A Day in Your Shoes

[labcoatgirl]

It had been nice working with Bruce again. The lab setting, the smell of chemicals, the white coats....it was like old times. Betty looks over at Bruce with a smile, dropping a few drops of liquid into vials in front of her before testing the radiation quotient of each.

Everything seemed to be going well.

As Betty slid the last batch into the radiation sensor machine for Jarvis to analyze, there was a warning from the computer AI. "Warning, systems experiencing sudden electrical overl--"

The rest of the warning is cut off by an explosion as the electrical overload reaches the machine in front of Betty. She's thrown back into Bruce by the explosion and electrical output, the two of them thrown against the wall before landing on the debris pile. The entire lab is trashed...and the two scientists are not moving.

Comments

[brokeharlem.livejournal.com]

Bruce comes around slowly, pleasantly and after some time, his memory of the explosion hazy through the pounding in his head and the ringing in his ears. He shifts, making a small noise at the back of his throat, and when he freezes a moment later, it has nothing to do with how oddly wrong the sound is on his ears, hollow and tinny, and more to do with the reality of what happened filtering back in slowly as his fingers brush a chunk of concrete somewhere above his head.

He sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth and forces his eyes open, something in his stomach turning to molten lead as he surveys the damage. A hand goes up to his forehead as he takes it all in, fingers coming away bloody -- he doesn't need to look to tell, the stickiness enough to tell the story for him -- and panic sweeps in, replacing simple dread. It only gets worse when he realizes he doesn't quite feel right in his own skin, and his first thought is that he's in the process of a transformation. That he can still think that far ahead, that his ability for rational thought isn't being consumed by hot, red fear-anger, doesn't occur to him. His only thought is getting up, away, something before he's too far gone and he either hurts Betty or can't get her the help she likely needs if he's bleeding.

"Betty, are -- "

He stops short, dust from the debris coating the inside of his throat, and breaks into a string of coughing. It doesn't help having some sort of dead weight on his chest and when he stops, when he realizes what it is -- who it is -- his fear redoubles itself. Oh, God, no.

He puts a hand to her shoulder, shaking her lightly, all thoughts of his own unfortunate condition giving way to hers. "Betty."