Log:The Brain Trust Heist

2020/03/15 Sinmore Cade Golden Girl Lightning The Brain Trust 1

Alerts go in HeroNet and police bands as well as the news, such that all heroes responding find out and arrive at much the same time to the Bank of Virginia branch near the affluent suburban outskirts of the city.

There's no audible alarms at the bank as the heroes arrive within the neighborhood, but they can tell they're in the right place as the first responder goes flying out the front doors and smashes into a van across the street. Lightning makes a Lightning-shaped indent to the van. There's a few cracks in the ballistic-grade blue visor he wears. The dashing speedster peels himself out, wobbles as he holds up an unsteady finger. "Anyone catch the license plate on...that....tuxedo?" he asks before faceplanting on the asphalt.

No tuxedoes emerge from the bank doors. What does emerge are a cat-girl and a ninja. The cat girl has gold-colored fur all over, claws, cat ears, and a tail. She's wearing a black and gold pair of bikini-like trunks and matching bracers and leggings. The ninja is dressed in all back, male, and carrying a sword, shuriken, and other tools.

Another voice yells out from inside the bank. It sounds like someone talking over a radio speaker. "If that nuisance of a speedster isn't completely broken, grab him as well! He could prove useful."

Golden Girl flies down between the downed Lightning and the nearest threat to his continued existance. She simply cannot resist the heroic hands on hips stance and declaring loudly, "You shall not pass!" Someone been reading LotR recently.

Sinmore comes charging around the corner from a directly perpendicular to Golden Girl's arrival. The 10' tall fire giantess sprints directly toward the bank, her emerald gaze flickering toward the downed Lightning and Golden Girl before she looks toward the ninja, catgirl, and bank. Fire trails behind Sinmore as she skids to a halt, bracing for impact as she waits for the forces of good and justice to properly array themselves.

Cade Crichton flies in and identifies the line drawn between hero and troublemakers. He lands just behind Golden Girl.

"Good to see you Goldie." He says with a nod as he prepares to reinforce GG's world with a telekinetic barrier at the first sign of violence.

He shouts out to the Cat-Girl and Ninja, "You should put your hands up and end this before someone gets hurt!" Maybe someone else? He glances back to check on Lightning.

Golden Girl glances quickly back at Cade, "Likewise. Good to see you too."

Lightning definitely looks hurt.

The speech-box sounding voice responds, "Hmmm, response rate faster than calculated for the suburbs. No matter! You can't hope to stop the machinations of the Overbrain!"

That's when a large mountain gorilla wearing military fatigue pants, flak vest, and a red beret steps up behind the cat-girl and ninja. He has a few grenades attached to the vest, and is holding a blaster. He puffs up his chest and chuffs before roaring, "Make way!"

This gets the cat-girl and Ninja to starts charging forward towards the heroes.

Golden Girl gives the Cat Girl and Nimja cold stares which rapidly warm up as she projects twin spread heat beams at the charging villains.

Lynx yowls at being hit. Black Mist makes no sound, but he's bounced eight meters back and into the bank. He tries to flip over, but ends up landing on his stomach and skidding along the floor.

Sinmore looks at Ape-Plus and then at his two super-powered henchpersons as they're scattered by Golden Girl's heat beams. With a sly smile, Sinmore rumbles, "I guess I should keep the heat up!"

Promptly, the fire giantess sprints at Lynx. Sinmore aims to smash Lynx into the ground with both fists!

Lynx's fur is singed as she's smashed downwards with another yowl. She ends up on all fours, but doesn't seem to be inconvenienced by this. Her tail lashes about angrily as her ears flatten with a hiss.

Lynx diverolls between the Fire Giantess' legs, ending in a crouch before she brandishes her claws and spins around with a quick slash aimed at Sinmore's hamstrings.

"Hey! Keep out from between there," shouts Sinmore as Lynx rolls between her legs. Spinning around, Sinmore lets out a sharp, but strangled scream as those claws rake across her rocky legs. With her battle skirt getting ruffled, Sinmore staggers back a couple of steps from the deep gouges in her stony flesh.

Ape-Plus frowns as he watches Black Mist fly past him, then looks to the heroes. "Bah. This is all they throw at the Brain Trust? I should light up a cigar -now- rather than wait." He pulls a grenade from his vest, pulls the pin with one of his canine teeth, and lobs it at the heroes, right in the midst of Cade and Golden Girl.

