By classic handwavy email arrangement, class today met in one of the labs at Stark Industries. And if they were there in part so Tyler could keep an eye on Tony, he would never, ever admit it.

"Welcome to Tony Stark's lab," Tyler greeted the class. "The management has told me to make it known that if you break or steal anything, you should assume Tony Stark owns your soul. He will claim it painfully and very, very slowly."

His smile showed teeth and wasn't very nice.

"We're here to build a perpetual motion machine in a real-world lab. Perpetual motion machines are devices that produce more energy than they consume. Now, physics say a perpetual motion machine won't work -- it violates a couple laws of thermodynamics. That doesn't stop idiots from trying to make and sell them as 'free energy' machines. Your job is to try to invent the first working perpetual motion machine. In an hour. If it were possible anywhere, it would be possible in this lab."

He quickly showed the students around the lab, enumerating tools, circuits, computers with only basic functions accessible, and the projector. "This will let you test your design," he said, showing a quick demonstration with a drawing of a drinking duck thing.

... never let it be said he lacked a sense of whimsy.

"To give you a head start, I'm passing out blueprints for a few kinds of machine. We have the ring oscillator, the Minto wheel, and the water fuel cell. As far as I know, none of these work, but you should try building them anyhow."

He gestured to the lab. "Go to it. I'm here and Tony's around to claim your soul if you mess anything up. And Ino, Anemone, thank you for covering last week."

Class met in the Danger Shop today, and Tyler was notably subdued. He didn't feel right but was trying to hold it together enough to teach.

"Car myths," he said, once the class was gathered near a parking lot of simulated vehicles. "Sugar or bleach in the gas tank will kill the engine, a potato in the tail pipe will blow up the car, mothballs in the fuel tank make a car run better, a penny in the carburetor ruins the engine, an egg will fix a crack in the radiator. You've probably heard stuff like that -- the ones of you from worlds with cars, anyhow."

"Today, we're checking them out. 'Additives' " -- finger quotes on that word -- "are over on the table, and every pair of you gets a fake car to screw around with. If you're going to try to blow it up, handwavily let me know so I can get up the shields. If you don't know how to drive, pair up with someone who does. I'm passing out a diagram of a car's engine that should get you started."

"Questions?"

Class met in the Danger Shop today, and there was an array of logs stripped of their bark, gunpowder, and woodworking equipment set up at one end, with blast shields lined up near the middle of the room. Tyler glanced up from his notes as the class assembled.

"Morning," he said. "This is a things-that-go-boom week. There's an old Hungarian legend that a city called Paks defended itself during a siege by chopping down a cherry tree and making a cannon overnight. The cannon worked until it blew up and took the town with it. Now, I'm not a carpenter, but I see a couple problems with that story." A beat. "Which is why we're retesting it."

"You should just have time to make and test a cannon in class if you work in small groups; the wood and woodworking tools are over there. I'm handing out a sheet of specific directions, but basically you want to drill a hole through the log, add a metal tube with gunpowder in it and a fuse, load a cannonball, light the rope, stand back behind the blast shields, and -- in theory -- boom." He spread his fingers to demonstrate the "boom."

"Please wear safety gear, please don't be stupid. This is Danger Shop so you can't get hurt, but that doesn't make it playtime."

"Questions?"

Class started too early in the morning, in a science classroom equipped with lab tables, Bunsen burners, and the faint smell of past explosions gone wrong. Safety goggles and gloves were at each workstation, as were supplies that might look familiar to anyone who'd taken a class with Professor Durden before.

Said professor leaned against his desk, watching and assessing the students as they came in.

"Hey," he greeted the class. "Welcome to Mythbusting. If you've taken a class with me before, welcome back; if you're new, welcome for the first time; and if you want to talk about Fight Club" -- a long pause, here, as he made himself say something besides don't -- "wait until after class."

"This semester is going to be about doing cool experiments, things that test cultural beliefs. I'll explain the science, don't worry, but most of it is going to be about actions, reactions, and getting things to happen. For that reason, we're going to go kind of fast, but if you need more explanation, let me know and I'll slow down. We'll only be using the danger shop to speed up reaction times, and we'll be playing with a lot of things that can get you hurt. I'm not your mom, I'm not going to chase you down and force you to wear goggles and gloves -- though I recommend it -- but don't be stupid. If I tell you to quit doing what you're doing, quit it. You put the rest of the class in danger, you get detention. That's my one big rule." He would come up with smaller ones if he had to. "The syllabus will be --- whatever I feel like doing."

"This week, and I know this is old hat for some of you and not really much of a myth, we're making soap to get used to proper lab procedures. Technically" -- he grinned -- "we are creating the alkali salt of a fatty acid." He went through a thumbnail lecture on the science of that. "If you've done it before, try to do it better, or add scents or herbs this time. If you haven't. be careful. Lye is nasty stuff, and one byproduct of soap? Glycerin. As in nitroglycerin."

"But first, introductions. Name, grade, why you're here, and who you would fight if you could fight anyone, living or dead, fictional people included." He jabbed his finger randomly toward a student. "You first. Oh, and Ino, Anemone, congratulations. You get TA duty this time around."