The pain that blanketed Cimmeria's back was what woke her. That, and the constant bombardment of light that illuminated the back of her eyelids. Cimmeria kept them closed, unable to face her defeat, she memorized the red map of capillaries that veined her vision. Imagining herself walking in these tiny roads of blood away from her failure. Her torso ached with each breath, the exams ion of he lungs shifting her broken ribs and pulling the bruise skin of her back tight. It had been a long time since she took a beating bad, even longer since taking it from human weapons.

Cimmeria had no time to feel sorry for herself however. She had to get to her bedroom and patch herself up, re cooperate, and replan. Those men had slipped through her fingers like sand twice now, this would stain her reputation and she could now have it.

Cimmeria rolls her body onto its side and open her eyes. It takes a moment before her eyes adjust to the unfiltered light of the room and notices the magician feet away. When she does she can't help but laugh before covering her move hastily. Another mistake could be her downfall. Though she had him on her terms she was in no shape for a second fight.

As quietly and quickly as she could manage, Cimmeria tucked her knees into her chest and rolled onto her shins, resting in a kneeling position. The bruises that riddled her back throbbed to a hectic beat, the knives pain her ribs constant. She used this pain to drive her rather than hinder her. She had to get to an ally within the Wave. Someone with enough power and influence to handle the magician. Somewhere far from New York.
Dieter. Cimmeria will take him to Dieter. With as much discretion as before Cimmeria pulled a small phone from her boot. At the same time a portal opens beneath her and she falls from ceiling of a restaurant, landing upon a table which splintered under her weight. Sparring no time she dialed the Gaultown number that would get her access to Dieter. It would be interesting to see which Dieter would answer this time around.

Above her the doorway to where she held Black Magic glowed its pure light, casting a dim spotlight over her form sprawled out in the broken remains of a table.

(Assuming she's in the same building) 'fuckfuckfuck' he thought, some one was here alread. He stop himself he couldn't run with out a distraction. He searched through the drinks for the ones with a high proof and grabed some fingers full of there necks, he had to think quickly and move faster if was going to draw attention away from himself. He placed the bottles onto the bunkers as quitely as he could and shut the vents. He then looked around for some paper or anything else that Burt with a lot of smoke.

Dieter was watching the footage from the bar still, so he saw Cimmeria fall from the ceiling and was watching with morbid curiosity as she pulled out a phone, dialed, and one of his rang. He looked at it like a mangy dog then reached out and picked up. "Hello, Victoria, so nice of you to... drop in. It's been ages since Rio. Did you bring that swimwear with you? Oh, there is someone in the kitchen, FOF unknown. I am sending someone."

The voice was clean, crisp, and matter of fact. Though some of the words were designed to carry warmth, they had none. Pretty normal for Dieter. Victoria might be one of the few people in the world that knew that Dieter saying unnecessary, though cold, things was his way of being warm.

Below, a strike team was loading into an elevator that would empty out into the restaurant's walk-in freezer. Each had kevlar, gasmask, full helms, and carried an M-4 with underslung M-320GLs, Colt 1911 sidearms, and stun batons. each also wore a set of black fatigues with a red eye of horus on the breast pocket. They were members of Schwarze Augen's elite cadre of tactical specialists. Not Gifted but trained and skilled. They could handle most regular situations with extreme discretion. With them was a mountainous man in black pants, shirt, suit jacket, and shades with a bright red kerchief in his breast pocket. His hair was slicked back and he leaned fidgeted with a cellphone in his hand.

The strike team burst from the freezer first and spread out as Dieter strode into the kitchen and focused on the kid, "You do not want to burn my place down kid. I am a bad enemy to have. Still, I have a friend in the next room that needs help. You okay if I send a couple guys to help her out? Then we can talk about how you got passed my security." He held up two fingers and two of the soldiers tensed to move if given the order. Dieter had already slowed his perceptions down to 1/5th which gave his voice a slight slur atop the German accent.

Cimmeria clutched the cheap phone gratefully at the sound of Dieter's voice. A wry smile replacing her grimace of pain. After dealing with Spurt's unpredictable, volatile behavior, she welcomed Dieter's professionalism an tact. The fact that this Dieter was more a flirt than an asshole did not go unappreciated by the assassin.


