Emily, tech genius.

The accidental discovery of a few new elements with extraordinary properties had shaken the world. A new field of research called super science had emerged to study their applications. Supercomputers fitting in one's pocket, robots or flying cars were just around the corner.

More so, it had been discovered that exposure to those elements could trigger a reaction in a small percentage of the population. Without any prior scientific knowledge or training, they showcased an immense boost in intellect focused on technology and a near instinctive understanding of the properties of the new elements or their applications.

Dubbed tech geniuses or mad scientist by some, they received some money and facilitated access to those rare crystals and metals as well as existing restricted tech. In exchange they would hand over the patents to their discoveries to the government and receive a generous stipend for each successful one.

Discovery of these geniuses was paramount and every teenager was exposed to crystal to try to trigger the change (the first effects would be noticeable at 16, fully taking root at 18).

Like all other young people, K-T and his twin sister Emily have been tested, but despite their close genetic makeup, only Emily reacted to the crystals. She had become a tech genius.

The grant she got included building her a home lab, but she thought it was too inconvenient to have it be in the basement. She had convinced her parents to take over KT's room by taking down the wall between their rooms. K-T was offered to live in a smaller room they would create in the basement, but since the grant wouldn't cover this kind of work unrelated to a genius, K-T soon discovered that while his furniture had been taken downstairs no part of the room had been walled off. He now had a very big room but very little privacy, since anyone could go down at any point to retrieve items from the basement or the small locked laundry room. The laundry room was kept locked at all times since K-T had flooded the basement and damaged a washer a few years back by trying to do the laundry himself, in fact he was the only person in his family not to have a key for it (even his aunt Jill who didn't live with them had one.)

Exiled underground with his sister praised by all, there was another detail about this living arrangement that made everything worse.