The light of morning slowly pierces through the windows in an apartment in SuperTech City. A man lies in bed peacefully. As the light of morning trace their way onto the face of the sleeping man; a smile slowly appears on his face. Suddenly his eyes open and a smile vividly paints his face.
"Morning!" the man jumps awake flinging his covers off as he stands heroicly hands knocked on his hips. Dr. Lorne Longoak rises from the bed. Lorne was a heroically handsome man in the classic Roman sense. Standing at six feet two inches, Lorne had a head dark brown hair.
His chiseled jaw and gleaming blue eyes could melt any woman's heart. His broad shoulders and immaculate muscles looked strong enough to hold up the world. Large biceps and two massive columns for legs, Lorne looked invincible, and he was. Immediately, Lorne changes his face to that of an average looking man shrinking his body to have an average build. This was his persona Dr. Lorne Longoak Director of the True History Museum.
"Another day of adventure awaits!" He cries. Slowly the man breaks from his hero pose and begins the daily mundane chores of preparing for a new day. He begins by making his bed, taking a shower, eating breakfast, and brushing his teeth. Going to his closet he pulls out two suits. The first suit is an elaborate costume with alternating blue and white colors. The cape was a light blue. The second suit is an ordinary business suit. He put on the costume first and the business suit after. The combination made him look bulkier than he was but somehow it didn't seem like he was wearing another pair of clothes underneath; everything just looked bulkier. The shocking part was that he could somehow fit his business shoes over his boots.
After he finished getting dressed he grabbed his keys and hat and headed off for his day. He didn't take any keys with him; he didn't need them. It was much faster to zip around using his powers. Cars were a hassle as far as he was concerned. He also enjoyed taking the public transportation. It allowed him to intermingle with the mortal citizens of his adopted planet Earth.
Eventually, he arrived at a very large museum in the downtown area of SuperTech City. A Museum in such a hi-tech city was an anachronism, but it served his purposes well. It allowed him to leave when he needed and to travel to the four corners of the planet should he need to. As he entered various personnel began to greet him.
"Good Morning Dr. Longoak."
"Good Morning Dr. Longoak!"
"Good Morning Longoak."
Finally, he saw his favorite person in the entire museum, a pretty grad student who had begun working as an intern at the Museum. She was as passionate about history as he was. Mary Hubbs was beautiful, smart, and fierce. Everything he liked in a woman. He sighed as he looked at her from afar. There she was solemnly concentrating on something. She wasn't aware of his presence at first, but eventually, she sensed someone looking at her. Turning around, she saw Dr. Longoak looking at her gently.
"Lorne! Good morning! Look at this new piece we just got in!" She cried out happily. Dr. Lorne Longoak definitely had a bit of a crush on this girl, but he couldn't figure out what she thought of him. She always seemed enthusiastic when she saw him. She shared his passions about history, but what about the present? What did she think about now? He had no idea and this made her mysterious to him. Getting to know this girl had been a problem that his super strength and speed couldn't help solve at all. It wasn't any use for the Invincible Hero to make a move; she had no interest in super people. Only Dr. Lorne Longoak had a chance with this girl. He liked that point very much.
In some ways, Dr. Lorne Longoak was a facade that allowed him to play around with the normal humans, but in other ways, it was the real him. Because of this, Lorne decided that the girl he would marry would be someone who fell in love with the unassuming and very average Dr. Longoak.
Most women only had stars in their eyes for the various heroes around. His alter ego, the Invincible Hero, was the most dazzling of all the heroes in the city, nay, the world. Take that silly girl Marcia Mathews. She was the daughter of the city's most successful technology oligarch Howard Mathews.
If there was one thing everyone knew about Marcia it was that she only had eyes for the Invincible Hero; no one else could enter her eyes. He had met Marcia on several occasions, as Dr. Longoak of course. She and her father became major donors to the museum after an attempt by a supervillain to rob the museum of a mysterious artifact with hidden powers. Of course, the Invincible Hero stepped in and stopped the robbery.
When Marcia learned about the museum being saved by the Invincible Hero she rushed over and devoured every bit of information about what had happened from the staff. When she learned that Dr. Longoak had briefly spoken with the hero; suddenly Lorne found himself a new best friend. From this new friend he suddenly found a great financial resource at his disposal. However, it took more than money to move him. He knew that this relationship was more than likely short term. Once the girl's crush wore off she would probably wonder why she cared about this antiquated museum.
