There had been many experiences that Rudy had been looking forward to since he'd been reborn in this new body. Tasting all sorts of delicious flavors that had been denied to him, for example, had been something he'd enjoyed with a relish. Spicy peppers burning his tongue, the sweetness of vanilla ice cream, and the complex interplay of different taste profiles in ramen.
Kate had called him a burgeoning foodie when she and Rex had taken him out on one of their sparse bouts of free time, going around to various places and trying out the meals there. Before, without even a working sense of smell or the capacity to survive off anything other than nutrient paste, he would never have seen the appeal. Nowadays, though, Rudy would wear the title with praise.
A whole world of sensory input had been opened up for him over the last month. Despite the sacrifices, the chewing out he received from Cecil for breaking out the Mauler Twins for his plan, and the deluge of work that came from helping to assist with the Chicago Incident's cleanup, he didn't regret a moment of it. He mourned the loss of his original body, as perhaps the only soul in the world who did, but he couldn't find it in himself to let it detract from his new life.
People who'd never been reduced to his substandard existence couldn't fathom the change. They didn't have the substantive qualia to even begin to put to paper what kind of unfortunate hell it had been, trapped in the decaying, pained edifice of the original Rudolph Connors. Naturally, Rudy was most thankful to Genji for giving him this possibility…
… But there were certainly times when Rudy found himself questioning whether or not he'd made the correct choice in cloning Genji of all people. Like, say, their current training session, with the newest inclusion of Invincible.
"Where's he coming from?" Invincible asked between pants, as the two of them were practically back-to-back, eyes scanning warily around the desert landscape they were in.
"I don't know," Rudy tersely shot back, trying to push the boundaries of his Byakugan to their training limits. He could see for miles around, but he was also new to the power and was facing someone who functionally knew all of its strengths and weaknesses. "I think he's outside of my range."
"Crap."
"Likely gearing up for an attack run, I think."
"Robot, I'm already freaking out a little. You don't have to pile it on."
"Ah. Sorry about that."
The teen admittedly did not know what he'd been signing up for when it came to what Genji had been inflicting on Rudy from nearly the moment that he'd physically recovered. He had learned very shortly, though, that what the Ōtsutsuki called training was a touch more brutal than most would have presumed.
Then again, Genji had changed over the last month. Rudy remembered coming to see him, beaten and battered and bruised in ways that he could never have imagined the man being, not even when he'd fought the so-called Battle Beast. It was a shock to the system, at least until Genji had awoken and tried to smile.
At that point, Rudy could tell that there was something brittle and wan about the usually jovial alien. He just didn't know what it was until there'd been something relentless about the way Genji had powered forward on all cylinders. From the moment that he was conscious, he was working on anything he could get his hands on.
Like the prison to restrain Omni-Man and ensure that he could no longer escape confinement or, at the very least, would be punished harshly for attempting to do so. Mentoring Rudy in the basics of chakra, molding it into shapes and patterns that felt instinctive in a way little else ever had for him. And trying his best to keep up as they worked on new initiatives to combine his existing scientific endeavors with chakra-derived sciences.
Rudy's new armor was bound to have some incredibly fascinating components whenever it was actually complete. Yet his new body, weaker than Genji's pureblooded one, still had imperatives like a need for sleeping, eating, and a limited amount of oxygen. His friend did not have those same requirements and worked even further around the clock.
On training, on developing new techniques, and picking up the slack now that Omni-Man was no longer putting up the pretense of heroism. For all that the man had shattered and destroyed, up until that point, he had been invaluable to the world as someone who could protect it from threats within and without. Now that protection was no longer there, and someone else had to step up to the plate.
Problem was, Rudy was afraid that Genji was breaking under that weight.
A flicker of chakra in range was the only warning he got as Genji appeared from nowhere. "He's coming from belo—!"
That was all he could get as the alien appeared down beneath and reached with his formidable might to grip his ankle. At that point the world blurred as Rudy tried to maneuver himself clumsily with his own flight capabilities, only to fail as he was thrown like a ragdoll toward the surface of the desert. He impacted hard, rolling, carving a deep furrow into the earth and sand as he sputtered from the blow of it.
Still within his vision, he saw Mark try to land a punch and then another, while Genji humored him for a few exchanges. A left jab, deftly parried by the back of his right palm, followed by an attempted knee from Invincible. Genji leaned back, allowing the boy to go flying, while Invincible twisted and righted himself to propel forward back at Genji.