"Hallo Hübscher" Cimmeria sat up as she spoke in a near perfect German accent and drew the tanto  knife from her boot. She kept her head up turned towards the portal, her eyes watching for any sign of the magician.

"I regret to inform you that I left my suit in New York in my rush to get her. I did bring you a Gift that I hope will make up for it, though the wrapping does not suit a man of your taste."   Her words were playful, but the tone said she was urgent. Cimmeria, born Vivienne Frey had been trained to handle anything. Right now however all she wanted to do was take a hot shower and sleep. What had started out as a simple reconascense mission had turned into a aggravating battle royale. The leather of her body suit clung uncomfortably to her body, the dust from battle and ash coated it. "Let your men know the Gift is in the portal. Last I knew unconcious. Be very vigilant, he's a teleporter among other things."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:44, Tue 19 May 2015.

Peter opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again as bright white light stabbed into them. His head was filled with signals of pain from his body, but they were jumbled to the point he couldn't tell just what exactly hurt. His mind felt sluggish, his senses disoriented. He needed to find out where he was, and managed to drop himself on all floors so he could slowly crawl around in hopes of discovering his location. Suddenly, he w3as falling and out of reflex opened his eyes once more. Below him, he saw the same woman as from his to previous battles, and she held a knife. That was all he was able to make out in the time it took his brain to send a frantic message to one hand, and with a snap of his fingers the caster disappeared.

He didn't go far; in fact, he materialized on the roof of the same restaurant. He tried to focus on his surroundings, but his eyesight was blurry and his head pounded plus any movement made his stomach feel like it was about it heave. Vargus didn't know it yet, but when he'd crashed into the wall of the glowing room, he'd suffered a concussion.

(Going with them clearly being diffrent people than the ones he's running from)

He had just tossed the bundle of napkins wrapped in an apron and cracked one of the bottles to speed it opening from the heat when they burst out of the walk-in. He turned to them slowly but keep a hand on the stove and the cracked bottle in hand. "My that was quick, but I guess I'm lucky you seam to have things here well in order. But if you thought I was was going to burn the place down you wouldn't be talking to me and if you where who I thought your friends would have lethal gear out at the getgo." He tried to act like he was a little more in charge than he was but he was also scared, confused, and still recovering from a parsyapthedic attack, but for a kid he was doing a good job acting tough given his siercemstances. "But this, sure a thousand tops in fire damage to the wall and roof and one hell of a mess to clean up but it's not burning the place down, least not here in the kitchen with all the fire safety stuff. But I wouldn't be running around in a hospital gown if I wasn't trying to get away from some one and I though they where watching" he made a nod to a camera, "so I though a distraction was in order, but it seams that's not the case is it?"

The kid was talking a lot and fast: nervous. Dieter sized him up and took note of the evidence then let his mouth break into a small smile. The gesture was empty as his glassy eyes held the boy's form. He made a sharp motion with his hand and the two men burst through the kitchen door into the taproom. He made a circular motion with his hand and the other two guards went out through the door Lee had just come in through, leaving the kid and Dieter alone.

---

In the Taproom, two Schwartze Augen soldiers burst into the room and swept it quickly. They were wearing those headsets Dieter had designed that made them look like aliens. Goggles with large, black lenses and headsets which covered and sealed their ears. The sets could scan multiple wavelengths of sound and light at the same time and even filter out many of those wavelengths. Finally, one of the men approached her while the other drew a bead on her portal. They had been briefed during standard training on such things. The one by her looked her over in the same business like way Dieter always had; his throat was moving like he was talking into a subvocal mic, "Ma'am, med team on the way. Hold tight. SitRep? Where is the hostile?" Casually, he offered her an earbud.

---

Outside, the two men made a sweep at ground level of the nearby alleys and streets. The boy had mentioned someone was hunting him and hunting on Schwartze Augen turf without permission was poaching and a very bad idea.

---

Back in the kitchen Dieter moved and opened a fridge to pull out a pair of shiny, green apples. He rubbed one on his shirt and tossed the other to Lee before taking a big bite. The large man did not seem uncomfortable with the situation, "AH, running eh? Glad we sorted out who is who, now just what are you running from and who are you? My name is Dieter, by the way." A dialogue was always preferred to combat. He was listening via an earbud to the taproom conversation. His men all, also, had cameras in the unique head gear and he had the feeds cycling through a bluetooth screen on his sunglasses.

