《Oliver's Wishes》 Chapter 1 Chapter 1 The Old Man Gotta find the boy before I bleed out. For 50 years I¡¯ve been trying to pass on this burden, to find the right person to protect it. I¡¯ve failed that mission. My time is up, I have to give it to someone else before the Cabal gets me, and they will get me. The Cabal has killed everyone I have ever called brother. I don¡¯t know how they found me this time, but it doesn¡¯t matter. They underestimated me. They underestimated the old man. I may look old, but I stay in good shape and I have a few tricks up my sleeve that they aren¡¯t expecting. The pain in my side just flared up, ow. I¡¯m using my hand to try to stop the light but steady blood flow. It would be nice to pull over and pressure wrap it, I think as I feel the precious blood seeping between my fingers, no time for that now though. I¡¯m old enough to be honest with myself. Real self-honesty that can only come with age and hard-earned wisdom, and I can tell no amount of pressure is going to fix this wound. None of that matters now though, gotta find the boy. I¡¯m careening through traffic in a stolen Cabal truck trying to get to the grocery store where the boy works¡­ The boy¡¯s name is Oliver. The only one to pass all of the tests... Well, all of the tests except for one. The test that some of my brothers considered the most important: The intelligence test. He truly failed that one, and then some. Oliver is as dumb as a bag of rocks, I¡¯m not even sure why I screened him. Something about him just always felt right. He was old fashioned, sincere, and honest. He truly wanted to help people. The only thing holding him back from being amazing was his IQ, which was a very low 69. An IQ of 69 meant he had a mild mental disability. If he didn¡¯t have that disability this kid could have been a world leader. Instead he was a bagger at a grocery store. Cursed by some congenital mistake. Day in and day out helping people out to their car with their groceries, and all with a genuine smile on his face. I had screened so many young men and women¡­ So many¡­ All of them, one by one, had failed. Petty, jealous, greedy, mean spirited, cracking easily under pressure, eventually they all showed their true face. The times are changing. It used to be easier to find candidates when things were simpler. People use to just be happy to have a home and a family, not anymore though. Now people can¡¯t even stand in line to buy a pair of sneakers without attacking each other like rabid beasts. Hell, I had seen people attack honored friends and family just for having different political beliefs. Don¡¯t get me wrong, greed and malice have always existed, they were just¡­ rarer. If I couldn¡¯t have the perfect candidate, I would take the loyal one, the one that should he ever falter and use its twisted power¡­ He would at least try to do something good with it, I doubt she would let that happen, but he would try. I could feel it in my own bones, he would try. Oliver is far from perfect, but he has a good heart, and that is what the world really needs, more people with good hearts. The grocery store is coming up now and I can already tell I¡¯m going way too fast. I yank the wheel to the side to try and avoid the curb and the stop sign in my path, but the blood on my fingers makes the wheel slip in the opposite direction, and inadvertently barrel through a few signs, some bushes, and finally into a parked car. I would be pissed if this truck was mine, ha ha oh well, the Cabal can afford a new one. Gotta get to him, it¡¯s 11am on a Thursday so I know he is working. I know his schedule like the back of my hand and the boy is like clockwork. The boy is a dam in a flash-flood of malfeasance, he would rather fall on his sword than miss a day of work, I know he is here. I have the package wrapped in a towel that is getting bloodier by the second under my arm. I need to make sure no cameras see it. I have to pretend the only reason for the towel is to stem the flow of blood. I can¡¯t leave any clues for the Cabal. As I¡¯m running across the parking lot I hear squealing tires behind me, damn the Cabal is fast and efficient, I¡¯ll give them that much. On the other hand they were just outsmarted and defeated by one wily old man, HAHA! As I enter the grocery store and look around for Oliver people start screaming. Probably because I¡¯m leaking blood all over the place and I have a 1911 combat pistol dangling from my right hand. My left arm and hand are busy holding the towel to my wound, the towel with the package tucked neatly inside of it. I spot Oliver on his usual lane, bagging groceries like any other day. That boy is a sentinel. No, that¡¯s not right. Oliver is 25 now, he is no mere boy. He is a man. A man of honor, and soon the man who will defend the most dangerous item in the world. Everyone starts screaming and running as I head towards Oliver. Not Oliver though, he keeps doing his job, bagging the groceries that come down the conveyor belt. I don¡¯t know if he continues despite the screams because he is doggedly determined or just too stupid to notice. Either way it doesn¡¯t matter, he is the rock in the storm. I jump on top of Oliver, my entire large frame knocking him to the ground. I may look like a feeble old man but I¡¯m a warrior, I¡¯m dense. I make sure to cup my hand behind his head as we fall so I don''t accidentally give him a head injury. Once we both hit the ground I carefully unwrap the towel between us, wary of the cameras in the store. I know where every camera is because I have surveyed this store a thousand times. I carefully remove the lamp from inside the confines of the towel and tuck it into the pocket on the front of the boys apron. I have planned this maneuver hundreds of times, I was just praying and hoping I would have never have to use it. I was hoping to have died with my secret. I was hoping to be buried with the lamp so eventually it would be forgotten with the passing of time. The Cabal have forced my hand though. Once I have the lamp inside of Oliver¡¯s apron I look down at his fierce face, he is confused but not scared. My left hand is still cupped behind his head so I crank his face next to mine and whisper the most important thing he will ever hear, ¡°Keep it secret, Keep it safe. Tell no one, never use it.¡± Now that my arm isn¡¯t holding the towel to my wound my blood is flying all over Oliver. There is so much more I want to tell him¡­ I wish I could tell him that I¡¯m proud of him, that he is the son I never had, that he has impressed me every day, that despite his disability he is a beacon of the human spirit, but I don¡¯t have time for that. The cameras are watching me and they can¡¯t know that I have entrusted Oliver with this burden, they can¡¯t know what he means to me. Strong hands grab my shoulders and lift me upwards, and a second pair of hands rip the pistol away from me. When they lift me up I close my eyes and play dead. I barely crack my eyes open enough to see two members of the Cabal wearing black suits and I¡¯m sure they have fake law enforcement credentials on them. I let my legs out a little bit on purpose and they have to both grab me before I hit the floor, amateurs... They¡¯ve just made a fatal mistake, you never grab a rattlesnake by its tail. I grab the closest ones bicep gently and pretend I¡¯m barely coming into consciousness, and that I¡¯m just grabbing him for support. I push the sleeve of his suit up and expose