Bubble Boy

Interior – Main Lab Floor – Continuous

The lights strobed red, sirens wailing as thick steel slammed shut behind Troy and Gladiator. Trapped.

Above, Eidolon turned away from the glass. "Enjoy your reunion," he said with a chuckle, disappearing into shadow. "I have... another experiment to run."

The screens went dark.

Then, a hiss, pressurized steam from a hidden chamber, cut through the noise.

Interior – Containment Vault – Seconds Later

A panel in the floor split apart, and from the rising mist, he emerged.

Broad-shouldered, hollow-eyed, shirtless with jagged scars lining his grey-toned skin. A black mask covered the lower half of his face, and the veins along his arms pulsed with black.

The Orphan.

Gladiator's blade hummed to life.

Troy's bubbles shimmered in the air, swirling defensively around them.

"So... he's your pet now?" Gladiator asked.

Troy shrugged. "Not housebroken, apparently."

"Maybe we can teach him some manners."

The Orphan charged an animalistic blur of speed and strength.

Gladiator met him head-on, steel clashing with skin that shouldn't have held. Troy launched a flurry of bubbles, small, fast, detonating on impact like flashbangs. The Orphan stumbled.

They pressed together like a seasoned duo, back-to-back. Gladiator slashed low, Troy sent shockwaves of compressed air under the Orphan's feet, lifting him just enough for her to slam him across the chamber.

Gladiator grinned, breathing heavy. "Damn, you're actually getting good at this."

"You noticed?" Troy replied, voice teasing.

She winked. "Hard not to. It's the way you send bubbles to protect me like a gift."

"Wouldn't want you breaking," he said, eyes flicking to her lips.

Her smirk faltered, just for a second. "Careful, Bubble Boy. I bite."

"I don't pop easy."

They moved again, heat rising with the rhythm of combat. The Orphan struggled to keep up, grunting, cracking the floor each time he missed.

Gladiator dodged a heavy swing and twisted behind him. "So, what's your story, sad guy?" she called. "Why the mask? Bad breath?"

Troy caught the next strike, cushioning it with a massive bubble that vibrated on impact. "Tell us who made you like this? "

But then the Orphan stopped.

His head twitched. Then, he laughed.

Low. Broken. Like static from a cracked radio.

"You think this is a fight?" he growled. "This was warm-up."

His body shifted.

Veins bulged. Bones cracked.

Then he moved and neither of them saw it coming.

Troy was slammed into a console, sparks flying. Gladiator's blade was caught mid-swing and bent in his hand.

"You're fast," the Orphan whispered, face inches from hers. "But I've fought speedsters. I was built to kill gods."

He grabbed her by the throat and threw her through a glass wall.

Troy rose, blood on his lip. "What… are you?"

The Orphan advanced. "I was a no-one. A failed experiment. A body no one claimed. Then they enhanced me… with the DNA of Legion."

Gladiator crawled up, eyes wide. "What did you say?"

"They gave me Bolt's legs. Void's eyes. Mr. Mar's strength, invincibility and speed. Gladiator's fighting skills. Seaman's intellegence."

He raised a fist and slammed it down.

Troy barely bubbled fast enough to survive.

"I'm their sins stitched together," he snarled. "A living rejection."

"Why...why are you helping Eidolon?" Troy gasped, crawling away.

"Because he didn't lie to me. He didn't give me hope. He gave me power."

He turned toward Gladiator. "And I'm going to show you what their 'heroes' really create."

The Orphan smiled under the mask.

And for the first time in the lab, Gladiator looked afraid.

Interior – Main Lab Floor

The Orphan's laughter lingered like poison in the air.

Then he moved.

Faster than before, faster than either of them could react.

He struck Troy first, his fist slamming into the boy's chest and driving him into the ground with such force it cracked the reinforced floor beneath. A deep crater bloomed around Troy's body as if the lab itself gasped.

Gladiator screamed his name but it was too late.

The Orphan spun toward her, eyes dead, smile wide.

She barely got her sword up before he was on her.

His hand latched around her throat, lifting her off the ground with ease. Her legs kicked, her sword clattered to the floor.

He squeezed.

"Where's his power now?" the Orphan snarled, eyes flicking back to Troy's unmoving form. "What he showed on that little livestream..."

Gladiator choked, claws scrabbling at his wrist.

"I guess he only goes all out for his friends. You?" He leaned closer, voice venomous. "You're not one of them."

Then he grinned behind his mask.

"I'm going to enjoy this."

Gladiator's eyes widened as she felt the pressure build then snap.

Her scream echoed off the walls as her arm cracked, twisted in the Orphan's grip.

And in that moment, Troy looked up.

His breath trembled.

He saw her eyes, filled with something he had never seen before.

Fear.

A flash of rage sparked deep inside.

His fingers clenched in the dirt.

His head lifted.

And then his eyes glowed red.

Bubbles began to rise. Not the playful spheres that shimmered like soap.

These were dense. Darker. Vibrating with force.

The air around Troy warped as the crater trembled, his power surging in unnatural pulses, like a heartbeat syncing with fury.

The Orphan turned, sensing it.

"What...?"

Troy stood.

Hair lifted in the windless lab. His body steaming, his wounds sealing with glowing traces of light through his skin.

The bubbles circled him like a storm halo.

His voice, when it came, was calm.

"You shouldn't have touched her."

The lab dimmed. Shadows bent away from him. Even the sirens stuttered.

And for the first time...

The Orphan looked unsure.