The knife flew from her hands as if on its own accord, it's tip aimed directly at the magician's heart. Cimmeria would not, could not, allow the magician to escape a second time. Even if that meant killing him. The assassin did not consider herself a reneger, but she assumed Dieter would rather have a corpse to dissect than nothing at all.

The blade passed through empty space and entered her portal as the magician vanished as quickly as he had appeared. At that same moment, Cimmeria heard the doors of the kitchen open. She let out a heavy sigh and bit her lip, the pain of her ribs and back burning now as she used the broken table as leverage to stand.

The pair of soldiers had entered the tap room, both looming more prepared for the situation than she felt. Despite being un-Gifted, Cimmeria knew these men were more than capable of handling those with powers. She had fought along side Dieter's men before and had been impressed with their adaptability.

After placing the earpiece in her ear she spoke: "Male Gifted, American. About six foot even, 180lbs give or take. Wears a black tuxedo and top hat. He just teleported out of here, though I don't think he can travel very far. Maybe a half mile to a mile radius. He's wounded, though i don't know to what degree. Aside from teleportation he can create illusions. I suspect he has a few other talents as well. 


((edit: Black Magic was not injured as I stated earlier!))
This message was last edited by the player at 02:01, Thu 21 May 2015.

"I have been in captivity and am not in a hurry to share a lot of details." He set the bottle down and set on a prep table careful to keep the gown shut enough not to sit his bare ass on cold metal. He looked at the apple obveously hungry but to squimish to even try and eat just yet and he set it down with the bottle. "I don't know who held me but they seam to be or least think they are working for the Goverment, and I don't know where this is. Last I knew it was (what ever four or so months ago was) and I was in Boston. I thought this was the clothing store, all the doors back there look the same in the alleyway..... I don't want cought up to much in you affairs and I dought you want cought up in who ever is looking for me ether, but rather than just pretending this didn't happen i have an idea. If you get me some clothing and a (hover?Hehe)bike and, while you can't stop a cyberpath, I can wright up some programing that can slow one down if your system is trinary or quantim.", the kid seamed to have dealt with people like him before, and if he was in better mental and physical condition he might have even made it look like he was holding some cards here. However he was just now calming his mind and body from the ordeal he had, his mind still was having trouble coping with the jump start to his gift, and he all in all felt like throwing up. That and wearing nothing but a hospital gown did little for him.

Dieter smiled as the boy laid out his cards; he could appreciate the direct route but he disliked the idea that this boy had been held in some facility studying him nearby. A facility that had escaped Dieter's radar... that made him very, very unhappy. The term Cyberpath, though, was far more intriguing. He knew the term but had never seen or had verified the presence of one. "Cyberpath? Captive? That does not sound fun. Hmm, perhaps we have something to discuss. As for whoever is looking for you, they would be fools to fuck with me... Tell me, what do you know of the Namidian Wave?"

Suddenly, Dieter cocked his head to the side and grunted as he obviously listened.

---

In the taproom, the soldier inspecting Cimmeria grunted and then looked the Gifted "in the eye" as much as his visor allowed, "Sorry, Ma'am, you can strike me later if I offend, but Mr. Sievold says to wait until I am done." So saying, the man leaned forward and very deliberately and professionally pushed a bud into her ear. The thing... twitched. Cimmeria had experienced it before; it was one of Dieter's toys. A pair of wires telescoped out of the bud. One snaked along the skin of her neck and adhered a subvocal mic to her voice box while the other crawled along her cheek until she saw its little metal head just in the corner of her vision. Suddenly, a small image appeared in her peripheral of her own face as seen by the man in front of her. She noted that he was standing open to her strike if she insisted. Dieter's men followed orders and trusted the man. She knew that the tiny HUD would cycle through the video links the men had in their visors. The crisp voice of an operator came over the link, "Ma'am, this is Lorelei. I am the operator for Team Bananas. We will need you to FOF any hostiles we encounter as we sweep the area. Med Team en route, ETA 37.34986 seconds. Any questions."

---

Back in the kitchen, Dieter frowned then sighed, "Teleporters are such a nuisance. Don't be alarmed kid." Dieter's words were followed by a pair of men in white outfits with similar, if white, visors emerging from the freezer and heading straight into the taproom where they set about working on Cimmeria with cold efficiency and the best medicine money could buy before loading her on a stretcher to be taken downstairs to one of the most secured locations on Earth.

