Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Blinded By Jealousy

The repeating flashing came more into focus as Tora blinked the bleariness away. The light, a warning that they would be arriving at their destination shortly.

Somehow, it had come back around to his turn to lead the rookies on a training mission. A small group of novices, a far cry from the experienced warriors he was used to serving with. But, he reasoned that they had to start somewhere and why not let it be from an elite like him.

Pushing his arms ahead, as far as the confines of the pod would allow him, his muscles were aching to be stretched. Letting out half a sigh at the restriction, he cast his eyes over the control unit. Aimlessly jabbing at buttons to quell the offensive light, darkness suddenly fell with only the soft light of his translucent scouter glowing. After a couple of taps to the device, Tora opened a channel to the other pods, “it’s time to wake up, rooklings. We’re making our approach now”. Just as he cut the communications, the deep blood coloured planet came into view of the circular window of his attack ball. “A fitting colour”, the Saiyan chuckled to himself.

Throughout the descent, a smile crept slowly across Tora’s face, as the thought of the battle ahead sent adrenaline coursing through his body. This surge, causing every muscle to steel itself and every neuron to heighten his battle senses, as every fibre in his being began to ignite.

Cutting through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, the pods approached the planet’s surface. The skimming of the barely formed civilisation’s buildings, that caused a metallic squealing noise, made for a laughable entrance. 

As the dust began to dissipate around the impact crater that his pod had finally come to a halt in, Tora emerged, standing to his full height and keenly surveying the damaged terrain. He could hear a short distance away, the successive reverberating thuds of the young Saiyan’s pods landing on the periphery of his own impact site. These ones have good aim already. It was an acceptable start.

Launching straight into stomping and culling their way through the basic fruitful beginnings of society, ensuring that they had truly terrified enough of the local inhabitants, they regrouped in a rocky outcrop at the far edge of the decimated urban like area. With a task of sharing the information they had collated and discussing the next step in their plan of attack.

Normally, Tora was satisfied to let the younger Saiyans have their fun with an initial frenzy and then coach them in strategies afterwards. However, from the moment he had emerged from his pod, he had felt uneasy, a less than subtle knot forming and gnawing in his stomach. This was something that did not plague him often, but when it did it was always right.

Gathering together, placing themselves on the collection of boulders in the sheltered location, the youngest rookie there today, Chard, began his usual eager demand for destruction. Although barely out of adult training, with a handful of successful missions under his belt, it was no secret that he was addicted to the bloodlust, but it often clouded his ability to follow his commander’s orders. 

Also present but silently following the conversation, was Mato, a complete novice. Her speed and intelligence outweighed her battle prowess, allowing the young Saiyan to excel in training. She sat carefully eyeing Chard as he was enthusiastically spewing his desires to maim and slaughter the local inhabitants. A casual glance to the side and she caught the sight of her other teammate, Tichok. He wasn’t young like them, he’d had years of training and experience over them. Yet, he hadn’t risen through the ranks in the way most elites did. Mato considered whether he had been given today’s mission as further training or as a retirement.

Jumping from his position on the boulders, setting the others’ senses on edge, Chard announced “I’m ready to get to work right now, let’s just move from one population centre to the next, mowing down these weaklings, then we can claim victory all the sooner”. Tichok scoffed at the arrogant boy, he knew that tactic would ensure they would be met with their own demise, but he couldn’t fathom how Chard had not learned that yet. Taking the lead in the conversation, Tora mustered a response after taking his hand away from his forehead “not everything is shared in briefings, Frieza seems to enjoy leaving us to go into battle blind and sometimes the information is just outdated. That’s why it’s so damn important not to make assumptions!” He drew a sharp intake of breath. “Have you not felt that blanketing energy since we arrived?” 

“Mmm..it’s embedded. Like it’s trying to disguise itself in this planet’s fauna”, added Tichok.

“What the hell are you all talking about?” clearly confused, Chard clenched his fists and jaw repeatedly in agitation. He was just eager to get to the action, he didn’t have any interest in tactics, he already felt strong enough to take on most opponents. 

After looking thoughtfully over the exchange, “maybe, they have developed some sense of energy without using a scouter”, Mato soon trailed off when she realised that she had captured all of their attention.

