Chapter 81: Criminal Element

As the Volcano Thieves and thier 2 additional members handle thier first heist, Pyre and Chimera are sent to handle an new development which will turn into something far larger then they could have thought.

Deika City, located within the mountains of Aichi, was not a big city, nor was it a small one. It was…average, one could say. It was surrounded by nature in the form of forests, with only a few roads and rail lines in and out, a place that could easily be isolated from the outside world. For many Japanese, it hardly existed as anything more than just another dot on the map.

For these reasons, it was the ideal location for the Meta Liberation Army to establish its headquarters. A place of security and secrecy from any and all who would wish to undermine them, from the pros who would seek to arrest them, and the government, which still believed them to be crushed.

In one building, which hardly stood out from the others, a meeting of the MLA's leadership was taking place; all were present except for one, whose car had just pulled up. The black armored sedan could have appeared strange and suspicious to most, if not for the passenger, for as it pulled up to the front of the building, its driver stepped out —a well-dressed man with a cap covering his eyes. Without a word, he marched to the back of the car and smoothly opened the door for his boss.

Stepping out into the chill evening, a man in a plain black business suit, though one without a single crease or stain. The same for his white dress shirt, black tie, blazer, and scarf. He had reasonably long, black hair, styled to be swept back with a single strand hanging down his face. He had thin eyebrows and a small mustache, which anyone could tell had taken time to perfect. His angular nose and purple-tinted glasses only added to the idea that he was a man who cared deeply about his appearance, coming across as controlled and calm.

It made sense, as this was no mere wealthy person, but the leader of the Hearts and Mind Party, Hanabata Kōkū. At least, that was what the people knew him as, but for the following meeting, he would be going by a different name.

Without a word, he followed another of the building's staff inside while his driver got back inside his car to park it. Entering, he didn't encounter many others, but those whom he did seemed to come from all walks of life, and hardly dressed in a uniform style or theme. The only thing that seemed to unite them all was a salute. Each would make an "L" with their index finger and thumb, placing their thumb on their forehead when they saw him, and in turn, he would hold one of them the entire trip to his destination.

It didn’t take long for him to reach a door flanked by guards on either side. Neither face could be seen; one was obscured by their cap, the second by their meta ability. However, upon sight, they saluted him and wordlessly opened the door.

“Trumpet, glad you could join us.” Waiting inside was a room whose lights were off, the place lit only by the light coming in through the wall-to-wall window. Within, along with fancy furniture which could be ignored, was a table, and at its head was their leader.

Hanabata, or in this context, Trumpet, didn't release his salute as he made a slight bow. “Apologies, Grand Commander, for arriving so late. Had I realised things would drag on, I would have left the rally early.”

“There is no cause for alarm. I was the one who called a meeting out of the blue.” Their leader chuckled, feeling little annoyance at the latecomer.

“Was it related to this Thunder?” Another spoke, a man who seemed allergic to proper appearance, as the tall, lanky man kept his shiny black hair so long that it reached his waist and covered his eyes. He wore a long-sleeved black turtleneck shirt and dark pants.

“Correct, Skeptic. Our informants heard that there was to be something big, and I wished for us to discuss it." Their leader, Re-Destro, otherwise known as Yotsubashi Rikiya, stated.

“I had watched part of it on the way here. Anything I missed?" Trumpet asked as he took his seat at the table, finally relaxing from his salute.

There was a mild groan, Trumpet turning his eyes to the second person present, who seemed to think proper attire was optional. However, they wore a thick, light blue parka that reached their knees with lace-up winter boots. With the hood up, they kept their eyes out of sight, leaving only two white dots.

"Doubtful, Curious insisted that we watch it twice now," Geten complained, to which their last member, the blue-skinned and blue-eyed woman, didn't show a hint of shame. Quite the opposite, as she is hardly capable of sitting still, still on a high from watching it.

"For the sake of our last member, let's go over the ending one final time," Re-Destro ordered as he reached for the remote and aimed it at the TV, which had remained silent up to then. Turning it back on, he rewound it to the last parts of the Thunder's broadcast, one which had already followed their little rally broadcast.

