Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2015 6:27:54 GMT -5
Titans East Chapter 66 – “All Good Things… Part 4”
Written by: Power Guy
Edited by: Marcus Mebes
Outside the Hall of Justice…
“We’ve got real problems guys,” Power Guy said, probing the structure with his x-ray vision. “The Legion of Doom seems to have taken down our friends along with some other heroes… I see Nightvision, Wonder Man, Black Vulcan, the Sportsmaster, what looks like Rapido in a new costume, and worst of all, Didi, it looks like your brother is working for Grodd!”
“That’s crazy!” exclaimed Sonic Boom. “There must be some lead interfering with your x-ray vision. My brother would never switch sides,” she continued to argue.
***
Meanwhile, inside the vast structure…
“Now my boy, go straight for his jugular!!!” ordered Priscilla Rich to her grandson. He had dropped Wonder Warrior so that he could kill Wonder Man first. The Cheetah whipped his hand back, ready to rip out Wonder Man’s throat when…
A crimson blur streaked past him, ripping Wonder Man from his grip and also picking up Wonder Warrior.
“What??? Where did he go?!?!?!” demanded Michael Rich in anger.
A voice from across the room answered his question. “He’s right here and you’re not getting your grubby paws on him or Wonder Warrior again,” Junjie Quick answered as he placed the still unconscious Wonder-men behind him and other “Lost” Titans.
The Legion of Doom turned to see who had interrupted their intricate plan.
“This can’t be happening! The dead Titans!” Grodd said, not believing what he was seeing. “Tala – they must be ghosts! Exorcise them immediately!”
Tala followed her master’s command, raising her hands in the air while casting a spell to banish any roaming spirits in room. To her surprise, nothing happened. “Umm… Grodd darling, we have a small problem.”
“I can already see that your magic is not working, you incompetent witch,” spat Grodd, angrily.
“No darling, my magic is working perfectly fine. These men and woman are not ghosts. They are very much alive,” revealed Tala.
“That’s impossible!” decreed Black Manta. “My future daughter blew them all to bits! We all saw the news broadcast.”
“You’re right. The Sting Ray did blow us up. In fact, she blew us right into another universe,” smiled Nucleus. “But much to your dismay, we found a way back.”
“And now that we’re back, we’re going to take care of you, Grodd!” Power Guy said, pointing straight at the sinister simian.
“Who are you kidding, Kryptonian?” Grodd asked smugly. “We have the rest of your friends as our prisoners. Tala, Bizarro, show them we mean business!”
Tala opened the containment cell holding the captive Titans of Justice and Justice League members. She then mystically floated Isis’ unconscious body over to Bizarro.
“Hahaha! Bizarro make woman whole again,” said the reverse-Superman, holding Isis above his head, ready to slam her down on his knee.
“Put her down NOW, Bizarro!” ordered Power Guy.
“Praise God! My prayers have been answered!” thought a panicked Sportsmaster. “The Huntress! Green Lantern! They’re both alive! But I have to think of something before they hate me forever! Come on, think Chris, think!”
“I suggest you all stand down,” advised Grodd. “Your teammates’ lives are at stake and even though you’ve made a triumphant return, you’re badly outnumbered.” Grodd motioned the Legion of Doom to surround the “Lost” team of Titans.
The “Lost” team, along with the Universe of Evil version of Wonder Girl, braced themselves for the battle of their lives, waiting for the Legion of Doom to make the first move.
“Then how about we even the odds?” came another mystery voice. The Titans and the Legion looked to see Palomé’s soul-self opening up behind the crowd of villains. From its ebony depths emerged Zan, Jayna, the original Celsius, and Black Adam.
The king of Khandaq quickly became enraged by the sight of his beloved, though estranged wife, in Bizarro’s clutches. “Heru, do not fail me now,” he prayed, racing towards Bizarro at super-speed, ultimately pulling Isis free from the villain’s grasp. He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. “You are safe my love, but HE is not!” he said, with anger returning to his eyes. He promptly set Isis down gently and flew into Bizarro, ramming him through a small part of the roof of the Hall that was still intact. “You DARE threaten the queen of Khandaq’s life?
” Once in the sky, the dark Marvel began to pummel the reverse Superman relentlessly.
