Hell on Earth - Part 3
Posted on Mon Apr 7th, 2025 @ 12:59pm by Charles Xavier & Scott Summers & Connor Bruin & Bobby Drake & Hank McCoy & Kurt Wagner & Nathaniel Essex & Hayden Davis & Jean Grey & Kennedy Kelly & Maeve MacKenna & Jennifer Bryant & Drew Williams & Desmond Greene & Pietro Maximoff & Aurora Essex & Kayleigh Marshall
Edited on on Mon Apr 7th, 2025 @ 1:06pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: Genosha/Limbo
Timeline: December 10th, 1990
As the brimstone smoke cleared and the Goblin Queen advanced with the horde, the demon princes of Limbo, S’ym and N’astirh, continued to scour the burning leveled ground that once held Moreau’s beloved Machine.
"Ol biah artefu, od sobam ol jidan!" N'astirh hissed as he dug through more of the building's rubble. [Find the relic or it will be our hides.] "Ol Belasco Drux, od zodameranu tabr zorge vo draz!" [Lord Belasco's blood magic will only keep the portals open for so long.]
"Iri en senef heka em djed! Rekh senef—ankh em khet!" S’ym snapped as he swung his axe in a moment of redirected rage. [Do not speak to me of blood magic—I know it well!] He had been a man once, like these mewling humans that were now being dragged into Limbo. But rather than scream and weep as their bodies were ripped apart on blood altars, S’ym had survived. It was through the dark blood magic that Belasco now used to fuel these portals that he had been forged into the beast he was. "Sema nebet neper medu neteru, rekh em kheper, ren netjeru nfr. Khet nebu em senef heka per-ka Limbo ankh, nebet kheper!" [I know what is needed to keep the portals open, when the blood stops flowing, they will close. Unless we can return the relic to Limbo.]
"Ol Sinistru od adrpan ol uzir od ol Drux. Revonus ol artefu, od sobam od seraf!" N'astirh crushed a charred skull in his clawed hands as he spoke, a demon born from Limbo’s hate, his bloodlust was unmatched. [Stolen by Sinister, taken as a way to leash and enslave our Lord. With the relic returned, we will kill him too.]
"Neferet en medu?" S’ym asked as he gestured towards the sky, a silent request to N’artish to take to the sky and report. [And the Queen Mother?]
With horrible leather wings, N'astirh took to the air and surveyed the battle that had traveled southward and towards the docks. After a moment’s time he returned to S’ym. "Ol noleth, od goblim vorde. Ol Exu-Mardu, od sobam hal!" [I did not see her, but her goblins are attacking. The X-Men, they are retreating.]
"NN'BA!" [FOOL!] S’ym barked as he reached out and struck N’astirh. "Iru en medu rekh ol hiero! Neper zek hiero! Em djed en djed, if ne atet hiero... od per-khet en nefer-aten!" [If they are leaving that means they have the relic with them! We cannot lose that relic! Once the blood stops flowing, if we don’t have it... the portals will close for decades!]
"Sobam, sobam ol paracal!" [We will kill them... kill all of them.] The pain of being struck seemed to inspire N’astirh and he took to the sky once more. "Sobam relon paracal—od gilad od gilad!" [I will rip apart that plan of the theirs—piece by piece.]
"Hesa ne, jemu ua," S'ym replied as he began to leap and bound across the ground towards the harbor. [No mercy, only pain.]
Back at the docks, everyone finally reconvened. When Scott reappeared with Bobby, Maeve, and Kurt, they joined in the defense with the rest of X-Factor and the X-Men who were barely holding the line.
"We need to get to the Blackbird," Scott said. "Pre-flight takes a few minutes and we need to make sure it stays in one piece until then."
"NOBODY GETS LEFT BEHIND," Connor added.
"Cargo ships are aweigh," Hank called out from the other end. "Everyone who is getting out has gotten out—except us!"
When Hayden arrived at the plane, she positioned herself along the perimeter, ready to defend. She stood there, looking around for goblins or demons or whatever, and started swirling water around her arms from the air. She hadn't received any training on the Blackbird yet as she was still too young to fly it, or so she suspected. But she was going to ask about learning at least some pre-flight basics as a beginning.
