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PsyKick gazed at his morning coffee, trying to put last night out of his mind.
It had been a long time since he dreamed of his old Mistress. Most of the time he tried not to think about her. His new one was so much better; she never asked him to do things that horrified him.
He knew he wasn’t thinking right, that he should be calling them something else, but he couldn’t even find the mental energy to do that.
“Morning.”
The voice was low, yet feminine, and he watched Kara out of the corner of his eyes as she slid into the seat next to him. They were sitting in an opulent kitchen. Mistress had been right; the mansion was absolutely huge, and he could easily see himself getting turned around. As they’d entered the foyer, Kara had gestured vaguely. Pick a room, any room.
“Where’s Mistress Diane?” There. Compromise.
Kara’s pale eyes lingered on him for a long moment, and she said nothing. Strangely, despite her jealousy yesterday her face was remarkably stoic, no judgment in her gaze. He still could not figure out where he’d met her before.
“She’s at work.” Her lips twitched in wry amusement. “She had a little rant about how they make her go in even when it inconveniences her. I think the concept offends her.”
PsyKick smiled weakly, trying to imagine Mistress working anywhere.
“So I’ll be keeping you company until she’s back.”
“Keeping an eye on the crazy hero?”
“Yes.”
He blinked at her bluntness.
Kara took a sip from her own coffee. “Know that as long as I’m around, you will never have opportunity to follow your programming, because I can, and will, kick your ass.” She met his gaze and her voice softened. “You are safe here, okay?”
And others were safe from him.
Maybe it should have bothered him, but instead it gave him peace.
How could he not remember this woman? A personality and appearance like hers ought to be extremely distinctive.
Oh.
He was an idiot not to have considered it before. She was probably a reformed villain like Diane, and the last time he’d met her they’d been on opposite sides. He squinted at her.
“…Eldritch Eclipse?”
Kara spat out her coffee, and then stared at him with extreme outrage written on her face.
***
PsyKick thought he knew the meaning of awkward.
That was until he spent an afternoon with Kara. The woman was incredibly taciturn, never saying more than a few words at a time. She didn’t seem to know how to initiate conversation either, because he caught her opening and closing her mouth soundlessly a few times.
His own social skills were rusty, to say the least, so he really wasn’t any better.
But then Kara had found the magic words.
“So, uh, you were pretty taken with the Mercedes. Do you like cars?”
And now Stephen was in heaven.
Kara had led him to a garage filled with rows and rows of vintage cars.
“My dad’s collection,” she’d said with a small shrug, in a tone that told him she did not particularly care for the beauties spread out before them. Still, after she’d gruffly invited him to do whatever the hell you want, she rose high on PsyKick’s list of favorite people in the world.
It was a bit of a short list at the moment. It mostly consisted of Mistress Diane.
And his old teammates…
He shook his head at that thought, putting them out of his mind, and concentrated on the engine in front of him. Unlike the other cars which, while somewhat dusty, were in perfect condition, this 1964 Shelby Cobra appeared to have been abandoned mid-restoration. He poked around the wires with curiosity.
Stephen had worked summers at a mechanic’s. When his powers manifested, he couldn’t even hope to shut out the voices of everyone around him. It wasn’t easy hearing every catty and unkind thought that never left anyone’s lips. So he’d fled into solitude as best as he could, tinkering with every bit of machinery he could find just so he had something other than people to think about.
He had been going to university on a scholarship, studying to be an engineer. And met Constance.
PsyKick pushed that thought aside.
After three years of being institutionalized, that scholarship was likely gone now. There was no way he could afford higher education without it.
He pushed that thought aside, too.
“So with some tools and spare parts, I’m pretty sure I could fix this.”
“Knock yourself out,” Kara said dryly.
***
Texplosion groaned in misery as he materialized in the med bay of Founder’s Creek hospital. Okay, so charging those mobsters head-on may not have been his brightest idea, but they usually never shot to kill a hero.
One of them had to have had bad aim.
“God, he’s bleeding all over the pod, get the healer!”
Healer.
At Founder’s Creek?
God, no, not her.
He blacked out, and woke to red eyes staring down at him. Tex hissed and scrambled away from her. The bitch smirked at him.
