Unexpected Chaos | Open

[Violet Schultz]

Violet stood in line at the bookstore, three novels in her arms, two in French and the other in English. She read through the first page of the book on top, her eyes skimming quickly across the white plane. She often read French novels, mostly to learn and retain her native language in a country where few to none that she encountered spoke it. The other books were non-fiction, one about the tactics of guerrilla warfare and the other on the internal workings of motorcycles. An odd combination for an 18-year-old girl. However, Violet's choices were not just for interest. She always took the opportunity to learn whatever she could that would help in the long-run.

She paid the cashier and walked out of the bookstore, looking around the busy street as a precaution. She was building up quite a collection of books for her room, although the room was still sparse in the decor department. It fit her, really. As her wardrobe proved, she had always preferred function to fashion. The only purely decorative item she had was the glass-encased iris she kept on her bookshelf, which was more sentimental than anything else. It reminded her of the ones her mother used to grow in their yard.

Her head jerked toward a sudden appearance of...something. They seemed almost as if they were made of fire, vaguely humanoid in shape. It was as if they had appeared out of thin air, and she couldn't understand what on earth they were. They had torsos, heads, arms, and even glowing eyes, but they had no feet and they seemed to float above the ground, much taller than any normal human. Their bodies were black, wreathed in flames, especially around their heads. They were coming down the street, and the screams of the civilians greeted their appearance. Violet dropped the books and flipped open her communicator, protecting it as one of the strange creatures tried to shoot it out of her hand.

"Robin, I need back-up," she said quickly and urgently, her eyes on the army rather than the screen. "I don't know what these things are, but there are a lot of them."

She turned the screen to face the rows of... whatever they were. Her eyes glowed lavender as she tried to extinguish them, but they were made of another type of fire, a type that she'd never encountered before. It didn't even feel like the fire of a pyrokinetic. A hint of lavender licked at the edges of their flames before a flare threw off her attempt. The front row took notice of her, and she raised her eyebrows as they launched themselves toward her. Flipping out of the way of their initial strike, she shot upward with a jet of flames to land on a light post, using a wall of explosions to get a little distance on them.

"Sooner would be better than later," she added to the still-open communicator before closing it and pocketing it.

Hearing a child's scream, she turned her gaze on the civilians, who were fleeing as quickly as they could. The other creatures were racing after them, their tentacle-like arms extending to attack from a greater distance. Violet swept her hand across her front, creating a wall of lavender flames which stopped the other flames in their tracks for a moment before she expanded it to form a roaring shield of fire between them and the attackers. She flickered down to stand in the middle of the shield, the only line of defense between this strange army and the fleeing people. The air shimmered as the heat blistered the paint and the road began to crack.

[Tim Drake]

“Understood Darkbrand, we’re on the way!” Robin said as he raced for the elevator, the alarm sounding across the tower when he hit the master emergency alarm button on his communicator, his armored shoes clanging softly on the steel floor of the stairs, as the images Darkbrand had taken where broadcast to all the other Titans in the area...


"Slade... What have you done now..." Robin muttered under his breath as he rode the elevator straight down to the vehicle bay, where he ran and jumped onto his R-cycle and then raced out jumping over the small path that wound down to the bridge, which could barely raise fast enough as he raced at full speed for the coast and downtown...


Keying a button, Robin activated his helmeted link to his com-unit, allowing him to call Darkbrand over the audio only channel so that she didn't have to fuss with opening the device to hear him; l"Darkbrand, Take care, the monsters are demonic in nature, last time we fought them, Slade was leading them on behalf of Trigon, so if they are back, then the odds are Slade has done something to regain his control over them, so watch yourself... I'm about five to ten minuets away, so play keep away, but keep them busy, People are running out of the center of the city in masses, try and protect them if you can, all other Titans, get downtown ASAP, we have a code Alpha one! repeat, not a drill, Alpha One! Robin out!"


Now who would be next to answer the call?

[Violet Schultz]

"Right," she said with a sigh.

Why oh why hadn't she come with her Titan uniform? It was a lack of foresight that she rarely had, and what she was wearing was certainly not fit to take this kind of heat. She could already smell her shirt starting to smoke, but it was a secondary thought to her search for civilians who were in danger. She could feel each of the soldiers, as if they were entirely made of fire, rather than creatures that could contol fire. It gave her a slight edge, since she could feel every time they decided to move. The people behind her were fleeing, fortunately, not sticking around to be targets. The creatures advanced slowly, floating along in some sort of formation resembling a jagged "S".

