A man who looked only a few years older than Kiania stumbled out of the smog, his long white labcoat singed and dusted with red. He shoved a fire extinguisher in her hands, and she disappeared into the smoke, grumbling.
The man turned to look at Dylan, wiping the layer of red from his safety goggles as he removed them, a lopsided grin on his face. "Well hello there. You must be Probe."
Dylan nodded, and jerked his head towards the door, away from the smoke. He was blinking, the smoke irritating his eyes. As soon as he could breathe again, he explained himself. "I'm not used to all this toxic air. Doc, you said you could help me with a few weapon ideas?"
"Right right right!" Doc swept his unruly mass of brown curls away from his face, grey eyes sparkled as he spun on his heel. His labcoat swished around his ankles dramatically as she waved for Dylan to follow him through the door. "This way! Let;s get you out of that smoke, huh? Zee has been missing you."
Dylan followed him thankfully. "I've had a few ideas, but nothing concrete." He said, avoiding the clutter and staying close behind.
"Well don't keep them to yourself! Spill, spill!" Doc slipped into another room, this one smoke free and littered with suits and weapons in various stages of completion and design. There was a rustling on one of the tables, and a lizard that resembled the one Kiania and Dylan had fought, but normal sized, poked it's head curiously out from under a pile of wiring and metal.
Dylan raised an eyebrow at the lizard. "So, first off, some kind of electric shock I could build into a glove. Just something to slow someone down enough for me to slip in and take care of them." He glanced around the room, the armory, really.
"Ah, gloves! The pinnacle of fashion, if you're emo, a germaphobe, or a hero!" Doc mused, waving vaguely at a chair, presumably an invitation to sit, as he flitted about the lab. At some point, the lizard ended up on his shoulder, still watching Dylan curiously.
Dylan watched the lizard right back, once sticking his tongue out at it to see if it would react. He made his way to the chair without breaking eye contact with it.
The lizard tilted it's head, sticking it's tongue out in response. As Doc reached for something on a table, it clambered off, skittering across the table to pause by the edge closest to the chair Dylan was sitting down in. "Ah, I see she remembers you!"
"That's the same lizard from the other day?" He raised an eyebrow at it, remember how its mind had felt. Clumpy, swampy. Not somewhere he wanted to go again.
"That's Zee." Doc said, by way of confirmation. "Smart creature. Keeps stealing my pens though, which isn't very nice of her. I'm hoping the armor I'm building her will at least distract her. She'll be the prettiest creature in the city. Besides you, of course." He added with a wink at Kiania, who had just come in.
"Save it for Gage, loverboy." Kiania said, sticking out her tongue. She was now covered in red, in the process of trying to wipe some of it off.
"Nice that she's not terrorizing streets, though." He stood up to look around the room, deciding the doctor probably wouldn't notice.
Doc snorted, shooting a look to Kiania, who had snatched up Zee and was currently rubbing the lizard's belly. "Not anymore, at least."
Dylan nodded and turned to the Doc. "So, about the designs. You think you could work something out soon?" He shifted his weight around slightly, somewhat anxious but hiding it as best he could.
"With the gloves? Sure!" Doc nodded, still digging around. "What kinda gloves you want? Fingerless? Winter gloves, mittens, oven mits, anything and everything."
"I got gloves." Dylan said, stopping him. "Although I could pull off the oven mits, too." He dug out a pair of simple fingerless leather gloves, seemingly well worn but strong. They were brown, but stained a dirty dark green on the palms. "I was thinking some kind of sensor on the palm that I could flick on or off."
"Clap twice and you got yourself a fancy glove," Doc said, sweeping by and grabbing the gloves as he passed, heading for a table.
"Otherwise, you'll accidentally trigger them." Kiania finished for him, spinning in an office chair as she texted someone. "What're they supposed to do?"
"Release an electrical shock that will hopefully render whatever I'm fighting paralyzed for a few minutes. But not unconscious." He watched Doc and Kiania, his eyes flicking back and forth between them.
"You'll have to keep outta the water." Kiania said, patting Zee, who was curled up in her lap, as she texted.
"Ah, yes, she does have a point. Avoid rain best you can, and sprinklers are a definite no-go." Doc sang the last bit, before yelping as he presumably shocked himself.
"Can do." He leaned against a wall, turning his head to watch the lizard. "Are you two married?" He asked out of curiosity.
Kiania choked, looking up from her phone as she stilled her petting of the lizard. "What?" She snorted, bursting into laughter. "He's got a thing for my best friend, man."
"I do not." Doc's usually slightly flighty nature seemed to switch more to embarrassment, a flush creeping up his neck as he visibly grew flustered. "And no, we are not married."
"Too bad." Dylan had had a feeling, but he quite enjoyed getting that sort of reaction from people. Also, good to know there wasn't a love triangle he might get in the middle of.
Kiania raised an eyebrow, cheeks still flushed from the laughter she'd managed to get a hold of. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It could go either way…" He thought for a moment and grinned at her. "But it's nice to know you're single."
She blinked, not at all expecting that, but a smirk played on her lips. "I never said I was single, just that I wasn't married, remember?" Of course, she was single, but if he knew that, it took away the fun of messing with him.