Cade turns away from Lightning in time to see the grenade flying towards them.

His CVI kicks in and he instinctively captures the grenade inside a bubble of telekinetic force.

He holds it in place and concentrates on negating its explosive output.

Golden Girl gives Cade a heartfelt, "Thanks!"

"Nice shot," calls Sinmore to Cade.

There's a vibration felt by Cade and Golden Girl as the grenade goes off, the telekinetic bubble filling with first fire and shrapnel, then smoke.

"No problem." Cade says with a smile and a nod, though now his attention remains locked on Ape-Plus.

Still he has the situational awareness to give Sinmore a thumbs up before returning the entirety of his attention on teh defense of the heroes here. Lightning being down tells him these guys aren't pulling punches.

Black Mist kippups to his feet. He sprints forward towards Sinmore, who is on his way to the others. He leaps in the air, does a flip, and tries to drive down towards her head foot-first.

Black Mist's foot connects with Sinmore's head, where he remains perfectly balanced on one leg in a crane pose.

"That's going to be a hell of a hot foot," comments Sinmore after taking that hit to her head. She rolls her eyes, looking at Cade and Golden Girl as she prepares to knock the ninja off of her head.

"Get out there!" the mechanized voice orders. There's heavy plodding footsteps as a seven foot tall zombie with gray flesh and a vacant expression. He's wearing a black tuxedo jacket and pants, with a red cummerbund and bow tie, and a black top hat. He has two giant dufflebags slung across his back like a pack mule, and a sack the that bulges like it's carrying small lockboxes in it. He's slow and only makes it to Sinmore before swinging the sack back and slamming it down towards poor Sinmore's back.

Cade can't help but wince as Black Mask's strike lands and he balances. His concerns are washed away by Sinmore's quip and prompts a smile fromt he off-duty Starguard agent.

Behind Mr. Zombie emerges Overbrain. He's a brain suspended in a glass case filled with a nutrient bath. The metal base has a few cable-like limbs on it as it hovers along. The voice comes through on the speech box after assessing the heroes. "You'll all serve the Overbrain by the end of this. Starting with you!" The Overbrain has no limbs to point. His mind tries to reach out to the one he thinks is most susceptible in the group, trying to craft an illusion in Golden Girl's mind.

To Golden Girl's perceptions, Cade says robotically, "I serve the Overbrain. All hail the Overbrain!" He then turns to Golden Girl and aims a glowing green hand towards her as he charges up to blast her.

Lynx slashes quickly at Sinmore with the claws on her other hand, trying to turn the Giantess into a scratching post.

Sinmore takes claws to her leg again, screaming in pain as she's thrown backward and ends up on her back.

The Overbrain cackles as Lynx knocks Sinmore down. "They fall like bowling pins!" He then tries to assault Sinmore's mind to see what he wishes.

While Sinmore is knocked down, the battle rages about her and villains start to charge about, while the heroes try to dodge and move. To her perceptions, where the heroes are, the villains are now instead. So where Cade is, she sees Lynx ready to strike a nearby Cade. Where Golden Girl is, she sees Black Mist about to stab Golden Girl adjacent.

Sinmore spins around on her shoulders, spraying sparks everywhere as she tries to kip up to her feet. It doesn't go well, but it does knock some sense into her head, allowing her to owlishly blink away the illusions that filled her field of vision.

"What... What was that?"

Confused, Sinmore climbs to her feet and shakes her head. She calls out to Cade and Golden Girl to be careful, but isn't entirely sure what's going on in her head at the moment.

Golden Girl whirls round toward Cade and takes a hurried step to close the distance between him and herself. She grabs at his arms, trying to pin them to his sides, and shakes him firmly if she succeeds. "Shake out of it, Cade. You're being controlled by the Overbrain. You can break free. I know you're mentally strong.

Golden Girl grabs Cade's arms and shakes him firmly.

Ape-Plus strides forward as he swings up his large arm to point a blaster pistol at Golden Girl. A chortle rumbles in his chest.

The shot misses by just a bit as the two struggle. Ape-Plus snorts in disbelief.

Cade watches everything he can, taking all the information in and his CVI helps process the data tactically. He sees Sinmore go down and GG staggered a moment by something beyond his perception.

