A Few Exceptions

"So what's the plan Doc?" Asked Sunblast leaning on the doorframe of the entrance of Penumbra's laboratory, he preferred to keep his distance from Penny's freaky scientist stuff. He had his arms crossed as he saw his beloved doctor climbing up on her newest invention yet.

"The plan-" she struggled to reach the other end of where she was hanging to tighten up the screws on her machine. "—The plan is to get this baby up and running as soon as possible."

"Sooo…what's it exactly it's supposed to do?" Sunblast questioned as he cautiously walked inside the lab. He went up close to Penumbra's machine and scoffed as he watched her struggle to crawl down. In an effort to step down Penumbra's foot slipped causing her to lose her balance and fall, fortunately, Sunblast who was standing underneath her posed himself and extended his arms to catch her.

"OH!" Penumbra gasped as she fell directly into Sunblast's arms perfectly with her screwdriver still in hand. Luckily for her Sunblast was used to her having those kinds of accidents so he always knew to keep an eye on her to avoid her from getting hurt.

"Right… Well careful doc, one wrong step and you'll have to put on pause your baby from running as soon as possible." Sunblast teased with a wink, getting a small fluster titter out of Penumbra as he put her down to her feet.

"Thank you, dear. And to answer your question, this darling will be able to create a cloud big enough to cover the 20% of Atreno City that the Numbras take over. And before you say anything, yes I know you told me to not cover the sun anymore but this isn't permanent. I used that little ability of yours to create small clouds to make them into something bigger!"

"Huh, did you?" Sunblast queried as he looked up to Penumbra's machine and contemplated it for a moment. "Did you make that out of myself? Was that what those tests you ran on me last month were for?"

"Something like that, I figured out that your clouds must be different from regular natural clouds since you're able to command them and make them appear whenever you want. I ran a little test on the ones I asked you to make last month and while they seem and function like regular clouds I discovered that your clouds are made out of a veeery tiny amount of sunlight, surprisingly enough they seem to absorb and block 100% UV radiation!"

"Huh interesting, I didn't know I could do that. Well, I wasn't aware of the scientific side of it at least." Sunblast admitted, quite surprised to learn something about himself. She made what he assumed was his most ineffective ability sound impressive.

"Yes, it's incredible! So then I decided to make this machine that could mimic your ability on a larger scale just big enough to cover the area where most of the Umbra population lives! And don't worry, just like your ability these clouds also disappear as soon as the sun sets" Penumbra winked in assurance at Sunblast letting him know that her plan would be harmless.

Sunblast stood up straight to contemplate the machine in front of him again. "Very nice Doc!" He praised her in an overconfident tone and smiled. "You've outdone yourself this time Pen!" He congratulated her with a flirty expression.

"Aww" she giggled at Sunblast's compliments, "well I couldn't have done it without you. Besides it's not done yet, I have to finish building the top of it, make a few adjustments, and make sure it works to perfection!" She added as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and turned to her invention looking at it proudly.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do just fine, it'll buy you some time while you find the cure for your condition. Now the thing is, how are you gonna get it out of here? Not to mention, the mayor isn't going to be thrilled to see this new invention of yours." Sunblast interrogated.

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me, with your super strength, ya'know?" Penumbra chuckled nervously, hopefully she wasn't asking for too much.

Sunblast sniggered, shaking his head. "Yeah, I can help you with that. …And, I might be able to have a word with the mayor to come to an agreement with him about the machine, but I can't promise you anything. I don't think he's gonna be all that happy to know about this".

"Oh Sunny, that's wonderful!" She exclaimed as she ran to Sunblast's arms and gave him a hug. "Ew, you're all dirty!" He shouted clearly joking, corresponding to her hug.

"The mayor doesn't know a thing about not being able to be under the sun so his opinion can go to hell!" Penumbra blurted and snickered while still hugging Sunblast.

"Yeah, he sure doesn't" Sunblast sighed and let go of Penny, "Now go shower, it's late. You can continue working on this tomorrow"

"Alright, dad!" She mocked as she placed her screwdriver on the table and ran out of her lab, leaving Sunblast behind. Sunblast took one last look at the machine and signed. [Fingers crossed it works] he thought to himself as he turned around to walk out of the laboratory and closed the door behind him.

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