America's Suitehearts: Season 1

America's Suitehearts: Episode 9

Scene 9: Crater Forest

That night, at around 2:00 am, Dr. Benzedrine woke up to find a plate with breadcrumbs on his night table. He could taste cheese and garlic bread in his mouth, and knew exactly what had happened. He got up, walked to his bathroom, and began to brush his teeth again. Instead of his reflection in the mirror, facing him was the visage of the Doctor.

"Ah, Stacy. I didn't expect to see you this early in the morning."

"You know why I'm here! Why didn't you brush our teeth?"

"Why didn't you remember what I said?"

"I didn't believe you even existed after I was told that what I experienced was a hallucination! You can't blame me."

"Point taken."

As Dr. Benzedrine brushed his teeth, he got an idea. He could take the Sharks' teeth that he had gotten from the twins and give them to Sandman as a present. He finished up, then climbed back into bed.

Later that morning (after he had caught a few more Zs), Dr. Benzedrine left a note for Gin detailing what she was to do that day, then left his laboratory behind to go on his morning walk. As he rounded the bend in the path to Sandman's tower, he took the bag of shark's teeth out of his pocket. Sandman was waiting by the door to his palace, holding a small box of tiny, silver pellets.

"Wonderful, you're here, Stacy. I have something important for you." "Sandman! I have something for you too."

He opened the bag to reveal the sharks' teeth.

"Sharks' teeth? Where did you get these?"

"Oh, some kids from Normal Land popped in for a visit. They gave these to me as a present."

"I was wondering where I could get some more of these! They're perfect for my newest creation. I'm working on a water-breathing potion. Come in, maybe you could help me out with preparing it."

As they set out the ingredients and Sandman ground up the sharks' teeth, Dr. Benzedrine decided to ask Sandman about how Kerosene was doing.

"So... You know Horseshoe?"

"Yeah, from an online college... We talked for a bit yesterday. We hadn't seen each other in a while..."

"Oh? Why is that? I mean, if you don't want to answer, that's fine..."

"I should tell you, but I don't think you'd be comfortable with the truth, Stacy... It's a little bit hard to explain..."

"Really, Sandman, it's okay. You can tell me if you want to. You've seen into my mind and you know how I think. I will understand no matter what it is you have to tell me."

Sandman sighed.

"Horseshoe... Horseshoe is... I seriously am having trouble explaining this to you because I know your dad would be... uncomfortable with what I'm about to tell you..."

Dr. Benzedrine thought for a moment, then realized what Sandman was trying to say.

"Wait... OH! Were you exes or something?" Sandman nodded. Dr. Benzedrine explained, "It's OK, really. I don't mind talking about that kind of thing. You do you, I'll do me, alright?" Sandman was relieved to know that Dr. Benzedrine understood. Then, he noticed that the powdered sharks' teeth had fully dissolved into the liquid part of the mixture.

"Wait: the formula is ready, Stacy."

As Dr. Benzedrine carefully poured the formula into the vaporizer, Sandman called Kerosene in.

"Kerosene, could you please monitor the panels upstairs while we test this?"

"Sure, Sandman."

Kerosene walked back up the stairs to the window monitoring station with a sigh. She still couldn't get Sandman to realize that she had a giant crush on him. She had known him ever since they were kids, and they were extremely close. If only he would just notice the cues she sent him, if only...

Meanwhile, in the lab, Dr. Benzedrine had sprayed the formula into Sandman's face, accidentally getting some in his eyes. Sandman flinched, then dunked his head into a bucket of water. As a massive air bubble formed around his head, he realized that not only could he breathe underwater, he could open his eyes without them stinging because some of the spray had gotten into them. He gave Dr. Benzedrine two thumbs up, then lifted his head out of the water.

"Take a note please, Stacy... If the formula gets into your eyes, you can see underwater as well as breathe underwater."

As Dr. Benzedrine took notes, Sandman took the remnants of the shark teeth and put them in a small jar.

Dr. Benzedrine asked, "Now that I'm thinking about it... Why did you bring up my dad?"

"I just... uh... I just wanted to connect the Horseshoe conversation to something relatable to you, Stacy."

"Oh, OK. Did you know him before he disappeared?"

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah. When I was 10 years old, he disappeared. I received a letter saying that he had an accident at work. My mom took care of me after that. Her name is Ms. Patricia Flack, and I think that she would've liked you."

"I think I would have liked her too."

Dr. Benzedrine sighed. "If only he could see me now. He'd be proud of what I'm doing, creating amazing things like this potion. He worked for Cellophane Labs, too."

"Oh? What did he do?"

"Hey... Don't you already know? I mean, you can look through people's eyes. You seem to know about him, so..."

Sandman turned away and said, "Historian, please open the powder storage area."

A small drawer popped open.

"I need to put the powdered sharks' teeth and the water-breathing potion away. Shouldn't you be heading back to check on Gin?"

"Oh, right. I got a little bit carried away, didn't I? You're right, I should be heading back. One more question, though: what do you plan to do with the formula?"

"Well... I have always wondered what the world looks like when you're sitting underwater..."

"That sounds pretty cool! Maybe we could try that sometime... See you soon, Sandman!"

As Dr. Benzedrine walked home, he noticed that one of the windows to his house was open. At first, he paid no attention to it, but when he walked into his lab, he saw that several drawers were open. A woman with red eyes, dressed entirely in purple was holding his weather-controlling gloves, and she appeared to be adjusting some of the dials on them. Dr. Benzedrine stood there for a moment, shocked at the sight of an apparent cat-burglar in his lab, when the woman noticed that he had spotted her.

"Oh no!" she shouted, as she disappeared in a flash of white light.

As Gin's car made its way up the driveway, Dr. Benzedrine inspected the gloves. They had been recalibrated and added to, and now they had a button per setting instead of a dial that you had to turn. The liquid nitrogen had a vent, so that it wouldn't build up and put strain on the pipes.

When the door to Dr. Benzedrine's lab opened, the one thing that he had on his mind was, "How am I going to explain this mess?"