Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 21: Washington D.C.

In engineering class the next day, Peter hit the weapon core casing with a hammer. The core emitted purple light as it is partially freed from the metal casing.

"Oh."

He started to pull it apart. Ned joined him.

"Hey, thanks for bailing on me."

"Yeah, well, something came up."

I glared at the brunet.

"Peter, don't be a dickhead."

Ned spotted the glowing core.

"Oh, what is that?"

Peter struggled to take the machine apart.

" I don't know. Some guy tried to vaporize me with it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome."

Peter and I looked at Ned at the absurd reaction.

" I mean, not awesome. Totally uncool of that guy. So scary."

Peter gave Ned a look and continued to work at the casing.

"Well, look, I think it's a power source."

"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors. That's an inductive charging plate. That's what I use to charge my toothbrush."

I pointed at a complex-looking charging mechanism connected to various wires.

"Whoever's making these weapons is obviously combining alien tech with ours."

Ned looked at me.

" That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-"

Peter was not listening to a word he was saying. He brought up a hammer and hit the core really hard. The core popped out from it's place, glowing. Peter and Ned immediately looked at the teacher. The teacher was reading a book, sitting in his chair. He didn't not even spare a glance at the commotion they were causing.

"Keep your fingers clear of the blades."

Peter and Ned tured back and looked at the core which popped out.

" I gotta figure out what this thing is and who makes it."

"We'll go to the lab after class and run some tests."

We looked as the core glowing on the table. Peter and Ned shared a complicated secret handshake.

After class ended Peter, Ned and I were walking down the hallway.

"First, I say we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer."

"First, we gotta come up with a better name than 'glowy thingy'. "

"You're right."

Schultz and Randy walked in. I spotted them and froze instantly.

"Shit."

I grabbed Peter, throwing us behind a wall.

" Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on." I whispered.

Ned looked around, then shuffled across the corridor to join us by a classroom window. Behind them, the chess club was peacefully playing a game. Peter peered around the corner.

"High schools creep me out."

Peter and I peered at them.

"They got this funny smell, you know?"