"Alright, I'm taking it down: orchid plant, relatively healthy, perhaps a hair over-watered. But a suitable test subject, regardless."

Brio nodded as Dustrielle finished jotting the notes down. They had put this second attempt at the catalyst through the spectrometer to make sure it held the properties that they were hoping to achieve. The wavelength reading had looked right around the target point, and while it was difficult to cross fingers in their lab gloves, Dustrielle was mentally doing so.

As he looked up from his notebook, he tilted his head, giving a weak and wavering smile.

"Let 'er rip?"

Brio grinned. "L-let 'er rip!"

Both men adjusted their goggles, making absolutely sure they were tight against their faces, just in case a dangerous, unexpected reaction happened. After that last attempt at the catalyst, no outcome seemed off the table.

Brio grabbed a pipette full of his toxin with his right hand and a pipette full of the catalyst in his left hand. Dustrielle shifted the plant slightly so that it was right below Brio's hands, and pulled out a stopwatch.

"Releasing the substances?"

"Counting d-down from three."

Brio counted slowly down from three, before squeezing both pipettes, dropping both liquids into the pot. The drops sank down into the soil, and Dustrielle held his breath as he started the stopwatch.

One

Two

Three

Five

Seven seconds passed, and the plant started to wilt, the stem and leaves wrinkling and shrinking slightly. The colors of the plant also morphed and blended, the greens growing ashy and the purple fading to near nothing. But the plant didn't seem dead. At least, Dustrielle hoped beyond hope that the plant wasn't dead.

Brio nodded, and picked up a scalpel, scraping off a small shaving from the stem, and placed a small drop of water on a slide. He shaved down the scraping further and placed it into the water. Dustrielle held his breath and crossed his toes in his boots as Brio put the slide under the nearby microscope and adjusted the knobs.

After a few seconds, Brio cackled and pumped his fist. "Like the g-great Archimedes said?"

Dustrielle jumped and cheered. "Hell yeah, brother!"

Brio grinned, clearly happy both that the catalyst worked and that Dustrielle finished their inside joke. He clapped and gestured wildly, whooping. "Take a look, Dustrielle, take a… a… look!"

Dustrielle nodded and looked into the microscope. Sure enough, the cellular activity looked to be as limited as feasibly possible, save for cellular death.

"Oh, that's awesome! And the metabolic activity, it looks the same as when there was just your toxin?"

Brio nodded. "Yes, but the r-reaction would take a couple of minutes… for… for… for it to work. What's our time?"

"Roughly sixteen seconds, at least for our visible effects."

"Yeah, that's down by a factor of five or six. In a perfect world, I'd like it d-down by another three sssseconds, but this is more than p-p-passable."

Dustrielle exhaled heavily in a sigh. Never in his life had he ever felt as though he needed a mentor. He typically despised those that purported to be such figures. Scout leaders. Teachers. College tour guides. His PhD. advisor had been near the top of his "People I'd Like to Encase In Carbonite and Subsequently Drop into a Sarlacc Pit'' list.

But Brio had been a wonderful source of insight and tips, and he'd pointed Dustrielle to a couple of research papers that helped him finally crack the code on the synthesizing process. Not to mention all of his advice surrounding how to deal with the realities of the job: the loneliness, the pressure, the deadline. The boss.

And one piece of advice Brio constantly reminded him of, on managing all of those things: q-quit while you're ahead.

Brio smiled, jerking his head towards the door. "Want to celebrate a bit… bit early, then? Our objective is c-c-complete, after all."

Dustrielle tilted his head as he peeled off his lab glove and shrugged off his lab coat. "Gin's probably still working."

Brio shook his head, the grin spreading wider across his face. "I didn't say that we were going to the hangout spot. I k-keep enough of the bartending basics in the kitchen…kitchen too. Let's pour ourselves a drink or two and see how c-c-c-coherent our end of day reports are after th-that."

Dustrielle smirked and turned towards the door, nodding. "I'm game if you are. Though if Cortex reads my report and calls me illiterate, it's your fault."

Brio laughed as the two walked out of the lab. "He's called us all far…far…worse."

"Oh, but calling me illiterate might actually sting a little."

"Consider who it is who'd b-be calling you that."

"Fair enough."

The two entered the kitchen and Brio dragged a chair over to the counter, clambering upon it and opening one of the topmost cabinets. "The usual?"