Back inside the Hall, Sonic Boom approached her brother. “Robert,” she whispered, “What the heck are you doing working for Grodd???”
There was no answer. Dark Arrow continued to stare ahead, unaware that he was being spoken to.
“Hey!” the blonde bombshell yelled, snapping her fingers in his face. “I’m talking to you!”
Grodd stepped forward with a sickening grin on his face. “Your brother is under my complete control. Let’s make it a family-event and add YOU to the roster of the Legion of Doom,” he taunted, firing up his mental powers in hopes of enslaving Sonic Boom.
“You, you… ANIMAL!” Didi shouted as she leaped into the air, somersaulting over Grodd’s head and landing behind him. Before the stocky gorilla could turn to find his prey, Sonic Boom drop-kicked him in the back, causing him to stagger forward.
“Argh…” groaned Grodd. “I’m going to feast on your heart tonight, you puny, stinking human!”
“Not likely ape-man!” retorted a defiant Sonic Boom as she jumped on Grodd’s back and placed her mouth next to his left ear. “SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!” Out came her trademark Canary Cry. At this close range, the piercing sound shot through Grodd’s body like an electric current, causing him to drop to the ground and go into convulsions.
“Get away from my man!” Giganta and Tala said in near unison. The two female villains gave each other a dirty look before advancing towards Sonic Boom.
As Giganta pressed on, she shot up to her immense fifty foot tall size. “I’m gonna squash you like a bug for what you did to him!” she said, lifting up her right knee and preparing to smash the daughter of the second Black Canary.
“Not this time!” declared Nucleus, running towards the giant villainess.
“Pfft… what are you gonna do, small fry?” Giganta asked, sarcastically. “Oh, I know: you’re gonna shrink down and try and fly in my ear and mess around with my brains,” she assumed, setting her right leg down and covering her ears.
“Wrong again, red,” Nucleus said, shooting up to one hundred feet tall. He stood with pride over the shocked villainess. “Now who’s the small fry?” he said, wrapping his gigantic fist around her middle and picking her up.
Giganta was speechless. Never had she confronted a foe larger than herself.
“You’ll have to excuse her for not wearing any underwear,” Tala said to Sonic Boom, veering up at the captive Giganta. “No worries though, I don’t need her help to banish you to the eighth dimension! I am the supreme sorceress of this world!”
“All I see is a fraud,” Palomé commented as his soul-self wrapped itself around Tala. “You are demoness in the guise of a mortal woman. I know the stink of a demon all too well. Let’s show the world your true face,” he said as filled Tala’s mind with immense fear, causing to revert into her hideous, demonic form. “Pah,” he spat. “Just like my grandfather’s worms.”
“Aiieee… Stop! Stop! I beg you!” the female demon shrieked as Palomé turned her worst fears against her. All she could see was Grodd disgusted by her repulsive face, rejecting her, and walking off with Giganta. As her world started to shatter before her, the demoness known as Tala, dropped to her knees, barely supporting herself with her clawed hands. Finally, she succumbed to her own nightmare, it being too much for her to bear. Within seconds, she phased back to her home dimension, causing the mystical prison holding the Titans of Justice to disperse.
“The Exorcist can eat his heart out,” Palomé said, in a cocky tone.
In the sky above the Hall of Justice. Power Guy joined the battling duo of Black Adam and Bizarro.
“Adam, go take care of your wife. I can handle Bizarro,” the young Kryptonian shouted, flying full-force into Bizarro.
“I do not let other people fight my battles, Kryptonian. This THING must be punished,” Black Adam retorted. As he was about to attack Bizarro again when a voice from down below called out to him.
“Teth?”
He looked down to see his precious Isis waking up. No battle was worth more to him than comforting his wife right now, especially after all of the recent tension between them. The King of Khandaq pointed at Bizarro, who was now stuck in a headlock by Power Guy. “Consider yourself lucky, villain. If my wife did not need me right now, I would rip off your arms and beat you to death with them!” He sped away to Isis’ side, and helped his wife up, pulling her into his arms. “My sweet, beautiful Isis. How are you feeling?”
“A bit dazed but I will recover momentarily,” answered Isis. “What are you doing here?”
“That young man Palomé came to me and told me what the Legion of Doom had done to you and your teammates. The seven-headed hydra herself could not have kept me from coming to your side.”