If nothing else, he'd gotten the concept of creating his own leverage down pat. Not that Rudy thought it was going to assist them in actually defeating Genji. Especially not when he started to take things seriously. The cue was subtle, but it usually came when Mark had grasped whatever ephemeral lesson the alien was trying to teach.
While he wasn't sure about what was being taught this day, he could make a guess that it was about precision. For better or worse, Invincible had the impetus to prove a quick study, his strikes coming in hard and fast, rather than the wild swings that he'd normally use. A far cry from the exacting economy of motion that Genji normally employed… but it was a start.
"Very good!" Genji exclaimed, catching the boy's fist one-handedly, the smile on his face hardly as friendly as it might have seemed. "You're doing much better these days, Mark. But I think we can push you a little further."
Invincible didn't get to regret his competence for very long, not when Genji released his fist and began to deliver a series of quick jabs, almost too speedy for either Mark or Rudy to keep up with. Slow enough, though, that they could know they were getting beaten around, and to learn from it.
All while Genji kept up with instruction and criticism. Both he and Invincible were certainly making leaps and bounds in their combat skills under his tutelage, to be sure. But apparently the Ōtsutsuki were prone to incredibly corporeal means of teaching their youth, and now Genji was passing the tradition down to both of them.
Rudy wasn't much of a fan.
A crack resounded out like thunder as the concussive force of the final blow that Genji delivered to Mark sent the boy flying. Then subsequently crashing to the earth not far from where Rudy was getting shakily to his feet. For their erstwhile teacher, he was floating toward them, hands clasped behind his back, with his baggy sleeves in the updated version of the robed costume that he was trying out.
"I didn't hit either of you that hard," Genji commented, looking at them with a singularly dispassionate set of eyes. Outside of training, Rudy could have good conversations and negotiations with the man. But the second they started to spar…
Well, trying to appeal to his sense of mercy went right out the window.
"You're not exactly holding back like before," he admitted, while Genji rolled his neck, Mark getting to his feet a distance away.
"Would you rather I deliver the most featherlight touches or actually hit you like someone that would actually be trying to hurt you?"
Which was another frustrating thing. Despite the unwelcome and new sensation of a different kind of pain, Rudy knew that it wasn't from a place of pointless cruelty or sadism. Every strike came with a lesson, and he was limiting himself to power and speed that the two of them could actually manage.
"I'd have liked a little warning that it was going to be like this!" Invincible yelled, floating up.
With a quirk of his lips to the side, Genji rolled his eyes at their faint indignation. "Fine, we'll make it interesting. I won't attack at all or use my portal abilities. You guys will try to hit me. It should be easy with the two of you working together, right?"
That was a trap if Rudy had ever heard one, as he poured chakra into his propulsion, floating upward until he was next to Invincible once again. Compared to the cost in his suit's fuel, this was a more economical means of managing the process. Genji allowed it, merely watching them from a distance away, continuing to pose with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Do you have any good ideas to get him?" Invincible asked, looking cautiously at the pale figure.
"A few," Rudy admitted. "I picked up some jutsu and made some modifications. We might be able to catch him off guard with some of them. The problem is the need for a distraction."
The teen next to him paused before looking his way behind his goggles. "... Do I have to be the distraction?"
"I mean, if it's me, I don't think we'll be able to actually hit him…"
"Fine! Fine," Invincible huffed. "Next time you're going to be the distraction."
"Noted."
With their tentatively short-lived arrangement in place, Mark rocketed toward Genji, intending to slam into the man. Only for the more seasoned combatant to begin to dodge. Sometimes from a wide margin, as he twisted in the air with a grace that almost staggered belief. Other times it was from more narrowly avoiding being struck, yet still somehow managed to make it clear that Mark was miles from actually hitting him.
How someone could pull off that level of savoir-faire, he didn't know, but Rudy desperately wanted to find out. However, his part of the plan meant that he needed to actually cook up a good technique that'd actually allow him to hit Genji. And thus he'd lean toward the so-called elemental release that he'd become the most fond of.
Lightning release.
