The wolf-like monster moved swiftly, darting between the shadows like a predator on the hunt. Its glowing red eyes flickered with intelligence, but its movements were raw, feral—nothing but instinct driving its speed and precision. The flesh-mountain, on the other hand, was a nightmare made real. Just slithering there in the dark, with all those faces pushed up against its skin like they were trying to get out.


    The monster turned its focus toward us, its body tensing as though ready to pounce. But then, in a blur of movement, it lunged—not at us, but at the flesh-mountain. Its claws ripped into the mass of flesh, and the thing erupted into violent motion, its dozens of protruding, twisted arms flailed wildly. The embedded faces screamed, their agony piercing through the air like a chorus of horror.


    “What the hell is it doing?” Gina’s voice was shaky, her grip on her blaster tightening.


    “It’s using it!” I shouted, the realization hitting me. “The monster isn’t just attacking at random—it’s forcing the flesh-mountain to lash out, turning it into a weapon.”


    Then, one of the monstrous arms came hurtling toward us, faster than I expected. Alex dove just in time, the limb slamming into the concrete floor with enough force to crack it wide open. Shards of debris exploded outward, slicing through the air like shrapnel.


    “You okay?” I yelled.


    Alex rolled onto his back, coughing. “Just give me a second to unsee my life flashing before my eyes.”


    “No time for that,” Gina snapped. She pulled him to his feet with a sharp tug. “That thing’s still swinging.”


    The wolf-monster let out a guttural growl, darting around the perimeter, waiting for an opening. It was fast—too fast for any of us to catch with a direct attack.


    "Vinico, clones! Now!" I yelled, my voice echoing off the blood-slicked walls.


    "On it!" Vinico barked back, but his face had began to contort with strain.


    Still, his duplicates poured out like a unstoppable tide, walking out of him. They swarmed the monster from all sides, their synchronized movements creating an almost hypnotic display of violence. But the wolf-monster was unstoppable. Its obsidian claws tore through clone after clone, slicing through them like they were paper. Their bodies dissolved into mist, their silent screams lost to the air. The warehouse grew thick with the stench of coppery blood, mingling with the sickly-sweet rot emanating from the creature’s matted fur.


    And still—


    It wasn’t slowing down.


    The flesh-mountain lurched upward, its writhing limbs and faces reaching toward the crumbling ceiling. Hundreds of mouths gaped in silent screams, their jaws snapping open and shut, some revealing tongues that coiled like wet tendrils.


    But it was the face that stopped me cold.


    A child’s face—disturbingly intact—turned toward me.


    Its eyes were pools of anguish, its cheeks streaked with black ichor tears. It wasn’t a monster.


    It was a prison—a mass grave given form and breath.


    "We have to stop that thing!" Alex shouted.


    His glowing rods smashed into the ground, propelling him forward like a cannonball. With a burst of speed, he leaped onto the flesh-mountain, his golden aura flaring like a beacon in the darkness. Then—He struck. His weapons slammed onto the surface flesh, burying deep into the writhing body. A chorus of horrific shrieks tore through the warehouse. The faces twisted in agony, their eyes rolling back, their mouths contorting as one.


    Shockwaves rippled through its body-- if it still could be called that, sending shudders through its sickening pile of flesh and bone.


    But as Alex pressed the attack—


    The wolf like monster saw its chance.


    It lunged for Alex’s exposed back, moving with inhuman speed. Its peeled mouth, revealing rows upon rows of glinting, knife-like teeth, each one slick with blackened saliva.


    "Still." A single word rolled out of Lore’s mouth.


    Everything obeyed.


    The wolf-creature froze mid-leap, its powerful limbs suspended unnaturally in the air, locked in Lore’s absolute command. But even trapped, its burning red eyes seethed with hatred, locked onto us like it would tear us apart the second it was free.


    "Hold it still!" Vinico''s duplicates swarmed forward, their feet splashing through puddles of viscera as they dogpiled the beast. It should’ve been overwhelming—dozens of them attacking from all angles.


    But the monster strength was on an another level.


    Henry''s disk whirred through the air like a steel cyclone, slicing into the creature''s flesh. But instead of weakening, the wolf’s body healed instantly, flesh knitting together with sickening ease. Bone snapped back into place. Muscles tightened, reformed. It was a nightmare with no end.