“Thank you Teth,” Isis said, hugging her husband. “You bravery continues to impress me no matter how many times you display it.” She smiled at Palomé, knowing that despite quitting, his loyalty to the team was tried and true.
“No Isis, it is I who should thank you,” Black Adam said, shockingly. “You have opened my eyes recently. I was wrong about this team of yours. They all fight with courage and bravery, each one risking his or her life to save the others. I should have known better than to question your judgment of joining them. I am sorry, my love.”
Isis just looked up into her husbands eyes, not saying anything for a moment.
“You still do not forgive me, do you?” Black Adam said, starting to frown. “Let me help your friends take care of these villains and then I shall leave and not bother you again.”
“You are wrong, Teth,” revealed Isis. “I am humbled by your ability to admit that you are wrong. In all of the years we have been together, you have always been a very proud man, always thinking that the wisdom that Zehuti blessed you with knew better than any other. I am proud of you for seeing past your mistake and admitting that you were wrong,” she said as she kissed her husband.
Back in the sky, Bizarro was continuing to struggle to get free of the headlock that Power Guy had him in. “Keep holding Bizarro or me take leave you all alone and lonely!” threatned the clone of Superman.
“Let you go?” repeated Power Guy, interpreting the creature’s backwards speech patterns. “Sure thing, big guy,” the Kryptonian said as he released Bizarro… only to slam his two fists into the creature’s temples, causing him to pass out instantly. “Not bad. I didn’t even need the blue Kryptonite this time,” Power Guy said, congratulating himself.
Within the Hall, Dark Arrow was starting to come around after being released from Grodd’s control. “Wha… where am I?” he mumbled.
Sonic Boom pulled him close to her. “Shh…Robert, it’s going to be okay now.”
Robert looked up and thought he was hallucinating, “Didi… I must be dreaming… or dead?”
“Nope, you got lucky… I saved your butt… again,” smiled Didi Queen.
“But… but you’re dead,” insisted Dark Arrow, still not believing his eyes.
“Nah… I just took my first trip to a parallel earth,” informed the blonde bombshell, “Just lay back and relax. I’ll keep you safe until you’re feeling better.”
“Ugh… finally free from Grodd’s control,” Dark Arrow sighed with relief.
The Sportsmaster who was nearby, took full advantage of the opportunity fate had presented him. “Uhh….ME TOO! I’m finally free from Grodd’s iron-grip! He had me in his clutches for what seemed like forever!” he said in desperation.
“Who are you kidding?” demanded Sonic Boom. “Last time I saw you, you tried to kill half of us to get to the Huntress.”
“No! I’ve reformed since then… that is until Grodd took control of me,” insisted the Sportsmaster. “I’m even a member of the Titans now.”
Sonic Boom gave the Sporstmaster a dirty look. “You have two minutes to run as far away from here as you can. After that, if I can still see you, you’ll be leaving here in a wheelchair!”
The Sportsmater panicked and realize the daughter of Black Canary meant business. He ran out of the building as fast as he could in hopes of coming back some day to straighten things out with his “beloved” Huntress and “best friend” Green Lantern.
On the other side of the room, the Huntress was sizing up Black Manta. “Give it up Manta. Your friends are dropping like flies!” she advised, pointing her crossbow at the aquatic villain.
“Fool! Black Manta NEVER surrenders,” he shouted, firing searing beams from the eyes on his helmet.
The Huntress was quick to jump out of the path of the deadly blast. She was lucky to have such quick reflexes or she would have been burned to ash. In mid-flight, she fired three arrows at the arch-enemy of Aquaman.
Unfortunately, Black Manta’s laser beams vaporized two of the arrows, though the third one imbedded itself in his left shoulder. “Aaacck!” groaned the villain. “You’ll pay for that, you foolish harpy! Once I catch you, I’m going to feed you to my tank of piranhas!” he screamed, chasing after the daughter of the Dark Knight. Laser beams flew everywhere in his pursuit, damaging several of the Hall of Justice computer consoles. Finally, he had backed the raven-haired vigilante into a corner. Smiling under his helmet, he teased, “Nowhere to go, Huntress. First I killed the son of Aquaman. Now, I’ll kill the daughter of Batman! Hopefully your father has enough money for a second funeral!” he said in his cold robotic tone as his eyes started to glow.
