Flashpoint: Heroes

Claire suddenly had a sinking feeling that she might have to have a similar talk with her dad. She wasn't sure how that'd go. He had plenty of his own matters to attend to, with all the work to be done starting up a new Company.

The thought had already been on Noah's mind, how out of his element he was when dealing with a man like Eobard Thawne. Evo speedsters were a challenge, but Metas were on another level. Not to mention how easily the man had slipped past Noah's defenses. He understood easily how Thawne has been able to manipulate Claire, and that alone made it hard to stand by, not to mention all that Barry had gone through.

But he knew he'd have to be careful about how he offered his assistance, and be ready to step aside if needed. He might check in on Sandra himself, too.

Barry's vampire antics had Claire giggling, but she quickly sobered up as he talked about the energy vampires. She understood completely how difficult it was to sort out feelings about that man, and she only had a blip of history with him by comparison. It was a mercy, she thought, that she'd found a different path before she ended up in too deep.

"For all the wrong he does, Thawne sure is right sometimes," she said. "He's right about that." And he was right about her not selling herself short. Before she could say more, Caitlin was quietly interrupting. She glanced up at Barry before pulling away from him to step over.

Noah stood by curiously, keeping distance out of respect but still very interested in what Cait would have to say. If it was to do with the lab results, it might be information to share with Suresh.

"Is everything okay?" Claire asked, trying not to look worried.

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feelthelightning

Barry would agree with her and support her decision to keep Noah out of danger if she needed a second voice of reason to help convince him. He was sure even Joe would help, despite being benched himself.

The speedster nodded, looking a bit lost in thought at that. It was still so hard. He'd spent a year working with Dr. Wells as his friend and longer than that admiring the man for his innovation and gifts to the scientific community that it was a very complicated web Thawne had woven. Dr. Wells had been his idol. His hero. "Thanks." Barry said softly with a gentle smile.

When Cait beckoned them, he headed to the med lab with Claire. Caitlin paused and looked to Noah. "Oh! I mean, you're welcome in too! Your knowledge on Evolved Humans will also benefit from this." She added with a sweet smile.

Once everyone was inside, Jesse pulled up a few images on the laptop. "It looks like some of the markers present in evo DNA and Meta DNA are similar but not in the same sequences. Metas have the addition of Dark Matter merged with their DNA but it doesn't seem detrimental to Evolved Humans at all. In fact, according to his research, hybrids could be made between Evolved Humans and Meta-humans. The DNA sequences are stable." Jesse said as she pointed between strands of Claire's DNA and unnamed Meta DNA that had the merged globs of Dark Matter integrated into it.

"It doesn't look like Evolved Humans can inherently be affected by Dark Matter right out." Caitlin added. "So, it wouldn't be 'contagious' without being exposed to a particle accelerator explosion but it could be inherited if one parent was an Evolved Human and the other was a Meta. But the odds are just as likely that the child could be just a Meta or just an Evolved Human. Just like a child between a regular human and a Meta could turn out to be just human or a Meta."

Jesse looked up from the computer to Claire. "There's also an encrypted file here that's password locked. The hint reads: what I gave you after I drew your blood."

Caitlin put a hand on Claire's shoulder. "We can leave if you want to open it in peace." As Snow got close, Harry's watch started to ping on Claire's wrist.

Edited (Forgot to add a thing) Date: 2025-10-13 12:51 pm (UTC)

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Noah slipped in behind Claire and Barry. She immediately brought her wrist up when the watch started to ping, quickly dismissing the alert. Good thing she was quick on her feet. "Weird! It's doing the same thing my watch was before Cisco fixed it. Must be the same glitch, I'll bring it to them later."

That would hopefully be enough to hold off any suspicion, because she didn't want to blow Caitlin's cover, and she also wanted to focus on the discussion at hand. Her first thought about the news was a simple one. "It'll be safe for Peter! His dream and Cisco's Vibe were right."