    Meanwhile, Gina and I focused on the flesh-mountain, our blasters burning deep into its pulsating body. The thing, the flesh mountain was growing. Every impact, every wound, only made it pulse larger, like it was absorbing the damage, thriving on our desperation. Suddenly, then, it writhed violently from another one of Alex’s powerful attacks. Its twisted arms lashed out, smashing into a support column, causing the warehouse to groan under the strain.


    Chunks of concrete rained down, cracks spreading across the ceiling.


    "We can''t keep this up!" Gina''s gritted. "We are only pissing it off!"


    “Then we take out the wolf first!” I shouted, already locking onto my new priority. The wolf-like monster was different. It was calculating. It had control over itself, unlike the flesh-mountain, which seemed more like an unstable abomination than a true living being.


    If we could kill it, maybe we could end all of this.


    I spotted a broken metal pipe among the debris, the jagged edge still slick with someone—or something’s—blood. I grabbed it, gripping the cool metal tightly in my hand. Then I sprinted toward the first monster.


    Lore’s grip on the creature was slipping, her jaw clenched in effort, sweat beading at her temple.


    Vinico’s clones had become nothing more than cannon fodder, the monster tearing through them like mist, reducing them to nothing in seconds.


    The wolf’s burning red eyes snapped to me. Its snarl deepened, its ears flattening back, recognizing the threat I posed. But, I didn’t stop. One of the flesh-mountain’s writhing arms lashed toward me, but they passed straight through me harmlessly.


    The moment Lore’s power broke, the wolf exploded into motion. Its claws slashed through the air, moving so fast it was barely visible. And I lunged at the same moment. It came at me like a missile of pure death, the air splitting around its body—I ducked low, barely dodging the lethal arc of its claw. The attack whistled past my head, slicing through the air where my throat had been just a fraction of a second ago.


    Using the momentum of my dodge, I drove the metal pipe into its exposed side, aiming for the ribcage, the soft points beneath its armor of fur and muscle. The jagged metal tore through fur, skin, and sinew, puncturing deep into the beast’s side. A horrifying, painful howl ripped from its split maw, echoing through the warehouse like a dying god’s scream.


    The monster immediately staggered back, its massive body buckling, blood gushing from the wound in thick, black rivulets.


    Alex saw his opening and took it. His rods crackled with energy, brighter than before, electricity snapping off them in violent arcs. With a roar, he launched off the flesh-mountain, flipped mid-air, and brought both weapons down hard on the wolf’s head. The impact was deafening. A shockwave rippled outward, shaking the ground, sending debris skittering in all directions.


    The wolf hit the ground like dead weight, its massive body crumpling under the force.


    For a split second, no one moved.


    Then—


    The damn thing twitched.


    It was still alive.


    Still moving.


    Still trying to crawl into the darkness to escape.


    Alex’s expression twisted into something between rage and disbelief. "Oh, hell no."


    He stepped forward and swung again, putting everything behind the hit. But his attack was not just deflected—thrown backward. The force knocked Alex off balance, making him skid a few steps before he caught himself.


    His head snapped up, eyes burning with frustration. "What the fuck was that?"


    The wolf snarled from his mashed head, its red eyes locking onto him as it slinked backward. Vinico’s clones circled it, but they weren’t attacking anymore.


    Henry narrowed his eyes, his fingers twitching at his gloves, readying another strike with his deadly disk. "That thing has a meta-nature."


    Gina cursed under her breath. "You’re kidding me. The fucking monster has powers too?"


    It made sense. This monster had once been human, transformed into whatever the hell it was now. But it hadn’t lost its mind. It had adapted. From what I could tell, the wolf was creating micro air pockets around its body, repelling any incoming attack before it landed. A kinetic redirection ability.


    Lore frowned slightly, the first sign of anything resembling concern. "It’s redirecting force. Not absorbing it—reflecting it back."


    Alex rolled his shoulders, his grip tightening on his rods. "So what? We just hit it harder."


    Vinico scoffed. "Oh, sure, genius. Maybe if you punch the air hard enough, it''ll get scared and drop dead."


    Alex shot him a glare. "Keep talking, maybe I’ll test it on you."


    Before they could keep bickering, Vinico shook his head and turned to Lore, exasperated. "Alright, I gotta ask—why don’t you just tell it to die?"


