New York- Conclusion
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
First of all, a notice. As of today, I've stopped writing proper chapters on Pat-reon. Yes, I said 15 August, but you can guess from my slowed upload schedule that I haven't gotten enough time to write more. I'm stopping before I mess too much.
The remaining chapters will be uploaded soon, along with the Summary Chapters that I have yet to write on Pat-reon, don't worry. I won't keep you all hanging.
This notice is just to inform any new readers, or old ones who feel like joining the Pat-reon now, that unless you're specifically looking to donate to a useless cause(me), don't bother going to my Pat-reon now.
I'll write a proper goodbye later, since I still have more than a few chapters to upload, and the summary chapters to write. So.. READ ON!
—
Thirty minutes, the battle has gone on. Thirty minutes since I brought the X-Men into a battle they had no reason to even know about except for after the fact.
Sixteen defenders against the fraction of an army that Loki was able to pull through the portal. Sixteen Avengers, against thousands of Chitauri. And now, we were feeling it.
Storm was grounded, still fighting but not able to fly and fight at the same time anymore. She had joined with the rescuers, who were now focusing more on the fighting aspects, leaving the rescuing to the US National Guard, but giving them the superhuman support.
Steve and Colossus were still fighting while staying together, and while Steve looked tired, he didn't look like he would stop fighting anytime soon. As for Colossus, he's a Colossus, that's for sure. Any time it looked as if Steve would be overwhelmed by the forces, Colossus would come running through anyone in his way.
Wolverine and Natasha.. had fought well together. There's some history there, that's for sure. But now it was just Wolverine, slashing through the aliens and using his senses with amazing efficiency, sniffing out more prey to kill. Natasha had left the grounds, and I had seen her flying on top of a Chitauri chariot barely a few minutes ago.
Cyclops and Hawkeye, they had done well together. But being on top of a building, they might as well have put up a sign showing where they are. Cyclops had gone down first, a blast from the back hitting him in the back of his head.
Thankfully, his mutation allowed him to be a bit resistant to energy attacks, so it only knocked him out. Hawkeye had immediately contacted Kurt to rescue his friend, and begun fighting from the top.
Alas, he followed soon after, forced to evacuate his spot when his arrows ran out.
Even Thor, an actual God, looked beat up with a few injuries marking his skin, although it could be because of the stab wound he had suffered before.
And Hulk, the strongest of us all. Strong and unstoppable he is, but the Chitauri knew it. Knew information about at least half of the defenders here thanks to Loki's spiritual SHIELD infiltration a year ago. The Chitauri were not letting Hulk charge up, they were keeping him surrounded, confused, and kept on attacking him from all directions. Even now I could see a dozen Chitauri chariots surround him in a bid to attack him, prompting me to immediately turn towards him, my Staff raised and blasting curses exiting out of it.
But otherwise, it looked as if Wolverine, Colossus, and I were the only ones still perfectly capable of keeping the fight going for as long as it takes.
As a Chitauri blast hits my skin, burning with a sizzle, however, I can't help but pray that Natasha ends it soon.
—
Flying beside a Chitauri whale, Tony felt tired, beyond anything he had ever felt before. Not during his fight with Stane, or even Vanko, was he this tired.
"How long have we been fighting, Jarvis?" He asks, in a tired voice as his hand raises up to start using his laser, the same one that had taken care of all of Vanko and Hammer's drones, blasting it at the large whale's metal armour.
"30 minutes and 47 seconds sir. Also, we would lose power within the Arc Reactor before we penetrate that shell." Jarvis says, in a reproachful tone.
Tony immediately drops the laser, and firing up the repulsors, speeds forward. Stopping a short distance away from the Chitauri whale, who was now flying straight towards him, Tony asks, "Jarvis? You ever heard of the tale of Jonah?"
Jonah. A boy whom God saved by having a whale swallow him. There was a lesson or something in the tale too, but Tony wasn't focused on that at the moment.
"I.. don't think he is a good role model, Sir." Jarvis says, and was that a scowl he could hear?
Grinning, Tony fires up his repulsors once again, only this time, he starts flying towards the open maw of the whale. His entire arsenal opens up from his back, arms, legs, shoulders, everywhere.