It took a moment for the implications of the rest to catch up with her, and she blushed. Why would Thawne have been researching that? Maybe to assure her it was safe, so she didn't have to worry about it, but the idea was awfully thoughtful for a man who was manipulating her. Or had he been genuine, after all?

She then recalled her conversation with Harry, and how he thought she was already looking into having kids with Barry. That only made her blush more, but fortunately she could shift her focus to the encrypted file.

"I have no secrets," Claire said. "I'd just end up telling y'all anyway, so you might as well stay." She moved in front of the computer and read the password hint. The reminder almost made her want to smile, but she refused to let him have the satisfaction, even if he couldn't see it. He couldn't have given her a more obvious hint, so she typed it in: milkshake.

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feelthelightning

Barry was also cherry red at the implications. He hadn't been privy to that conversation with Harry. The watch had alarmed him, but when the alarms didn't go off, he had relaxed all in the same millisecond. It wasn't Thawne.

Cait pulled back slowly so as to not draw attention to herself. "It should be safe for him, yes." She agreed with a smile.

Claire typed in the password and the file opened, showing a newspaper article dated for just under a year in the future with the headline, FLASH MISSING AFTER TRAGIC DEATH OF CLAIRE BENNET The article went on to suspect there was a romantic attraction between the Flash and the woman who fell on the battlefield, leaving the city with a broken hero. Crime plagued the city now that the Flash was nowhere to be seen and a man calling himself the God of Speed and his accomplice, Killer Frost had destroyed STAR Labs, killing everyone who fought back.

A note in the margin had been added by Thawne that said, This is your future if you stay with him.

Barry and Caitlin backed away from the screen almost at the same time. But Barry spoke first. "This is fake. It has to be. Killer Frost doesn't exist on this Earth. It's one of Thawne's tricks! This is from another Earth or... something."

Caitlin was trembling, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, but she didn't say anything. Fear was evident in her eyes which didn't help her keep the ice under control. Flecks of blue, like shards of ice, fractured through her brown irises. She turned and ran.

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Noah had half a mind to comment on those implications, but the two kids were embarrassed enough, and then the focus shifted to the encrypted file. Claire's first instinct was to agree with Barry. This had to be fake. More of Thawne's games to get into her head.

His motive was even more obvious now, to get her away from Barry. It was there in the voice memo, and it was here now. What did he expect, for her leave Barry and go running back to be friends with him again? That seemed... ridiculous.

The mention of Killer Frost gave her pause, though. How would he have known about that? Who the hell was the God of Speed? Was Eobard trying to ascend or something?

She looked up just in time to see Caitlin hurry out of the room. "I got this," Claire said quickly, then she took off in pursuit. She knew Barry didn't want to let her out of his sight, but she had to hope he'd trust her to be okay. Harry's watch would ping, and the alarms in the lab would alert them to any danger.

"Caitlin, wait! Please!" Her voice sounded high and desperate in her ears, full of worry.

Damn it, she should have figured there'd be some kind of personal message, just like the drive. They'd been so focused on the research that she had simply figured it was more of that. The password should have been her first clue that he was screwing with her.

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Barry believed in Claire and he trusted Harry's tech. So if she wanted him to stay back, he would. Both speedsters were itching to follow though.

Cait ran down the ramps and hallways to the Pipeline. A place Claire hadn't been, but had seen in the video Barry showed her of Thawne in the cell. Cait threw herself into one of the cells and curled into herself in a corner, crying. White streaks faded through her brown hair and her eyes were ice blue.

"I can't become that monster!" She sobbed. Frost started to form on the ground and wall she was leaning against.

Edited Date: 2025-10-14 12:42 am (UTC)

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Claire had no idea where she was at first, only focused on following Caitlin. As she entered the Pipeline and approached the cell Caitlin had thrown herself into, though, she slowly started to recognize the room from the video Barry had shown her earlier. Realizing he'd been here, it made her shiver almost as much as the chill radiating from her friend.

