Voted Best Fanfiction Runner-up for Winter 2015! 
BlazingLeopard, the author of Lone Wolf, considers this page to be unfinished. As such, some sections may change.
This is a fanfiction created by BlazingLeopard on 14/08/2014.
Overview
Jacob Lawson, a sergeant and field agent in the Guardian Units of Nations is about to re-tell the story of his most difficult mission yet. There was good situations and bad situations during the mission. He was injured and he was tested. Did he successfully complete his objective, or was the objective lost? That's for him to tell you.
Included Characters
Protagonist
Antagonists
- Stone 'Guardian'
Minor Characters
- G.U.N Commander
- Young G.U.N Officer 1
- Altan Soldier
- Young G.U.N Officer 2
- Guard 1
- Guard 2
- G.U.N HQ Officer
Lone Wolf
Prologue
I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was one of the most difficult twelve-ish hours of my life. Now I'm going to tell you that story. About how I survived and how I let many people die. Now, before I start, I can tell you that this was a couple of months before Moordenaar came back, but it was much more difficult. So, are you ready to listen? Good. Let's begin...
Chapter 1: Briefing
G.U.N HQ, Central City, United Federation - November 23rd 2012, 11:20 AM
It all started when I was in at headquarters. It was actually a fairly good day given that it was during the fall. The sun was out and was nice and warm and I was happily sitting in the armoury, fixing my USP Com-Tac. That's a compact pistol, by the way. At this point, I didn't have the armour with me, since the prototype wasn't completely finished yet, but nonetheless, I could still do my job. As I was looking down the barrel of the unloaded forty-five caliber pistol, a young officer walked in.
"Sergeant Lawson?" he asked, peering over my shoulder.
I sighed, rather rudely now that I think about it, and said, "Don't sneak up on me please."
"Sorry sir. I've been asked by the commander to come and get you."
"The commander? What for?" I asked. I had no idea that the commander even knew me at that point.
"I don't know, sir. He said it was top secret," the young officer replied.
"Alright, I'll go see him. You can get back to your duties," I said, standing up with the broken gun in my hand.
"Understood," he replied back to me simply. He was a good kid. I kinda regret speaking to him in such a rude tone.
I opened a locker that had labelled on it "SGT. Lawson" and placed the broken pistol on a steel shelf inside of it. I then closed my locker and proceeded up a flight of stairs toward an elevator that went a few feet underground. I entered it and pressed the button pointing downward. It only had two buttons because there were only ever two floors it went to. The elevator doors opened and I was stood in front of a wooden door with light-grey concrete walls surrounding me. I knocked on the door.
"Come in," an older sounding man said with a southern accent.
I opened the door to see a wolf in his early sixties, decorated with various badges and sitting in a rather comfortably looking office chair.
"Sir, you requested to see me," I said, saluting my superior.
"Ah, Sergeant Lawson. Please, sit," he said politely, gesturing toward the leather chair on the other side of his desk. At his request, I sat on the chair and pulled it slight closer toward the desk.
"Right, I'm gonna ask you to do somethin' that I don't really want to ask any of my men to do," the commander said.
"What is it, sir?" I asked.
"I need you to infiltrate an enemy compound in Alta and seize control of a warrior stone that they're keeping there. And I'm sending you alone."
"Wait, why choose me for this and not an infiltration team? And why am I going alone?" I asked, completely confused, and slightly scared, at the fact that he chose me.
"Because I trust you more than an infiltration team. You're stronger, smarter and more willing to do it than most others."
"Well, um, thank you, sir."
"Also, the compound is heavily guarded and it's harder to spot just one person," the commander continued.
The commander then stood up and said, "I'll forward the details of your mission to ya shortly, son. You'll be leaving tomorrow morning, 0700 hours."
I took this as my cue to stand up. "I'll be ready, sir."
"I'm sure you will. You're dismissed. Good luck."
Chapter 2: Deployed
Aleutsk, Alta, Nerevar - November 24th 2012, 09:32 AM
Twenty-two and a bit hours later, I was in Alta. Specifically at the base of the Aleutsk Mountains. It didn't take too long to get there, although I did have to be escorted by G.U.N personnel the whole way there. I had to pack a lot of gear for the journey I was about to go on. I mean, I needed my pistol, the case for the warrior stone, warm clothing, combat gear, etcetera. Unfortunately, because this was a stealth mission, I couldn't use my power armour purely because of the noise it makes. Seriously, if you try to walk in thing without making a sound, you'll make a lot of sound.