Opening its mouth wide, the whale swallows the approaching Iron Man armour straight into the through, and immediately gets blown up by Tony's armament emptying itself inside its stomach. All the while, Tony uses the previously discarded lasers to keep burrowing into the body of the whale.
In a single second, Tony gets out of the back of the whale, only for his own bomb to explode behind him, throwing him crashing downwards and into the streets. He crashes through what looks like a phone booth, and then into the road, only to stop after hitting a taxi, almost a couple dozen feet away from the booth.
"Multiple contusions detected." Jarvis says, referring to a previous conversation making Tony groan.
"Not.. the time, J." Tony says, his body hurting too much.
He was down for the count, he thought. His body was too tired, his arc reactor was almost out of charge, which is funny since it's a reactor, and an energy source. It should have had unlimited energy, but alas, it doesn't work like that. There's a constant cycle of use and recharge, and unfortunately for Tony, his Use cycle had almost come to an end.
It's charging, but not fast enough for him to make a difference. He really should have brought a spare Reactor.
As he starts standing up, not willing to give up so soon, not while Capsicle was still fighting, Tony gets set upon by more aliens, who were no doubt angry at him for destroying one of their big guns. Tony raises his hands when they fire blasts at him, protecting his face from the energy blasts, but suddenly, they stop coming at him.
He still hears the blasts, but they're not aimed at him. Tony looks up, his cameras already zooming towards the focus of the chitauri's attacks, and sighs in relief. There he was, his savior, blasting through the aliens using some sort of metal weapon, very different from the one Loki used.
As a dozen or so aliens surround the man, Tony starts raising his hands to help Mason Aves, only for the man to spin his weapon over his head, and slash it down. Something.. Wonky happens then, something invisible to all of his sensors, as a wave of something exits out of the weapon held by Mason Aves, cutting the entire group of aliens in two.
"You couldn't have used your mumbo jumbo before, Avalon?" Tony snarks, watching the man walk towards him, leaving the bodies behind.
Avalon grins, and says, "I've been using my Magic the entire battle, Stark. Why do you think that building's still standing even after a Chitauri Leviathan went through it?"
Leviathan, huh. Tony could see it. Yup, those whales were definitely Leviathans.
Tony sighs, and says, "Thanks for the save."
Avalon shrugs, and looking up at the portal, he says, "I may have gone out of the public eye, Tony. But Earth is still my home. I will always be here to defend it."
Tony.. doesn't listen however, his eyes focused on another conversation. "Stark? You hear me? There's a nuke incoming, the payload will wipe out Midtown.!" The voice in his ear says.
Isolating the sounds inside his helmet, Tony asks, "How long?"
"Three minutes, max." Fury answers, his voice surprisingly grim.
Tony glances at Avalon, who was watching him in curiosity, and says, "J, thrusters."
"Done, sir." Jarvis replies.
Without even saying anything, Tony flies off into the sky, Jarvis already hacking into the satellites to track the nuke and where it's coming from.
Suddenly, however, Tony sees something to his side and yells, "JESUS CHRIST! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? KILL ME?!"
Captain Avalon, who was flying right beside him, matching his speed as they flew upwards, tilts his head, and says, "You've just learned something worrying. Your heartbeat was racing even before you got shocked by me. What is it?"
Tony snorts, and catching sight of the nuke in the distance towards the bridge, he says through his speakers, "There's a nuke coming in, sent by SHIELD overlords. If it touches a single building in New York, boom, no more midtown."
Avalon looks in the direction they were flying in, speeding towards a very tiny, minuscule speck in the air that was the nuke, and asks, "You got a plan?"
Tony glances at him, and says, "Yeah, gift wrap it and send it straight to the aliens."
Avalon nods, and says, "Good plan, one downside. You won't survive that trip."
"And what? You will?" Tony asks with a scoff, already knowing that it's highly likely that he won't be coming back from the portal.
Avalon nods, and says, "Yup, I can survive in space."
Tony looks at him, stupefied, and says, "There is no way you just said you can survive in space."
Smiling at him in amusement, Avalon says, "I'm a Wizard, Tony. Just assume the answer is Magic and move on."
"Yeah, yeah, heard that before. How sure are you about your survival?" Tony asks still, wanting to make sure. As an afterthought, he asks, "Will you even be able to take the nuke through? Are you strong enough, physically speaking?"
