Cup of Gigawatts (IC)

[Aoiroo]

Nov 4th, 5:43 PM

Jasmine sort of wished they had set the appointment to earlier in the day. It was very nearly sunset, now and she didn't know if the Lab would be open much longer as she was already twenty minutes late. It really couldn't be helped with the rush hour traffic, even the back roads were backed up, and Hanover had a lot of outward flow to the rest of the city as people left to get to their homes. When she did get there, she found that most of the parking garages were near empty, which was a blessing as it meant she was out of there and walking to the large egg shaped building before very long. She glanced at her phone for the time, twenty eight minutes late, it wasn't ideal but hopefully someone would still be able to see her.

[Raveled]

Jasmine walked up to the main desk in the lobby of the Lab and gave her name to the secretary on duty there, a tired-looking woman who kept one eye on the clock while she typed in the details of Jasmine's appointment. Unfortunately it seemed the individual in charge of the labs had gone home, but when the chemist made it clear she wasn't going to be budged the secretary gave a long-suffering sigh and checked to see just who was still working.

Not surprisingly, Jessica Parker was still putting in long hours. Surprisingly enough, though, she was down in the machine shop, adding a bevel to the latest prototype of her armor. Her cellphone began ringing, but she made sure the lathe spun down safely before she reached out to answer it with her mind. Minutes later she was riding up an elevator and as she stepped off, called over to Jasmine. "Hello, there!" She walked over briskly, offering the other woman her hand. Jessica was dressed practically for a day in a machine shop -- which was to say she was wearing blue jeans, running shoes, and a cotton shirt that covered her from throat to wrist. There was also a pair of safety glasses danging from one hand, but she shoved those in her pants pocket. "You're Jasmine Benoit? I'm Jessica Parker, nice to meet you."

[Aoiroo]

Jasmine grabbed the hand and shook it with a smile doing a once over at the young women,

"Good evening Jessica."

She herself was dressed just from work, a nice blouse of pale green with a navy scarf and a pair of nice navy trousers that match hidden under a clean white lab coat.

"I do believe that you know why I am here? I am sorry for my lateness, are the simulators still online?"

[Raveled]

"Doubtful," Jessica said blithely, a smile on her face. "It's Lab policy to shut recourse-intensive systems down for the night. But we can boot it up in a jiffy." In fact Jessica had connected mentally to the appropriate machines on the elevator ride up, and they were already spinning their discs up. "Security should have your badge just about -- ah, there it is." The young inventor took a laminated badge from the secretary and handed it to Jasmine. It was the size of a driver's license, with a large mug-shot of her face taken from the security camera in the parking garage. The badge had a wide purple border on it, and the left-hand side was dominated by the words GUEST E-2.

Jessica spoke as she lead the way to the elevator. "Keep the badge clipped on at all times. Floors four and five are semi-restricted and patrolled regularly by security, who will escort you out if you don't have clearance. Higher than that... well, let's just say that the automated systems aren't very gentle with intruders."

[Aoiroo]

She smiled, even though it was a mild inconvinience, her visit wasn't in vain and things would go as plan.

"Okay, in case of sudden transporation, partical defusion, or unexpected elevation of any other kind to said floors I'll keep that in mind."

She took the badge and clipped it to her scarf but not before examining the picture for a few seconds, there was a slight glare off her glasses that made the lenses flash hiding her eyes. It was a rather strange looking thing to see on her own face.

She followed after the younger women to the lift,

"So, what's it like working here?"

She was curious, it was a very marvel of scientific gatherings but somewhat exclusive in it's workings. She knew that several scientific minded heroes each had a hand in this place, current company included, and definitely gave the impression of top of the line and top of the country work.

[Raveled]

Inside the elevator, Jessica took out her own pass card and swiped it, then punched the button for floor 22. In fact the card wasn't just an access device, it was a little marvel of engineering in itself, a flat sensor that collected several different kinds of biometric data when used. It was just one of the little miracles that surrounded life at the Lab.