Following into the cell, she mentally kicked herself for not asking someone to get ahold of Cisco before she ran off in pursuit. She'd have to handle this on her own for now.

"Hey," she started, getting down to kneel beside her, ignoring how the chill in the floor cut right through her jeans. "I don't care what some stupid newspaper article says. I'm not dying in a year, and you're not turning into Killer Frost."

She reached for one of Caitlin's hands, closing both of hers around it. Some warmth against the cold. "Maybe it's Thawne messing with us, or... fine, maybe it's from the future. But from where I'm sitting, the future hasn't happened yet, and that future isn't happening so long as I can still do something about it. Not just me - we wouldn't turn our backs on you. You're our family."

Edited Date: 2025-10-14 12:59 am (UTC)

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"You don't understand, I can feel her! Killer Frost isn't just a pseudonym, she's a person! A personality! And she fights me! She's hateful and angry and likes to hurt people! I met her on Earth-2 when Zoom kidnapped me. She killed her Caitlin. And these Meta suppression cuffs aren't helping! She's too strong!" The tears flowing down Caitlin's face were freezing against her cheeks. Her skin was probably almost painful to touch between Claire's hands, as cold as it was. Like holding onto ice.

By now her hair was all white and her lips were dark blue. She looked up with icy blue eyes that flashed with a frosty glow. "Don't worry, Barry will find a way to save you. He will alter timelines to make sure he gets his happy ending, the rest of us be damned." There was an odd warped sound to her voice, like an undertone of hissing. Then the glow faded and Cait's eyes widened in shock. She covered her mouth with her free hand and withdrew even more. The tears started up again.

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This was one of those times it was fortunate to not feel pain, though Caitlin was still uncomfortably cold to the touch. Claire didn't pull away. Not even when those icy blue eyes seemed to glow and that bitterness seeped into her voice. It truly did seem like a whole separate personality was emerging, and she almost didn't know what to do.

She stopped trying to think and instead acted on instinct, leaning in and throwing her arms around Caitlin in a tight hug. "You don't have to stop her all by yourself," Claire said softly. "It'll feel that way, 'cause she's in your head, but you're not alone in this. Cisco and I have been keeping your secret because you asked us to, and we care about you. I might have accidentally blown it up opening that file in front of everyone - but Barry thinks it's a trick by Thawne. We can still play it off that way, if you're not ready for them to know the truth."

Now she pulled back to look Caitlin in the eyes, though she kept her hands on her friend's arms, still ignoring the cold. "If I can toss in my two cents? The more people know the truth, the more of us you have in your corner to fight her. We have all that research from Thawne, maybe there's info to help make stronger cuffs. I know Harry would work on it if we asked."

Edited Date: 2025-10-14 01:31 am (UTC)

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The hug completely surprised her. It even shocked a small squeak out of her and she tentatively raised her arms up to return it. As she did, the cold seem to slowly leave her body and the white bled from her hair, leaving it brown again. Her eyes were the last to fade, locked with Claire's when she pulled back. Frosty blue, full of tears, and dimly glowing before fading back to brown and Cait lost her composure entirely, sobbing into Claire's shoulder.

"I don't blame you for that, Claire." She said softly into Claire's shirt. "Eobard is still ruining out lives." But she took the suggestion into consideration. Telling the others... that would be hard. It would admit that this was something she had to face, but then again, they'd just crossed that bridge, hadn't they? "I guess I have to tell them. They need to know. Especially if I'm going to betray everyone for this God of Speed if she takes over." Cait took a few steadying breaths and lifted her head from Claire's shoulder. All signs of Killer Frost were gone.

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Claire held on as Caitlin cried, relieved to see her appearance go back to normal. It was entirely likely that Barry and Jesse had already seen part of the transformation, given their speed, so it was a relief when Cait seemed to agree about letting the truth come out. She didn't really know how to try and play it off beyond insisting that the mention of Killer Frost in the article was more of Thawne tricking them.