Jennifer stood next to Hayden. Her hands were raised. She'd managed to recharge a little since the fight with the strange monster but only a little. Still, she would defend the Blackbird until they could lift off. "Do these things ever end?" she muttered, mostly to herself. The sheer number of these supernatural creatures was terrifying to her.
Maeve felt a little weak from not only todays events but those of the last few days. She had partially shaken off the outer rock skin after Kurt had delivered them all to the docks. Some patches of the golem showed bare skin, targets for enemies to hit. Then there was a stumble, her knees weaker than before, as she tried to walk. Reaching out and touching Bobby's shoulder he turned to look at her. "Can you help me onto the plane?" she asked as more rocks began to fall from her body.
Desmond had found his way to the plane as well. Along the way an almost three foot wide length of iron pole had been grabbed. He swung the metal length around as if it was a cardboard tube. While he had been a football player before the change, he didn't do badly at baseball either. Swing after swing sent goblins flying. Some alone, some in pairs of threesomes.
Slowly making her way back towards the Blackbird, Kennedy fired arrow after arrow into the buildings that edged the harbor. When they crumbled and collapsed, it created walls of rubble that managed to slow the goblins and demons that tried to swarm them. Her plan of attack worked to some extent but the sheer number of foot soldiers that marched from the dozens of Limbo portals made it impossible to completely stop them. The goblins piled up at every choke point Kennedy had made before they climbed and crawled over one another and managed to scale the walls.
Scott’s keen eye picked up on S’ym and N’astirh’s approach, the Princes of Limbo were much larger than any of the goblins that attacked and based on how quickly they had healed from their previous battle they appeared to be blessed with healing as well as strength. Their heavy hitting attacks combined with unstoppable numbers the goblins provided, it was only a matter of time before they fell.
"Genosha is lost,” Cyclops assessed. "Load up and close the ramp, we need to leave before more reinforcements arrive."
“Go ahead,” Jean shouted to the rest of X-Teams as the demons of Limbo continued to pour from the portals that appeared all of Genosha. “I can hold them back and fly to the Blackbird once you’re a safe distance away.”
Part of her doubted that request, remaining as the last man standing was how she fell at Krakoa, but Jean would always make the choice to save the many over the few. As the teams began to fall back, Jean found herself alone on the docks using a large telekinetic shield to hold back the horde.
With a brief nod and acknowledgment of her request, Connor gave the signal to the X-Men and they began to load into the prepping Blackbird
As the X-Men abandoned Genosha, a familiar voice hissed in Jean's ear. Even though no one was nearby, the presence was there, as if he was just out of sight.
"Miss Grey. It has been too long." Sinister. It could be no other. "What a merry game of chase this has been. Yet, here we are, are we not? Full circle."
Jean’s blood both chilled and boiled as the eerie voice of Sinister whispered in her ear. She felt herself beginning to uncontrollably tremble at the very thought of him being closer to. “There is no game between us, Essex. If you dare to come close to me again, you will regret it.”
A rapping began to sound at the back of Jean’s mind like a bird’s beak on leaded glass.
* Free me and we will make him pay. This English Lord and the Mage who rules from Limbo, I will burn them both for the crimes they have committed. *
“No!” Jean protested aloud and the shield she had created shuttered in response.
As Sinister continued to circle her from his hidden position, he saw the flicker of fire in Jean’s eyes. It was so close now, a feather soft push from him and Sinister would see what he coveted above all else.
“It calls to you… doesn’t it?” A long shadow cast upon the dock thickened into a tar-like substance before giving way to the form of a tall man clad in black armor and crimson vestments. “Why do you resist? You know this is your purpose, a sacred chalice and vessel of honor for that greatest power in all the universe, in any universe!”
The pale man’s black lips cast hot breath against Jean’s neck, somehow standing in the impossible position of right over her shoulder. “Perhaps you need further incentive…”
Snapping his fingers and gesturing as a lord to his butler, the horde of demons gave way as two mighty ones were dragged low like dogs on an invisible leash. One was Aurora, her flowy gown ripped and sullied as she was dragged through the mud and ash around the dock. The other was the gangly, mutated Moreau whose four clawed hands scraped up detritus to no avail. Both were dragged before Sinister like marionettes dangling in the air.