He decides the impromptu team-up needs something to turn the tide in their favor.

He looks to Ape-Plus and remembers the grenades. He recognizes the model too and when he realizes this a smile rolls over his face.

Unfortunately that's exactly when Golden Girl's delusion takes hold of her mind and she takes hold of him. "I'm doing no such thing, Golden Girl! Let me go- we're on the same side!" He protests, but since she doesn't hurt him he feigns the rest of his struggle and instead returns his attention on Ape-Plus' kit.

He attempts to pull the pin in a grenade without Ape-Plus noticing. His eyes narrow as he focuses on his target.

Ape-Plus notices the feel of Cade's telekinesis. "Harhar, stop, that tickles," he says in a deep voice.

Black Mist backflips back towards Sinmore, springs up into the air, and aims a spinning kick at her head while her mind is still reeling.

Planning something out & having a tide-turning play in your mind is not at all the same as executing said plan.

Cade's mental gymnastics are made all the more difficult by the concern he has about being bear hugged by a super-strong teenager who thinks he's after her.

Mr. Zombie considers the battle with that vacant expression, then turns and moves east along the sidewalk carrying their goods.

Lynx decides to back away from the fire giantess for now. She instead turns and pounces towards Golden Girl, leading with her claws.

Sinmore has Black Mist leap off of her head. The fire gianttess swings up and around, trying to smash him out of the air before he inevitably slams into her head again with both feet. On the plus side, she doesn't seem much worse for wear.

Golden Girl releases Cade as she is slammed back into a car by Lynx's attack, concerned being involved in the impact might injure the Starguard agent.

The Overbrain hovers after Mr. Zombie, leading ahead of him quickly. "Such a waste. Maybe they won't make good minions after all," he comments over his speech box while half-turned towards the battle.

Cade is grateful for the reprieve from Golden Girl's grasp. That relief won't last long.

The heroes notice 15 meters down the way, or about 3 meters from the Overbrain, a box truck is parked along the sidewalk. Its engine starts up.

Cade's head feels the offensive pressure coming straight from the Overbrain. "Arrrrrgh!" He says, bringing his hands to his temples.

Golden Girl looks at Lightning, "I know you're hurt. But do you think you can grab and hold onto Cade while he's under the Brain's mental influence? Don't hurt him. He cannot help this. If you can I can try to stop them getting away with the bank's money."

Golden Girl waits for Lightning to respond.

Lightning rouses a little and looks up as he regains some consciousness. "Unnghh. K. Totes. I...ow."

Lightning groans, "Just...give me a sec to get a breather." He's in rough shape, but at least he's awake now.

Golden Girl sees Lightning's not fully with the situation as of this moment. Climbing to her feet she moves back to Cade is a brief flight.

"They're splitting up!"

Sinmore ignores the shinobi on her head and instead charges over to Mr. Zombie. The fire giantess promptly tries to restrain him and keep him from getting away with the loot. Or, you know, getting in the truck.

Sinmore is wrestled off by Mr. Zombie. This is a pickle.

Mr. Zombie shrugs Talia off easily. Though he didn't do it consciously. He just keeps moving with swinging arms, breaking right out of her attempt to hold him.

Ape-Plus starts to follow after Mr. Zombie and the others, staying bipedal. He pulls another grenade off his vest, pulls out the pin with his teeth, and throws it back in the midst of Cade, Golden Girl, and Lightning.

There's a massive explosion, but the barrier holds and protects heroes and villains alike.

Black Mist dashes after the OverBrain and Mr. Zombie, stopping to draw his fist back as he engages Sinmore. His fist begins to glow and gather chi before he punches at Sinmore's kidneys.

Sinmore gets hit by Black Mist. She blinks and turns her head, peering down at him.

"What... Are you trying to give me a massage?"

In a flash of electricity and a white blur, Lightning is back on his feet and tries to grab Cade as instructed.

Lightning grabs Cade's arms and holds them behind his back. "Easy there, buddy."

"I'm fine. Please, let me go- I have good reason to think that Braincase is a telepath of some power!" Cade exclaims after looking over his shoudler at Lightning. He makes sure not to display any aggression towards Lightning as if to illuminate his point.