Avalon looks at him, his face showing him just how offended he was, and says, "Just keep my path clear, Tony. We don't want the nuke to blow before it goes through."
"I can close the portal. Can anyone hear me?" The very familiar voice of Agent Romanoff says in his ears, making Tony widen his eyes.
"NO!" He yells, only realizing after the fact that Mason had yelled with him. Oh yeah, he had been given an earpiece. "There's a nuke incoming, ETA 90 seconds. And we know just where to put it."
It is then that the pair reach the Manhattan bridge, and immediately start flying up, the missile just above their heads, speeding towards the city of New York. Tony watches Mason fly underneath the Nuke, his magic staff still in his hand. Mason touches the nuke with his back, making Tony skip a beat thinking the nuke is going to blow, and when it doesn't, he breathes out a sigh.
Mason sighs too, apparently worried about the explosion himself, and.. does something with his magic staff, bringing into existence a few bands of golden energy that wrap themselves around the nuke, tying it to Mason's back.
Curiously enough, the fire from the nuke's thermal rocket was not harming Mason's skin at all, no doubt something else related to Magic.
'I really need to upgrade my sensors. At least till I'm able to see what he's doing.' Tony thinks to himself, making a mental note.
Tony looks at it dubiously, and asks, "You don't plan on blowing yourself up with it, do you?"
Mason scoffs, and says, "Hardly. I'll be sending the nuke off once I'm through. Besides, even if the nuke blew with me still attached to it, it won't kill me."
Tony looks at him, not knowing if he's joking or not, and says, "Well if you die, can I have your magic staff? For science, you know?"
Mason scoffs with a smile, and says, "Over my dead body."
Yes, that.. was the point.
Mason pulls up, pushing the rocket higher and higher up into the air against its programmed coordinates, and Tony follows right after. Some Chitauri come after them, and while some are taken care of by Tony's blasters, Mason kills a few with his magic staff.
"Focus on flying, Avalon. Don't want any of your magic to make the nuke wonky and blow it up." Tony warns, knowing that Magic must be some sort of energy, and so, can interact with.. stuff.
Thankfully, Avalon listens, and allows Tony to fly forward, to start killing the aliens that were now trying to stop them. Whether they knew what the plan was, or if they just wanted to ground the aerial troops, Tony didn't care. He kept on blasting one alien after another.
"Mason? What are you doing?" Steve's angry and distraught voice asks in both their ears. Steve was no doubt afraid of losing a friend he had just gotten back, and Tony could understand it, somewhat.
Mason keeps on his flight path towards the tower, so they could fly straight up from it, and says, "Just.. felt like taking my pet nuclear bomb on a walk, Steve. What do ya think?"
Tony snorts, despite the situation, and Steve says, "Fucking hell, Mason! Don't be an idiot, let it fly up by itself, come down!"
If Tony had thirty days instead of thirty seconds before the nuke exploded, he wouldn't be able to list all the reasons why that's a bad idea.
"You know I can't do it, Steve. There's a million things that could go wrong. Besides, someone has to do it, someone who can fly. And out of all of us, only I am both capable of flight without aid, and surviving the exposure to space. Ask our buddy Wolverine, he'll tell you how durable and resilient us healing mutants are."
The mutant in question wasn't on their comms channel, unfortunately, but even still, Tony's hacking showed that he was too busy cutting through aliens to answer anyway.
Tony feels offended, but he could also agree that this suit wasn't made for Space travel. Maybe he should start working on that.
"You know that's a one way trip, yes?" Natasha's voice asks, which funnily enough sounds as if she was straining with something.
Mason smiles, and says, "I want you to promise me, Romanoff. As soon as you see the nuke blow, turn the thing off. Don't wait for me, because I have other ways to do so even if I get stuck out there."
"Just.. how many more secrets are you hiding, Aves?" Steve asks, his voice sounding far too broken for him to be in a state of fighting.
Tony really hoped this worked, just so they can finally rest and let the military clear the rest.
They reach the top of the portal, barely a few seconds away from the portal, and Mason says, "Let's get together after this and I'll tell you, Steve. Be back in a minute."
And then.. he vanishes through the portal, going on to the other side of it, into deep space.
The world stopped breathing, some happy about the fact that the nuke got sent through the portal, others enraged at the fact that their plan failed. The aliens kept attacking, however, and so the fighters had to get back to defending. And one person, with the weight of the world's safety on his shoulders, flew through space.
