One day there was an accident in Joseph S.’ laboratory and he noticed the whole room filled with a brown vapour and a pungent smell. Joseph crawled to the window and opened it so the vapour could float out. When the air in the room became more clear he looked around to find the contamination source. On the desks there were many broken vials, but one stood out. One that used to be filled with a red liquid known as bromine.

Joseph’s life flashed before his eyes. He knew that if in fact he inhaled bromine vapour then he was done for. In a moment of panic he started coughing as if he wanted to clear his lungs of this murderous substance.

And to his surprise, he did.

With each cough a small portion of the vapour left his mouth and flew out the window. Soon Joseph’s lungs were free of bromine and he could freely breathe again.

He then noticed there was more vapour gathering in the corner of the room. Joseph ran from the window and waved his hand as if he wanted to direct the vapour to fly out.

And it somehow formed a narrow stream and left the room.

“What is going on?” Joseph asked himself.

He tried to analyse everything that happened. Somehow every time he wanted the vapour to move it did move. Was Joseph S. suddenly able to control the matter with will alone?

Joseph pointed at the broken bromine vial and tried to move it up. But it wouldn’t move an inch. So maybe the object had to be very light? He once again pointed at the vial and tried moving the bromine leftovers. Again, not even an inch. But Joseph clearly saw the vapour responding to his commands. So maybe it had to be gas?

Joseph glanced around his laboratory. He found many gas cylinders to be broken from the accident. It looked like the aftermath of something massive. Joseph had no way of remembering what it was, but he felt glad he survived it.

He found an unbroken cylinder of oxygen. That gave him an idea. He took the cylinder to the test chamber and placed it in the corner. In the opposite corner he placed a lit petrol lighter.

“Alright. The final test,” said Joseph S.

After tightly closing the test chamber he focused on the oxygen in the cylinder. The idea was to open the valve using only the pressure from the gas and leading it into the fire. Joseph concentrated as much as he could.

And soon the valve may have not quite opened, but got shot out for sure. And the chamber got full of pure oxygen turning into a ball of flames.

Joseph couldn’t believe what he had witnessed. He actually obtained the power to control gas with his thoughts. At first he didn’t know what to think of that. But then his mouth formed a wide grin. He knew exactly how to use his new abilities.

Because, you see… Joseph S. has had something wicked on his mind for a long long time.

Joseph’s hometown, Geneva, is a beautifully looking city characterised by its cosmopolitan population and a huddle of high class banks used by millionaires. Every day millions of francs change their owners in a complicated system combining informatics and economics. Everything standing on feet of clay supported by a reserve supposed to be just enough. Remove the reserve and everything will collapse.

And Joseph S. really wanted the system to collapse.

He had to admit he hated millionaires. He wished to ask them a simple question. What makes you deserve your wealth? He did not believe they actually worked for their status. He did not believe using others’ work and luck to be ways to make yourself worthy. And he wanted to communicate that.

Of course he believed there were those who genuinely worked for their treasures. But in his mind they were a minority not even deserving of calling them vocal. Joseph only cared about the unfair majority and their hubris.

The plan was simple on paper. Break into the bank, steal the reserve, get out and repeat until emptying all the banks in the city. Of course it had to be difficult given all the security measures in the banks.

But Joseph found his newfound powers to be a great cheat tool. And with them in consideration he tried to develop a plan that couldn’t fail.

Joseph S. was playing with his new powers and a small cloud of diimide. He tried to concentrate on making a plan. He looked at the city map. All the banks were marked with blue pins. Except for one marked with a red one just south of Lake Geneva.

“That will do,” thought Joseph. “Now let’s figure out how to get in and out.”

The plan for a robbery should consist of breaking in, extracting the money and getaway. And every piece of the puzzle should fit perfectly.

Joseph already had an idea for how to escape. He already knew that he could control the flow of gas. Therefore it should be possible for him to escape with a paraglide.

It was also easy for Joseph to get in. If he used some tranquilising gas it would be easy to bypass security.

The problem was with the in between. The police would come in wearing gas masks. That meant he had to find a way of protecting himself without reliance on gas.

 And then it hit him. What if it could be something he would produce from gas? Of course S. wouldn’t be able to control it. But if he could cause artificial reactions in gases he could theoretically create anything he wanted.

“That’s an idea worth trying out,” he thought.

Joseph took two tanks, one filled with hydrogen and one with oxygen and placed them in the test chamber. He opened the valves and closed the chamber.

“Let’s see if I can do this,” he said.

Joseph raised his hand and thought about the gases combining. And indeed a lot of water filled the chamber. Joseph was surprised.

“Now I know I can combine gases,” he said. “Let’s see if I can separate them.”

He took a deep breath so his lungs would fill with air. While breathing out he tried to pull the carbon out of the air leaving his mouth. On his hand there appeared a small lump of the black nonmetal.

“Now this is interesting,” said Joseph. “And I think I know how I could use that. Well… It’s time to train.”

There came the time of the heist. Joseph S., dressed in a white coat over a black skin tight costume, heavy boots and a balaclava, walked into the bank with a fire extinguisher and a metal cutting torch. He was waiting a long time for this moment. He finally could expose the hubris of the rich.

He walked into the bank and every person inside froze. They were waiting for him to announce this was a robbery. They all knew it instinctively.

Joseph stayed silent. He felt too proud to make such an announcement. Instead he simply dropped two vials on the floor.

People in the bank started panicking and trying to run away. But one after one they collapsed. The vials broken by Joseph were filled with chloroform and he was pushing it into their lungs. One of the clerks managed to hit the alarm button before she succumbed. Joseph noticed this, but did not actually care. He was sure he would cross every obstacle using his vast arsenal of gases. In fact he was excited about a challenge.

After everybody fell Joseph collected the not yet absorbed chloroform and went to the storage area.

Soon a bunch of guards stood in his way and ordered him to freeze. Joseph simply pushed the leftover chloroform into them. They all simply fell down just like the people in the lobby. Joseph left them there and searched for the reserve safe.

And there it was. The safe was inviting Joseph to break through its shining door. His goal was just a few steps away. He started blasting the door with the torch. The process was slow, but Joseph felt he had to finish it. He came too far to give up.

“Freeze!” he heard behind him.

In the corner of his eye he saw some police officers. It was time for a little surprise he was training for a long time. He removed the safety pin from the fire extinguisher and shot around himself. It released a stream of carbon dioxide. Joseph carefully moved its particles so they would form very thin layers. Then he began pulling the oxygen out of them leaving carbon to form domes.

Graphene. Atom thin sheets of carbon. One of the strongest materials known to mankind. And Joseph made multiple sheets that could successfully keep the police busy for a long time.

Joseph S. allowed himself to laugh.  He knew nothing could stop him this time. Ruining the lives of greedy people was getting closer and closer. Joseph returned to cutting the safe door. He managed to cut out an arc of ten degrees. Twenty degrees. Thirty. Forty.

Suddenly the torch started flickering. Off and on. Off and on. Joseph dropped the torch. He noticed his hands twitching with increasing frequency. And the twitching was spreading.

The first thing the anti-terrorist team encountered after tearing through the graphene domes was a gust of air escaping it. And then they found unconscious Joseph S. in critical condition.

The man who wanted to make people aware of their hubris fell because of his own hubris. Joseph was so sure he had the perfect plan that he forgot to take oxygen poisoning into consideration.

But wasn’t it for the best? Even if he managed to crumble the stability of the rich it would be the lower classes who would suffer the most.