A Woman's Work is Never Done

[Aurora Qayin]

"You should really go home, Christoph." advised the young scientist as she moved past an older, balding man who had his eyes glued to the electronic microscope. At first, he ignored his co-worker, just sighing under breath upon remembering almost a month past since he last tucked his children into bed. With all the current projects in Applied Sciences department, little time was left for anything outside of work. However, some employees had families, while the others did not - Aurora only felt obliged to take over his workload as well so he could spend time with his wife and children and rest.

"Come on. I'll finish up here." she continued, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly - "I'm also pretty sure I won't come up with anything Nobel Prize-worthy before you return."
Light pressure was applied to peel him off the instrument and out of his seat.
Finally, Christoph looked her straight in the eyes, his gaze blurry with weariness.

"Alright, I'm going." he agreed and graced her with a small smile of appreciation, before tossing his labcoat over one of the coat hangers. Like always, he wore a woolen sweater underneath, together with brown corduroy pants, of design which was out of fashion for at least a decade. Scientists, Aurora mused to herself, and their sense for style. Her outfit was not much better, but appearances had to be kept. In this place, she was one of them.
"You lock up, okay? And don't stay for too long!" Christoph said from the door in almost a paternally caring tone. Glancing over her shoulder, dr. Qayvin smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't. Say hi to Marla from me. Good night!" Aurora replied, knowing she wouldn't leave this place before dawn. The serenity provided by late hours was priceless, giving her a chance to quiet her mind without unnecessary distractions, but not before she had some fun.

Ridding herself of the labcoat and the green cardigan she wore undearneath, Aurora was left in a pair of worn out jeans and black tank top. She turned the heat up and pulled the pen out of her improvised bun, a drapery of dark lock spilling across her back and shoulders. A black Ipod was plugged into the audiosystem; after a brief browse through its contest, a song was selected. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tio-YWTBHo) As soon as Geri's voice screamed through the sophisticated surround system, Aurora began prancing through the lab, from one table to another, collecting notes and equipment she needed to finish her work. Not being able to resist the urge, she began singing along and dancing, moving to the beat like there is no tomorrow. Water was put into the boiler, for yet another out of countless coffees she drank today.

[Bruce Wayne]

Bruce heard the music just as he entered the building. His lamboughini was parked just on the road in front of the building; he never bothered to park in the secure employee parking lot. He smiled as he walked down the corridor leading away form the reception area, surprised that anybody would still be working this late. Or singing, for that matter. Geri Halliwell's voice was accompanied by another, drowned out by the music. He wondered who it could be, working so late. He followed the sound through a set of double doors, past a large room with 'HADRON COLLIDER' above the closed metal doors; they looked more like blast doors from Star Wars.

Soon, he entered a large, bright yet softly lit room full of computers and large workstations cluittered with various files, samples, microscopes and instruments. There was a kitchen slash canteen area near the bck, opposite to the side the entrance was located on. He could hear movement, and the clinking of mugs from the kitchen. He moved towards it, but then noticed the iPod on the side, plugged into the audio system. The song was almost finished so he quickly scrolled through the playlist.

"Fantastic!" mhe said out loud before hitting the play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhTSfOZUNLo) button.

[Aurora Qayin]

Humming and singing to herself, Aurora made an entire pot of fresh coffee. As usual, the beverage was merely sprinkled with sugar, just to kill off the initial bitter aftertaste. She then washed her Einstein mug, vigorously scrubbing out the remnants of afternoon's coffee Christoph made for her. Once the cup was clean, she picked it up together with the glass coffeepot and a can of milk and meandered out of the kitchen area and back into the lab. The song finished and another began, yet the doctor did not recall creating a playlist. The mp3 player acted up more often than not these days, but Aurora refused to buy new one. A gift from her late father before she went to college, it was one of those few things she had left of him. That and a legacy of Lazarus Pits, an unconfirmed legend Talia still needed to investigate.

"That's it. I'm tossing you overboard, you piece of junk. You can't even play right." said Quayin as she emerged from around the corner, lips pressed together in genuine annoyance. By the spectrometer, a rather unexpected appearance.
Her lower lip trembled, as she found herself unable to say anything unintelligible, dumbstruck by the presence of mythical playboy and hedonist Bruce Wayne. What was he doing here, at this time of day, the engineer mused, a thousand thoughts swarming through her head. A part of her was afraid, having heard all kinds of stories about him and his diverse adventures with the opposite gender.

"Mr.Wayne..." she uttered finally, lips unconsciously parting in awe "I am sorry, sir. Was talking to my Ipod. Well, I don't usually talk to my equipment. Talking to inanimate objects is a sign of insanity."
The player skipped again to an entirely different song, only this time it was truly coincidential.
"Will you stop doing that?" said Aurora, turning her head half way to adress the Ipod.

[Bruce Wayne]

"Don't apologise. I'm certainly guilty for hurling obscenities at the TV, or one of my cars in the past. I'm sorry if I surprised you, I was on my way to an all-night diner and just wanted to stop by and take a look around the labs".

He saw her labcoat slung over a chair next to the table the iPod rested on, with an open bag and purse next to it. He spied her nametag attached to the labcoat as he removed his own jacket, folded it and placed it on the table.

"So tell me, Aurora - what's keeping you here so late?"

