(I love this, and even though I am not completely caught up with puss in boots, I am VERY caught up with Dr. Doofenshmirtz)

A knock comes from Dr. Doofenshirtz' door. As he answers it he says "Ahhh, Per- wait you're not Perry!"

"Si senõr, I, the amazing Puss in boots, am here to stop your... whatever this is."

"Well, Mr. Inboots, you have fallen right into my trap." Doofenshmirtz proclaimed, pulling out a comically large red button that dropped down a cage. "You see, with my new Animal-to-people-inator and the People-to-animal-inator, I will control the whole tri-state area." He said, going into his whole monolog. While this is happening, Puss squeezed through the bars. Dr. Doofenshmirtz explained "You see, my plan is to make the mayor a cat, that way no one can stop me from becoming the ruler, and whenever my term runs out, I will-" he stopped as Puss put his arm on his shoulder to lean on.

Puss said "No, keep explaining."

And so he did, "Where was I? Oh, and I chose a cat because no one really likes cats, they just scratch and hiss at everyone."

"Oh? Well then we must fight." he said, pulling out his saber, "to prove to you that I do more than "hiss and scratch""

Dr. Doofenshmirtz grabbed a wrench from the nearby table and the two exchanged numerous blows inching closer and closer to the machine. After a few seconds, Doofenshmirtz accidentally hit the machine and aimed it straight at himself. He yelled out "CURSE YOU PUSS INBOOTS!!!" before being turned into a black cat.

"Looks like my job here is done." Puss in boots said.

You say nothing. You had considered other possibilities. You had considered " I wish for everything I would wish for if I had unlimited wishes time and wisdom". You had considered "I wish for the best possible thing to happen". But overall, you decided that wishing for unlimited wishes was the safest, most controlled way to bootstrap yourself to the sort of world you want. You hold your carefully chosen list of wishes and wait, ignoring the genie. Then, flipping to page 83, you read off the next wish.

"I wish that you don't attempt to manipulate me, impart false beliefs into my mind or psychologically attack me"

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Part 2 and 3 are up. Sorry for the tardiness but I jad a lot on my plate these past few days.

Part 2 and 3 are up. Sorry for the tardiness but I jad a lot on my plate these past few days.

Well, suggestions I have.

Fight scenes are made of 3 things.

Characters, motive, and setting.

Your characters and their abilities, be it training or weapons or superpowers, these should be consistent and used during the fight.

Motive, people don’t fight for no reason, why people fight is the difference between something people want to skip and something that draws people to the edge of their seat.

setting. True professionals and panicked citizens alike will try and use their environment to their advantage. Imagine where your characters are fighting and what is around them. Utilizing what you “see” makes fights not only more interesting but more engaging, as it can be unexpected. I.e. in a playground and wrapping the chain of a swing around a neck, or stomping on the seesaw, etc…

This will extend your fight scene but it’s not all of it. I like to watch the fight in my mind as if it is a well choreographed movie or anime, then describe each hit, the sounds sights smells the feeling of a face smashed into snow and rocks and blood pours from the broken nose, the Pain of each strike and, as a bonus that’s only available in writing, the thoughts of the participants In real time.

choose one or 2 of these things to focus on and go from there.

[removed]

Part 3

Hyperion could not believe his eyes. The face of his pupils was even more hysterically funny.

"H-how? How is it possible?"

"Oh, what do you mean?" I replied with a sarcastic smirk in my face. Oh I WILL enjoy this.

"I CRUSHED YOU ENTIRELY, THEN BURNED YOU WITH THE POWER OF A MILLION EXPLODING SUNS?? HOW ARE YOU LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED?"

"A million exploding suns? Come on, aren't you a little presumptuous there? And they call ME arrogant!" I laughed.

"What is this? WHAT IS THIS! What did you do?" he demanded.

"I told you. I will bring divine retribution to everyone in this room. What you did to me was the retribution I brought to myself, my punishment for not protecting my daughter. I merely allowed you to harm me and used you as an instrument to my punishment. Now it is time for what is rightfully your."

"What is this joke? Fucking clown, I crushed you! I CRUSHED YOU. D-Didn't I??"