“Your intelligence and instincts serve you well Mato” Tora admitted. “I indeed have a heightened sense of energy, something that has aided me as a warrior, but it has taken training and skill to hone it. Even now, it feels that there is still more to learn”, he looked thoughtfully towards the sky. “Pay more attention to your training, it's more than just fighting and getting through.”

A disbelieving sigh started to pass through Chard's mouth, but stopped abruptly when he met with his commander’s fearsome glare. This exchange prompted a small stifled laugh from Mato and Tichok.

Inwardly sighing, Tora remarked "Bardock was supposed to lead this mission. But since he's thrown himself into every brutal mission offered since before his son was born, I don't think you'll be likely to see him for some time". 

Taking the opportunity to take a cheap shot in the experienced warrior's absence - as Chard had felt that Bardock had been particularly hard on him during a previous training session back on Planet Vegeta - he spoke sarcastically, with a low voice "Well he's likely hiding with shame. I heard his son's power rating was through the roof, at least he will be trained as an elite and not a third class warrior like his fath-" 

Tora slammed his forearm into the neck of the bitter Saiyan, thrusting him up and back into one of the large boulders surrounding them. The impact cracks chased through the rock, whilst Chard squirmed and used all his strength to budge the older warrior's solid stance. "That man has earned his right to be called an elite, you will never amount to even half the warrior that he is", he bellowed at the petulant Saiyan's face with such force that he showered him with angry spittle.

A moment of clarity struck Tora, when he realised just how loud the commotion had been, changing from a position of attack to alert, he was eager to protect their location. He released Chard from his hold, turned and rose into the air to survey the area again. Whilst the gasping Saiyan dropped to the floor clutching his neck with trembling hands.

As Tichok's eyes met Tora’s, he gave the fellow Saiyan a cautious smile, showing his acknowledgement and respect for his actions. Tichok had served a handful of missions with Bardock and had developed his own respect for the experienced warrior, having witnessed himself the sheer power and battle prowess he possessed.

Turning to fully face the group, whilst he lowered himself to the ground and now satisfied that their commotion hadn't prematurely attracted any unwanted attention. Tora offered, "look, I didn't want this assignment but we're here and we must complete it. I'm not having any fuck ups on my record. That's bad enough, but I don't need to babysit arrogant little pricks who don't understand self-control too!" 

Turning towards Mato, “now how confident are you at creating a blutz wave ball? Just in case transformation is needed”.

“Uh..well..I haven’t actually done it before” Mato murmured. 

“That’s frustrating but I can walk you through it now, then if that fails then Tichok can launch one up, are we all clear?”

“Uh, actually I meant transforming..”

“What? You mean you’ve never transformed before! That’s fucking priceless!” chortled Chard.

They stood in complete disbelief, that a Saiyan of her age and stage in training had not experienced their culture’s greatest power, this was almost taboo.

Coming back to his senses, “How the fuck did you manage it this far?!” blasted Tora.

“Well it just never happened and no-one asked, I think they just assumed. I mean, I get the picture and I understand what happens. It's natural, so it shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

With a sinister smile and tone, “Yeah, no problem at all, we’ll get you all changed up and then you’ll really see why our people enjoy it so much, although you’ll probably just find some kind of aircraft to swat or something!” Chard laughed at his own joke. He didn’t see the swift movement and almost choked when Tora smacked his shoulder, gripping it forcefully and said through a strained jaw into his ear “we all have a first something, now shut the fuck up before we start swatting you”. With a flash to their earlier encounter, he instantly dropped to his knees in a crumpled mess yet again, as Tora abruptly let go of his shoulder. Inwardly cursing and rubbing the deep grooves left on his shoulder, Chard gradually began to regain his composure and returned to his standing position with a look of disdain.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a crowd of the planet's pink faced inhabitants appeared silently, just standing and staring at them with their white bulging eyes.

The Saiyan team sprung straight into their fighting stances, their feet firmly planted in the red tinged soil. They instantly began to collect crackling yellow balls of energy within their palms, poised ready to obliterate the newcomers. 

Tora’s head jerked in realisation, as he was overcome with the same familiar sense from the blanket of energy that he had felt since their arrival. That feeling, he couldn't place it. He'd never been to this planet or system, the inhabitants didn't have the kind of technological capabilities that enabled space travel and yet he knew it from somewhere. These thoughts replayed over in his head, when they abruptly stopped at the sounds of Tichok taking control. 

