The thing about the Lab in the world of Science! is, they are only the good guys by a specific set of morality guidelines – specifically, Liam’s, the head of the Lab.
On the other hand, while they may not be the good guys, in a place where human/rose hybrids are possible, there are people that are worse than them.
Super(*)-villains are a thing in the world of Science!, although there are not so obvious as the comics would have you believe. There are people who have learned how to wire brains to accept and manipulate computer data: they are hackers the likes of which the normal police and FBI have a very hard time catching. There are people who use pheromones or simple mind-control drugs to drive their Ponzi schemes. There are people who implant chips into kidnap victims and use them as unknowing Trojan Horses, or, worse, sell them on the black market.
The Lab tests on orphans. There are always more orphans to be tested on, because there are scientists who release flesh-eating bacteria into the wild for fun, people who make sniperbots for giggles, people who incite riots just to cover a bank robbery.
And if that sounds bleak, well, in some places it is. But there are heroes, as well: the FBI has an Unusual Crimes division. Police have their own scientists. The Red Cross has begun keeping simple gas masks and earplugs on hand at all locations, and, more than that, sedatives; they also have holding locations for those suspected to be under the influence of mind-control… something. And, in every city, there are at least five people who have either biological or mechanical enhancement, who can withstand almost anything the villains can throw at them. They assist the police, the FBI, and the Red Cross on a consultant basis, and keep each other honest.
And under all of this, Liam’s Lab – and other like it – are churning out cures for things like cancer right alongside flesh-eating roses.
Written to kelkyag‘s prompt here.
I still need lots more worldbuilding prompts! Check it out!
(*) Also, possibly, as originally written, Supper-villains..
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I think their world is scarier than ours, but I’m really not sure. Less predictable, at least …
It may be scarier. It has some definite benefits. But it has a lot of terrifying negatives.