Chapter Thirty Six: Oracle of Delphi Part Four.

Chapter Thirty Six: Oracle of Delphi Part Four. 

Three AM in the morning in Gotham City and all was not well. This was not the first Hostage situation that James Gordon had to deal with nor it would be the last.

"What's the situation?"

Branden arrived, business as usual as he walked forward, with the SWAT guards. Gordon, despite his personal problems with the man in the past, decided to get to the nitty gritty of the situation. "This gang of ex-presidents…..they've robbed a fundraiser tonight and they kidnapped a hostage, Vicki Vale, the reporter."

"Yes, I know who she is," Branden said, barely hiding his personal opinion on that bitch in his tone. It would be a real shame if she got shot up in there but he could not say that to Gordon. "Have you gotten any progress in getting her out of there?"

"It's part hostage crisis, part the leader of the gang wanting to make a name for themselves," Gordon replied and Branden pinched the bridge of his nose, tilted his head back, and sighed deeply.

"Typical, thugs with a vanity problem, we need to storm in….."

"Oh, the noble GCPD SWAT….good, good, I want you to hear this."

"Lock onto him," Brandan said as he saw the man in the shadows but the man snapped his fingers.

"If I don't report back to the boss, then….well things might get rough for young Miss Vale."

"Keep him in your crosshairs," Branden growled, wanting to take his chances with that but Gordon looked at Branden.

"What do you want?"

The man on the ledge stepped back, chuckling. "You know, there's a lot that we can take in Gotham City, but I'm not quite sure what we want. I have to check back with our glorious leader. Don't worry, your reporter is safe and snug, for the moment. I'd make sure she stays that way but if I don't come back in the next three minutes…..I can't vouch for the others."

The man disappeared and Branden looked at the SWAT members.

"You heard what he said, Vale dies if he doesn't report back to the rest of his men," Gordon said and Braden nodded. Gordon could not help but think that man would be taken out the next time the SWAT gets a shot.

"I've been through something like this before Gordon, the guy's playing hardball, they know if they kill the hostage, they have their only insurance policy against us coming in and taking them down is gone."

"Treating these guys like normal criminals….they aren't operating with a full deck, and their leader might be even worse," Gordon said to Branden but the two men remained cordial to each other. There was an undercurrent of hostility.

The man on the ledge returned and he looked down at them with a smile. "Just to let you know that the boss will think about your generous offer, and come back to you….hope you brought coffee and donuts, this might take a while."

Branden wanted to strangle that smug shit right now for making him wait out in the middle of the cold night.

"Go around, find a way in past them to take them down," Branden growled and the SWAT goons walked around, combing around the building.

The man sat on the ledge, drinking a cup of coffee, and he gave them a mock thumbs up. Gordon would not be surprised if he had given them another hand gesture to go along with that. He gave an insidious laugh as he disappeared into the shadows.

It was getting closer to sunrise than it was to sunset and it was a matter of the waiting game. Gordon clutched his hands.

"We'll resolve this, that's what we do," Branden said to Gordon. The building was rather a tricky one to get in. There weren't as many blind spots where he could stash snipers and the man on the ledge put himself in a position where he could see everything. He radioed his men. "Keep at your positions, and let me know if any of them step outside, find out if this is the building, or a false trail."

"Sir…we found the van, it's across the street."

"They're playing games with us," Gordon said, they had one of their associates stay at this building across the street. He was not even sure if it was a member of the same gang.

"Hold your positions there; see if anyone comes out, my team on the ground will keep an eye out for laughing boy on the roof."

Time ticked on by and the situation got even tenser.

Nightwing heard Branden's report at the end. He could read between the lines of what he was trying to do and he pieced together what he needed to do.

He was really pleased with Oracle's work. She hacked them together into the GCPD network. Nightwing, Black Canary, and Batman all were able to listen in on everything that was said. So when Branden gave his men the situation report, the same thing happened to Nightwing.

The black and red clad ninja smirked, thinking about that fact. His green eyes combed over the top of the building, seeing where he had to go to.

"Okay, I'm in," Oracle replied and she could hear the grunting that indicated that she was heard loud and clear. "And the building where she's being held and where that gang is holed up, I've got a detailed blueprint of it."