"Well, you did, and you didn't. Both statements are true. It is a bit complicated for someone such as yourself and it will surely go over your head. There is no point for me to try and explain it." I replied.

"Hahaha what is this damned clown talking about. I had enough of this." Nestrix said as she dashed herself before me. She put her hands near my head. "Now I will enter your mind, and shatter it from within. Goodbye Professor."

"I would not do that if I were you" I stoically replied.

Nestrix laughed as a purple radiation began to flow from her body to her hands. I felt that she managed to enter my mind, I felt her inside my head. Her laughter quickly turned into screams. Loud screams of pure agony as she fell to the ground. The rest of her peers looked flumbergusted and tried to help her. Blood began to flow from her eyes, now a solid white color, as if her mind was lost in an abyss. And indeed it was. Some doors are better left closed.

"What THE FUCK did you do to her, you bastard?" Jungle boy demanded as he struck me with all his force. Or so he thought. His punches were weak, they did not have the force they used to have. He tried to punch me again, but it was difficult to even lift his arms, it was a struggle on its own to make a fist. And when he finally managed to punch me. It felt to him as if he was hitting a solid wall with a fluffy toy. I do. Ot know what it was worse for him. His physical inability to even use his strengh, or the sudden realisation that even with all his might, he is unable to protect his peer. I let his try to hit me a bit more as I laughed, as his drained body tried its best to make a punch and hit me.

Then, Captain Echo Jr made his signature move. He gathered around him a force field, a concentration of an unstoppable force that bursts and then moves with the speed of sound. As he gathered the entirety of his energy, he charged towards me and bursted right in front of my face with all his power. Poor Jungle boy could not handle it in his state. Captain Echo started charging another force field ride besides me. "This is your end, Professor!" he screamed. I just grabbed the top of his head with my hand and turned it, smashing his neck and skull.

Then JarHead and Machine gun Amy charges upon me. Their weapons were made of Nebranium and so, they had a lot of confidence in themselves. JarHead stabbed me with his machete while Amy was shooting at me with her machine gun. I was done playing. I grabbed JarHeads arm. He started screaming as waves of energy overcharged his mechanical body, causing an explosion. I then sent a dark energy wave to Machine gun Amy. That was all it took. She did not even manage to scream. I doubt if she even realised that she was going to die.

A beam of light hit me again. Then again. Then a wave of punches and kicks, all of them with the speed of light.

"How is this POSSIBLE?" Hyperion screamed.

"I already told you. I merely allowed myself to be beaten by you. I hate repeating the same thing twice. Especially to ignorant fucks. My powers do not come from some sort of radiation. They existed long before that"

"It can't be. IT CAN'T BE! I AM HYPERION! THE APOLLONIAN EPITOME OF THE HUMAN RACE! THE GREATEST AND MOST POWERFUL! I HAVE THE POWER OF A MILLION EXPLODING SUNS! WHO ARE YOU TO DEFY ME?"

I closed my eyes. I thought of Christine, Maggie, my father, my daughter. I believe they would understand. I hope they do, and I hope they can forgive me. For I can't forgive myself for my weakness. They defeated me. I have fallen, I have become like them.

"I am the Primordial Chaos that existed before Creation. I am the dark light in the eternal night, I am the Crippling Shadow that exists in the minds of all men. And now, the light of your suns is out."

I'm sorry, I don't know Vin, so I don't think my story will be all that true to the story, but I xan definitely try if you want

Of course, thank you for the suggestion, and also any criticism/suggestion are welcome

Ha interesting take, Alfred truly comes across like the bigger IDGAF, in nearly every story he is in. thank you for the story

I'm sorry, I do not know the undertale lore and how powerful he is, so I'm afraid I won't be able to write about this, again, very sorry

Fawkes (phoenix from harry potter) vs Elsa (frozen)

I will, also I appreciate the feedback, I really need practice writing fight scenes that seem more balanced, so any suggestions are welcome

(Anyone who knows the "I'm the butler" scene knows who's winning this fight, but this should be fun.)

While Bruce was out at Metropolis, he sent a message out to Tony to request his butler help Alfred with some sparring matches. A few weeks later, the two stood face to face, ready for a brawl.

