18:00

31 : Sweet

When Lightbulb left the room for the first time in almost a month, Soap had given her some affirmations before she went. She had reassured Lightbulb that she was probably just being taken for a checkup, as all of the subjects were every month or so. Lightbulb hadn't been a planned kidnapping, so Test Tube probably just couldn't think of what to do with her.

And, of course, Lightbulb had believed her. Even if Lightbulb was technically in the lab before Soap, that barely counted as anything if Soap had months more of experience now. So when Lightbulb left the room, she left thinking it wouldn't be anything terrible. If anything, it was a chance to learn what the rest of the lab's redesign was like.

Though now that she sat in the doctor's office, she was beginning to doubt that.

Small, white, electric pads were attached all over her stomach. They didn't hurt, but they weren't particularly comfortable either. Lightbulb's eyes followed the wires that were connected to the pads, watching as they led to an electrical box on the counter.

"Brace yourself, E-1." Test Tube warned, hand resting on a lever. No matter how much resentment had boiled up in Lightbulb over the years, she knew better than to ignore Test Tube. She clenched the armrests of the chair she sat on, knuckles turning white.

With a flick of a switch, the machine buzzed. The sensation wasn't what Lightbulb had been expecting, though it was better than what it could've been. She could tell it was some sort of electricity from the way the feeling prickled, though it lacked much pain.

Electricity. That's what it was, electricity. Lightbulb should have recognized the feeling instantly, giving how much she used to have inside of her. Hell, she used to be able to control it! She relaxed herself, almost embracing the feeling.

It didn't take long for Test Tube to notice Lightbulb adjusting to the current input. Her hand floated back to the electrical box, this time atop one of the dials, turning it.

As the dial turned, the oddly comfortable feeling of electricity began to burn. Lightbulb held her breath for a moment, feeling her muscles involuntarily tense. She concluded that the output of electricity must've increased. Of course that had to be what this was all about.

Upon realizing nothing else had happened, Test Tube turned the dial up another notch.

This time, the once warm feeling melted into genuine pain. Nothing unbearable, but pain nonetheless. Lightbulb grimaced, trying to ignore the way the feeling buzzed throughout her entire body. By this point, her grip on the armrests was completely unwilling.

Luckily, it was only a minute or two until Test Tube turned off the machine again. Lightbulb let out a quiet breath, trying to shake off the energy that had built up inside of her. She looked back to Test Tube, only to see the scientist was already writing something on a clipboard. Lightbulb just barely managed to catch Test Tube mumbling something.

"No results..." Test Tube muttered, most likely jotting down what she said. "I should've expected as such."

"Results?" Lightbulb asked. The words slipped out of her mouth, and she almost didn't mean them. Her heart shouldn't have dropped as hard as it did when Test Tube turned her direction.

"You still don't display any signs of electricity." Test Tube put it simply, looking straight back to her clipboard. "It's nothing shocking, but that doesn't make it less annoying." Lightbulb stifled a smirk at Test Tube's words. At first the vial was confused, but upon realizing her mistake, she added, "No pun intended."

Lightbulb nodded. It didn't take long for her smile to fade though, with all of the implications of the situation. Even if it had been a year since she originally lost her electricity, she still found herself missing her abilities from time to time.