It was almost ready. The mixture was just about right. Carefully, he spun the container around to mix it up a little bit more, and then transferred it to a ceramic jar. He needed a smoke, but that was probably the worst idea in history at the moment. If he even shook this compound, it might ignite-bringing a lighter near it was not a good plan. Not yet anyway.

"Stein?" Marie called, rapping at the door to the lab. He didn't look up. Maybe if she thought he wasn't here…

He put the long fuse into the jar and set the jar onto the block of dry ice. Now that everything was set up, he allowed himself to-carefully-light a cigarette.

"Stein? Are you in there?" She pushed the door open just as he lit the fuse. Wordlessly, he walked quickly over to her and grabbed her arm, dragging her behind the barrier he'd set up. "What-what's going on in h-"

WHOOOOOOSH!

The mixture exploded in a massive pyrotechnic display, shattering the jar and sending ribbons of fire in every direction. Stein grinned and took a puff of his cigarette while Marie looked on in horror. The only thing left was a white-hot puddle—the dry ice had lost the tussle and now lay in a fiery grave.

"Well. That answers that, I guess."

"Franken Stein, what the hell did you just do?" Marie asked, turning on him.

"Oh, come on. It wasn't even dangerous. Well, okay… it was a little dangerous, but we were well out of the way. I mean, thank god there wasn't a gallon of gasoline nearby or else—" He examined her face. The likelihood of her staying calm if he continued that sentence was not good. "I'll just leave that right there."

"What WAS that, anyway?"

"Thermite," he said with a maniacal grin. "It's hotter than lava." Another puff of his cigarette.

"And you had it in the house."

"No, I made it just now."

"In the house."

"It's in the lab, Marie."

"The lab is attached to the house."

"Yeah, through a five-foot-thick wall of concrete and metal," he said. "The point is—"

"The point is that you could have hurt someone!"

"No, the POINT is that—"

"The computer screen is frozen and I don't know how to fix it," she said, crossing her arms. He sighed.

"I'll take a look."

As they walked back to the house, he muttered, "Also, thermite wins against dry ice."