I'm back with another writing piece! This was something I did a while back as a project for Chemistry 9, as a superhero project. Some of you may remember when I posted about a character named Neyani "Ne" Eon in my art thread, and this is the creative writing piece that went with the drawing, since it was part of the project. It's a little on the short side and filled with exposition, but I'd still love to hear what you guys think!
As always, thank you so much for taking a look! I hope you enjoy!
October 16, 2016 2:31 pm
Lehigh University–– Chandler Laboratory
The bustle of the town and haze of the gas from the Bunsen burners filled the air as I walked through the streets towards my office. I’d just finished investigating a broken beaker incident close to my hometown and needed to test some evidence for chemical prints, and I had a family I needed to get home to, anyways. At sixteen, my job happened to be that of detective work for the entirety of the Periodic nation of the Chandler Laboratory, after working a few years under the Neon Complex branch. Since I was born, I had a knack for observing the world around me and solving mysteries that surrounded my home area of the lab, our city. At twelve, I was hired as a part-time detective and assigned almost instantly to a case, and when I was able to prove that I could use my gas form the best between my coworkers and I, I was slowly assigned to tougher cases, and eventually became the head of the Criminal Affairs at fifteen before I was scouted out by the national offices, and hired just a month ago there. Detective work was easy when you were born a Noble Gas. It greatly helped that unlike the alkali metals, I and my people didn’t react to oxygen, which allowed me to roam as a gas without worry, and as an odourless and tasteless gas, I was also able to do it undetected––something that greatly helped when conducting investigations in places like Fluorineville. Before long, the smell of gas flowed unexpectedly through the sky, and I found myself at the door to my office’s main building. The jingle of the bells on the door chimed in my ears, and I found Gerald Manium hard at work, running a trace test on some spilled electrons from a homicide case.
“Heya, Ne!” greeted Gerald with a rare smile. “How goes it?”
“Not bad. I have some evidence I need to test. How about you, Ge?” I slipped off my green trench coat and pulled out a blue jacket filled with ice packs from a freezer, frozen just cold enough so that I could take my liquid form. With a boiling point of -246ºC and a melting point of -248.57ºC, for my people to take their liquid form was quite a tough one, as our liquid range is a measly 2.6ºC. However, thanks to the awesome people back in my area of the lab, I was gifted a liquid coat to wear whenever I left the Neon Complex. It was a godsend, as it let me have some sort of protection against those Fluorine goons if I wanted to be seeable.
“It’s been swell! I’ve gotten further on the new ribbon formula! I’m waiting for the next breakthrough on glass formation from the Bohrinese Tribe, though. Until then, I can’t really experiment with anything.” Gerald was an esteemed scientist from the Germaniumopolis area. He was one of the scientists who worked in tandem with Bohrium to create our special vacuum tube technology. The white ribbon I wear in my isn’t just a ribbon. When I take it off, it begins to mend with my body, and it turns my gas body into a giant, humanoid vacuum discharge tube, which is part of what allows me to glow. Electrons then emerge from the formerly cotton fibres and run through my glass form, allowing it to glow the signature orange-red that Neon is known for. However, this leaves us more vulnerable than we normally are as gas. Fluorine gangs often invade our home and attack those who happen to be in their glass forms, destroying our body, and since the glass mends with the gas, it destroys our insides, too, and we’re considered dead if half or more of us is destroyed. It’s dangerous to even leave the house or office some days, and it leaves me scared for my own life. I refuse to take off my ribbon for that unless necessary, and it makes me stand out in a crowd, so I prefer to use my liquid form or stay invisible.
“Good to hear! Now, if I could borrow that machine for a moment…” I subtly forced myself to the spot Gerald had been standing in, carefully positioning the piece of broken glass into the scanner and pressing a button, letting a green light fall over the shard and examining the trace, comparing it to all the listed chemical traces our database had registered. However, as I should’ve expected in such a crime, the traces matched up with Flo Reen’s––a gang leader from the pit of where the Fluorine group took residence. My fists tensed with anger.
“Of course it was them,” I muttered, gritting my teeth. “Of course Flo did it. He’s probably going to attack us too, if he attacked a beaker.”
“Neyani Eon, relax.” Gerald put his hand on my shoulder, smiling to hopefully make me feel better. “You shouldn’t have to worry. Just because the incident’s close to the Complex doesn’t mean they’ll be attacking it today.”
“Shouldn’t have to worry?” I paused for a moment, trying to hold back my anger.
“This wasn’t a targeted crime, nor was it planned beforehand, according to the evidence. It was a random, one-time occurrence. They won’t be laying a hand on anyone.”
“I won’t let myself find out second-hand. Put this in the freezer.” I threw off the ice pack jacket and left without getting my trench coat, running my way back to my home town. As a Noble Gas, I was colourless at room temperature––about the temperature everywhere except the Neon Complex and the other parts of the Noble Gas region––which was how I maintained an invisible form when not using my liquid or glass forms. It was perfect, as I could sneak in on the town (or at least, until I crossed its borders), and if it was being attacked, I could surprise the gang members by suddenly taking my glass form and allowing my strong glow to blind my foes while I killed them. I suddenly heard screams in the horizon, and I rushed into the city borders. Gerald was wrong. My city my under siege, the sounds of glass dissipating and shattering horrifying me and ringing in my ears, all the same as when I’d turned nine.