    Everyone went dead silent.


    All of us shot Lore suspicious glances. Yeah, why not? If her power could command abstract concepts with words, why not just end it here and now?


    She blinked at Vinico like he’d just asked her if water was wet. "I can’t."


    That was it. That was her answer.


    Vinico’s expression darkened. "What do you mean you can’t?"


    Lore shrugged, like this was obvious information that we were all too stupid to grasp. "It doesn’t work like that."


    Gina scoffed. "Excuse me? You literally made that tank explode with a word. You can freeze people in place, stop sound, and even warp movement. But you can’t just say ‘die’ and have this thing drop dead?"


    Lore rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed now. "If I could, don’t you think I would have?"


    Alex exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face. "So, what, you have rules? Limits? What is it?"


    Lore stared at the wolf, her eyes flicking between its movements, studying it like a puzzle she was one step away from solving. "I can''t use it back to back. It strains my mind like a band and I need some time for the knot to come loose, and the stronger the target, the less effect I have on them. Also, It has to be something that exists within the natural concept of the thing. I can command motion, weight, force, things that already exist. Death…? Death is an end. You can’t command an end. You can only cause it."


    Honestly, her Likeness wasn''t what I had expected. As I focused hard to perceive it beyond just the random color mixed of info, It revealed a huge demon, but I couldn''t really see most of it - just this massive shape hiding in dark fog. The only parts I could actually make out were these giant hands reaching out from the darkness. And every time Lore used a command, those hands would move like they were the ones making it happen. Made me wonder if maybe her whole power had something to do with what that demon could do with those hands of its. But that''s just what I thought I was seeing - no way to know for sure what was really going on in there.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Vinico threw up his hands. "Okay, well, if it doesn’t work, maybe tell it to explode or stop healing or something!"


    Lore tapped her fingers against her chin. "That’s… possible. Maybe."


    "Maybe?!" Gina snapped. "We’re running out of time!"


    Lore’s silence wasn’t reassuring, but I didn’t press like the rest. There wasn’t time. Maybe she had already hit her limit, pushing her meta nature to its breaking point.


    Either way, we needed a new approach.


    I pivoted immediately. "Gina, give me your blaster!”


    Gina turned to me, confused, bits of rubble falling from her hair as she steadied herself against the trembling wall.


    "What? Why?"


    "No time to explain."


    She hesitated, fingers tightening around her blaster. I didn’t wait. I snatched it from her hands before she could argue.


    "Hey!" she protested.


    I tore into the gun''s casing, ripping out the energy source as warning signals blared from both weapons. The cells pulsed with an unstable purple glow in my hands. My body shifted, becoming intangible as I sprinted toward the wolf, which was still sprawled on the floor trying to block Alex''s bombardment of strikes. Behind us, Lore unleashed her power, and the flesh mountain erupted in a blinding explosion that lit up the chamber like daylight. But compared to what we''d witnessed outside – the tank being vaporized in that earth-shattering blast – this was barely a firecracker. It ripped chunks out of the writhing flesh-mountain.


    For a second, I thought we had it—


    Then I saw it heal.


    It wouldn’t stay dead. None of them would.


    "Alex!" I shouted, my throat burning from the acrid smoke. "Go high! Hit it with everything you''ve got!"


    Alex launched himself skyward. But, the wolf anticipated it. At the peak of Alex’s jump, the monster let out a thunderous roar—but it wasn’t just sound. Compressed air exploded outward, a shockwave ripping through the battlefield. Vinico’s clones never stood a chance. One second they were there, the next—gone. Alex took the hit hard. The blast threw him sideways, his body twisting mid-air before he slammed into the ground with enough force to crack the concrete, sliding across the floor, his clothes and protective suit underneath in tethered.


    But, his body was unharmed, the wolf couldn’t waver his belief.


    “Damn it!” he cursed, gripping his side as he staggered to his feet.


    The wolf turned its attention to me, sensing an opportunity. It lunged forward with frightening speed, its massive body coiling like a spring before launching at me. Those razor claws extended, each one gleaming in the dim light as they sliced toward my throat. I didn’t flinch. I let go. My body turned to smoke just as the claws ripped through where my chest had been. The wolf landed wrong, its balance thrown. It skidded, snarling, its eyes flashing with rage and confusion. It didn''t understand.