The blueprint popped up for Nightwing, who smiled at this. This would give him more time to plan than the cops, who had to wait for someone to bring them a blueprint. Otherwise, any way they try to get inside, they were just doing guess work.

"Excellent."

That was something that he meant and he went straight to work. Utilizing his wrist computer, he started to send it back to Oracle in a three dimensional design.

'Okay, this should work,' Faora thought, double checking on her end what was being done, and there were other members of the bond who listened with rapt interest.

'You do realize that she's going to lose her shit when you send her back a three dimensional model?' Zatanna asked and Kara, Donna, Amanda, and Emily all snickered.

'We know, isn't it awesome?' Kara asked, impressed by how fluid this process was. It was something that was fine tuned down to a science.

Nightwing smiled, and he waited for it.

Three.

Two.

One.

Sure enough right on cue, Oracle yelped halfway and was caught completely off guard by this awesome sight that was sent to her.

'Well, we all saw that one coming,' Donna said, barely able to suppress the snickering that she had. She was not the only one.

Harry acted absolutely cool and collected because that was pretty much how he rolled. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine….just didn't explain that," Oracle muttered, trying to keep her eyes on the three dimensional blue print. When the initial "WTF" factor escaped her, she was interested in seeing it. "This is amazing."

"You're too kind but is that going to allow you to…."

"Yeah, this is perfect, it should be able to have us pinpoint some of the closer blindspots." Oracle said, it took her a couple of minutes to return herself to some kind of sanity. "Are you….."

"Better to have all of our spots covered."

Nightwing turned his head around and peered down into the building. Sure enough there weren't that many blind spots but there were some. Never the less, it was enough to slip in carefully where he could. He just had to time it right, something that many people would fail to think about doing.

'So should I ask the question….'

'You're going to anyway,' Faora thought to the person who asked it and she sighed.

'I'm not going to ask it because I don't want to get my bloody head chewed off but…why not…'

'Because that would be a huge blipping beacon if I used magic, as you know I'm trying to avoid it as Nightwing unless I absolutely can't help it,' Harry thought and he decided to clarify that point. 'Besides, Barbara knows that Harry Potter is magical and I don't want to make it too easy on her.'

'I wonder if she already has figured it out, and is just in deep denial?' Pamela asked and Harry smiled but it was Zatanna who answered.

'Didn't we already bring up that point….'

'Well it does bear repeating,' Dinah thought but she was about ready to ask something.

'I know, I have to keep an eye on the SWAT just as much.'

Harry placed the HUD display on and he prepared to pinpoint the location of everyone on the roof. The first was the SWAT, he wanted to see what they were doing. Especially Branden, he was always someone. He also spotted Gordon and other cops.

Then there were the Ex-Presidents gang, they were spread around, and he would need to know where they are. He wanted to see what they were guarding. He was going to assume that they had some deent weapons.

Last but certainly not least, there was the lovely Miss Vale.

Harry knew that he had his work cut out for him and the night was still young.

The entire heist, Vicki's adrenaline was to the point where she was freaking out all too badly. At least not overtly, but her mind was running a hundred miles a minute. Mostly because there was a lot of curiosity burning through her mind and the woman twisted her head around to get a better look.

Not really to her surprise, she was in the boiler room of the building. Her vision was shielded when she was brought in, so she could not really figure out which way she got brought in. Her hands were bound behind a chair, her feet were bound, and she was gagged. The chair she was on was not very comfortable although she suspected that comfort was a low priority for those people.

She tried to turn her head but she snapped back. Vicki tried to push herself out of where she was.

"SWAT's going to do something stupid….."

"Well just keep our little insurance policy straight…."

"Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to her, the bitch isn't going anywhere," the man said as he tugged at the mask.

"Stop doing that man….."

"Starting to stink, beside the boss lost his so….."

"Are we sure that he's the boss?" a third member of the gang asked.

"A guy like that, are you going to question whether or not he's the boss?" the first gang member asked as he looked at Vicki. "Not too bad of a piece of ass that we got out of there, we could have grabbed some old bag or some old man or a bunch of brats but…..we worked out good."

One of the gang members shook his head. "Hey, aren't you married?"

"My wife's married, not me," the man in question said as he waited. "So when's LBJ coming back anyway?"