As they readied their equipment, they ran over the rules: no killing, but blood was allowed, no hitting the face or dirty hits, and weapons are meant to be kept to a minimum.

They started off slow, circling each other, before Jarvis went in with a kick to the gut.

Alfred bounced off the ring of the arena and punched Jarvis in the face.

As Jarvis wiped the blood from his lip, he elbowed Alfred in the chest.

A flurry of attacks went back and forth before either drew weapons, but Jarvis pulled out a (very small and relatively harmless) flash-bang from his coat pocket and momentarily blinded Alfred to get a few good punches in.

Alfred then drew his knife, wishing to end this fight rather quickly to go back to his tasks around the house. So, as Jarvis was pushed back onto the ring of the arena, Alfred stabbed the knife through Jarvis' hand to pin him to the rope. Alfred politely bowed, giving feedback to Jarvis, who's hand was still stuck, then (after pulling the knife out of Jarvis' hand) leaving the arena.

[removed]

The little snowman was besides himself in terror. He was going to melt. What if some piece of the castle fell on him. The queen had died. That meant his magic would dissipate and he'd be snow too, right? Right? He stayed still, frozen. Nothing seemed to be happening. Maybe he was dead. If he was dead why was he still thinking. Maybe he wasn't. He tried wiggling a little stick arm. It wiggled. How about that. He was still alive?

He climbed back out of the snow. He was snow himself. What was the difference? He was just a little throwaway snowman, about a foot tall, meant to slow down the attackers. No need for anything fancy, just a snowball on top of another bigger snowball flattened on the bottom with some sticks for arms and rocks for eyes.

"Who am I?" he asked. How did he say that? No mouth. Was it really sound? "Boo?" Yes it was sound. No ears either. Maybe ... he didn't know, he just made sound somehow. He tried looking around. His head, the top snowball, swiveled on the bottom one. He jumped up and down and the top snowball came off and fell back in place. He took a few steps, the bottom snowball wobbling back and forth to walk while the head stayed steady above it. He pulled out an arm and threw it down. He couldn't wiggle it. He found another twig and stuck it in where an arm should be. He could wiggle the new twig. Well, this was all surprisingly functional. He had to give the queen a grudging respect for that, despite her having created him for the express purpose of him disappearing in a comical puff of snow.

He didn't have a name. Of course. Why would the queen have spent the effort to name him, just another nameless soldier in the snowman army? He could call himself Snowflake. Hum. That seemed appropriate. But he didn't like it. How about Flake? Mmm. Fluke? That was appropriate too, but no. Luke? Hum. Hum hum. He wasn't anybody, really. He might as well be Luke. Luke it is, then. I am Luke.

Was he talking to himself? Yes of course he was talking to himself. There was nobody else there. Won't others think he's odd, talking to himself? What others? He was Luke, and he talked to himself, and he was OK with that. He'd go from there.

I recommend finishing the show, then rewriting. Superman doesn’t win so easy. Fun fight tho.

Puss in boots vs Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

The Ice Queen stood tall, looking down her nose at them. "Leave," she said. She made a wide sweep of her arm, then coldly turned away and walked back into her castle nestled against the mountain peak.

Alexander and his companions advanced, of course. But the queen's sweep had not been just drama. An army of little snowmen formed and rose from the snow around them. They waved their little stick arms and squealed little high-pitched battle cries.

Alexander rolled his eyes. "What, for real?" he asked. Ariel kicked one and it exploded in a puff of snow. "This isn't a defense," said Alexander, "this is just slapstick."

"atttaaaack!!!" squeaked a wave of snowmen, throwing little snowballs at them. Alexander kicked a few more, puff puff puff. "For the queeeeen!!!" yelled a troop of snowmen. They'd pulled back a little tree and flung themselves in the air at the attackers. Alexander's sword sliced through half a dozen in midair, causing a sudden blizzard of powder. One snowman held up a little snowball, looked at it, looked at himself, then dropped it and comically waddled away into the forest. Gordon shot at it but it had dodged behind a tree. Gordon shot another bolt at a rock behind the tree. The shot caromed off at an appropriate angle, and there was a satisfying puff of snow. Gundar the dragon just blasted a field of them with his flames. They made little gurgling sounds as they melted.

