Bitter Rivals
"We were enemies. Bitter rivals. The two youngest in class, though he is 23 days older than me for the record. We were so competitive, constantly trying to one up each other. He hated me. Hated me. Yeah, didn't speak to me. Finally, we were paired together in chem lab, much to our dismay, then realized that combined we were twice as smart."
The ring of the bell sent all of the students into a quiet shuffling as they made their way back to the dorms. Simmons stayed behind to talk to Prof. Laughlin; she had a concept she wanted to test out and needed a chemistry professor to sign her permission form for lab access. But much to her dismay, a sickeningly familiar face was already there. Leopold Fitz. He was the youngest next to her and clearly the smartest one in the engineering program and possibly the class as well. Prof. Laughlin was nodding her head with enthusiasm as Leopold Fitz explained his idea for a new gadget. She made eye contact with Simmons and motioned for her to come forward. "Excellent suggestion, Fitz, I will most certainly sign for you." She quickly signed the slip and lifted her gaze to Simmons again. "Jemma Simmons, what keeps you here after class?"
"Actually, professor, I am looking to run a few experiments in the east lab." Leopold raised his eyebrows. "I've decided to test my potential relaxant, which could eventually aid in the treatment of blepharospasm. Many scientists believe that blepharospasm is the offset of a neurological disorder, but I'm trying to focus more in the muscular area of the—" Prof. Laughlin held up her hand.
"You've sold me. It looks like the east lab will be occupied during the times you're looking to pursue your theory, but I have no doubt that you two will be able to work in the same space without a major complication." She penned her signature onto the form.
"Excuse me Professor, but may I ask who will be using the lab with me?"
Prof. Laughlin smiled. "I'm very glad you asked. The other scientist working in the east lab on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday is none other than your fellow classmate, Leopold Fitz." Leopold Fitz, hearing his name, turned around in the doorway.
"Yes professor?" he asked innocently. Simmons mentally facepalmed.
"Fitz, you will be sharing the east lab with Jemma here. Am I correct in assuming that this won't be a problem?"
"Of course Professor," he said quickly," no problem whatsoever."
"Splendid!" she clapped her hands together. "My two favorite students, sharing a lab. It's like Christmas!" Simmons smiled wryly and shot out of the room in a controlled speed walk. Fitz's eyes widened, and he stepped out of her way. Oh yes, this splendid predicament would be the most fun since the Black Plague.
After a brief lecture on artificial leaf extracts in her plant sciences class and a quick stop at the dormitory for her bag, Simmons headed over to the east lab. She had caught Fitz staring at her during her medical engineering class the previous day, and she just really wanted to get her work done. He was already bustling around the lab, his tools thrown this way and that across the lab bench. "Leopold Fitz, is it? I will be using the refrigeration cubes and the lab counter over there, so please don't leave anything over there to contaminate my results. It remains crucial that my cultures remain untouched so as to better exude the—"
"Its Fitz," he interrupted. "And your precious lab space will remain untouched. I ask that you extend the same courtesy to the holotable and the molds on this side of the room." She opened her mouth in shock. Besides the fact that he had never spoken more than two words to her, he had the nerve to assume that she would dare to tamper with his, well, tinkering. She wasn't sure exactly what he was messing with, but it was most likely some small device with a singular function.
Instead of dwelling in the issue, however, Simmons decided to begin setting up her plates. She went to the storage chest across the lab to retrieve the tissue samples she requested. Most first year students had ZERO access to the samples, but Simmons had been given access after her breakthrough earlier in the year. "What the HELL is that?!" Fitz muttered, staring at her white insulated box. She chuckled.
"Cadaver tissue. Please don't touch it." And with that, she set up her tests and the rivalry began.
Every day of lab work, Fitz and Simmons were in constant competition. Fitz would test out the alterations on his whateveritscalled and blow a hole in a wall so the construction would have to patch it. Simmons' samples were starting to fill the room with the smell of formaldehyde. Fitz started burning scented candles, and then once he started using a torch, he switched to a febreeze plug-in instead. He didn't pay attention to what scent he was using unfortunately. The small room became a mix of clean breeze, tropical mango, paisley petunia, and formaldehyde.
Class was quite competitive as well. Test scores had always been a tight race, but between the two youngest students, the fight was that much worse. Fitz went back to not talking to her, and she went back to pretending he didn't bother her. Of course she was intrigued in his genius, but she couldn't let her top spot suffer because of it. Finally, after three weeks of sharing a lab, their passes ran out. This would have been the opposite of a problem if the chem lab partner sheet hadn't gone up:
Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz
Jemma dreaded chemistry after that. Monday afternoon came around, however, and she met Fitz over at the fourth laboratory bench. He was already hard at work, working on the prelab in scrawled pencil. He glanced up. "Which lab are we doing tomorrow?" Simmons asked, but he only pointed to the board as a response.
"Determination of Molar Mass by Freezing Point Depression," she muttered to herself. Simmons finished the brief prelab sheet. Fitz sat quietly, drawing some kind of machine. After watching him for what seemed like ages, she had the decency to ask what he was drawing.
"Oh, it's, uh, a device to freeze atmospheric moisture," he started, "but I'm having a bit of an issue getting the components to freeze enough moisture to make a difference. It keeps missing half of the moisture."
Simmons looked at him thoughtfully for a minute. "It isn't working because you need a formula to trigger crystalline nucleation. Here, I designed a solution a while back to try to create ice from the atmosphere— I didn't have the mechanical components to be able to deliver the crystalline nucleation to the atmosphere, but your machine should be able to handle that." His eyes widened.
"Exactly," he said, "but the process wouldn't occur in enough of a quantity for the frozen moisture—"
"To collect, I know, but if we turn the model into a more compact design—"
"We could maximize the atmospheric moisture in the main cavity!" he exclaimed.
Simmons smiled at him. "We need to work on this... let's get access to the lab. I have a feeling this Atmospheric Moisture Freezing Device could be the start of something huge..."