the flesh of his forearm and then I do something they don¡¯t expect. My body comes alive, straining every muscle I have I yank my body towards him, his body towards me, and I take a bite. My teeth shred the man''s skin like so much paper and his blood rushes into my mouth. A tiger is always most vicious in his death throes and I know I don¡¯t have a lot of time left. The other agent grabs my head to try to dislodge me so I turn my face towards him and spit out the blood and chunks of flesh from my mouth right into his face and eyes. I don¡¯t know if he is blinded or just disgusted but he fully lets go of me to try and wipe the gore away, another mistake. I feel my strength waning with the blood loss but I still have enough in me for a haymaker of epic proportions. I dump 50 years of hatred and fear into my punch and deliver it right to the bloody agent¡¯s face. He falls down and the his head bounces off of the tile floor of the grocery store making a sound like a gunshot. By god I may have killed him! I¡¯ve still got it whew-hoo! Fighting isn¡¯t always about who the best fighter is, or who has the biggest muscles. Sometimes it¡¯s about who wants to win more, and who is willing to do the darkest things. Today that man is me. Time to make a hasty escape, I have to lead the trail further away from Oliver. I look to the front of the store but there might be more Cabal agents out there, better take the back route. I glance at Oliver one more time as he is rising to his feet but I¡¯m well past out of time, so I have to run. I¡¯ll miss you Oliver. I make sure to grab my trusty old 1911 before moving on and head towards the back of the store. I have to enact the last part of my plan to throw off the Cabal. This plan should set them back years of searching, maybe forever. I head to the back of the store and into the storage area, I¡¯m passing by scared employees everywhere. Maybe they think I¡¯m here to shoot the place up, I don¡¯t know, not my concern. Once I get to the very back of the store there is a box truck there that has just backed into one of the truck docks to unload produce. The driver is just getting out and sliding the rear storage door of the truck up. He doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s going on at the store yet. The unfortunate bugger turns around to find me, the bloody old man, pointing a 1911 combat pistol right at his face. ¡°Hand over the keys if you want to live¡± the truck driver is too stunned to move, ¡°NOW!¡± I shout. He hands me the keys and I swish my gun to the side indicating that he should go and he takes off running.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I hop into the cab worried it might be a manual transmission, I haven¡¯t driven one of those for over 30 years but it¡¯s just an automatic. I slam the truck into gear and gas it, I feel weird movement and notice the back of the truck is spewing heads of lettuce and bundles of carrots everywhere. Whoops I forgot to close the back, haha, oh well. Maybe it¡¯s the blood loss but watching the vegetables fly all over the road as I swerve back and forth is really making me laugh. As I¡¯m watching the vegetables in my rearview mirror I notice at least ten black SUV¡¯s following my trail, that has to be Cabal operatives. Fuck it, let¡¯s leave some more bread crumbs! I keep jerking the wheel back and forth to spew more vegetables all over the road. My destination is only a few miles away. As I careen into the worst neighborhood in town a hobo with a grocery cart is a little too slow to get out of my way. I try to jerk the wheel away from him but I wasn¡¯t quick enough to miss his cart which goes airborne. ¡°HAHA, TWENTY POINTS!¡± I¡¯m not sure where I got this point system from or why a hobo¡¯s grocery cart constitutes twenty, but I won¡¯t argue with myself. I have to do things to stop myself from passing out from blood loss, and playing a fun game might help. The house I¡¯m looking for is just ahead so I swerve the truck hard and pull the emergency brake. The truck spins sideways and gets on two wheels for a moment before falling back down onto all four tires and finally stopping. I reach into my jacket pocket for one of my final surprises that I can leave for the Cabal: a medium sized piece of Semtex, a plastic explosive. I¡¯ve already jammed a pre-programmed five minute detonator into it. I stick it up under the console of the truck so it won''t be visible upon a quick inspection and flip the switch to turn it on. All someone would have to do to turn it off would be to flip the same switch that I just used, but they will never find it in time, I hope. I left the truck parked right across the middle of the road horizontally so the Cabal following me will have a hard time getting around it, and I head towards the house, my future tomb. The home is large and dilapidated, a two story home with many bedrooms. It hasn¡¯t looked good in over twenty years, and I¡¯ve made sure of that. I own the home through a shell company that occasionally gets sued over the status of this very house, but greasing the right palms can make anything happen in the legal and political world. The house has peeling paint, broken and boarded up windows, and visible graffiti all over it, and the last I checked is an active drug den for crackheads and dealers. I¡¯m really getting woozy now from the continued slow but steady blood loss but I don¡¯t have much further to go. As I walk up to the front door I notice the front yard is absolutely littered in cigarette butts, used syringes, and even the occasional brass casing from a fired round. The front door is cracked open, the occupants don¡¯t even bother to lock it. Why would they though? No one in their right mind would enter this door uninvited. When I enter the dark house it takes a second for my eyes to adjust. There is minimal light in here, it¡¯s coming through in slants and shafts through some of the boarded up windows. The inside is much like the outside: disgusting. There are sleeping drug addicts everywhere curled up on dirty sleeping bags. I hear the sound of feet shuffling coming from the back of the house as one of the dealers comes to see who just opened the front door. I still have the 1911 in my right hand and I don¡¯t want to scare the young pup just yet so I put it slightly behind my back. He comes barging into the entry room like he owns the place, I suppose in his mind he does. He is going for the imposing look. I guess that look helps him keep his usual customers in line, or maybe it just makes him feel good about himself. He looks like you would expect, covered in tattoos, white ball cap slightly slanted up, baggy pants, some stupid t-shirt with shit on it that I don¡¯t care to understand, and a track jacket with a hood which he has up, resting on top of his ball-cap. ¡°Nigga, you done walked into the wrong fuckin house. You don¡¯t look like you here to buy my shit, so you best get steppin¡± he says and sneers at me as he grips the handle of a cheap pistol that has been hastily stuffed into his waistband. I can¡¯t help but laugh at his pejorative, seeing as how this particular pretend tough guy is white. ¡°Actually young man, this is my house¡± I say calmly. ¡°Old man, you lost as fuck, this is Rooster¡¯s territory, and if he comes out here he is going to cap your ass.