Mass Effect RP: The Aegis Protection Firm - Full

[Chicago Ted]

Karnak:

"This is Raven. Team three's objective has been secured. Moving to regroup."

"Karnak with team two here," Karnak reported over his Comm as he walked through the corporate lobby. His team was standing by the entrance, weapons trained outwards on the streets in front of them. The offices were now empty, save the couple guards dead by the back of the lobby, and the third in the security room. "Our objective is secure. All workers and remaining guards have been evacuated. We?ve secured the lobby, and will hold until you arrive. We?ll evac from the roof when you arrive with the Gauntlet.?

 

[Chicago Ted]

Brooks:

Brooks made his way back to the DJ booth, his weapons holstered as he readied himself to wait for Lux to finish setting up his charges and then holding until the Gauntlet arrived. He had expected things to move fairly painlessly from here on in, but when he started to climb through the window to the booth, he realized something was off.

In the middle of the dance floor the crate Meer had brought from the Gauntlet now stood. The top had been opened, and on its side, another Shredder had been set to lean against it. Brooks could also see the top of an ML-77 missile launcher peeking out, as well as boxes of thermal clips laid out. As he approached, Brooks could see John yelling at Lux, as the two were locked in argument.

?This is going against everything laid out by---?

?Didn?t I tell you to secure the upper floor rookie, not berate me?? Lux asked as he stepped closer to John, the two were only inches apart. ?There are several windows looking out to the street below. You and that Turian will serve as lookouts for this. No questions.?

?Uh, Lux, what?s going on?? Brooks asked as he walked up to the two. Both turned their attention towards him, as an awkward pause filled the air. Lux reached beside him, grabbing his bag of charges and detonators, and tossed it to Brooks. Brooks caught it, slightly unnerved that so much high explosives had been just thrown at him, despite knowing that no components were volatile until set. ?What?s this for??

?You and Keith wired up the back room of Aegis, do the same for here,? Lux said as he pointed towards the door to the back hallways. ?Do it again.?

?Why?? Brooks asked, confused. ?Wouldn?t we want to set them up out front here? Or in the office or something??

Lux?s silent stare answered Brooks?s question.

?Wait, you want me to set them up like traps? Aren?t we going to blow---?

?Change of plans, trap the hallways, make sure no one gets through them, then report back here,? Lux said as he stepped away from John and back to the floor. He grabbed a table, and started to walk it towards the door. As he did this, Dregger came down the stairs from the upper floor, and looked over at Lux.

?Windows are barricaded and covered with whatever wasn?t bolted down,? he reported as he continued to march across the floor to Lux.

?Work on securing the doors and windows down here than,? Lux said as he propped the table up against the door, blocking it. ?Once that?s done, find a place to bunker down and wait with the others.?

Brooks watched John kick one of the chairs over as he walked passed. He had given up arguing with Lux by this point, instead deciding to follow the Krogan?s orders. Brooks stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, before nervously making his way back to the hallways to set up.

The mission had changed. It wasn?t a demolitions mission anymore. It was a siege.

 

[Athol]

To say John was angry was an understatement. He resisted the urge to jam the barrel of his rifle down Lux's throat and keep firing until the barrel melted, only because he knew it wouldn't help the situation. "THAT GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING QUADLESS VORCHA FUCKER!!!" He yelled as he made his way to the second floor, punching a hole in the wall as he did so. That sonuvabitch is gonna get us all killed...telling us to dig in when we have no fucking clue what Meer can really bring against us.

Getting to the second floor position Lux wanted; John began to pace the room, muttering and swearing the whole time. Opening his omni tool, he sent a message to Verahl.

Verahl

Get you fucking house in order. Lux is pulling some sort of bullshit and if you 'handle' this, the same way you did with that psycho, I swear I'll kill them both on principle. If this is the type of shit you tolerate then I'm surprised you've lived as long as you have.

Regardless of how this plays out consider this my notice. I was under the impression that you ran a tight and disciplined crew and I was obviously misinformed.

John Thuillier

Sitting near the edge of a window to watch the approaches to the club, he did a quick check of all his weapons. He had a feeling this was going to get very ugly.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Verahl:

John,

I?ve gotten to where I am through years of experience, not by making rookie mistakes such as mouthing off to a superior with decades more experience and training.