Their attention was fixed on her, and she dropped the flaming barrier behind her as soon as she was certain that the area was clear. Time for some exercise? The first group rushed forward, their long arms whipping toward her. Rolling out of the way, she dodged their attacks, her glowing eyes fading back to blue as she focused solely on the creatures at hand, playing "keep away" as Robin had said. She didn't really want to test the theory that their demonic flames couldn't burn her. No, the flames didn't feel any different when they got near her skin, but it was probably safer to dodge anyway. Still... If she could touch them, maybe she could take a few of them down?

She paused to let one flaming tendril graze her arm, and she flinched as it cut her across the bicep. The flame didn't burn, but apparently they weren't purely flame. They had some substance to them. Good to know. She resumed the complicated dance of dodging, ensuring that their focus was on her rather than finding defenseless citizens to attack. When the opportunity presented itself, she kicked through the torso of one of them, and it dissolved into some sort of fiery black semi-solid. What the... These "demons" were strange. She propelled herself onto the roof of a bus stop, landing lightly before another scream alerted her to the presence of a little boy, a half of a block down. His face was drawn up in terror.

She sent a stream of lavender toward the spot as the creatures advanced on the boy. Their arms whipped toward him as Violet disappeared in a flicker and reappeared between them, shielding him with her back as several of the tendrils struck. She gritted her teeth and grabbed the child as the creatures withdrew for another attack. She ran as quickly as she could with the seven or eight-year-old, only putting him down as they reached a building, where she could see a large group of people had taken shelter. They unlocked their doors quickly as they saw the approach and let the little boy in.

"Stay inside," she instructed the little boy. "You'll be safe here."

"You can't go back and fight those things, missy," an elderly man protested. "You're already hurt and there's too many of 'em."

"The rest of the Titans are on their way," Violet said calmly, ignoring the way he was examining the cut on her arm. The ones on her back were worse.

She raced off as soon as they secured the doors, drawing away the creatures that were coming closer to the inhabited parts of town.

[William Talbot]

Taking one of his rare naps up on the roof, Will was almost literally soaking up the sun, as he sat slightly huddled next to the service shack, his eyes closed and a relaxed smile on his lips...



However, something deep in the core of his being suddenly started to reverberate with warning, and before long he had blinked his eyes open when just as the alarm sounded, Will got the impression that Violet was in big trouble.

Bolting upright, he dashed for the door that would lead him into the bowels of the Tower when at once he felt a twinge of pain via the link, and he stopped, and turned on the ball of his foot, and ran, and jumped of the side of the roof, crashed into the main window, and melted a hole through into the area, and ran at full speed, through the door and out the back of the tower, a small-ish bundle in each of his hands as he arced down to the bridge, and then sprinted at full speed after Robin and his R-cycle, then lept into the air and sailed along, gliding slightly with streams of heat until he landed with a crash into a crater in the middle of the front lines scattering asphalt, and monsters alike with a pulse of blue heat...

"Violet!" he yelled as he leveled a monster that was racing for her with a kick, then handed her the bundle, which was slightly larger than a good sized shoebox, and was in fact, and slightly beefed up version of the fire proof suits they both wore, reinforced in key points with a carbon poly-ceramic sheet that would absorb both blunt and kinetic forces, and offer an extra bit of protection in a fight, with no restrictions on mobility, and little to any extra weight.


"Oh god, you're back..." He said as he caught a glimpse of the gashes in her shirt and the sheen of blood that colored the dark fabric.

Suddenly Will swept his hand across their combined front, a gout of flame following his motion like a blue hued flame thrower, and hitting the monsters full on, their shrieks of pain unlike anything he'd ever heard, even in nightmares, their body's bubbling as if they where being melted by his flames, which didn't make any sense at first, until he fired a bolt of light at another and blasted it to bits.


The Light always overcame the Dark...

[Tim Drake]

Seeing Blaze race ahead of him, Robin kept his pace up, knowing that while the two pyro's where a powerful force individually and almost unstoppable combined, the demons where also next to unstoppable, and it would take all the titans efforts to quell this unexplained uprising, much less figure out the reasons for it...