Using hand seals was a crutch for him, at least to a certain degree. He couldn't quite do things effortlessly with a wave of his hand, so it helped to mold the chakra, the vast reserves of boiling, active energy within him. Vaster than almost anyone else's on the planet, save for the man he was targeting.
Turning it from the undifferentiated chakra he naturally produced to something more aggressively energetic. Crackling electricity was beginning to gather in his hands as he soared through the air clumsily toward Genji, who had his back turned to the man. Not that it meant much, but at least it would hopefully mean he'd have to take some time to properly dodge.
Eventually, though, holding it back from going off felt like too much. So he unleashed the technique, lightning pouring out from his hands and beginning to take shape. A roaring, red-eyed dragon of crackling power that soared forth toward his foe at the speed that electricity could be known for.
For most people it'd be too much to even try to navigate around. Genji, however, was patently built differently in every way that mattered. He barely even so much as twitched as he disappeared from sight. Not moving through a portal, as much as it would have been a balm to Rudy's emotions. Instead, it was merely his movement speed, far more adroit with flight than the clone was at the moment.
"Not a bad plan with the lightning release!" Genji yelled as Mark got slammed with electricity from the jutsu instead, having still been in its path. "Maybe try to maneuver it a little better next time, though."
It wasn't dangerous or damaging enough to really hurt Invincible permanently. Very few things on the planet could manage that, as evidenced by his father's rather brutal beatdown. That didn't mean the volts that shocked him were pleasant to experience, though, as the Viltrumite was sent reeling and smoking through the air.
Rudy winced and offered a hasty apology. "S-Sorry!"
When it came to creating well-made plans and tactics, he was good at that. But as he was coming to learn, his prior skill was limited to using expendable drones and trying to maneuver his teammates from a distance. Being in the thick of combat was a very different ballpark than what he'd done so far. The learning curve left something to be desired, even if he did understand that he was improving.
Belatedly, the man felt a pang of sympathy for the immense amounts of physical training that Eve, Kate, and Rex had been through over the years. In the abstract he'd understood that it was rigorous. Only when he was withstanding his own version of it could he fully comprehend the depths that they'd gone to.
"Your plan was a bust," Invincible sullenly stated as he flew sluggishly through the air toward Rudy, as they came toward each other to try and figure out their next step. Genji wasn't attacking yet, but who knew how long this reprieve would last? "Maybe you can take the front."
IE, he could take the risk of a beating. But Rudy was nothing if not fair, as he gave a grave nod. "Or we both go at him at the same time. It should be easier than allowing him to only take one of us at a time."
"It's worth a shot," Invincible admitted, shrugging even if he didn't look entirely convinced about their chances. "On three. One, two, three!"
The two of them darted toward Genji with violence on their minds as they got into striking range. One would think that having two people moving at you, with blisteringly fast, inhuman speeds, would make you stutter or stop. Yet at this point Rudy had gained a very healthy respect for the power of the Byakugan.
Outside of a singular degree of attack, it was an almost perfect visual sphere of defense. When Invincible tried to deliver an uppercut from the side, Genji merely outright grabbed him and threw him to the side. When Rudy attempted to throw a flying knee toward his back, he bent almost perpendicular and twisted in the air, narrowly avoiding the strike entirely.
Jab from one angle and he'd only deftly deflect your strike with a palm. Axe kick and you'd only find yourself hitting air, or worse, your ally as he got socked in the face by an apologetic Invincible. If that was it, maybe it would have been an easier humbling to swallow. The problem was that Genji was talking the entire time it was going on.
"We've spoken about your capacity to create your own leverage. Pour in more chakra into your body, Rudy, that's how you close the distance. What? You feel like that's too much to spend? I'll show you what too much chakra looks like…"
"Mark, you're getting upset. If you let your emotions rule you, you'll get destroyed by someone who's got ice in their veins. Now show me that knife hand again; I think you're onto something."
"When it comes to stronger opponents, the two of you need to be basically one brain. If multiple Viltrumites come, I'm going to be relying on you two to at least handle one or more by yourselves. So we're going to have to push even harder."
Eventually, though, their free reign of strikes had to come to an end. It was accompanied by an alarming explosion of chakra flowing through Genji's body, as one of the gates that controlled the flow of chakra just seemed to… burst open? Rudy didn't know that was possible.