"Don't know, he's supposed to be the go between, between the cops and the boss man," the gang member said as he could see Vicki. "Ah, don't be mad, toots, you're just insurance….we're going to let you go nice and easier. The boss wants you to keep calm. Just play it cool and we'll take really good care of you."

Vicki was not too reassured by this fact, surprisingly enough. In fact, the full horror of the situation was beginning to slowly sink in.

The fact that she nearly got shot tonight on her way here, just barely getting missed, was something that was a grim reminder of what she had to deal with Often, Vicki did not believe in miracles but she was going to chalk this one up as one.

Her heart raced, she did not have too much stock in the SWAT and their ability to get her out of here safely.

She could not think straight as well which was a problem. Her heart raced, she thought that a little danger was a good thing.

"They're going to move in, just watch," "LBJ" said as he reported back and he whispered to the other men around there. "The boss man hasn't made up his mind what we want."

"I'm not sure how much we can get for a snoopy reporter…."

"She's more valuable if she lives to tell the tale, everyone will know about it. The boss wants people to know we're out there and causing a stir."

"Is the boss some kind of nut or something?"

"Hey….don't be calling him that, he's knifed a guy for calling him less," the man in the Kennedy mask said as he leaned back into the shadows. He smoked a cigarette, quite a feat considering the mask.

Vicki was too distressed to really think of what was happening. She reported on the news and while the recent riot in Gotham was close to being a part of it, this was a bit up close and personal.

She heard a noise outside and voices nearby. Likely the SWAT trying to make their way inside, which did not do any wonders for her blood pressure, but it was not like she was going anywhere.

"Hey chuckles, go stand watch, make sure no one gets a bright idea of being heroic."

He had a shotgun in his hand ,making his way into the shadows with a twisted smirk on his face.

Nightwing found all of his ex-President gang members; they were all patrolling around the building. And more importantly, he found Vicki. He was not sure if this was going to make things any easier but there he was, he was perched up at the top of the building and ready to slide in.

"And now, they're in the crosshairs."

Oracel gave that report to Nightwing, who barely kept the smile off of his face.

"Good, good," he said, the tagging them with HUD allowed them to track their movements.

"One of them is taking a tunnel of some sort and giving regular reports to the SWAT guys," Oracle reported to him and Harry did not say anything but he smiled. "Nightwing?"

"Well, he's stalling for time, I think that it was a coincidence that they stumbled upon Miss Vale," Nightwing said, trying to keep his comments rather neutral despite how pissed off that one of his girls was trapped in the line of fire. "The leader of the pack, he seems to be the one who is the best armed, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Oracle agreed as Nightwing did a quick scan of what he saw with these goons.

"They have some of those ear pieces….very secret service like in make. Not sure if it's the same people but they're high tech."

"Jamming them might not be a good idea," Oracle suggested, not sure if she can but never the less, enjoying the potential challenge of the situation.

"Right, because if they don't report back, then things are going to get rough," Nightwing said, slipping into one of the blind spots and creeping in the shadows. "The problem is that I've got to do this without taking out any of the goons with guns."

'If one of them doesn't check in with the others or SWAT, who can tell what's going to happen?' Faora asked and Harry gave half of a smile, but it was a strained half of a smile.

'I've got an idea,' Harry commented, keeping himself from going underneath ground. His heart kicked up another intense beat.

When the going got tough, that was where he flourished. He wanted to avoid any combat and if he took them down, gunshots would be fired. And if gunshots would be fired, that meant that the SWAT would be in there like a dog on a bone.

Reminding himself of how perilous this situation was, Harry moved decisively and discreetly.

He stopped, seeing the men walked past. An anxious few seconds later, after one briefly stopped and looked in his general direction, they turned around.

Harry recalled how easier it would be if he could just teleport but as he said, too many questions. Plus he did not want to make the connection.

They were in a cluster really close to the basement and after tracking their movements, they seemed to be looking in on Vicki every five to seven minutes, like clockwork. If that proved one thing, it proved that Harry would need to work quickly.

His green eyes kept forward with laser guided focus, he had another near miss but he kept towards the path.

He could see the group move around from the room which meant that Harry made his way inside.

Nightwing could see Vicki tied to the chair and he moved forward to free her. He should have known that nothing would be that simple.

Click.

There was a shotgun pointed at his midsection and the man in the Kennedy mask stood next to him, and fired without any preamble.