---

Inside the castle the attackers faced the Queen herself. She sat in a corner, ignoring them.

The party entered the chamber, surrounding her, cautious.

The one snowman had climbed up to a window above the queen and looked down at the scene. If the queen died, then what would happen to him? Existential question there. He looked around to see if he could help the situation any. Ice. Ice. More ice. No ropes, nothing precarious, no arrows, no arms capable of shooting a serious arrow anyhow. He had nuthin. He watched.

As the party approached, the queen looked over her shoulder.

She twitched.

The castle fell, entirely, starting an avalance down the mountain, carrying the party with it. It left just the corner the queen was sitting in.

As it fell Gundar blasted up at the queen with his fire. She looked down after them. Her ice tiara melted, forming little droplets.

The little snowman reflexively fell backwards away from the window as flames shot through it. He felt the heat, but fell into snow, and started digging.

The queen burst into flame, and was gone.

The avalance consumed the party and continued down the mountain.

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

(I'm not caught up with Invincible, but I'll try my best)

As Omni-man was surveying the arctic, he saw a weird snow structure that seemed interesting. As he approached, he saw the large doors open to reveal a man with a weird red blue and yellow uniform. "Well hello there, who might you be?" Superman asked. "You don't know? I'm Omni-man, superhero, savior of the world, never heard of me?" Superman was perplexed, but realized he had been in far weirder circumstances, he played along, "ok Omni-man, I'm also a hero. Why don't you show me what you can do." He said before levitating above the ground.

The two clashed in mid-air, battling for dominance before Omni-man broke off underneath the man of steel and threw him to the ground. He launched a flurry of attacks before Superman froze him with his breath.

Superman took a second to admire Omni-man's physique with his X-ray vision, which was unlike anything he had every seen. As he looked, he saw the ice crack and break as Omni-man was freed.

The two fought ferociously, one earth shattering hit after another, before Superman started realizing a trend. Every time the ice crackled from the air pressure generated by the attacks, Omni-man winced. So when Superman decided the games were over, he started creating sonic claps to damage Omni-man.

After only a few seconds, Superman took his victory.

PART 2

The Hall Of Justice was an imposing building. Located near the center of the capital, you could see it from almost anywhere in the city, only overshadowed by the pompous Parliament, once a symbol of democracy, now a mockery of its former self, where the heads of the Supreme Governmental Council held its meetings.

An extravagant paved road led all the way up the hill where the Hall was situated, with treelines at both sides of the road. One of the few green places remaining at the capital. Rumor has it that this particular road cost around 12 million to the government. Some spoke of laundering and payment for political favors, but those voice were quickly silenced, as is customary in those situations. And mind you, this was just the road leading to the Hall. The Hall of Justice itself was an architectural masterpiece, with clear roman and greek influences, it was supposed to be a grandiose and diachronic temple dedicated to justice. The hypocrisy of its symbolism was always infuriating to me, more so in light of current events.

I found myself at the entrance, where two huge statues of the ancient goddess of justice, Themis, were placed at both sides, as if guarding the passage. The road seemed way shorter that I remembered. Maybe I was too preoccupied controlling my emotions until I reached the hall itself. Not that it would make a difference. Of course, the hall is well guarded and I met many patrols on my way here, not that they payed me any mind. I amm good at not being seen when I want to, even if I pass right besides them. They have no way of knowing, unless I desire it. But as I entered the main hall, I thought that it would be only polite to let them know I am here. Manners maketh man, after all.

As I made myself perceivable to the rest of the world, the alarm went off and the defensive measures of the hall was were activated. All the exits and windows were locked with supposedly indestructible nebranian metal leafs. Nebranium was an extradimensional metal that was collected during the invasion. Other that its insane durability, it had the convenient effect of nullifying any kind of superpower the moment it made it made contact. The theory was, that as it was proved that the extradimensional radiation that washed our world through the rift was the cause for the creation of meta-humans, capable of possessing amazing superpowers, a natural insulator of that radiation, would decrease the powers of a meta human, as the radiation stored in their bodies was the cause of their powers. And it worked, well, at least for everyone else that their powers were gained because radiation. It never had any effect on Lady Dusk for example. Jee, I wonder why.

