Wrote this for the Drug Cartel AU @cheshire-shuntaro created, in which Hérc is one of the chemist working for Hatter, creating drugs... because he has no other choice, basically. ~
When Hércules had obtained his Master's, lab safety had been the most important thing. In fact, you couldn't even start working on any experiments until you had passed a shitty little course, for which you had to watch dozens of videos of people (most likely PhD students obliged to do these kind of things in exchange for credits) pretending to be in dangerous situations.
"Oh, no! He dropped some polypyrrole in his eyes, what should he do!? Well, if you've read the SDS, the Safety Data Sheet, you would know you have to rinse your eyes with pure water (no, water from the sink doesn't really work) for fifteen minutes and...'
He guessed it was different in legal labs, but in El Sombrerero's Cocaine Factory where he was nothing but a mere Oompa Loompa, dancing to the psychotic tunes of his boss' delusions, nobody wore gloves, or safety goggles. A few lab coats could be seen here and there, but they were stained, with holes in them from chemical exposure, and most of them the wrong sizes. As if they had stole them from a factory making crazy scientist costumes for children instead of from an actual laboratory equipment manufacturer.
It was a mess. Dirty, disgusting, which made it not so different from Hatter's house, in Hércules' opinion: a mishmash of different objects that were there just. To be. To show others he could pay them, to boast.
But the coca was real pure, crystalline white, and that was what matter.
'Potassium permanganate...' Do not use for products which come in direct contact with the skin. It can cause corrosion, which produces an irreversible damage to the skin; namely, visible necrosis through the epidermis and into the dermis. Delayed or immediate effects can be expected after short or long-term exposure. Careful with how you dispose of it, it can pollute watercourses... 'Sodium permanganate.' May intensify fire, because it is an oxidizer. Do not swallow. Severe skin burns. Toxic to aquatic life. Do not eat when handling this product. Wash your hands after handling.
Hércules repeated what he had to be careful about inside his head, not out loud. Every single time he had tried to make the other chemists a little bit more aware of the dangers these products could actually pose, he had been laughed at. Well, they could be blinded, for all he cared, but that wouldn't happen to him. He was, also, one of the very few who had actually studied for this, who had a passion for chemistry and research, despite the very small success rates.
Synthesis. The creation of molecules that had never existed before. The fact that he could play God, up to a certain point. Improving the properties of already existing natural materials or creating them from... nothing.
Making the world a better place.
But was he doing that, really? When he was creating cocaine, a highly addictive stimulant, that could cause chronic and acute conditions in cardiovascular health, as well as gastrointestinal problems, irritability, liver and kidney damage... death?
Had he really had a choice? Did people, ever?
If his father had never gotten himself involved in the business...
If he hadn't promised Andro's hand in marriage to Hatter as a way of securing their situation before his death...
If Hércules wasn't so fucking scared of what could happen...
Then, maybe, there would be a way out.
But, they were running out of time. And the next batch needed to be ready soon. And people couldn't feed themselves and their families out of ifs...
'Come on, boys! Let get this show on the road!"