“Pro-tip: Try to avoid the bullets next time. If something is flying at you with high velocity, that is not your cue to hug it.”
Tex was generally fairly relaxed when it came to villains; unlike many of his teammates, he had no deep-seated hatred toward them. No childhood trauma. No cataclysmic event that made him don a cape. He fought them because it was the right thing to do – and, if he was being honest, because of the fangirls – and not out of some personal vendetta. What else was he gonna do with the power to blow shit up?
He never had a problem with reformed villains either. In fact, there were few people Tex did not get along with.
Her, though. He hated her.
Cinder Snow.
Dionaea.
Everyone had seen the footage of the infamous mad scientist saving the woman in front of him. And Dionaea, despite her supposed change of heart, had never renounced their association; never spoke a bad word about her creator. Everyone just welcomed her with open arms anyway, because she was a healer, and healers couldn’t possibly be evil.
Even Shade, that hateful psychopath who probably jerked himself off at night to the thought of maiming villains, was fooled by her act. Not that Shade was physically capable of jerking off these days. Magical accident, yeah, right. Dawn had told him what had led to their breakup.
Well, Tex was not fooled. He knew that a good power did not make a good person. And a villain created by Cinder Snow, who had murdered his best friend in all but body, could never be good.
“Fuck off,” he growled, and Dionaea tilted her head, her smirk widening.
“Oh, Tex, no need for such profuse gratitude. You may express it with a Thank You note or a gift basket or your Firstborn.” She struck a heroic pose. “It’s all in a day’s work.”
Lord, but he hated her.
He swung his legs off the gurney and looked around for his iconic Stetson.
A bright light flashed in front of his eyes and he blinked rapidly. Dionaea was happily tapping on her smartphone.
“What are you doing?” he said through gritted teeth.
“Taking your picture. Sending it to the Oxford dictionary people so they can put it right next to ingrate and wanker and bad friend.”
Was she delusional?
“I am not your friend,” he hissed.
“I’m aware. Alas, other people are not so lucky.” Her red eyes glowed and he realized with a start that she was angry. He’d never seen her angry before; she always maintained a carefree smile that only infuriated him more.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She turned to leave as if she had nothing more to say.
Texplosion stared after her, his brows creased in a frown.
***
Diane wrapped her arms tightly around Kara, resting her forehead on her shoulder as shadows enveloped them.
Diane did not carpool. She commuted to work entirely via violating the laws of physics with the help of a certain heroine. Diane grinned at that thought, even as vertigo hit hard, as it always did.
She swayed a little and Kara steadied her.
Diane fell onto the lavish bed they shared at night and grinned up at her lover. “So, how’d it go?”
Kara shrugged noncommittally, prompting a sigh from Diane.
Letting PsyKick leave the hospital with minimal supervision was a risk; he could relapse and try to seek out a villain again. In fact, all the doctors had strongly advised her against this course of action, but then, they’d been shit at treating him while she was making progress, so Diane had overruled their objections.
He needed this.
It was painfully obvious that she had hit a wall with Stephen. The very thing that had allowed her to get through to him in the first place – pretending to be a villain and becoming the focal point of his programming – was now standing in the way of his recovery. He had a hard time relating to her as anything but his Mistress.
PsyKick needed someone else to relate to.
Someone he saw as an equal.
A friend.
Kara had informed her that he’d once been best friends with Texplosion, but as far as Diane knew, no one but her had ever visited him in recent months. Not even Constance. Hadn’t they been epically in love?
Diane wasn’t quite sure when she had become invested in his happiness.
She peered up at Kara, who’d been quite supportive of her efforts to rehabilitate Stephen. Diane nursed the hope that Kara might be the friend he needed.
But Kara didn’t actually like him. She only agreed to help him because she approved of Diane being interested in helping someone, something Diane had been quite happy to exploit to get Stephen into the mansion.
Apparently there had been bad blood between them at some point, the nature of which Kara refused to elaborate upon. She’d hoped that leaving them alone would give them time to bond.
Though if PsyKick had been BFFs with Texplosion, Diane could almost imagine it.
Or maybe not.
She just had a hard time picturing Stephen being anything like that jackass.
***
“Hey, Shade,” the hero drawled in a mocking lilt.
Shade ignored him, dispatching two more henchmen with ruthless efficiency.
