trans_9 | Mad Scientist In The Making

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Mad Scientist In The Making

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.

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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.

"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.

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.

"I think you're going to see if you can get Stacy to give you a shower." She wiped away the blood from his cheek, checking to make sure that the cut was superficial. "You're alright, right?"

"She doesn't tend to like expending water like that. The sonic showers aren't so bad though." Her hand at his cheek made him smile slightly and shut his eyes a moment. "Mm. Yeah. I was wearing goggles. So I'm not going to go blind or anything."

Cassie withdrew her hand, though she was tempted to help Nate muss down his hair, she recognized that it was futile. "You're pretty lucky. What were you doing anyway?"

Really, if Nate could se his hair, he would have appreciated all the help he could get. But he couldn't. So... oh well. "I'm smart." He scrunched up his nose at her. "I've been working with things that can blow up for a long time."

Motioning to the parts of what could have been Jonas at some point in its future, he answered. "I'm working on my armor. Just making a few aesthetic modifications at the moment. Though, seeing as I don't have a full set of schematics, and it was a much older, more experienced version of myself who built it, it's uphill work."

For several moments Cassie just stared at the armor, her mouth hanging open slightly before she closed it.

"I- didn't think you had it." There was something clearly unsettling about seeing the armor that could have been Jonas laid out like that. "It doesn't have- I mean, he's not in there, is he?"

Noting that expression, Nate did his best to keep from frowning. It was just a machine. Obviously she saw it as more.

"I didn't think it was here. Stacy gave it to me." Noting her discomfort, he picked up the now gutted helmet, and set it on the floor, out of sight. "No. I ran a diagnostic to make sure. Unless the source code was hiding for some reason, I would have found him if he was."

"O.K., that's uhm-" She paused. "Sorry, this is weird for me."

He fell silent for a long moment, before grabbing a sheet and throwing it over the dismantled armor on the table. He'd worked on it enough for the day anyway. "I understand. Seeing the way things could have been isn't always easy."

He smiled wanly.

Cassie looked away. "Ah, so what were you doing to it?" It, she said, like it didn't have the potential to become a sentient being like her boyfriend if it had been pulled from the time stream later. "I didn't even notice you come in."

"Making it not look like Jonas." Well, that was matter-of-fact. But then, that had been the point of what he'd been doing. He didn't want to look like his 'brother.' It was an it. And if he had any say, that was all it would ever be. One Jonas had thrown his life out of whack more than enough. "I've been here for a few hours. I lost track actually. There really should be a way to keep track."

A pause. "Are you hungry?" Because he was.

Cassie blinked. Was he- asking her out? No, they were friends. It was... fine. If he even was asking her which- she really needed to stop over thinking this.

"Uh, I guess. I've been in here a while too."

Well it wasn't technically asking her out. Because... they couldn't actually go out. Because they were trapped on a giant, meaty ship. He just wanted the company. Even if they were just friends.

"So, Stacy slop? Or do you wanna try to find some real food?"

"Oh definitely real food or Sensorium food." Hey, it was fine to go into the Sensoriums as long as she was with someone. "I never want to taste Stacy's slop again. Let me just put away what I was working on." Cassie walked back to the work space and started storing everything away.

So what if it was half put back together, she'd work on it later.

"I'll see what I can do about that. I heard we've got some canned food nowadays." It wasn't as if Nate would have stopped her. She deserved to see her father if she wanted to. Though that isn't to say that he wouldn't have worried. "It wasn't that bad. And sure. Want some help?"

He followed a step or two behind her, looking at the work she'd been doing.

"Sure. I'll come back to it later so don't worry about what goes where."

It was the standard tinkering around, pulling apart various gadgets that probably looked practically prehistoric to Nate.

She would have gone for a phaser but she didn't want Picard to yell at her. Just in case.

"Well, it'll help if they're organized." He spoke from long experience with tinkering, Cassie.

He wouldn't have commented. He'd started out much the same way. And besides, if they were simple, it was easier for him to help out.

Nate would have helped her with that too. Phasers in his suit? That would have been awesome.

"Well, you're right." Having finished storing away some parts, she turned and looked at Nate and smiled. "Alright before we eat we really need to do something about your hair." She tried smoothing it down. "But I have to admit I really wish I had a camera right now."

"I try to make that a habit."" He chuckled. When she turned around, he tilted his head at her. She's beautiful when she smiles like that. "I wish Stacy wasn't so stingy with the water."

He pulled a face at her, grinning. "I didn't think you'd stoop to blackmail, Ms. Lang.

"Oh, I wouldn't call it blackmail, more like insurance." Oh yeah, totally blackmail.

"Hey, I'm not going to Kang out on you or anything." He laughed. The question was, what would she balckmail him for?

"You better not because I'm going to hold you to that one." Cassie stood back, examining the mess that was Nate's hair. "I was thinking more along the lines of- I don't know-" Staying away from Lex Luthor. "Getting me chocolate or something."

"Cross my heart." It wasn't a lie if he though it was true! When she stood back he tilted his head, grinning. "You think Stacy really stopped off to get chocolate while she was grabbing us from our soon to be destroyed homeworlds?" But Lex was his friend!

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