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They have the best 'how I met my wife' story ever. Seriously.
No matter what their dad would say after he got home, it wasn't their fault. Not really. Labs explode; that's just a fact of life. And of course the Grus had a healthy supply of primary explosives. Normally, it was perfectly safe. That's what blast shielding and minions were for.
Fetching was also what minions were for.
So when Edith needed hydrogen peroxide for some stains, and Agnes needed nail polish remover... Well. Wires got crossed. Acetone peroxide was fetched.
They'd at least had the warning of minions dressed in full on blast gear and carrying the canister like the Arc of the Covenant past up into the actual house.
The house without excessive blast shielding.
So yeah, labs explode. Sometimes houses did too.
That's what minions were for, unfortunately.
Margo doesn't really remember the intervening minute between 'eminent disaster' and the first blast. What she remembers is having hands cinched in Edith and Agnes' collars, propelling them with all the force her longer legs could add.
What she remembers is her sisters' screams as they were thrown forward. She remembers landing mostly on top of her sisters, and Edith's elbow in her face. Agnes bolting up with a screech and trying to run back toward the house. Agnes hitting the wall of the world's biggest and sturdiest soap bubble.
A floating purple sweater and skirt combo that didn't seem to have anybody in it.
"Uhhh... So. Hi," the sweater remarked, as debris from the blast slid harmlessly over the surface of the bubble. "So... I'm not sure if I should be asking if you're alright or arresting you. And I'm out of costume, so this is, like, really inconvenient. Just so you know."
A minion pinged off the bubble, screaming 'Whooooohooooooo!' as it ricocheted upward.
Because that's just what minions did.
"We're civilians," Margo crossed her arms over her chest, glaring up at who she was fairly certain was Invisigirl. Or. Well. At where probably-Invisigirl's head probably was, anyway. "I'm offended you even thought otherwise."
Invisigirl laughed, her sweater jiggling and the force bubble rippling gently. "Yeah, right. Sorry," she said, and it was so rude that she could roll her eyes (Margo could hear it) and not get called on it. "See. It's just, you were kind of running from the blast site?"
Edith finished inspecting her hat for damage and rolled a glare at Invisigirl's boobs (most prominent visible feature, she'd later claim) as she pulled it back on. "Oh, right. Like anybody sensible wouldn't run from an explosion."
"No, I get it." The sweater shrugged, the girl in it still sounding far too at ease. "But you were kind of running before the building blew up."
"All my research is gone," Agnes moaned, slumped forward against the bubble, staring back toward the house. "All of that modified DNA. Just. Gone."
Margo was torn between reassuring her sister and not confirming Invisigirl's suspicions. But of course, that just meant Edith had time to snort and aim a halfhearted kick at their sister's butt. "Not really. The lab's shielded, remember?"
Invisigirl was laughing. "Civilians, huh?"
"We're a federally funded lab?" Margo tried, but it sounded weak.
"Ahuh. Well, I'll tell you what." The forcefield dropped, and the sweater pointed its sleeves at its hips. "The pre-emptive running let me block a lot of the damages, and I have somewhere to be. So I'll let you go this time. As thanks for the tip off."
And with that, Invisigirl...well, probably waved. Her sweater arm jerked back and forth a few times, at least, before her clothes started moving away.
"I don't get why she doesn't just strip," Edith remarked, watching the outfit stroll away.
Agnes had taken off like a bolt for the debris as soon as the forcefield had gone down, eager to check her work in the lab. (Which was fair. She'd been working on that cloning project for years.)
It was Margo who stood and looked around, taking in the very precise ovoid shape of the blast and their own little bubble of calm, in the midst of the scorching and debris.
None of the neighboring houses had been touched.
Well. Not the buildings. The fences were toast.
-----
It was a week later, with the house half rebuilt (because that's also what minions were for) and finally livable enough that they could move out of the lab (as much as they ever did), that she ran into Invisigirl again.
Margo was checking her list and reaching absentmindedly for an onion, when she grabbed a hand instead.
They froze, staring at each other for a moment before snatching their hands back and laughing. She was...gorgeous. Long hair braided loosely back with wisps escaping everywhere, and black enough it was almost blue. Huge eyes, wide smile, the kind of awkward slender that suggested weird genetics more than eating disorders.
"Uh, hi!" The other woman pulled her hand back to push a stray hair away from her face. And...wow, that voice was familiar. Small world or stalking? "Sorry. I'm Violet."
Margo grinned, offering her hand. "I'm Margo. Nice to meet you without the explosions."