BANG!

The gunshot hit Harry's armor and absorbed most of the impact. He reached forward and disarmed him, but not before he got another shot off.

The Kennedy masked man whipped back against the wall and landed with a huge impact.

"Oh shit."

'You don't say, Babs,' Dinah thought she heard her swear over the communication link.

Nightwing would have to agree as the pitter patter of footsteps nearby indicated that he would not be alone. His armor held up and the man who shot him was worse for wear.

Around the time this was happening, the GPCD was standing around, waiting to see what their next move. Branden and Gordon were about to butt heads and Harvey Bullock stood there.

"So, what are we going to do?" Bullock asked, he couldn't believe that he of all people had to play the peacemaker. That was something that blew his mind for numerous reasons.

Gordon's gaze slowly turned towards him and Bullock remained crisp and calm. "We wait….."

"These are just run of the mill goons, we get in there and take them out, we're just playing into their hand."

In some ways Branden had a point, which was something that Gordon would have to grudgingly concede. It was nights like this where he felt like he was on the outside looking in but he was not about to back down without a fight.

"That guy hasn't come back lately, has he?" Bullock asked, trying to cut the tension. He was getting chills between Gordon and Branden that had nothing to do with the cold night in Gotham City.

"No."

Gordon's response was short and clipped, not to mention fairly irritated. He wondered why Brandon's SWAT was so short handed. The half hearted response that they were all busy did not resound with Gordon but this was not a war that he was going to fight in a middle of a hostage crisis.

"Your men are short-handed and they have the home field advantage," Gordon warned Brandon and Brandon gave Gordon a look. If looks had the capacity to kill, all of them would be dead.

Bullock shuddered once again. "So….."

"There he is," Gordon said and there was a second where he was being mocked, and Brandon took a step forward.

"We can get in there and take him out…..do it your way," Brandon said, knowing that the moment that they fired gunshots, he would get in and take them down.

BANG!

Gordon, Bullock, and Brandon all jerked their expressions towards the door and their liaison at the top even scrambled inside at the sound of the gunshot.

"Get ready….."

BANG!

"NOW!" Branden yelled as the SWAT team members scrambled in as quickly as they could. Gordon and Bullock both looked at each other, with agitation in their eyes.

This was going to get better before it got worse but who fired the shots? Neither man could have an answer to that.

"He was going to find an excuse to get in there," Bullock suggested gruffly. He figured out how Branden worked by now. The doors flung open and the SWAT guards stampeded indoors, ready for action.

Gordon gritted his teeth, that was the problem, they all figured out how Branden worked and now he was indoors. And there would be more shots that would be fired. With a hostage inside, this was a perilous situation.

Perhaps he should give the man the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he knew what he was doing. He was a professional after all.

The sounds of chaos inside did not reassure Gordon that much on that point. He wondered who caused the shots to be fired. Was it a dispute between the gang members? Someone deciding to lure the SWAT in to see if they were react? Or something else?

"So did those fuckers get shell shocked by a big rat or something? Place like that, I wouldn't be that surprised."

Gordon wouldn't be surprised either, but he somehow doubted it. Despite their rather weird and erratic demeanor, they wouldn't break things this easily.

"Gordon, what do you think happened?"

Gordon paused for a second and offered his opinion. "Your guess is as good as mine, Bullock."

He took a half of a step forward, and he could hear the chaotic things inside. Things were beginning to heat up, as this was a hostage crisis in every sense of the world.

Little did he know that this night was just beginning.

Barbara's "oh shit" declaration was surprisingly accurate and Harry cringed about how frustrating this was going to be. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Nightwing made his way over towards Vicki and tried to free her from her ropes.

The sound of doors breaking open indicated that the gun shots brought the SWAT inside. Talk about having an even bigger problem and those trigger happy idiots were going to be the type to shoot first and ask questions later. If they asked questions at all but that was beside the point. Harry steadied Vicki and focused.

"You do realize that they have the nearest exit blocked, don't you?" Oracle asked and Harry gave a half of a smile.

"Yes, I realize that, but….."

"Already finding you an alternate way out, but the rest of them will be on your ass in about five minutes," Oracle said and there was an instance where the red and black ninja took a breath.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan," Nightwing said, as he held Vicki. She seemed to be coherent enough not to scream or perhaps too freaked out to scream. Either way, he was not about to take a gift horse in the map.