[Aurora Qayin]

Aurora looked left, then right, just to make sure Wayne was speaking to her and not somebody else. Upon establishing she was indeed the only one standing there, the young scientist let her gaze trail back to him, namely Bruce's face. TV added a few years, apparently.
What in the heavens is he doing here? - she mused briefly, pursing lips - And more importantly, what does he want?
Coffee was poured into the cup, its potent scent spreading through the entirety of the lab within seconds. Strong brew, just like dr. Qayin liked it. Sliding her index finger to the root of her nose together with the frame of her glasses, Aurora cleared her throat and looked down.

"I'm working, sir." she reported quiescently, almost shyly, whilst attempting to peel her gaze off the floor.
"I've been told I can stay here as long as I want, to work as much as I like. Didn't know Applied Sciences had official office hours."
The tone in which she spoke was humble; the job paid decent money and gave her enough freedom, much more than working at a university. Here, funding was never a problem, given the right ideas.
"I can leave if needed." added the brunette and placed her mug on a nearby table, next to a heap of articles she was going to browse though tonight. Her English bore a mild Germanic accent, her pronunciation clearer than with most native speakers. One was certain - Aurora was not from around here.

[Bruce Wayne]

"I'm sorry Aurora. I didn't mean it as an interrogation. I really did mean it as a question - what exactly is keeping you here so late?"

He took the liberty of pouring himself a cup of coffee, adding four sugars before having a sip.

[Aurora Qayin]

Four sugars?!? How does he plan to live past forty? - the doctor mused as she watched Wayne toss four cubes into his mug. Others might not have noticed it, but Aurora had eye for detail. Very much like her late father did.
Finally, some attention was paid to his body language. Wayne was not here to control his employees; he was probably startled by loud music and light still being on in the labs. Not many of workers were this dedicated, that was for sure. Aurora's facial features softened a notch as she realized he was not here to scold her.

"Work, sir. We are developing a new alloy, groundbreaking in materials science. The schedule is tight and deadlines have to be met. I've sent the others home, to their families." she explained, before grabbing her mug and taking a sip. Perhaps now was the perfect chance to demonstrate her work in front of the right person.

"Would you like to see what we've made so far?" she quizzed, gracing him with a small smile.

[Bruce Wayne]

He took another, longer sip of the coffee. He licked his lips, thinking I gotta get me some of this blend before looking at Aurora.

"That would be wonderful Aurora, on one condition. Stop calling me sir - that was my grandfather. Call be Bruce, please."

He smiled, recalling a drunken phonecall form Ollie the morning after the fundraiser last week.

"Oliver mentioned something about an alloy. He didn't go into any detail but he did say this alloy, this alloy, this alloy like fifteen times so I gather there's something pretty awesome about it."

[Aurora Qayin]

"Bruce." she repeated, overly stressing the r, before diverting her olive gaze in the general direction of the test chamber. Wordlessly, she invited him to follow, scooping the cup from adjacent tabletop.
First you start calling him Bruce...and before you even notice, you're just another on his list. His big,long...endless list of women that paraded between his sheets, mused Qayin to herself, her lips pecking against the rim of the mug, barely grazing the surface of the hot liquid simmering inside.

"To be frank, I think Mr.Queen was too distracted to even pay attention at what I was saying that night. He seemed to have his mind on...other things." the brunette remarked and strolled down a long dark corridor, hoping Wayne would follow suit.
"I can't blame him though. He seemed rather busy at the reception. Usually, science could wait. But not this. Certainly not this."

Neon lights lit a rather confined room, with a special kind of table in the middle. Equipment around it shone in blue hues, while light only struck the metallic surface of the table. Aurora made her way past it and sat by the motherboard, fingers already dancing across the controls.
"Report should have been filed to the board in a long time ago... But I keep discovering new things every day. What I thought was impossible a week ago...is pretty much reality today. Hopefully I wont run out of luck these days."

An inox flask was opened and silver liquid spilled across the tabletop. Amorphous, it trickled into the middle, waiting dormant as Aurora gave a theoretical introduction.
"Queen's predecessor wrote a rather heterodox paper in nanoscience, concerning programming on molecular level. Most of his colleagues mocked it, but I thought it was fantastic. Part of my PhD thesis was inspired by it. Too bad he left science altogether."
Aurora's lips stretched into a thin line, then parted to release a hearty sigh.
"Anyway, to cut a long story short.... I think I came up with a way to materialize his theory. You are looking at a special silver-mercury alloy, which is liquid at room temperature. However, under the influence of carefully controlled sequence of electrical impulses..."
Suddenly, the liquid began shifting into a semi-spherical form, a hollow husk, the surface turning dark grey.
"...it turns solid. Hard as diamond, lighter than titanium. Touch it." she reassured, granting him a meek smile.

[Bruce Wayne]

Bruce took hold of the metal half-orb, now roughly the size of a basket ball cut in two. It was light. He held the rim between the palms of his hands and pointed his elbows in opposite directions, and pushed in a piston-like manner. It didn't budge. Not a single hint of any indentation whatsoever.

"That's nice..." he said, enthusiastically. "It's sort of like the concept of shape memory alloy, only without the need for heating."

He placed it back on the table and spun it on the spot, allowing it to rotate there like some metallic bowl in orbit.

"So the elctrical impulses do what exactly? Transmit some sort of code or instruction that..."

He caught the rim nd stopped it dead.

"...tells it to harden?"