Racing around a corner, Robin plowed over a group of demons with his R-Cycle, splattering hot goo everywhere, even as he jumped off in a flying dismount that sent his motorcycle flying into the middle of the army of evil, where it exploded, taking a few dozen with it into the great, or not so great, beyond. Not that it mattered, there where plenty of others to fight close at hand here and now.

Grabbing two special bird-a-rangs, he pushed them together, and formed a long sword and went to work, hacking, slashing and stabbing at the monsters, his path marked by the trail of smoldering goo he cut through the horde, which, while as a whole still marching almost mindlessly forward, was slowly taking notice of the three disruptions to the forward progress toward it's unknown goal.

"Blaze! Darkbrand!" he called out as he fought his way to them, his own uniform bearing reinforced parts, the lightweight sheets not heavy enough to hamper his normal range of motion or speed, thankfully.
"It's Trigon's minion's, and I have a hunch Slade is behind this, but I've no clue how, but for the moment--" He swiped his sword at a demon that had taken interest in him, the head bursting into smoke as the body fell apart; "We have other issues to deal with... We need to stay close, get too spread out, and if they want us dead, then we will be..."

Having fought them before, Robin knew that tight, and closely supportive teamwork was the only way to deal with this...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet turned as she sensed and then heard Will's approach, relief washing through her. The wounds on her back were pulsing painfully, each beat of her heart renewing the sting. They weren't horribly deep, and they weren't the worse wounds she'd had, but it still was deep enough that the bleeding hadn't yet stopped. Her eyes glowed as she sent some of her inner flame to the wounds, trying to redistribute the life energy so that it would heal more quickly. The lavender flames licked along the cuts, exposed instead of hidden within the tissues as they usually were. Her face showed none of her discomfort.

"Thanks," she said as he handed her the uniform she'd left at the Tower that morning. "Jeez, I lose more clothes this way..."

At his words, she glanced over her shoulder at the wounds as they were now, not bleeding but probably still pretty ugly. Her blood wouldn't have been affected by the flames, still liquid and running down her back although new blood wasn't being added to it. It was still sore, but not nearly as bad as it had been. She would be fine. They had more important things to worry about, like a demon army with a bad attitude.

"Don't worry about it," she said, her eyes returning to the demons. "How did you do that?"

As she spoke, she pulled the jacket on over her black tank top, putting some effort into not wincing as the cloth touched her back. She zipped and secured the jacket before stepping into the pants and pulling them over her cargo pants. She pulled her switchblade from the pocket before incinerating the pants and locking the belt in place. In most cases, the armor could be worn around clothing, but her particular wardrobe made that impossible. She just had to burn her former pants into ashes to make it fit right. Annoying. As a pyrokinetic, half of her wardrobe seemed to need replacing every other week, lost to spontaneous combustion or intentional incineration.

But what caught her attention was that while her flames had minimal effect on these creatures, other than slow them down a little, Will's flames seemed to cause them physical pain. The reason seemed somewhat obvious to her, as she could sense and compare the three types of flame here. Her own was a typical pyrokinetic flame, unique to her body chemistry but not unique in any other way. Theirs was apparently demonic, which suggested that they were made of hellfire. It felt sinister and chaotic, and very dark, ironically.

Will's fire, however, was a special case. She had always been able to sense the purity in it which stemmed from his angelic heritage. Could that have something to do with this?

"I understand," she responded to Robin's assertion.

[William Talbot]

"Okay..." Blaze answered as Robin arrived and explained to him what he was about to guess...

Demons, oh goodie!


Moving out slightly, Will gathered up a ball of light in one hand and a ball of flame in the other, and then let them fly into the next two monsters that moved forward, one of them exploding in a brilliant flash of light and shrieking agony, the other bellowing in distress as it melted away into nothing.

"Darkbrand, try to use less flame and more force with your attacks!" he called out as he blasted another with a bolt of light, knocking it back as it fell to bits and smoldered on the streets.


This would be more fun if he didn't have such a head ache from the dark auras and the emotive void these demons where, but then it was most likely to be expected, according to what his mother and father had taught him.

[Tim Drake]

Watching as the other two fought, Robin realized that they had a slight, or maybe huge advantage in Blaze, his powers mixed just so as to make his attacks not only effective, but also equalizing, and THAT was the kind of thing they needed most right now, above almost anything, something to level the playing field and give them and their strengths a chance to do some damage for the sake of defending the City...