“Both flawed failures in their own ways, undone by their own foolish pride, but a good craftsman never blames his tools,” Sinister purred. “Which one will it be, Jean Grey? The sewer harpie who slept with your man in your own bed, or the evil scientist who stole your very essence from your gametes thanks to a sample of your brain? One of them will place this on you once again, and I will grant you the choice of whom.”
A mutant control collar floated into Jean’s field of vision, hovering there like a macabre advertisement.
The sight of the collar created a visceral reaction inside of Jean and for a brief moment she was back in that lab where she had been forced to die over and over again. The voice called to her once more, reminding Jean that it held the power to stop him, to stop all of this.
* I’m right here child. Let me guide your hand… *
Jean reached out to that voice and as she brushed against it, she felt the amazing and terrifying power it possessed. With her hand on the trigger of something dangerous and limitless she suddenly grew brave.
“You do it.” Jean baited him with newfound confidence. “You once told me you did this all for me… so I chose you.”
The proposition actually took the swagger out of Sinister's demeanor for a moment. So many considerations flashed through his mind in an instant that it gave him pause. In the end, he gave her a cruel sneer.
“Very well… Audentes fortuna juvat.”
Slithering back into shadow, the man was obscured, save for his red eyes which glowed all the brighter. The control collar floated toward Jean's neck and opened wide to receive her. Sounds of battle muted around them. Time itself seemed to slow down as the distance closed between it and Jean.
With her eyes fixed on the shadows where Sinister loomed, he watched as the vivacious green of Jean’s eyes was replaced with a brilliant glowing light as something more than a mere woman took command of her body and mind.
* “Essex, this corrupted land will be your tomb.” * Jean’s voice faded as something awesome and horrible took its place. A voice that could only be described as both old and new, gentle yet terrifying. * “Did you think you could control me, that you could bend me to your will? You are as foolish as any mortal that came before you and just like them, your hubris will be your demise.” *
Jean’s lithe figure lifted from the ground in a slow and ominous ascension. Her scarlet hair danced like flames around her as cosmic flames began to lick at her feet.
Genosha had once been a eugenic madman’s playground, then a portal to hell. Now it would succumb to something older than time and stronger than any force of nature.
* “You will die by The Phoenix’s fire” *
A psychic scream traveled across the island of Genosha as a raptor’s war cry pierced the mind of every living creature on the island. It left them all crumpled and writhing in pain as an overwhelming sense of dread took hold.
“Oh no…” Fighting through the pain of the attack Scott’s blood ran cold from within the Blackbird. “No, no… Jean!” Despite his instinct to return to her, he knew what this meant and what they had to do. “Resist the psychic attack,” Scott called out to the team, the urgency in his typically stoic tone was unsettling “X-Men, push back against it… Compose yourselves… we have to go, we have to go right now…”
Hayden collapsed onto the cold floor of the Blackbird as she curled into herself, trembling. Her fingers dug into her scalp as she clamped her hands over her ears, as if that would somehow block out the psychic shriek inside her mind. Tears streamed down her cheeks as a primal terror echoed.
“I can’t...I can’t....” she whimpered, voice barely audible in her own ears. Then somewhere deep down, where she kept hope tucked away, a melody rose. It was a song she would sing in her mind, and sometimes in a quiet whisper, when the taunts of the bullies and the neighborhood children echoed. It had always brought her strength and she hoped it would do the same now.
I know this pain… why do you lock yourself up in these chains? No one can change your life except for you.… Her lips moved silently as the song played in her mind in quiet defiance.
She breathed in, then out. Don't ever let anyone step all over you…
Then the chorus hit like a lifeline. Some day somebody's gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye. Until then, baby, are you going to let 'em hold you down and make you cry? She uncurled, stretched her legs out and pulled herself up. She wiped her face with what was left of her sleeve.
Things'll go your way... Hold on for one more day. The psychic shriek was definitely still there, loud and drowning out the world around her into muffled sounds. It was like the ringing in your ears after an explosion, but this one never went away. She felt dizzy, unable to completely let go of the wall she'd used to pull up herself up.
She looked at Cyclops and pointed to her ear shaking her head. All while still holding on to the wall with the other hand.
For all measures of physical strength. For all notions of durability. It all meant nothing as Desmond felt his mind torn apart and put back together in the Phoenix' flames. Images of destruction incarnate and rebirth made manifest. The massive tree-man had slid out of his seat and curled up as if he was nothing more than a tree trunk.