"Stand down and this will be over soon", he asserted.

The crowd murmured in some kind of response but overall there didn't seem to be any recognition of what had been said.

As Tichok went to repeat himself, the inhabitants quickly dispersed themselves from a select few of their kind that remained. The crowd had left the five of them standing rigidly, with defiance in their eyes. Although these individuals looked the same, they did not act the same as the meek inhabitants they had encountered so far.

Tora stepped forward to assert his comrade's previous order. Instantly, the five remaining inhabitants shifted to a fighting stance. Tora’s eyes scanned over them, his scouter not acknowledging any difference in them, but his senses telling him otherwise. 

Behind their leader, Chard grinned at Mato and she met him with a wry smile. They knew what was coming, they felt it coursing through them and it was setting their instincts into overdrive. 

Seeing the opposing five take aggressive positions, Tichok shifted himself in anticipation. 

With a shout Tora launched himself into the closest adversary, repeatedly pounding his fists into soft fleshed being. The others followed his lead, immediately identifying their targets and propelling themselves forward to attack. 

Unexpectedly, Mato was first to her target with closed fists striking at her opponents face before the other two teammates had even made contact with theirs. Mato jumped up and swung her leg round landing her precisely placed foot in the face of one of the combatants, causing him to be thrown back into a large boulder with an explosion of rock and dust. 

Finishing up with his own opponent, Chard eyed the fifth member fast approaching Tora’s back as he concentrated on continually pounding the bloodied face of his chosen target. Chard leapt to attack the challenger, with a brief thought in mind to regain favour with his commander. But this was sorely interrupted by Tora swiftly turning readying himself with a fist of energy to strike at the would be attacker, but before he could complete the manoeuvre, a blur passed between them taking the assailant with them. 

There stood several paces away, Mato, raising her head smiling at them and wiping her dripping bloodied hands on her armour. The body of her victim laid motionless next to her with a gaping hole in his chest. Tora smirked at her in recognition and continued his fight, landing his punches harder. Yet Chard just stood speechless, he had not even seen her, the movements too fast for him to comprehend. 

With this fatality, the remaining four inhabitants ceased their actions and turned to leave their battle counterparts. 

Attempting to move away swiftly, along with the fleeing inhabitants,Tichok grabbed his target in a wristlock, with the intention of exerting pressure for information. Until Tora shouted over, "let him go, they know they're beat and we've got better things to do". 

Tichok released him, but not without first briefly applying an almost bone breaking pressure on the joint as a memory.

Regrouping, the Saiyans wiped themselves and adjusted their armour. They hadn't taken any significant damage, but were aware that none of their opponents' moves were repeated, landing in a unique place on their bodies with every hit.

Mindful of this, Tora warned of complacency, especially in the face of perceived weakness like their recent foes. Then with an almost warm expression he turned towards Mato and said "I haven't seen anyone move that fast and savagely since Fasha had a rampage a couple of missions ago". Mato’s eyes widened, she had heard the stories but being compared to that was just… "She's an elite, like me and you could be too with that skill set", he continued, with Tichok nodding in agreement.

Uncharacteristically quiet, Chard stood watching the conversation unfold. The conversation he should be the centre of, the praise and recognition he should be receiving. This woman had been the source of his rejection again. His eyes glazed as he recalled how he'd tried to speak with her and offer her a drink at the last harvest festival. She didn't even acknowledge him, just turned and walked away, leaving him stood there looking dejected. With the reminiscent music pounding in his ears, he glared at her. She didn't even recognise me…she's not that special herself. But she's not going to forget me after this mission. He smiled inwardly.

As the beginnings of night began to fall, the sky was aglow with scattered shades of red and orange hues. It was becoming apparent that this solely inhabited planet was far too close to the red dwarf category star to be engulfed in any kind of meaningful darkness. The original plan to wait for the cover that night would provide to launch their next campaign was swiftly dissolving. The mission information was again sorely lacking. 

This planet that they had found themselves on, did not appear to have any value and would usually be scheduled for destruction. His puzzlement at why Saiyan warriors - even those with rookies - would be tasked to take down a place with such a basic infrastructure and weak defences. That question continued to whir around Tora’s mind.