At the base of the Aleutsk Mountains is a small ski village known as Aleutsk, weirdly enough. Hardly anyone was there, which odd because usually during the winter and early spring, ski resorts in Alta are filled. My escort dropped me off at outskirts of the village and from there, I continued on foot.
As I walked up to the village, one of the villagers had noticed me and quickly ran up to me.
"No, no, no!" she yelled in what seemed to be a Hungarian accent, "You cannot be here!"
The arctic fox who approached me was short and dressed in a lot of winter clothing.
"Whoa, slow down. Why can't be here?" I asked, trying to calm her.
"Y-you cannot be here."
"I know that, you've told me once already. Why am I not allowed?" I asked again.
"They-they find you and kill you," she told me, continuing to panic at my presence.
"Who will?"
The fox then looked at me directly in the eyes, "The bad men on mountain."
"Hm. Describe these men. Tell me what they're like," I said to her.
"Guns. Lots of guns. Uhh, mean... erm... Patrol in the village every two hours," she said before turning and looking at her surroundings, "Now you leave, before you are killed."
"Ma'am. There's no need to worry. I'm a G.U.N agent."
"G.U.N..." she said. I could tell she was reconsidering something in her thoughts. "Oh my, why you not say before. You help us, yes?"
"Well... um, in a way..." I said awkwardly, knowing that helping the villagers was not my mission.
"Good, I help you then." The fox's state of panic had seemed to die down a bit, though she still seemed quite tense. "Come, come," she ordered waving in the direction of a building that she had just come from.
Once inside what seemed to have been a café, she sat me down at a table. I had laid my backpack full of equipment on the ground beside me.
"You need to get to bad men, yes?" she asked.
"Yes, I do. Is there a quick way up?" I asked back.
"Erm... Ski lift shut down. You cannot go up that way... hm... You could take car."
"No," I replied, "I'll get spotted way too easily. Are you sure that there isn't another way up there?"
"I am sorry, no," the woman replied shacking her gently. I began pacing, trying to think of a safe way to get up the mountain without getting spotted.
"What about during the night? What are the guards like?"
"There is much less of guards. But is very cold at night. You will be very cold," she warned.
"Hm... it seems that going during the night would be my best bet..." I said to myself turning away from the woman for a moment, "Do you mind if I lay low here for the day?"
"Lay low? Oh, you mean stay here. Please, yes. You help us, so we help you," she said with kindness.
After the conversation with the women she led me to a place to put my things and made me feel a little more comfortable. I wasn't going to have much comfort during the night, so I made the most of what I could get during the day.
Chapter 3: Nightfall
Aleutsk, Alta, Nerevar - November 24th 2012, 19:36 PM
The woman was really quite nice to me. She made me hot chocolate and I had relaxed for quite a long time. However, by about half seven in the evening, it was almost pitch black outside. This was the time to strike. I grabbed my belongings and put on the many warm layers, with some assistance from the woman.
As opened the door to exit the lodge, the woman kindly said, "Be safe" to me. As I exited the building, the cold air hit me. It was like I was in a giant freezer. I looked around and saw that only a few lights lit up the snowy paths in the village. I began following a series of sparsely placed street lamps that dimly lit up the path to the base. After about five or ten minutes of walking up the mountain, I began to regret not bringing my power armour to keep me warm. As it got later and I got higher and higher up the mountain, the temperature began to drop even further. It was bitterly cold. It felt like someone kept biting me over and over again.
About half way up the mountain, I began to hear chatter. I took cover as soon as I had heard it. I continued up the mountain slowly, hugging the rock face and keeping a close eye out for enemies. The chatter eventually got loud enough for me to hear it. There'd seemed to be two people speaking in Altan. I couldn't translate what the two were saying, but I instantly recognised that one of the two wasn't from Alta, or even Nerevar. She had a completely different accent. I walked another couple of feet before stopping. The two of them were in plain sight. I hid behind a conveniently placed boulder and readied my pistol, just in case I was spotted. The woman, who was previously very calm, punched the other person with great force. He was on the ground, holding his face and whimpering quietly. The woman, walked away, shaking her hand as if the punch had hurt her hand. I moved up behind a concrete barrier to get a better view of the woman. From what I saw, she had entered an armoured vehicle and had driven up the mountain. I now deemed the area to be safe, but before I continued, I snuck over to the person whimpering on the floor. As I got closer, I noticed that he was male and that he'd dropped his rifle in the snow. I kicked it off of the mountain and picked the man up by his collar.