“Magical accident, huh?”
Darkness whirled and her blades cut down one more.
“So I heard you have a craving for cock these days.”
The shadows flowed and Kara pressed her blade against his spine.
“Hey Texplosion, I heard you have a craving for my sword up your ass.”
Author's Note: So, I don't want to be one of those authors who guilttrips their readers into reviews, buuuut... that's exactly what I'm doing! If you enjoy this story, please do consider leaving a little note; every comment I get makes me smile. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I thrive on feedback and use it to improve myself. When I get almost no comments on a chapter, it makes me wonder if I did something horrifically wrong.
Of Heroes And Villains:
The Ties That Bind An assassin. A fallen hero. An unlikely meeting. The road to redemption is long and hard and filled with explosives. |
 |
PsyKick gazed at his morning coffee, trying to put last night out of his mind.
It had been a long time since he dreamed of his old Mistress. Most of the time he tried not to think about her. His new one was so much better; she never asked him to do things that horrified him.
He knew he wasn’t thinking right, that he should be calling them something else, but he couldn’t even find the mental energy to do that.
“Morning.”
The voice was low, yet feminine, and he watched Kara out of the corner of his eyes as she slid into the seat next to him. They were sitting in an opulent kitchen. Mistress had been right; the mansion was absolutely huge, and he could easily see himself getting turned around. As they’d entered the foyer, Kara had gestured vaguely. Pick a room, any room.
“Where’s Mistress Diane?” There. Compromise.
Kara’s pale eyes lingered on him for a long moment, and she said nothing. Strangely, despite her jealousy yesterday her face was remarkably stoic, no judgment in her gaze. He still could not figure out where he’d met her before.
“She’s at work.” Her lips twitched in wry amusement. “She had a little rant about how they make her go in even when it inconveniences her. I think the concept offends her.”
PsyKick smiled weakly, trying to imagine Mistress working anywhere.
“So I’ll be keeping you company until she’s back.”
“Keeping an eye on the crazy hero?”
“Yes.”
He blinked at her bluntness.
Kara took a sip from her own coffee. “Know that as long as I’m around, you will never have opportunity to follow your programming, because I can, and will, kick your ass.” She met his gaze and her voice softened. “You are safe here, okay?”
And others were safe from him.
Maybe it should have bothered him, but instead it gave him peace.
How could he not remember this woman? A personality and appearance like hers ought to be extremely distinctive.
Oh.
He was an idiot not to have considered it before. She was probably a reformed villain like Diane, and the last time he’d met her they’d been on opposite sides. He squinted at her.
“…Eldritch Eclipse?”
Kara spat out her coffee, and then stared at him with extreme outrage written on her face.
PsyKick thought he knew the meaning of awkward.
That was until he spent an afternoon with Kara. The woman was incredibly taciturn, never saying more than a few words at a time. She didn’t seem to know how to initiate conversation either, because he caught her opening and closing her mouth soundlessly a few times.
His own social skills were rusty, to say the least, so he really wasn’t any better.
But then Kara had found the magic words.
“So, uh, you were pretty taken with the Mercedes. Do you like cars?”
And now Stephen was in heaven.
Kara had led him to a garage filled with rows and rows of vintage cars.
“My dad’s collection,” she’d said with a small shrug, in a tone that told him she did not particularly care for the beauties spread out before them. Still, after she’d gruffly invited him to do whatever the hell you want, she rose high on PsyKick’s list of favorite people in the world.
It was a bit of a short list at the moment. It mostly consisted of Mistress Diane.
And his old teammates…
He shook his head at that thought, putting them out of his mind, and concentrated on the engine in front of him. Unlike the other cars which, while somewhat dusty, were in perfect condition, this 1964 Shelby Cobra appeared to have been abandoned mid-restoration. He poked around the wires with curiosity.
Stephen had worked summers at a mechanic’s. When his powers manifested, he couldn’t even hope to shut out the voices of everyone around him. It wasn’t easy hearing every catty and unkind thought that never left anyone’s lips. So he’d fled into solitude as best as he could, tinkering with every bit of machinery he could find just so he had something other than people to think about.
He had been going to university on a scholarship, studying to be an engineer. And met Constance.
PsyKick pushed that thought aside.
