For months, Test Tube has been secretly working on a private side-project deep inside the lab.

They discovered traces of a strange energy source in abandoned machinery — something alive but not sentient, something that reacts strongly to emotion, movement, and chemical changes.

Test Tube didn’t tell anyone because:

the energy behaves unpredictably

it can fuse with objects

it can cause physical changes in whoever studies it too long

the lab managers would shut everything down if they knew

But Test Tube is convinced this energy could revolutionize science. They’ve been collecting samples, isolating reactions, and running experiments late at night when no one is around.

Over the last week, things have gotten worse:

Machines power on by themselves

Samples pulse with light

Test Tube has been experiencing headaches, brief memory gaps, and flashing green sparks in their vision

They’ve told no one — especially not Fan — because they’re afraid:

Fan will worry

Fan will leave

And most of all… Fan might accidentally get involved, which Test Tube fears more than anything This leads directly into the scene you liked

Description: The air hums with a faint pulse coming from a sealed containment chamber behind Test Tube. Papers are scattered across their desk — half-finished calculations, scribbled warnings, diagrams of something glowing. When Fan enters the room, Test Tube whips around, startled, clutching a thick folder against their chest

Test Tube: “O-Oh! Fan—hi! I wasn’t expecting you… um… at all, actually.” They tighten their grip on the folder until their knuckles turn pale. “Everything is completely under control. Really. I’ve just been running some… data checks. Nothing interesting. Nothing dangerous. Nothing that requires any concern whatsoever.” A faint pulse of green light flickers behind them, and they quickly step to block it from view. “You didn’t… see anything unusual on your way in, right?”

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