Get a grip, follow orders, and shut the fuck up.

Things will be resolved.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Verahl:

Verahl's Comm Link with Lux was short. Once he knew that Lux was set in his plan and already taking action, Verahl knew he had little time to react. While the Krogan admitted that he was relying on back up to arrive, he was annoyed that he didn't have the chance to break it to Verahl first, and that he had been contacted about it instead of the other way around.

As soon as the confirmation on what was happening was gotten, Verahl was already moving. Since the base had been placed on lockdown, he had put his armour on and was ready for whatever was thrown at him. He hadn't anticipated going out though, or being forced to deploy the Razor into Splits territory. Stopping in his room to access his locker, Verahl assembled his kit. He took his shotgun, Firestorm, and Revenant from his locker, holstering and locking each weapon on his armour before grabbing a few extra thermal clips and some grenades and walking out.

When he walked onto the roof, he could already see that everyone had boarded the Razor. The engines were humming, and with a loud rev, came to full life. Verahl hurried to the still open door, and ducked in, not wanting to keep it on the landing pad any longer, and closed the door behind him.

As he closed the door behind him, he could see his presence had gotten the attention of all of the mercs and guards strapped in their seats on each side of the aisle that ran down the ship. None knew what was going on, other then one of the groups was in trouble, and none had expected Verahl to show his face because of it. It wasn't a good omen.

"Kryxus, get us airborne," Verahl said as he banged on the side of the cockpits entry way. The Razor kicked off from the ground and into the high streets of Omega, and Verahl grabbed the railing that ran down the aisle above everyone's heads, holding on as the Razor started speeding towards its destination.

"The mission's changed," Verahl said as he stood at the end of the aisle, still between the cockpit and everyone else. "It's changed from sabotage to siege. The new objectives are as followed. First, provide fire support and reinforcements to Lux and his team. Second, to secure the area completely. That means none of their troops on the ground or crafts in the sky. Third, extraction via the Gauntlet back to Aegis territory. I?ll repeat that again. Reinforce. Secure. Extract. The Razor will be providing air support during this assault. Stay clear of the streets to stay clear of its guns."

Once he was finished, he edged in down the aisle to stand in front of Esten. He needed to speak with the Salarian.

"Esten, you'll need to provide sniper support," he said once the Salarian looked up. "I do not know how long it will take for Ocara to reach you, or how far away Raven's team will be dropped. Can you group with him despite this?"

"I can, but I won't" Esten said, turning to face Preven as he did. "Have Ocara and Sal act as a separate team. The Turian guard will come with me to provide support."

Verahl looked at Preven sitting behind him. He looked the Turian over from head to toe, trying to judge the decision made.

"You're to follow Esten in," Verahl said, stressing his words. "Do exactly what he tells you to."

With that, Verahl made his way back to the front of the aisle, holding onto the railing as the Razor shook once more. When he made it to the open seat at the end, he sat down, and strapped himself in before looking back at the rest of those still in the aisle. He could barely hear their whispers over the engines, let alone determine what they were saying.

"Any questions, because now's the time. ETA is seven minutes."

 

[Athol]

"Resolved my ass." John muttered as he read Verahl's message. He knew Lux'd get away with a 'slap' on the wrist like that fucking salarian psycho and little else probably. That damned over evolved dinosaur was fucking breaking mission, springing this bullshit on them.

In a fit of anger he lashed out punching the wall, his armoured fist denting and cracking the fiberboard paneling that lined the room. Letting out an explosive breath, he rubbed his face and moved into a good covering position.

 

[lemiel14n3]

Paladin sat in the razor's seat, in the back against the wall dividing the pilot from the passengers, it was a habit one of the "lead elephants", as his old CO used to call the older soldiers the recruits were attached to, after the traditions used in training circus elephants, had educated him on "first on in, last one out". He had loaded in as soon as he saw the Batarian coming. When Verahl asked if there were any questions, Ethan spoke up.

"Do we have any intel on what we have to look forward to in there? Numbers? Equipment? Biotic ability? Hell, even species would be helpful. Do we have any idea of layout? How much distance are we covering between insertion and extraction?"

All fairly standard questions, but a good answer to any of them could mean the difference between life and death for the men and women in the Razor.