He was a bit more worried as the second gate opened under his sight, as Genji breathed out. "Alright. Now, we're going to practice being under attack by a superior opponent. I won't hit as hard as Omni-Man did, but try not to get too bent out of shape about how hard I'll hit."
"Wait, can we take a breath—" Invincible tried to get out as Genji blurred forward once again.
No, that wasn't a fair way to describe it, was it? The speed he was displaying now went beyond his top speed that Rudy had seen before. It was a new, terrifying height, as a crack of air was the only warning. Invincible received before being punched in the gut and going flying through the sky. Clouds dispersed into ring shapes from the sheer velocity of the humanoid projectile being propelled through them.
When it came to his turn, Rudy only got a slight warning. He'd call it a sort of intuition more than anything else, rather than a solid understanding of why he felt that way. It was more of a reaction to that instinct, as he tried to twist out of the way. Keyword being try, as a fist slammed into his face, leaving a spray of blood to mist in the air.
Not that Rudy had to worry about that problem for long, as now he too was being punched at high speeds away. The environment around him was being eaten up as he traveled past it, trying to get his momentum under control. Easier said than done, though. His introduction to the realities of three-dimensional combat had been rough.
It was moments like this that further reminded him that he hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet.
Still, things did eventually come to a close after a bit more pummeling. While the exercise in futility had not been pleasant, and Invincible yelled at Genji for being smacked around like that, he didn't bar himself from coming to future sessions. Maybe because he'd realized the same thing that Rudy had on some level.
It would have been easier if Genji had just been bullying them. But despite the fact that he'd leave with bruises, at no point did he ever strike the two of them harder than they could deal with. They certainly hurt quite fiercely, but he had a preternatural knowledge of understanding precisely how much the two of them could take at a given moment.
Frustrating as much as it was relieving. Even the other parts of their conditioning, like being subjected to some of the harsher elements of the planet, such as literally bathing in lava, or trying to increase their speed and stamina, were watched with a meticulous eye. They didn't have anything that Genji could use as weightlifting equipment, but he was already present when Rudy and Invincible were using the GDA equipment for that purpose.
All in all, it was a blistering pace of development that saw them training for as much as humanly possible. Mark held a civilian identity, though, so naturally he ended up being subjected to less of it. Rudy had a thoroughly packed schedule, between actually leading the Guardians of the Globe, training with them and with Genji personally, and actually progressing his technological mastery.
Though despite how tiring the pace was… he didn't think he'd trade it for a second. Rudy, in his estimation, was happier than he'd ever been. Not that there weren't other complications of his new life that came to the fore from time to time.
When it came to chakra-derived sciences, Genji remained the unparalleled leader of the new field of technological innovation. From what Rudy had heard down the pipeline, the GDA had an entire division working on fūinjutsu and jutsu-shiki alone. While their projects were moving at a ponderously slow rate, especially with the arduous resource requirements to actually activate either form without much in the way of chakra, they saw the potential in it the same as Rudy.
In his own next iteration of his armor, he'd never been particularly fond of too many hard projectiles. Having a system that could store tremendously high amounts of micromissiles and other similar weapons, though, changed the design principles of his platforms tremendously. Let alone the resource saving that came with not having to iterate as much on actuators or other systems to hold up his suit.
He was strong enough to just carry whatever metal was on him with ease. While it might slow him down to a degree, it'd certainly be worth experimenting with in the future. Especially if he could find ways to add external propulsion to make it an even trade for speed versus maneuverability.
And all of the wonderful new techniques that he could use to charge and store lightning-aspected chakra, to fuel batteries, and to expend specific attacks for later… the next generation of Robot suits would be a tremendously unpleasant surprise for the villains of the world. He couldn't wait to put the lessons that had been taught to him into practice.
There were other projects that he wasn't involved in at all. Something that Genji was doing with Cecil, one D.A. Sinclair, and something codenamed 'Reanimen.' But Rudy had respected his friend's privacy in that regard. If it was something he was meant to know about, he'd be told in due time.
Especially after his faux pas with the Mauler Twins, he imagined that it'd be a little while to begin with. Neither Cecil nor Genji were entirely pleased with what they understood of what happened to get him this body in the first place. However, both were practical men and weren't exactly going to waste the opportunity before them.
Even if Rudy did suspect that their trust in his decisions had been, admittedly, rightfully diminished. Removed from the decaying framework of his old body, he could acknowledge the fact that the pain and drive to escape it might have been affecting him more than he could have known. Or realized, given his persistence in powering through it to achieve his goals.