¡± Young people give up information to freely, he just let me know there is at least one more drug dealer in the house and the second drug dealer is armed. ¡°Actually I¡¯m going to cap him¡± I calmly say, and bring the 1911 out from behind my back. When the drug dealer sees my pistol he starts to draw his but he isn¡¯t quick enough and I put a few rounds through his chest. The gunshots wake up some of the crackheads and they scramble out through the door behind me, but most of them are too high to notice or care. Maybe some of them are even hoping this is the time they get put out of their misery. I walk over to the downed drug dealer who is busy choking on his own blood ¡°Young man, it isn¡¯t nice to deal drugs. Also FORTY POINTS!¡± I¡¯m still confused as to where I¡¯m getting these point values from, but if a hobo¡¯s grocery cart was twenty then a gangster drug dealer is at least forty. Time to clean up the rest of the riff-raff, the last thing I need is to get shot in the back by some drug dealer while I¡¯m finishing up my life¡¯s work. I head towards the back of the first floor and start hearing heavy rap music so I head towards the noise. The noise leads me to the farthest room from the front of the house. The door to the room is closed all the way and the music coming through it is still loud. I bet good ole Rooster didn¡¯t even hear me shoot his doorman. I try the handle but it¡¯s locked so I start banging on it. ¡°GO AWAY¡± a female shouts through the door. I keep banging until I hear the music turn off. ¡°This better be good¡± the same female says. A young woman who looks maybe 18 but is probably younger opens the door which actually opens up into quite a nice little office. There are lavish rugs overlapping all over the ground, a pile of car stereos in the corner, a leather couch with a brand new gaming system in front of it, and a large cherry oak desk in the corner. Behind the desk sits an African American man dressed in what can only be called ¡®modern pimp clothes¡¯. The young woman has gone back to stand by his side and by the look of her pupils she is high as hell. ¡°Hello there, are you Rooster?¡± I ask him in my most pretend fragile old man voice. ¡°Who da fuck is asking?¡± he says back in a deep voice. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes¡± I say, I swing the gun around and Rooster¡¯s hands fly below the desk he is sitting behind, probably to try and retrieve his own firearm. I pull the trigger first, before he can grab whatever he is going for. His brains paint the young woman next to him and the wall behind him. ¡°ONE HUNDRED POINTS!¡± Minor drug lords are worth at least one hundred points, right? I look at the scared young woman covered in blood, and bits of skull and can¡¯t help but feel bad for her. My sympathy wins out and I go over to her and lift her chin up ¡°Stop doing drugs and letting men like this use you. You are someone important. Go to school, get a job, raise children, and teach them to be good. Now run away or I¡¯m going to shoot you in the head.¡± The woman runs off, out of the house, good. I reach under the desk to see what Rooster was looking for and come up with a sawed-off double barrel shotgun, sweet. I head back to the front of the house to peek out the front door and see exactly what I was expecting to see. The Cabal SUV¡¯s are all pulling around the truck I left in the middle of the road and starting to surround the house. I look down at my watch, any second now. The Semtex I left in the truck explodes and flips two of the Cabal SUVs over onto their sides, men get out screaming and on fire. The inside of one of the vehicles is painted in blood. ¡°FIVE HUNDRED POINTS!¡± The rest of the vehicles in the Cabal convoy barrel through the downed cars and start spreading out, they won''t bunch up again. Next to the door frame I knock on the moldy drywall in a few places, slowly moving my hand back and forth and knocking until I hear the hollow space I put there years before. Once I find it I lean back and shoot one of the barrels of Rooster¡¯s shotgun at the wall with my eyes closed. Sharp pieces of wood cut my face and chest but I¡¯m too tired to care. I reach into the hole I just made and pull out a metal box. I pop the clasps on each side of it and reach inside to find my prize: An exact replica of the lamp I just gave to Oliver. Once the Cabal see this thing they are going to go crazy. I get close to the door frame again, and lean my head slightly around the corner. The Cabal are out of their trucks now, taking cover and ready to fire on me. I push the nose of the shotgun around the corner and then pull the trigger, firing blindly. The barrel is probably too short to hurt them at this range but might as well keep them honest. Then I stick my hand out the door with the lamp in it and yell ¡°HOLD YOUR FIRE!¡± I walk half my silhouette into the frame of the door and look out, with the lamp still held high in my hands. ¡°If you want it, come and get it!¡± Then I duck back inside and rounds pepper the door frame where I was just standing. Normally I would be dead in a situation like this, high velocity modern rounds would fly right through the low quality wood and drywall and shred me up something fierce, but when I had this house built I had a thick piece of steel embedded into the drywall that I¡¯m currently standing behind right now. So instead of being shredded I hear the comforting sounds of bullets dinging off of steel. Once the incoming fire stops I start walking towards the back of the house. As I walk I turn around and fire my 1911 through the open doorway to stop any Cabal agents that might be thinking of entering. At the back of the house, around a turn in the hall is a small closet for the water heater which hasn¡¯t worked in decades. I pull the panel off of the water heater which has a keypad underneath and I type in the password. The water heater starts making a strange noise and then it pulls itself back into the wall behind it and exposes a stairway that leads down into a hidden basement. I march down into the room and lights automatically turn on, ¡°Authorization Black Sky¡± I say out loud and a small pedestal in the center of the room starts rising from the floor. Once it rises about four feet up it stops, and a loud hiss emits from it as a small metal door opens on the front of it. I reach my hand inside and pull out the dead man detonator sitting on a charging station, and I clamp my hand over the trigger. All I have to do now is to let go of this trigger, and the whole house is going to blow. I¡¯m going to wait though and take some Cabal bastards with me. On one of the sides of the room, a portion of the wall slides up exposing 8 older model televisions, they all have different views around the house from hidden cameras, and two of them are black. Some of the cameras must have gone out during the years since I had them installed. I can see Cabal soldiers armoring up and preparing to raid the house. Some are heading to the back and side entrances and some are stacking up at the front door. They are communicating via radio to each other to synchronize their entry. I watch all three teams throw flashbangs into their respective entrances and wait for them to pop before rushing inside. On the front lawn four additional different Cabal teams begin to rush up to the house to join their cohorts already inside. At the back of their vehicle barricade I see a distinguished looking Japanese man, something about him gives me the creeps, and makes goosebumps form on my flesh. I look back to the screens and see one of the Cabal tactical entry teams has almost found the entrance to my hidden basement. I back up a few steps and face the stairway as the heavily armored men come bursting into the room and surround me. I have the lamp in one hand now and the dead man switch in the other. ¡°There are so many Cabal soldiers on this property right now, you guys are worth at least ten thousand points¡± I say as I show them the dead man switch. The lead Cabal operative notices what it is and tries to key his throat mic to warn the others ¡°EVERYONE GET BAC------¡±. Then the world went up in flames. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Oliver and Astrid Oliver sat on the cold linoleum floor of the grocery store just staring up at the plaster tile ceiling and the fluorescent lights long after the old man Mr. Smith had left. He still had some of Mr. Smith¡¯s blood on him, and that made him sad, but also angry. Why had Mr. Smith knocked him over and hurt those men? He had always liked Mr. Smith, the old man would ask him the silliest questions and give him a dollar when he helped him out to his car with his groceries. Mr. Smith was always patient with Oliver, and he never seemed to care when it took Oliver a long time to answer him. He didn¡¯t even mind helping Oliver when Oliver got confused. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he sat there trying to parse through this new bout of information and his memory of the confusing event, but soon someone was tapping on his shoulder. ¡°You okay bud? None of this blood looks like it is yours.¡± Oliver looked up and noticed the police officer trying to talk to him. He was thinking about answering the officer, but he just couldn¡¯t quite seem to get the words out. ¡°I¡¯m going to need you to answer me,¡± the officer said sternly as he helped Oliver to his feet. Oliver wanted to answer the officer but sometimes he had trouble getting the thoughts all the way from his head out to his mouth. Oliver opened his mouth to try and answer. ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I¡­ um.¡± The officer¡¯s face screwed up and began to look a little angry. ¡°Have you been drinking son?¡± Before Oliver could reply the manager of the grocery store politely tapped on the officer¡¯s shoulder and pulled him a few feet away. The manager leaned over and whispered lightly to the officer, just quiet enough so that Oliver couldn¡¯t hear what was being discussed. The officer glanced over at Oliver and then back to the manager and nodded his head. The officer came back over to Oliver. ¡°Oliver is it? I¡¯m sorry about before. I¡¯m going to have my friend over there drive you home now¡± the officer said as he pointed over to another policeman on the scene. ¡°Hey Rookie! Get over here!¡± The second and younger police officer ran over to them and the first police officer whispered to something to the second officer quickly. ¡°I see,¡± said the second police officer. The younger police officer gently grasped Oliver¡¯s upper arm. ¡°Come with me buddy, I¡¯m going to take you home. It looks like you got out of work early today, score!¡± Ha, that sounded good to Oliver, the way the police officer had worded it made Oliver happy! Oliver smiled widely at the younger police officer and let him guide him out of the store. ¡°BYE EVERYONE, SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW!¡± Oliver managed to shout happily before they left the store. He loved giving everyone cheery goodbyes and cheery welcomes. Oliver¡¯s father had told him that smiles were infectious, and Oliver had taken that sentiment to heart. He loved giving people big bright smiles on the off chance that they might smile back, in fact it was his favorite thing to do besides helping people. ¡°I like your style Oliver,¡± the policeman said to him as they were walking through the parking lot. ¡°Hey would you like a ride home in a real police car!?¡± The officer asked as he pointed to his cruiser. When Oliver thought through the prospect of getting to ride in the car of a hero it made him so happy he laughed out loud and clapped excitedly. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes!¡± The nice officer said. The ride to Oliver¡¯s house was exciting, the kind officer showed him how the sirens worked in the car and all of the neat instruments and buttons inside. Now that Oliver had calmed down a bit he was able to properly thank the officer. ¡°Thank you... so much... for showing me this¡± Oliver stuttered out. He had worked really hard with his many therapists to be able to put out sentences that clear, and he felt proud at his progress and how clearly he had just been able to speak to the officer. The nice officer smiled over at Oliver, he must have also been proud at how well Oliver had spoken. Not wanting the conversation to die the officer asked ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your favorite thing in the world?¡± This question Oliver didn¡¯t have to think about, he knew this one as sure and he knew and felt his heart beating in his chest. ¡°SUPERHEROS, REGULAR HEROES, ALL HEROES!!!! HEROES LIKE YOU OFFICER!¡± Oliver shouted out with joy. The officer¡¯s smile got brighter and he replied to Oliver. ¡°Damn Oliver, you really know how to compliment someone. I¡¯ll tell you what bud, I really like heroes a lot too and I¡¯m tired of going to hero movies alone. How about the next time a hero movie comes out, me and you go together?¡± The officer had said a lot in that one statement so it took Oliver a second to parse through it, but once he did he was so excited at the prospect he shouted ¡°WOOHOO!¡± The nice police officer laughed and said, ¡°Oliver, I¡¯ll say it again: I like your style. You have truly brightened up my day. You know I don¡¯t think I introduced myself properly, I¡¯m Officer Hampton. You know what else, forget about that, you can just call me Tim.¡± Oliver thought about it a second and remembered his father told him it was good to shake hands with new people. ¡°Hi Tim!¡± said Oliver, while holding out his hand for a shake. The officer took one of his hands off the wheel for a second and shook Oliver¡¯s hand. Officer Hampton pulled up to the address the grocery store manager had given him through the grapevine. ¡°Do you need help getting inside Oliver? Will you be fine alone?¡± Oliver pulled his key ring out and shook it at the officer. ¡°I¡¯m fine Tim, I have keys to get in. Have a good day, very nice to meet you!