Marcia was a flighty fanatical fan of the Invincible Hero. Because of this, Lorne would never have an interest in dating her. What commonalities did they share? She was a nice girl but she couldn't match up to Mary.
Lorne had dated many women over the years. Some of the women were normal and others were superwomen. The truth was that no one really suited his taste. These days, super or not, women seemed very interested in creating a career for themselves. It used to be men who found commitment difficult. These days it was the women who didn't find the idea of having a family "convenient." This was especially the case when it came to babies. It was such a shame what society had done to the maternal instincts of women in general.
As amazing as Lorne was most of his fans might be surprised to discover that he was actually a very simple person. The thing he wanted most in his life right now was to find a good woman and have a family. None of the girls he had met so far seemed like someone he would want to settle down with. Now, however, he found Mary a simple straightforward girl who reminded him a little of his mother. His mother was a simple country girl on their planet Zimwer.
After marrying his father, the new couple decided to move away from the conquest obsessive world of Zimwer. They secretly left the planet and found their way to Earth. On Earth, their alien biology was even more amazing than on their home planet. The abilities they had back home were many times multiplied on earth according to his parents.
The people from his planet had unbelievable abilities; it's what made them so good at conquering planets. Thankfully, Earth was a little place in an out of the way Galaxy that was unlikely to be discovered anytime soon. Still, his parents warned him to never go beyond the solar system of their adoptive planet. The fewer beings in the Galaxy that knew about this hero from the war world of Zimwer the better!
Of course, things weren't so simple. Even though Earth was out of the way it was a resource-rich world that drew the attention of many close by alien civilizations. The Earth had been invaded and plotted against many times and more often than not it was Lorne and his allies who led the defense of their planet.
Lorne returned his thoughts to the girl before him. He finally decided to make things clear between himself and Mary. If she was interested in him, great! If she wasn't interested in him then it was better to just make that clear. Lorne wasn't one to sit around thinking about things forlornly. He was an action guy.
"Mary, I wonder if you would like to have dinner with me tonight," Lorne said.
"Do you want to talk about the new piece?" Mary asked innocently.
"No...I mean yes..." Taking a breath in Lorne clarified his meaning.
"Of course I always enjoy our discussions of history and archeology. What I meant though was that I would like to ask you out on a date. Would such a thing interest you?" Lorne asked.
Mary was obviously surprised.
"You want to go on a date with me?" Mary asked in surprise.
"Either you or the new piece behind you," Lorne laughed lightly.
Mary was also amused and her face flushed. She couldn't believe that Lorne was interested in her. She had actually thought of him a few times but always ignored her feelings thinking that Lorne was interested in that Marcia who would always come around.
After waiting for a while and seeing that Mary didn't respond but also noticing that she was blushing slightly with a pleasantly surprised face; Lorne decided Mary had probably gotten lost in her own thoughts.
"Uhm, Mary would you like to go on a date tonight? Lorne asked again.
"Oh, yes, yes, I would love it!" Mary responded after waking up from her thoughts.
"Great, how about I pick you up at 7 pm?" Lorne asked.
"Yes...uh, you mean in a car? Do you have a car, Lorne?" Mary asked.
Lorne was caught off guard for a moment but then laughed at himself. He didn't think about the fact that he didn't have a car. After thinking a moment he responded to her question.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of the transportation. Lorne said sheepishly.
Mary was really amused. Everyone knew that for some reason Dr. Longoak didn't own a car. He seemed content to ride buses and walk everywhere. In SuperTech City, someone like him was an oddball. Mary, however, found his strangeness endearing.
"I wonder what he means by taking care of transportation," Mary couldn't help but wonder.
"Great, I'll see you tonight," Mary responded.
"Uh, yeah see you tonight." Lorne awkwardly turned around to walk away.
"Didn't she want me to look at the new piece...I'm going to see her all day...we work together, but now I feel like I should just go sit in my office until tonight." Lorne thought.
Right after Lorne thought this Mary seemed to realize something was off.
"Oh, Lorne did you want to look at the new piece?" Mary called after him.
"This girl," Lorne thought.
Turning back around Lorne put on his best smile.
