Lab Rat

Testing, Testing

"Uh no, not really." She placed her hands on her hips, slightly annoyed that her invention wasn't working as planned.

"Well it did something!" she argued.

"Yeah, it did," he trailed off. She waited expectantly, her hands placed on her hips as she stared up at him.

"Well? Mind telling me?" He didn't meet her eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. It was embarrassing, and he really didn't want to tell her.

"I'd rather... not." She scoffed at him, throwing her hands up in annoyance.

"Well geez, that's helpful! C'mon Curt, you can tell me," she tried coaxing. When he still didn't, she sighed. "Look, I know I was a little harsh, but that's only because it didn't work the way I want it to, it has nothing to do with you," she clarified, thinking that his reluctance to speak was because of her snappish tone.

"It's not that." She became puzzled now and tilted her head in confusion.

"Then what is it?"

He rolled his eyes, not liking having to explain. "It didn't hurt it just felt, I don't know, weird." He did know. He knew exactly what it did, and hated how much it affected him. He's one of the world's greatest spies, there is absolutely no reason for him to be this ticklish! He's supposed to be the suave tough guy, an intimidating manly man. You can't keep up an image like that if you can be reduced to an incoherent mess by a few prodding fingers, can you? No, you can't, which is exactly why he didn't want to tell her. But this is Barb we're talking about, he can trust her with that sort of information. There isn't anything he could do that could tarnish her view of him as a strong spy.

"Weird huh? Could you describe it better?"

"Uhh-"

"'Cause I know you have a better vocabulary than that," she smirked. Curt finally conceded.

He lowered his voice so that only she could hear. "It just tickled is all, okay? Happy now?" Her smile only grew.

"Why didn't you just say so?" she chirped. "Now if your don't mind, I need to run some calibrations to see how far off it is." Curt didn't like the mischievous gleam in her eyes. "This might tickle," she teased as her finger pressed down on the button.

Curt was about to protest, reaching out to stop her but squealed at the light jolting sensations. His neck scrunched up to try and shield himself, only for it not to work. He reached up to take them off, a stream of high pitched giggles flooding the room. She acted quickly and dug into his stomach, sending his arms crashing down. He tugged at her hands, but she simply twisted out of his grasp and targeted a different spot. Curt was a laughing jittery mess completely at her will.

"Ah! Mahahake ihihit stop!" he pleaded. His legs were growing weak and he leaned against the wall for support. This just allowed her better access as she crawled her fingers up his ribs.

"I'm sorry Curt, but I can't do that! It's just too fun!" she chirped, making him blush. This sucked so much, people were starting to look, yet nobody offered to help. Probably because he had ruined a good few of their projects by accident... Looks like he'd be on his own. He couldn't help but to snort when she squeezed his hips, trying to to push her away. Though he wasn't trying as hard as he knew he could, he didn't want to hurt her! So instead he suffered at her mercy, of which she granted none. She giggled at the noises coming out of his mouth.

"Oh my God this is great! Who would've thought you were so sensitive? Better not let the bad guys know about this," she winked and skittered her nails across his neck. His laughter became more frantic as he did his best to dislodge her evil fingers. The buzzing electricity at his ears was driving him absolutely mad as his laughter turned silent. He mustered up the strength to reach up and yank them off, his laughter beginning to die down when Barb backed off.

She just stood there smugly, one hand on her hip, the other held out with the palm up expectantly. He failed to suppress a hiccup before he spoke, "You're fucking ruthless, you know that?" He dropped the small torture devices in her hand and patted her shoulder to help stable himself.

She was positively beaming, "Everyone in this business is at least a little bit ruthless, you should know that by now."

"Heh, yeah, guess we're all a bunch of twisted bastards," he joked.

"That we are," a new voice sounded from behind and Curt stiffened. He whipped around to see Cynthia walking towards them. Her heels echoed in the lab with a satisfying click clack. An uncharacteristic smile warmed her usually harsh features as she approached. He cleared his throat to speak.

"Cynthia! You, uh, didn't see that, did you?"

"Oh Mega, don't ask questions you don't want the answer to." That told him all he needed to know and he adverted his gaze from his boss. She continued, "Keep trying on those hearing aids, I think you're onto something."

Barb nodded, "Yes ma'am! Though I think I'm just gonna scrap these and start over."

Cynthia glanced at the gear in her hands and looked her up and down. "Hm. That's a shame, it was pretty entertaining to watch." At those words his cheeks turned a pale pink, making her smirk. She was about to turn and leave, but stopped to face Curt.

"She's right, you better not let anyone else find out about you're little weakness.  You don't want anyone else using it against you," she said in a tone that was almost teasing and reached out to squeeze his side. She chuckled when he jumped and smacked her hand away, shaking her head fondly. With that, she left.

Curt glared down at Barb, but his smile made the look less threatening. "I'm never gonna live that down am I?" She was grinning so much that her eyes squinted at the corners.

"Nope." Curt simply let out a sigh at the confirmation of his fate. He didn't dwell on it for too long though.

He clapped his hands to break the silence, "If you don't mind, I think I'll hang on to these. Pretty good for a prank, and I think I know just the posh son of a bitch to try it out on." He couldn't keep his smile at bay as he began to scheme.

Barb nudged his arm with her shoulder, "Now who's the ruthless one?"