¡± Oliver happily jumped out of the car and ran up to his front door. The officer waited to leave until Oliver went inside. The whole time feeling better about himself and thinking that If Oliver can be happy covered in blood after being tackled by a senile old man than he surely had no excuse not to be happy himself. For a brief second, he also wondered why God chose to curse someone so special with a disability. Oliver went inside excited to see his mom and his dad but was upset when they weren¡¯t there. He remembered he was home early from work which meant both of his parents were still working themselves. They wouldn¡¯t be home for hours so Oliver decided to do what he always did when he had extra time: watch cartoons and movies about heroes! Oliver nuked a bunch of pizza rolls and then plopped himself down on his couch ready to marathon some television. Once he set the plate containing the pizza rolls in his lap, he realized it had made a strange noise. It sounded like it had bounced off of something hard. He set the plate aside and looked down at his lap. He noticed he still had quite a lot of blood on him from Mr. Smith, and that there was a slight bulge in his apron. The blood on his apron made Oliver¡¯s mind wander and he felt bad all over again and he didn¡¯t like that. Then he remembered the noise the plate had made when it hit the bulge. He reached inside of the large front pocket on his apron and felt around. His hands hit something solid, so he pulled it out. It was an antique brass lamp! How did this get here, he wondered. The lamp had Mr. Smith¡¯s blood on the side of it. Seeing even more of Mr. Smith¡¯s blood only further upset him. So he started trying to rub the blood off with his fingers, as he rubbed he noticed the lamp was getting brighter and warmer. That alarmed Oliver so he dropped the lamp and took a few steps back from it. It landed evenly on his carpet and it seemed to glow even brighter than before, like it was filled with fire. Soon a loud hissing noise that was quickly turning into a roar started coming from the lamp, and a white vaporous substance started spilling from the spout and filling up the immediate area. More and more of the smokey yet silky substance poured out of the spout, and then it began to coalesce into the shape of a woman. Her form began to take substance as the vapor solidified. A beautiful woman with a long blonde ponytail hanging down her back was now in front of Oliver. He stared at her from top to bottom, she was wearing some kind of crude chain-mail. She had leather bracers on with intricately carved flowers on them. She also had a leather protection piece on her neck that delicately covered part of her upper chest as well, and ended in a diamond shape between her breasts. Below that she was wearing a skirt made of rough hide, and she had a leather belt on with a dagger, a sword, and a horn in three separate sheaths connected to the belt. Her skirt was cut diagonally so her upper left thigh was extremely exposed and Oliver couldn¡¯t help but stare. The woman was shapely and beautiful, but also for some reason Oliver didn¡¯t even understand he knew she was quite dangerous. Oliver may have been dumb but he knew when it was time to get the fuck out. He turned and bolted for the exit of his living room that lead to his entryway and ultimately his front door. A second before he got there a wall of vapor quickly rose from floor to ceiling blocking his path. Oliver tried to sprint through it but he ran right into it and bounced off, the harmless looking wall of vapor had been as hard as stone. Oliver reached up and touched his nose, his fingers came back red with blood. He slowly rose to his feet and turned around. The woman was there staring at him and he noticed something that he hadn¡¯t seen before, just below her knees her legs tapered off and shifted into vapor, which was still flowing into the spout of the lamp. The woman smiled at Oliver and canted her head to the side ever so slightly. ¡°I know, I know, It¡¯s amazing, but let¡¯s get this show on the road so I can go back to sleep for a few hundred years. Talking to mortals is boring.¡± Oliver wasn¡¯t sure what to say so he just smiled at her, then marched forward and held out his hand for a shake. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Oliver, it is very nice to meet you!¡± he said enthusiastically. The genie shook his hand and nodded her head up and down once, and then just waited... She kept waiting for a minute for the man to speak up but he never did, so she took the initiative. ¡°Well Oliver, I don¡¯t know if you have figured it out yet or not, but I¡¯m a genie and I¡¯m stuck out here until you make your three wishes, so get on with it...Please.¡± she stared at Oliver for a few minutes and he still didn¡¯t speak. ¡°Okay you seem really confused and unprepared for this, let me lay down some ground rules to help you narrow your choices down. The first and most important rule: You can¡¯t wish for more wishes. I¡¯m not going to explain that one because it should be pretty self explanatory. I need you to acknowledge that you understand each rule after I explain it to you. I¡¯m only explaining these things once. So do you understand rule one?¡± Oliver stood there stunned, he did basically understand the first rule but all of this was too much for him. ¡°I need you to say yes now,¡± the genie said calmly yet forcefully. ¡°Ye...ye..yes¡± Oliver stuttered out. ¡°Okay, moving on. Rule number two, you can¡¯t make a wish that will alert the world to the presence of the genie, meaning me. What this means is no wishing for things like curing world hunger or stopping all war. Those wishes also break a second rule but I will get to that. If you want to feed the hungry people you could wish, for example, the power to turn anything you touch into food and then send that food to all the hungry people. Or, even the power to make crops grow really well, or make dead crops come back to live, etcetera. I won''t stop you from doing that. Do you understand rule number two?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Oliver really didn¡¯t understand rule number two that well since it was more complex than rule one by a fair margin, but he knew she wanted him to say yes and he wanted to make the pretty genie lady happy, ¡°yes¡± he said. ¡°Moving on, Rule number three: you can¡¯t make a wish that will directly force someone to do something they wouldn¡¯t normally do. So you can¡¯t wish for the girl you have a crush on to instantly drop her panties the next time she sees you. If you want to wish to be more attractive so she will like you more, we can do that. This rule also applies to and reinforces rule number two. For example let¡¯s go back to the world hunger issue. Say you wish to cure world hunger, and one country has a ton of food they aren¡¯t using. How do you get that food from said country full of fat and selfish people, to the countries full of starving people, without forcing someone to do something that they wouldn¡¯t normally do? See the conundrum there? At some point you would have to force someone to do something that they wouldn¡¯t do, or reveal the existence of genies in some way. Maybe that wasn¡¯t best example but it is what came to mind. Do you basically understand rule three?¡± Again Oliver was very confused but he understood the pattern, the pretty lady went on a long tirade and she expected him to say yes, so he did ¡°yes.¡± ¡°Right, rule number four, you can¡¯t wish for someone¡¯s death directly. If you want to wish for a super powerful weapon of some type to kill them with yourself, that is fine with me and well within the boundaries of the rules. Just don¡¯t expect me to do your dirty work. If you want someone dead, you do it. In that same rite, you can¡¯t wish for someone to come back from the dead. I don¡¯t fuck with dead people, and I couldn¡¯t even if I wanted to. Do you understand rule number four, the death rule?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Oliver. ¡°Good, final rule, rule five. You can¡¯t wish to live forever, don¡¯t get confused here. If you want to be alive for a very long time we could do that. You could wish for extremely good health, or to heal twice as fast, or to stop contaminates and poisons from working on your body, etcetera. There are lots of things you could do to lengthen your lifespan but you can¡¯t wish to live forever. Do you understand rule number five?