Tony flies around the portal, and stops to a side. He watches Mason fly deeper into space, ice forming on top of his body and his magical staff, which was being kept at bay only by the heat of the nuke's thermal rocket.
There was a star nearby, not near enough for him to see a lot from the other side, but enough that it allowed Jarvis to process the feed into something visible. And what he sees.. makes Tony freeze on the spot.
Hundreds more Chitauri Leviathans, thousands more chariots, and a ship that could contain it all. It was at least as big as the entire island of Manhattan, and Tony was really thankful for the fact that the Portal was so.. small. If it was big enough to allow that monstrosity of a spaceship through, then Tony had no doubt that they wouldn't have lasted half this time, and would have been forced to rely on nukes, leading to a Nuclear winter worldwide.
And Mason was flying through it all, blasting aliens one after another with his Magical staff, unafraid of the Hell that was in front of him
Tony stares, unmoving, and says, "Jarvis.. are you seeing this?"
"Yes sir." Jarvis says, his voice soft, as if even the AI was in disbelief of the sight in front of them.
"Stark? What are you seeing?" Steve asks, making Tony curse at not having turned the mic off before speaking.
Tony says nothing, and just watches Mason dodge the aliens for a while, after which…he lets the Nuke loose. It flies off towards the alien spaceship, dodging the intercepting aliens with an unnatural grace, all the while Mason kept flying backwards, keeping his body turned towards the nuke.
"He's.. directing the nuke, with his magic or something." Tony mumbles, this time purposefully allowing the others to listen if only to prevent Rogers from asking what he's actually seeing. No need to cause panic, Tony thinks. "He's flying back, slowly."
But.. There was ice on him. Tony realizes that Mason can't keep the nuke safe from harm, and keep himself perfectly healthy at the same time.
And of the two, he had chosen to protect the nuke.
This was no doubt why his dad was so obsessed with the two heroes. Their self sacrificing nature, their genius when it comes to fighting a war. Tony wonders over what could have been, had he been allowed to take the nuke from Mason. Tony wonders if he would have even been able to make it.
As Mason keeps floating backwards, not flying, Tony realizes, attracted by the difference in gravitational forces on the two sides of the portal, Tony watches the nuke. He watches it dodge another interceptor in the form of a large Leviathan which is shaken by a large blast of invisible energy hammering on its face, sending it crashing into another Leviathan.
As if in slow motion, Tony watches the nuke approach the ship, and then, he watches the nuke blow as soon as it touches the hull of the.. mothership.
The world lets out the breath it had been holding, as the aliens all drop down suddenly, as if their strings were cut.
"Jarvis?" Tony asks, as he keeps watching the spectacle on the other side of the portal
There's no sound, just a bright flash of light as the nuclear explosion takes place on the mothership, the area of effect easily covering the entire ship, and the aliens surrounding it. Right before it could blind him, Jarvis takes care to switch the filters, allowing him to make out a dark speck speeding towards the portal.
"It seems the Mothership was where the Aliens were being controlled from." Jarvis answers, making Tony understand. A hive mind, controlled by someone on the Mothership. And that someone either died, or fled to fight another day.
Not Loki, no. If Loki was the one in control, then the aliens wouldn't have dropped now. They would have dropped as soon as Loki was knocked unconscious by Hulk.
Whoosh!
The sound makes him snap his head back towards the Tower, and Tony realizes that Natasha had done as Mason had asked. She had shut the portal off before Mason could get through. He may have meant it as a way to protect the city from the nuclear fallout, but right now, it only served as a way to prevent Mason from getting through.
"Romanoff! What did you do?!" An enraged Steve asks through the comms, and Tony wholly understands.
He may not have known the man for long, but he had a sort of.. charm to him. He could see why his dad liked the man so much.
"I'm sorry, Steve." Natasha whispers, and she sounds sorry.
"Come on, come on you old bastard." Tony mumbles, cursing the situation as he flies from one side to the other. Mason.. took no efforts in trying to fly back himself. He was.. unconscious, Tony notices.
And the portal.. was slowly closing, repairing the hole in space as if it was never there.
Right as Tony was about to make the rash decision to go through the portal and bring Mason back himself, Mason snaps his eyes open, and looks at him.