    It had torn Vinico’s clones apart. It had thrown Alex across the chamber. So why couldn’t it touch me? I saw it in its glowing eyes as it tried to process what had happened.


    That moment of hesitation was all I needed. I lunged, fingers phasing through matted fur, thick muscle, and bone like they weren’t even there. I shoved the violent cells deep into its chest, my fingers slipping past the beast’s ribcage, placing them exactly where they needed to be.


    The moment I let go, I yelled at the top of my lungs.


    "Alex, now!"


    Alex roared as he dashed forward. But this time, he didn’t aim directly for the wolf. Instead, he slammed his weapons into the concrete beneath it. The floor erupted in a spider web of cracks, chunks of debris flying everywhere as the ground gave way. The monster stumbled, its massive bulk working against it as its legs scrabbled for purchase on the crumbling concrete.


    But the monster wasn''t done.


    But I was.


    A molten glow spread through its chest, flickering like a furnace had been lit inside it.


    The overcharged cells were leaking their volatile chemicals directly into its body, spreading through its veins like poison. The howl it let out wasn''t just pain – it was pure agony, a sound that made the warehouse shake. Every remaining window exploded inward, glass shards raining down like knives. The beast thrashed violently, its own claws tearing at its chest, raking deep, jagged wounds in a desperate attempt to dig out the poison I''d put inside it. But there was nothing to dig out. It was inside its bloodstream now. And it was eating it alive.


    With another battle cry, Alex surged forward, his rods a blur of motion.


    "Keep it down!" he roared, his weapons slamming into the wolf’s limbs again and again.


    Each impact was like a thunderclap. The smell of melting flesh filled the surroundings, meanwhile, the energy from Alex''s strikes seared into the beast''s hide.


    I barely heard myself over the loud bangs of strikes, but I still shouted—


    "Vinico, keep the clones on it!"


    We couldn''t let the monster escape now. Not when we were so close.


    The unstable energy cells were our best shot at ending this nightmare, but only if we could keep the beast pinned long enough for them to do their work. The flesh mountain behind us was still thrashing, its countless arms reaching for us, but right now the wolf was all that mattered. If we could take it down, maybe we had a chance of stopping this whole thing.


    Vinico didn’t hesitate. His duplicates surged forward, swarming the monster like ants on prey.


    They grabbed at its limbs, pulled at its body, climbing over one another like frenzied ants. The beat thrashed, crushing them beneath its claws, but every fallen clone was instantly replaced by another. More and more piled on, until the sheer weight of their numbers slowed its desperate struggle. Still, the beast refused to die.


    Its body convulsed violently, the unstable energy cells tearing through its insides. The flesh around its chest bubbled and split, raw muscle and fractured bone glowing from within. Its torso swelled grotesquely, veins lighting up like molten rivers, burning with pure, unstable destruction. The air around it turned scorching hot, stinging my lungs with the sharp, chemical tang of something horribly wrong.


    “It’s gonna blow!” Gina shrieked, stumbling backward, nearly tripping over the wreckage.


    Panic flashed in her wide eyes. "We need to move—now!"


    I spun, locking onto Alex.


    "Alex, OUT!" I bellowed


    Alex kicked off the ground in one fluid motion, his muscles launching him backward just as the monster''s body reached its limit. He landed in a crouch several feet away, his rods held defensively in front of him. Behind him, the monster''s glow turned blinding. Its entire body pulsed, light bursting from its skin like a sun about to go supernova—


    BOOM!


    The explosion rippled through the warehouse with devastating force. The shockwave felt like a giant''s fist, slamming into everything in its path. I phased just in time, feeling the energy pass through my intangible form, but the earlier force still sent me flying. I crashed against the hard floor, the impact knocking the wind from my lungs. For a moment, my vision blurred, my body barely processing the sheer devastation around me.


    Through my watering eyes, I saw the aftermath.


    Alex, protected by his enhanced invincibility, was already back on his feet, his gaze sweeping the battlefield. Gina, Henry, and Lore pushed themselves up, coughing, shaken but alive.


    Smoke choked the air. The walls of the warehouse trembled, the ceiling cracked and barely holding together.


    And in the center of it all—


    Finally, the monster was gone—obliterated.