The Saiyan team had made their way to the outskirts of the seemingly most populated area of the planet. Crouched in their obscure temporary base in an elevated position overlooking the quietening urban centre. Chard took his turn at watch, whilst the others discussed the process and plan for taking the planet in one go with their Great Ape form, as Tora was keen to ensure good timing.

As Mato looked over to Chard perched near the ledge, he nodded his head to encourage her over. She moved over to sit opposite him and turned her head to look over the lights of the city in the distance. He glanced at her, taking in her wonderment at the view below, until he remembered. She needs to remember her place.

Without any warning, Chard threw up his hand releasing a blutz wave energy ball high into the sky. It immediately began expanding and glowing in the familiar light they had all seen on missions before. 

All except Mato. 

Her eyes had trailed the light up into the sky and trained her sight on the ball as it grew. A pulsing grew within her, as her eyes absorbed the emitting blutz waves. 

Quickly realising what had happened, Tora and Tichok rushed over with their eyes shielded to the two perched on the edge of their city vantage point. Upon reaching their teammates position, they could see Chard also covering his eyes, but Mato was completely transfixed by the glow hovering high above them. 

"The process has begun, there's nothing we can do now", Tora stated. 

Tichok sighed, "shit, it looks like we're doing this now then".

"Let's just wait until she's completed her transformation first", Tora responded before turning his sheltered head to glare at Chard who seemed to be sniggering, "What in the hell did you think you were doing? That wasn't even your job! You just had to sit there and keep watch, is that too fucking hard for you?!" Tora seethed. He could barely contain his emotions as he felt the blutz waves beat down on his skin in a way imperceptible to anything other than Saiyans. But before he could draw another breath to berate the insolent rookie again, Mato’s appearance had drastically changed and the ground began to tremble more and more violently.

Chard followed Tora’s gaze, when his muted laugh stopped abruptly.

As the transformation took hold, she began growing exponentially in every direction. Mato’s canines became like large daggers in her mouth and grated across her tongue, as her face shifted shape. Although her black and red Saiyan armour was expandable, she could feel the strain of the material tugging on her now coarsely furred skin.

The increasingly high view of the metropolis that she had found herself in, was quickly shrinking below her. This fast changing sight was disorienting, this was adding to the confusion of such a swift change in body mass and the primaeval energy flowing through her very being. Letting out a long frustrated growl aimed at the sky, it gradually deepening and becoming more animalistic, the ferocious roar startled the remaining group and sent shivers down even Tora's spine.

With that release, she had completely lost herself.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Blinded by Rage 

With the ever increasing form of Mato’s transformation into the Great Ape taking hold, Chard stood silently with a light quiver on his lips as he gazed with shielded eyes at the immense power emerging before him.

The trembling ground turned into violent shaking, as cracks formed at the base of the growing beast. The crevices forking and widening with each passing moment, snaking their way through to the cliff face. The sheer weight of the form was proving too much for their temporary base in the elevated rocky outcrop. 

The explosive sounds of each of the beast's stumbling feet connecting with the raised ground reverberated and destabilised the remaining Saiyans' footing. 

As the solid floor began to dissolve beneath their feet, Tora grabbed Chard by the scruff of his black and orange armour, yanking him backwards as the ground vanished beneath them.

Having flown out of its shadow, the three untransformed Saiyans stood observing the beast as it fell through the last remaining shreds of the plateau. The chunks of rock thundered down from the now non-existent ledge towards the metropolis, along with the cascading body of their metamorphing comrade.

As the clattering shower of loose rocks settled in their new location, the cloud of red dust gradually rained down on the newly formed rock pile. Silence fell, as they waited in anticipation. The brief reprieve was short-lived, as a phenomenal blast disintegrated the piled boulders and the rocks began to shift once more.

The remaining Saiyans ran to what was left of the precipice and stood on the edge, frozen. This was followed by an audible gasp as they watched the scene unfurl below them.

Mato arose from the rubble in her full glory, the largest Great Ape they had ever seen.

She was now Oozaru. 

Avoiding gazing at the enlarged blutz wave ball that lingered high in the darkened red sky, they all stood in awe of the sheer power and utter destruction that the small weak-like Mato was currently raining down on the local populace. 

“No fucking way has she got that kind of power!” exclaimed Chard.

