Jack positioned himself to better keep an eye socket on each of the trio. He briefly glanced at Carver.

"I--" Jack shook his skull. "--It was a good trick."

He briefly checked on Barrel, then Lock. Shock took advantage of Jack's attention on her brothers to calmly walk up the ramp behind Finklestein while he ranted and raved at Carver. She wrapped one arm around the old man's shoulders, then clamped her fingers over his lips to shut them. Shock didn't hold back on her strength as the tips of her fingers clawed into his flesh.

"If you say 'her' or 'young lady' [i]one more time[/i], I'll rip them off," she said coldly.

She kept her grip on the doctor's mouth and snapped her fingers with her free hand. Lock and Barrel quickly searched the lab until Barrel found a roll of duct tape and tossed it to her. Shock let go of Finklestein's chest to catch the tape, then quickly started to wrap it around the doctor's mouth.

"And since you aren't getting the hint, I'll make this simple," Shock said as she pulled the tape as tightly as she could. "[i]Shut the fuck up and work[/i]."

She leaned down to pretend to get a better grip and kept wrapping the tape around his lips. She lowered her voice so only Finklestein would hear.

"Or I [i]will[/i] rig this place to explode. I saw you have nitroglycerin, and I'm [i]dying[/i] to show you how good my timed explosions are so you'll [i]maybe[/i] stop insulting my intelligence."

Shock stood up and ripped the end of the tape from the roll and shoved the doctor forward.

"Tick-tock, doc," she said, loud enough for the rest of the room to hear and with the most syrupy-sugary sweetness she could muster. "I feel my [i]emotional frailities[/i] starting to get out of control."

Lock and Barrel both started laughing, though at their sister's tone, there was a distinct tinge of nervousness. Jack just crossed his arms and watched Shock. Admittedly, she wasn't the only one who had gotten fed up with the doctor's incessant talking.