"How could I forget." Returning to Mary the two began an in-depth discussion of the new piece and how best to showcase it.
***
Later that day, Lorne was sitting at his desk reading over some papers when he heard a high-frequency message from Colonel Porter of the Earth Protection Division (E.P.D.)
"Invincible Hero, we've discovered a potential threat to Earth. Please come to the Arctic Headquarters of E.P.D."
Sigh...it was such a nice day. Now it looked like he would be fighting aliens or something. Hopefully, it wouldn't interfere with his date with Mary. Lorne immediately left making a vague comment about authenticating some piece. Once no one was looking, Lorne went around the corner of the building and dumped his work clothes into a hidden spot in the wall of the building. Immediately after he flew off to the Arctic headquarters of EPD.
The Arctic Headquarters of the EPD might as well have been next door as it took less than a second for Lorne to get there. He never bothered with checking in he just flew directly to the meeting room. There were two guards outside the doors who were surprised when Lorne seemed to appear out of nowhere. It wasn't that he appeared out of nowhere it was just that he could travel so fast no one was capable of seeing him move. When he stopped, he was suddenly there in front of the door as if he had been hiding in plain sight. There were many people who had the misconception that one of the Invincible Heroes many powers was invisibility.
Lorne pushed open the door to the meeting room. There were already certain people there waiting.
Entering the meeting room, Lorne's eyes immediately rested on Brighton Meadows AKA Cosmic Monkey. This guy, every time Lorne saw him he could only roll his eyes and shake his head.
Brighton Meadows had an amazing set of superpowers but never used them openly for years. The reason? He couldn't decide on an alter ego he liked. Eventually, Brighton became the main CGI actor on a movie about monkeys from outer space coming to our world to conquer it. These monkeys were called "The Cosmic Monkeys." Brighton loved the part so much and he begged the studio to sell the rights to use the alter ego "The Cosmic Monkey." After Brighton bribed them with more money than they could make in ten years they agreed. This guy was so weird, too weird.
Lorne just couldn't take him seriously at times he often wondered if this fellow is crazy. He probably was crazy. He found that most people in the movie business were so self-absorbed that it twisted their view of reality. It was best to have as little to do with them as possible. The one thing that Lorne could say, though, is that Brighton was really good in a fight for some strange reason.
Off in the corner, Lorne saw his good friend "Big Time." Big Time was about Lorne's age. As his name suggested he was a very big man. Lorne had met Big Time during the Invincible Hero's debut adventure against the alien race known as the Sanchez. The Sanchez had almost killed Big Time when Lorn suddenly showed up to stop them.
The Sanchez was an alien race who chose their space-name based on their understanding of earth languages. They understood that San meant without and thought Chez was shorthand for cheese. This was a perfect description of their planet which was a planet that had no cows and therefore had no domestic cheeses.
This was the main reason they were trying to conquer Earth. They wanted to have their own source of cheese for their planet as the Sanchez were big fans of cheese. They planned to change their space-name from Sanchez to Conchez after they took over the planet. Mainly because they once again misunderstood Earth language. They believed that Con meant with and Chez meant cheese. It seemed to make sense to them. Thus once they conquered Earth's means of milk and cheese production they would now be "with Cheese."
After Invincible Hero learned that the only reason they wanted to take over the planet was that they wanted cows; Invincible Hero helped negotiate a deal with the Sanchez and Earth's government to provide dairy cows and farmers to train them in how to look after the cows and get the milk in exchange for advanced technology. The Sanchez was excited and immediately changed their name to the Conchez. No one bothered to correct their misunderstanding of Earth language or point out that they were a bunch of silly aliens.
This was also when Lorne got the name for his alter ego. Lorne had always been pretty care-free. Once he decided to go adventuring as a superhero he made a suit but never bothered to choose a name for himself. He figured things would progress naturally, and that's exactly what happened. When Lorne showed up Big Time was almost dead from all of the deadly attacks that were being launched at him. Lorne stepped in front of all of the attacks and took them head-on without much effort. The papers the next day read, "Who is this Invincible Hero?" The name just stuck.
Sitting at the big table in the center of the room he noticed "The Pretty Pugilist." Darwina Wright. Darwina was a natural fighter. She had the ability to copy, analyze, and improve fighting abilities. She could even imitate superpowers to a certain extent. It was an amazing ability. Lorne had gone on a few dates with her in the past, but he enjoyed history and she enjoyed punching things. They could never find anything they both liked. They parted on good terms and were still friends. Darwina waved at Lorne who made his way over to sit next to her. Big Time came over and sat on Lorne's other side.
