Two sets of footsteps bounced off the walls of the gymnasium, fading away from where Lex knelt at the base of the capsule. His fingers hooked on the grip of the drainage cap, and his other hand came up to pull his shirt over his nose and mouth. The amount of hydrogen sulfide in the suspension bath might have not been enough to be corrosive or toxic, but years of lab safety courses had been ingrained into his mind. He waited until Blue signaled to him, followed shortly by an eager 'roger, roger' from wherever Marcus was. They sounded far enough away; he'd just have to trust it.<br/><br/>The cap didn't want to turn at first, and that was almost enough to convince Lex that maybe they should just leave it if it was going to be difficult. Except, after some struggle, it finally<span style="font-style: italic">did</span>turn, and explode out of his hand as the hydrogen sulfide suspension surged out from the capsule. Lex immediately retracted his hand, shooting to his feet and backing up a few steps. Water kept rushing out and flooding the floor, and Lex felt himself walk through a puddle as he made his way forward. His hands came up to the glass, pressing his palms against it. The force of something hitting the glass from the other side caused him to jump, but he held firm his ground, and eventually the something that had surprised him slid down the glass. Lex recognized the dead weight.<br/><br/>"Dicen?" he asked, knocking on the glass tentatively. When there was no response, he knocked a little harder. He felt his stomach dropping every second. "Dicen.<span style="font-style: italic">Dicen</span>, this Dr... This is Dr. Ascolani, please wake up." His voice trailed off into a thin plea before he stood on his toes and felt for the top of the capsule.<br/><br/>The pressure locks came off, one and two, then three and four. The lid was as heavy as he could've expected, though it was nothing compared to having to lift that capsule. It crashed to the floor as Lex tossed it haphazardly somewhere to the side. He became panicked, entirely independent of his will to stay calm. He hooked his hands around the top of the glass, feeling the cold burn of the hydrogen sulfide at his fingertips. His foot planted squarely at the base of the capsule and he did his best to kick at it as he pulled the glass rim down. It worked much better than he anticipated, and he all but fell with the capsule, which made a threatening noise as it hit the ground. He didn't care about his stumble, or the feeling of frostbite at his fingers. All he cared about was getting Dicen out of that tube.<br/><br/>Lex reached in as far as he could with one hand, keeping his other clapped over the fabric at his mouth. His fingers hit something, and it only took a bit of deducing before he realized it was Dicen's shoulder. He hooked his hand under it, pulling with all of his might in spite of how badly his muscles still burned, but thankfully whatever liquid still remained in the capsule helped the Realian slide out. But he was still dead weight. Lex found Dicen's face, using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away some of the chemical bath that still clung to the Realian's face and hair. "Dicen," he murmured, gently smacking him a few times to try and rouse him. His head just lulled to the side, and Lex picked it back up before smacking it so hard that his hand hurt. He wasn't sure if it was from the impact or the hydrogen sulfide, or both.<br/><br/>But the pain in his hand was immediately forgotten when he heard muffled sounds from below him. "Doctor?" came a dreadfully hoarse and strained voice.<br/><br/>Lex exhaled loudly, sitting forward on his knees and burying his face in the backs of his hands. He smiled, but he felt sick. "Good morning, Dicen," he greeted once he'd sure that he'd stripped the worry from his voice.