Lynx sees the others starting to leave. "Hey, don't forget about meeeow!" she says as she springs towards them. She lands near Mr. Zombie and hisses at Sinmore. "Don't you ever quit!?" She slashes her claws at her, trying to knock Sinmore away from them.

"Yeah, sure. That's just what a person being mind controlled would say," Lightning replies calmly. "It's okay, pal. You'll be right as rain soon."

Lynx's claws scrape across Sinmore's stony hide, throwing up sparks, but not seeming to do appreciable damage.

Cade pauses and nods. "I- I suppose it would be. Well, alright. I guess hoping to talk my way out of this is out, so I'll just stand here and watch the action, ok?" He says to Lightning, still not putting up a fight against the hero.

The Overbrain floats to the back of the truck and rotates around. "Quit your caterwauling, Lynx!" Lynx's ears flatten and eyes widen at the reprimand.

Mr. Zombie finally reaches the box truck and opens the swinging back doors. "Rraaawwwrrrrr," he grunts as he climbs slowly into the back of the truck. The interior looks to be armored with high tech consoles within. It's no mere box truck!

Lightning keeps hold of Cade, still a bit whoozy. "Man, my head hurts." He seems a bit conflicted by Cade's lack of action or retaliation. "I'd really appreciate that. You seem...kinda too reasonable."

Lightning is convinced by Cade's words and actions thus far. He sighs. "Man, don't make me regret this," he warns as he lets Cade go.

"It's no problem." Cade replies before he smiles and lifts off the ground. "Thanks! You won't! Now please, you might have a serious concussion- take a seat. I'll call for an EMT." He says, pointing towards a bus stop bench nearby.

A scolded Lynx hops up into the truck gracefully and waits for the others.

Golden Girl lifts off and flies horizontal, almost flush with the roadway, sliding beneath the truck body. Where she attempt to grab the under-frame. Should she suddeed she's start gaining attitude while calling back, "Which direction for the main Police Department from here?"

Golden Girl manages to grab the trucks frame before it speeds off and carries it 35m into the air.

Sinmore seems undeterred by the beatings that she's been taking. Although she's a bit battered and worn down, the fire giantess just keeps coming. Moving swiftly, Sinmore runs past the open access to the back of the box truck and instead keeps going for the side of the truck so she can lift it up off of the ground.

Except there goes Golden Girl with the box truck.

"Thattaway?" calls Sinmore, pointing generally toward the main precinct.

There's Zombie groans and a cat-like screech as the box truck goes up in the air. The Overbrain fumes over his speakers, "How dare you abscond with my ill-gotten gains!?"

Sinmore turns around to look at Black Mist, Overbrain, and Ape-Plus. Rolling her shoulders, Sinmore lifts her hands into the air before slamming one fist into the palm of the other. The air around her promptly detonates in a blast of fire and force that washes outward for 8m in all directions, hopefully taking all three villains with it.

Black Mist and Ape-Plus are close to the epicenter and get pushed back, bur remain on their feet. The Overbrain remains unmoved, its casing proving to be very durable.

Ape-Plus growls an brings out his blaster to aim at Golden Girl, growling.

Golden Girl thinks, oO(Oops!) as the truck slips out of her grasp when Ape-Plus shoots her.

The truck falls ten meters. There's an indifferent groan from Mr. Zombie. Lynx is yowling bloody murder.

Black Mist starts to run for where the truck will land, stopping right underneath it.

Cade since he is now free of his allies grasping hands he smiles and flies up higher. He turns his telekinesis onto a nearby vehicle & attempts to catch it in his companion field and fly it into police custody.

Lightning watches Cade fly off and catch the truck. "Man, I really hope he wasn't lying..." he mutters under his breath.

Cade catches the vehicle and really gets a feel for it weight. "Oof- I'm going to need help here..." He says, as he holds it aloft and begins flying towards a structure that might hold its weight aloft for him, then they can wait for the calvary to come to them.

The Overbrain waves its cabled arms in fury. They just waffle like spaghetti arms, so it's not too scary. "Pestiferous heroes! You'll all regret this when I'm ruling the world!"

Lightning turns into a streak of white and blue with arcs of electricity, backing up, then surging forward to blowing past Black Mist and skidding to a halt beyond him, fist still extended as he pauses and looks over his shoulder.

Black Mist's head is snapped to the side, but he's otherwise unmoved.