“No one’s getting out here alive,” I heard one gang member say to another, his pale yellow skin and dirty acid jacket hard to see amongst all the brightness of my city. This was all I could handle. No one was going to do this to my people and get away with it.
“Not if I can help it!!” I shouted. I impulsively grabbed one of the ends of the ribbon I wore and pulled it in front of me, flicking it as if it were a whip and watching as it merged with my hand, until it eventually became whole and activated a surge of electrons hidden inside the fibres, radiating a bright, beautiful red-orange glow from inside. The goons shielded their eyes and backed away. “You won’t be killing anyone as far as I’m here to deal with you!”
“Aaaaagh! N-No!” shouted one of the goons. He ran off and tried to escape before I sent an electric current from my hands at him, shocking him and likely knocking him out or killing him. The other goon just smirked at me, however, and it was only then that I realized it was dangerous for me to have turned into glass. Was I asking for suicide?!
“Heh. You really think you can kill me?” the other thug asked snarkily, flipping his hair. I stood there silently, not saying a word. “You got my buddy good. You won’t be getting me, though.” A sudden burst of chemical shot from the hands of the man and towards me, skimming my medium-length hair and evaporating the ends, bringing it down to my shoulders in length. I yelped as I felt splashes hit my back and quickly sent a current towards the henchman, but I missed, although he’d fallen to the ground and seemed paralyzed from the hit. I had time to transition out of my glass form! I made a tying motion at the back of my head, where I would normally have my ribbon tied, and I felt the light leaving my body and returning to my hairpiece while my skin turned from glass to liquid.
“What do you say to this, Ace Detective Neyani?! Pour it on, Flo!” The punk pointed to a water bucket above the battlefield, and… Oh no… Whipping the ribbon off my head again, I felt myself kicked away by the goon while I watched my city devoured by the water. I was made of the second-lightest Noble Gas, so while the kick was half-hearted, I was sent flying quite a distance, and out of the Complex, since I was quite close to the border.
“NOOOO!!” I screamed and ran away as fast as I could, not bothering to look back and let the emotions further bury me. Water was extremely dangerous to us. Neon is extremely soluble, and if we even so much as brisk water, it messes up our insides and tears us apart. We’re dead if we come into contact with it. Ignoring my internal orders, I glanced behind me, watching as helpless townspeople had limbs ripped apart, and bodies punctured.
Flo and his gangs weren’t going to live having been able to do this to the Complex. I couldn’t let this go unnoticed… or unpaid for.
Lehigh University–– Chandler Laboratory
The bustle of the town and haze of the gas from the Bunsen burners filled the air as I walked through the streets towards my office. I’d just finished investigating a broken beaker incident close to my hometown and needed to test some evidence for chemical prints, and I had a family I needed to get home to, anyways. At sixteen, my job happened to be that of detective work for the entirety of the Periodic nation of the Chandler Laboratory, after working a few years under the Neon Complex branch. Since I was born, I had a knack for observing the world around me and solving mysteries that surrounded my home area of the lab, our city. At twelve, I was hired as a part-time detective and assigned almost instantly to a case, and when I was able to prove that I could use my gas form the best between my coworkers and I, I was slowly assigned to tougher cases, and eventually became the head of the Criminal Affairs at fifteen before I was scouted out by the national offices, and hired just a month ago there. Detective work was easy when you were born a Noble Gas. It greatly helped that unlike the alkali metals, I and my people didn’t react to oxygen, which allowed me to roam as a gas without worry, and as an odourless and tasteless gas, I was also able to do it undetected––something that greatly helped when conducting investigations in places like Fluorineville. Before long, the smell of gas flowed unexpectedly through the sky, and I found myself at the door to my office’s main building. The jingle of the bells on the door chimed in my ears, and I found Gerald Manium hard at work, running a trace test on some spilled electrons from a homicide case.
“Heya, Ne!” greeted Gerald with a rare smile. “How goes it?”
“Not bad. I have some evidence I need to test. How about you, Ge?” I slipped off my green trench coat and pulled out a blue jacket filled with ice packs from a freezer, frozen just cold enough so that I could take my liquid form. With a boiling point of -246ºC and a melting point of -248.57ºC, for my people to take their liquid form was quite a tough one, as our liquid range is a measly 2.6ºC. However, thanks to the awesome people back in my area of the lab, I was gifted a liquid coat to wear whenever I left the Neon Complex. It was a godsend, as it let me have some sort of protection against those Fluorine goons if I wanted to be seeable.
