See you tomorrow, Jaelyn," called the middle-aged man as he left the laboratory.
"Bye, Ken," Doctor Jaelyn Swann muttered back, keeping her eyes on her work.
She didn't mean to be so detached; it was simply that she was doing an important experiment with two chemicals that would do a lot of harm if spilled. It was best for everyone if she just carried on with the experiment until it was done, to avoid any spillages.
Mercury Labs did very important research, just like Star Labs, though the former was ahead in that department ever since the latter's particle accelerator had exploded and essentially decimated the entirety of Star Labs. Even now, no research was being done there anymore. The owner of Mercury Labs was "cracking the whip", as it were, telling the researchers that now was the time to get ahead in the "science race." Hence Jaelyn working alone at once in the morning since midday the previous day.
Finally, the experiment was done. She put away the chemicals in their proper places and turned to stare at the clock, wishing she could go home now. No such luck. Now she had to write a detailed report on the experiment and its results. That was going to take at least another two hours. No sooner had she written the first few sentences than she heard the door open and the footsteps of two people entering. She glanced sharply up, unable to stifle a yawn, and saw her two best friends standing in front of her desk.
Bianca Ramon was tall, dark skinned, and black-haired. She was a detective at Central City Police Department, one of the youngest there at just age twenty-four. Despite her commitment to her job, when she was off the clock, she was often relaxed and a very kind person.
Daniel Snow was almost her exact opposite, looks-wise: he too was tall, but he was very fair-skinned, almost pale, and blonde-haired. He worked for Central City Picture News, and he too was among the youngest there, though he was only one year younger than Bianca. Just like Bianca, he was very committed to his job, often looking for a story even when he wasn't supposed to be.
"What are you doing here?" Jaelyn asked, yawning again.
Bianca lifted her arm and placed a white plastic bag on the table, and Daniel placed a thermos next to it. A little birdy told us you're working late," Daniel replied, grinning. "So Bi and I got you coffee and dinner."
"How'd you know I haven't eaten dinner?" Jaelyn asked in astonishment.
"The birdy told us that, too." Bianca smiled and pushed the thermos towards her, before beginning to unpack the bag. "We know Indian's your favourite takeout, so we got you that mild vegetarian curry you like. We also got you plain Naan bread."
"And we tried to order two poppadums for you," added Daniel. "But somehow, they messed up and gave you twenty. We ate two each, but you still have sixteen left."
-Me-
"Thank you, guys," said Jaelyn, sighing. "But I really need to work on my experiment. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Alright, but go home soon, okay?" said Bianca.
"Don't worry, This report shouldn't take too long. I'll get home soon."
Daniel and Bianca said goodnight and Jaelyn went back to her report. It wasn't until a half an hour later that she finished it. When she did, she packed up, ate her dinner and left to go home, just as always.
In the morning, Jaelyn was ahead of her schedule, so she went to work to get an early head start and maybe get to go home early. As usual, the Central City traffic was pretty awful, but not the worst it could be. Central City always had something going on.
Once she got there, she made her way up to her lab on the fifth floor, ready to start working on the next experiment as soon as she got inside.
When Jaelyn got settled, Ken came in with a serious look on his face.
"Jaelyn, did you finish your report on the experiment you did yesterday?" He asked.
"You know I would never leave this building if I was working in a project, Ken." Jaelyn answered, a little annoyed.
"Well, I knew that," he replied. "But I saw someone in here earlier who was looking through the filing cabinet over by your computer. I just wanted to let you know, in case there was an experiment in there that would damage or delay any research if lost."
Jaelyn was a little surprised. No one was supposed to be in her lab without permission. Also, she was sure she left the door locked last night. And even if she didn't, security locks all the doors at night again. Who could it have been and what were they looking for?
"Thank you very much for letting me know," Jaelyn replied with concern. "I appreciate it. If you could let me know if anything else goes wrong, that would be really great."
"Sure, no problem. I'll let you get back to work now. See you later." Ken said with a smile.
Jaelyn nodded and started working on trying to get a formula to help with Dr. McGee's latest project.
She worked on that all morning until around eleven, then went to go take a coffee break with Bianca and Daniel. She hadn't had much time to talk with them recently.
Jaelyn called Bianca and told her she wanted to talk for a little while during lunch break.
"Yeah, that would be great! I'm at a crime scene right now, so maybe in a half an hour?" said Bianca.
"Yeah, actually that's when I get off for lunch anyway, so why not?" replied a happy Jaelyn. "I'll call Daniel since it sounds like you have your hands full at the moment."
"Alright, thanks. See you in a little bit."
"Okay, see you."
After she got off the phone with Bianca, she called Daniel and had a similar conversation. So she went to go ask some questions and get some input on her experiment from some friends on the floor just below. Soon after she got down there, she heard thumping upstairs. Oh no, not again, she thought.
When she came back up to the fifth floor, she was horrified at the scene. There were a few dead security guards and blood everywhere, but it looked like there was someone in the building who was not very happy. Jaelyn rushed to her lab to call someone, anyone, but when she got there, someone was inside, looking for something.
She ran towards the next lab but slipped on a piece of paper that got scattered in the process. Unfortunately, the man heard her fall and went after her. Jaelyn got up and ran, but the man followed after her. She slipped and fell again, and the man caught up. She got a good look at him before he turned around. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and was very handsome. Jaelyn felt like she recognized him.
Jeremy Aspen? It can't be. He went missing over two years ago, She thought.
The man who she assumed was Jeremy said "Jaelyn, I feel like you have done nothing wrong to me, so I will let you live, but only if you can."
Then his hands formed a mist with a sort of dark blue color. The mist shot a poisonous chemical she knew. If it touched her, it would burn her, essentially. Chemical burn, which is much worse, and she would be in the hospital hanging on for life for weeks.
Jeremy shot the chemical from his hands right towards her but there was a burst of wind and red lightning entered the room, and suddenly, she was safe on the other side of the room in the arms of the Flash.
"Stay here, I can take care of him," he said, and sped over to Jeremy and handcuffed him with a beaker and some rope that was over in the supply closet. Why they had a rope in the supply closet, she didn't know.
After he got Jeremy under control, he got Jaelyn outside. Bianca and Daniel were outside waiting to see if she was alright. When they saw her, they came over and started asking all the "Are you okay?" questions.
"Jaelyn Swann, don't ever do that again!" said a very frantic Daniel.
"It's not like I tried to get cornered by a meta-human." replied Jaelyn.
"Today and tomorrow, you are staying home and relaxing and taking all that stress off, okay?" said Bianca, looking very concerned.
"That sounds very appealing to me, actually. I'll do that. But right now, I just would really like to just go home."
"Okay," Daniel said. "We'll see you tomorrow."
After they left, Jaelyn went to her car to go home. When she got to her car, she had a major headache. I really need to get home and get some sleep, she thought. And then hope it helps so I can go to work in a couple of days.
As she drove home, she got more stressed and more headaches. Once she got home, the headache was so awful she went straight to bed, even though it was the middle of the day.
Later, Jaelyn woke up in extreme pain. She called Bianca and could only barely tell her to get over to her house. By the time Bianca got there, she had passed out again.
Bianca didn't exactly know what was going on, so she called Daniel and a few other friends of hers and took Jaelyn to somewhere she would be safe. The thing is, Bianca and Daniel both knew what was going on with her. They just didn't know how to help.
Thank you so much for reading this! VibeQuake and I (HermioneGamer673) wrote this together and I couldn't have done it without her, seeing how this is the first story I've ever written. I hope it turns out well! If there's anything VibeQuake and/or me need to fix, tell us in the comments.