    Following, chunks of its flesh and bone began to rain down like confetti, splattering across the scorched floor and onto us. The foul stench of blood and death filled the air, clinging to everything.


    Gina doubled over, gagging. Henry barely managed to stagger to the side before vomiting onto the floor.


    The spot where the monster hybrid was now a massive crater, the concrete blackened and fractured. Littered across it were fragments of flesh and bone, faintly glowing with the residual energy of the unstable cells that had torn it apart. But our trouble was far from over. The monstrosity of the flesh-mountain was still writhing on the floor nearby, refusing to give up. Though Lore’s repeated explosions and the wolf’s self-destruction had caused significant damage, it wasn’t enough. I could see its size had visibly decreased, but its wounds were healing at an unnatural speed, flesh knitting itself together like a horrifying patchwork quilt.


    Vinico, Alex, and I regrouped with the others near the warehouse entrance, outside. We were all short on breath, our exhaustion palpable.


    Alex rolled his shoulders, “We threw everything at those things.” His knuckles cracked as he flexed his fingers. “And they still didn’t die fast enough.”


    “Almost like someone designed them that way.” Vinico wiped at the blood splattered across his cheek.


    Gina exhaled sharply, still shaken. “This is the most fucked-up thing I’ve ever seen.”


    Henry, wiping his mouth, spat onto the ground. “Agreed.”


    The explosions had ravaged the structure, leaving the walls cracked and crumbling, the roof sagging dangerously above us. Metal creaked and groaned, warning us that the whole damn place might come down at any second.


    My attention was pulled away by Gina nearby.


    "Ugh… so disgusting."


    Gina gagged again, doubling over, her fingers desperately pulling bits of flesh out of her hair. Her curls, thick and tightly coiled, made the task even more revolting—the flesh had tangled deep inside, sticking to her like wet glue.


    "Get it off, get it off—!" she whined, shuddering as she frantically wiped at her face.


    Blood smeared across her cheek, her fingers shaking, making it even worse. I stepped forward, pulling a particularly nasty chunk from her hair and flicking it to the ground.


    "There. Better?"


    She shot me a glare, her eyes wet with disgust. "I am shaving my head after this. I swear to God."


    Alex then turned to me, "Next time, maybe give me a heads-up before you shove a bomb into a monster?"


    I let out a weak chuckle, brushing the sweat from my forehead.


    "You looked like you had it under control."


    He snorted, shaking his head. "Yeah, well, next time, maybe let me decide if I want to be in the blast radius."


    Gina scoffed. "Yeah, like you would’ve run. You live for that reckless shit."


    Alex shrugged. "Fair point."


    The flesh-mountain, now deprived of the wolf monster’s presence, let out another mournful groan.


    We all turned to look inside.


    "What the hell do we do now?" Henry muttered, wiping a streak of blood from his face.


    None of us answered. Because we didn’t know. With the wolf monster was gone, the flesh-mountain had stopped fighting. It wasn’t thrashing anymore. It wasn’t consuming anything. It just sat there, moaning, a weeping abomination of flesh and agony. And somehow, that was worse. The sight was almost too much to bear.


    "It sounds… human." Gina said.


    Alex’s jaw tightened. "They were human."


    We all stared at it, watching the shifting mass of bodies, seeing the half-formed faces, the reaching arms, the expressions frozen in silent screams. I had thought I couldn’t feel worse after the first one. I was wrong. The realization hit all of us at the same time. This wasn’t just a monster. It was hundreds of people, fused together, forced to exist as this nightmare.


    We''d come here to save them, but now... how could we possibly help them? There was no way to separate them, to give them back their bodies and their lives.


    Gina swallowed hard. "We can’t leave it like this."


    Vinico let out a bitter laugh, but there was no humor in it. "What, you want to save it?"


    She turned to him, glaring. "I don’t know! But we just killed the thing controlling it, and now it’s just—" she gestured wildly, "—stuck like this. What the hell do we do, just walk away?"


    Lore crossed her arms, "It might not be attacking, but it’s still an abomination. If we leave it here, it’s only a matter of time before it starts consuming again."


    Even if we wanted to, even if we tried, I couldn’t think of a single person in the world who could undo this. Returning them to their original forms? Turning back time? That kind of power was beyond any of us.