 

[Robert632]

Preven sat, quite surprised that Esten had picked him, when even by his own admission Esten could have gotten together with another, much more skilled sniper for support.

Just as Preven prepared to ask Esten why , he heard Ethan begin asking questions, all of which seemed quite important. Probably shouldn't bother him. Thought Preven as he waited for the answer to those questions as well.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Lux:

*BOOM*

Another rocket slammed into the upper level of the club above. Each wall was already showing dents and depressions from the stress of the attack, and the barrage of missiles and rounds fired into them. From the four main windows upstairs, Dregger, John, and Triven were engaged with several of the Splits that had arrived. It was still early on in the battle, only a few of the Spits soldiers had arrived, but more were undoubtedly on their way.

The row of stores across the street had been seized by them, and had been hastily fortified to protect them. Most of the shutters over the storefronts had been shut to provide cover, but the doorways were kept open, and were where they would fire from. Above the doorways were a series of offices that had also been taken. Like the club, several had windows that had been shot out, and were now serving as additional spots to fire from. In total, there were three different stores that had been taken, each with a couple of the Splits occupying each, and with shared connected office area above.

The Club had also been prepared though. On the second floor were four windows, each serving as a bunker for Aegis to fire from. The doorway had also been barricaded with almost everything that hadn?t been bolted down around the dance floor. Tables, chairs, and the odd stool each were used to prop up and obstruct the entrance and halt any attempted access that didn?t require explosives. The doors had already been blown open though by a couple rockets, but the barricade was still holding firm. For the moment, the equipment held by the Splits wasn?t enough to destroy the barricade, as many of the M-77 anti-personnel missiles lacked the punch needed to blow the blockade to smithereens. Through the gap in the barricade, Lux had set up his Shredder, and was laying down fire on the lower street doorways he could see, suppressing whoever poked their head from behind cover long enough to draw his fire.

?Everything in the back is set!? Brooks yelled as he bound through the DJ booth once more. ?The hallways are wired with all the charges and mines you gave me. It?ll take hours if they tried to disarm them all without having another detonate on them!?

?Good,? Lux said as he fired another burst. ?Because you have other things to do now!?

?Such as?? Brooks asked as he headed towards the stairs.

?Fetch me the second Shredder by the crates!?

Brooks stopped as he heard Lux?s instructions. He wanted to join John above and help him from there, but it looked like Lux had other plans for him.

?You?re going to be the second half of this team,? Lux said as swapped his Shredder with the one Brooks brought him when he approached. ?I fire, you reload. These Shredders are good at ripping people apart, but have always taken too long to reload, especially in combat. You load, I fire, when I?m empty, we swap.?

?Isn?t having another gun firing from above more important?? Brooks protested as started to eject the four spent clips from the top of the Shredder.

?Not as important as maintaining this one,? Lux replied as he let out another burst of fire. ?Hurry up!?

 

[Chicago Ted]

Verahl:

"Do we have any intel on what we have to look forward to in there? Numbers? Equipment? Biotic ability? Hell, even species would be helpful. Do we have any idea of layout? How much distance are we covering between insertion and extraction?"

?Currently, they?re only starting to launch their counter attack, so numbers are hard to determine,? Verahl said as he looked over towards Ethan. ?All that?s certain is their attention is going to be focused straight on that club. It?s not certain if we?ll only have a couple squads or the entire company coming down on us. If it?s only a couple squads, securing and extracting will be minimal, and we?ll be behind the walls of the Elixir soon. If more are sent though, then all of their attention will be focused on this fight, and so we need to have as many of our forces deployed as well.?

Verahl stopped for the moment as the Razor rocked, slowing down a bit before turning.

?As for their equipment, Biotic potential and mix, we have as much intel as we had before on it. They?re decently equip, are fairly mixed, Turians taking up the largest portion, Humans after, but Biotics capabilities aren?t know. As far as can be told there are at least a couple Asaris in their ranks, but none of the rest would be obvious to tell unless we see it used.?

?And for the layout and extractions, those are still being worked on. The club has been secured, but easy access to it will be almost impossible. We?ll land nearby and secure additional buildings, and engage the Splits from there. The Razor will be able to drop us in the thick of things by having us drop from it, but the Gauntlet will be forced to land at least a couple streets away in order not to be at risk of being hit. Same can be said for extraction. We?ll need to secure the area before we can bring the Gauntlet in close to pick us up with a reasonable guarantee of safety.?