With all of that said, there were other matters that did require their attention. Specifically toward the members of the Guardians of the Globe who were initially receptive to the offers of upgrades and technological improvements on their powers. Black Samson and Rex had come around on the concept, though certainly far later than anyone else. As opposed to Amanda, Kate, and Rae, who were ahead of them in the line.
Amanda's problems were going to take some time to deal with. Despite the fact that Rudy could now, similar to Genji, quite literally see the miraculous and supernatural processes being undertaken in her transformation, that did not translate to immediate breakthroughs. It just meant that he had a very good idea of where to begin his efforts on altering the effects of her curse.
He and Genji still needed to make the tools to actually begin work on something that could touch her transformation's effects. They'd been workshopping a few ideas on how to actually accomplish that, ranging from sapping her life force in a controlled way to ensure she aged to affecting the way that she was put back together after every transmogrification.
Rudy liked solving problems, and so did Genji. So while the road to a solution wouldn't be tomorrow or the next day, they did feel confident that one would come due time.
Rae had a very different problem, but one that they could solve a lot easier. She needed means to actually hurt people that were stronger than her or who she'd gone inside. That was very solvable, as they found out with some mild tests that her shrinking did in fact work with carried objects. Her glasses, for example, were a more notable one.
So they just handed her some explosive seals and tried not to wince at the unfortunate but expected results. Good for truly lethal solutions, though they were already working on less lethal lightning seals that'd effectively deliver electric shocks from inside of the body of the target in question.
Originally he was a little surprised as to the leery nature that Genji had given to Rae's abilities. Having been put into situations where he could theoretically be subjected to some of her tricks, now she had given Rudy a much healthier respect for her shrinking powers. That, and another promise to ensure that his future suits were entirely sealed.
Just in case.
It was the last of them that was giving Rudy the most challenge. Not by dint of her duplication or finding a way to augment it with a suit. Some of that was already a solved problem, seeing as he took the notes that others had used for Kate's current costume. He and Genji had begun to look at how much of a given tolerance they had to shove technology into it.
The answer was not that much, seeing as the way she duplicated herself seemed to be a curse that was far more lax than Amanda's. No, the problem was more Kate's proximity to him, as she sat on the edge of a nearby desk, legs crossed and patiently waiting for him to finish up his current schematics.
"So," she started, looking his way with a smile. "You said you guys had something for me?"
"Yes…" Rudy trailed off, not even needing to glance her way with his Byakugan activated. With his blood being as pure as it was, the apparent veins that might have appeared on future hybrids didn't appear on his features. It was good exercise to drain his chakra reserves, he was told, and to keep aware of his surroundings.
Now if only the sights that he could see weren't so otherwise jarring… "Of a sort, anyway. Given that you'll be the one wearing it, I figured it'd be appropriate to get some feedback from you."
A low, throaty chuckle escaped Kate as she smiled his way. "As considerate as ever, huh?"
Heat rushed to his face, and he felt thankful that she couldn't see him from this angle. "I-It was nothing," he hastily responded. "Naturally, given that you're a valued member of the team. If you'd come over, you can see our tentative plans for your new suit."
He wouldn't lie; it was a little distracting to have his biology working as intended. What did Rudy mean by that? In his original body, vast swathes of his brain had been more or less atrophied. Most notably, most functions regarding touch, taste, scent, sight, and proprioception. All of those were problems that his new body did not possess.
His brain's neurochemistry worked perfectly fine, which was perhaps a problem, when he was beginning to notice the girls around him. Obviously not Amanda, as she had a child's body, but being able to effectively image the entire contours of pretty much any female superheroine at will was a bit overwhelming.
Given that all of them were in the prime of their life, many of them were considered in the top percentiles for attractiveness or physical fitness, which could prove challenging. At one point he'd even asked Genji for advice on the topic. Though the answer he'd received didn't help that much.
"The fact of the matter is that you're going to get sidetracked sometimes," the superhuman alien admitted. "But eventually the novelty of seeing bodies will wear off. They're just going to turn into disambiguated masses of chakra and flesh for you at a certain point."
