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“Fred? Fred, are you in here?” Wesley called out, as he stepped into the lab. He’d been expecting her to show up for a meeting earlier today, but she hadn’t. By all reports, she’d been in the lab all day long.
Now, it was dark outside, all the lab techs and other scientists had left (along with most of Wolfram and Hart’s staff– aside from the vampires), packing up for the day and going home. The lights were all off in the lab, and it appeared to be empty.
But Wesley still hadn’t seen Fred, and he wanted to be sure that she was alright. “Fred?” He called out, again.
“In here!” Fred’s voice sounded rather thin and reedy, and was coming from the back corner of the darkened lab.
“Fred? What are you doing?” Wesley asked.
“Oh, you know me. Just working on a science project.” Fred giggled a little.
“Okay…” Wesley stepped forward, and finally spotting Fred, hunched over a lab bench. Her lab coat was rumpled, and her hair was pulled back in a loose, messy, ponytail. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her glasses were pushed up on top of her head.
“Fred, you look… well, to be completely honest, you look terrible! When was the last time you ate? Or slept?” Wesley asked.
“Oh, not that long ago. Or… maybe it was yesterday.” Fred turned thoughtful. “Hmm. I don’t really remember, but it’s okay! I feel fine. Wait until I show you my newest project!”
“Maybe you should take a break first?” Wesley suggested.
“Okayyyyy…” Fred pouted. “Let me at least show it to you first? Please? Pretty please with chocolate ice cream on top? It won’t take very long, promise!”
“Oh, all right.” Wesley said.
“Great!” Fred said, pulling out some sort of blueprint or schematic. Wesley wasn’t really sure what he was looking at.
“What, exactly, am I looking at?” Wesley asked.
“It’s a quantum nanowave ion destabilizer!” Fred said, eyes widening in excitement.
“And… what does that do?” Wesley asked.
“Uhm… well, let me think… how should I explain it best?” Fred turned thoughtful. “It sorta… melts things? Um, but like… at the molecular level.”
“What sort of things does it melt?” Wesley asked.
“Metals, mostly.” Fred explained. “At least, according to my tests.”
“You have a prototype?” Wesley said.
“Yup! I can show it to you!” Fred said, tugging at his arm.
“No, not tonight. In the morning. You need to get some sleep.”
“Alright, fineeeeee.”
The next morning, Fred and Wesley met up in the lab, and Fred showed Wesley her latest invention. It looked like some sort of futuristic gun, and it was covered in all sorts of buttons and dials. It was mounted on some sort of stand.
“I don’t think it’ll be very useful as a weapon.” Fred explained, as she fiddled with the dials. “Like I said last night, it only really works on metals. It should be useful for getting into… locked doors, or clearing through certain kinds of rubble, though!”
“That’s very exciting!” Wesley said.
“You wanna see it in action?” Fred asked.
“Certainly.”
“Lemme just grab some scrap metal here…” Fred said.
Fred showed Wesley how her latest invention worked, and he was thoroughly impressed when she demonstrated how she could melt a hole in a piece of scrap metal at fifty paces.
“Very impressive!” Wesley said.
“Isn’t it?” Fred said, her eyes shining with excitement as she looked up at him.
“Oh, certainly.” Wesley said. “I can't wait to test it out in the field. Surely there’s some metal that really ought to be melted… somewhere.”
“Mmhmm!” Fred cheerfully agreed, as she looked over the blueprints. “I do want to adjust a few things in the next prototype…”
“Hmm. Do that, but before you do… maybe I could take you out to lunch to celebrate your new invention?” Wesley asked.
“That’d be just peachy!”