Dieter looked at the kid, "Why don't you come downstairs and we can have a... chat about your future?"

He didn't seam to like the mention of the wave and he was studing the stituation closely, he was young but ether he had been in situations like this before or some one prepared him therorly, "I am in no rush to go bellow ground again, and I am not interested in any job offers." The last bit there he said let him know the kid knew he might force the ishue, but he hoped the guy knew better than to try and force a tech to work for you... With all the shit they could fuck up or leave hidden under mountains of code it just was a good idea to keep things on an even field. Push to hard they will take what they can down with them, leave them thinking your a pushover and they might try and exstort you, they wheren't the easiest of people to work with underhandedly. He was felling a little wozzy again so he took a long deep breath to steady himself before going on,   "let's just keep to a one time exshange, you don't seam aware of this 'government' facility, I can point out the general area I escaped from if you got a map."

Black Magic had not recognized the location he had teleported from, nor did he know how far he had managed to come. The only three certainties in his mind at the moment were that he was hurt, that woman was here where ever here was, and there was no change he could stand against her in another round in his current state and win. Their last fight was a draw, and he had been in top shape then. The magician got to his feet, blinked his eyes in an attempt to clear the blurring which failed to help, and managed to walk five feet before he found the edge of the roof the hard way. With his mind confused by pain, Peter wasn't fully aware of what was happening to him as he plunged downward so he didn't think to teleport. Vargus crashed into an open top dumpster with enough force to jar the lids into falling down, and he lay still in his bed of trash.

Dieter held the kid's vision for a long time weighing the deal then grinned and nodded, "Fair enough; but, I can't just let you wander out of here. Who knows if you are going to offer my secrets to the next guy's place you break into? No, I can't have you knowing where this is, which it seems lucky that you do not. So, There are two options, you leave in a way that I chose or you leave in a way I choose, the difference is the second option is entirely more painful while the first just involves no digital technology and a blindfold. I mean, how many secrets do you think us bad guys are going to keep letting you walk away with?"

Internally, Dieter was calculating his options. The kid was a valuable if unknown quantity. Still, if the kid left, then Dieter could track him and do something about it after the situation in the taproom was resolved. He cocked his head and waited for the reply even as he listened to the feed from his team's comms.

---

Outside, the pair that were sweeping the perimeter heard the massive crash and came into the alley double-time where they made a silent, leap-frog sweep down the length of it. They had been on the other side of the building when Black Magic both looked over and fell over the edge, so they did not know a location. Still, they reported in: "Bravo, no signs."

A reply came, "Roger." And the pair of men began to check the various hiding holes, doors, and containers in the alley one by one. The only one they skipped was the door through which Lee had made his entrance earlier. Eventually, Peter would be aware of the crunch of gravel outside his resting place...

Ether the guy respected him or he was hiding how bad off he was well enough, that was good, this was not the best of deals but the fact he was even giving him choices was promising. He knew his clothing would be bugged, and he knew they both knew this... but he also knew it would take him some time to change into something new or find the bug. But all this was better than other options he had. "Guess I can't look at a map then... you can't trust me with your computers...so all I have is the later, I can sketch up something of what I remember of the areas I ran through then. It was vague but you can link up landmarks and use it to find the direction, can't be to many miles out of town. So you will have a small area to look in, that acceptable?"

"None at this moment Lorelei." though this device was familiar, Cimmeria always found it difficult, annoying even, to adjust her senses to it. She gave the soldier a queer look as he stood exposed to her, ready to take a hit. Striking the was very tempting to the assassin, but she'd rather not risk putting stress on her injuries. "I won't waste my strength on an ally, especially when an enemy is in our midst."

"As you wish ma'am."    The soldier nodded to her, his voice only audible to her ears as well as his teammate who search the room quickly before stationing himself near the exit to the street. "The room is secured."

The man nodded sharply to Cimmeria then made way as the Banshees moved in to inspect the woman's injuries. The combat medics were brusque, professional, and rather dire in their prognoses. She would need considerable downtime to heal from these wounds.