After three years of being institutionalized, that scholarship was likely gone now. There was no way he could afford higher education without it.
He pushed that thought aside, too.
“So with some tools and spare parts, I’m pretty sure I could fix this.”
“Knock yourself out,” Kara said dryly.
Texplosion groaned in misery as he materialized in the med bay of Founder’s Creek hospital. Okay, so charging those mobsters head-on may not have been his brightest idea, but they usually never shot to kill a hero.
One of them had to have had bad aim.
“God, he’s bleeding all over the pod, get the healer!”
Healer.
At Founder’s Creek?
God, no, not her.
He blacked out, and woke to red eyes staring down at him. Tex hissed and scrambled away from her. The bitch smirked at him.
“Pro-tip: Try to avoid the bullets next time. If something is flying at you with high velocity, that is not your cue to hug it.”
Tex was generally fairly relaxed when it came to villains; unlike many of his teammates, he had no deep-seated hatred toward them. No childhood trauma. No cataclysmic event that made him don a cape. He fought them because it was the right thing to do – and, if he was being honest, because of the fangirls – and not out of some personal vendetta. What else was he gonna do with the power to blow shit up?
He never had a problem with reformed villains either. In fact, there were few people Tex did not get along with.
Her, though. He hated her.
Cinder Snow.
Dionaea.
Everyone had seen the footage of the infamous mad scientist saving the woman in front of him. And Dionaea, despite her supposed change of heart, had never renounced their association; never spoke a bad word about her creator. Everyone just welcomed her with open arms anyway, because she was a healer, and healers couldn’t possibly be evil.
Even Shade, that hateful psychopath who probably jerked himself off at night to the thought of maiming villains, was fooled by her act. Not that Shade was physically capable of jerking off these days. Magical accident, yeah, right. Dawn had told him what had led to their breakup.
Well, Tex was not fooled. He knew that a good power did not make a good person. And a villain created by Cinder Snow, who had murdered his best friend in all but body, could never be good.
“Fuck off,” he growled, and Dionaea tilted her head, her smirk widening.
“Oh, Tex, no need for such profuse gratitude. You may express it with a Thank You note or a gift basket or your Firstborn.” She struck a heroic pose. “It’s all in a day’s work.”
Lord, but he hated her.
He swung his legs off the gurney and looked around for his iconic Stetson.
A bright light flashed in front of his eyes and he blinked rapidly. Dionaea was happily tapping on her smartphone.
“What are you doing?” he said through gritted teeth.
“Taking your picture. Sending it to the Oxford dictionary people so they can put it right next to ingrate and wanker and bad friend.”
Was she delusional?
“I am not your friend,” he hissed.
“I’m aware. Alas, other people are not so lucky.” Her red eyes glowed and he realized with a start that she was angry. He’d never seen her angry before; she always maintained a carefree smile that only infuriated him more.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She turned to leave as if she had nothing more to say.
Texplosion stared after her, his brows creased in a frown.
Diane wrapped her arms tightly around Kara, resting her forehead on her shoulder as shadows enveloped them.
Diane did not carpool. She commuted to work entirely via violating the laws of physics with the help of a certain heroine. Diane grinned at that thought, even as vertigo hit hard, as it always did.
She swayed a little and Kara steadied her.
Diane fell onto the lavish bed they shared at night and grinned up at her lover. “So, how’d it go?”
Kara shrugged noncommittally, prompting a sigh from Diane.
Letting PsyKick leave the hospital with minimal supervision was a risk; he could relapse and try to seek out a villain again. In fact, all the doctors had strongly advised her against this course of action, but then, they’d been shit at treating him while she was making progress, so Diane had overruled their objections.
He needed this.
It was painfully obvious that she had hit a wall with Stephen. The very thing that had allowed her to get through to him in the first place – pretending to be a villain and becoming the focal point of his programming – was now standing in the way of his recovery. He had a hard time relating to her as anything but his Mistress.
PsyKick needed someone else to relate to.
Someone he saw as an equal.
A friend.
Kara had informed her that he’d once been best friends with Texplosion, but as far as Diane knew, no one but her had ever visited him in recent months. Not even Constance. Hadn’t they been epically in love?
Diane wasn’t quite sure when she had become invested in his happiness.
