When Jonathan Crane blinked the stars from his vision that had been caused by the brilliant flash of light, he discovered that his initial conclusion about Al was incorrect. She had merely appeared to have vanished; it was just a trick of the light blinding him that had made him think she was gone, nothing more, for she stood in front of the book, just as she had before his retinas had been treated to something that no doubt had caused permanent damage of some kind.
However, though Al was still standing in the lab, it was quickly determined that she wasn't exactly all there.
Not that she'd been all there to begin with, but now she looked a great deal more vacant than usual.
"Al?"
He hated the fact that his tone matched that of her worried comrades and that they all spoke in unison.
He also hated the fact that she didn't respond.
He tried again, his voice purposely harsh and snappish. "Al?"
Still nothing.
The Captain was nearest to the eerily silent and still Al, and she made quick work of crossing over to stand in front of her. Techie wound up in front of her quiet comrade mere seconds after the Captain had made her way over, whatever nifty piece of tech she'd been fascinated with moments before completely forgotten.
His feet moved him towards her as well, despite his best efforts.
The Captain cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted--not the wisest course of action in this situation, but clearly the only thing she could think of. "Earth to Al, come in Al!"
Techie waved a hand in front of Al's face to no avail. "I don't think her hailing frequencies are open, Captain."
The two henchgirls glanced at each other worriedly and the Captain's voice got small and meek. "Nikkums?"
Several things happened at once then. The Captain reached for Al, Techie tried to stop her with a shouted, "NO! Don't touch her!" and there was another flash of light when her hand closed around Al's upper arm.
Once more, Crane blinked until he could see again and what greeted him wasn't encouraging.
The Captain was standing just as frighteningly still as Al was.
Something akin to panic started to rise inside the Scarecrow and he covered it with what he always did. Anger and disdain.
"Fools," he groused, stalking over to them, all hesitation forgotten with the strength of his irritation. "You ought to know better by--"
"Squishy, look out!"
Crane stumbled on the half straightened slinky that the Captain had dropped and pitched forward, arms outstretched in preparation to steady himself.
It was a tactical error on his part, because the very tips of his fingers brushed the cover of the book and a third blinding flash of light spread outwards, leaving Techie blinking stupidly as she waited for her vision to return.
"God damn it!" she squawked when she recovered, seeing Crane in an awkward position that made him look like a badly posed department store mannequin. "Don't listen to Techie, oh no, never listen to she who might actually have a theory about what's going on!"
She set her fists on her hips and huffed like an angry bull, glaring for all she was worth even though she suspected her annoyance was falling on completely deaf ears. "Ought to leave you lot like that, I ought!"
Techie jumped three feet in the air when all three frozen people blinked once in unison. It was a supremely creepy sight to behold, like they were automatons with scheduled tasks programmed into their brains that included blinking once every few minutes.
She shook off the shiver that had spilled down her spine and decided, no, she couldn't just leave them like this (she pretended that she was actually seriously considering not racing to their rescue; it made her feel like less of a sap), took a steadying breath and closed the distance between herself and her cohorts.
"God, I hope I'm right." She squeezed her eyes shut, reached for the Scarecrow's arm and everything went white.