Here they were, what the press dubbed "The Three Amigos." It was an odd name for their group as none of them were Hispanic or even spoke Spanish. The name stuck and whenever the three of them appeared together in public they were called the Three Amigos. There was even a licensed cartoon based on their adventures that went by this name.
At the head of the table sat a grizzled old man named General Brady. General Brady had become the main liaison with the Earth's heroes. Some pressmen tried to make "The Brady Bunch" stick, but those reporters found themselves without jobs soon after and no one was brave enough to suggest the nickname again.
General Brady looked over at Lorne and gave him a friendly smile. He looked over at Cosmic Monkey and sighed as he rubbed his temples. Cosmic Monkey was practicing his "emotional faces" in one of the mirrors. It looked really awkward sometimes as the makeup and prosthetics didn't always work the way he wanted. Most of the time it looked like he had just smelled something foul. Typically, Cosmic Monkey's makeup and prosthetics would get messed up within the first five minutes of the fight. This really irritated him. His goal in the fights had become "End the fight ASAP and protect the wardrobe." "Hollywood people," the general thought.
"We'll wait a few more minutes for the remaining main strike force members to arrive. I'll handle the grunts later." General Brady said.
Everyone looked over to the general. Cosmic Monkey stopped messing with his face. Just then a young girl appeared out of nowhere. "Phantom Cat" Dorothy Starles, was only around seventeen. She was the youngest member of the Supreme Heroes League. Dorothy was not to be underestimated. Although she was young she could even give the Invincible Hero a headache. Her abilities included invisibility, phasing, heightened reflexes, speed, and what she called a tiger punch that packed as much a wallop as a uranium hardened drop missile.
Two more people walked through the door after Phantom Cat and they were Mechaton, the cybernetic genius capable of creating, enhancing, and syncing technologies. Usually, he used his abilities to create new mech bodies that he drove into battle. Being a cybernetic being he constantly updated his cyber organic body by incorporating new and enhanced technologies. Next to him marched his friend and comrade Major Muscle.
"Everyone, take your seats, please. Cosmic Monkey, I've prepared some banana gems for you to munch on." General Brady said.
Long ago, General Brady accepted the fact that in the mind of the Cosmic Monkey all the world was a stage and the Cosmic Monkey was obviously a method actor. To make dealing with the temperamental actor easier; General Brady had created things that Cosmic Monkeys, according to the movies, enjoyed. Such things such as banana gems, which were crystalized banana essence, sugar crystals, food coloring, and some unknown substance that made you feel wiggly inside. He also created a mobile chair branch which was a chair in the shape of a tree with enough room for Cosmic Monkey to sit on.
The group of elite heroes gathered around the table and took their places.
"Gentlemen, we have detected an extra-system group of objects maintaining a steady course towards earth. The objects are approximately two light years away." General Brady began.
"Two light years away, isn't it a little soon to call us up?" Cosmic Monkey asked.
"Their speed suggests they'll be here in a little over a year; if they don't stop again." General Bradey said.
"Again?" Major Muscle asked.
"Yes, we don't know why but it seems that they are making stops along the way." General Bradley said.
General Bradley continued without waiting for another interruption.
"The objects were verified to be warships with ill intentions. We received confirmation video this morning from Mr. Gates who teleported himself to observe the hostiles."
A video began playing on the screen of several large spaceships.
"Why do you think they are hostile..." Mechaton began to ask when a man flew out of one of the ships. After he flew out a laser beam shot from the man and quickly the camera went dead.
"On analysis, the focused beam was directed at Mr. Gates location. Mr. Gates was able to send the video to us before being vaporized." General Bradley said.
"Poor Mr. Gates." Big Time said.
"It gets worse. After reading the light beam frequency, heat index, and heat force output; it was determined that beam that disintegrated Mr. Gates is ninety percent similar to "The Invincible Hero's" laser vision. In all likely hood, the beings aboard those warships share an origin with the Invincible Hero." General Brady concluded.