She peered up at Kara, who’d been quite supportive of her efforts to rehabilitate Stephen. Diane nursed the hope that Kara might be the friend he needed.
But Kara didn’t actually like him. She only agreed to help him because she approved of Diane being interested in helping someone, something Diane had been quite happy to exploit to get Stephen into the mansion.
Apparently there had been bad blood between them at some point, the nature of which Kara refused to elaborate upon. She’d hoped that leaving them alone would give them time to bond.
Though if PsyKick had been BFFs with Texplosion, Diane could almost imagine it.
Or maybe not.
She just had a hard time picturing Stephen being anything like that jackass.
“Hey, Shade,” the hero drawled in a mocking lilt.
Shade ignored him, dispatching two more henchmen with ruthless efficiency.
“Magical accident, huh?”
Darkness whirled and her blades cut down one more.
“So I heard you have a craving for cock these days.”
The shadows flowed and Kara pressed her blade against his spine.
“Hey Texplosion, I heard you have a craving for my sword up your ass.”
Author's Note: So, I don't want to be one of those authors who guilttrips their readers into reviews, buuuut... that's exactly what I'm doing! If you enjoy this story, please do consider leaving a little note; every comment I get makes me smile. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I thrive on feedback and use it to improve myself. When I get almost no comments on a chapter, it makes me wonder if I did something horrifically wrong.
Comments
"a craving for my sword up your ass."
Love that line! I can picture the scene and just hear Sahde's voice dripping sarcasm as she delivers it.
This just gets better and better.
Dallas
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Sarcasm and threat.
Shade actually stabbing things is always a possibility <3
Glad you enjoy the new direction!
Guess I can't get away
With just typing "comment" here can I? :-)
OK, OK.
I like it.
Really.
:-D
Janice (with a headache that's making her a bit loopy...)
Comment!
Aw, thank you! And I hope your headache has gotten better ^_^
Jerk
Texplosion seems to be looking to change his looks, by having body parts shaved off due to his big mouth. Likely Shade should start with his tongue.
As to the story, I am enjoying it greatly.
Tex...
*bites tongue* Let's just say I have things planned for him.
I'm not sure
I'm really not sure what I think of this. It's excellent writing. No doubts there.
PsyKick just... Agh.
From the name PsyKick the obvious connotations are psychic/martial artist. So, in theory, PsyKick grew up with his focus being on his mental abilities and his self-discipline.
I get the feeling that his identity was stripped away, broken, raped until he was barely sentient to do more than follow orders. And that even after three years of rehabilitation and therapy he still has no sense of himself.
Could there be a worse living nightmare for someone like PsyKick? Someone who's bedrock is their mental faculties and self-discipline?
I won't even start on how much abuse he had to take by being called SideKick. I have so much sympathy for this character.
Sorry for rambling.
~And so it goes...
A fate worse than death
...is actually the very first line in the original oHaV to describe Psy.
What he has gone through is a nightmare on so many levels for him. And yet, phoenixes rise from ashes... :)
Little sidenote on his therapy - he's not been through 3 years of rehab; he was locked up for 3 years where no amount of therapy was working. Rehab that was actually working only started ~2-3 months ago with Diane's arrival.
love it
This is actually the first story that I have commented on more than once, I have a thing for superhero stories. I love the development of the character (I may not know how to write worth a crap, but I do know what I like, and I like this story, its god darkness without being depressing, and has an overall feel of lightness. Reminds me of reading comics as a kid.
And of course, as always, thank you so much for sharing your imagination with us.
Aw *blushes*
Darkness without depression is a nice descriptor. I can't stand relentless grimdark, but I don't want to shy away from trauma either, so I'm glad you think I'm balancing it well.
Thank you for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me! =D
Ignore this!
Silly site instability causing doubleposts.
requested review
I read your stories on my phone, usually as soon as I see them posted, so I don't often write. So just know that I read every chapter, and that I love them.
I'm happy!
To hear that :) And yeah, I definitely get how typing on the phone is just super-annoying.
Just wanted to say
I've only been reading your stories for about a month and they are already the highlight of my evenings. I admit to having, erm, read ahead, but in sort of glossed over the early chapters of this story in my rush to get caught up. I'm looking forward to a more careful rereading here.
