K, so I made it. I'm not sure I've properly adhered to the prompt really, but this was the best I could do. I needed to think of which character I had was interesting enough to warrant any examination and the only way I could examine him would be to twist some of his stories into a new perspective. As I mentioned, I don't believe in "character creation" and I think the idea of a "character science" lends too much credence to what is mostly time-wasting bullshit among so-called writers who never get anything done.
So I spent a day digging through the old stories of an old friend of mine. A utility who I've used before here, and who I will no doubt use over and over in the future and compiled some brief observations from an outside perspective about him. Ultimately, I'm not sure how interesting it even is. Which is kind of my point, though. Character only matters in context and the context is everything.
Without further ado . . .
I told you he'd be back.
The Top Secret Dossier of Atom Bryant
From the desk of the Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Priority: High.
The following documents have been compiled over the course of six years from the investigations of several different agencies. It has only recently come to light that the incidents these files relate to are connected by a single figure. As of yet, it would be difficult if not impossible to bring any legal action against him. It is, in fact, entirely possible that he has not committed any crime at all making this dossier of questionable legal nature.
What we do know is that this man is extraordinarily dangerous. All agents should exercise extreme caution in their dealings with the mad doctor Atom Bryant.
Adam Bryant first appears in government files as a material witness in an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration against a pharmaceutical company. Many details of the case, including names of witnesses and the company itself, are sealed and were unavailable for this file. From the documents we were able to obtain, we were able to piece together that Bryant was working as a post-graduate intern on a research team developing a new cancer treatment at the time of the investigation. Bryant was not implicated in any of the company's various infractions given his low-level access and brief involvement, however two details overlooked at the time bear mentioning in these reports in light of his more recent activities. The first was the death of a female test subject with whom Bryant was possibly involved romantically. Her identity is among the sealed files but various off-hand comments in witness testimony places them together. She succumbed to her disease during the course of treatment.
The second item was a singular comment made by Bryant himself during one interview. From the transcript:
Bryant, Adam: There is no doubt in my mind that the treatment we developed works.
At the time, such a remark made by a low-level intern was considered to have no bearing on the case when weighed against various experts involved in the investigation, but given Bryant's remarkable scientific mind and his following accomplishments it seems possible that he knew the truth of the matter and this casts the death of the unknown female subject, as well as other deaths during the study, into new light.
Following this case Bryant abandoned his involvement in pharmaceuticals and pursued his doctorate in pure biology. He graduated with highest honors, writing his thesis on the various regenerative properties of living matter. For a time he vanished into private research along these lines with a peculiar focus on rapidly regenerating plants.
When he next entered the public eye, he had adopted his current name and began sporting the peculiar shade of green hair that has become one of his most identifiable features. At this time, he publicly announced his intention to cure death with what he had learned. This proclamation was met with scorn by the scientific community and the mass media.
In the autumn of that year, Bryant came to an impasse with the Center for Disease Control over alleged use of several highly infectious viruses in his research. Each of the strains in question were lethal by nature and tightly controlled. The question of how he might have obtained samples of these was never properly settled and any criminal investigation was thwarted before it could begin. It is the belief of the Bureau at this juncture that he was capable of synthesizing these himself and very likely did so and while the connection is tenuous we have come to believe that this research was linked to the the so-called "undeath outbreak" that ran through retirement homes in the winter of that same year, leaving aged and has resulted in a remarkable increase of comatose patients of advanced age living well past their presumed expiration dates.
Bryant's next contender was the Department of Energy, who intervened when Bryant set up his private laboratory complex. The power requirements of his extremely secretive advanced research center were staggering and his proposal for a privately owned fission-based generator for his personal use was troubling. Bryant, however, had assistance within the government and despite the DoE's objections is now the owner and proprietor of the most powerful nuclear power plant in North America and all of this is, evidently, above-board and beyond reproach.
While all of this together is disconcerting, Dr. Bryant has never openly violated the law nor has he ever been anything but cooperative with law enforcement agencies. He has, in fact, often been of assistance in cases of what can only be described as 'scientific crimes.' Since the opening of his laboratories he has earned a staggering number of degrees in various fields from multiple institutions, has pioneered many advanced technologies primarily used in medical fields, and is considered an expert in everything from archaeology to zoology and most of the more obscure sciences of lengthy name in between the two.
He remains reclusive despite all of this and is generally an outcast of the scientific community for his continuously and increasingly radical ideas.
It is only the most recent development that brings us to the critical point of having to decide whether Doctor Atom Bryant is a criminal or even a terrorist.
Immigration and Customs enforcement has noted a number of highly sensitive shipments of what appears to be materials suitable for weapons of mass destruction to his laboratories from foreign senders, many of whom appear on Interpol, Department of Homeland Security and FBI watchlists.
The nature of Bryant's work leaves what many in the government consider reasonable doubt as to whether he intends any harm to the nation or whether these parts might be used for more benevolent purposes. Indeed, it seems unlikely that he would have any interest in conventional, nuclear, chemical or biological weapons of what he would call an "ordinary nature."
Still, the suspicious circumstances demand an answer to the question: what is Atom Bryant doing or building with these materials? What need does he have for such massive power? Most importantly, for all that we've learned about his past: does anybody really know who Dr. Atom Bryant is or what he is capable of?
I fear that we will soon find out.
Evil will rise in
The Mad, Bad Doctor
ATOM BRYANT