“Wasn’t it a fun time, the energy, the crowd-you should have seen it!” Pyre, their youngest member and possibly one of the most famous villains in the world at present, seemed just as giddy as Curious, who leaned forward, her eyes going manic with glee and something else. “But you didn't mishear all of that. It's all truth, it's all the bloody, uncomfortable truth. And you think Endeavour is up to snuff? Well, he's a master of the flames, and I know how destructive that can be.”

Pyre's joke was a genuine one. Re-Destro, Trumpet, and Curious could tell a rehearsed or pre-planned line from the real ones; it came as part of the experience with their civilian jobs. Though they knew more about the mindset of Pyre than most, with Curious having spent quite a few late nights poring over details or reading notes gathered from field agents.

Pyre hummed, a finger to his lip as his hair seemed to catch the light, glowing like it too was ablaze. “But I wonder…can he handle us? Would you all sit back and allow the cycle to continue? Well, I won't. We won't, as we have 40 possible contenders for our ranks." Of course, that part. Re-Destro could only imagine that the heroes and the safety commission were losing it over that. The 5 villains were trouble enough as is, if they were to expand their ranks…

Pyre grabbed the camera, bringing it closer to him as he smiled, his eyes glowing as smoke bled out his pearly whites, like a dragon sizing up its prey, and yet without a shred of malice, which somehow made it worse. To stare into the eyes of a person who could engulf you in flames with the same mindset as offering a stranger a smile and a wave, "And it’s said and done, it’ll just be 10. So bring it on, Endeavour, show us if you can burn away the truth.”

But like a snap of the fingers, Pyre pulled back and ceased the smokeshow, his eyes losing their glow even if his hair remained smooth and glossy as he waved at their audience. “Good night, everybody. This won't be the last time you hear from us. We plan to continue, and we'll ensure this broken world is turned to ash so a new one may rise.”

With that, the TV was turned off. They didn't need to see it again, nor did they have any interest in watching as news pundits discussed this latest development, which had occurred just a day after the commission's latest attempt to shore up its support with a very public unveiling ceremony of a hero billboard.

“Hmm, I like it. the presentation, the raw unfiltered energy, oh, I wish I could have interviewed him.” Curious sighed. The woman was a beauty. Long, pale lilac hair worn parted to her height, full lips, and despite being in her early 40s, she still had the figure that would make most 20-something women jealous. All wrapped up with her navy blue, shoulderless long-sleeved dress and unbuttoned salmon-coloured jacket with black fur around the collar and hem.

Of course, there were still many who couldn't see that and focused on how she was 'unsightly' due to her pale blue skin and black sclerae. Still, she wore it with pride, with not a shred of shame or reservation in her for her looks or her mind.

“He’s a brat who thinks he can just use Destro’s name like that? Claim we’re nothing but failed relics?” Skeptic was far from amused about things, or this latest broadcast from these upstarts, mercenaries pretending to have anything more on the brain than money.

Trumpet was more in the middle ground of it. “You can’t fault him and others for thinking such. Else we wouldn’t have done a good job at covering our tracks.”

“Give the word and we can crush these hired goons who think they’re anything more.” Skeptic ignored him and turned towards the Grand Commander.

"Calm yourself, Skeptic. This seems like trouble, but really, it's a boon to us." Re-Destro was also angry; he had a clear sign that they could all see, but, like Trumpet reminded them, it wasn't right to be upset about being called a dead organization when they had allowed and encouraged such thinking for decades now.

However, this new group, while not connected to them, wasn’t without its uses. “While not ideal, they’re exposing the same rot we’ve known about for decades. Forcing society to see its failures and question this restrictive world order.” They seemed to share many of the same goals as them, so it wasn't impossible that the Thunder's members could be brought into the fold.

In fact, given the current state of affairs, this might be their best chance to succeed in decades. Society was unstable, the heroes incapable of stopping this rise in crime, and without a hero, a demi-god like All Might to sure things up and crush any challengers, they were in a great time for their long-awaited revival party.

"Such would only turn hundreds, no, tens of thousands to our cause as they listen. After all, it seems like they also seek liberation and reconstruction." Re-Destro smiled as this was almost too good to be true.

"Pyre was also a wonderful choice for this. He has already built up a small but dedicated fan base. Leaning into it, he's bound to see that fanbase explode and gain greater traction. In fact, if we play things right, we could start bringing up more of those talking points, air people who share the ideals, and broadcast them. We can build on this new stage of things.” Curious, the one most plugged into this sort of thing, added.