I can't really find more to say without devolving to incomprehensible gushing, so I'll just say I hope to keep reading your stories for nights to come.
*grins*
Ah, I figured I was losing some readership to that Other Site.
Thank you for the kind words ^_^
"... it makes me wonder if I did something horrifically wrong."
Nah, more likely us humble readers are just in awe of your awesomeness. :-)
Insecurities silenced!
At least for a while *laughs*
Thank you!
Oops
Haha sorry, should probably comment on more stories I like. Really enjoying the interlude and sequel so far! And loving how fast you're managing to fire them off (Don't burn yourself out though. Always makes me sad when a story just peters off into nothingness)
Burning out...
...is not a risk anytime soon :) I have this story prewritten to chapter 31
Great stories so far
And an interesting group of characters and situations.
But it is not entirely clear what the last bit - the part in italics - is. Is it an encounter in the mind of one of the characters? A dream? One of the hero fics? Enquiring minds want to know!
Jorey
.
The part in italics
Is a flashback showing Shade's first meeting with Tex after her gender switch. So the lesson to take home from it is... Tex is kind of a giant dick to Shade.
another amazing chapter
I love the way you sprinkle humor in to keep the drama from getting overwhelming.
Levity
Every story needs at least a little humor to alleviate the grimdark ^_^
Comment
I, like several other people, read mostly on my phone and unfortunately this makes leaving reviews rather difficult. In the interest of reassuring you, let me say that I very much enjoy your writing and I always have a tab open that I refresh, oh, two or three times a day, to check and see if you have posted anything new. All if your characters are very dynamic, and it makes reading about them interesting.
Also humor, it's awesome :)
-Tas
Thank you!
For taking the time to write this; I know how annoying typing on a phone can be.
I'm glad you're enjoying the characters, I firmly believe that fully rounded characters are the most important ingredient to a good story.
Great!
I have to admit, I'm a horrible person. I read a lot but basically never leave comments.
This should tell you that I absolutely love your writing, your characters and your sense of humor.
Please continue!
Not a horrible person at all <3
I'm sorry for guilttripping you! I love all my readers, whether they leave comments or not. That was just a mild insecurity attack *laughs* I hope you enjoy my story for many more chapters!
Word of encouragement! This
Word of encouragement! This whole thing has been great, I wake up every morning and read before I head to work.
Awww
Thank you so mcuh! <3
Hey Gang. We were just given a HUGE FREAKN' CLUE HERE!
I quote...
"Kara had informed her that he’d once been best friends with Texplosion, but as far as Diane knew, no one but her had ever visited him in recent months. Not even Constance. Hadn’t they been epically in love?
"
Um, unless I am off the trolley this means Cinder Snow's sister is alive!
But why has she not visited her lover?
Did her attempt at revenge on her sister, Cinder Snow, for destroying the mind of her lover cause her to snap?
Is his sad state such she cannot bear to see him?
Or is it something else?
For a former mind reader Psi Kick is clueless to who Kara is.
But then Kara and Diane/Dionaea are possibly the two mostly normal supers here. Well maybe Captain Dude Bro counts.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Constance appeared in oHaV
During the Event, so yes, she's definitely alive ;)
As to why she has not visited, well... all shall be revealed in good time!
Diane...normal? I think she'd be offended to hear that.
every group needs one
looks like Texplosion fills that requirement here. "I heard you have a craving for my sword up your ass.” what a great line (and disturbing visual). great chapter, thanks
Second readthrough? Second comment!
As opposed to when I last posted on this part, I've gotten used to commenting on my phone, and so will continue to do so for all the rest of this story. :D
-Tas
great
Author's Note: So, I don't want to be one of those authors who guilttrips their readers into reviews, buuuut... that's exactly what I'm doing! If you enjoy this story, please do consider leaving a little note; every comment I get makes me smile. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I thrive on feedback and use it to improve myself. When I get almost no comments on a chapter, it makes me wonder if I did something horrifically wrong.
just so u don,t get me wrong ,,, i love it ,, this is the 3drd time i read your story,s !!!!!!!!
Definitely darker than the preceding story
Fascinating though to see Psykick's backstory and there is so much more internal thoughts going on. Good story. No, I wasn't guilted into writing this, just wanted to share the love.
>>> Kay