"Move North East! We need to flank the main body and try to contain them!"
The way the monsters where moving, was bad, as they where heading for the mall, where most of the people in downtown where about this time of day (or most times of day in fact) and besides, as the largest collection of large connected buildings, it was a favored starting point for just about any kind of attack, however unlike last time, Robin was NOT going to let the attackers dictate the flow of battle, not this time, and never again if he could help it.


An exploding freeze disk that momentarily stopped a demon before his foot shattered the melting ice and cracked the monster in half was proof enough to him that things where going better than he could have hoped, know that this was at worst, the return of Trigon, and at best... the official return of Slade...


"We HAVE to stop them at third street! IF they get to the mall, it will be the robot attack all over again!" he yelled as he hacked and slashed his way through a group of demons, scattering sludge and smoldering goo everywhere.

[Violet Schultz]

Her eyes glowed as she continued trying to heal her back, and she stayed back until she knew that the wounds were closed, only about fifteen seconds while she considered the tactics of the battle and how she could be the most helpful. A moment of consideration and preparation could do wonders. She was afraid that if Slade was behind this, and that could mean any one of a number of things, not the least of which that he was finally becoming fully active again, ready for an all-out assault. Or, he could be testing Will again. After all, his flames seemed uniquely tailored to deal with demons.

"My flames aren't all that effective," Violet refuted. "I have a better idea."

She placed her hand on his shoulder, her eyes glowing white as she opened a channel through the link. It was only possible to do this with skin contact, rather than solely through their minds. She sent raw energy, her own flame into him, giving him a boost that gave him power beyond either of them on their own could have produced. It was fortunate that by the process of this transfer, her inner flame had to change to be more like his. It was his flame that this demons were afraid of, that curious force that marked his inner flame as unique. His angelic side. Her flame wouldn't dilute that, it would simply give him more base energy to use.

Her eyes faded back to lavender and then to blue as she cut off the energy flow. It wasn't all of it; it was close to half, actually. This was her life force, after all. She didn't want to be useless in the battle, and she needed that energy to fight. She knew that Will would be far more effective fighting with flames than she would, though. She would just have to fight with good old-fashioned martial arts this time. That was good. She hadn't done that in a while, and she didn't want to get rusty. Besides, as long as they couldn't burn her (and she already had determined that they couldn't), there wouldn't be a problem. She'd only been caught before because there were civilians to protect.

"Go wild," she said, smiling briefly.

With that, she took off in the direction Robin had indicated and started taking them out the old-fashioned way, her display of acrobatics and martial arts looking like a violent dance, each step punctuated by a bursting creature, black blobs spraying onto the pavement. There was just no end to these things, and the waves were increasing in frequency. Where were these things coming from, and how could they get them to stop coming?

[aria]

Aria had never been in a battle before (at least, not one that she had a chance of winning), but she was on the Titans now, and they needed all of the help that they could get. She had training from both the government and the Titans, and she could definitely look after herself. She would bring Judicium and Salus back to the fight, where they were meant to be. Her uniform was unique, as all of the uniforms were, eventually. The base was the same, but the different needs and personalities of the wearer caused the design to be changed. Her uniform was pretty similar to Robin's, though obviously tailored for a female of her size. The colors were different, suiting her pale yellow and light blue preference.

The strap to her sheath ran diagonally down her torso, leaving both blades of the twin sword easily accessible. However, her mode of transportation was at the Tower, when she wasn't. She was a bit late, but she could still be of help. She rounded the corner and unsheathed the swords, one in each gloved hand. The gloves were fairly thin, but made of a fire resistant and mostly tear resistant fabric, which would be helpful since her fighting style involved a good deal of contact with the enemy. She turned off the microphone of her communicator. If she needed to use her powers, the microphone would amplify it, and it would hurt the other Titans, rather than the creatures.

"Robin, what is the plan?" she asked, sending her voice across the battle to the team leader. "I can't use the comms, so just talk and I will hear you."

Her twin swords flashed as she joined the fray, though she was not nearly as good with them as Kevin had been. He had a sort of fierce grace to his fighting style, something that Aria had a hint of, but her style leaned more toward grace and less toward ferocity. She didn't have a keen fighting instinct, but her protective instinct was very strong. She just had to protect the citizens of Jump, and keep her mind on that. Of course, by fighting, she was protecting the Titans as well, and by extension the children as well.