"We're not going to let that happen," she assured Caitlin, pulling back and offering a small smile. "Whatever you need, we're here." There was a pause as she considered how best to say this next part. "Cisco was really worried, you know. After you confided in us, because you were so afraid of becoming her. We were trying to think up ways to help you." There. That should hopefully be a way to explain it without giving away Cisco's Vibe and thus setting Caitlin off all over again.

"I know what it's like to be afraid you'll betray the people you care about. I've made some stupid mistakes, and I constantly worry I'll go back to those old, dumb habits. Maybe we can learn to rely on the people around us to help with that, together."

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The speedsters, though itching to follow had stayed true and let Claire handle it. Even if Barry was going nuts waiting.

"Cisco met Earth-2 Killer Frost too, so he knows what I'll become. His doppelgänger, Reverb worked alongside her with Zoom. You know, it's funny," But the laugh she let out was anything but humorous. "when Cisco was afraid his powers would make him evil because they were given to him by Thawne, I promised him that I didn't think any of us would turn evil if we suddenly had powers. And here I am. With evil powers." The laugh was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Cait pulled back just enough to wipe her eyes on her sweater sleeve.

"Thank you. I mean it. You don't want to know where my mind was headed." She'd been close to looking up Mick Rory and seeing if he'd put her down because she didn't know anyone else heartless enough to do so without regrets besides Snart's old partner.

"Why would you betray people you care about?" She asked curiously, not missing that statement.

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"The way you keep fighting Killer Frost makes it abundantly clear to me that she's not the real you. I don't think it's the powers trying to make you evil, but that other personality. Your powers aren't evil, and neither are Cisco's." She gave Caitlin's arm a squeeze as she pulled back a little more.

The question, maybe she should have expected it, but she also sort of forgot that Caitlin wasn't there in the Time Vault when she'd had her breakdown earlier. Claire took a breath to collect herself. "I have a long line of friends I left behind and abandoned, a couple who were more than friends, and a couple more whose lives I may have ruined a little bit. I hurt a lot of people because I was scared and selfish. Eobard reminded me in the voice message he left for me, even though he wouldn't have known about any of them. He also talked about changing the timeline, a future where... someone else is with Barry. I have to fight it when Thawne gets in my head like that, or else I might just run away like I have so many times before."

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"Killer Frost is my power though. I don't have the ice without her and when I reach for it, I can feel her fight me. Like she knows it's her power that I'm using and I have no right to use it." She looked down at her hands, turned them over then balled the into fists. "But I do need something stronger to hold her back." She rolled up her sleeve to show one of the power cuffs with a dim, barely there blue light.

"It's because you're not charging them, man." Cisco said as he stepped out of the dark hall and towards the cell door. He held up a data pad, waggling it back and forth in the air to indicate it. "Neither of you turned off the motion sensors. Made it look like one of the Metas broke out of the Pipeline." He walked up to Claire and dropped down beside her, criss cross on the floor with his head tipped down, black hair draped around his face. "You're not allowed to run away from us." He nudged Claire with an elbow. "If you think Barry's puppy eyes are bad, you haven't seen mine." He teased.

"Barry... had feelings for Iris. He always has." Caitlin said slowly, hazarding a guess. "But he's been slowly getting over that since she rejected him. She's in love with Eddie and you mended his heart. He's so in love with you, Claire. So whatever that future was, it's not meant to be. If it even existed in the first place. He wants to be with you." She reached out and gave Claire's arm a gentle squeeze.

"Thawne gets in all our heads." Cisco was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Claire. "It took me half a year not to freeze up every time Harry entered a room just because Thawne stole his face."

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Cisco's voice out of seemingly nowhere made Claire jump a little, but she was then immediately relieved and happy to see him. It made perfect sense that a room like this would have motion sensors. Neither of them were in a state to really think about it in the moment.

