idea such a process could be so arbitrary terrifying to her.
Mystique shrugged but nodded in agreement. "Ja. The energies of the Love Stone may also factor. But I didn't write the rules, Fraulein. I am simply the result of them."
"Have you learned anything else of what you gained from your donor since Loki completed you?" Ororo asked, now inherently terrified of encountering what was essentially her first abomination.
"Her knowledge of firearms, edged weapons and Martial Arts," Mystique answered proudly. "It's filtering in slowly...and I am already understanding more of how to manipulate this tissue..."
"Didn't you try this when you were growing?" Mort asked.
Mystique smiled. "I put so much energy into growing, young Toad, that I simply didn't have the energy for anything else."
"Ohh...so, despite 'technically' being better than who you copied, you're at a deficit of experience," Mort realized, scratching his chin.
Mystique nodded humbly. "Correct."
"Huh," Mortimer pondered, hopping away, as terrified of her as everyone else except Scott and Power Princess was after hearing her cheerfully give such an absolutely Lovecraftian answer.
Mystique continued meditating, completely oblivious to the terror of her she had inspired. Only the fact that an Avenger had personally had a hand in her creation kept the ones scared of her from fleeing.
...
"My, my, Charlie, this is a right pickle of a futuristic gadget, yessir..." Hank said as he examined the molecular components and schematics of the visor on his self-built scanner, a simple looking cylinder the size and width of a trash can with a white, pearlescent surface upon which rested the visor and the Ruby Quartz sample.
"Looks like a patch job, I'm guessin' them new components with the unknown composition are more recent..." Hank noted.
"Yes, they were added to the base device in the lost science lab of Rama-Tut," Xavier confirmed with a straight face.
Hank turned to him.
"Rama-Tut," Hank repeated, voice deadpan.
"It's been a crazy four days, Hank. To be honest..." Xavier trailed, rubbing his eyes, and taking a seat in a very large, thick titanium chair.
"I fear I may really be in over my head," Xavier admitted, rubbing his eyes. "Loki told us as much as she could get away with...and that's what terrifies me. How eager she seemed to be for us to know what little she could tell us."
"With Loki, she's always thinking a thousand steps ahead of everyone else. Make no mistake Charlie, I reckon everything Blondie told 'ya was vital," Hank stated confidently as he stared at the two-dimensional holographic readout displayed in front of the scanner in Hank's dazzlingly complex analysis lab.
"At its most base purpose, the visor functions as a relatively simple energy channeling system, though it makes use of molecular micro capacitors and molecular magnet arrays to divert the base level of energy you say Cyclops emits. It's extremely sophisticated. The only other place I've seen work like this is in the private labs of Harold Pym and Reed Richards, and the latter had only just begun to experiment at this level before his arrest and imprisonment," Hank said clinically. "The lens array isn't pure Ruby Quartz, but it's been molecularly fused with atomic scale Vibranium circuitry wirelessly connected to transmitter circuitry on the visor's discharge button. When the discharge button is pressed, the circuitry in the lens emits a nearly undetectable electrical field that alters a near equally undetectable psionic energy field emitted by the Ruby Quartz molecules, allowing the energy Cyclops emits to pass through the lens uninhibited, while avoiding damage to the lens and array components."
Hank folded beefy arms behind his back almost imperiously. "I imagine the Psionic Field of the quartz perfectly resonates with the energy he emits, which is why it is able to contain it. Combined with his physiology, the visor is one of the single most powerful energy weapons on the planet, and it wasn't even finished when he found it."
Hank turned to Charles, his werewolf brow furrowing.
"Whoever created this is extremely smart and extremely dangerous because of it, and they understood his physiology at a level we are only just scratchin' at. This Essex is startin' to sound like an Avengers level threat," Hank said. "Such knowledge in the hands of such a monster...I shudder to think of what other crimes she might be guilty of."
"I don't think The Avengers are going to be coming in to save the day. Loki implicitly told us that everything that happens at Genosha, is entirely on us," Xavier stated flatly. "Trying to get them involved might even make the situation worse, draw even more innocent people into the crossfire."
"What's his real name, this 'Cyclops'?" Hank wondered.
"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. I think Fred and Mortimer know, but they wouldn't tell me either. I doubt he even used the name until I heard Mort use it first."
"I can help you with the science stuff Charlie..." Hank said, approaching the scanner and plucking the Quartz off.
"But the trust issue is going to have to be your project."
"He's in so much pain, Hank...you'd think he'd never had a happy day in his life. The only other time I see someone like him is in active warzones..."
"He was effectively a prisoner of a war that started quietly," Hank said. "He needs what Essex wouldn't give him. He needs a family. Until you show him you can give him that-"
"He doesn't even want his power, Hank. How can I convince him I can give him a family when I can't even convince him to accept himself?"
"Convince him he can have a family first, Charlie," Hank advised. "If he knows he has a family that cares about him, he might choose to embrace his power to protect his family."
