"Right." Tabitha said, arriving at the fifth floor. "Any major changes in the vats?"
"None that I could tell. It's still pretty blue-greenish." Hannah stated. She sipped the coffee and then shuddered. "Oh yeah, that's the stuff."
"Hm." Swiping an access card on the fifth door down, Tabitha entered her workshop. A large cluster of tables dominated the center of the room, absolutely covered in odd gadgets and equipment. A rather alarming number of notebooks and boards covered the north wall and tables near it, and were filled with a array of scribbling.
What really caught they eye, were several industrial sized vats lining the east and south wall. A majority of them were filled with a slightly glowing pinkish liquid, but the one occupying Tabitha's attention was the aforementioned blue-green vat.
She checked a wall of instruments imprinted into the wall next to the vats and frowned. Twisting a nob slightly, the vat started to bubble.
"Hannah, dropper fifteen and three, second table." With ease that spoke of many long nights, Hannah deposited two of the cherry red containers into Tabitha's outstretched hand. Keeping an eye on the readings, she squeezed out the contents of one into the vat. A few meters swung wildly and a beeping noise rang through the lab. With another press, a rod came from the ceiling and slowly stirred the pot. The other dropper was emptied, and the mixture turned a dark orange.
"Okay. That should stir for another five minutes, and it'll be ready by two." Tabitha said, looking pleased.
"So that's it then? Super speed in a bottle?" Hannah asked, leaning back over a desk.
Tabitha shrugged. "Yep. Took a long ass time to do it too. It'll only work for a while, and I can't take it too often or muscles start to break down. Still, it's a big step forward." She walked around, absentmindedly checking the pink vats.
"But it will only work for you." Hannah stated, glancing at the bloody liquid.
"Yep. Like I've said, it's really hard to get these things usable by everybody without having to carry it myself. There's a million little things that could make someone have an allergy attack, or have their body turn on itself. You know how long these market regeneration fluids took me."
Hannah smirked. "About seven months if I recall. You kept making the rats turn into big ol' piles of goo. And there was that one time where-"
"Oh, don't even get me started on the cat. You forget to close the door one time and then 'Oh no, my cubicle is filled with a sprawling mass of mewling flesh', 'Oh no, it's escaping into the sewers.', 'Oh no, the great lakes are spawning cats. It's a cute, furry apocalypse!'" Tabitha yelled, throwing her hands up.
Hannah poked Tabitha as she walked by. "You're the one who didn't fully clean out a vat. Also, I don't think those last two happened."
"Embellishment, look it up. Back to what I was saying, I made these-" She banged a pinkish vat. "-things usable by everybody. It took fuckin' months, they break down after a two or three weeks, and they work much slower than they could."
"Still, you've saved hundreds of lives by making that. All I hear on the streets is talk about the 'miracle salve' that you supply the hospitals." said Hannah.
"Can't stop a cut throat. Cant mend a severed major artery. Not that fast." Tabitha sighed, making a small adjustment to an instrument. "My personals could repair a crushed bone in seconds, could regrow a severed limb in minutes. Yes, yes, I know, its an exaggeration." She said at Hannah's raised eyebrow. "Still, nobody else can possibly figure out how to use them, so I have to make the dumb and weak version."
"Which is why you're making the super serum. To stop that kind of thing from happening at all." Hannah said. "Prevention and cure, and all that."
"Yeah, and it's been a lot faster in the making than the goop over here. I only took, what, two weeks? It's true what they say, Tinker shit just can't be mass produced."
"Hm." Hannah said. She walked over and leaned against the north wall at the end of the vat line. "Thought you said you weren't going to be a cape, when we first met."
"Sometimes a girl gets tired of hearing that people are dying, and that she isn't doing anything about it."
Hannah pondered this. "Do you think super speed is all that you'll be needing?"
Tabitha snorted. "Hell no. I'll need to start on some super strength serum soon. Maybe some tranquilizer shot."
There was a beep from the speed vat.
"Should I go alert the higher ups for a review, then?" Hannah asked, already halfway to the door.
"I don't know what I would do without you, Hannah. In a half hour, if you would."