Mad Scientist In The Making

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

Nate had gotten his armor back from Stacy. The initial elation had slowly given way to a very businesslike examination of the suit's use however, following a troubleshooting session in the City. It seemed that Stacy had locked down the suit's time travel capabilities. So that meant he wouldn't be going anywhere, and he wouldn't be pulling weapons out of the time stream either. A few of the deadlier weapons in the suit itself had been disabled. But he'd be able to get those back up and running.

The thing that he had most wanted to know however, was whether the Vision programming was present. Running through his checklists and looking through the programming ands source codes of the armor's minimal AI system, he was soon satisfied that his suit wouldn't be walking around on it's own anytime soon. Good. One less headache for him. Something he was thankful for, what with the way his head had been pounding recently. That being said he didn't want to be walking around in that suit at the moment. At least, not while it was looking like that.

So it was that he ended up in the Special Weapons area, various tools littering the table next to the larger one that he'd laid the suit out on. First things first, he'd need to get rid of that helmet. He didn't want his face hidden, not anymore at least. So he worked for an hour or so at pulling the components from the helmet and incorporating them into the suit. Of course, for the HUD he'd need to find an alternate method. Perhaps he could rig up a retinal projector keyed to his DNA? Well, time enough for that later.

The sound of clinking and fiddling could be heard for a long time. His eyes began to grow tired as he kept working. How many hours had it been? Didn't matter, he had his suit. He needed to finish. Now that fusion cell connected to that power cable. And that ion regulator into that outlet. Yes it was going fine. Picking up another fusion cell, he grabbed his screwdriver and began to unscrew the cap. Hopefully the gel hadn't congealed after disuse, or else it might--

BOOM

The cell exploded in a great spray of coolant gel and metal parts. One sliver of metal ran a cut along his cheek, and he was glad he'd had the foresight to put goggles on, as others pinged off the protective eyewear. Setting down his screwdriver, he pulled the goggles off, a bemused expression crossing his face as he lifted a hand to wipe the gel off it. His hair stuck out at odd angles from the release of static the exploding fusion cell had caused, and he sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

Maybe that was enough for one night.

Comments

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"Well, I suppose I don't have to teach you the importance of wearing goggles." Wyn calls over from her workbench. Even if she hadn't been keeping an eye on the kid with the robot suit nearby (because let's face it, who wouldn't want a look at a piece of tech like that?), the rather large explosion would have gotten her attention pretty quickly.

"Everything all right over there?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

"No. I learned that pretty early on." He hadn't noticed her to be honest. She hadn't been there when he'd come in had she? Just how long had he been at it. He got too absorbed in his work sometimes. Peripheral awareness was definitely not one of his strengths.

"Yeah. One of my fusion cells just went bad. Should have checked it before I opened it. But that's my genius for you." He smiled slightly.

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

Wyn is a model for how not to get absorbed in your work, because unless she's really trying to focus on something she'll get distracted in a heartbeat... kind of like she is right now, as a matter of fact. "Oooh, fusion cells?" she asks, hopping up from her bench and walking over to Nate and the suit. "Well, no, it's really more 'ooh, a stable power source'. ... stable-ish, anyway." she continues, glancing up at Nate's hair.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

If Nate could learn how to do that, he'd probably have been much less worried about starting projects to be honest. As it was, he tended to lose himself in his work and neglect important things. Like food. "Well they're generally pretty stable. But the coolant/insulation gel goes bad if you leave it for too long without use. The molecules need to stay active. I haven't found a way around that just yet." But he plans to. Boy does he plan to.

At her look, his eyes rolled upward, trying to get a look at his own hair. "Is something up with my hair?"

[mammalrobot.livejournal.com]

Robo had finally tuned reactions to explosions. Once the debris settled, he poked his head out from under a work table. "What the hell was that!?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

Hearing the exclamation, Nate turned to see the robot peeking out from under the table. No offense to you Robo, but Nate's really had quite enough of sentient robots. "My fusion cell went bad."

[mammalrobot.livejournal.com]

He crawled out from under the table so as to adopt a more dignified pose "A fusion cell? I guess we're lucky we're not all vapor now."

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

He smirked slightly. What a weird robot. "Well the person who made it made sure it was well insulated, and the reaction was stifled by the coolant gel anyway. Which admittedly, was what caused the reaction, but still."

[staturity]

Cassie had been in the same area but she hadn't noticed Nate (it helped that she'd positioned herself away from the group, as out of sight as she could manage). She had been focused on pulling apart and reassembling, well, just about anything she could get her hands on. It had been slow going at first but things were starting to click for her. She might even ask about someone showing her how to handle explosives later.

Or maybe not as she heard that explosion.

She immediately got up to check out what just happened. "Hey, are you o-" Cassie stopped when she saw Nate and his... new hairstyle. "Oh." She put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

Nate would have been glad to help. He'd spent half his life pulling things apart and putting them back together after all. If he couldn't help her figure out what went where, what sort of boy genius would he have been? But really, he'd been so absorbed in his own work that he hadn't noticed her enter the room. Though the fact that she'd been keeping away from everyone else had probably contributed to that fact.

When he heard Cassie's voice he turned and have her a bemused, raised eyebrow. Why was she laughing? "What's so funny?" Really he didn't mean to sound annoyed or anything, Cassie. But he had just had a fusion cell explode in his face after all.