All eyes turned to the Invincible Hero. As he looked into the eyes of his friends he understood why they were looking at him with terror-filled eyes. To date, no one on the planet was as powerful as the Invincible Hero. In fact, if he ever wanted to, he would be able to take out every hero on the planet by himself. Now, it looked like large warships might be filled with such beings.
Lorne thought for a few moments before answering.
"I've never said, but I'm sure everyone has more or less guessed that I'm not from around here," Lorne said while looking around the room at those gathered. No one seemed surprised that Lorne was an alien.
"Those warships definitely belong to my people. As to why they're coming to Earth, I have no idea. However, in all likelihood, it probably has something to do with me. I'll need to talk with my parents to tell you more." Lorne said.
"You're parents live on this planet as well...are they as powerful as you?" General Brady asked.
"My parents should be significantly stronger than me. I have no idea by how much as they won't tell me." Lorne responded.
"Why haven't they ever made an appearance?" General Brady asked.
"They say they're on holiday and can't be bothered with such insignificant matters. Besides, they seem to think I'm more than enough to handle Earth's problems even though I'm so weak." Lorne said.
"You're weak?" Major Muscle said in disbelief.
"According to Dad, I'm a runt that hasn't even discovered a millionth of my power," Lorne responded.
"Oh, my," Phantom Kat said before she fainted.
Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. The Earth's mightiest hero, according to his parents was a weakling, and according to the video they had just watched; several warships full of strong people of his race were hostile and heading to earth.
"Do you think I could get a copy of the video to show my parents? I'll report back to you as soon as I hear their thoughts on this." Lorne asked awkwardly.
General Brady signaled an officer behind him who came forward with a thumb drive which he gave to Lorne. Sensing the mood in the room and knowing that everyone needed to talk about the bomb he just dropped on them behind his back; Lorne quietly left the room to fly to his parents' home.
***
The Longoaks were currently living in the small town of Fort Stockton, Texas. They moved here not long after Lorne left home for college. Truthfully, they had homes all over the world, the moon, Mars, and a satellite in orbit around Jupiter. Lorne phoned ahead to make sure they were on Earth and flew to their Fort Stockton home.
Walking into the living room, the Longoaks knew something grim was on Lorne's mind. He had changed into regular clothes, but he had still traveled here by flying. Lorne didn't waste any time. After greeting his parents he opened his tablet and loaded the memory onto the tablet to queue up the player.
"Please share your thoughts after you see this," Lorne said.
Lorne's parents watched the video and immediately took in a breath of cold air when they saw the warships from their homeworld. After the video finished the pair sat holding each other's hands solemnly looking at the screen. Finally, Lorne's father began to speak.
"They found us. I didn't think they'd be able to track us to such a small world, but they are here. It will probably take them another two years to reach the outer solar system at their current speed. It's strange that they're moving so slow."
"They probably want to torment us. They know they have us and just want to make us feel hopeless!" Lorne's mother cried.
"Who are they?" Lorne asked.
"The Usurpers." His father responded.
"The Usurpers?" Lorne asked.
"Yes, we haven't told you this, but the truth is that on our planet we were the members of the royal family. Before you were born our family was overthrown. We were forced to flee from our home. Those in our family who didn't leave were murdered. If we are found they'll kill us too!" Lorne's Father responded."
"What happens if we left Earth, would they pursue us?" Lorne asked.
"Yes, after they destroyed the Earth." Lorne's mother said.
"If you want to save Earth then we'll have to confront them. If we fight and we lose; they will leave the Earth alone. However, if we leave then they will destroy the Earth as punishment. They will continue destroying worlds that we go to until every planet we've ever crossed paths with has been destroyed." Lorne's father said.
"Then we can only stand and fight." Lorne thought quietly for some time. After realizing there was no other choice, Lorne smiled broadly to his parents and said, "At least we have two years." After talking with his parents; Lorne called General Brady to tell him that so long as he and his parents faced the incoming force Earth would be safe. Lorne promised to stay and fight.
Lorne thought for a while and realized that he needed to spend the next two years tying up the loose ends in his life. It was likely that he and his parents wouldn't survive the upcoming battle. Therefore, he needed to settle all the matters in his life. The first thing to settle was Mary. He just found her and now he would never know love. For the first time in his life, he truly felt the burden of a hero. A leader must sacrifice his own good for the good of others.