Dustrielle nodded, sitting down in one of the other chairs, tilting it back onto its back legs, leaning his shoulders against the wall. "Can I get a double?"

Brio laughed. "However much you c-can knock back in a couple of hours, I'm… I'm… I'm fine with it. This is more than a breakthrough for us. This is a breakthrough for ssssscience itself."

Dustrielle snorted. "After our planetary conquest, I'll be sure to order the staff of Chemistry Reviews to publish our writeup. And an exclusive, tell-all interview with us. Put us on the cover of some magazines. The whole shebang."

He smiled, looking down at the ground for a few seconds, then back up at Brio.

"Uh, Brio… I can't thank you enough for your help. You shouldn't have had to do that, but I'm really grateful that -"

Brio shook his head as he handed Dustrielle his old-fashioned, sitting down with a whiskey fix for himself.

"You'd made a good start. And we w-were all young and l-less experienced once. Not like I had anything else… else… else to do, right? We owe it to each other to help where we can. I mean, Cortex hired you to take work off of my p-plate. And you did. I just helped you work out some of the finer d-d-details, right?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Not 'just helping out a little' the way C-Cortex claimed I did with the Evolvo Ray. You did actually do a ffffair bit of the legwork. And I'd best warn you that Cortex might well claim to have invented, or p-primarily been behind the creation of your catalyst. Be prepared: you might potentially need to d-d-defend that solution as yours. Or at the very least, not his."

Dustrielle groaned, taking a very long sip of his drink, grimacing slightly. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

"Did you expect anything l-less?"

Dustrielle sighed. "No."

"Good. Let's drink to that."

They both rolled their eyes and raised their glasses, each taking another long sip.

The door swung open and Dustrielle yelped, the shock knocking his chair off balance and to the ground. He groaned in pain, knowing that he would be feeling that fall the next morning. He opened his eyes to see Cortex standing in the door entrance, holding a can of lemon-lime soda, eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm not one to judge people who drink, but don't you two have something you should be working on?"

As Dustrielle pulled himself to his feet, Brio smirked. "Well Cortex, we were just going to celebrate q-quickly before showing the process to you."

Cortex narrowed his eyes. "I would've preferred that you actually showed me first. I think that we should have proof. Premature celebrations are my least favorite kind. So, are you lying to me? Or will you show me that you have something worth toasting to?"

Brio shook his head and stood up. "To the lab, then, Cortex?'

Cortex raised his eyebrows, face relaxing.

"Let's go."

He gestured to the door, and Dustrielle felt his back grow cold as he and Brio followed Cortex out. Logically, he knew that the compound worked. They also had a good amount of the sample stored, so they wouldn't even need to make more before demonstrating for Cortex. No margin for error. But Cortex had been on edge for the last few days, and Dustrielle still felt irrational anxiety about what Cortex might do if the sample didn't work as he and Brio had promised.

They opened the laboratory door and Cortex pulled his goggles over his eyes before Brio or Dustrielle had even followed him into the room.

"Let's go, show me. Now."

Brio and Dustrielle eyed each other, and Dustrielle saw Brio's lip tremble slightly as he opened his mouth. "Yes, of course. Dustrielle, c-care to do the honors?"

Dustreille felt his breath grow choppier, but nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, sure."

He pulled his goggles over his eyes and pulled his lab glove over his natural hand. His teeth chattered quietly as he walked over to the workbench, dragging over a pot with a small shrub in it. Taking a deep breath, he pulled over the vials containing the toxin and the catalyst, and drew up a bit of the toxin into a pipette. As he dropped it into the pot, he mentally did the sign of the cross before drawing the catalyst up into the pipette.

He dropped the catalyst into the plant, and put down the pipette, hoping that Cortex didn't detect the shaking in his wrists. The seconds ticked by, agonizingly slow, each moment feeling like a good approximation of hell. If Dustrielle and Tropy had not been on okay terms, he would've wondered if Tropy was messing with the time stream.

But sure enough, right about seven seconds in, the plant began to lose its color, to shrink back and to dip down, the same way it had before, and Dustrielle let out his breath in relief.

Brio smiled at Dustrielle from behind Cortex, giving him a thumbs up and mouthing. "Good. Relax. You're fine." He cleared his throat and moved up to Cortex's side.

"See, Cortex, I told you, we… we… we did it."

Cortex tightened his lip. "Of course. Yes. Well done. Just… er… look, I'm proud, and happy about this, but -"

He sighed, looking at Brio, then at Dustrielle, folding his hands in front of his face, almost as though he was praying.