    Unless someone with reality-manipulation abilities intervened—and let’s be honest, why would they? People like that? The god-tier metas? They had no reason to waste their time here.


    They were too far removed from the struggles of ordinary lives, too high up the hierarchy to care about victims like these. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. We’d fought so hard to get here, only to find ourselves facing an unfixable tragedy.


    We all turned our eyes to Lore.


    She stood hunched over her knees, it was clear—she was barely holding it together. But, out of all of us, she was the only one with reality-bending powers who might be able to solve the horrifying problem at the center of the warehouse.


    She felt our stares immediately and scowled. “Don’t look at me,” she said bitterly, shaking her head. “I already told you my meta doesn’t work like that.”


    “Then let’s call either the City Protectors or a private hero group,” I suggested cautiously. “We can’t handle this on our own.”


    Lore immediately shook her head, “The City Protectors aren’t an option.”


    Alex said, "Why the hell not? Isn’t this their job?"


    Lore exhaled slowly, "We can''t account for the sheer amount of damage we''ve done here. This entire area is destroyed. We have a couple hundred dead bodies outside." She gestured around. "Do you know how big of a crime that is and what kind of punishment we''ll receive? We might not even live to see sunlight for the rest of our life, locked up inside some volcano or on some abandoned moon. Even as students of Beyonder''s Academy, we''d be in serious trouble if the authorities caught us here."


    Her words hit like a cold reality check. She was right—this wasn’t something we could just explain away.


    Gina shifted uncomfortably, "We saved people, though."


    Vinico gave a hollow laugh. "And we killed a hell of a lot more."


    Henry frowned. "It’s not like we had a choice."


    Lore’s stare was flat, unyielding. "Doesn’t matter. The law doesn’t care about our choices. It cares about bodies."


    Henry cursed under his breath. "They’ll label us terrorists before we even open our mouths."


    Alex exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck.”


    Because we all knew—she was right. No one was going to listen to our justifications. No one was going to see us as heroes.


    "We call a private hero group." Lore continued, her tone more pragmatic now.


    Alex shot her a look. "You just said we couldn’t get help."


    "Official help."


    I caught on. "Private heroes work differently."


    Lore nodded. "They could take the blame for us. Say it was their mission."


    Gina crossed her arms, suspicious. "And why would they do that?"


    Lore didn’t miss a beat. "A little bribe here and there. They call it their cleanup job. They get the credit. We get to walk away."


    Henry let out a sharp laugh, but there was no humor in it. "So a cover-up."


    Lore didn’t even blink. "A cleanup."


    Vinico scoffed. "Same difference."


    Lore shrugged. "Does it matter? If they take the blame, we’re clear. If they don’t, we’re screwed."


    "This is so fucked."


    The idea wasn’t ideal, but it was practical. We exchanged glances, each of us weighing the risk of involving others versus facing the wrath of the authorities. Lore’s plan made sense. We didn’t have much of a choice.


    "Hold on." Alex lifted a hand, stopping the conversation dead in its tracks.


    His tone was casual, but there was an edge to it, like he was already a step ahead of the rest of us.


    "I know someone who might be able to help."


    I raised a brow. So did everyone else. All eyes turned to him. Skepticism, curiosity, and just a little bit of hope flickered through the group.


    Gina crossed her arms. "You know someone?"


    Vinico let out a dry laugh. "The hell kind of people do you have on speed dial, Alex?"


    Alex didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he just shrugged, pulling out his phone from his jacket. The thing was encased in a thick, military-grade cover—the only reason it had probably survived the absolute circus of the fight. Given the beating Alex had taken, it was a damn miracle the device was still functional.


    Henry tilted his head, skeptical. "So, what, you got a fixer on call?"


    Alex smirked, scrolling through his contacts. "Something like that."


    Lore narrowed her eyes. "And this ‘someone''—they won’t ask questions?"


    Alex met her gaze, smirk fading into something more serious. "They know how to keep things quiet."


    That wasn’t exactly reassuring, but at this point, we didn’t have the luxury of being picky.


    I exhaled. "Fine. Call them."


    Alex tapped the screen, put the phone to his ear, and after a beat—


    Someone picked up.


    Alex’s smirk returned, just a little.


    "Hey. Got a job for you."