[staturity]

"Sorry- sorry, you had me worried there but uh-" She walked over to Nate and ran her hand through a lock of his hair that was standing up particularly straight. "Your hair..." She couldn't help but grin.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

There was a small trickle of blood down his cheek where the metal sliver had cut him. But otherwise his was okay. The coolant gel had quickly congealed and dried into flakes that easily fell away from his skin, like old wax. His hair easily fell back into place under her hand as her body absorbed some of the static. Seeing her grin though, he raised his eyes upward trying to look at it.

"What? What's wrong with- Oh man the static. I completely forgot." He raised a hand to try and get it back into shape. Though it didn't help very much.

[imperious_lex]

Lex actually wasn't in the lab when the explosion happened, but arrived not too long after. Even though he didn't hear the blast, it was obvious by the mess that something had not quit gone as planned.

"Everything all right, kid?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

Nate looked up from the suit. His hair had unstaticed. Sort of. And was closer to normal now, but still a big mess. The gel had dried and flaked off so he was mostly clean as he leaned over one of his gauntlets, carefully joining two wires with a molecular soldering tool.

Wiping the sweat from his brow with a forearm, he pushed his goggles up with a smile. "Hey Lex. Yeah everything's okay. Just a little hiccup."

[imperious_lex]

"Looks like slightly more than that." Lex moved a bit closer, looking at what Nate was working on.

"Now what have we here?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

"Well it wasn't that big an explosion anyway." He smirked, pulling his goggles back down and turning back to his work.

"It's my power armor. A version of it at least, from before the programming that eventually became Jonas was present."

[morphitudinous]

Very few things can distract Billy Cranston when he is moving purposefully through the hallways. One of the few things that can is an explosion, especially if it seems to be coming from their treasured laboratory.

Soon enough, a wide-eyed blond skidded into the laboratory and began assessing the damage. He examined the walls, the floors, the equipment, the person---wait. There was a person standing here, and he didn't look too well. Concerned, Billy maneuvered his way into the other man's line of sight.

"This scenario is distressingly familiar," he mused, then turned to address the other person directly. "Hey. Are you injured?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

At the new voice, Nate turned around, laughing quietly and nodding. "I'm fine, just a little scratch." He lifted a finger to his cheek to indicate the cut. It was slowly trickling blood, but it didn't look too bad otherwise. He hadn't met this man before, so he pushed his goggles up and offered his hand.

"I'm Nate. Sorry if I gave you a scare. My fusion cell went bad is all." Yeah, that was pretty dangerous. If the air had been a touch more humid he could probably have taken out at least a quarter of Stacy, and himself with it. But well, no need to tell him that.

[morphitudinous]

"I'm Billy---Billy Cranston, co-chief of the Engineering department. It's nice to meet you, Nate." He smiled in greeting, moving closer to the suit and the wreckage around it. "Don't worry about this. In our line of work, explosions are an everyday occurrence. I'd like to install some shields in the lab eventually, but until then we repair damage as it happens."

As he examined Nate's work, he tried to discern the suit's functions. The workings were complex, containing impressive technology. Reluctantly, he clamped down on his natural curiosity about it---help first, Billy, and geek out later. "Those are notoriously sensitive cells. I've experienced a few reactions as well. Do you have replacements?"

[toaster-lover.livejournal.com]

Usually, Gaius would run the other way from the sound of an explosion, but this one happened to be near the one he was heading towards. He hesitated for a long moment, wondering if he could pretend he hadn't heard it, or if that might result in someone dying, and finally sighed, and poked his head in to see what was going on.

"Are you, um, alright then?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

At the sound of another voice, he merely nodded, not looking up from his work. A few people had come in to check up on (and distract) him. So really, he needed to focus on getting this finished. Once he'd finished transferring the helmet's components into the majority of the suit, he'd take a break.

"I'm good, thanks. Sorry for the scare. One of my fusion cells went bad." He stated matter-of-factly, not looking up from his soldering.

[toaster-lover.livejournal.com]

"Yes, well, it's always prudent to double check those things before you begin working on, erm," Gaius started, and then actually looked at what the other man was bent over. "That."

Never a good one at taking a hint, he hovered there a moment, unable to stop himself from asking, "Exactly what is that, may I ask?"

[withoutspice]

Ghani had just managed to be in the area when the explosion happened. At first she'd just shook her head, figuring it was just another crazy thing that happened on the thinking machine that they were all stuck on, but as she'd passed the room she'd looked inside and saw a young man standing there.

Curious, she paused in the entry way and looked around the room before allowing her blue-within-blue eyes to focus on him. "You do realize that is generally thought to be a bad idea to try and blow one's self up, don't you?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

At the sound of the unfamiliar woman's voice, he put his screwdriver down, pushed his goggles up and turned around to face her, a bemused expression on his face. "Well generally it is. But it's such a rush when it doesn't work." That smirk on his face probably meant that he was being sarcastic, Ghani. In a nice way though.

"Besides, one of my fusion cells went bad, it isn't as if I had much of a choice without all my gear here."

[withoutspice]

Ghani's pretty good when it comes to reading people Nate, it's one of the many skills she possesses.

She shook her head, her long blond hair swaying softly with the movement of her head. Stepping further inside, she looked around, taking all the gear and vrious equipment in. "What exactly were you trying to do?"