To Be Continued…
Written by: Power Guy
Edited by: Marcus Mebes
Outside the Hall of Justice…
“We’ve got real problems guys,” Power Guy said, probing the structure with his x-ray vision. “The Legion of Doom seems to have taken down our friends along with some other heroes… I see Nightvision, Wonder Man, Black Vulcan, the Sportsmaster, what looks like Rapido in a new costume, and worst of all, Didi, it looks like your brother is working for Grodd!”
“That’s crazy!” exclaimed Sonic Boom. “There must be some lead interfering with your x-ray vision. My brother would never switch sides,” she continued to argue.
***
Meanwhile, inside the vast structure…
“Now my boy, go straight for his jugular!!!” ordered Priscilla Rich to her grandson. He had dropped Wonder Warrior so that he could kill Wonder Man first. The Cheetah whipped his hand back, ready to rip out Wonder Man’s throat when…
A crimson blur streaked past him, ripping Wonder Man from his grip and also picking up Wonder Warrior.
“What??? Where did he go?!?!?!” demanded Michael Rich in anger.
A voice from across the room answered his question. “He’s right here and you’re not getting your grubby paws on him or Wonder Warrior again,” Junjie Quick answered as he placed the still unconscious Wonder-men behind him and other “Lost” Titans.
The Legion of Doom turned to see who had interrupted their intricate plan.
“This can’t be happening! The dead Titans!” Grodd said, not believing what he was seeing. “Tala – they must be ghosts! Exorcise them immediately!”
Tala followed her master’s command, raising her hands in the air while casting a spell to banish any roaming spirits in room. To her surprise, nothing happened. “Umm… Grodd darling, we have a small problem.”
“I can already see that your magic is not working, you incompetent witch,” spat Grodd, angrily.
“No darling, my magic is working perfectly fine. These men and woman are not ghosts. They are very much alive,” revealed Tala.
“That’s impossible!” decreed Black Manta. “My future daughter blew them all to bits! We all saw the news broadcast.”
“You’re right. The Sting Ray did blow us up. In fact, she blew us right into another universe,” smiled Nucleus. “But much to your dismay, we found a way back.”
“And now that we’re back, we’re going to take care of you, Grodd!” Power Guy said, pointing straight at the sinister simian.
“Who are you kidding, Kryptonian?” Grodd asked smugly. “We have the rest of your friends as our prisoners. Tala, Bizarro, show them we mean business!”
Tala opened the containment cell holding the captive Titans of Justice and Justice League members. She then mystically floated Isis’ unconscious body over to Bizarro.
“Hahaha! Bizarro make woman whole again,” said the reverse-Superman, holding Isis above his head, ready to slam her down on his knee.
“Put her down NOW, Bizarro!” ordered Power Guy.
“Praise God! My prayers have been answered!” thought a panicked Sportsmaster. “The Huntress! Green Lantern! They’re both alive! But I have to think of something before they hate me forever! Come on, think Chris, think!”
“I suggest you all stand down,” advised Grodd. “Your teammates’ lives are at stake and even though you’ve made a triumphant return, you’re badly outnumbered.” Grodd motioned the Legion of Doom to surround the “Lost” team of Titans.
The “Lost” team, along with the Universe of Evil version of Wonder Girl, braced themselves for the battle of their lives, waiting for the Legion of Doom to make the first move.
“Then how about we even the odds?” came another mystery voice. The Titans and the Legion looked to see Palomé’s soul-self opening up behind the crowd of villains. From its ebony depths emerged Zan, Jayna, the original Celsius, and Black Adam.
The king of Khandaq quickly became enraged by the sight of his beloved, though estranged wife, in Bizarro’s clutches. “Heru, do not fail me now,” he prayed, racing towards Bizarro at super-speed, ultimately pulling Isis free from the villain’s grasp. He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. “You are safe my love, but HE is not!” he said, with anger returning to his eyes. He promptly set Isis down gently and flew into Bizarro, ramming him through a small part of the roof of the Hall that was still intact. “You DARE threaten the queen of Khandaq’s life?
” Once in the sky, the dark Marvel began to pummel the reverse Superman relentlessly.Back inside the Hall, Sonic Boom approached her brother. “Robert,” she whispered, “What the heck are you doing working for Grodd???”
