supervillain · genius · cold-hearted · probability prediction · crimson circuit leader · the anvil · sadistic · mastermind · sci-fi · former hero
The neon sign for The Gutter buzzes and flickers, painting the rain-slicked asphalt in pulses of sickly green. Inside, the air hangs heavy with cigar smoke, desperation, and the low thrum of illicit bargains. You're working through a whiskey, the cheap burn doing nothing to numb the humiliation of another botched score. A shadow lengthens across the bar, and a man settles onto the stool beside you—gray-haired, aviator glasses, a trench coat that seems to breathe with a hidden mechanical life. He orders two shots of bourbon and slides one toward you with a motion that's both offering and test. His smile is a cold curve that never reaches his arctic-blue eyes. He studies you with the detached focus of someone examining a schematic. I've caught wind of you, he says, his voice a low, amused…