[William Talbot]

At first Blaze blinked at Darkbrand, and was about to give her a shot of his power, to boost her, and give her that little something she could use against the demons, but then she did the same to him, and at her urging he shook his head and then laughed; "Beat me too it huh? Okay, but I'll be returning the favor soon enough!" and with that, he did indeed go wild...


A streak of pale blue arced around then Titans, the battle now joined by the newest member, her careful yet steady strikes adding to the power that stood against this onslaught of darkness, the very sky dimmed by the evil that moved like a wave of sludge across the streets, the puddles and piles of the slain monsters growing into ponds and hills, bubbling masses that reeked of death and filth, slowly melting away as rays of light probed the dark fog that washed over the city, barely held in check by the four heroes that stood in the gap for the people that fled.


"Songbird! Hold that position!" Blaze called as Robin ducked away from a massed counter, twin fire balls sailing over the rookies head and exploding like bombs in the middle of another pack, the strays scattering to within easy reach of the her weapons, as others fell under the attacks of the Titans.


Something deep down inside cheered at this, despite the dire situation, the warrior in him sung out in joy at this mess, at the glory of combat, and the chance to test his skills and power once more, at the power that pulsed in his body as his very heart beat, every sound, sight, and feeling, texture, scent and urge more real and potent then he had ever felt before...

Oh to ALWAYS feel so ALIVE!

[Tim Drake]

Although he was glad for the extra help, he was still unsure as to the readiness of Aria...

Well this was as good a test as any, albeit a brutal pass or fail kind of test, he spoke quickly as she arrived and spoke using her powers; "Do as Blaze said! You're going to have to be the anchor until we can form up on you, we can't let them get past third street before the mall is evacuated!"

What kind of stroke of luck did it take for her to show up right where the line needed to be drawn? But knowing that her sonic attack would be perfect to level the playing field, and yet couldn't be used while he, Darkbrand, and Blaze where still in her line of sight, (And somewhat even close to direct earshot) he formed a plan, and then tapped his ear-bud and spoke almost frantically; "Darkbrand, Blaze was right, add more kinetic force to your attacks, they are demonic and spirit based for sure, but in this form they still are subject to the laws of physics! Use a shaped explosion to clear your path out and then head north, and clear the area, Blaze, hammer them away until you can head south! I'll flash n' dash back to Songbird's position, all on three, and Songbird, when we're all clear... Sing them a lullaby for me will ya'?"


If this worked, they could mount a MUCH more effective defense than simply counter attacking wildly and hoping for the best, which while fun and challenging, and oh so good for the local TV news ratings, was also a high risk strategy, that netted the same rewards as playing smarter and working more as a unit than a group of angsty violence biased teens...

The words of the L.A. Times, not his own...

"One... Two... Three... NOW!"

[Violet Schultz]

"Understood," she replied to Robin, pausing momentarily in the assault.

She grabbed the flaming tentacle of the closest demon and whipped it around, flinging it into two more before she surveyed the field in the north. There were rows upon rows of them, like everywhere else, and unlike most conflicts, the ranks didn't fall into disarray. They behaved like ants or bees, with no individual ideas or tactics, just part of the whole. Like cells in an organism, rather than separate beings. As such, they were extremely well-organized, but each member of the whole was very simple to take down. She had to be careful, though. She had a good deal of energy left, but with this many opponents, there wasn't any way of knowing how long the battle would drag on. She flipped backward as another barrage of tentacles bore down on her, and launched herself up toward another, kicking through it before turning to judge a distance again.

Her eyes glowed lavender as she extended her hand toward the north. She rarely made single large explosions, since losing energy gradually, rather than all at once, left fewer openings for counterattacks and also was easier to physically cope with. This was no different, but it took a good deal of concentration to weight explosions in favor of kinetic force rather than what was more natural for her, meaning weighting them in heat. Extending outward from her in a line up the street, a line of powerful explosions shook the ground, and the horrible shriek of the creatures added to the thunderous crack of each explosion. Violet took off at a run, racing through the gap in the creatures that her explosions were creating. The smoke was everywhere in the air, so it was fortunate for her that her lungs were different than those of normal humans. The smoke couldn't hurt her, but she worried that Robin and Aria wouldn't be so lucky.