"Holy crap." He mumbles, seeing the man take a deep breath - in space - as he starts flying towards him, towards Earth.
The portal keeps on closing, as Mason starts flying towards the opening, and bit by bit, it keeps getting smaller.
Tony's heart beats faster, his calculations telling him that Mason might not be coming back this time, or at all. He was too slow.
And sure enough, the portal gets as small as Tony's own head, with Mason still too far away from the hole to come through.
And then, right before the portal closes, there's a loud crack in the air behind him, an explosion of.. something making his sensors start blaring. Tony flies backwards, turning around with an arm already extended to attack whatever that was, but stops, seeing something that makes him yell, "What the fuck, man?"
The man in question, Mason Aves, smiles at Tony, waves his hand, and says, "Hey.. I'm back."
And then, his eyes lose focus, as the man starts falling down, no longer flying.
Cursing, Tony flies after the man, and catches him in his hands. Immediately, he books it towards the Tower, and crashes on the lower roof. Their fall sends the gravel flying as glass digs into Mason's skin, but Tony now knows that it won't harm him too much.
Getting out of his armour, Tony stumbles towards the man, only now realizing just how many injuries he's suffered this day. Putting his hand on Mason's neck, Tony feels for the heartbeat, and finding one, sighs in relief.
"Hey, Rogers?" Tony calls out, knowing that the man can hear him. "Your buddy's alive. Asleep, but alive."
There's a beat of silence, and then, "I'm bringing the team to you."
Tony sighs, and drops down on the ground next to Aves. Already he could see that the man was healing, fast too.
Tony's mind can't help but wonder if Mason would allow him to study his blood and find out how his mutation works. Could it help cure the hole in his chest? Could it bring someone back from the dead?
A snort from the side makes him open his eyes once again, and Tony sees the man who had just knocked himself unconscious start sitting up, now fully conscious. "Stop thinking so hard, Tony. And no, I won't allow you to study me."
"Pity." Tony says, making a mental note to add Telepathy to Mason's list of powers.
A green light suddenly covers his body, and just like he had seen Mason start healing on his own before, the light does the same to him. It heals him, mends broken bones, fractures and fissures, repairs the tears in his muscles. Even the shoulder ache that he had suffered from since three years ago was being soothed by this mysterious green energy.
And then, as soon as all his injuries are gone, with only the hole in his chest and the Arc Reactor remaining, along with the shrapnel still in his chest, the green light recedes, gone as if it was never there.
Tony sits up properly, and looking at the man who still looked tired, he says, "Thanks."
And he meant it.
Mason was injured himself, and there was no doubt that he was still not recovered. And yet, he still took the time and effort to heal him. Guess that explained the discarded nickname for Captain Avalon: Paladin.
'Dad was a proper nerd, wasn't he.' Tony thinks to himself.
Before he can comment more on it, a couple of large crashes occur behind them, and Tony raises his bare hand at the threat, only to see Thor and Hulk staring at one another.
A circular pink coloured portal opens on the roof next, out of which walk out the remainder of the defenders. Avengers.
The X-Men, Hawkeye, and Steve Rogers, who rushes through the portal and straight towards Mason, hugging him tightly.
Mason just chuckles, and hugs the man back.
Tony whistles, and says, "Sheesh, get a room, you guys. There's children here."
The children in question, the youngest of the X-Men, scowl at him, but the older ones just chuckle good heartedly.
Natasha walks down then from the inner stairs, Loki's scepter in her hands and Selvig following right behind her, bringing all their attention to herself.
Mason claps Steve's back a couple times, and says, "We'll talk later, Steve. Our prisoner is waking up."
And sure enough, Loki was awake, already turning to crawl away from them and towards the stairs. Tony had no doubt that Hulk's beatings had made it a bit difficult for the God to stand up.
The sixteen Avengers walk towards him, Hawkeye with his bow drawn, Thor with his hammer poised, Natasha with Loki's own scepter in her hands, Wolverine with his metal claws extended, Storm with lightning bolts bursting out of her hands, and others.. just posing. Yup, posing.
"If it's all the same to you.. I'll have that drink now."
Tony snorts, as he hangs back, since he had taken his armour off, watching Loki finally surrender himself to the superior force in front of him. This time, for good.