One of the man dropped behind a wall, which Harry could see using his X-Ray vision. The SWAT stormed in, rattling up the steps.

Three glass balls shot into the air and smashed against the ground. It released a gas which gave Nightwing and Vicki the necessary cover. If they could make their way there.

He could not be found, he could not be seen. Not by the Ex-Presidents, not by the SWAT, but that was okay. The green eyed wizard pressed on as he made his way to the hallway.

He had another set of stairs and a back entrance, a back entrance that was guarded by the SWAT guards. That could be just a tiny bit of a problem, so he would have to maneuver this carefully. The shotgun damaged his armor and he wasn't sure if he could take another hit.

'Take them down that hallway,' Faora suggested, and reaching into his sleeve, he released a flash grenade into the air.

It was a ugly prototype model, and in fact it flamed out faster than he wanted. That being said, it did the job. The blinding light caused anyone who did not have the eye protection that Harry had to duck for cover.

What was left of the SWAT and the Ex-President gang was shooting each other. What causalities there were, Harry didn't know. He had to keep moving, avoiding a fight. A fight would mean that he would get shot at, or Vicki would get shot out.

His armor should block the shots, so he made sure his body covered most of her. Teleporting once again was out and Harry knew that flying out of here would also get him spotted very quickly, especially when he was trying to direct a shell shocked person out of there.

The good news was the door was blown open to the most probable exit.

"We're almost there, trust me."

All Vicki could do was take his word for it. This mysterious ninja swooped in, got shot, shrugged it off, and then she heard gunshots. There appeared to be eight or nine different things happening at once.

The emerald eyed young man could see the GCPD on the outside, crowding around the building. It was a miracle that neither of them got shot ,other than the two shots that pierced his armor. And Vicki had the air of someone who had an all too close call, Harry could tell. He wanted to make this as painless for her as possible.

He shuttled her out the door, the SWAT was yelling and his final diversion, which he planted on his way in on the off chance that he needed, had things done.

The trash cans rattled and Bullock turned around, to see the shell shocked Vicki Vale down on the ground. There were the sounds of gunshots inside.

Bullock turned his head from one side to the other and then he turned back to Vicki on the ground.

"Looks like we got her," Bullock said and he looked towards a shadowed alleyway. Gordon and several other cops crowded around. "Things got quiet inside."

"Report," Branden said but they were at a loss to how Vicki escaped her containment. And he would be lying if he was not a bit disappointed. In front of these witnesses, he could not say anything.

"We're seeing if there are any runners but we've got two of them and….there's a third one injured in the boiler room, looks like he got a nasty concussion….he's the one who fired the shot."

All was quiet in the wee morning hours at the Church. Most of the homeless people at the shelter had been tucked into their beds, sleeping, untroubled dreams now that they were safe, safe, and not in the world that would eat them up. They were no longer living in fear that the moment they slept, a bullet would be in the back of their heads.

The more opinionated of the two homeless men shifted in his bed, a couple hours of sleep, a shower, a good meal, and some shoes, and he was a bit more at ease. But despite how much more he was at ease, there was many unanswered questions.

Like the basement, the basement was the biggest unanswered question of them all. One might say that curiosity killed the cat but never the less, this man was curious.

The door of the basement clicked open and the homeless man watched the two apostles of the Deacon once again make their way up the stairs.

"A miracle has happened, my brothers, for they have seen the error of their ways. They have seen the path of damnation they were lead down. Do you feel the change, do you feel it in the air?"

Some of the homeless men remained awake, some had not been used to such shelter and sanctuary. Many had been cast upon the street thanks to an uncaring world.

The mouthier of the two homeless men saw the Deacon lead the two gangsters they dragged downstairs earlier. He would have to admit, he would have put even money, had he had any money, on never seeing them again. The fact that one of the men came upstairs, the one with the filthier dark beard.

"They understand, and they comprehend," the darker beard cohort said to the Deacon.

"Yes, my brothers, but the road to the light is a treacherous one," the Deacon said as the men walked out behind him. The former hardened gangsters followed the Deacon across the Church in an obedient manner.

"They just….they just fell into line like that," the more vocal of the two homeless men said, there was something about that statement where he wondered if he was overstepping his bounds.