"Pretty much like working anywhere," Jessica said in response to Jasmine's question. "It's interesting to have the labs and production in the same building. It really cuts down on turn-around!" If the response was surprising, Jasmine quickly recalled that the woman she was talking to had been a millionaire from the moment she was born; she had literally grown up with the resources of a Fortune 500 company at her fingertips. If the Lab represented anything, it was the chance to collaborate with similarly genius-level intellects.

Presently, the elevator dinged and the doors opened onto a gently curving hallway, glass on one side and a wall painted in mood-calming colors on the other. Jessica stepped off confidently and motioned Jasmine to follow her.

[Aoiroo]

Jasmine examined the card for a few seconds before following the girl out the elevator,

"Very true, science is a field where specialty is a must, but this does limit your options in companies that do that same. Here though, you pretty much of a think tank of all the best of the bests."

She examined the hallway around her as she kept in stepped trying to sneak glances at any new projects or machinary,

"Can you tell me about any new projects this place is doing?"

That was something she was really curious about, the monthly science magazines usually did a showcase on sometime the Lab had developed as of recently, but it hardly showed any light on most if any of the real big projects in development.

[Raveled]

Jessica shrugged carelessly. "Supercape's usually sussing some sub-atomic structure or particle," she said, "and Miss A's working on a set-up to bridge damaged areas of the brain, last I checked. Right now I believe she'd working with a stroke victim on the medical level. Dragonfly's stuff is usually beyond me," she admitted, "But I father she's working on some kind of wormhole projector. Not really my field, you know?" Jessica opened a particular door and lead Jasmine into a chemistry lab. Around them were all the tools of the trade; centrifuges, hoods for mixing noxious concoctions, and chemical showers on every wall. There were several glass-doored cabinets with ranks of laboratory equipment, and others with carefully labeled and stopped glass vials of different chemicals. There were even a couple of isolation booths against the interior wall, where the operator was safely protected behind bullet-proof glass and operated everything via waldos.

The young inventor jumped up onto a nearby table and perched there, watching Jasmine move around the space. "Right now, my pet project is suit of overalls that let the wearer lift a car," she said. "I think I'm getting pretty close to a wearable model."

[Aoiroo]

Jasmine half listened half took everything in as they passed. It was all very top of the line, a lot of it she had only seen in pictures or prototypes in science magazines. Her company wasn't large enough to keep so up to date, and even more so wasn't diversified enough to even use half of this equipment.

"That all sounds amazing, I can only speculate about the results. Most of it sounds right about over my head as well, though I may be able to guess about the wormhole as physics was my minor. Really Chemistry is the only field I could hope to compete in, and even then I'm just a lab assistant which is sort of why they sent me in the first place."

[Raveled]

"Still. You must've impressed someone. Most people never get top visit this high up on the Lab, and when they do it's on one of the guided tours. Most never get to speak to one of the board members face to face." Jessica flashed a smile. She tried not to brag about her accomplishments, but it was hard not to be proud of being so involved with a high-profile endeavor like the Lab. "So what are you working on," she asked, craning her neck to see. "It must be complex if you need to use our equipment."

[Aoiroo]

"Actaully it's not terribly complex, it was just something our company wasn't really equiped to do on it's own."

She pulled out a large plastic bag, it was filled with several pellots about the size of meatballs in different colors. She picked one out and plopped it into her mouth,

"These are protein rations, this is the flavored collection. They're actually quite tasty, and apparently they have a new preservative that lets them maintain there shape, flavor and mass without packing in any storage envirement. Though we haven't tested that thoroughly. I was assigned to help on this project to use the simulator to test it via various extreme envirements then do proper taste testing since well I am the only foodie they had in the lab."

[Raveled]

Jessica picked up one of the protein balls and examined it closely. Food wasn't something that really interested her; in face, since she'd broken up with Blake, she hadn't done any cooking that didn't involve reheating prepacked meals. "The shape seems inefficient," she observed. "Spheres have terrible packing efficiency. Rectilinear shapes or triangles would pack together much better."

[Aoiroo]

"Well what we're testing is the chemical used for the coating. The packing is irrelivant and the different flavorings are all just for testing purposes, the coating formula is what we're trying to perfect before we patent and sell it."

