Xaviers!

The team managed to collect the unknown, catatonic female without incident. Apparently, none of her team-mates immediately noticed her absence. While the appropriate people tended to her, Will had discovered in transfer that the earring on her ear that matched everyone else's could be screwed off, revealing a small surgical steel post between the two sides which is what passed it through a piercing in the lobe. It was much heavier than one would expect for such a small object. Someone with technical expertise was going to need to look at this thing with fancy equipment to determine it's purpose.

"You guys are SURE this isn't kidnapping, right?"

Jez was asking the important questions.

"I still don't like not leaving anyone behind to keep an eye on what's going on," Will said, for the nth time since they left. "This is some high-tech stuff here; hopefully Tosh or one of the other boffins can make heads or tails of it."

"And it's protective medical custody, which is similar to kidnapping, but you do it in fancier uniforms."

"Somebody called for science?" Tosh asked cheerily as he approached. Though he did look a little tired.

"This earring," Will said, holding the earring, "is much heavier than you would expect for such a small object. It is attached to people's ear via some sort of small surgical steel post. We have no idea what it's used for, though it may have something to do with the reason this woman is unconscious. We need someone to look at this thing with fancy equipment, so we can determine it's purpose."

"I can certainly take a closer look at it, and try to see what mechanisms might be in that post. I'm guessing the two work together as a drug delivery system," he said as he moved to gather the necessary equipment.

"This part of that investigation Chase put together?"

"Exactly, yes. A student has been kidnapped, and we're investigating why."

"And how is this woman involved?" he asked, holding a hand out for the earring so he can place it in an imagining machine.

"There is some sort of...team in there, that the kidnapped student appears to be part of," Will said, vaguely. "They're all wearing these earrings, which seems to prevent them from just leaving."

"Be careful Tosh. We were told that any of them who tried to escape would be terminated. There's a very good chance that something housed in that thing might be lethal."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, quickly placing it on the imaging machine's tray before slipping on gloves and goggles.

The item Tosh was looking at appeared to be a small, false ear gauge comprised of two disc shapes, with a screw on post through the middle to keep it in place through someone's ear piercing. The outside casing suggested it was the sort of lightweight plastic one would expect from a larger sized gauge, but the outer material only served as a camouflage element to make the item seem like something it wasn't. Inside the earring was a dense, metal material.

Tosh would also notice was a tiny trigger mechanism inside the front disc which had already been set off, telling him that this item was inert now. In this state, it was more akin to an empty shell casing than a bomb of some kind. Visually, the trigger mechanism looked a bit like a small hammer, which had come to rest against the post portion of the piece of jewelry. The hammer was attached to some form of tiny magnetic device that would release it, though under what conditions it would release he couldn't immediately tell just by looking.

This meant that the 'payload' on this device must have been in the other half of the earring it was attached to, but to Tosh's eye, this just appeared to be a big disc of the mysterious metal.

There also appeared to be a latch which hooked around the threads of the screw end to prevent tampering which would likewise set off the trigger.

Relieved it was no longer a danger, he activated the scanning machine and turned to the others.

"Whatever payload there was has been spent. If you haven't yet, you need to get her a tox screen to find out what it was."

Unfortunately for Tosh's summation that drugs were involved, he was dead wrong.

The longer he starred at the imagery in front of him, a realization became clearer: There wasn't a hollow space for drugs to be stored in the 'payload end' of this device. It was a solid circle of metal.

"Okay," Sam grumbles as she comes into the room. She's showered and changed into a uniform.

"I finally got the tape off my... well, never mind. How are we doing?"

"Well, she's still out. And whatever that thing is supposed to do it already did it, and it doesn't seem like it can do it again. So no explosion... I hope." Jez said as she tapped her earlobe.

"What kind of payload do we think we're dealing with?"

"Apparently, nothing.

Maybe it's more like completing a circuit; some sort of electrical charge that fries the brain. Metaphorically. Or perhaps actually."

Narrator wrote:Unfortunately for Tosh's summation that drugs were involved, he was dead wrong.

The longer he starred at the imagery in front of him, a realization became clearer: There wasn't a hollow space for drugs to be stored in the 'payload end' of this device. It was a solid circle of metal.

"On second thought, not a drug. Must be something about this metal," Tosh said, moving the object to another machine to identify the material.

The material wasn't anything Tosh had seen before, but under examination it reminded him a bit of a metal ore known for storing, amplifying, and discharging kinetic energy.

But this was synthetic, not natural like vibranium.

"Synthetic... vibranium? Or something like it. This just keeps getting weirder."

"Vibranium resonates, right? Like hyper-resonates. That'd do a number on your inner ear if it went off, wouldn't it?"

"... like a flash-bang, but without the flash?"

"Worse," Tosh said, "Though it seems unnecessarily high tech for that purpose."

As he spoke he began to disassemble the device, careful not to jostle the metal disc.

Will wouldn't remember any kind of sounds or vibrative feedback from his perspective when the woman went down.

Opening up the guts revealed that the magnetic release on the hammer seemed to be attached to some kind of receiver, and everything came into view for Tosh.

When the receiver was no longer receiving some kind of signal, it would trigger the magnetic release in the hammer, which would in turn disrupt the payload, causing it to release.

Of course, that still didn't explain the metal disc of not-vibranium. There was of course, one obvious way to tell if it was meant to focus kinetic energy.

"You might want to grab some hearing protection," Tosh said, grabbing a pair of earmuffs from a hook on the wall. He then proceeded to move the disc to an open space near a sound monitor. After the others were protected, he used a small tool to tap the circle of metal.

Nothing.

This thing may have designed to harness an energy in the same fashion as vibranium did, but not kinetic.

"Okay, let's try something else."

He removed his earmuffs and turned into Bruce before putting on a larger pair. Slightly charging up his hand, he touched a claw to the metal.

It likewise didn't respond to an electrical charge either. Tosh would of course recognize that there were only so many different types of energy that would interrupt the psychological function of a living being.

He turned back into Tosh to think.

What else messes with the brain?

Haley?

Now's not the time for jo- No, how would that even...

"Sam? Not sure how it could be possible, but... would you aim your Jedi mind powers at this thing? I at least have to rule it out."

"I mean, I'm not going to do it if you call them that."

"I could always put the dang thing on myself," Will said. "Record what happens."

"... I guess he could survive a head explosion. But if that thing messes with your mind..." Jez seemed unsure.

"We have left a student in extreme danger; we don't have a ton of time to dilly-dally and try to figure out what this does by eliminating all other possible outcomes," Will pointed out. "The safe method hasn't gotten us anywhere; perhaps it's time to roll the dice."

"You'd have to give me a minute to reassemble the thing."

Jez sighed. Will was right, but it still didn't seem very fair. She could have volunteered one of her copies, but with her psychic link with them it whatever effect it had on the puppet would just go straight back to her anyway. Out of everyone there, Gumby was probably the one best suited to resist whatever effects it might have.

"Let me propose something. As noble as Will offering to blow his brains out might be, maybe I ought to have a dive into the girl, not the possibly-spent earring?"

"... yeah, alright."