Golden Girl swoops down making a second attempt to grab the truck, this time from Cade's TK grip. "You're under control, Cade. I can't let you give the truck back to the villains. I'm sorry."

Golden Girl pulls the truck away from Cade and flies it back up to 30m off the ground.

Cade sighs but doesn't resist too much. In fact instead of protesting he shouts to Golden Girl, "Be careful! And stay under it! And - and fly it to Starguard's landing field! I'll call it in!" He shouts after her.

Ape-Plus snarls and steadies his blaster with both hands, taking aim at Golden Girl again as they all play steal the truck. He opens fire.

Cade focuses on a point between Ape-Plus and Golden Girl and erects a telekinetic barrier there. The laser blast bows the field in but is harmlessly reflected away.

Golden Girl thinks .oO(Cade really is a good person. Even when mind controlled he's protecting the team.)

Black Mist draws some shuriken from his belt, holding three of them between his knuckles. He flings them out at Cade to try an cut him down.

Cade tries to defend himself but is too slow- one of Black Mist's shuriken strikes Cade dead in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him spiraling head over heels.

He's grateful that there were no buildings in his path- more so grateful that his personal field held up to the unexpected strike.

Overbrain is fuming as his nutrient bath bubbles aggressively. "What are you incompetent wretches doing!?" he waves his spaghetti limbs more and focuses on Cade.

Mr. Zombie lurches in the truck and tries to punch straight down near where Golden Girl is holding the truck.

Cade Crichton drops from the sky, letting out a surprised gasp before falling unconscious.

A large gray fist smashes through a foot from Golden Girl's head.

Golden Girl is glad that missed.

As the fist draws back, Lynx pops her head through and hisses, scratching at Golden Girl.

Lightning sees Cade suddenly start falling out of the sky for no reason. Maybe he finally shook the control? He zips and adjusts until he's right under Cade, arms held out to attempt a catch. "This is gonna hurt," he just knows.

Lightning manages to catch Cade in his arms with a pained grunt. Both may be a bit hurt by the impact of the catch at that speed, but Lightning bends his knees and manages to absorb some of it.

Cade falls into Lightning's arms like a sack of potatoes, taking the impact with no resistance to the impact.

Lightning sets Cade down on the ground carefully, then zips back towards Black Mist to try and clothesline the guy.

Once again, Lightning skids past Black Mist with his arm out, hand in a fist. Black Mist is sent tumbling in the same direction as Lightning, but falling behind. He finally lands face down and stays still.

Sinmore sprints over to Black Mist and tries to return the favor for that Atemi Strike. No, she has absolutely no idea what she's doing. It's still going to hurt if it hits.

Golden Girl accelerates to her maximum velocity, moving a further 800m toward the Starguard HQ and dipping lower so a building blocks LoS from the Brain in a bottle. As she does she radios ahead on her SGG communicator that she's inbound with a truck containing two meta level villains, and agent Cade is down and may need medical assistance, as may Lighting.

As they get lower to building level, Lynx peeks out the door, times it, and leaps! It's a desperate escape plan, as she still has quite a ways to fall.

Ape-Plus growls and looks to Overbrain for guidance on what to do, now that they're down three and lost the loot. "Kill one of them as a lesson!" the Overbrain demands.

Ape-Plus nods silently with a toothy grin and looks back to the heroes. He switches the setting on his blaster and takes aim at the most vulnerable: Cade.

Cade's unprotected & completely unconscious body makes for an easy target.

The laser beam burns right through his jacket and into his shoulder. His body reacts to the force imparted but otherwise Crichton is completely motionless.

The Overbrain finally stops angrily waving his limbs. He turns and begins flying straight up, leaving Ape-Plus behind.

Mr. Zombie groans and slowly shuffles to the back of the box truck and tips forward, tumbling rear-over-kettle as he jumps after Lynx.

Golden Girl updates Starguard that the villains have jumped truck. She's also hugely relieved because she's going to have to stop and rest on the way. Which would have been a problem if the villains were still on board.

"Shick, shick, shick! You bastards! He was down!" Lightning growls. He charges at Ape-Plus fist first.

Lightning socks Ape-Plus hard enough to send him tumbling. He shakes his fist after, bruising the knuckles.

Mr. Zombie seems to have left one of his loot bags in the truck. He slams facedown into the ground.

The Overbrain speeds up and flies off at super speeds.