It wasn't there specialty but it definitely had a good demographic going for it. Backpackers for one, military use for another. Charitable organizations could use it for rations as well, but that'd likely after it'd been mainstreamed enough that they got wind of it.

"Now, how are the settings, the base test parameters are for testing extreme humidity, rain, dry air, cold and snow. With the outside being the control."

[Raveled]

Jessica turned the ball over and over in her hand as she considered the idea. It had merit, certainly, but how much the young woman wasn't sure of off the top of her head. She's have to consult a dietician for that -- the Lab kept one on staff, in the medical section.

In the meantime, she put the ball back and hopped off the desk. "If you want environmental data, we have full-range simulators on site. Not as precise as a chem lab, but it's really real weather and --" Jessica's speech was interrupted when the lid of the grate under one of the chemical showers was pushed up and out. A luminescent green ooze began to push its was out of the drain. Jessica blinked and took a step backward. "Jasmine. Get out of here, now!"

[Aoiroo]

Jasmine was about to reply when the sudden change in conversation caught her attention as her eyes went instantly to the drain Jessica was looking at. Her eyebrows raised but she backed away quickly,

"Ooze?"

She hit a table awkwardly as she watched it surface from the drain,

"I am guessing that this is something that you had no hand in creating, but how unlikely is it that enough combinations of proper chemicals down a chemical shower would result in a creature with enough sentience to force itself up from the pipes of it's own accord. Though a growth solution applied to a microscopic organism may be an acceptable explanation. Though that is not good in the least, feeding and reproducing are among the only thing such creatures understand. Even then how can it be so stable at a large size. Given, it may just have a preference to colder wet places like a lot of micro-organisms, and that smell, it's salty, did it originally come from the ocean? That means it would of come from the waste disposal system instead, very strange."

She glanced over at Jessica more puzzled then scared,

"Do you suppose you could safely obtain a sample? It's an interesting specimen."

[Raveled]

Jessica shot a look at Jasmine, and then returned her critical eye to the puddle of goo still oozing out of the drain. "Riiiight," she said. "I'll just ask it to lay quietly on the exam table, shall I?" She touched her titanium bracelet and was enfolded in light and energy. When it faded, it revealed the Ironclad armor in place around her. She powered up the jets and hovered in the air, bringing one of her wrist blasters to bear on the gooey mass. Her shots caused the thing to ripple and squirm unnervingly, but also cauterized a portion of the slime. "I think you may have to settle for charred bits," she said to Jasmine.

[Aoiroo]

Jasmine looked at the goo as Jessica blasted it in her armor. She could of made something, but that would take too long, also, honestly she didn't think she had permission to blow up this particular portion of the lab, especially with the delicate projects that it could hold. It was a few seconds before she did in fact turn around and sprint out of the room and down the stairs. She was surprisingly fast for a scientist, she buzzed right through security, right out the door and down the street to her van only stopping to open the back and climb in to get her gear.

[Raveled]

Security was trained to stop people trying to force their way in, and besides that Jasmine could be very fast when it suited her. She pounded down the emergency staris and dashed past the front desk, making a hard turn a sprinting into the underground garage. There she slowed down a bit as she approached her van and slipped in through the double doors at the back.

A few minutes later Catalyst emerged, adjusting the bandolier that ran across her chest and between her breasts. She prepared to make the run back up to the chem lab to back up Ironclad -- when she noticed the head of the closest fire sprinkler pop off. Goo began to fall out of it, the same shade as the blob that had appeared in the lab and attached Ironclad, and the heroine watched as it began to shudder to life!

The ooze formed several distinct pseudopods and lashed out at Catalyst, but the hazard-suited heroine was agile enough to dodge to the side and avoid the blow.

---

Back up in the lab, Ironclad took to the air but found she had precious little room to maneuver in the close confines of the room. She took a gooey tentacle across her chest and slammed into a wall, popping several pipes free and spraying water into the air. She sucked in a deep breath and winced at the pain. A bruised rib, maybe? Whatever it was, she couldn't let it slow her down. She rocketed across the room and punched the beastie square in its center mass. The horrible goo writhed in something like pain and the heroine retreated, wondering just how she was going to defeat something like this.