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Oliver. ¡°Okay great, also understand that as soon as you make all three wishes this lamp will disappear. You don¡¯t get to give the lamp to your friend or your girlfriend and have them make wishes for you, that violates rule number one. So like I said, as a safety measure this lamp will be going somewhere random on earth as soon as our business is concluded here. As far as your actual wishes go, I¡¯ve found that it works best if you tell me all three of your wishes first then I will make sure they aren¡¯t violating any of the fine print and at that point I will grant all three at once after we both verify that they are legal wishes and that they are what you want. Then we will be out of each others hair and you can enjoy whatever you wished for. So let¡¯s get started, tell me what you want.¡± Oliver stood there literally dumbfounded until the genie¡¯s patience wore thin once again ¡°Listen kid, take a long hard fucking look at me. I live in a god damn brass lamp, everyone I ever meet I never see again, and all I do is help selfish morons. My only solace is every once in awhile the lamp is hidden for a long time and I get to sleep and have some peace. So hurry the fuck up and make your goddamn wishes.¡± Hearing that the genie was sad and trapped made Oliver feel bad. ¡°You are¡­ stuck? Stuck in the lamp? Trapped?¡± asked Oliver. ¡°Whoopdi whoo the genius figured it out!¡± the genie sarcastically replied. ¡°Listen kid, I¡¯m ready to be done with your shitty little house. I¡¯m ready to sleep, let me help you out.¡± The genie looked around Oliver¡¯s house and her eyes landed on the superhero cartoon playing on his television. ¡°Boom, superheros, why don¡¯t you wish to have a super power?¡± ¡°I like that.¡± ¡°Okay, so what power do you want?¡± ¡°I want to¡­ I want to be able to help people¡­ to make the world better.¡± ¡°The super power you want is to be able to make the world better?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Hmmm, I can make that work, that¡¯s wish one. Let¡¯s move on to wish two, how about a new place to live, this shabby little house sucks cat dicks.¡± ¡°I will have a superpower, which means I will be a superhero. A superhero needs a secret hideout.¡± ¡°Okay, boom, that¡¯s wish two, a secret hideout fit for superheroes. Let¡¯s move on to wish three, got any idea kid?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want you to be trapped and sad anymore, I want you to be free and happy.¡± Oliver¡¯s third wish had just hit the genie like a punch to the gut. Emotions raced through her immortal body and she suppressed a scream. This obvious imbecile would free her? She had been trapped in the lamp for over a thousand years, and in all that time no one had been selfless enough to waste one of their preciously limited wishes on her. She wasn¡¯t sure why she hesitated, the words had already left his mouth. She should have immediately capitalized on the situation and freed herself but the thought of freedom scared her almost as much as being trapped in the lamp for an eternity. Where would she go? What would she do with herself? She knew no one, had no home, no skills in this modern time. The only reason she even understood the language and current idioms and slang was because the lamp filled her mind with that information every time she was awoken. You couldn¡¯t exactly grant someones wishes if you didn¡¯t understand their language. ¡°Oliver, are you sure that is what you want for your third wish?¡± Oliver didn¡¯t hesitate in his response. ¡°Yes, it is sad that you are trapped. Everyone deserves to be free.¡± The genie felt a small tear roll down her face, if this man was going to help her then she was going to help him. She re-evaluated his first two wishes and used every trick, loophole, and every ounce of power inside of her to make the results of his wishes better. The genie appeared to enlarge in size and began to glow, her voice came out of her mouth like the voice of a god and it shook Oliver¡¯s house. Louder than a thunderstorm she shouted, ¡°YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND!¡± The light in the room continued to get brighter and brighter. Oliver threw his forearm over his eyes. That vapor that was holding the genie¡¯s legs into the lamp started blasting out so fast that it was making a whistle like a tea kettle left on the stove too long. The whistle became so loud that Oliver had to move his hands over his ears but that just made his eyes hurt because the room was so bright now and the light was actually permeating his eyelids. Oliver drove his face into the carpet to protect his eyes and held his hands tighter over his ears. Oliver¡¯s house started to shake, all of these sensations at once were too overwhelming for his small mind so he began to scream as a weak defense mechanism. Vaguely he thought he heard the genie screaming as well. Then it all went black. Oliver woke up when someone flipped him over onto his back. He opened his eyes and saw the genie leaning over him. Without giving him any sort of warning she smashed her mouth onto his and kissed him feverishly. She wouldn¡¯t stop kissing him until he was finally able to push her away and yell ¡°STOP.¡± The woman got off of him and Oliver noticed her feet weren¡¯t vapor anymore, they were just feet. ¡°Yes, sorry, I¡¯m just very thankful.¡± The woman looked around and then squished her bare feet around in the carpet and moaned. Then she looked down at her clothes ¡°People probably don¡¯t wear this kind of thing around do they?¡± the woman asked. ¡°No,¡± replied Oliver. Oliver wished he could help the nice lady with her clothing debacle and he felt a weird pop in the back of his head. A giant blue transparent menu popped up in his vision, he was so startled by it he let out a little shout. ¡°SOMETHING IS HAPPENING!¡± Oliver yelled. ¡°Ah yes, I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s your power activating for the first time. There should be some way to make it visible, look for the word ¡®VISIBLE¡¯, do you see it?¡± It took Oliver an extremely long time and he had to have the genie-woman spell the word out to him multiple times before he found it, he wasn¡¯t that good at reading. There were two empty boxes on the bottom right hand corner of the menu. The top one said ¡°Visible to Astrid¡± and the one below it said ¡°Visible to all allies.¡± He clicked the one that said ¡°Visible to Astrid¡± because it was on top not because he particularly understood the choices in front of him. ¡°There we go, I can see it now.¡± Astrid studied the menu, there was currently only one option available up, it said ¡°Update Astrid¡¯s clothing to a more modern style? Cost: 5 Points¡± Below it there was a stylized ¡°yes¡± and ¡°no¡± which were both slowly blinking. ¡°Oliver press the one that says yes, that¡¯s y-e-s.