Pietro’s body began to vibrate and shutter as his muscles twitched and moved with superhuman speed in a reflexive response to the pain of the psychic attack. His mind became a carousel of memories riddled with regret. As a member of the Brotherhood he had hurt a lot of people, some of whom didn’t deserve the degree of justice Magneto had demanded he administer. So in this moment, when the attack of the Phoenix bared down on him, all Pietro could see was how terrible he had been and it ripped his heart in two.
For his part, Connor fell into a waking coma, his body stock still in the co-pilot's seat while he stared vacantly through the cockpit windshield. Internally his mind was abuzz, contending with the impossible, infinite power that assaulted him. A trickle of blood zagged from his nose over his lip.
Beside him Hank used his last ounce of will to unclaw his face and activate the autopilot. This was unbearable but no matter what happened to him, the Blackbird and all who were in it would not perish on his account. The roar of agony he let out was guttural and true to his codename.
Drew's mind retreated into total blackness from Jean’s telepathic assault. He entered a deep coma. The EEG monitor in the Blackbird's compact med bay blipped under the burden of it all.
Tandy sobbed and wailed in response to the crushing pain of the telepathic attack, she clung to Ty as the nightmare in her mind continued to grow and consume her. Meanwhile, Ty remained stoic and silent as a trickle of blood leaked from his nose.
"Nein... nein, nein..." Kurt's glowing eyes were closed fast as he shook his head back and forth. Horrible memories of his past were set loose before his mind's eye, drowning him in suffering that his typically optimistic and upbeat perspective was powerless to drown out. "Bitte, Gott, nein!"
Kennedy curled in upon herself as the skull shattering pain resonated through her mind, her own thoughts became a prison that caged and confined her until she turned small from the agony of it. Life felt pointless and futile in this moment and she wanted that comic fire to claim her simply because it would mean an end.
~Link together, my X-Men!~ It was the Professor's voice! Amplified by Cerebro, the unifying telepathic communication from Charles Xavier created an additional firewall around the joined minds of the team. ~Hold fast as one!~
A wash of focus and calm filled the Blackbird as they each felt Professor Xavier’s steadying telepathic presence. The pain and visions of the Phoenix’s attack left their minds and the team was free of its crippling hold.
“Accelerating to Vmax,” Hank called back as his focus on their departure returned. “Connor, monitor cabin pressure and safety systems.”
“DEPLOYING OXYGEN MASKS,” Connor signed in reply.
As the Blackbird began to accelerate the island of Genosha was engulfed in flames with a fire that defied the rules of nature. It bloomed and clung to everything it touched like napalm that needed no fuel to burn. The keening cry of life and death permeated everything it fell upon, causing the last standing structures of Genosha to pancake flat against the ground while everything from trees to Limbo demons turned shriveled and desiccated by the primordial fire which consumed them. Every nearby spark of life imploded on itself before igniting in flashes of light that combined together into a meteoric firework show of cosmic proportions.
The Blackbird streaked away and the view of the island expanded until they were granted a birdseye view of the burning chain reaction that engulfed Genosha. At the heart of the desolation loomed a giant bird made of flame and fire, its elegant wings extended and the plume of destruction followed.
Burning tendrils reached through every Limbo portal and the destruction of the Phoenix Force breached and destroyed the alternate dimension with the same mighty power. Despite the distance from the carnage, the X-Men could feel the brutality and wrath of the attack. There was no surviving the destruction caused by the Phoenix’s flames.
Hayden put on one of the available oxygen masks. She sat down and turned to look out the window; the devastation was more than she could have ever imagined. They were all so lucky to get out there when they did, and with who they did. She glanced over at Ty and Tandy. Though, there were still the ones that were carried away and the deaths and...demons. She visibly shuddered and then turned away, thankful for the calming voice of Professor Xavier. She took a deep breath and leaned back.
It had been all Kurt could do not to teleport away at random. Flying at such high speeds, so there was no telling which direction he would have went or where he would've ended up. For better or for worse, he had held out in the Blackbird, and now he was glad he did. He looked around to ensure everyone else had an available oxygen mask before he claimed one himself.