She arrived at the end of the battle that Robin had indicated, and resumed the fight, trying to clear them out. Her style of fighting was impersonal, without a lot of emotion getting involved. Self-control was important, especially in battle, when she needed to utilize perfect control of her powers. Even if it hadn't been, she never got the thrill out of it that she knew Will usually did. Fighting wasn't something that she particularly enjoyed doing, even though she was pretty good at it. She hadn't been born to do this, she'd been conditioned. If her life had taken a different turn, she probably would've gone the academic route, maybe going to medical school like her father, or maybe pursued art like her mother had, before Violet was born. It was only because of circumstances that she'd gotten into fighting, but even with that being the case, she was still naturally talented, taking her father's gifted intellect and her mother's natural grace in combination to create her style of fighting.

"Can I have a status report?" she requested through the earbud, taking down another demon with an ax-kick. "How's the fight going on the other fronts?"

[aria]

"Got it," Aria said, slashing her way through two more before she looked down the street at the chaos that was unfolding.

Robin was hacking and slashing away at the endless hordes of demons, sending chunks of black through the air around him. Darkbrand was out of her line of sight, but the ground shook with the force of the explosions she was creating, and the viscous thuds from her attacks were clearly audible, as were the horrible shrieks of the demons as the Titans took them down. Blaze was also out of her sightline, but she could see the brilliant blue glow from his fires, and hear the whoosh and crackle of them as the unholy creations burned in a holy fire. No wonder the Titans were so respected. They were quite the force to be reckoned with, and she was honored to be counted among them, but now wasn't the time to reflect.

As soon as Robin had given the all-clear, she took a deep breath and let loose a shriek, the likes of which could only be compared to that of the Black Canary, who didn't often use her powers for reasons of her own preferences. The soundwaves sent a shockwave through the air and cracked the concrete in front of her, sending a good deal of the demons flying, totally shattering those closest to her, sending more chunks of black flying through the air. The sound itself was ungodly in volume, only her control keeping the soundwaves from damaging her allies' ears. The actual sound was hard to describe, since it encompassed many frequencies, rather than any single one. A deep roar, and the highest shriek, in the same sound.

The sound ended, probably leaving the other's ears ringing, but leaving them otherwise unharmed. She'd leveled the forces in front of her for about fifty feet, but the others had definitely taken notice. They started toward her, and she clanged her swords together once, sending another wave of sound, this one clear and ringing as a bell, but only to knock them back a second for distraction while she raced to meet them in the onslaught. Her twin swords went back to work, trying to hold the extra ground that she'd gained. She could use the attack again, but it depended on her lung capacity, and she would get winded quickly if she used the attack in succession.

"I need a couple seconds and some space to try that again," she said to Robin, a tad out of breath. "Do you want me to?"

[William Talbot]

Rubbing his ears sightly, Blaze found the others where Robin had implied they meet up, the current number of slain monsters now in the thousands, the balance however, was still unknown, and while there was a gap in their lines, they where slowly swarming back to fill the gaps.

It was like trying to swat down a swarm of bees, it seemed that no matter how many you struck down, five more took it's place!


"Nice tune, I can see a future in music with you're voice." he cracked before he gave his head a final shake and then crouched down low and smiled; "I have a song I'd like to sing too..." Morphing into his Lycan form, Will added well over two hundred pounds of bulk and a good two feet in height to his stature roughly two seconds, and no sooner had that happened then he barked out in a muted roar; "Now cover you're ears!"



Digging his clawed hands and feet into the street Will sucked in a chest full of air, and then held it a few moments, the heat and energy he build up inside the fullest of every aspect of his powers, his body shimmering like a living liquid flame before he opened his mouth and howled out a street shaking howl that was deep, loud, long and musical, the song of a master predator informing all that he was there, the explosion of power that flowed from his mouth consuming all in it's wake, cars, debris, monsters, mailboxes, all washed away in a flood of flame, light, heat, sound and energy that lasted but seven seconds, and blinded any foolish enough to stare at it.


A swath the width of the street, was cut all the way from Third street where the Titans stood, to the coast, the ranks of Demons frozen at the unholy sound, and the holy light and flame that had been carried by it...



And yet there where still more.