Molly and Reed -- Let's experiment!

[xp_fantastic]

Molly and Reed decided to come up with a very effective immobilizer... VERY effective..guest starring Logan and Sue




"Alright, so be careful with that solution, Molly," Reed said cautiously. He had a flipboard in hand, writing notes about the new opponent immobilizer that they'd been working on. It'd started as a lark after watching some science TV show, but like all good ideas, it needed to become reality.

It also allowed Reed the opportunity to work with Molly, someone he enjoyed but rarely spent time with. And then there was the freedom that came with working with someone so young ... she wasn't bothered by things like rules and regulations. Not like Sue.

"A few drops should be enough to see if it reacts."

Molly gave Reed a thoughtful nod. "This is gonna be so cool," she said as she got ready to add the final part of the solution.

"So uh--Once we get it made, we should probably figure out how to make something to dissolve it, right?" she said.

Reed gave a shrug. "Necessity is the mother of all invention," he responded, double checking one more equation. This should work. And it should honestly be easy to remove. If his calculations were correct, it wouldn't be that difficult to clean it up. Besides, they weren't making that much. "Go for it, Molly. Let's see if we did what we meant to do."

Squinting, Molly started to pour the solution carefully in with the rest of the already mixed solution. After a moment, she leaned back, tilting her head.

"I don't think anything hap--wait.."

A fizzing noise started up, and before you could say 'oh shit,' the beaker exploded and hot pink foam went EVERYWHERE, covering the room like a cotton candy cloud.

For a moment, no one spoke until....

"Uh oh," came Molly's sheepish voice.

"I believe that is an understatement," Reed responded dryly. Testing the bonds of the material, he had to admit: it worked exactly how they had intended...only more of it. Frowning, he tried to look down at his clipboard, before realizing his entire left hand was covered in the foam. Stretching his neck, he easily glided out and around so he could look at the situation face on. The foam had covered his left side, leaving his legs, one hand, his neck and head. Molly, by being smaller, seemed to have taken on the brunt of the material.

First things first: testing. With his free hand, he reached out to the table and grabbed a pipette. Poking the material tentatively, he saw it had less and less give. So it was hardening. That was good, then if he moved he wouldn't get stuck again.

"Alright, Molly," he finally said. "So how do you think we can get out of this?" He was calm and collected. This wasn't the first time an experiment went haywire. Just by being the virtue of the smartest man on Earth did not exclude him from making mistakes. Besides -- mistakes were the best way to learn.

Molly's arms were stuck up over her head from where she'd shielded her face from the foam. She couldn't move anything except her head. "Cold. Make it harden faster and crack it off," she said.

"Like when gum gets in your hair."

"Okay, but that would involve a blast chiller or something of the sort." His head bobbed up on the elongated neck while he surveyed the room. "None of which we have at the moment. I do see a blow torch, various materials and a blanket."

"Can you stretch into the other room?" Molly offered while glancing around herself. "I can try to like....use friction or something to get it to melt so I can move but it won't make it go away, it'll just harden up again."

Reed shook his head. "No. I don't gain mass in this state. If I stretched that far, I wouldn't have the strength needed to carry anything here." He looked around again and thought for a moment. "We used an alkaline base... water might break the bonds enough to at least separate us." He paused. "Do you think you can move? Get into the safety shower?"

Molly glanced over to Reed, then let out a laugh. She paused. "Oh! You're serious," she said. She shook her head. "I can try?"

Reed bobbed his head up and down. "I think it's our best chance. If it doesn't work, well, then we're wet and stuck. Not really the end of the world."

Molly smirked. "On the plus side, the bad guys are in real trouble," she said cheerfully with a confident giggle.

"Maybe we could have Mr. Logan cut us out?"

"Let's rule out ways that don't involve adamantium claws coming dangerously close to our bodies," Reed suggested. "Now, on three, we'll shuffle our way to the shower, alright?"

Twenty minutes later, they were now wet and still trapped. "Do you have Logan's number?"

~*~*~*

Logan shook his head as he made his way down to the labs. It'd taken a moment for the contents of Molly's text to make sense. Stuck in a hardened bubble of human sized goo. Of course the science folks would decide it was a good idea to create something like that and then experiment on themselves.

Lucky for them and for Logan gaining access to the lab they were located in was relatively simple. The new setup that'd gone up outside the mansion sounded like it would've involved a lot more effort on his part to free anyone. He pushed the door open and peered cautiously inside. Never knew what might happen.

He snorted when he saw Molly and Reed enveloped in a pink material that shined like it was wet and gooey. He entered the room fully and took a harder look at the material. It reminded him entirely too much of the oozing mess of a mutant he'd fought once. No one had come out the winner of that.

"I ain't gonna be much help here, kids." He'd probably make things infinitely worse and get himself stuck. "You scienced your way into this, science your way out."

Reed sighed. That's what he thought. "Thank you anyways," he said, dismissing the older man.

With a (somewhat) scared look, he furrowed his brows. "I think we need to call Sue."

Molly made a face. "She's totally gonna laugh at us," she said, then giggled. "It is pretty funny, though."

A phonecall and a short trip down from her room and the latest journal article she had been working on for Applied Sciences Swarm Robotic's special issue brought a very bemused blonde down to the labs, barely able to suppress her amusement as her blue eyes flicked down to Reed's notes before dancing up to examine the pair bound up in pink gloop. "Ok...so let me get this right? you were working on an immobilizing agent, and somehow managed to set it off? You're going to have to tell me all about how you managed to get yourself into this one, Reed."

The clipboard clattered to the desk as she very carefully edged her way closer to the mess, one hand extending as she poked at the material with a forcefield. "Well, on the one hand, congratulations, you've managed to create a pretty effective binding agent. On the other hand...you've maybe made it a little too effective. There's no way to get rid of it until it breaks down by itself. Maybe include some kind of weakness you can use to get people out of it if needed in version 2?" As much fun as it was to work in the realm of high science, sometimes people forgot about being able to get their hand out once they'd glued it to the desk once...with Reed though, she wasn't sure if he'd remember to purposefully include a flaw even if he got caught up in this situation a hundred times.

Reed almost protested that of course he had built in a backdoor but thankfully he stopped. Had he? He'd meant to. That was why he had suggested the water trick earlier but now that he ran the numbers through his head again, he realized Sue was right. Again. " Version 2 can only be built on the failures of version 1," he muttered, feeling a little embarrassed. "So if I've got this right, Molly -- we're stuck for a few hours. Maybe 3 at most."

If Molly could've facepalmed she would've. So instead she settled out for letting loud a breath. "Awesome," she said.

"Well, on the plus side...it works great?" Especially against people with super strength.

"Um...Sue can you bring us a TV, please?"

It was about to be very boring in here.