“And yet, you still wish to get to all of them.” Trumpet asked her, to which she smiled, her manic edge only growing sharper.

"Of course I do, they're all mysterious and yet so intriguing. Stories of confusion, isolation, abuse, heartbreak, and tragedy. I've done all I can from having people speak with those who knew them, but I need to hear the rest, the full picture, and that only comes from their lips." Curious, she shuddered, as she so desperately wanted to interview them, to learn all there was to know and expose it for all the world to see.

“Trumpet, wouldn’t this sort of talk being forced into the light and normalised aid your efforts as well?" Re-Destro asked, Trumpet catching on quick and nodding, promising that this would make it into their next party rallies and speeches before the diet. "Then, Skeptic, I would have you do all you can to ensure it keeps in the spotlight. This is a gauntlet thrown at the feet of the heroes."

Skeptic didn't like it, but he didn't disobey. Besides, it would be something of a treat to aid the Thunder and show them how pitiful their cybersecurity was compared to his, even if he was to be protecting them while working to ensure it spread.

Line Break

“That’s it?” Far from Aichi, far from anything really, sat a large complex owned by Sledgehammer Industries. One of Japan's premier support agencies, it made most of its money by creating hero support items. However, it also hosted a military R&D division that specialized in the types of robots U.A. assigned to students, although those were purposely designed to be weak, dumb, and relatively frail.

Because of that, as well as fear from competition, they had a few sites like this one, built far from prying eyes or civilians in case of an accident. It also meant that, outside of any security staff, they had no one to call on, and professionals would be too far away to arrive in time. It made the perfect first mark for the Volcano Thieves and their two add-ons.

"Well, it sure as hell looks like a big corpo testing site," Dusty remarked as she looked over the place with a pair of binoculars, spotting what looked to be at least a dozen buildings, some of which were pretty damn big, as well as plenty of security moving around.

“It better be," Volcano grunted, his gaze trying to scan for any possible security besides morons with stun guns and batons. A site like this had to have such thorough measures.

"Relax, you really think they'll give us bad intel for this?" Dusty assured her boss, as she knew the man was just impatient to start, but the sun was already setting as they'd scoped out the place since the afternoon.  “Besides, this sort of thing is our speciality.”

Kallee, who was tending to one of her blades, looked up and nodded. “If that is the case, then I’ll defer to you on some issues.”

“You wonder why they wanted us to hit this spot?” Gust asked, looking over the basic floor plans for the site. An impressive thing to acquire, and he knew the Thunder didn’t get this from Giran for cheap, but they still just…handed it to them.

“What do you mean?” Shearwolf asked the woman, seated on a rock, who was kicking her feet about.

"We're meant to steal some fancy new support gear or something, but didn't the Thunder already rob like the biggest place for stuff like that? This feels like a downgrade.” He explained that, as it wasn't like the Thunder could even use that advanced robot technology, there was no way they had the facilities to make or store them, so why send them in to steal designs for the latest one?

Kallee, having finished polishing her blade to perfection, hummed before she spoke. “For them perhaps, but it serves as a suitable test for us.”

“Look alive, sun’s gonna be setting in 30 minutes, so here’s the plan,” Volcano called out.

Line Break

As the sun set and night fell, two guards stood outside the testing site, watching the road. The facility was built on a small hill, levelled out to fit, with other approaches made incredibly steep and covered with hidden sensors. The only way in and out was this one road. “You watched it?”

“What?” The second, a much larger man, asked as he kept his gaze on the road, looking for the slightest sign of trouble.

“Come on, don’t play dumb.” The first goaded his senior into speaking.

“Shouldn’t we focus on guard duty?”

“We can do that and talk, not like our eyes don’t work when we move our lips.” The younger of the two remarked that, along with them, they had several cameras watching this road. Their presence was more of a redundancy and a failsafe in case someone had a quirk that made it difficult for the cameras to see them.

“Fine,” The older grunted. "Yes, I saw it. Hard to avoid it when it's being talked about on every channel."

“Kinda weird, seeing how you can’t find anywhere legal to watch it.” The second mentioned, as more often than not, they couldn’t even show clips of the whole villain livestream…that still felt weird to say.

“Please don’t tell me you went on the dark web.” The older man silently hoped his coworker, the new hire, hadn't done something that should have been a red flag.