That might have been theoretically true, and Rudy was strong enough to fight off his own impulses. It didn't mean that having them for the first time in his life wasn't some kind of objective discomfort. He'd always been a little critical of Rex's own womanizing ways, privately and in the comfort of his own mind. Now…
Well, Rudy would concede that chasing the pleasures that came from the physical world made more sense to him now. Or at least considering them in a largely theoretical context. How it'd feel to have someone touch him, genuinely, in a sensual context…
A very dangerous train of thought to let go rampant these days.
It'd be inappropriate for him to do more than look respectfully, though. Kate was one of his oldest allies and friends, beyond the fact that he was nominally her team lead. Anything past that would have been frankly irresponsible for him to indulge in. No matter how challenging his new hormones might have made the task.
As she moved across the room to the station that he was seated at, Kate leaned over his shoulder. It was a totally friendly gesture, he told himself, and reading anything more into it was unreasonable and absurd.
"So what am I looking at here?"
Clearing his throat, he sat up a little straighter, pointing at several different spots. "What we're modeling are two different pathways. The first is the reservoir, using a paired relay of jutsu-shiki—"
"In English, Rudy."
"Ah. It'll functionally be a shared reserve between all of your clones, linked off of the first suit and all future copies. It'll allow for specialized physical reinforcement or a degree of various effects. Physical substitution with objects in your general weight and height range, for example, is a trick we think you'd get some use out of."
She nodded slowly, eyes gleaming with interest and fascination at the prospect. "I think I like the sound of that a lot. Especially if you can keep me from getting pulped the next time we run into a heavy hitter." There was a low sound of disgruntlement that escaped her at the reminder of her own frailty.
"I'm aware of the toll dying takes on you," he nodded fiercely. "As long as I'm around, I don't intend on allowing you to die if I can help it."
The smile that came over her face was a touch more tender. "Y'know, now that you're walking around in the flesh and not an electronic monitor, a lot of the things you say come off as being sweet. I don't think I ever noticed that before."
Rudy swallowed thickly, busying himself with needless typing. "It does? Interacting with people in person is a little more complex than I thought it'd be. So many little aspects that I'm still not sure I'm getting right."
"Generally, it's polite to look at people when you're talking to them, for starters."
"Right," he sighed out, shifting around in his seat to face her properly. "I'm used to doing so through my drones, and my new eyes don't help that much."
Kate let loose a little laugh. "It's fine. Really, I think it's cute."
"Well. Uh." Rudy couldn't recall a singular person in his entire life who'd ever called him cute. Just the sound of it sent goosebumps across his skin. His brain, prodigious as it was, couldn't come up with something intelligent or clearheaded to say. "Thank you? I can continue on with the other functions we're planning."
"I'd love to hear about them."
For the first time, Rudy did genuinely think she would. He wasn't quite sure what had changed to make Kate take such an interest in science, but he wouldn't begrudge the opportunity to speak about his newest creation.
"Then we should continue with the other, riskier element that we're still on the fence about. Here you can see there's these connectors for trying to use your body's natural physical and spiritual energies, which are usually really hard to measure, but…"
It was becoming increasingly clear to Rudy that for as much as he likely got more work done in his lab alone, none of it felt as fulfilling as it did when he had someone beside him. And really, he could handle a little less efficiency when the company was this pleasant.
Author's Notes
Robot's going to end up cooked, yes, and probably in a mildly healthier relationship with Dupli-Kate than he was in with Monster Girl. For the most part, anyway, this has been a very solid chapter. I added a little bit on from the other versions, but honestly, not that much.
Working on a Chaos Gacha snippet in Bleach with an OC, it's going. Weirdly enough, I was mapping out the story for ASO as a whole, and realized that I can actually see the shape of the story pretty easily. By this time next year, if we continue at this two a week pace, we're definitely have wrapped up the story. With the major arcs I have planned in my head.
Finishing up on Earth, then space stuff, back to Earth for romance, then back out when the Viltrumite War goes properly hot with all of the twists and turns that'll bring… and probably finishing from there. There's no reason to drag it out further.
As always, let me know what you liked, disliked, etc.
Additionally, if you would like to read ahead, you can find up to ten chapters ahead via the linktree in my profile. For the time being, all adult content like future smut in anything I write, will be on , though in due time I'll likely try to get the processing and authentication through on to be able to post it there as well. So be mindful of where you're supporting me.