I'm a Scientist!

"What are you looking at?" Jerome spotted his serious-looking coworker standing against the rough wooden fence, staring across the field and into the distance. She tried to silence him, but it was too late. They were noticed.   "Jerome! Lisa!" a mud-covered figure in the distance called out excitedly, running towards them across the grass. "You're just in time to help me test my newest invention!"   Lisa sighed, muttering under her breath. "Now you've done it." Her soft black curls danced in the breeze as she shook her head. "Just don't encourage him."   "Hi Leroy! What have you got there?" Jerome waved cheerfully.   Lisa glared daggers in his direction. If looks could kill. Jerome wondered what Lisa had against their coworker. Surely a little office drama wasn't cause enough to discourage a gifted engineer from pursuing their projects.   "It's my latest and greatest invention!" Leroy announced, his chest puffing out proudly, brandishing a strange contraption made of PVC and random metal scraps, held together with duct tape and twine. "This is the one! My scientific breakthrough that will put me on the map!" He waved it over the fence at them with enthusiasm.   Lisa studied the hodgepodge of scraps before sighing, resigned. "I give up. I'm not getting rid of you until you tell us about it anyway. So, uh... What is it?"   "An Egg Launcher!" Leroy proclaimed, revealing his uneven teeth behind the proud grin. "Cheap ammunition, and biodegradable, too! Here, I'll show you!"   Before they could protest, Lisa and Jerome found themselves coated in a sticky mess of egg guts and shrapnel as the untested device exploded at the pull of the trigger.   Leroy laughed nervously, wiping yolk from his eye. "It still has a few bugs left, but I'm sure this is it! My million credit idea! Hey! Where are you going? I've got lots more to show you! Just wait until you see my..."   Leroy's protests faded into the distance as Lisa and Jerome limped back to the Skyfall building to wash up and seek medical attention. Lisa glared at Jerome through the albumen, trying in vain to brush the mess from her formerly-white blouse and blue jeans. "This is all your fault, you know."   "Just thought the guy could use some encouragement is all." Jerome shrugged his shoulders apologetically. He shook his hands to try and clear the mess before reaching for the door handle, only serving to splatter the egg concoction further upon his gray trousers. "I didn't realize -"   Lisa cut him off. "You are the new guy. Maybe you should take our advice next time before you go encouraging anyone else about working with you in the lab?"   Jerome nodded his head emphatically before ducking into the contamination shower. "Never again," he muttered, struggling to remove an oozing patch of yolk from his ear. "Never again."