?Five minutes!? Kryxus yelled from the cockpit as the Razor lurched forward gaining speed.

 

[Athol]

*BOOM*

John ducked as a missile slammed into the facade near where he was shooting. This is fucking insane! We should've just blown this place and bugged the fuck out! Swapping to his own ML-77, he fired a salvo at the nearest Splits position. The anti-personnel missiles pockmarked the building having no real affect, except to draw more fire to John's position.

"So, Lux." John commed, not bothering to hide the contempt in his voice. "You have a plan, or do we just sit here until they decide to blow the building up themselves?"

 

[Chicago Ted]

Lux:

"We hold until their reinforcements arrive!" Lux said as he released another long burst with his Shredder. "When Meer rears his face, we'll blow it off, then fall back into the back alleys!"

With another burst, his Shredder clicked empty, and Lux tossed it at Brooks, picking up the newly filled one beside him.

"Keep it up!" Lux yelled out as he concentrated his fire at one of the Splits that had exposed himself for only slightly to long. The rounds pierced his shields, and sent him to the floor. Lux doubted it killed him, his armour likely having taken the brunt of it, and only throwing the merc onto his ass, but it was still enough to make others around scurry back into cover. "I've brought enough clips to keep this up for hours!"

 

[axle 19]

Raven and his squad sprinted into the back of the gauntlet and rapidly readied themselves in as the mechanical beast shot into the air. Lux is pinned inside of the club and the Moons have the whole of the place surrounded. Verahl is going to probably have them fast rope on to the rooftop or into some cover to move quickly into the building. That leaves Karnak and I.

Opening a direct comm to the batarian, he began, "Karnak how far away from the club are you?

We are ten minutes out from the club's southern entrance. Have the gauntlet come in and pick us up.

Negative Karnak. Are best chance is to divide their attention to as many fronts as possible. I want you guys to move in on foot fast and hard. Lux's squad is going to need all the help they can get.

Roger

We be there inside of ten minutes. Be careful Karnak. This mission has already gone FUBAR. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Cutting the connection, he signaled for the pilot to lower the bay door of the gauntlet as they got nearer to their destination. Standing just off of the ramp, he looked over the clusterfuck that the club had become. Shit. We are going to be exposed and surrounded from jump. Still, I can't leave them inside. "All right people, Lux and his squad are boxed into a position on the club's first and second floors. The Split Moons are trying to move in for the kill. We cannot let that happen. Karnak and Team 2 are already moving in on foot. Verahl and Team four will be going in through the roof." Pausing as the Gauntlet touched down, he nodded to his team before sprinting down the ramp. "Let's get this shit done."

 

[sage42]

"Right behind you Raven."Sal said as she loaded her Tempest with disruptor ammo. She was ready worried though, this mission so far had gone to smoothly. Blessed Ancestors just let it be paranoia. Ver really needs to have a mission go right for a change. She thought to her self as she followed Raven. He can handle it I'm sure if things go wrong somewhere, but it'll be better in the long run for 'em, and us.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Verahl:

The Razor lurched to a stop as it began to hover over the street. Ahead of them, the firefight between Lux and the Splits could be seen. Not wanting to risk placing themselves too close to it and leaving themselves exposed as they roped down below, the Razor held a bit back to try and keep the squad from being pinned before they could even reach the ground.

The second the Razor entered into its hover, two doors on each side by the front opened. Verahl had been standing in the cockpit doorway as they approached, and had everyone stand and form up in two lines so that they were ready for it. As the doors slid open, the ropes dropped, and Verahl pointed at each door.

"Go!" He chanted as Esten and Preven grabbed their respective ropes and lowered themselves to the street below. Terina and Knox followed after, and finally Paladin and Verahl were left. Without wanting to keep the Razor still for a moment longer, Verahl nodded at Paladin as they both started to drop themselves onto the street below.

