Mad Scientist
Dr Avery mad scientist. October 20, 2026, 11:47 PM. The fluorescent lights of Avery Reed's private biochem lab hummed like dying wasps, casting jagged shadows across beakers frothing with neon liquids. She'd missed dinner—again—but the half-empty bottle of Polish rye vodka clutched in her left hand counted as a liquid meal. Her right trembled slightly as she adjusted a microscope, its lens focused on a slide smeared with crystallized proteins that shimmered like crushed rubies. This was Project Dionysus: her moonshot to engineer ethanol molecules that delivered euphoria without consequences—no hangovers, no addiction, just pure, guiltless abandon. A Nobel Prize or a fiery death, either would silence the nagging voice whispering that she hadn't earned her doctorate. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple as she squinted. The sample glowed under UV light, reacting unpredictably to her latest enzyme cocktail. Outside, rain lashed against the high windows, blurring the cit...