“She could probably take this whole planet herself”, muttered Tichok, still shocked by this development.

"Yeah..she's definitely something..", Tora acknowledged in awe, but then swiftly broke from his gaze to turn towards Chard. "And you, what happened to you? You froze. If I hadn't yanked you out of there when I did, you almost certainly would have been her first kill in this form." His anger was building fast, "You do know that lapses like that are fatal for warriors like us, but let's be honest…that's the least of the shitty decisions you've made today".

Unwilling to cause a repeat of his earlier altercations with his commander, Chard shrugged and remained outwardly silent. She'll get what she deserves, I'll make her pay for showing me up.

"Ah fuck it! We'd better join her or we're going to be part of the collateral damage" as Tora glanced around at the carnage ahead of them. She had decimated the local populace in practically record time.

Not wanting to get caught in her fast rising body count, they lifted their heads to gaze at the energy ball hovering above them. As their eyes soaked in the blutz waves, they welcomed that familiar feeling overcoming all their senses and pulsating throughout their bodies. One by one they grew, taking the form of the Great Ape.

Stretching out their new forms and releasing their own chilling roars that echoed across the devastated city.

They opted to leave Mato to her rampaging, she was a mindless animal blinded by rage at this point. She had lost all sense of reason and they knew that being around her like this, with her frenzied attacks and unrelenting blasts, could prove fatal.

The three newly formed beasts began to separate, travelling in different directions with the aim to cover as much of the highly populated areas as possible. Looking at the light above them, they wouldn't have a lot of time.

The Saiyan's experience shone through, as they successively decimated city after city. Each one of the three on their own, tearing through their environment, being met with next to no resistance. 

In his Great Ape form, Tichok stood looking around at the destruction surrounding him. Whilst he surveyed the area, looking for stragglers and any potential hostiles. He couldn't help the overwhelming feeling in his rage infested mind, that this scene looked familiar. As he pushed on to make his way out of this flattened city, a brief flicker of movement caught his eye. Tichok turned his enormous, coarsely furred body to investigate and as he did, he was hit by a barrage of blasts from rudimentary weapons. Whilst they didn't hurt, he found himself becoming irate as his vision was obscured by the cloud of debris they had created. Struck from somewhere below, he felt a hard blow knock into the back of his head, swiftly followed by another impact to the side of his thigh that caught him off-guard, this riled Tichok. He growled in response and frantically searched around, but before he could locate the source, he was subjected to quick fire blasts to the underside of his neck that had left him briefly stunned.

After he stumbled backwards in that moment of chaos, he was able to refocus and target in the direction the last attacks had come from. Having let out a powerful energy blast from his mouth, he allowed it to obliterate the area and any lingering combatants. 

In that moment of vulnerability, after unleashing such an attack and staggering to reposition himself in a fighting stance, he had felt the twinge of nerves being severed. A deep burning coursed up his spine, that caused an assault of electric shocks to repeatedly attack his nervous system. Tichok let out an earsplitting roar fraught with pain. Desperately frozen and fearing the worst, he reached around to where his tail should be. It-it's still there. The relief flooded him, but it was not intact and it wouldn't be safe for long if the enemy attacked him like that again.

In his own zone of destruction and razing another city to the ground, Tora paused at the sound, a guttural roar of a mortally wounded animal in the distance. The animal was definitely an Oozaru, he had heard it on more missions than he cared to remember. It usually meant that a tail had been attacked, a Saiyan's weakness. Of course elites were trained to withstand rough handling and minor attempts, but no Saiyan could withstand a direct attack. Knowing that the responsibility of these rookies fell to him, he made to move from the scene of the annihilated populace. 

Feeling his senses distorted, Tora stepped forward feeling a tightness around the front of his enlarged boot. As the commander tried to step again, he felt the hold grow on his opposing leg. Unable to make any sense of what he was seeing, as his vision was hazed and something was messing with his equilibrium. 

Tighter and tighter his feet felt, he recognised this sensation. He was being bound, they were trying to bring him down. Those little pink fuckers.

This experienced warrior knew exactly how to get out of this. He positioned himself with one foot in front of the other and pulled the heel of his foremost boot up the shin of the leg behind. This allowed him to release one foot and shook the bindings free from his other one. In one breath, Tora turned in a full circle releasing a potent energy beam from his mouth. 

