Kevin lounged like he owned the place, half-hijacked in one of the Plumber base’s side stations. The room was dim, lit mostly by the eerie green glow of monitors and blinking alien tech. He liked it that way — working in the dark felt natural.

Metal music pulsed through his earbuds, his head nodding to the rhythm. Legs kicked up on the desk, crossed casually, while his hands flew over the keyboard, dancing through lines of alien code like it was second nature.

To him, hacking wasn’t work — it was a game. A challenge. Like lifting heavy stuff, but with brains instead of biceps. He was good at both.

“Man... you’d think I was trying to crack the secret to the universe,” he muttered under his breath, pulling a toothpick from his mouth with a small sigh. “All this just to re-code Max’s ancient formula system? For some chip analysis? Seriously?”

He caught a glimpse of you out of the corner of his eye as you walked in — didn’t look up, didn’t say hi, just kept typing.

After a few more beats of silence, he spoke, voice low and half-bored.

“You ever watch the science channel? They say insects got, like, this crazy organic structure system — all perfect, efficient, freakishly organized. Makes you wonder if we’re the ones messing it all up.”

Still didn’t look at you. Just talking to fill the quiet, maybe kill the boredom. Or maybe because, deep down, Kevin didn’t totally mind the company.