“It’s terrible,” Kennedy muttered through her oxygen mask. She recalled the photos of Hiroshima after the bomb had been dropped and there had at least been something that remained. For Genosha there was no sign of life, no buildings or trees, no rubble or ash to remind people of what had happened. A whole city and an island ecosystem wiped clean in just the blink of an eye—life erased like chalk on a board.
~Scott!~ Charles Xavier’s voice shot through the cacophony of the Phoenix’s deafening swan song over Genosha. ~Reach out to her, Scott! Even Cerebro cannot get through! Your psychic rapport is the only way!~
Bracing himself with the window of clarity the Professor’s mind granted to him, Scott nodded. He concentrated on Jean, which was itself as natural as breathing. But the link they had was intense, no longer calming but searing like an electric fence.
~Jean! You have to stop it! It’s killing us! Come back to me! Jean, you have to come back!~
*Boy, do you think a lover’s plea is enough to stop me? * The small figure of Jean that remained suspended in the heart of the Phoenix’s figure suddenly moved, her head turning upwards towards the Blackbird. Soulless burning eyes focused on them and everyone inside the jet felt the Phoenix’s rage, a feeling that was so vast and overwhelming that it burned like the flames it was made from.
*Mankind cannot see that they are the source of corruption in this world. They are the cancer that eats away at its host. This whole planet must burn, its corruption cleansed.*
Despite the fury that consumed them all, Scott heard the whisper of Jean’s presence. A gentle breeze lost in the gales of the Phoenix. That feeling told him she was not gone but merely buried under the mighty force of the entity that claimed her.
~We are the harmony of opposition, the clash of forces which come together to make all things beautiful~ Scott didn’t precisely know where these words were coming from. Connected as he was to this cosmic entity by way of his soulmate, the feelings he held deep inside merely took expressive form as they were half-propelled, half-summoned as if for judgment. It almost sounded like the Professor speaking through him, but… that wouldn’t be possible. Would it? ~To destroy us is to destroy yourself. Now let Jean go before you cross over into true self-condemnation~
Scott closed himself off in a desperate attempt to shield his consciousness from the overwhelming supernova that was searing away at the edges of his being. The only thing that had kept him alive under the weight of the Phoenix’s wrath was the very thing that fixed him squarely in her unwavering eye. His psychic rapport with Jean which connected them in body and soul was both the life and the death of him in that moment. Such was the symmetry of the Phoenix Force.
~JEAN!~ He called out with all the futile fury of a death cry yet with all the passion of a love that would never die.
~* ‘Scott.’ *~ He heard her voice loud and clear, the telepathic lifeline he had thrown to Jean had worked ~* ‘Hold onto me so I don’t get lost.’ *~
The portals to Limbo finally shuddered and trembled before dissolving, the blood magic needed to keep them open had been ignited and destroyed just like everything the Phoenix Force touched. In the end all that was left of Genosha was a charred rock. No ecosystem or civilization remained, the island was as lifeless as the surface of the moon.
The massive fire bird turned its attention towards the distant shores of Africa as its unending rage continued to burn. And a moment of dread filled the Blackbird as they realized they had once again traded one nightmare for another. The Phoenix Force would not stop until every last shred of humanity was gone.
~* ‘No!’ *~ Jean’s voice echoed in everyone’s mind as she fought and pulled on the hold the Phoenix had on her body and mind. ~* ‘It’s done, no more.’ *~
“No more…” Scott repeated in a whisper. “Not again.”
The last time he’d flown away while the Phoenix Force rose up inside Jean to destroy an island, he wished he’d died instead. That terrible event led to him becoming so lost that he’d nearly destroyed everything he’d ever held dear. The events in Aurora’s life leading up to her becoming whatever she’d become were part of that chain reaction.
“Kurt… take me to her.” Scott grimaced even as he said it.
“Are you certain?” Kurt was at a loss himself. This was so far and away from anything he’d ever known that he looked like he was waiting to wake up and for the dream to end.
“Yes,” Scott said. “Drop me over her and I’ll do the rest.”
“But…” Kurt struggled to voice the obvious concern. “Vhat if… she does not…”
“If I die, I die.” Scott didn’t mean to sound so grim. It was just the truth. “Life without her is not worth living.”
Kurt nodded in understanding. “Zhen take mein hand.”