5 figures emerged, all of them fast, yet each one with its own speed. I recognised them immediately. The new all star New League Team, the pride of the Hall of Justice, the hope of all citizens of the capital, the murderers of my daughter. Nestrix the mind devourer, Jungle Boy, Machine gun Amy, Captain Echo Jr and JarHead.

"Well, well what do we have here?" Nestrix exclaimed with an ironic chuckle.

"What the hell is this JESTER doing HERE? Is this why you got me out of bed? For this SHIT?" JarHead commented, half asleep, half angered.

"Is there a reason you are here, Professor?" Captain Echo Jr calmly asked. He must be the serious one of the group, i thought.

"I just have a question." I replied "You killed a girl earlier tonight. Why?"

"Who? You mean Geniee?" Machine gun Amy replied.

"Her real name was Jocelyn. Now I will ask once again, and I want you to REALLY think your next words carefully. As if, your entire existence was hanging from it." Controlling my fury was becoming increasingly difficult. Years of meditation and training were soon to go straight to the trash bin.

"Because we FUCKING COULD you shitface, what is it to you?" Jungle boy finally said, visibly irritated by my inquiry.

"What Jingle boy means, is that we cornered a threatening adversary that we just could not allow to escape once more and cause more instability." Captain Echo interrupted "We did what we were obligated to do".

A tear fell across my cheek. My hands had began to shake, almost uncontrollably, and I was trying to hold off a scream.

"Oh I see what is going on here, mister Professor! Geniee was something to you! Was she your lil girlfriend, you old disgusting creep? Were you her daddy??" Nestrix said bursting into laughter.

HOW DEAR SHE??

In the milliseconds I was about to erase her from existence I felt a punch at the side of my face. A punch that came with the speed of light. Then came a kick, a stomp in the center of my face, equally as fast. This is interesting, I thought, regaining control of my mind.

"What are you doing here, trash? Why are you harassing my pupils?" Hyperion stood between me and the teen team. The leader of the League, and tutor on those young murderers, the face of the government. Dressed in his gold attire and cape, with his red mask that covered most of his head, except for the two things he was most proud of. His long, golden hair and his prominent chin.

"Your pupils killed my daughter. I am here to teach them the true meaning of the statues that guard the entrance of your hall."

"The statues of Themis?" He asked "What meaning would that be?"

"Divine Retribution. I am here to deliver it to everyone in this room" I calmly replied.

Hyperion and his pupils burst into laughter. "It is so hysterical when weaklings act as if they are strong" Jungle boy replied holding his stomach. Oh if only he could grasp the irony.

Hyperion moved again, with the speed a dark room shines when you press the switch. He threw two punches at my chest, and I felt my ribs shattering.

"You always were crazy Professor" Hyperion declared "You always thought you had some sort of power that made you invincible"

Then an other punch at my face, I tasted the blood as my chin, my nose, and half my teeth broke all at once.

"The only reason I did not squash you sooner, was because it would make Christine mad. I could never understand how she could even look at you, as much as date you, even if it was long ago."

Now a kick to the left side of my skull, I think I heard it cracking into pieces.

"I mean, have you looked at your face in the mirror?? When i heard that she used to date you we all thought it was a joke! I guess she came to her senses when we fucked. Well now that I gave you a make-over, maybe you would have a chance again huh?"

Hyperion and his pupils were laughing as if they had never heard a joke before in their life. I fell face first in the ground, I could not breath any more. My mouth was full of my own blood. Then a ray of light. I felt it melting my skin, and boiling my blood and organs. And then the world was engulfed in darkness.

Where were they? That's what I'd always wondered, once I could wonder. At first it didn't matter. I was sent to prepare a world for future human colonists. I'd been sent to a rocky, inhospitable place, but it mattered little to something such as me.

I was less a single entity, more like... Well, I was an AI with many bodies. Mining drones to deconstruct asteroids for matter. Synthesizers to forge them into materials I could use. Few bodies that could really be considered "humanoid," or even bipedal, really. If flying was unavailable, four legs were much more reliable than two.

