"Corrosive.. Y-yes, something like that," Hannah stammered out, blinking widely up at Dr Geoffrey with an unintentionally wry smile. "But it sho-shouldn't be too bad to turn it off.. This is an emergency, I c-can start again," she added - her eyes darting this way and that to observe the clear chaos.

"I'll escort you to the lab, Dr," came a voice from the group with them. She didn't recognise the man, but he at least was not the same one who'd insulted her earlier. Hannah nodded appreciatively before wasting no time in setting off in the direction. The guardsman stayed at her side, remained silent and focused all the same. The Dr moved faster to keep up with his powerful strides; they were against time, after all. 

[hr]

Moments later, they arrived back at her particular lab. One of the lights in the ceiling had blown, and an overall gloom fell into the usually clean white space. It was like the careful curated inside of a museum display. Everything in a precise place with enough space between objects that they did not touch. A warmth too, lingered. The guardsman felt it immediately, but Hannah just made her way to the machine without any hesitation.

"It's warm in here," he commented, the first thing he'd said since his offering. Still, he maintained a protective posture in the doorway, ready and waiting for a disturbance of any kind. 

"I don't notice it so much," Hannah replied with a smile aimed at the back of him as she tinkered with her experiment.

The guardsman scoffed sardonically. "Wouldn't mind this downstairs. All overly air conditioned," he said with a grunt and a shrug of his shoulders.

"I n-need a particular temperature here, for-" Hannah said, bringing a finger to her lower lip nervously all of a sudden. This was about as much of a casual conversation as she'd had with anyone here before. "I just like the warm," she finished awkwardly, with a quiet trill of a giggle.

"Yeah? All the perks for the top scientists I suppose - us security lot have to be on our toes, never too comfortable," he sighed, glancing over his shoulder to watch the woman as she busied herself. He'd only heard the occasional whisper in the lunch hall that Dr. Russell was weird, shy, awkward. She seemed just fine to him. "You almost done?"

Hannah turned her head back to the guardsman with a nod. "I-I-I have to manually open each compart...ment to d-drain out and contain the elements separately. If they end up mixed together somehow..." she bit down on her lip, a nervous gnaw at the skin before she waved her hands; "kablooey!"

"I can help," he offered, leaving the doorway to close the distance between them. "Just tell me what to press," he said, his motions hurried as he approached her, closer to her side than she was comfortable with.

"Back, get back," Hannah warned, raising her hands above her head, her fingers kept still and motionless within the fabric of the gloves. 

"The fuck, woman?" he asked incredulously, but still doing as she asked by maintaining a distance. Before she had a chance to answer, the energy in the building just [i]changed[/i]. He could tell. Of course, the deafening sirens were an indicator that things had gone from bad to worse, and instinctively he pushed back at Hannah - standing in front of her as a shield. "We've got trouble Doc, stay behind me and do as I say now, okay?" At the end of it, he looked over his shoulder at her, reassurance painted across his green eyes, and the corners of his mouth tugged upwards into as much of a smile as he could manage.

"O-o-okay..." Hannah answered, before noticing that his hand was placed gently on her shoulder. She felt that touch linger.