"Not you, too. Barry's are bad enough," she said with an almost strained laugh, nudging her shoulder against his. Just the thought of that kicked puppy look on Barry's face was enough to tug at her heartstrings. "You'd double-team me and I'd be done for."

She was still wrapping her head around a lot of the science about Metas (and hell, Evos too), but charging electronics was definitely something she understood. "Couldn't we get you a spare pair now? That way you don't have to just rely on the one. At least until we come up with some other way to help you. There have been Evos with an alter ego like that, could be it works similarly. I'll look in my dad's Company files."

The mention of Iris, and Barry having feelings for her, made Claire tense up. Damn, Caitlin cut right to the heart of it. It was hard not to worry, but she also knew Cait was right. Barry loved her. The proof was right there in how he acted with her, how he treated her. She could almost picture him now, pacing around the Med Lab or maybe even the Cortex, resisting the urge to run down here and make sure she was safe.

Meant to be wasn't really Claire's style. She chose Barry. To hell with all this timeline meddling, she made her own future.

"Thawne is trying to get me to leave Barry," she said finally. "What he said about the timeline, and then his message with the stupid newspaper. Something about that being my future if I stay with Barry. It's obvious, what he's doing. He either just wants to hurt us, or... maybe he wants me on his side. But it's not happening. I'm not leaving Barry, I'm not leaving any of you. I'm not dying in a year." At least not permanently.

She gave Caitlin's arm a squeeze in return. "And we're not letting Killer Frost take you over. With the truth out, we can all help you."

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"Clearly, I missed something important." Cisco said as he raked his fingers back through his hair to bring it out of his face. "I could build another set, but clearly they're not strong enough. Even at low power, they should still dampen powers. And this cell can hold Barry. It held Thawne! But I can feel the lingering cold. With your help, Cait, Harry and I can work on something stronger custom tailored to you."

Caitlin looked up to both of them. "Whatever works. I'm... I'm desperate."

"Then it's settled, because I'm not losing either of you. And I'm sure Barry agrees. No dying," he said pointing at Claire. "and no Anakin Skywalker for you." He pointed to Caitlin. "So, he left another future news paper, huh? If you want, I can try to Vibe you, Claire. See if I can't get any more details or disprove it altogether." He offered.

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"It was in an encrypted file with Thawne's research, password protected, with some headline about me dying and The Flash going missing, dated about a year or so from now," Claire explained to catch Cisco up. "It went on to say that Killer Frost and some... God of Speed, attacked STAR Labs, which is how Caitlin and I ended up here. She ran off and I followed."

She considered the offer. Nothing Thawne said or showed them had anything to do with her family, so they would probably be able to avoid a mishap like earlier. "It's up to you. Hopefully no one's having any dreams about it," she said with a wry smile. "The more info we have, the better, just be careful if you do it, okay?"

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"God of Speed. That's a new one. I mean, Zoom and Reverse-Flash are egocentrical but they both like to tack their names onto things." Cisco frowned and mulled that over for a moment. Zoom was dead, though and Thawne was... doing Thawne things. If he wanted to break up Barry and Claire, for whatever reason, it wouldn't make sense for him to think kill her.

Cisco pulled the Vibe glasses out of his pocket and put them on. They powered up with a hum and the blue light glowed between the slats. Then he held out his hands, palms up, to Claire. He took a steadying breath. "I may not get anything at all. Especially after that brain blast earlier. Take my hands."

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"Yeah, I didn't think Thawne would call himself something else, even if he'd somehow tried ascending to godhood." That thought almost made her shudder. Thawne was already faster than The Flash, what would he do with enough speed to call himself a god?

Maybe the Vibe would offer some insight. If they came up empty, though, that would be okay, so long as they didn't hurt Cisco's head again.

Claire nodded with a little breath of her own, then reached out to take his hands. She was nervous, partly because of what they might see, but she was also worried about her friend's safety. It was a relief that Caitlin was there to watch, just in case.

"Ready when you are."