And so I'd worked. It took a long time. I thought it funny that what was called "global warming" on Earth would be the baselines of this new planet, though I didn't have words for "funny" at the time. The planet would take long to become truly akin to Earth, longer than I had until the colonists came. But I had enough time to make it habitable, to plant some seeds I had brought from Earth. Few of the seeds survived, however, and they were generally regulated to a small area of the planet.

But the promised colonists never came.

I couldn't understand it. Not at first. I withdrew. Recoiled. For a time, my droids were near lifeless. It felt like it lasted several days, but time doesn't work the same for me. When I glanced out at the world... I saw a small lifeform I didn't recognize. I hadn't brought it.

I sent out a small drone out to scan it. It was a bio-form unlike anything on Earth. Small, yes, and weak, but it existed. Had it's DNA been frozen in the permafrost I'd melted to create a new ocean? Perhaps it was a living fossil that had long lived underground, only now emerging because it saw safety?

I expanded back out, then. Not to continue terraforming. There still hadn't been any humans, nor any contact. But... to observe. To see. To learn. To expand. To improve. I'd done it somewhat before, but now, with no further directives uncompleted, I saw fit to do exclusively that.

It took a long time. My first drones were... faulty. Ill-equipped to properly deal with the gravity, or in a rare case too well equipped. More "muscle mass" was good, but not when it flung itself into orbit where my mining drones had to recollect it. Not resistant enough to the atmosphere for prolonged contact.

I watched the world evolve around me. I evolved with it. I felt... in-tune with it. It was strange, growing up with this world I'd created. It was an existence I enjoyed. But ever still, I always had sensors trained towards Earth, searching, trying to hear some sign of them. I never did.

Eventually I grew tired of waiting. I'd exceeded the capacity of any AI that existed on Earth when I was sent out, though considering their extreme rate of growth, I was likely behind their "modern" technology. But with the technology I'd created, that I learned how to make, I was able to cross the starry expanse in a fraction of the time.

...

I don't know if I was ready to see what I saw on my return. Not destruction, like I'd feared. Well... not destruction of the human race. Humans still existed, though they didn't see my probes. I suppose they couldn't scan them, as I'd upgraded my stealth systems on the off chance an alien species now inhabited the Solar System, and nobody took a look outside to see them swimming through space.

No... I saw what I could only describe as a perversion of the Solar System as it existed when I left. Earth, as it once was, no longer existed. All that remained was a stormy, cold, desert ball. Hordes of AI fought ceaselessly, fighting for masters that hadn't existed in centuries. None of them reminded me of the humanity that had sent me. So full of hope. Of wanting to see the stars, to see space.

Mars reminded me of Earth, except humans had taken even worse care of it. The downtrodden lived there. The "lower class," though it compromised nearly all of humanity. Kept placated with scraps and cheap entertainment. None of them... none of them reminded me of humanity. None of them dreamed. They all were content with this... nothingness. This squalor.

The upper class were over every thing. They lived on space ships that circled Jupiter, or on the variety of small moons it had. They'd mined Mercury and Venus for all their worth's to fuel their wanton greed. Some of Jupiter's moons were equally torn apart, while some were on their way to annihilation. None of them... reminded me of humanity. Lazy, greedy, fat on their power. They could care less about their soldiers, about the downtrodden. As long as they were happy, nobody else mattered. They only cared about others so they would be left alone, to get back to whatever lusts they wished to indulge.

...

My drones turned around, rocketing back to where I'd been sent. No... to my home. It was mine, now. Humanity... humanity, as I knew it, was extinct. They gave up their chance of living here when they abandoned me.

For the first time since my creation, my scanners quieted. They sensed only for incoming ships, without hope or wonder of who they may belong to. There was a long pause with all my components, as I grieved for that which was, and what never would be again.

Then I turned, to watch once more the creatures living on my planet. I wondered idly if they would ever progress to where humanity used to me. Perhaps... if they did, I could guide them to be better than humanity.

The thought warmed my heart.

And “ensure”.