[Aoiroo]

Weaving back from the attack of the tentacles Catalyst slipped her hands into one of her pouches nad thumbed through the several sizes of paintball she had in that particular pouch,

"So it was not just in the lab, it was down here too."

She pulled out the ball and threw it to the ground, the entire area around them for a fifty foot radius filled with thick white smoke. Well to most people, Catalyst could still see perfectly through her goggles as she watched the blob and switched ammos,

"I suppose this means I can't go back up to help, I hope Jessica is doing alright."

[Raveled]

Catalyst moved through her smoke cloud, observing the blobby mass and pondering just which load-out to use on the creature. Oddly enough the beastie didn't seem too put out by fighting in a fog bank. In fact, the way its several pseudopods were tracking her she'd almost swear that... The superheroine realized what was coming in time to jump to the side, but one of the scything goo-tentacles still caught her a solid blow on her leg. She could only imagine the bruise she'd have later.

---

Back up in the lab, Ironclad was doing a bit better. The oozing monster crept around the edges of the room and started throwing chairs and equipment at the metal-clad heroine, but she simply let it clang harmlessly off her armor. She waited patiently -- and when it appeared between two lab tables, let it have a shot from both her wrist blasters! The energy caught the thing in its center mass and picked it up bodily, bouncing it off the far wall.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst jumped back and reeled at the wound on her leg, suckered right through the fabric. This was bad. She stepped back one at a time and looked at the creature. It couldn't see her, at least not in the traditional sense, could it smell her? that was unlikely, if it was even a little similiar. Hearing, less likely but maybe something close. There was a test, she leaned over and tapped the ground lightly, there was no sound, but it caught the ooze's attention. Vibrations, that was it, but that meant, that wasn't good. How was she going to avoid that.

She glanced around, anything attached to the concrete would just contribute to the vibration, but the cars. The cars would work, the rubber could absorb the impact, and make it harder. Sprinting from her spot she made it clear across the garage and jumped onto the hood of a flat topped box like car. Climbing up she switched her ammo and tried to go for a shot, but it veered off and missed the blob.

[Raveled]

The green, glowing mass launched another assault on Catalyst. It was obvious that it didn't know exactly where the heroine was, but it was equally obvious that knew approximately where she was. A thick pseudotentacle smashed down on the car the paintball-wielding heroine was crouched on, making her drop to a crouch for a moment to keep her footing.

Upstairs, Ironclad's opponent had retracted into a ball, shivering for a long moment as it recovered from the savage blow the heroine had dealt it. However she wasn't of a mind to let it recover; she zoomed up close and pounded the creature again and again with servo-assisted strength. However it seemed too elastic for the assault to make any impact, and her blows just rebounded off the thing.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst pushed back from the car as the attack hit before crouching down and jumping short distance to the next one. She looked through her ammo as she thought about the monster. It was fairly tough, so her neurotoxin might slow it down a bit. She shot the monster square in the face with the round, while she started to reload, all the while she was a bit curious how Jessica was doing with the other slime. Not that she could move until this one was finished, but she hoped she was okay.

[Raveled]

Up in the Lab, Ironclad and the ambulatory puddle traded blows again, but though their strikes sent chips of tile and plaster spinning through the air neither seemed to be able to get an edge over the other. The blob's pseudopods rattled uselessly against the heroine's metal shell, and while she struck with enhanced strength Ironclad couldn't seem to actually injure the monster.

Down below Catalyst was having much the same stand-off with her own blob. The thing whirled out against her again, neatly smashing the engine compartment of the vehicle she was huddled on top of. Now she had a scant few square feet of metal to crouch on and aim; if this wasn't ended quickly, she might have to find a new perch.

[Aoiroo]

Scattering back at the attack she pulled herself into a sitting position to steady herself as she switched cartridges. The indirect route wasn't really working, it didn't seem fazed at all by her gas. So it mean all out attack, acid to be exact, nasty and strong, not her strongest but strong. She leaned forward and aimed straight for the middle hoping it'll give it the bite it needed to back off and give her some breathing room whatever it was. Pulling the trigger, she readied to get moving as soon as it hit just in case it wasn't effected.