FicWad

Upon hearing a small beep emitted from the box, Gerard and Mikey hit the deck and rolled out of harm's way behind the wall of a nearby office. Frank heard the warning and realized what was happening a split second too late. The deafening sound of an explosion tore through the lab as the bomb destroyed everything nearby. Glass shattered and flew everywhere.
Gerard's eyes began to tear up as he and Mikey coughed from the smoke. Before the thick gray clouds cleared, they heard a shriek of unbearable pain.
"Frank!" shouted Gerard, choking on his own words. He tried to stand up, but a piece of the wall had pinned his leg to the ground. He hadn't even noticed it. Mikey was on his feet already and pried it off, throwing it to the side. Gerard was relieved to see that neither of them was hurt. Then he remembered Frank. He stood and rushed to his friend's side, waving away the dark smoke. He was shocked when he saw Frank's face.
The right side of his face was covered in a sizzling white liquid, and he was screaming in pain. Neither of them tried to wipe it off with their hands, and Frank was doing his best to keep his eyes tightly shut. Gerard jumped to his feet and grabbed a bottle of pure water they usually used in experiments from a cabinet nearby and carefully began flushing out Frank's wound. Mikey radioed for the paramedics and tried to find more water.
"Hold still, Frank, I know it hurts," said Gerard through gritted teeth. It wasn't looking good. Nearly half of his friend's face was swollen and red. He tried to lift Frank's right eyelid to help clean it out, but he refused to open his eyes. "Frank, you have to trust me if you want this to stop hurting." His friend's face finally relaxed, and he was able to clean most of the liquid out. Gerard winced as his friend whimpered, partly from the pain but mostly from fear. The paramedics arrived and placed Frank on a stretcher, swiftly carrying him to an ambulance. It had begun to rain outside, but Gerard failed to notice, even as it soaked through him and plastered his shortened locks to his forehead.
"It's alright, Frank. You're going to be okay," he said before they lifted his friend into the vehicle. Surprisingly, his friend began to laugh. It was forced.
"Don't lie to me, G. If I even survive this, you know I'm going to be useless at the lab."
"Ah, don't say that Frank," said his partner, shaking his head and splattering raindrops into his eyes.
"Gerard...I can't see." The ambulance drove away. Gerard looked after it with pure hope in his clear, hazel eyes, then shook his head and returned to the lab. He had done everything he could. There was no time to worry now; he had a crime scene to process. He turned on his heel and walked back to the building, hearing his shoes click on the asphalt.
"How's he doing?" asked Mikey as Gerard walked back into the lab. He shook his head and ignored the question and instead asked his brother to help him gather the pieces of the bomb. Mikey put a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"G, talk to me." Gerard hesitated before speaking.
"He...he told me he couldn't see," he said slowly as his voice started to crack. Mikey understand how serious the situation was. He pulled his brother into a hug.
"It's okay, he'll be fine. You really helped him through the worst of it." The older Way brother wiped a single tear away from his eye and set to processing the scene. He knew Mikey was trying to help, and that he had indeed helped ease Frank's pain, but he also knew that it wasn't the worst of it. Burns were horrendously painful to endure, especially when they had to clean off the dead skin.
He sincerely hoped Frank would be alright.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"It was nitric acid," said Mikey grimly, holding up the results. Gerard studied them carefully.
"We keep that in our lab, don't we?" he asked. His younger brother nodded.
"But the containers we have are kept outside the building, never in the lab. Even diluted, it's far too dangerous to be near without protection. So it had to come from the box. It was a chemical bomb." Gerard threw the papers on the temporary lab table angrily and cursed the person who had built the device.
"Any word on Frank?" asked Bob as he entered the lab tent.
"Nothing," said Mikey, silently asking Bob to keep quiet about Frank. Bob nodded in understanding.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked.
"You and I are going to pay a visit to someone who may have connections to this. Mikey, see if you can't put this disaster back together again," said Gerard, taking off his lab coat and grabbing his vest from the corner of the tent. He absolutely could not wait until the lab was rebuilt. Bob followed him out of the tent and got in the driver's side of Gerard's car. When the senior investigator opened his mouth to protest, Bob cut him off.
"No. I had a full night's sleep. You didn't." He started the car and began driving to the address his boss gave him. About halfway there, he asked if a particular street name was correct, but got no response.
"G? You okay?" he said, taking a quick glance to the side. He half smiled.
Gerard was fast asleep, lulled by the soothing sounds of the rain.