"I've never tried to be a father, Hank! I don't even have any children!"
"True," Hank admitted. "But then again, you've never tried to alter the details of an Absolute Point either."
Hank walked into the recesses of his high-tech lab.
"Ya' might surprise yourself..." Hank added as he rifled through his lab drawers. "Now where did I leave that Vibranium sample-?"
Xavier took that as his cue to leave Hank alone for the next few hours. He departed the lab immediately, but not before taking the Visor off the scanner. Hank had more than he needed after a quick glance at its schematics.
After all, Cyclops wouldn't be able to sleep without it.
...
Scott had made a game of flinging a crushed example of Blob's empty plastic water bottles at all the ones that weren't crushed, the latter having been lined up on a table.
What was impressive was that not only was Scott hitting the bottles unerringly, but he was also doing it with his eyes closed and his back turned. He would bounce a crushed bottle off a wall and hit the bottle he was actually aiming at.
The others watched this as Toad and Blob kept lining bottles, Blob picking Scott up by both legs and hanging him upside down, while Scott continued to unerringly hit the lined-up bottles, knocking them out individually one by one.
"You can see everything? Even with your eyes shut?" Ororo asked, leaning back in a seat and swigging a soda.
"I sense contours. I'm starting to think I actually sense Atoms," Scott answered, tossing more crushed bottles.
"How far away?" Power Princess asked, head resting on her chin as she sat on a sofa with her legs crossed.
"About a hundred meters," he answered.
"Even through walls?" Mystique asked, her chest bubbling only a tiny bit more as the wounds at last sealed up.
"Even through walls." he confirmed.
That was when Xavier walked in.
"Hank's gonna be busy for now, Cyclops, so I think-what are you doing?" Xavier asked as he caught them all watching Scott.
"Parlor trick. Was bored," Scott answered, discretely signaling Blob to set him down.
"I see. Listen. You have all been through something very trying. I'd like you all to try and get some rest for now," Xavier advised. "Especially you, Cyclops."
"No use, Professor. Too much adrenaline," Scott replied. "And if Clan Akkaba follows us here, I need to be awake as an early warning system."
"Your vigilance is admirable, but I'm afraid I do have to insist you at least try, Cyclops. It's the exact same thing I would tell any actual soldier after such an experience. I'll take watch."
Scott tilted his head at Xavier. Scott's face was stone like. Unreadable.
"Alright," he said simply. "Where's the beds around here?"
"Upper level. That goes for the rest of you," Xavier said. "Please clean up. You're guests in my friend's house."
Scott nodded and began gathering the bottles while everyone headed out of the lounge.
...
Hank's manor displayed photos of his many scientific degrees, achievements, and awards, Scott and the others wandered idly through it. Scott noticed Fred's footsteps didn't have their usual heavy thuds. In fact, he seemed almost quiet.
Scott walked up to him as Fred examined a photo of Hank when he was fully human. Even then, Hank had been a mountain of a man, a seven-foot giant with the frame of a champion bodybuilder, covered in a fine tweed suit and spectacles, black hair slicked back at Cape Canaveral as he shook the hand of then President Valery Cooper. "So, Fred...about Loki..."
"Yeah?" Fred asked.
"What was the gift that Loki gave you? I got one. Xavier got one. Even Mort got one. What did you get?"
Fred turned and with an introspective, thoughtful expression Scott had never seen on his face before, and replied simply; "Ask me no questions, Cyke, and I'll tell you no lies."
Scott tilted his head in mild curiosity.
"Very well..." Scott said, deciding not to press the issue as he continued wandering to the guest quarters. Just as he found them, he sensed Mystique's particular atomic pattern approach from behind, and stopped while the others had already found their quarters and gone inside.
"Herr Zyklop? If I might have a moment?" Mystique called out.
Scott turned, hiding how her hairless, slightly wrinkled crimson body unsettled him instinctively.
"I have an idea, if you would be willing to humor me."
"Shoot," he said.
"As a Mummudrai, I retain the ability to consciously affect the DNA patterns of others," Mystique stated proudly. "If you would let me, I would like to...awaken your potential further, in some small way."
"How so?" Scott asked, blood running cold.
"I believe I can increase your sensitivity to atoms when your eyes are closed. Specifically, I think I can increase its range."
Scott raised his eyebrow.
"You barely know me."
"I know that you need someone to trust, and we cannot work together if we do not trust one another. I offer this as a way to build trust between us."
Scott stared at the creepy looking red woman for a long, pregnant fifteen seconds, assessing the risks. He decided everything would be a risk at this point, and that there would be almost no way to tell good risks from bad."
"Sure..."
Mystique smiled and cupped Scott's face with her hands and closed her eyes.
He stumbled back as he felt an electric jolt travel through his body.
"There. How do you feel, Herr Zyklop?"
"Like I touched a live wire..." he grunted, shaking his head, but otherwise displaying no emotion.
"Close your eyes..." she told him.