"Why'd she punch you?" I asked.
The man didn't answer.
"I asked you a question. Answer it," I ordered.
After I said that, he did nothing but spit in my face. By that point, I realised he didn't know any English and that he was no use to me. So, I punched him in the face, knocking him out. This was to ensure that he wouldn't call for back up. After I laid him back down onto the snow, I carried on up the mountain. A few moments later, I got a radio transmission from HQ.
"Agent Lawson, come in," a young sounding woman asked over the radio, "This is HQ."
"Go ahead, HQ," I responded quietly.
"What's your current status?" she asked simply.
"I'm heading up one of the Aleutsk mountains leading toward the base."
"Really? You haven't finished yet?" she asked in a rather rude tone.
"Excuse me?" I asked, alarmed at her tone of voice.
"Oh-uh... uuhhh... I apologise, sir. It's just I imagined someone like you might've gotten it done by now."
"Just relay my status to the commander."
She sighed with embarrassment. "Yes sir. HQ out."
After the... interesting conversation with the young woman, I continued toward the base.
Chapter 4: Infiltration
Aleustk Mountain Base, Alta, Nerevar - November 24th 2012, 20:20 PM
About twenty minutes after the conversation with that rather rude person at HQ, I had reached the base. I just had to look at it to know that the place was designed to be impenetrable. Searchlights were everywhere, guards in every tower and I had a feeling that there were snipers positioned about as well. I looked around to see if there was a path or at least some way to get into it without drawing attention to myself. I looked to my right and saw a path winding upwards straight through the enemy's line of sight. When I looked to my left, I saw a cliff face, with an amazingly long drop beneath it.
So, get shot to pieces or fall off a mountain and break my neck? What'll it be, Jacob? I thought to myself.
A guard then walked over to a crate, directly next to the path and faced in my direction. I quickly hid behind a rock and thought to myself, Cliffside it is then.
I then moved, quickly but quietly, through the snow and carefully placed my left hand and left foot onto some rocks that protruded out of the cliff face. Now, I want to tell you a little secret about myself. Heights scare the crap out of me. So, you could say that at this point, I was "poopin' bricks". Anyway, moving on. As I moved along the face, I could overhear some of the guards talking above me. They were speaking Altan so I didn't understand anything that they were saying. I continued on for a few more metres before deciding to climb upwards. As I climbed up, a rock the had stepped on was loose and fell as soon as I placed my foot on it. I gasped with terror. This was one of the few times I was scared of dying. Because I mean, falling to your death isn't exactly stylish. Anyway, one of the guards heard my gasp and peered over the edge of the cliff. I quickly held my breath and hung tightly against the cliff side, almost as if I was laying on it. After a few short moments, I heard the guard walk off, trudging through the snow.
Eventually, I had reached the top and I was relieved to finally have my feet on the ground. I was at the side of the base, right next to a frosty window. I quickly snuck towards it and drew my combat knife. I jammed it into the bottom of the window and pried it open, swinging the door outward. I then climbed in and closed it. From what I could see within the darkness of room I had entered, I was in a janitor's closet. I then began to hear a quiet beep from my comm transmitter, signaling that someone at HQ wanted to contact me. I pressed the button on the side of it.
"HQ, this is Lawson, I read you," I said.
"Lawson, eh?" the person I was talking to replied.
They didn't sound familiar and they weren't talking to me as if I was their superior, so either HQ was being sieged or something else was going on.
"Who is this?" I questioned.
"Oh, just someone you'll learn to hate quite quickly," the person replied, laughing. The voice was not masculine.
"A name would be more useful," I replied.
"How about a title, hm? Yes, I think I'd suit a title," she said, snickering.
"Stop stalling and tell me who you are."
"Well, I just happen to be the Guardian of the Light Warrior Stone," she said, laughing even louder this time.
I grunted, knowing that she was doing this to taunt me. "What a load of crap. You're not it's guardian. You plan to use it in your favour."
