fandomhigh | Creative Problem Solving, Tuesday, period 3

Today, Parker was in black again. And looking very perky, outside a Danger Shop- created door.

“Something a little different from last week. There will not be cake. Sadly.”

Eliot tried not to facepalm in front of the students. This was going to be a Thing all semester, wasn't it. "Last week you all proved you're completely nuts," he said. "Except for Amy." STAIRS WERE A VALID LIFESTYLE CHOICE. "This week, we're going to see how you do getting out of a situation when you can't just leap off the side of a building."

Parker opened the door to reveal… a large storage closet. Paint buckets, a bookcase piled with tools of varying usefulness, and one small lit light-bulb were evident-- as was an air-duct with a small grate across it, just above head-height.

“We have enough closets for everybody. Or you can team up, and be locked in together. Object: get out of here before whoever put you in here comes back!”

"That's a simulated 'whoever'," Eliot noted. "We don't mean us." They weren't the bad guys in the class scenario. This time. "Once you're out, head for the room at the end of this hall." Eliot pointed to another closed, presumably locked door. "Where there will be something that isn't cake." You're welcome, Parker. "If you choose to team up, every person on the team has to make it, or you all fail."

“So don’t mess this up!... or stay in there just ‘cause it’s fun. I’m looking at some of you. You know who you are.” Or not.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nice teamwork," Eliot noted. "And candle."

It was good to see the kids taking initiative past just 'crawl through the obvious exit'.

"Thanks," Kathy said, ducking her head a little to hide her smile. "I just, uhh, figured it might be useful to see where we're going, you know? And two heads is almost always better than one."

"Definitely. And you made use of the supplies you had on hand. What would you have made the bomb out of, by the way?"

"Drain cleaner and aluminum," Kathy replied promptly. "Most bottles and things have aluminum wrappers over the mouth to prevent tampering, so wadding those up and tossing them into a bottle with a bit of drain cleaner would make a pretty decent sized explosion. Put that near the lock or the hinges and it might even be enough to jar the door loose."

Pretty basic science experiment, really. Right after making a bottle rocket out of vinegar and baking soda.

Eliot knew he should've paid attention to more than just the girls in high school. "Nice. Big enough to be effective, but not so large to injure, in a closet that size. Mighta drawn a lot of attention, though."

Or to more girls who knew how to make explosives from cleaning products?

"Well," she said slowly, while her mind raced, "I have a couple of options. If it busted open the door, I could have made a run for it. I'm pretty fast--" understatement "--and it's possible I could have gotten away or, at least, out of sight, before they came after me. If I didn't want to go through the vent, I could have hidden in there and tossed out either a smoke bomb or another drain cleaner bomb. If I put it into a glass container, that's a lot of shrapnel that could really hurt someone." She ducked her head. "I'd probably call 911 after I got away, just to be safe."

Hero complex. And with shattered glass at explosive speeds 'really hurt' could translate to 'fatal'.

Maybe a little of both.

Eliot totally wouldn't go with the 911 call without a cop in his pocket, but he could respect a student who still thought the law was a good idea. "Got some options there, that's good. When would you make the additional bombs, though? That hallway ain't that long. Security coulda been on top of ya pretty fast."

"Which is why I would have made them at the same time," Kathy said, doing her very best to keep the 'duh' out of her tone. "Even if I could make a getaway immediately, having another bomb on me could only help. I don't know which way pursuit will be coming from, after all/"

Eliot nodded approvingly. "Good thinking. Gotta be prepared for as many eventualities as you can."

"That's for darn sure," Kathy said with a sigh, thinking of some of her more dangerous run-ins in Baltimore. "Because someone is always waiting around a corner to surprise you."

Ugh.

"Talkin' from experience," Eliot observed. What was it with the students in this town? "That just from around here, or. . . ?"

It was a special, special island?

"Mostly from around here?" Kathy scraped her toe along the floor. "Though somewhat back home, too. There's a lot of gang activity in my corner of LA."

Gang activity. Right. Of course.

"Guessin' running's probably your best option for that." What? She'd brought it up first. "'Specially with that bouncing you were doin' last week."

It was true! Frigging South Seventeens were a menace. They were like cockroaches.

"I've done my fair share of running from them," Kathy said, frowning. "Though there's only so much running someone can do before you run yourself out."

Physically, metaphorically, whatever.

Eliot tilted his head and nodded. "True. That when you start makin' chemistry class bombs?"

Kathy shook her head. "No, this was the first time I ever made them outside of a computer simulation. I'm taking AP chemistry this year and my textbook includes stuff like that. To make it interesting, I guess."

Or because it was being taught by HAL 9000. One of those.

"Besides," she added, belatedly. "They're, umm, illegal. To use on people. And stuff."

Good save!

Eliot almost managed to stop the amused snort at that from getting out.

Almost.

"And we definitely wouldn't want to break the law."

Try to say that like you mean it, honey, you're supposed to be a role model, here.

...Was that a conspiratorial smile peeping up at him? It waaas!

"Absolutely not," Kathy said, trying to look innocent. "Though sometimes people may think it's better to break a few tiny laws to uphold some more important ones."

Like, say, laws about vigilantism. For example. Hypothetically.

Hypothetically Eliot was absolutely fine with that one being broken.

Hypothetically he was fine with a whole lot of other laws being broken, too, just so long as the laws getting broken "punched up", as it were.

"There are a lot of little tiny laws," he said. "No one can keep track of all of 'em all the time."

Creative Problem Solving, Tuesday, period 3

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