He did and found that it was exactly as she claimed. He could "sense" farther.
"Mystique...you can alter gene sequences, right? Can you shut them off?" Scott asked.
"I don't know. I'm still getting use to the full capabilities of this DNA. But presumably, if I can turn something on, I can also turn something off."
"Well, if you figure it out...after all this is over...and mind you, we're still speaking purely in hypotheticals..." Scott trailed stepping back towards her.
"Would you be willing to deactivate, or even permanently remove what makes me a Mutant?"
Mystique stepped back, stunned.
"Mein Gott, why would you want that?" she said in a gentle voice, face twisting in pity. "There's nothing wrong with you."
"That's a matter of perspective."
"You heard what Loki said. The only way we succeed is if we accept ourselves."
"I have no trouble accepting what I am... for the duration I am pursuing Essex..." he clarified darkly. "But once Essex and this Absolute Point stuff is done...that's when I am too. With all of this."
"But Cyclops-"
"I cannot live the rest of my life with a power no one should ever have. A power that is too destructive to make even one mistake with. Always having to be on guard. To see the world through red or wear a visor as I sleep so I don't wake up during a nightmare and blast everything around me. To actively keep my eyes closed at all times when I don't have the visor on. This thing?" he said pointing to his visor. "It's a shackle. An iron mask. For a prisoner of his own genes."
Scott turned away from her.
"You? The others? You all have a chance. Albeit a slim one. They might be able to lead semi-normal lives. But not me. Not like this..."
"Herr Zyklop...if that is what you really want, then I promise that when this Absolute Point business resolves itself and Essex is captured or dead...and if I myself am still alive and have figured out how to do what you ask...then yes. I will remove your X-Gene permanently, if you still feel that way at the end of it," Mystique promised.
"Thank you...Cassandra..." Scott answered back, heading into his quarters, and closing the door.
"That poor boy..." she said, walking off...
...
Scott shot up in his bed, panting. He felt the energy again leave his eyes, only to be caught by the Ruby Quartz. He saw only red, and it deepened his already brimming over rage at Essex.
He looked around. It was morning. He found fresh clothes, a T-Shirt and Jeans with socks and underwear, waiting for him on a nearby desk.
Scott showered dressed, and headed out, finding Professor Xavier, waiting in a nearby chair, with a silver case.
"Good Morning, Cyclops."
"Professor," Scott said simply, not quite a greeting, but not fully a dismissal either.
"Hank finished these this morning..." Xavier spoke, pulling up the small case and opening it. "Here, try them out..."
Xavier pulled out sunglasses with a red lens and thick silver frames, Scott took them, removing his combat visor and slipping the glasses on.
"The Vibranium frames contain a special mechanism that causes them to stay in place on your eyes while you are moving via Van Der Waals Force. Even if you lean down to look at something, they're at no risk of slipping off your head by mistake," Xavier explained. The only way to remove them without massive kinetic trauma that would override the internal machines is to simply pluck them off your face casually. The machine will register the pressure of your fingertips to deactivate.
"Can I fire my death ray through these?" Scott asked.
"Yes. But at very limited levels. Hank designed the machinery in these lenses to 'interrupt' your continuous energy stream. Theoretically, it should only fire a small, incredibly weak globule of your ocular energy, enshrouded by a magnetic envelope until it hits something. It's essentially a much more primitive version of the visor Essex created," Xavier explained to him.
"Well, at least I don't have to walk around looking like I'm some sort of soldier from a dystopian future..." Scott remarked dryly. Then he chuckled a bit in a rare moment of actual mirth.
"Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be if THAT happened to us, on top of everything else? Some freakin' time traveler?"
"Don't tempt the Universe..." Xavier half joked.
They both shared a chuckle.
"I suppose...so, shall we get started with the tests?"
"No Cyclops, you've been a lab rat God knows how long. Today, I don't want you or any of our new friends to think about tests, or Clan Akkaba, or anything related to violence. Do what you want."
"What I want?" Scott asked, uncomprehending. "What I want, is to introduce Essex to the scrutiny of my gaze. THAT is what I want."
"And afterward? The pain of what she did will still be there. Always..." Xavier replied, stepping forward.
"Cyclops, it does you no good to constantly obsess over this monster. She's living rent free in your head if she is all you focus on."
"How can I NOT focus on her?" Scott asked in a pained hiss, eyes wet at the corners. "I was her guinea pig, Charles! She performed surgeries on me I don't even remember! She even kept me from being adopted into a normal home!"
Scott's fist clenched and he struggled to control his fast-breathing rate.
"A whole decade of my life, filled with nothing but her cruelty and manipulation! You couldn't possibly understand-!" Scott raged, bearing clenched together teeth as he started to hyperventilate, feeling Essex's needles over his skin.
"You're right. I don't. But I'm ready to listen should you ever decide you're ready to talk about what she put you through, Cyclops," Xavier promised.
He walked off, hands in his pockets. "Enjoy the glasses."