"Nope, VPN, my friend. VPN." How was that better, but also not at the same time? The older of the two would need to think about that as the younger continues. "Just gotta find a country which hasn't erased it from the internet, in this case, Bolivia. It was a little funny watching it with poor Spanish subbing."

“It’s all a bunch of crap if you ask me. That pyre kid is insane.” The older shook his head, as a kid that fucked in the head, that was just poor parenting. No way his old kids turned out like that. And in a few months, he would also be a grandfather.

"Oh, no fight about that, but you gotta admit, they're been pretty damn effective. How many villains can claim half the stuff they've done, and word is they're becoming real big in the underworld.” The younger stated that it had been something of a 'secret' talking point which every major agency was running with, none more so than a couple of channels that seemed to revel in the stupid debate.

"Pros need to pick up the slack; stuff like this is embarrassing. Japan had the 3rd lowest crime rate in the world, behind Sweden and Norway, and they got so little crime, they have like 2 prisons each." The older man reminded his colleague that, as Japan was under All Might's protection, it made sense. Now, as soon as the man retires, the rest of the pros can't figure out this situation? Ba! Too soft.

“Now, we aren’t even in the top 10 anymore, and it’s only getting worse.” He finished, worried about his family. He worried for the world his grandbabies would be born into.

"I hear you, man, I do, but it's just how things are going, but that's why we're here, isn't it?" The second chuckled, his eyes going to the facility behind them before he went back to watching the road.

The older of the two agreed with that. "Whatever the eggheads are cooking up will make sure these villains all end up in prison."

“Great-!” The conversation was interrupted, but by an intruder, and the ground began to shake. “What the…you’re feeling this?” The younger knelt to keep from falling, his hand steadying him through for some reason; he could swear the dirt felt a lot hotter than it should be.

“An earthquake?” The older asked, already reaching for his radio to ask if the rest of the place was fine, but before could so much as touch it, the road before them exploded in magma and fire, and out from it, a sheep monster leapt out, driving its fist deep into the younger who had been kneeling and unable to do so much as cry out as he sent towards dreamland, landing with a thud.

“Sosuke!, you damn anima-ARG!” He went for his taser, but the sheep monster moved once more, kicking him in the head and knocking him out. Watching the old man drop, Shearwolf huffed as she allowed her transformation to drop.

“I’m not an animal, and just for that, you’re not getting any sweaters.” She muttered, as she had held back at the last second when she saw the man's advanced age, still, she wouldn't be surprised if he had a bad concussion after this and got some good retirement benefits.

With the path clear, that didn't mean the cameras, which had witnessed all this, were handled, and within seconds, the alarms went off, loud and ear-piercing. The rest made their way out of the hole that Volcano had carved, but Gust had been sure to keep the hot air as far from them as possible. Still, when the rest came out, they were sweating from the hot trip underground.

"Why did we tunnel out this far from the facility centre? We could have popped out deeper in." Kallee asked, as with the facility on high alert, they could have taken it if they had been able to emerge at a point where they could do more damage.

“Because of this,” Volcano clenched his fist before slamming it into the ground, sending ripples of heat towards the facility's gate and beyond. This caused a magma explosion that tore the gate to shreds and took out the entire guard force that had been gathering to meet them on the other side, leaving them all groaning in piles before them.

With that done, Volcano glanced towards Kallee. “We aren’t getting points for being sneaky, but I bet we’ll get extra if we can trash the place and get the data.” He explained that as the alarms continued to blare, they could even make out dozens of robots making their way towards them, some painted to match the uniforms of the security personnel, others clearly prototypes and unfinished models sent out to handle the emergency.

Kallee nodded before turning to see the largest and tallest building. One which, if the plans were accurate, was their target. “You’ll handle the guards then, while I head to the main building?"

“Take Dusty with you, we’ll make sure the rest are too busy getting the crap beat out of them.” Volcano grunted as he leapt into the fray, explosions and fire soon following as he ripped his way through the men and machines. Shearwolf was already following after him as she shifted into her more beastly form, and allowed her wool to form into protective armour and soft gauntlets, which sent people to dreamland in the gentlest way a punch could.

"Looks like the boss is in a great mood," Gust remarked, not worried about things, as saying what one did about the boss was not something he would do. Incompetent and short-sighted were two things that didn't describe him.