"That, Mr. Lawson, is not the way to talk to a lady!" she yelled into the radio. It seems that I had annoyed her.
"Oh really. If you could see my face right now you could see how much I don't care," I replied in a very monotone voice, "I'll see you in a few minutes, 'Guardian'".
From what I could tell, this woman was nuts. Her laugh seemed way to enthusiastic and her sudden change of mood was very strange. I needed to be careful about her. If her guards were heavily armed, she'd want have either them nearby or a ton of weapons on herself. I then proceeded cautiously out of the closet, closing the wooden door behind me. As I snuck down the hallway, I noticed that a collection of voices was growing increasingly louder. I arrived at an archway and looked around it to see a group of about five guards playing a card game. I couldn't tell which game it was, but if they weren't the enemy, I'd liked to join them. Turning to go back the way I came, I noticed a door with a sign on it. It was in Altan, so didn't understand what it said but I knew that since it was labelled, it had to be of importance. I decided to enter to see what laid within.
Chapter 5: Light
Aleutsk Mountain Base, Alta, Nerevar - November 24th 2012, 20:43 PM
"Ah, Mr. Lawson! So nice to finally meet you," a female hedgehog said. She wore a parka, a pair of thick pants and a pair of black boots and stood there, grinning.
I stood silently as two armed guards pointed battle rifles at me.
"Hm. You're quieter than you were a few minutes ago," she said, shrugging, "Well, you came all this way. What do you want?" she continued, walking towards me.
I looked around the room and saw a very strange looking case resting on table behind the hedgehog. It had to have been the stone.
"That," I said, pointing to the case.
She responded with a considerably long-winded and maniacal laugh before responding with, "No."
"Well, if that's the case, I'll just have to take the stone and fight my way off this mountain."
"Now, you see, that is where you are very, very wrong, Mr. Lawson." She laughed once more. "Guards, dispose of this idiot."
Luckily, I had already anticipated that those guards of hers were going to open fire. Before the first could even touch the trigger, I had already unloaded a bullet into his forehead, it left a mess everywhere. The second guard, unfortunately shot me in my left shoulder. Unluckily for him, my right arm was still free and his fate was the same as his friend's.
"Ugh... Do I have to do everything myself?!" the hedgehog yelled with frustration.
I pointed my pistol at her and looked at her straight in the eyes and said, "You want to end up like your buddies?"
She grunted and turned around. She was acting strange again. She stroked the case and opened it. A blinding light lit up the room.
"I will be a god!" she yelled once more. She was going to use it. I fired my pistol at her and only managed to catch her side.
I needed to leave. I couldn't aim due to the light and if I'd have stayed in there, I don't know what would've happen. I burst out of the door and found the nearest bit of cover I could find. By this point, I think the guards knew something was up.
"I will be a god!" she yelled again. The light then became so bright that if anyone looked at it, they would be able to see for quite some time. This bright light was accompanied by screaming. Lots of screaming. It got louder and louder until suddenly, the room exploded. The door and parts of the wall surrounding it were blown straight off. The light had dimmed quite a bit, so I decided to reenter the room, to see exactly what had happened.
As I entered, I saw a significant change to the room. The walls were charcoal and the two guards were now ash. There was no sign of the hedgehog, but the stone remained, glowing a dim yellow inside an open case. I walked up to it and clipped it closed. I then reached for my communicator.
"HQ, this is Lawson. Do you read?"
"We got you loud and clear, Lawson. What's your status on the mission?" the person at HQ asked.
"The objective has been retrieved... and used," I replied, looking at one of the two piles of ash.
"Come again, did you say that the objective has been used, Agent?"
"Correct."
I then began hearing footsteps and quickly took the charred table and flipped it onto its side.
"I see, well I'll send someone to pick you up then."
"Back-up would be preferable, HQ. The whole base has been alerted to my position," I whispered.
"You're kidding me right? The nearest base to you is on the other side of Nerevar."
"Then call for the local military forces," I replied, starting to get frustrated with that guy's incompetence.
"Understood, HQ out."
As I readied my pistol, I thought to myself, Things are about to get hectic.