There was no answer. Dark Arrow continued to stare ahead, unaware that he was being spoken to.
“Hey!” the blonde bombshell yelled, snapping her fingers in his face. “I’m talking to you!”
Grodd stepped forward with a sickening grin on his face. “Your brother is under my complete control. Let’s make it a family-event and add YOU to the roster of the Legion of Doom,” he taunted, firing up his mental powers in hopes of enslaving Sonic Boom.
“You, you… ANIMAL!” Didi shouted as she leaped into the air, somersaulting over Grodd’s head and landing behind him. Before the stocky gorilla could turn to find his prey, Sonic Boom drop-kicked him in the back, causing him to stagger forward.
“Argh…” groaned Grodd. “I’m going to feast on your heart tonight, you puny, stinking human!”
“Not likely ape-man!” retorted a defiant Sonic Boom as she jumped on Grodd’s back and placed her mouth next to his left ear. “SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!” Out came her trademark Canary Cry. At this close range, the piercing sound shot through Grodd’s body like an electric current, causing him to drop to the ground and go into convulsions.
“Get away from my man!” Giganta and Tala said in near unison. The two female villains gave each other a dirty look before advancing towards Sonic Boom.
As Giganta pressed on, she shot up to her immense fifty foot tall size. “I’m gonna squash you like a bug for what you did to him!” she said, lifting up her right knee and preparing to smash the daughter of the second Black Canary.
“Not this time!” declared Nucleus, running towards the giant villainess.
“Pfft… what are you gonna do, small fry?” Giganta asked, sarcastically. “Oh, I know: you’re gonna shrink down and try and fly in my ear and mess around with my brains,” she assumed, setting her right leg down and covering her ears.
“Wrong again, red,” Nucleus said, shooting up to one hundred feet tall. He stood with pride over the shocked villainess. “Now who’s the small fry?” he said, wrapping his gigantic fist around her middle and picking her up.
Giganta was speechless. Never had she confronted a foe larger than herself.
“You’ll have to excuse her for not wearing any underwear,” Tala said to Sonic Boom, veering up at the captive Giganta. “No worries though, I don’t need her help to banish you to the eighth dimension! I am the supreme sorceress of this world!”
“All I see is a fraud,” Palomé commented as his soul-self wrapped itself around Tala. “You are demoness in the guise of a mortal woman. I know the stink of a demon all too well. Let’s show the world your true face,” he said as filled Tala’s mind with immense fear, causing to revert into her hideous, demonic form. “Pah,” he spat. “Just like my grandfather’s worms.”
“Aiieee… Stop! Stop! I beg you!” the female demon shrieked as Palomé turned her worst fears against her. All she could see was Grodd disgusted by her repulsive face, rejecting her, and walking off with Giganta. As her world started to shatter before her, the demoness known as Tala, dropped to her knees, barely supporting herself with her clawed hands. Finally, she succumbed to her own nightmare, it being too much for her to bear. Within seconds, she phased back to her home dimension, causing the mystical prison holding the Titans of Justice to disperse.
“The Exorcist can eat his heart out,” Palomé said, in a cocky tone.
In the sky above the Hall of Justice. Power Guy joined the battling duo of Black Adam and Bizarro.
“Adam, go take care of your wife. I can handle Bizarro,” the young Kryptonian shouted, flying full-force into Bizarro.
“I do not let other people fight my battles, Kryptonian. This THING must be punished,” Black Adam retorted. As he was about to attack Bizarro again when a voice from down below called out to him.
“Teth?”
He looked down to see his precious Isis waking up. No battle was worth more to him than comforting his wife right now, especially after all of the recent tension between them. The King of Khandaq pointed at Bizarro, who was now stuck in a headlock by Power Guy. “Consider yourself lucky, villain. If my wife did not need me right now, I would rip off your arms and beat you to death with them!” He sped away to Isis’ side, and helped his wife up, pulling her into his arms. “My sweet, beautiful Isis. How are you feeling?”
“A bit dazed but I will recover momentarily,” answered Isis. “What are you doing here?”
“That young man Palomé came to me and told me what the Legion of Doom had done to you and your teammates. The seven-headed hydra herself could not have kept me from coming to your side.”