***
Lorne walked up to Mary's house with a single rose in hand. He knocked on the door and it was immediately opened. Mary came out of the house with a big smile on her face. Lorne presented the rose to Mary who ran inside and put it in a vase. Coming out once more she was ready to go.
"Lorne, I don't see a car...are we walking?" Mary asked.
"Yes, but not far," Lorne said.
Lorne lead Mary around the front gate of her house. Mary saw a two-seater bicycle proudly standing on the sidewalk.
"Our transportation." Lorne smiled, clearly, he was pleased with himself.
Mary involuntarily lets out a surprised snort and giggled at the novel transportation.
"Now, don't underestimate my Centennial Eagle, I've put a lot of work into her and made some special modifications myself. She'll make any romantic restaurant in a ten block radius within a parsec." Lorne joked.
"Oh, Star Wars jokes. I had no idea that the esteemed Dr. Longoaks was a fan." Mary joked back.
"I was a fan...the new movies...don't get me started." Lorne moaned.
Mary laughed once again and the couple got on the bicycle riding away into the night.
The couple arrived at "The Blue Box," a themed restaurant. Here, the waiters dressed up as characters from life and fiction. At one table, Sherlock Holmes was taking orders while joking with the Mad Hatter as he walked by. Supergirl was bringing a tray of food with the help of Little Red Riding Hood. The Cat in the Hat was the door greater tonight. The pair was led to a cozy table for two that was located in the interior of a large plastic tree stump. Ironically, their waiter tonight was the Cosmic Monkey. Lorne couldn't help but laugh at the young man portraying his quirky friend. He noticed that his own alter ego, The Invincible Hero, was being portrayed by the middle-aged portly manager. This made him laugh even more, what a humbling experience he thought. Mary was similarly entertained by the environment.
"What a wonderful place!" Mary exclaimed enjoying the colorful atmosphere.
"I used to come here as a child with my family. I always hoped to bring my own family here one day. You're the first date I've ever brought here" Lorne said as he smiled sweetly at his date.
Mary was touched by the comment turning slightly red and becoming a little bashful. Finally, she spoke.
"Well, it's a wonderful place for you to bring me to. I wasn't sure what you had in mind when you asked me out. I half expected you might bring me to an upscale Italian restaurant. I think this place is a much better choice. I like being surprised."
"The Italian restaurant is reserved for when our relationship is strong enough that you can stand seeing noodles stuck in my teeth, marinara sauce on my face, and hearing intense slurping sounds as I eat the noodles," Lorne said.
Mary was extremely amused by Lorne's casualness and how comfortable he was joking with her.
"This is a really different side that I'm seeing tonight. It's unexpected." Mary said.
"Disappointed?" Lorne asked.
"Not at all, I just thought of you as the impassioned archaeologist and historian. You've always been someone whose intense interest in the ancient past matched my own. Frankly, I never thought there was any more to you than that. I'm starting to find you as mysterious as a newly discovered artifact from an ancient hidden kingdom." Mary said.
"I am a man of mystery, internationally renowned as such. Get used to it, you may never know all my secrets." Lorne said in an overly dramatic way.
Mary laughed delightedly at Lorne's hijinks. The pair continued to chat and enjoy themselves. After dinner, the pair took the bicycle and started wandering aimlessly until they found themselves at a walking park. Lorne chained up his bicycle and the pair began walking down a path around the lake.
"It might sound strange, Mary, but in many ways, I feel a very natural connection with you. I felt it from the first time that we met. It just took me a while to finally ask you out. I really feel like I've found someone special."
Mary smiled at Lorne clearly pleased.
"I felt you were someone special from our first meeting as well. Everyone at the Museum thought of you as eccentric, but I always felt that I got you somehow." Mary said.
"Mary, I don't know what your real feelings are and this may be sudden, but I have something I wish to talk to you about. I hope you won't find it too sudden. I also hope you won't feel like I am burdening you." Lorne said with worry on his face.
Mary was a little unsure based on Lorne's sudden change in demeanor. What could make him so serious, she wondered.
"Mary, I need to take a chance, I wanted to take things very slow with you, but I no longer have that kind of time. I need to know, will you suspend your disbelief, can you listen to me as I explain some unbelievable things? Will you come with me on the crazy train?"
As he was finishing his comments, Lorne extended his hand out to Mary beckoning her to take it.