Before Verahl and Paladin could touch the ground, a window shattered from an apartment across from them. As Verahl looked up to see the source, a rocket flew from the broken window and towards the Razor. Within seconds, it made contact with the back end and exploded. The Razor rocked to its side, away from the blast, its armour having absorbed the force of the blast. Verahl and Paladin released their lines as they did, falling the rest of the short drop to the ground. As the Razor began to move forward down the street, another came from the stores further down. Kryxus was able to pitch the Razor sharply though, without having to worry about sending Verahl or Paladin into a building beneath him, and was able to have the rocket fly past him as it sailed towards the bottom of the level above them. With that Kryxus started to bank the Razor and accelerate, pulling away from the street, to line up a proper strafe, and to avoid any further shots.

"We need to take out that nest!" Verahl commanded as his squad ran towards the lobby of the apartment the rockets were fired from. The squad assembled behind him at the doors of the lobby, and as they opened, entered with guns drawn and ready.

"The shot came from the seventh floor," Esten said as he walked towards the elevator panel. He attempted to activate it but got no response. "As suspected, the elevators have been disabled."

"You know as well as me how slow they can be Esten," Verahl said as he pushed the doors to the stairs beside the elevator open, and held his gun upwards at the small landing above it. "Now move up there and take out that nest."

 

[Chicago Ted]

Rook:

Everyone in the Gauntlet was on edge on the flight over to the firefight. Raven had responded and updated Verahl a few times as they flew, but little else was spoken. After what felt like hours, the Gauntlet finally started to descend as it stopped in an empty lot a couple blocks off from firefight.

When the bay doors opened, and everyone was off, a sense of their surroundings was achieved. The firefight couldn't be seen from where they were standing, but it could be heard. Dozens of gunshots from several rifles could be heard relentlessly, and the occasional, but all too frequent still explosion accompanied them. While landing closer would have made it possible for them to join the fight quicker, the risk of having the Gauntlet subsequently shot down would be far too high.

As Raven readied his squad to move towards the firefight ahead of them, and join up with Lux and the others, another explosion could be heard. While everyone expected several to be heard from the firefight, this one was different. It sounded more distant, and away from Lux and the Splits position. Shortly after, another entire set of gunfire was heard accompanying it as smoke started to billow from where the explosion had hit.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Karnak:

"What happened?!" Pallat screamed as he brought himself back to his feet. The shockwave from the explosion had shattered all of the windows along the street around them, and threw Pallat and Xiev to the floor. Karnak didn't have time to answer him as he grabbed the back of both of their collars, yanking them up, and running through the gates that Verdix and Janx had opened.

"Ambush!" Janx yelled as the five Batarians continued to run forward, passed the gates, and towards the large building in front of them. To their side, the cause of the explosion could be seen. The fuel tanks at the side of the building had been ignited by a hastily shot rocket that had been initially aimed at them. Smoke began to rise from the fire that now engulfed the tanks.

"In here!" Verdix yelled at the door he had been able to open at the side of the large building. A much larger one was in the middle, but he had been able to reach a smaller on on the side and get it opened by the time the rest of them had caught up with him. As they funnelled inside, several shots could be heard from behind them, hitting the side of the building and doorway.

Once they were in, Verdix closed the doors. It was only now that they were able to look around at where they had entered. Several different civilian craft and transports were around them, lined up on all sides. Tracks were on the floor that went under plates that each rested on, that led out to the larger set of doors they had ignored. It was a hangar of some kind, either for storage or for sale, but it didn't matter at that moment. All that mattered was getting to safety to Karnak, and making sure that they got away from whoever was shooting at them quickly.

"Raven!" Karnak yelled over his Comm. "We've been ambushed further back and forced into a local hangar bay! How far out are you?!"

 

[Chicago Ted]

Lux:

Lux watched as the Razor turned away to pull back from the street. He had managed to shoot one of the Splits armed with the ML-77, but as he did, another stood out and fired at the Razor.

"Concentrate fire on any of them with explosives," Lux yelled as he fired at the other Split as he turned back behind the doorway. "I don't want them even getting a single shot on the Razor next time it passes!"

Moments after Lux finished speaking, silence fell on the street. All of the Splits that had been exchanging gunfire with them had stopped. Lux moved his rifle between doorways, scanning each one as he waited, but no movement could be seen from them.

"Brooks, check the back hall, make sure they aren't trying to work their way through," Lux ordered as he grabbed a thermal clip beside him, and reloaded the Shredder himself. "Take the spare in case you run into any trouble."