---

In the kitchen, Dieter listened to the assessment and realized that Cimmeria needed safety and that was his priority. He clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Alrighty, I'll provide you an escort, a hood, and some gear. You promise to be a good boy?"

Dieter stepped around the counter which had been separating them and reached inside his jacket to withdraw a small card. On it was an address in a small Pennsylvanian town (Boura), a name, and a number. "If you change your mind, call this man. His name is Mr. Green. We could use a man of your talents, but as you say... a man of your talents is best kept willingly..." The boss' voice was low and dangerous and held a hint of the phrase ...for now.... Then the large man stepped back as another soldier in black and wearing a strange looking cloak exited the fridge and approached Lee, "Sir? I will need you to wear the hood and let me lead you. Alright?" In his right hand was a black, sackcloth hood. The man also had a clear, plastic bag containing a map, compass, clothes, and even some food and a bottle of water.

The boss nodded to his lackey and then touched his ear and exited into the taproom.

---

As Dieter entered the taproom, his face lit up into a beaming smiled, "Cimmeria... Glad to see you, though I certainly miss that little two piece number from Rio. Let's get you downstairs. Can you walk or do you need assistance?" Dieter approached her and offered an arm like any gentleman at a fancy ball might.

---

Outside, the lid of the dumpster was thrown open and a pair goggled eyes looked in at the unconscious form of Black Magic, "Confirm, unknown Gifted located. Suspected unconscious. Recommending full lockdown protocol..."

When Black Magic finally awakens, he will find himself inside a white room. The room is approximately 100 meters below the surface and is surrounded by nothing but rocks and a small shaft leading directly up. The shaft was flooded by water. He could see this through a small window in the small door that lead into that shaft. He was patched up and naked except for his mask. His clothes were in a lab somewhere being analyzed for anomalies. A voice crackled over the intercom set into the door, "Hello, Sir, my name is Lorelei... would you mind telling me yours?"

When Dieter entered he saw that the medics had Cimmeria sitting sideways on a wooden chair, her kevlar and steel shoulder guards removed. They were in the process of unzipping the back of her catsuit in order to more easily assess her wounds. The injured assassin smirked and attempted to stand only to be lightly pressed back into her seat.

"Please stay seated ma'am. I just need to determine that you haven't suffered an injuries that you could make worse my movement. "

She sighed and waved her hand in compliance, though Dieter could tell she was rather annoyed. Cimmeria considered herself made of stone rather than glass and disliked being attended to as if she were.

"You know I keep such things only a quick snatch away." she smiled and briefly opened a portal the size of a pinprick against the back of the chair she was sitting upon. She did it so fast that only a man of Dieter's ability would have noticed. "Though swimming isn't what I came for, I hear  that you found my present for you." her voice was as smooth as glass even as the medic poked and prodded at her back, asking with each application of pressure of she felt pain. She answered in nods and continued to speak: "And I would love one of those strong arms to keep myself steady."

The medic allowed her to rise this time, though she had to use the chair for support. The pain in her ribs was excruciating though she didn't show it in her face. The medic reported that she had five broken ribs, the bruises however were not too serious.

He put some underwear and pants on an quickly discarded the map, he did not want to know where this place was and he wanted that clear. Instead he laid the gown out over the metal counter and drew a rough map of the shops, the roads, and some of the outskirts of town and looked to see if that was acceptable, obviously he would add the detection he came from later. Long as they seamed pleased with that he rolled it up, up on a shirt and let them blind fold him and lead him outside.

Peter swam toward consciousness, and was rewarded by a throbbing pain in his skull. He managed to pry his eyes open, then immediately slammed them shut again when light stabbed his optic nerves.

"Hello, Sir, my name is Lorelei... would you mind telling me yours?"

Vargus slowly managed to prop himself up on one arm, while another traveled first to his head where he found a thick bandage, then to his face where he discovered his mask was still in place. He tried peeking out of one barely open lid, and noticed his identity was the only thing left to the imagination. It was about that time that his mind got the delayed message that someone was speaking, and he thought to reply with a tongue that felt thick and heavy in his mouth.

"Black Magic, pleased to meet you. Where am I, and what happened to me? There was a battle in Central Park, that's all I can clearly remember."

"I am sorry, Black Magic sir, but I cannot disclose your current location at this time. However, I am authorized to disclose that you are being held by against your will by the Namidian Wave. How long and how against your will, I am supposed to indicate is up to you."