Chapter 6: Extraction
Aleutsk Mountain Base, Alta, Nerevar - November 24th 2012, 21:10 PM
Roughly half an hour had passed since I last spoke to someone at HQ and by that point, I was barely getting by. I had run out of ammo for my pistol and was using any form of weaponry that I could find, firearms or otherwise. They were relentless. I could tell they weren't annoyed because the 'Guardian' was dead. They were mercs. They were annoyed about the fact that the weren't going to get paid. By now I had made it into a main hall area and got myself trapped behind a couple of stacks of metal crates. I held the stone case safely in my left hand.
"You killed our boss! Now we kill you!" one of the mercs yelled.
"Actually, I didn't kill your boss. She was an idiot and thought that she could be a god. So, technically she killed herself," I replied with a very factual tone.
My communicator started beeping again. I felt slightly relieved in a way, but still on high alert.
"Sergeant Lawson?" a person said on the communicator. They had a local accent.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"Ah, hello, I am sergeant in Altan military. We are coming to pick you up, yes?" he said.
"Finally. Could you come a bit quicker please? I'm kind of being shot to death on this damn mountain."
"We are at top speed. Our ETA is four minutes. We come with armed men as well," he replied.
"Good, I'm gonna need it. Lawson out."
I had to stand my ground for just four more minutes. However, I was concerned that in four minutes, I'd have been either killed or taken prisoner. And if that'd happened, I'm not sure what G.U.N would do. Come and rescue me, declare war on Nerevar, or something else. I had simply no idea. I began looking at the crates and sorta wished I still had my physical augments. The ones that could let me lift said crates with no trouble at all. Unfortunately, shortly after I got them, my body rejected them. I only barely made it. I can't really tell you the gaps in between. The rest is all quite classified. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. About two minutes passed and I was getting a bit frustrated being trapped behind the crates. So, I decided to poke my head out of cover to see how many there were. I got a quick glimpse before a bullet sped past my head.
"Alright. Sixteen. That seems a little uneven. Only a little though," I said to myself, getting back into cover.
I looked around for some sort of weapon that I could use. Luckily, I found a very convenient sub-machine gun laying next to one of the recently departed. I got up, ran quickly and got behind another single crate. Only took one bullet, which wasn't too bad seeing as hell was being rained upon me. I checked the magazine's ammo count.
"Four," I said as I loaded the mag back into the weapon.
Four bullets, sixteen tangos. I had four bullets in a full-auto weapon and no room for failure. Just one minute left. I looked at where the bullets were hitting and guessed at how many of them were on either side of the crate.
Ten left. Six right, I thought to myself.
I flipped a switch on the side of the weapon. It put it into semi-auto mode. I took a deep breath and popped out to right side of the crate and fired the SMG four times. Four men dropped to the ground, injured. I missed all my shots and sighed as I got back to cover. I threw my gun at them, like a child having a temper tantrum, I might add. I got a bit unprofessional there. Suddenly, as I sighed with annoyance, windows and skylights began smashing everywhere in the room. I instinctively covered my head as military forces landed within the room, some dangling from ropes, others crouched on the floor, all aiming their weapons at the sixteen mercenaries. Suddenly frightened and outnumbered, the mercs threw their weapons on the ground and put their hands up as military forces yelled at them. Three of those military guys found me and pointed their weapons. There were yelling in Altan. I didn't understand a word.
"Hey, hey, hey! I'm the guy you're trying to get!" I yelled back.
They then looked at one another, confused. I went to go press my comms but they pointed their guns at my again. I retorted with an obscenity. Someone else then walked over, someone of importance from what it looked like. He said something to his men and the three lowered their guns.
"I apologise, Sergeant. My men were only being cautious," the man said.
"Yeah, a little to cautious if you ask me. Now, I suppose your the leader here?" I asked.
"That is correct. I am their commanding officer. I got the message from you Federation army to come and extract you."
"Well, I guess I should thank you for the assist. So, thank you," I said, getting up and folding my arms.
The three men walked off as their CO stepped closer to me. He began to speak in a quieter tone.
"Now, may I ask why you are operating in my country?"
"It's classified," I replied.
"Will it be classified if I deem you a war criminal and arrest you?"
"Yes. Also, if you arrest me, I'll be broken out and you'll be hunted. By me and my-" I stopped there. I didn't want to give any more information to this man.
"Your what, Agent?" he said, somewhat menacingly. It was sorta scary to be completely honest.