Brooks complied, grabbing the second Shredder and making his way back across the club floor to the hallways. While he did that, Lux locked the fresh thermal clip in and threw the two spent ones to the floor.

"Dregger, how are things up there?" Lux asked over the Comms, taking a moment to activate them instead of yelling at the top of his lungs.

"The Turian got clipped," Dregger responded.

"How badly?"

"He's still alive; John's trying to tend to him now, has him sitting beside the staircase, away from the windows."

"Got it, keep him---"

From each of the doorways, several grenades were suddenly thrown. Lux looked at the ones rolling close to him, before turning himself away from the barricade to try and avoid the explosion. The seconds passed by, but instead of hearing the sound of several blasts, a sharp hissing could be heard from the street. Lux turned back and looked out, but now found a thick fog greeting him.

"Shit," Lux muttered to himself as he stepped back from the barricade, and towards the bar. As he stepped back, still facing the doorway, he opened his Comm Channel once more to Kryxus. "Can you see anything?"

"All I see is smoke," responded Kryxus from the Razor. "Almost the entire building is engulfed."

"They could be advancing on us right now, fill the street."

Only moment after Lux asked, he could hear the turrets from the Razor blaring as the gunship tore past. Lux focused on listening to what was happening on the street after it passed, hoping to hear a few moans from wounded Splits hit by the gunfire, but he only found silence.

"Dregger, John," Lux said over the Comms. "Get set up from the balcony; they're going to be trying to get in here under cover of that smoke. Brooks, get in the DJ Booth, and set up the Shredder there."

Each responded to Lux, confirming his orders as he quickly moved back across the club floor. He stopped by the ammo crate, picking it up, to take it from by the walls on the lower floor to somewhere more accessible. Running out of clips at this point would spell doom for them all. He grabbed the crate and lifted it, lighter without the Shredder in it, but still heavy even for a Krogan to carry, and made his way back to the dance floor. When he reached the edge between the bar and the floor though, an explosion rocked the club, as one of the walls was blown apart.

They were in.

 

[Athol]

After making sure Triven was stabilized, John moved to a window to see if he could spot anything through the smoke, before moving to his new position. After the Razor's pass he scanned the street as much as he could. As he was about to step away a sound reached him, feet moving fast across the street below, snapping the rifle to his shoulder he began to search for movement. There he thought, as he saw a shadow in the smoke. Must be green, you never run in a straight line, just gets you killed. Leading the target, John stroked the trigger sending a burst into the smoke. The next thing he heard tore his heart out.

A piercing shriek ripped through his ears, cutting to his core. An explosion from the lower levels rumbled through the building as shouting rose from the street below. "Is anyone hit? Everyone sound off!" "We're all good, must've just been a...oh god! MEDIC! We have a civilian down!"

His rifle drooped as the realization of what he?d done hit him. "No, no, no!" He muttered, as he watched a Slips medic dash out and drag the casualty to cover. It?s all their fault! His mind raged, as he stood, numb, in the window. If they hadn't attacked NONE of this would of happened. He was about to spring into action, when several rockets struck the building, one hitting the edge on the window in front of him.

Normally his shield would have shrugged off the worst of the blast, leaving John only a little bruised. Sadly due to the earlier software failure, that was not the case. The old, out of date armour couldn't stop all the shrapnel as a piece severed his carotid artery. The blast threw him against the back wall, causing the wound to open further. He bled to death within seconds.

 

[lemiel14n3]

The shock of the explosion sent the timing on Paladin's drop all to hell. He was fortunate enough that his shields took the shrapnel that would otherwise might have crippled him. But as he fell, though he originally planned to land on his feet, the air blast from the explosion sent Ethan on his ass. Paladin scrambled for a bit, regaining his footing. He typed briefly on his omni-tool, diverting some power to getting his shields restored quickly. He looked up at the building that the missile came from, just in time to see a second careen towards the Razor. As the gunship swerved out of the way he saw it get into a position to offer firing support to the ones on the ground.

"We need to take out that nest!" As Verahl ran for the building, Ethan joined the rest of the squad behind Verahl, moving towards the building holding the rocket launcher, and no doubt a few other hostile targets. They began moving up the stairs to where Esten had told them the enemy was encamped. Ethan had his locust pulled, ready to load a thermal clip into any thing that moved and he didn't recognize.