"You two are absolutely certain you've perfected the process?"

Dustrielle nodded. "Yeah. All down and recorded. Tested several times over. Structure is consistent amongst all the trials with the same initial conditions."

"You're absolutely certain?"

All the color drained out of Dustrielle's face. "I… yes… I just said that. I can get the process programmed into a Lab Assistant to make sure that it's exact every single time, if that's what you want."

Cortex furrowed his brow. "Okay… okay…" The gears seemed to be turning wildly in his head, and he paced back and forth. He was mumbling, almost to himself.

"Yes, okay, good sample, perfect process… good news. I'll be sure to mention that to Uka Uka when he comes over."

He looked back up at Dustrielle. "What's the ideal ratio of catalyst to toxin for optimal results?"

Dustrielle shrugged. "Looking like 2.5 to 1, catalyst to toxin. Though the results probably would still be pretty efficient with a bit of a range, I'll need to do a bit of testing to figure that out."

"Tinker with that tomorrow, though if you don't have exact numbers, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Can I take those vials?"

Dustrielle raised an eyebrow, looking from the vials to Cortex. "Sure, why?"

"I'll demonstrate the process to Uka Uka when he comes by. I need to show him as many viable components of our plan as possible, for us to have a chance in hell of him approving of this."

Dustrielle tilted his head, squinting. Cortex's nerves had been up all week, but he almost seemed to be visibly shivering.

Dustrielle shuffled his foot, shrugging, the words out of his mouth before he even realized he was thinking them. "Uh, Doctor Cortex, I'd be willing to show him..."

Brio and Cortex each raised an eyebrow. Dustrielle gulped, but steadied himself, pointing to the vial with the catalyst.

"Of course, I don't doubt that you're more than qualified enough to handle the demonstration. But there's got to be a lot on your plate for this, and you want to put your best foot forward on it all, right? I have a bit more experience with this stuff and I can guarantee that the demonstration goes right the first time, without any hitches. That way, you can focus on the other aspects. I'm sure you're far more likely to be able to convince Uka Uka on the overall pitch than I can."

He shrugged and folded his arms, watching, as Cortex stroked his beard, looking at the floor, mouth set firmly in a neutral expression. Finally, Cortex nodded.

"Yes. Yes, I think we'll do that. And I'll have Gin and Tropy demonstrate their components themselves, as well. Alright then, Dustrielle, I'll be counting on you for that. Brio, see if you can help him tinker to pinpoint that ratio. I'm going to see how Tropy and Gin are getting along. Good on that catalyst, boys."

As Cortex walked away, mumbling, wringing his hands, Dustrielle turned back to Brio, who held a curious expression on his face.

"Was that bad? Did I fuck up?"

Brio put his hand to his chin, looking at the ground, brows furrowed.

"No, I think you're f-fine. Always good to demonstrate your own work, more… more… more efficient communication. Avoids the game of 'telephone'."

He looked back up, folding his arms.

"You made the right call. But, j-just be aware that Uka Uka isn't particularly… flexible. He's arguably more reasonable than… than Cortex, but I'd mind your wording about what exactly you're demonstrating and what results you're p-p-promising. If something goes wrong with the performance, well, really the worst that happens is that the p-plan gets shut down and C-Cortex might get a laser beam fired at him. Nonfatal. You might get yelled at a bit, but Uka Uka takes into account Cortex officially b-b-being in charge. He's the one who needs to worry the most."

He paused, looking Dustrielle straight in the eye. "That said, don't actively try to antagonize Uka Uka. You can get… get… get away with a lot with Cortex, especially if you know what you're doing. But Uka Uka won't tolerate that sssssort of stuff, and he has a lot of different ways he c-can… discipline… insubordination."

Dustrielle nodded, and thought this over as he looked back at the vials. He idly wondered why Uka Uka chose to align himself with scientists, of all people. Something about science and magic didn't seem to mix well, in Dustrielle's mind.

He sighed and silently walked over to the shelf on the wall, picking another plant at random. He brought a small potted juniper bush back over to the workbench and poured out the catalyst and toxin into one beaker, 3 to 1 ratio this time, to gauge the reaction time of that balance. But as he poured the combination in, and watched the bush start to shrivel, it was hard to focus on the sight. The thought of demonstrating this for Uka Uka made his back grow clammy, his stomach grow icy, and his heart seem to shrivel in tandem with the plant.