“Thank you Teth,” Isis said, hugging her husband. “You bravery continues to impress me no matter how many times you display it.” She smiled at Palomé, knowing that despite quitting, his loyalty to the team was tried and true.
“No Isis, it is I who should thank you,” Black Adam said, shockingly. “You have opened my eyes recently. I was wrong about this team of yours. They all fight with courage and bravery, each one risking his or her life to save the others. I should have known better than to question your judgment of joining them. I am sorry, my love.”
Isis just looked up into her husbands eyes, not saying anything for a moment.
“You still do not forgive me, do you?” Black Adam said, starting to frown. “Let me help your friends take care of these villains and then I shall leave and not bother you again.”
“You are wrong, Teth,” revealed Isis. “I am humbled by your ability to admit that you are wrong. In all of the years we have been together, you have always been a very proud man, always thinking that the wisdom that Zehuti blessed you with knew better than any other. I am proud of you for seeing past your mistake and admitting that you were wrong,” she said as she kissed her husband.
Back in the sky, Bizarro was continuing to struggle to get free of the headlock that Power Guy had him in. “Keep holding Bizarro or me take leave you all alone and lonely!” threatned the clone of Superman.
“Let you go?” repeated Power Guy, interpreting the creature’s backwards speech patterns. “Sure thing, big guy,” the Kryptonian said as he released Bizarro… only to slam his two fists into the creature’s temples, causing him to pass out instantly. “Not bad. I didn’t even need the blue Kryptonite this time,” Power Guy said, congratulating himself.
Within the Hall, Dark Arrow was starting to come around after being released from Grodd’s control. “Wha… where am I?” he mumbled.
Sonic Boom pulled him close to her. “Shh…Robert, it’s going to be okay now.”
Robert looked up and thought he was hallucinating, “Didi… I must be dreaming… or dead?”
“Nope, you got lucky… I saved your butt… again,” smiled Didi Queen.
“But… but you’re dead,” insisted Dark Arrow, still not believing his eyes.
“Nah… I just took my first trip to a parallel earth,” informed the blonde bombshell, “Just lay back and relax. I’ll keep you safe until you’re feeling better.”
“Ugh… finally free from Grodd’s control,” Dark Arrow sighed with relief.
The Sportsmaster who was nearby, took full advantage of the opportunity fate had presented him. “Uhh….ME TOO! I’m finally free from Grodd’s iron-grip! He had me in his clutches for what seemed like forever!” he said in desperation.
“Who are you kidding?” demanded Sonic Boom. “Last time I saw you, you tried to kill half of us to get to the Huntress.”
“No! I’ve reformed since then… that is until Grodd took control of me,” insisted the Sportsmaster. “I’m even a member of the Titans now.”
Sonic Boom gave the Sporstmaster a dirty look. “You have two minutes to run as far away from here as you can. After that, if I can still see you, you’ll be leaving here in a wheelchair!”
The Sportsmater panicked and realize the daughter of Black Canary meant business. He ran out of the building as fast as he could in hopes of coming back some day to straighten things out with his “beloved” Huntress and “best friend” Green Lantern.
On the other side of the room, the Huntress was sizing up Black Manta. “Give it up Manta. Your friends are dropping like flies!” she advised, pointing her crossbow at the aquatic villain.
“Fool! Black Manta NEVER surrenders,” he shouted, firing searing beams from the eyes on his helmet.
The Huntress was quick to jump out of the path of the deadly blast. She was lucky to have such quick reflexes or she would have been burned to ash. In mid-flight, she fired three arrows at the arch-enemy of Aquaman.
Unfortunately, Black Manta’s laser beams vaporized two of the arrows, though the third one imbedded itself in his left shoulder. “Aaacck!” groaned the villain. “You’ll pay for that, you foolish harpy! Once I catch you, I’m going to feed you to my tank of piranhas!” he screamed, chasing after the daughter of the Dark Knight. Laser beams flew everywhere in his pursuit, damaging several of the Hall of Justice computer consoles. Finally, he had backed the raven-haired vigilante into a corner. Smiling under his helmet, he teased, “Nowhere to go, Huntress. First I killed the son of Aquaman. Now, I’ll kill the daughter of Batman! Hopefully your father has enough money for a second funeral!” he said in his cold robotic tone as his eyes started to glow.
To Be Continued…