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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5245792" data-attributes="member: 143">Heh, the psilab scenes did end up being pretty amusing. Coming soon. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />* * * * * Session 24 (October 6, 2008)Chapter 105The incident took place in the physical sciences research lab, and in hindsight showed just how close all of them were to cracking under the strain. Several of the Alphas had been there, working with the scientists and research technicians on the latest projects.  Agent Drake came in almost at the same time as a young researcher, who was carrying a bulky alien launcher, its already bulbous form further complicated by the leads and cables that the research team had attached to it.  “Hey, don’t wave that thing around in here!” Drake hissed, stepping back to avoid the eager young scientist as he rushed forward into the room.  There was danger in her eyes, but he ignored her, facing the gathered members of the various X-COM departments who were present.  “I believe the expression is, Eureka!” the researcher exclaimed, holding up the launcher as everyone in the room turned to watch. Grace looked up from where she, Vasily, and a gray-haired Brazilian scientist had been cloistered over one of the captured alien heavy plasma guns.  “You figured out the stun launcher?”  “Yes!  It was really quite simple.  You had to route the positive feedback through the capacitor, instead of the insulating film.”  He grinned, suddenly looking like the twenty-five year old that he was.  Vasily had come forward, curious, but Drake had beat him to it.  “Oh, naturally,” she said.  “Let me see.”The eager young researcher handed over the launcher.  “The bombs discharge a cloud of material that briefly suppresses the neurons of the target,” he explained, as Drake looked into the firing chamber.  “There is no lasting effect, as far as we can tell, but it…”  He broke off as Drake flipped the arming lever, and pointed the weapon toward Vasily.  “Hey,” Vasily said.  “Don’t make me come and…”He didn’t get a chance to finish, as Drake fired the weapon.  At that close range the bomb smacked into Vasily’s chest with a solid thump, and the gas cloud formed a dark nimbus around him, briefly enveloping him and hiding him from view as panicked scientists scattered around him.  “Wow, it really does work,” Drake said, handing the weapon back into the arms of the stunned researcher.  “Nice work, doctor,” she said, as she spun around and walked out of the lab. Vasily remained there, slightly bent, frozen in an upright position.  Several people had started to come to his aid, but Grace held them back.  “Wait!  Don’t go near until the cloud has fully dissipated!  She gestured to a technician, who turned up the air blowers, and the vapors came apart as they drifted upward.  Catalina had been near the back of the room, working on VDU adjustments with one of the computer science techs, but she saw the entire exchange.  She strode forward, her face twisted into a deadly fury, her hand twitching on the hilt of her pistol.  “You bitch,” she hissed toward the door.  She rounded on the nearest scientist, who drew back at her expression.  “She has so got to suffer,” she said.  She walked over to Vasily, who still hadn’t moved.  Grace sent one of the techs running for Stan or one of the medical staff, and snapped her fingers in front of his face.  “Vas?” she said, gently tapping his face. “Quite effective, it seems,” the red-faced researcher muttered under his breath.  Stan White and Chief Hallorand arrived together a few minutes later, and by then Vasily could move enough to drink the glass of water that Grace offered, although his limbs were still too stiff for him to move easily.  “I show her freaking stun gun,” he muttered, as Stan checked his pupils and stuck a probe into his arm.  “What happened?” the doctor asked.  “Accident?”“Accident, my ass,” Catalina said.  “Where’s Drake?”  “I saw her in the corridor near the lift,” Hallorand said.  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was… laughing?”Catalina’s anger hadn’t eased; if anything, it had banked to a fiery pitch.  “Your Agent could be on the verge of losing international cooperation,” she said.  “Do you want me to track her on base security?” Hallorand asked.  Vasily waved a hand.  “Nah, fine,” he said.  “She better shoot to kill next time, is all I saying.”“I think I want to lodge an incident.  She just used a weapon on Vasily.  That’s not the act of a woman who should be in control here.”“She shot him?” Hallorand asked in disbelief. “Forget it, Cat!” Vasily said, grimacing as Stan prodded him again.  “Was just… just joke.”“She used a stun weapon without knowing precissely what it would do,” Catalina said.  “Using an alien weapon on a member of the team is no joke.”Hallorand frowned.  “Hmm.  I’ll let Garret know.”“Stupid bitch.  She had no idea what would happen.”“I said, let it go!” Vasily said, biting off a Russian curse.  He stood, shaking off Stan’s attentions, and walked out of the lab, still moving a bit stiffly.  The young researcher, still holding the stun launcher, tried to apologize, but Vasily merely grunted and left.  Grace ran a hand through her hair.  “Well, I guess I’d better get back to the workshop,” she said. “Thanks, Grace,” Catalina said absently, as people started to clear the lab, and Hallorand started taking statements.  “What a team,” the British agent muttered, and headed for the door after Vasily.</blockquote>

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