Lightning zips back again to try and hit Ape-Plus again.

Lightning hurts himself a bit as he punches the great Ape while it's still down, sending him rolling back towards Sinmore.

Golden Girl calls Starguard for advice. She explains she has the truck with one loot bag. A zombie is escaping with another bag. And heroes are outnumbered back at the bank. Can someone more experienced tell her what she should do?

Golden Girl adds, she forgot to mention that Agent Cade is under mind control. Psi banch should be told.

Dispatch radios back. "Delta team is being deployed while we try to scramble other Gamma members. Keep the truck secured and make sure civilians are safe."

Golden Girl acknowledges and lands, keeping the truck secure, she hopes, and clicking the SGG transmitter occasionally so Delta can home in on her.

Sinmore reaches out and plants a giant size hand on Lightning's shoulder as he comes rolling toward her.

"You okay?"

Sinmore casts a sidelong look at Lightning, expecting a response from the speedster. Her attention, however, turns toward Ape-Plus whom she lumbers toward and attempts to stomp him into the pavement. It's the appropriately gorilla thing to do.

Lightning breathes heavily. "I'm going to be," he promises.

Ape-Plus is as tough as he looks. Also Sinmore finds her foot doesn't make complete contact with him. It hovers slightly against a force field around him. The ape grins toothily up at Sinmore. "That all you got? The twig hits harder," he chortles.

Ape-Plus rolls back over his shoulders and into his feet, leveling his blaster at Sinmore.

Mr. Zombie gets up and walks towards a manhole cover, lifting it up.

"The catgirl hit harder than you do," retorts Sinmore to Ape-Plus.

Lynx wobbles to her feet and dives down into the sewers.

Lightning asks Sinmore, "You're tough. You going to be okay while I get our pal there to the hospital?"

"Yes," calls Sinmore, the air around her fists and boots starting to smoke and ripple.

Lightning zips over to Cade and picks him up carefully before dashing onwards and towards the closest hospital.

Fire erupts around Sinmore's fists and boots. She whirls around before throwing punches and kicks at Ape-Plus like she's in a Kickboxing Cardio class.

Sinmore backhands Ape-Plus across the face, causing an explosion of flame. Her boot comes up and thunders into his gut with another explosion of fire and force, overloading the forcefield while Sinmore throws a left hook that singes Ape-Plus' facial hair while knocking the slobber right out of his mouth.

"How's that for a hit?"

Ape-plus does a spin as he goes flying and lands on the ground, chin hitting the asphalt. He snore-groans as the lights go out.

After getting Cade to the nearest clinic he knows of, Lightning rushes back to the scene, exhausted and still battered. "You got him!"

Sinmore raises a fiery eyebrow at Lightning.

"You had doubt in girlpower?"

"Not a doubt," Lightning smiles. "Just thought I'd get back in time to see his face as you defeated him."

"Sounds like doubt in girlpower, but with extra steps," replies Sinmore, unconvinced.

Lightning's smile dips a bit. "I-I don't know if that's really a fair assessment..."

"You need to lighten up a little bit," suggests Sinmore. She reaches out and plants a hand on Lightning's shoulder, squeezing firmly as she grins at him.

Lightning sighs in relief, and winces a little as she squeeze. "Uhhnn...sorry...still a bit bruised from earlier."

"Well let's get these mooks tied up for the cops," suggests Sinmore, "Before we get you off of your feet for a spell."

"Aye-aye!" Lightning salutes. He vanishes for just a second, then reappears with a pair of meta-level manacles. He tosses one to Sinmore, then zips over to Black Mist. He moves so fast, one can't quite see him put on the manacles. Lightning is standing there one second. Then the next, Blackmist is in another position with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Sinmore catches the cuffs and rather unceremoniously hog ties Ape-Plus with them.

Lightning zips over with Black Mist in tow and drops him down next to Ape-Plus. "Bagged and tagged," he dusts off his hands.

"Take a load off. Relax. We've got time until the cops show up for these two," suggests Sinmore, gesturing broadly as she folds her arms across her chest.

Lightning nods and vanishes, appearing sitting on the curb as he catches his breath. Not only is his blue visor cracked, the white-haired speedster's skin-tight costume has a few tears in it. He examines his right hand and flexes his fingers stiffly. "Thanks, I appreciate it."