Finkelstein’s screaming and erratic movements terrified the poor rats, whose own eyes and lungs had been burning far longer. When they felt hands wrap around their little bodies, they dug their claws into the Doctor’s skin and held on for dear life. The harder Jack tried to wrench them free, the more desperately they clung.

Jewel rushed to a large tub sink in the corner, normally used for washing beakers and other chemical equipment, and filled a bucket.

Carver took a moment to get himself into a state where he could speak through his laughter, then pulled a hand out from under his head so he could hold up a finger. “O-o-okay, tec-technically [i]that[/i] wasn’t s-something I ate; it’s Sh-Shock’s fault it’s in there. And I [i]did[/i] put a re-request in for an access hahaha-hatch [i]before[/i] the adderpepper got a chance to start ferm-m-menting, so it wouldn’t be [i]nearly[/i] this bad if he’d just f-f-f-fixed the body the [i]first[/i] time I c-c-complained about it.” With that, he collapsed back into a fit of giggles.

Jewel froze, poised to dump the water over her husband and the unfortunate rodents. “You’ve had an [i]adderpepper[/i], FERMENTING, in your [i]BODY[/i]?!” she gaped. “For how long?”

Carver’s shrug was almost lost among all the shakes and shudders from his laughter. “D-dunno… How l-long… have I b-been in th-this b-b-body?” He knew it hadn’t been in there [i]that[/i] long, but the adults didn’t, and given his laughter and the current state of distraction, they wouldn’t likely be able to pick up on the exaggeration.

Jewel gave a long-suffering sigh, before throwing about half the bucket’s contents over Finkelstein’s head. His screaming gave way to spluttering, and the now-soaked rats finally decided to take their chances. They released their hold on his face, wiggled their wet little bodies out of Jack’s grip, and scampered off across the lab. They crashed into a few things on the way, but they quickly managed to find some good little crannies to vanish into.

Jewel sighed again. “Catching those later is going to be… so much fun.”

Fineklstein snatched the bucket from her. He raised it to his face and chugged whatever of the liquid made its way into his mouth, letting the rest run down his face. Once his throat had been thoroughly rinsed, he lifted his goggles and poured the last few quarts directly into his eyes.

His wife, hands now free, shook her head in deep resignation and started walking for the door. “Keep an eye on everyone, please, Jack. I need to go find the tongs we use for handling radioactive materials…”