Your mission had been going swimmingly. You and Natasha had tracked down the school in which a small branch of HYDRA had occupied whilst it was closed over the summer. The both of you had gotten in and found the information you needed and were about to leave, but you had been locked into the room you were searching through.

Natasha attempted to knock it down, but it wasn't budging and seen as you were on the third floor you weren't going to be able to get out of the window without severe injury.

Both of you had tried to contact anyone from SHIELD but something was blocking the signal, meaning there was no way to talk to anyone.

"We're stuck here. Unless you want to break your legs," She sighed looking out of the window, "I can try shooting the lock but I really don't know how much good that will do other than mangle it."

She walked away from the window sill, sitting down next to you on the floor.

Both of you were always well equipped but sadly neither of you would be able to get out of the window uninjured and not gain attention of anyone left in the building. All you could do was wait until someone realised you were both missing and hope none of the HYDRA agents were still in the school as that would be surely problematic.

Sitting there you looked around. You hadn't been in a science lab for many years, and truly you didn't miss it. School had never been fun. You were a good enough student though, even if you didn't enjoy it.

Thinking back to school something clicked. You stood up rummaging through the cupboards.

"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.

You ignored her looking around still. You found some keys in the desk, and unlocked any of the other cupboards finally finding what you were looking for. Grabbing the jar, and a scalpel you carried it over to one of the desks.

"Nat, I need you to cut this up. It should be fairly malleable, but the smaller the pieces, the more surface area and the bigger boom. Jam as much as you can into the lock as you," You stated.

She got up looking confused but began to do what she was told.

"Potassium? Why are you putting potassium in the lock?" She asked.

"It reacts violently with water," You stated looking for more objects you needed to make this work, "if we can get enough in, the limited space in the lock, shouldn't be able to hold the reaction, and hopefully we'll be able to pop it open and get the hell out of here."

"How do you know that? You trained to work in the field not in the science department?" She questioned.

"School. We learnt it in science, it's easy to remember the small explosions. I can't remember all of the science behind it, but there is a single electron on the outer shell, and it wants to go, so it reacts with the water to stabilise the potassium making potassium hydroxide."

Natasha finished packing the potassium into the lock. You then tapped the end of the hose onto the door lock, grabbing a funnel and a beaker of water. You held the end of the hose with the funnel in, making sure you and Natasha were far enough away from it before you poured the water down the hose.

Instantly it reacted. You didn't know if it had broken the lock or even done any damage, but you waited for the reaction to end before you removed any of the duct tape left from the lock and tried the handle. With a slight jiggle the door opened and you were both free.

"You did it," She smiled, sounding as though she hadn't believed in your ability to do so, not that you had believed that you could do it either.

"I can't believe it," You laughed awkwardly.

Together you escaped from the school, returning what you had went there for to SHIELD. 

~*~

Written by Charlotte.