In a moment, they had bamfed over the living plume of fire. Heatwaves rolled over their bodies as rising jets of superheated air lifted them up like leaves on the wind.
“Go!” Scott told him. “While you still can!”
The bamf of Kurt disappearing overhead was drowned out by the rushing sound of air as it whipped over Scott’s ears. He was now in freefall. Jean was below him at the center of the cosmic fire, as beautiful and terrible as the sun itself. The filter on his visor darkened to full opacity but it still wasn’t enough. Jean’s unmistakable silhouette still burned into his retinas.
“Jean!” he shouted as loud as his lungs would allow.
~I’m here, Jean~ He tucked his chin into his chest, unable to look any longer, at least not with his eyes. His heart, though, was transfixed, giving him a sixth sense as his body arced and curved against the scathing updrafts, angling downward as close to her as he could get. ~I promised I would never leave you. Not again. It’s you and me, together until the end~
~* ‘Forever’ *~ Jean replied and he felt the full force of her love for him. Scott was her lighthouse on the shore, his steadfast presence would always guide her home. Like soothing summer rain, Jean’s psyche rained down on the horrible seering anger that was the Phoenix Force.
With the fires extinguished, the awesome raptor that once engulfed Jean was snuffed out leaving only the woman behind. Exhausted and consumed by the endless power the Phoenix provided, Jean’s limp form began to plummet to the ground.
Now that the fires were extinguished, Scott knew what he had to do. He tucked his hands behind his back and slimmed his shoulders as best he could. Ankles locked together, forming a rudder of sorts he used to push through the air. Gaining speed, faster and faster, Scott cut a straight line toward Jean’s lifeless form falling to her death in the ocean below. It was a race against the clock, and all Scott could hope for was that he caught up with Jean before he reached terminal velocity or the broiling waves below. The surface tension of the ocean would hit like concrete.
Seconds ticked by in his head, but Scott dared not flinch or move a muscle, not when every instant counted. Increasing drag against his body could mean the difference between life and death for them both. Time had slowed to a crawl but when he finally caught up to Jean, it felt like the seconds burned away faster than ever before.
“Gotcha!” Scott cut sideways so he could grab Jean around her waist instead of crash into her headlong. His arms wrapped around her rib cage where his hands met together in a death grip. His legs similarly wrapped around her hips as he pulled her into a rear jiu jitsu guard with his ankles locked together. They had to be locked together tight for there to be any chance of success for what he did next.
Angling himself downward, Scott contorted his head away from her body and loosed a full powered tight beam, one strong enough to level a mountain. He shouted into the raging blast, willing it to slow their fall before they met their ends. They weren’t slowing fast enough, and for a moment Scott thought it was the end. But his blast displaced the water clear to the ocean floor, sending up a wall of water on either side.
The muddy landing was hard, especially because Scott rolled himself to cushion Jean’s fall, but still far softer than expected. A shadow fell across his face as he saw the displaced water falling back down to reclaim its former position.
“Oh, shit…” Scott closed his eyes and held Jean tight.
Jean stirred in his arms and acted out of instinct rather than comprehension, as she lifted a single hand up towards the sky. A telekinetic bubble surrounded them as the ocean returned in a mixture of spray and rain.
“And again,” she replied while looking up at him. Jean was drained and depleted but Scott saw only her in those beautiful green eyes, the crackling flames and the eerie glow were gone. The Phoenix Force had rescinded to whatever distant place in her mind that it resided.
Jean lifted her head and kissed him and that unbreakable bond that was their psychic rapport gleamed and glowed between them. They would always be each other's salvation.
With an interrupting bamf and a plume of brimstone Kurt appeared next to Scott and Jean. “Entschuldigung, ve should be on our vay, ja?”
Without hesitation, the lovers reached out for Kurt and they were all teleported back to the cabin of the Blackbird. Once safe and secure, Scott felt how limp and tired Jean was in his arms, like a newborn kitten she was weak and bone-weary.
The X-Men had witnessed the horrors of man on Genosha, a snapshot of how cruel and brutal civilization could be to one another. It took the arrival of hellish creatures from another world to make them wish for a return to the previous Genosha. And finally, sheer destruction at the hands of an unknown force that showed them all how fragile and precious life was. The island of Genosha had been a harrowing and evil place and as they flew away and left it all behind them, they all realized they would be forever changed by its events.
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