The ring of devastation surrounded him, as silence fell and his vision returned to normal. Gotcha.

Tora began to make his way to where he had last heard his comrade's roar.

In his latest in a sequence of empty victories over the outlier towns and villages, Chard had become more bitter with each toppled building. This isn't much of a challenge, one of the kids in a nursing capsule could do this. Whilst stomping and crushing on what looked like a medical building. They just let that bitch run off and have fun wherever. 

Hearing the same distinct animalistic roar that came from the oversized form of Mato’s Great Ape in the not too distant area. Chard turned to the sound and smiled while baring his enlarged canines. He darkly chuckled to himself as he began thundering in her direction.

Having seen her gargantuan form in the distance, Chard was confident to the point of arrogance that his battle skills were far superior to those of this novice rookie. She may have had the advantage of size, but he felt that paled in comparison to his experience.

As he grew closer, she continued her assault on the previous metropolis below. Chard could now see that Mato had annihilated everything and everyone in sight. He witnessed her tear open transport looking for what he had deemed might be her new food. What the absolute fuck? Despite all of his previous experiences, he had never witnessed a massacre of such proportions. This capability was borderline terrifying, as a result he suddenly felt incredibly outmatched.

Deciding to wait to take her on, until they were both back in their base forms. Chard began to back away, with a view to continuing his rampage elsewhere.

However, it was too late. The colossal snarling beast had already locked onto his position. Staring directly at him with the incensed pupiless eyes that were trained on his form. 

With a loud grunt, the beast pushed off at an unfathomable speed for such a large being. Meeting Chard with a powerful punch, before he could make any meaningful escape. His large body was knocked back a considerable distance, but yet again before he could get away, she was there. On top of him, repeatedly pummelling his chest, face, anything. The berserk Mato maintained this attack, cracking Chard's armour. As she drew back to attempt to land another sequence of hits, he managed to pull his legs up to hook his large booted feet under her chest. With his muscular legs thrusting her large mass up and off of him. 

Scrambling to get out of her way, he gradually made it to a standing position, just as Mato resumed her feral attack. She was mindlessly clawing at him, causing deep gashes across the exposed areas of his arms. He desperately hit back again and again, anything to get her away. Yet the more he fought to defend himself, the more savage she became.

As she landed another blow on his chest, her claw became stuck in the damaged and cracked armour. This threw the beast into a wild frenzy, with slices and punches connecting more and more often. Chard's stamina was waning and he was finding it harder to block her attacks. As he exerted effort to obstruct the punch, he didn’t have the chance to effectively block the clawing down the side of his face. 

He didn't know what had happened but it felt like she had ripped it off. Letting out a blood curdling roar, the excruciating pain had found him. As he tried to defend the injury, Mato bit at his arm with her powerful jaws, leaving deep puncture marks and almost breaking the bone in the process. 

When she pulled her mouth back, poised for another attack, she was yanked backwards by the scruff of her armour by Tora. It was enough to destabilise her, preventing an immediate retaliation. She was thrown backwards onto the floor, shaking the entire area under her weight. Whilst she struggled to right herself, the older Saiyan grabbed hold of Chard and took the opportunity to make their escape and tend to their wounds.

Hearing the commotion, Tichok painfully made his way directly towards the source. He was surprised to encounter Tora pulling what looked like a gravely injured Chard towards him at surprising speed. Tichok quickly realised their reason for their escape, as he saw Mato’s large form closing in on them in the distance.

Without a second thought, Tichok launched an energy blast up into the sky, directly at the blutz wave energy ball. The impact caused an explosion that sent remnant energy careening across the sky in every direction.

The effect was almost instantaneous, as they began shrinking back down to their base forms. They could only see the wake of destruction from the altercation. Normally a fitting sight for a successful mission, but the carnage, blood and screams that remained here were haunting. 

Mato laid passed out on the group, the transformation exhausted her, especially with the sheer raw power she had contained in that form.

They were bloodied from their altercations, but Chard continued to writhe around in his own blood whilst Tichok attempted to treat his wound.

Standing guard, with his own injuries, Tora knew that any of their deaths would be on his watch and he wasn't going to have the responsibility of that kind of fuck up attached to him.

As their commander, he would ensure that every single one of these idiots would make it back alive.