---

Lee was blindfolded and led from the room. At a couple points he was pretty certain they just turned him in place a few time or made turns just to throw him off before he was tucked into a car. Eventually, the car stopped and he was pulled out and the hood removed. The two men handed a piece of paper and a map, "We are not allowed to tell you where you were, but you are in Gaultown, Ohio. Please, write what you can remember of the base you were kept at."

---

Dieter monitored the situations as he offered his arm to and then helped Vivienne through the kitchen and into the subterranean base that served as a Namidian Hub. Once down, the Banshees led Viv off to a state of the arm healing facility and gave her a much better look over, any drugs she would accept, and a cocktail of chemicals which should have her back on her feet in three days. They warned her she'd be at 70-80% of max for three weeks and not 100% for a month. Broken ribs were serious even for NAmidian technology to handle.

"I think it's best I wait till I'm out of town, you don't have to take me to far, just let me out some place nice and public a town over and I'll show you before I leave."

"I am sorry, Black Magic sir, but I cannot disclose your current location at this time. However, I am authorized to disclose that you are being held by against your will by the Namidian Wave. How long and how against your will, I am supposed to indicate is up to you."

His eyes were a bit more willing to work, so Peter took a look around his surroundings as he gave an honest laugh.

"Up to me? My dear, that line is older than my attire that is at present absent. As to being held against my will, are you sure of that? The wrapping on my head speaks that you mended my injuries, I am not restrained nor currently being tortured, so what makes you believe I object to being here? For my location, you just confided it is a Wave detention cell. Finally, you are correct about the mount of time I spend here being completely up to me. You have placed a magician in a submerged and locked box, and since the days of Houdini my ilk have been escaping them as easily as you might go purchase a newspaper."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 07:26, Mon 01 June 2015.

The voice returned, "There are several errors in your logic that I am not at liberty to explain. However, I am to indicate that my employer has a certain appreciation for the classics. Your clothing is being laundered professionally should you choose to effect your escape, unlikely as that may be, and will be available shortly. AS to your captivity, I assure you that it is quite secure. You are not as original as you might like to think, Black Magic sir, and we are very good at what we do. That is all for now, lunch will be along in about thirty minutes."

Then the voice fell silent and Black Magic was left to explore his cell at his leisure. He was, of course, still being closely monitored.

---

The man who had been escorting Lee looked at him and shook his head. THen indicated to enter the car and the drive recommenced.

Write it as you want from here. I think you are leaving the scene.

(ok will post here one more time)

Lee finished his hand drawn map when he was dropped off, and simply walked to a bench and set down waiting for the men that drove him to leave. Once he was sure they where no longer in the area or watching him, he searched over his clothing for bugs, not really caring to much if he got some odd looks.

As he searched for the bug with the senses he was aware of, he reached out with the ones he was not aware off. On Dieter's end this just caused some odd interference, though some interference that had patterns that lab techs surely would find interesting. When it shorted out and fired under his fingers it just provided even more interesting last signal.

His mind was more clear when this happened than last time, but he didn't have to much time to think about it. He didn't have much time to think about it, he wanted to get as far away from here as he could. He worked fast finding a goodwill and searched the bin out back for clothing that would fit him, and switched out just in case, robed a drunk guy, and took the first buss out of town.

Peter waited for several minutes, but when the voice didn't sound again he figured he had been left to his own devices at least for the moment. He stood slowly to make sure his head wouldn't send him crashing back to the floor, then he walked around the confines of his cell. He touched the walls to see what they were made out of, if he could hear anything on the other side, and tapped them in feeble hopes of telling how thick they were. He also looked for any cracks, nicks, or weak spots he could see, and after he had finished with the walls he looked above him and walked around to view the ceiling of his cell from all angles. He figured they were watching him, but also that such activities as what he was doing would be expected. He had been truthful to the voice about the old locked box under water trick, and even without his powers he might be able to accomplish it but such things required time and study not to mention tools which he was currently short of. Plus, he needed to rest for a while longer, since he had no idea if he was out of danger from the injury to his head yet or not. At least he was being treated well, so far anyway. He wondered if that was the plan, behave as though he were more of a guest than a prisoner and he would cooperate with them. For now, he had no option but to simply bide his time and wait.