“It’s been swell! I’ve gotten further on the new ribbon formula! I’m waiting for the next breakthrough on glass formation from the Bohrinese Tribe, though. Until then, I can’t really experiment with anything.” Gerald was an esteemed scientist from the Germaniumopolis area. He was one of the scientists who worked in tandem with Bohrium to create our special vacuum tube technology. The white ribbon I wear in my isn’t just a ribbon. When I take it off, it begins to mend with my body, and it turns my gas body into a giant, humanoid vacuum discharge tube, which is part of what allows me to glow. Electrons then emerge from the formerly cotton fibres and run through my glass form, allowing it to glow the signature orange-red that Neon is known for. However, this leaves us more vulnerable than we normally are as gas. Fluorine gangs often invade our home and attack those who happen to be in their glass forms, destroying our body, and since the glass mends with the gas, it destroys our insides, too, and we’re considered dead if half or more of us is destroyed. It’s dangerous to even leave the house or office some days, and it leaves me scared for my own life. I refuse to take off my ribbon for that unless necessary, and it makes me stand out in a crowd, so I prefer to use my liquid form or stay invisible.
“Good to hear! Now, if I could borrow that machine for a moment…” I subtly forced myself to the spot Gerald had been standing in, carefully positioning the piece of broken glass into the scanner and pressing a button, letting a green light fall over the shard and examining the trace, comparing it to all the listed chemical traces our database had registered. However, as I should’ve expected in such a crime, the traces matched up with Flo Reen’s––a gang leader from the pit of where the Fluorine group took residence. My fists tensed with anger.
“Of course it was them,” I muttered, gritting my teeth. “Of course Flo did it. He’s probably going to attack us too, if he attacked a beaker.”
“Neyani Eon, relax.” Gerald put his hand on my shoulder, smiling to hopefully make me feel better. “You shouldn’t have to worry. Just because the incident’s close to the Complex doesn’t mean they’ll be attacking it today.”
“Shouldn’t have to worry?” I paused for a moment, trying to hold back my anger.
“This wasn’t a targeted crime, nor was it planned beforehand, according to the evidence. It was a random, one-time occurrence. They won’t be laying a hand on anyone.”
“I won’t let myself find out second-hand. Put this in the freezer.” I threw off the ice pack jacket and left without getting my trench coat, running my way back to my home town. As a Noble Gas, I was colourless at room temperature––about the temperature everywhere except the Neon Complex and the other parts of the Noble Gas region––which was how I maintained an invisible form when not using my liquid or glass forms. It was perfect, as I could sneak in on the town (or at least, until I crossed its borders), and if it was being attacked, I could surprise the gang members by suddenly taking my glass form and allowing my strong glow to blind my foes while I killed them. I suddenly heard screams in the horizon, and I rushed into the city borders. Gerald was wrong. My city my under siege, the sounds of glass dissipating and shattering horrifying me and ringing in my ears, all the same as when I’d turned nine.
“No one’s getting out here alive,” I heard one gang member say to another, his pale yellow skin and dirty acid jacket hard to see amongst all the brightness of my city. This was all I could handle. No one was going to do this to my people and get away with it.
“Not if I can help it!!” I shouted. I impulsively grabbed one of the ends of the ribbon I wore and pulled it in front of me, flicking it as if it were a whip and watching as it merged with my hand, until it eventually became whole and activated a surge of electrons hidden inside the fibres, radiating a bright, beautiful red-orange glow from inside. The goons shielded their eyes and backed away. “You won’t be killing anyone as far as I’m here to deal with you!”
“Aaaaagh! N-No!” shouted one of the goons. He ran off and tried to escape before I sent an electric current from my hands at him, shocking him and likely knocking him out or killing him. The other goon just smirked at me, however, and it was only then that I realized it was dangerous for me to have turned into glass. Was I asking for suicide?!
“Heh. You really think you can kill me?” the other thug asked snarkily, flipping his hair. I stood there silently, not saying a word. “You got my buddy good. You won’t be getting me, though.” A sudden burst of chemical shot from the hands of the man and towards me, skimming my medium-length hair and evaporating the ends, bringing it down to my shoulders in length. I yelped as I felt splashes hit my back and quickly sent a current towards the henchman, but I missed, although he’d fallen to the ground and seemed paralyzed from the hit. I had time to transition out of my glass form! I made a tying motion at the back of my head, where I would normally have my ribbon tied, and I felt the light leaving my body and returning to my hairpiece while my skin turned from glass to liquid.
“What do you say to this, Ace Detective Neyani?! Pour it on, Flo!” The punk pointed to a water bucket above the battlefield, and… Oh no… Whipping the ribbon off my head again, I felt myself kicked away by the goon while I watched my city devoured by the water. I was made of the second-lightest Noble Gas, so while the kick was half-hearted, I was sent flying quite a distance, and out of the Complex, since I was quite close to the border.
“NOOOO!!” I screamed and ran away as fast as I could, not bothering to look back and let the emotions further bury me. Water was extremely dangerous to us. Neon is extremely soluble, and if we even so much as brisk water, it messes up our insides and tears us apart. We’re dead if we come into contact with it. Ignoring my internal orders, I glanced behind me, watching as helpless townspeople had limbs ripped apart, and bodies punctured.
Flo and his gangs weren’t going to live having been able to do this to the Complex. I couldn’t let this go unnoticed… or unpaid for.
As always, thank you so much for taking a look! I hope you enjoy!
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