"You'd better stop talking now. You say anything else you know and G.U.N will hunt you."
After he called me "Agent", I knew that he knew that I worked as G.U.N field agent, which could've been very bad for both him and me.
"Fine," he answered, scowling at me, "Your escort is outside. Leave now."
I looked at him and he gestured his head toward the door. I proceeded to walk towards and out of the nearest exit and out onto the freezing cold mountain where a chopper waited and the temperature was nearer to zero than I thought. I got in the back and slid the door shut and tightly locked it. As I sat down I thought about that CO and began thinking about what he knew and how he knew it. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. As I opened my eyes again, I looked at the briefcase next to me and began deciding how I was going to write my mission report in a few hours time.
Epilogue: Debriefing
G.U.N HQ, Central City, United Federation - November 25th 2012, 09:30 AM
When I arrived back in the Federation, I only managed to get about two or three hours rest before I had to go and debrief the commander. I will admit, my performance during that operation wasn't exactly stellar. I mean, I did let an entire mercenary group know where I was. Apart from that though, I couldn't stop thinking about that Altan C.O. He knew things that he shouldn't have known. How did he know that I was an Agent? I repeatedly asked myself this question. But now, when I think about it, the question should've been Who? not How?
I had been waiting outside the commander's office for about five or ten minutes now. He was having a meeting with one of the higher-ups. Talking about some heightened security or something. I couldn't quite make it out through the thick oak door that separated me from them. Eventually, the higher-up left the office and the commander came out and greeted me. I gave him a salute.
"At ease, Sergeant. Come on in," he said, gesturing toward the office.
Both he and I walked in and took a seat either side of his desk. There was a very brief moment of silence.
"So, I heard that you primary mission was a success, correct?" he asked me, looking through a document on his computer.
"Yes, the stone is currently on it's way to a secure facility, sir," I replied.
"Good, good. What about the secondary object? I believe it said something along the lines of do not get spotted," he said, raising a condescending eyebrow.
I averted my gaze. I was slightly ashamed of myself, to be honest.
"Yes, sir. It did. However, this "Guardian" knew I was nearby and coming for the stone. The only way I was going to get it was to get spotted."
The commander looked unimpressed. Now, I'm immaculate with that sort of stuff, but back then, I was clumsy. The commander expected better of a specially trained soldier. He began speaking again.
"I read in your report that this "Guardian" attempted to use the warrior stone."
"Correct. She was a bit... overzealous. We were like that she was killed. If she'd have lived, she'd be supernatural," I said, restoring my gaze towards the commander.
The commander let a sigh before saying, "Alright, let's go over the rest of it shall we?"
For the next thirty-ish minutes, the commander and I talked about my mission and how it was executed. Luckily, due to the primary objective's success, I wasn't penalised, however, he was still unimpressed. I could tell we were about to conclude the debriefing soon. I began thinking about whether or not I should mention the C.O, since I didn't mention much of our interaction with each other.
"Alright, Lawson, is there anything else before we finish?" he asked.
This was a perfect opportunity to mention the C.O.
"Actually, sir, there is. I want to talk to you about something that wasn't in my report."
"Oh, I see. Go ahead."
I sighed and started speaking, "Remember the Altan commanding officer I mentioned in my report?" The commander gave a quick "Yes", so I continued, "He... He knows that I'm a field agent, sir."
The commander became a little more alert all of a sudden. "Right, I will deal with this right away," he said.
I simply asked, "How?"
"That's classified, Sergeant. You're dismissed."
"But, sir-"
"I said, you are dismissed, Sergeant," he repeated sourly.
I had never seen the commander like this. He seemed to be almost panicking. Field agents at G.U.N are never meant to be found out by the wrong people, such as news reporters, celebrities and of course, other nation's military personnel. As I left the room, I wondered what would happen to the C.O. I had never been in a situation like that before and I don't think anyone else had either.
It was only a week later that I had found out the C.O's fate. I read it in a news article. 'Praised Altan Commander Passes Away Aged 58'. Apparently, he suffered from a cardiac arrest, but I knew that it was G.U.N. It couldn't have been pure coincidence. I sighed at my tablet and was somewhat happy. The one person that knew I was an agent was no longer around, we got a warrior stone and I made it out alive. All was good. For now at least.
| ||||||||||||||