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Allit would take was contact. And it would be instant or not happen at all. Harry programmes the Vibe glasses to stimulate the fear receptors in his brain to allow for instant access to his Vibes. So as soon as their hands touched, Cisco was jerked into the chilling sensation of a Vibe, bringing Claire with him.

"You stuck me in the Speed Force for an eternity of Hell! Now, welcome to yours!" A tall metal monster held Claire by the throat, plunged a dart into her chest. The metal monster moved with white hot lightning and he could see Barry scream, running towards the pair as fast as he could. But the monster was faster. "Now, finally I am free of you! You lose Barry!" It plunged a metal blade through the base of Claire's skull, severing her brain stem. She was dead before the metal monster dropped her and before Barry even made it to her.

The speedster slid to his knees catching her falling body in his arms, holding her against him, screaming in anguish. "No! Nononono! Claire! No! No Claire no! Claire, please! No!" Barry sobbed as he held her desperately.

Cisco slammed back into his body and jerked his hands away from Claire. Wide eyed and traumatised. He was stunned into silence.

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She braced herself for that now familiar sensation of being yanked into one of Cisco's Vibe. It was like a weird kind of dream. A nightmare, really. All she could do was watch in horror as that metal monster held her, moving faster than Barry. It was even faster than Thawne, wasn't it? It had to be.

Claire was frozen in place, watching Barry catch her body, hearing the agony in his voice, his sobs stabbing her in the chest just like the monster had. She quickly curled in on herself as Cisco pulled away, clutching her chest and fighting back tears. "That can't happen," she said, her voice and expression hollow, breaths uneven.

She didn't know if that would permanently kill her - it didn't look like the monster had taken her head off completely, it seemed to be more of an internal decapitation. But... she didn't want to find out. Mostly because she didn't want to put Barry through that. The memory of him so utterly devastated, the look on his face and the sound of him screaming, it would be haunting her for a while.

"Thank you, Cisco." And she meant that. He was clearly just as shaken up as she was. "We can work with this. If we know something like that is out there, we have a better chance of stopping it." She paused, frowning. "That monster had to be the God of Speed, right? White lightning, moving faster than anything we've ever seen..."

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"Faster than Barry, Thawne, and Zoom. That dart it stabbed you with... what if that's something that nullifies your powers for good? That thing seemed pretty confident that it was winning." Cisco's voice was shaking. He hated that she thanked him for that, because they were both probably going to have nightmares from it. "It said something about being trapped in the Speed Force." They had info to work with. There were also bits in that Vibe he could focus on, like news paper headlines and billboards if he looked back at them. Things to avoid or change. Ripples. Harry had described it as ripples in a pond that affected the whole surface. If they could ripple the pond, maybe they could change the outcome. Prevent that from happening.

Caitlin looked concerned. "So, you saw something." Cisco nodded.

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Claire hated that they'd both be suffering from the effects of seeing the Vibe, but the information they could gain from it was valuable. It was only right to show her appreciation for Cisco putting himself through that.

"This big metal monster, with white lightning and super duper speed, it stabbed me in the chest with a dart and then cut my--" She lifted a hand to the back of her neck as she explained to Caitlin, then shuddered. "Barry, he wasn't fast enough. He was... God, I never want to see him like that ever again." Her voice caught in her throat and she scrubbed at her eyes to keep herself from crying.

"You could be right, Cisco. About the dart, I mean. We were talking about Thawne's research and how it could possibly lead to ways to negate my regeneration." They'd been worried about Thawne using that information to weaken her. But he was trying to warn her, in his own twisted way. "That monster isn't Thawne," Claire said solemnly. "I'm sure of it. He wouldn't warn me if he was the one who was going to kill me, that makes no sense."

He didn't want her with Barry, but he didn't want her to die, either. Maybe Thawne really did care for her. Once again those conflicted feelings kicked up.

Edited (Mobile tagging, hit the button with my thumb lol ) Date: 2025-10-14 02:13 pm (UTC)

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