C&B: Always Backup the Nerds

[Diana]

"Nothing of yours is meant to be untouched." Cassie grumbled at him. Had she been speaking to someone else, it probably would have had some sort of innuendo tied to it. In this case, what was Thor's should have been hers. She looked down where he his hand was clutching her arm. That annoying protective streak the man had was admirable - if it wasn't completely misplaced.

"Some idiot probably blew a fuse. Don't you have some sort of back up power box somewhere in here?"


Ryan was starting to expect explosions when Babs was involved. Which was kind of scary if he thought hard about it. In this case, it didn't seem to be her fault - yet! But he still had a whole list he needed to go over, and having the building go down wasn't going to keep him on his boss' good side.

Of course, with the lights out, he couldn't see a damned thing. The moment he moved, he nearly smashed his nose in to a column, tripped over a book case that was tossed in the middle of the floor, and sneeze. It tasted a bit like peppermint and sausage, which was a much more pleasant after taste than the weird stuff those science nerds had him drink.

"You got a flash light or anything?" He asked. On cue something in the hall lit up, but to his surprise it wasn't from Babs. There was a weird orb hovering in the hall. Ryan was poised to move, unsure if he should start ducking from lasers, run, or ask to see the Wizard of Oz. "The hell is that thing?"

 

[Ochalla]

"Wouldn't that be nice. No, the wiring is so old here that we'd going to have to go back to the other side of the wing. It's why none of my security is wired into the main power grid on campus." Along with the fact that he didn't trust most the people that tried to install security systems. It would be an easy way to get around people's security to steal stuff.

As Thor was about to take a step forward one of the glowing gems that had been left in their box end up shifting, and rolling next to a badly molded clay statue, which then started raining lightning and the spear that Thor was holding then seemed to absorb the lightning, causing a huge flash. This caused the Doctor to turn, with Cassie still in his arm, and try to shield them both from what could come next, but the crampness of the room caused him to fall, and the next thing Thor knew, it was black and he was laying on his back.

"What the hell?"



Babs watched the orb move around. It somewhat reminded her of rolling fog, but not. She was crouching low and had one hand on a book. "I don't know," she finally said.

"Only one way to find out, right?" Babs then threw the book at the orb, really hoping the book did not disintegrate before it reached it.

 

[Diana]

Cassie had let an oomph slip when she tumbled over along with Dr. Adams. At least her landing had been soft, she was laying on top of him with his arm locked around her waist. She was already starting to grumble about his oversized sense of heroism while shifting to get off him, but she didn't get farther than a few inches before clonking her head. Expecting a table, chair, or anything else, Cassie was not pleased to realize it was something much more immovable.

They had fallen in to that box and she couldn't get the damned lid open.

"...God damnit." she muttered.



The orb dodged out of the way of the book. It's color shifted to an angry looking red before it flittered through the air, then jutted down the hall until it was circling Ryan in a curious sort of fashion. Ryan looked ready to pull out a gun, but something seemed to suddenly dawn on him.

"...No. No, no! Forget it! I don't even like pets!" he shouted at it, before thrusting it hands to get it to fly away. He then stomped further down the hall, leaving the orb to turn a dim blue before it began following him at a short distance.

Ryan stopped near the cart that had been Babs' Thing of the Day and checked it over. "Looks all right. Don't see anybody up in here either. Guess somebody left their experime- Dangit, I don't care if your name is Squabbles! I gotta get Dr. Adams his stuff before I got buying hamster food!" The orb hadn't said a word or even made a sound, but there Ryan was responding to it as if it had spoke plain as day!

 

[Ochalla]

Thor was stunned for a moment from the fall. That was not one of his more graceful moves lately. At least it wasn't during something life threatening. He felt Cassie start to move off of him, which was when he realized that she had landed on top of him, and was muttering. Likely curses about him. By the time his brain had registered all was smack back on his chest again.

"What?" he muttered his unfinished question as he started reaching out his free hand, the other around Cassie still, and felt something over them. It was just in reach. "This can't be happening."

Even as he said the words he was trying to knock on the side of the box. Not to try to get attention from the outside. That would be useless unless someone was in the room, but to see if there was a change in tone. Something that might help them get out. He really should have been doing something similar with his other hand, instead of letting it drift where it willed.

~~~~~​

Babs was giving Ryan the most perplexed expression as he started talking to himself, well, the orb, but it amounted to the same thing. Yes it was good to know that there was no one in the hall, but still, what was going on here.

"Maybe you should get a drink of water?" she said to the pilot as she went over to the cart. It wasn't a good idea to stay in the middle of the hall in any case and she was prepared to push the device into the room it belonged and be done with everything. Hopefully not be done with Ryan. She'd hate to have such a fun and talented guy go to waste by becoming crazy.

 

[Diana]

"This happens far too often for my liking when you're involved." Cassie practically growled at him. Of all the awkward ways to get stuck. She tried to lift herself up again, to put some pressure against the lid with her body and force it open. It wouldn't budge. For the next few moments, Cassie balanced precariously on one hand and then the other while trying to force the thing open. Look for a latch. Just plain keep herself off Thor. Nothing was relieving her distress and to make matters worse, it was getting hot as hell.

"Ugh... move your arm." she griped. Ignoring her annoyance at herself for letting him hold on to her for so long, Cassie shifted her weight around to try and shrug off her suit jacket. There would be no sense in dying of heat stroke. She had to stick a knee between his legs just to be able to get enough leverage to pull the blasted thing off. Cassie finally stuffed it under Thor's head. At least the bastard could be comfortable in the bullshit he got them in to.

Suddenly there was hope! "Wait! Do you have cellphone with you?"

---

Ryan scratched his chin. "Yeah... I could use some water. Everything tastes like badly cooked dog." He didn't bother to explain how he knew what dog tasted like. He just glared a bit at the floating orb before he trotted off down the hall towards another one of the rooms.

There was a loud shuffling, followed by an AH-HA! When Ryan returned to the hall way, he had a small gift bag stuffed to the top with tissue paper. Clearly one of the items on his to-do list. "No damage! Who is the best assistant in the world?" Ryan frowned, glaring at the orb. "Babs isn't an assistant, I was talking about me! Grr. Hey, Angel! How do you shut down know-it-alls?"