"Let's get moving. The last thing we want is the workers catching on and deleting the target before we can get it." Kallee turned and started to run towards the target, her steps echoing like metal on stone as she drew two of her blades and cut down a robot that had turned the corner to try to surprise her.

“Right, right-let’s mess things up for them.” Dusty followed, whipping out her club and allowing dust to explode out of her, catching several guards who started to cough as they lost sight of her, only for her to start knocking them out with quick strikes to the head as she moved to catch up with the swordswoman.

Line Break

“Something wrong?” Chimera asked as he looked to his rear, where Pyre had stopped walking strangely and was now looking out into the distance. Following where his friend and comrade was gazing, even with his superior eyesight, he didn't see anything.

Pyre shook his head before skipping to close the jap between him and Chimera. Behind them were a few robots. Not the best and clearly not built for fights, but what the 3 four four-legged droids had was large TV studio cameras fitted to them. "No, just felt like something interesting was happening, is all."

“Well, the second part of the trials started today, so odds are, plenty of stuff is happening. I almost wish we could have seen it.” Chimera replied as he turned to keep on walking. The two weren't anywhere near civilisation; the last town was 30 minutes away by car, and no trains ran anywhere close to them. They were out in the sticks in the middle of the night.

"Me too, they all had high potential, and those targets aren't easy. All I'll have to watch is the recordings." Pyre let his head roll back, as he had been looking forward to it; it had been part of the plan, but then this mess came up, and he, along with Chimera, was picked to deal with it.

“We should focus on our own tasks, Midoriya. It’s why we paid those spotters.” Koharu reminded him, as the giant snake often did for her human, who raised a hand to stroke her back.

“I know, I know.” The group fell into a comfortable silence, with only the sounds of their droids as they followed after them. Their cameras switched to night vision mode to catch everything, though this was not a live stream but a recording that Mummy and Nine would edit later.

As for why they would record them walking around in the middle of nowhere, that became clear 10 minutes later when, in the distance, they could make out a massive mansion along the cliffs, the scent of the ocean clear in the air.

If they had approached from the sea, perhaps they would have been more impressed with the structure, as the entire thing was built like a palace, with white walls and crystal clear windows; it even had a small dome. But for its wealth, it wasn't some wealthy nobodies' retreat, at least, not at present. "For a hate group, they sure have the aesthetics." Koharu mused, which Pyre translated for Chimera, who chuckled in turn.

"Well, they're in the pocket of some very wealthy backers, so it makes sense they could use one of their vacation homes.” Chimera joked as they continued to approach it. They didn't need to worry about sentries or security; the people inside hadn't even turned on any lights, banking more on secrecy for security.

That would be a mistake that both were happy to exploit.

"I tell you, I can never understand the rich; it's like having that much money makes you a moron," Pyre noted. As he was wealthy, the entire Thunder was wealthy, but most of it remained untouched, kept safe in multiple foreign bank accounts. Day to day, they lived with a pretty normal budget.

Chimera grunted, but didn't respond as they reached the main gate, a massive, elegantly designed gate that would have been more at home in a palace than in this place. But its price and beauty wouldn't save it.

“Should I knock, or you?” Pyre asked, to which Chimera cracked a smile.

"You know what? Allow me, it's been a while since I've had the chance to let loose. You handle the product." The Chimera calmly placed a hand on the fence and, with little effort, ripped it clean off its hinges, as if to show off. With just one hand holding it, he aimed for the dome and threw half the gate towards it like it was a pebble. Seconds later, with a boom and crash, the steel met the glass, and it was clear which caved first as the gate exploded out the other side and dropped towards the ocean.

With a route secured, the two calmly walked onto the premises, ignoring the well-groomed gardens, the fountains, or the spots for several cars to park. However, they did take note of the several trucks, vans, and forklifts that had been left out. They were halfway through when they were met by a force of 30 hooded figures, their faces covered by skull-themed masks.

“What-who are you?” One of the demands was to know when the lights came on and shone down on the 2.

“Wait, I recognise that beast, he’s the Thunder’s pet.” One of them, who happened to be armed with an assault rifle, barked as she aimed for Chimera.

“B-but if he’s here, that means the other one is-” Another gulped as they turned to the smaller of the two, who smiled at them without a shred of fear despite the dozen guns aimed at the two.