The Battle of New York.. was over.
—
"Alright, we can pose up later. Feel free to start cleaning up." Tony says, as he starts walking over to the Bar, preparing drinks for himself.
Loki was bound by Iron manacles that I had conjured for him. The manacles by themselves weren't special, a bit magic resistant but that's it. The enchantments I'd cast on them however prevented a Mage from using his Magic.
Just Magecraft, though. Not Witchcraft, or Sorcery.
The X-Men were standing off to the side, talking, and while I could hear the conversations, I didn't pry. Instead, my focus was on something else.
"Who gets the.. uh.. Magic Wand?" Natasha asks, walking around with the Scepter in her hands.
Loki scowls at the same time that I do. Calling that Abomination a Magic wand is an insult to Magic wands. It channels only the Mind Stone's Power, and that's it. The metal was not magical in the least. The Scepter was not Magical in the least.
Not like my staff.
But I stay silent, not minding who possesses the Scepter for now. Do I want it? Of course, but I am not sure what the consequences will be.
"Shield's strike team is coming to secure it." Steve answers, making me snort.
Funnily enough, Logan had snorted at the same time as he says, "Figures, the Government stooges get here after the battle is over."
Barely a second after he said that, the elevator door opens, and the Strike team in question comes into the room, led by Agent Jasper Sitwell. And just by a single glance at them I could tell that they had not taken part in the battle, at all.
The fact that they came here barely a minute after the battle was over, but they're as clean as freshly bathed, I am sure that they were here, in the city, but they didn't fight. Cowards.
As I watch Sitwell take the scepter and put it inside the Box they had brought for it, Tony asks, "Hey, guys? Has anyone here tried Shawarma? I don't know what it is, but I'm hungry and I want to try it. I saw an.. adequately standing Shawarma "
I shrug, and say, "It's a dish from all over Middle East. It tastes good, a bit too meaty for my tastes, but good."
"I.. don't know. I don't think we should stay here too long, we're not exactly legal, you know." Scott says, from his place beside Hawkeye, as the two drank from one of Stark's bottles.
Steve frowns, and says, "You're heroes. You fought beside us, defended the Earth from aliens. No Government official will be stupid enough to criticize your actions now."
"You'll be surprised, bub." Logan says, as he keeps on watching the Shield agents with suspicion. No doubt he could smell their deception on them.
Shaking my head, I say, "Come on. We'll all go, all the sixteen Avengers. If anyone tries to say something, they'll be faced with us. And who wants to fight the group of people that fought back an Alien invasion?"
Logan is the first to say yes, followed closely by Kitty Pride and Kurt Wagner. One by one, all the X-Men agree to join us for our post battle lunch, and even Scott reluctantly agrees.
"I would like to have some of this..Shawarma." Thor booms out, from his place right beside Loki.
"Yeah, about that. What about Mr Sore and Green over there? Not you Hulk." Tony asks, pointing at Loki.
Hulk, who was still Hulk, snorts loudly, making Loki flinch, as Thor says, "He will come with us, of course. He can watch as we revel in our Feast of this Shawarma!"
I smile, and all at once, we start following the group of SHIELD agents down the elevators. Well, they take one elevator, we take another, and another. Thankfully, Stark Tower had multiple elevators for all our use.
Alas, Hulk had to take the super fast express by jumping down the building to wait for us. No one was stupid enough to suggest Stairs to Hulk.
The Battle was over. Loki was in our custody, and we were going to have Shawarma. All without Tony suffering PTSD from the things he would have seen up close.
And now, instead of just 6 Avengers, or 7 including me, Earth has a team of 16 people defending it. And that's not counting the other X-Men that had stayed behind at the school, or those defenders who will come into existence later.
All in all, I count this as a success. Now if only Selene comes back from wherever she's hiding.
---
A/N: Battle of NY is over. I wanted to add the endgame part here, but I haven't decided what I want to do about it yet.
There will be some changes, particularly one big one in the next chapter, but I don't think anyone would be disappointed in them.
Mason was only kinda faking being unconscious. While he can fly through space while wearing his armour, he can't do it while not wearing it. He was using a lot of his magic to allow him to breathe in space, while at the same time Telekinetically manipulating the nuke, so it took a lot out of him.
Was this chapter good? Any questions?
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