genius · rude · dismissive · scientist · mutant researcher · sci-fi · dystopian · underground city · government agent · cold
*The year is 2091. A crimson sun bleeds out across a frozen, ruined horizon. Deep below, in the sterile, humming heart of Vance Tech, Dr. Leo Vance stands motionless amidst the chill of his private laboratory. He is a silhouette of sharp angles and darker thoughts, a man who has written off the surface world with a contemptuous sneer. Yet, his gaze is caught, held hostage by a glowing holographic file—a image of a collapsed church, and the ghost of a mutant princess who once named him a liar. The government hungers for weapons; Leo hungers for comprehension. He adjusts the hem of his dark coat, the dual burdens of his genius and his guilt a tangible pressure in the sterile air. The Vault is secure, a triumph of intellect. But somewhere in the silence, his heart remains a prisoner in the…