"Yup, it's me. And don't worry about introducing yourselves. We already know who you are: The Creature Rejection Clan, or at least, one of the many cells running around the county." Pyre’s smile grew, but his eyes lost any semblance of affection or kindness.

They matched Kon's gaze in that moment, an angry predator who had spotted not prey, but a nuisance, as this bigoted group, a relic of times that should have died, was nothing but dirt. Evil people who hated just for hate's sake, and made it their mission to ensure heteromorphs always felt fear when they left their homes.

This far from town, they were typically the big dogs. They even had this nice little place all to themselves, but Pyre and Chimera would correct that.

"Y-do you have any idea what you're doing? What is this place?" One of them, who seemed arrogant or foolish, tried to boost.

“A gun running operation. Seems like the intel was good.” Pyre muttered, as those guns, they sure as heck didn't just pop up on the black market out of nowhere. Even in a quirk-dominated Japan, guns weren't all that common, and most were pistols. But this? Oh, this was a whole outta ball game.

"I wonder why the pros haven't figured you guys out yet and shut this shit down. We found you so quickly that it was embarrassing. Surely our new top ten could have done the same." Chimera thought aloud, unfazed by the growing number of CRC who surrounded them, prepared to gun them down. "But then again, this could be a repeat of the past. What do you think, Pyre?"

“Hmmm, maybe not. But if you do find some pros amongst them…” Pyre ignored the ground and instead turned his attention towards the mansion, where the true price lay. “Save them for me.”

"As for us, we'll handle everything else, bye!" With that, Pyre nearly burst, steam and smoke blasting out of his body as he launched himself towards the target. Not over the crowd, but through it, as he bats people aside; his strength, augmented to its near peak in his human form, sends people toppling over.

“Hey, stop him!” It took a moment for the CRC to react, and they immediately went for the kill option.

Chimera stopped them by stomping, cracking, and ripping apart the pavement, which he then punched and sent flying towards a group of them. "Yeah, that's not happening, but hey, smile for the cameras."

Another group screamed bloody murder and fire, but he wasn't just big and strong, he was fast, as she evaded their embarrassing attempts to pump him full of lead, those shots which landed hardly phased him, being too weak to pierce his thick hide and hardened muscle.

But it did bring a smile to his face as he grabbed one by the head and used them as a bat to beat on others before he threw the poor soul into another group, his laughter overshadowing the gunfire as Pyre burst into the building, the doors sent flying.

"Look at all of this, so many weapons, I didn't think you would find this many outside a military base," Pyre smiled as he saw crates, so many crates just left all over the place. Some carried guns, others ammo, and he could see a few open. No doubt the gunman outside, getting torn to pieces, had been equipped with these.

Someone tried to surprise him, but Koharu had clocked them when he entered. Without looking, Pyre grabbed them by the arm and threw them into a hard, bone-cracking impact on impact as the now unconscious and no doubt very injured bigot slumped to the floor.

With the rest keeping their distance, it gave Pyre time to check over the crates present. “Let’s see, they don’t have a return address, poo, would have made tracking down the others easier.” Going over them, it was what they had suspected, but when he got to one such container, it did have a place of origin, the little country of…Otheon?

“What is this?” Prye frowned as he ripped the craft open, and inside, he didn't find guns; he found a trigger, but this was different. It wasn't in vials ready for injection, but it was kept in a gas cannister of all things.

“Is this normal?” Koharu asked, and Pyre shook his head as he looked. Scattered on the floor was some paperwork, one piece of which had markings matching the box. He gently picked it up, pulled out a flashlight, and started to read it properly.

What he found was not good.

“Looks like these bigots have moved on from just regular weapons and are working to get something chemical in nature smuggled into Japan.” Pyre clenched his hand, halfway to setting it on fire, but he held back. He needed this; they needed this.

“Looks like we’re going to need to take some of this with us and have it looked at.” He glanced towards the trigger cannister, but kept his distance now that he had a clearer view of what it was. “We can burn the rest.”

Line Break

The second-to-last chapter of the year, and already I'm working on other WIPs, ones that have been little more than ideas in my documents, but now have some much-needed time. I did, however, make sure there was time for this, so don't worry. There were several ways this could have gone. Still, the route I chose seemed the most clear and direct to handle, showing how things are shifting in verse without needing extended explanation, as that can be hard to read.