¡± Oliver reached out with his hand and pressed it like she had asked him to. Astrid yipped when she felt her chainmail and clothes rip around her body very quickly. She looked down and noticed her skirt had changed some, it was now a bit longer overall and it ended in a straight line just below her knees. It was also now more form fitting. Each side of her skirt had a three inch strip of decorative chain mail from bottom to top. The skirt was still made of the original hide but it felt thinner now, and finer like the material has somehow improved in quality. She no longer had the chainmail top on either. She was wearing a halter top that felt like it was made out of portions of what used to be her hide skirt. The halter top also had the three inch strips of chain mail on the sides of it. They ran all the way up to the bottom of her armpits. Around her neck she wore a decorative necklace which was obviously made from the chainmail as well. It widened around her throat and sunk down towards her now exposed cleavage. Finally she noticed she had a pair of hide sandals on, the straps of which were made from chain mail. She still had her original belt equipped with the sword, the horn, and the dagger. ¡°Damn I look good! What do you think Oliver, are these modern enough?¡± she looked up at Oliver and he just had a blank look on his face, a few seconds passed and finally he smiled and said ¡°yes.¡± This man was now her only link the modern world. She couldn¡¯t have her only contact and ally be a half-wit. Time to fix up the dumb dumb, she thought. ¡°Oliver do me a favor, think about your menu and then think about being smarter.¡± She patiently waited and reiterated herself a few times to Oliver to keep him on track. Eventually his menu changed in front of her. A slider popped up, there was a dial on the slider that was currently all the way to the far left. The far left side of the slider was labeled ¡°mildly mentally disabled.¡± Near the middle of the slider there were three nodes. The first node was labeled ¡°slightly below average intelligence¡±, the middle node was simply labeled ¡°average intelligence¡±, and the last node was labeled ¡°slightly above average intelligence¡±. The far right side of the slider was labeled ¡°extreme intelligence.¡± Astrid pointed to the one labeled ¡°slightly above average intelligence¡±. ¡°Slide that dial over to here for me please.¡± It was taking Oliver too long so she guided his hand which in turn moved the dial. She noticed as the dial moved right, a point value at the bottom of the menu appeared and slowly increased as the dial moved further up the intelligence scale. When the dial was at the setting she wanted it at the point cost at the bottom of the screen now read ¡°25 points.¡± Below the dial now read the word ¡°Confirm?¡± and below that there was a small ¡°yes¡± and ¡°no.¡± ¡°Select yes again Oliver, please.¡± Oliver slowly reached up and pressed ¡°yes.¡± Then he started to scream... Oliver¡¯s steady scream slowly became louder and more desperate, more like an animal in pain then a human. He gripped the sides of his head. His fingernails dug into his temples hard enough to draw blood, and he fell over and began to roll back and forth on the carpet. Astrid jumped down to try to hold him still and peel his finger nails out of his skin to stop him from doing further damage to himself. All of a sudden Oliver stopped screaming, his eyes shot open and they landed on Astrid. ¡°You were the first woman that''s ever kissed me Astrid. Do it one more time please.¡± Astrid shrugged her shoulders and gave him a quick kiss. ¡°Yeah, that feels awesome,¡± Oliver said with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be getting sweet on me now boy, we just met and frankly you look kind of stupid,¡± Astrid said with a smile. Her comment made Oliver think, which surprised Oliver because thinking was happening very fast now. Oliver did look ¡®kind of stupid¡¯ as Astrid had put it. Why was that? His menu which he had forgotten about during his painful experience popped up again like before, and then updated itself in front of him which drew his eyes sharply to it. ¡°Fix the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and other congenital anomalies? 25 Points¡± was posted over the top of his menu now, the familiar confirmation options were below. Sure why not, he thought and pressed the blinking ¡°yes.¡± A lot of things started happening at once and they generally all really hurt. ¡°OW OW OW OW OW, OWWWW!¡± he started yelling. His whole body was in pain and then as before the pain abruptly stopped. ¡°Holy shit, you are actually kind of handsome now. Go look in a mirror¡± Astrid half-shouted. Oliver followed her advice and ran to his bathroom mirror. When he got there and finally saw himself he was stunned. He was kind of handsome now, Astrid was right again. His head had changed shape, his eyes and jaw had gotten bigger. His nose was a more stereotypical ¡®manly¡¯ shape. He looked down and noticed his pants didn¡¯t quite touch his shoes anymore, HA, he had even gotten a little taller. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome... That didn¡¯t make sense his mom didn¡¯t even drink. Then he realized something, something that had just become glaringly obvious, he was adopted. His parents looked nothing like him, and his mother hated alcohol. He wasn¡¯t really sure what to think about that and he had a lot of other things going on right now that he should be focusing on so he stored that information for later. ¡°Astrid, one more kiss please and then I¡¯ll stop asking¡± she shrugged her shoulders once again and jumped on him. He almost fell over because he wasn¡¯t ready for her weight. She really laid this kiss on him this time, her tongue darting in and out of his mouth. Then she jumped off of him and acted like nothing had ever happened. When he was finally able to talk he just said ¡°whoa.¡± Astrid smirked at him and clapped her hands together sharply. ¡°Alright let¡¯s get this fuckin show on the road!¡± ¡°What show? Where are we going, and what are you talking about, and why do you swear so much? Wait, how do you even know what swear words to use?¡± ¡°Well I swear a lot because this is how my people talked, we were a rowdy bunch. I know all of your slang, and idioms because it was ¡®downloaded¡¯, I think that is the right word, directly into my brain as soon as you rubbed the lamp. I have to be able to understand every aspect of the wisher¡¯s language to accurately grant his or her wishes. For example imagine if someone told me they wanted a giant cock as one of their wishes. I grant this hypothetical persons three wishes and disappear. Mr. Tiny-Dick looks down and notices his winky is still microscopic. Then he notices he has a 13 foot tall chicken in his backyard. See the problem there? As to where we are going I figured we could go check out your fancy smancy new superhero hideout.¡± ¡°How are we going to get there? Remember, I was mentally retarded like two minutes ago,¡± said Oliver. ¡°I¡¯m not sure of the specifics, but our ride is out back.¡± I stand by my word. Hey all, I promised new content today which I actually posted THIS MORNING! Problem is, Royal Road is taking a long time to approve it. It''s been stuck with a "PENDING" tag all day today with no sign of it going forward. It''s the first chapter of my newest book, and let me tell you that it is AMAZING. I''ve had a couple of my personal friends read it and they say it''s the best thing I''ve ever written. So what I can do for you guys right now, if you would like, is give you a link to the google doc that I have it stored in. I feel really bad about this since I promised everyone new content today, but as I said the snag is on RR''s end, not mine. So I''ll put the link in the post-chapter notes for those who want it. Besides that, we are on standby until RoyalRoad approves my next book. At which point I would love for y''all to press "Follow" and "favorite" on it so we can get started on another grand adventure of writing a book together. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. I''ll give everyone an update as soon as it goes live. To those who bought or left postive reviews on Oliver''s Wishes over at Amazon: You people are simply wonderful. I sold 116 copies of Oliver''s Wishes on its opening day which exceeded every expectation I had. That first day I had it priced at 99 cents, and Amazon was taking 70% of the royalties plus taxes, and data fees, and what not. Which means I only made 9 dollars or something that day lol, but I was still very happy to see the book was in high demand. The only way I know how to really thank you guys is by putting out more quality work and standing by the deadlines I tell you guys about, which I will continue to do. This has very much been a "team effort" and I recognize that. I couldn''t have done it without you guys. Thanks everyone. WOO!!! KillDozer finally approved! My next project finally got approved by the RoyalRoad staff! I''ll put the link for it in the Post-chapter notes. My more stalwart beta readers are saying chapter 1 is one of the best things they have ever read so I know you guys will enjoy it. Please use the link, head over that way, and press "Follow" and "favorite" on it. News on the Oliver''s Wishes universe: for those of you that didn''t know I finished writing Oliver''s Wishes. I had it free on Royal Road for months, but was able to move it into the KU program. The KU program terms of service wont allow me to have it published there and here, so now I can only leave the first 2 chapters up here. If you would like to finish reading it or just support me go pick up a copy at Amazon (link for Oliver''s Wishes 1 in post chapter notes). I don''t know when I will get back to the Oliver''s Wishes universe for OW2, and I''ve kind of become the guy that always fulfills his writing promises, so I don''t want to make a promise or a deadline that I can''t 100% keep. Ideally what happens is: I finish Killdozer and transistion right into Oliver''s Wishes 2, but I''ll have a lot to consider. The biggest thing to consider being of course that Authors don''t want to write a dead end series. I''m in that boat as well for obvious reasons. I buy the cover art for these books for about 200 dollars, and then I pay at least 200 dollars for editing (that number is a minimum). While I''m not "money-hungry" or anything of that nature, it would at least be nice to make SOME of my investment back, and be able to justify why I spend thousands of hours working on these books. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Yes I do enjoy writing even when I''m not being paid for it, but as I said publishing a book is more than just writing. it''s a huge investment of personal-time, family time, money, emotions, etc. And I''m not going to slave over something that people aren''t going to be interested in reading. So If you want an Olivers Wishes 2 as soon as possible, please head over to Amazon and drop me a kind review so others will know how awesome OW1 was. If you can pick yourself up a copy of Oliver''s Wishes or re-read it on Kindle Unlimited, both help me. I''m thinking KillDozer (my next project) will only take a month or so to write, so ideally I could be back writing the OW universe in 30 days, life happens sometimes though. in the meantime while you wait, help me out with my next project by leaving me constructive feedback here on royalroad or check out some of my other books that are already published on Amazon. As always I could not have done it without you guys, and I can''t stress how wonderful you have all been. This will be my last post on Oliver''s Wishes, if you want updates from me press "favorite" on my next project or join my facebook group "Literary Works of Cory Gaffner." I can''t say it enough, you guys are freaking wonderful! Hellborne Hi everyone! Long time no talk, and thanks for staying subscribed to this, because it is helping you get this fancy message right now. My second son was born and he is healthy, but obviously a baby. As you all know, babies cry and scream, and genereally hate sleep. So that''s what I have been up to lately. I did have time to start putting a new book together, unfortunately it''s not a sequal to any of my current stuff that y''all love, but it is still awesome. It''s called Hellborne and it will be free here on RoyalRoad for a limited time. I plan on taking it over to the KU program and as most avid readers know by now, the KU contract forbids you from having your books cross posted here on RoyalRoad. So if you would like to get an early seat to the show head on over to the link I have in the post-chapter notes. I''ll also cross post it here. https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21928/hellborne This is going to be a Young Adult project... STOP don''t run. I know I''m known for gritty bloody fight scenes, controversial topics, fictional politics, rediculous situations, profuse swearing, etc. Basically shit that you can''t put in a young adult book. So read on so I can tell you why I think you should try it anyway. I''m going to attempt to put everything people love about my writing into the young adult format. So will there be wanton riteous vigilante violence? Yes, just not against humans, unless they are really bad humans but even then it will be rare. I''m sorry but you just can''t go around murdering people in the young adult genre, parents don''t want their kids getting desensitized to murder, I''m a parent, I understand that. BUT we can murder things, creatures, spirits, etc. Does a parent want their kid to go to bed at night and be afraid of what''s under the bed? Or does a parent want a kid who reads books that put them in a mindset that when they think something evil is under their bed they wonder how they can defeat it, tie it up, and then throw it back into the void from whence it came. So there is some wiggle room in there, and there are ways to add parent-approved riteous violent scenes. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Will there be be over the top action and rediculous situations? Of course, young adult readers deserve that stuff too and in my opinion that genre is sorely lacking on that front. With the exception of books like SteelHeart but those are few and far inbetween. What''s my goal here: I''m trying to put out a book that will be just as fun to read for a 25 year old as it would be for a 14 year old, and yes I think it is possible. This is going to be the kind of book that a parent and their child could read at the same time, and both enjoy it. Similar to that old Avatar the First Air Bender t.v. show. You have to admit, everyone loved that no matter what their age was. Where does the book take place: World War 2 and Hell the biblical and theatrical version. (Yes you read that right) Is the book historically accurate and did I do research for it: Yes, so so much. Is the book historically accurate will you as a reader learn things? Yes. I have done massive amounts of research. Everything in the book will be era appropriate and accurate, you will learn things, but in a fun way with lots of shooting and face punches. So as always I''m going to ask you to support me. Head over to the link and favorite it, subscribe to it, save it in your booksmarks, share it on social media, tell a friend about it, etc. A writer is nothing without his or her readers. This is a team effort and y''all are my team. So let''s go on another adventure together.