“Have your regular breakfast. We need to attune233 the glove to all possible situations.”
On the way back home, Lizzy suggested Marco watch all Ironman movies. It was Man of Steel in his world and the name of the superhero was Tim Scott. He was a member of the “Punishers’ Club.”
When Lizzy and Marco were getting out of the car the next morning, Irene came out of the center with Yana following her.
“Good morning,” Yana said, smiling. “Good to see you two in flesh234.” “Hey, Yana,” Marco said. “Good to see you too.”
“I believe you’ve been briefed about today’s test,” Irene said, looking at Lizzy.
“Should I change my name to Tonya235?” she asked, changing Tony Stark’s name to Tonya.
No one got the joke. Either Lizzy wasn’t nerdy236 enough to pull it off237 or it was the wrong crowd.
She decided it was both.
“No need for any name changing,” Yana said, seemingly puzzled. “We’ll just see if Albert’s idea actually works.”
“I hope it does,” Irene said. “Shall we?”
They all proceeded to the house, where Albert and his team (Shawna and Latosha) were as excited as little children before a birthday party. A special enclosed space was arranged for the test to make sure that no one got hurt. There was a transparent glass container with some vials containing viruses (not lethal238 ones). Lizzy was to wear a protective suit with electronic sensors for recording her activity and the impact the glove was going to make around her, if any. She would also be wearing a special mask to protect her eyes. Shawna and Latosha were going to operate two video cameras to record the test.
Albert explained the test step by step to the present company. Lizzy was going to go through the process of connecting to the glove and activating it. Then she was supposed to go inside and place her gloved hand on the container for a minute. In theory, this would be enough to destroy the harmless viruses inside the vials. If that worked well, they would move to the second part of the test – the same procedure with dangerous viruses. The success of the test depended on the level of the destruction and the time spent on the entire process.
“Sounds pretty straightforward,” Lizzy said, after the briefing. “When are we going to start?” “As soon as you’re ready to put on the suit,” Albert said.
“I’m ready. Show me where the fitting room is around here.”
The feeling of being connected to the glove was exhilarating239. It felt as if Lizzy’s hand acquired an enhancement240. The tiny needles inside tickled241 the skin of her hand ever so gently, causing no pain whatsoever.
“Breathe,” Albert said. “Your blood pressure is a bit too high.” “I think I feel high,” Lizzy said.
“That’s the chemical solution to prepare your blood to shoot with the impulse that penetrates both the glass and the virus. It might make you feel a bit loopy. Nothing to worry about. You just need to breathe, calm down and focus on your job.”
“All right, it’s good that I won’t need to drive and shoot at the same time, because it feels like I had a doobie242 or something.”
“You’ll get used to it… but, just in case243, don’t smoke anything while wearing it.” “I’m not a smoker.”
“Good, now let’s get inside and see what this baby can do.”
Lizzy went inside the transparent cube with the vials. Apart from her, there was only Shawna and Latosha in the room. Irene, Yana, and Marco were watching the test in the room upstairs on a big TV set.
“So, I’m just placing my hand on the container?” she asked, without taking her eyes off the glove. “Right,” Albert said. “No need to gawk244 at the glove all the time. It’s not going anywhere.” “Oh, ok.”
“It’ll take thirty seconds or so for the glove to finish the job.” “Here we go.”
She approached the container and put her gloved hand on the top. She felt a bit of heat coming from the glove and looked at Albert, who was monitoring the situation on the computer screens. She wanted to ask whether the heat was normal but decided not to do that. He’ll tell me if he sees something, she thought.
“Should I count?” she asked instead. “If you want to.”
“One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…”
“Or don’t,” Albert said with a smile. “We have a clock here.”
Apart from the slightly increasing heat and prickling, things didn’t seem to change much. “How am I doing so far?” Lizzy asked.
“You’re doing great,” Albert’s eyes were on the monitors. “Now, take your hand off.” She did and the heat started to subside245, along with the prickling sensation.
“You can leave the cube.”
“Is that it?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Yes.”
“Did it work?” Lizzy asked when she was out.
“I think it did.” Albert was still staring at the screen. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I am,” he said with a smile, taking his eyes off the monitor. “It’s been destroyed.” Lizzy thought that she heard some cheering from upstairs and broke into a smile246. “How are you feeling, Lizzy?” came Irene’s voice through a speaker.
“Good,” she said, looking at Albert. “Shall we proceed with the real one?” “If you feel up to it,” he said.
On the way back to the cottage, Lizzy was exhausted. She was quietly listening to Marco going over the test results with a smile on her face. It was funny to see how excited he was about the success of the experiment.
“You looked like a real Man of Steel with that glove back there,” he said. “You mean Iron Man?” she asked him jokingly.
“I’ll tell you what. You’re both and more,” he said and kissed her on the lips. “You’re Super Lizzy.”
Chapter 3: Lizzy’s Diary, Part 2 (Present Time)
Once again, I want to record things that have happened to me while they are still fresh in my memory. I feel that I am about to embark on another life-changing journey, and I want to remember every detail of it.
After a month of training with the glove, I felt both comfortable and confident using it. To speed up the process, Marco and I temporarily sealed up247 our cottage and moved