"Yes…..they converted, after I had a discussion about them, and they saw the error of their ways," The Deacon said, his hearing sharp as ever and he turned towards him. "I do not expect all to see the light right away, but ignorance….some might say it is bliss. All will turn their backs upon the world that will eat them up. They only have themselves to blame, as the Devil dances in the moonlight, and drags them in, taking them down to temptation. It is my holy crusade to save them from the devil."

The man's jaw was set and he nodded.

"Brother, I can tell that this is much to take in, as you nearly were dragged into the darkness but I can assure you that all will make sense, and there are already signs of the virtues that I bring before you."

The mouthier hobo looked at him and his mouth opened.

"The Lord's work is never done but I am his vessel and I will deliver them all. Including the specter of Darkness who is haunting Gotham City."

"I'd like to apologize for any inconvenience that I caused," one of the former gangsters said in a cordial voice.

"I would like to apologize as well."

"This is proof that they are not beyond hope, for they require someone to ease them into the lord's guiding hand."

It was not for reassurance and the Deacon was going to work to convert them. He could see that this man was a bit more at ease now he's fed, bathed, and showered but there was always be doubt.

Doubt he would remove, as if he made these non-believers fall into line, he could do it. The Deacon was not afraid of the darkness and he was most certainly not a one of a superstitious and cowardly lot.

"I should've known."

Harvey Dent thought that he heard rustling coming into his office that morning. He saw the mysterious ninja known as Nightwing drop down, favoring his ribs. He was trying not to show it but it was obvious to someone as sharp eyed as Dent.

"Are you….."

"I'll survive," Nightwing said, getting a shotgun blast to the ribs was not a picnic, even with the armor holding him. Until his CORE repaired itself completely, the watch was a necessary thing. Plus, the less magic that he used until that point, the better off he was.

If anything, he had a challenge and if there was anything that Harry enjoyed was a challenge. He flourished on it in fact.

"What do we need to do?"

Dent raised an eyebrow and Nightwing decided to elaborate, despite the fact that he did not ask the question. "The police corruption….its getting out of hand. Tonight, the SWAT was selling guns that they were supposed to keep off of the street."

Dent was silent but the fact that he said nothing told Nightwing all that he needed to do about not being surprised.

"Things are getting worse."

One gruff voice responded to Nightwing's statement. "I know."

He knew and Nightwing decided to cut to the chase. "What are we going to do about it?"

Dent decided to give the frank answer that he could. "It's not going to be easy at all. Flass is the one who is knee deep in everything but the problem is, he's taking his marching orders from someone higher up. And he's not going to back down even if you scare him shitless. After what happened to Gordon, you thought that would have been enough, where he intended to murder the guy. Flass got cocky once, that won't happen again. If he gets another chance like that, Gordon's a dead man."

The statement might have seemed to be blunt and mean but it was one that was entirely accurate.

"So, that brings us down to the originally point, what are we going to have to do?" Nightwing asked and Dent filed over through some papers.

"Flass's bosses are more terrifying to him than either of us could be. Branden for starters ,than there's Loeb, he's always in the middle of it, but the mob, and things are getting more crazy out there. If we can get Flass and his associates to back up somehow, things will be a lot easier."

"I see," Nightwing commented, trying to figure out what he was going to need to do. He had somewhat of an idea in his head what he was going to have to do or rather what he was going to have to lift.

"We do have him on an attempted murder charge but having the necessary charge and getting it to stick, that's two different things."

Dent said something else or was going to say something else rather but Nightwing vanished right from underneath his nose.

"One day, I'll find out how he does that," Dent said, deciding to get back to the late night work he was working on before Nightwing turned up for his meeting.

On the roof, Nightwing dropped down next to Batman, who was waiting.

"Flass is the key to this all."

One statement, it was said without preamble, saying pretty much nothing but at the same time, saying pretty much everything.

Batman said in his most stoic manner. "Leave him to me."

Batman slipped off into the night and Nightwing nodded. He figured about as much. His ribs still bothered him, but things could in fact be worse. The armor did its job, even though it was damaged.

Seeing as how Batman slipped off into the night, it was Nightwing's cue to do the same.

'Everything's calming down, for now,' Nightwing thought but calm was before the storm.