Marvel Oneshots

Knockout Gas (Jack Thompson)

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Square Filled: "Run!"

Summary: Y/N is a scientist at the SSR and has been dating Jack Thompson for a while. They decide to tag along to the SSR on a weekend with Jack, since he has some work he needs to do and they have an experiment they want to keep working on. Unfortunately for Jack (and the SSR's lab organization), Y/N has a tendency to get to Howard Stark levels of crazy when they're in the zone and determined to get an idea to work.

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I took deep breaths as I carefully, carefully moved the eye dropper closer to the beaker with my latest mixture in it. This experiment was super volatile, and I didn't want to wreck the lab just because I'd been careless.

The other SSR scientists already thought I was too much like Howard Stark. I didn't need to give them any more fodder to throw at me.

"Alright... just a little more..." I said, cautiously applying pressure until a single drop of liquid got added to my main mixture. The main mixture fizzled and changed from a deep blue into a more purple-looking color, and I grinned.

So far so good.

I took a deep breath and stepped back, carefully setting the eye dropper back on the table. I glanced over my shoulder while I took a minute to relax. I'd come into work today with my boyfriend, Jack Thompson, since he needed to do some SSR Chief stuff. I decided to use the almost-empty office to work on my project when no one could bother me.

I rolled my neck and shook out my arms and hands, then went to find the next compound to add to my concoction. The goal was a sort of sleeping gas, that you could release into the air to make people pass out. So far, it had always blown up before I could get anywhere near a testing phase.

Hopefully things would be different today.

I measured out the powder, then carefully started sprinkling it into the beaker. I'd gotten to this point before without anything going wrong; it was the next step that tended to result in disaster.

I sighed as I stared around the lab. On paper, I had a few different ideas for which combination of chemicals would create the desired result. I'd altered the list a little based on results, since any result (even an unexpected one) provided information, and now I was just about halfway through my list of ideas. There was nothing to do but keep trying new things.

I just hoped this one didn't blow up in my face, literally. It'd be nice not to have to clean up the lab for the rest of the day.

I searched the cabinets until I found the chemical I was looking for, then went back to my beaker. I steeled myself, then took an eyedropper and added just the tiniest drop to my existing mixture.

I held my breath while I waited for something to happen. The reaction wasn't instant, so for just a second, I thought I might've finally gotten something other than a blowup. Unfortunately for me, as soon as I started to relax I noticed bubbles forming that absolutely should not have been there.

"Shoot..." I muttered, grimacing as I took a few steps back. I set down the eye dropper and watched my mixture as the bubbles built up, more and more and more.

Part of me still hoped the reaction might just burn itself out and calm down, but as the pressure built in the beaker, I started to recognize some of the signs from earlier experiments.

The thing was about to blow.

"Dammit!" I swore, then turned on my heel and headed for the door. To my surprise, it was already open, and Jack was standing there looking curious. I grabbed his hand and pulled him after me as I rushed past him.