Bubble Boy

Exterior – Nightingale Academy – Morning

The sun rose lazily above the city, casting soft golden hues across the sky. Students flooded through the gates of Nightingale Academy, laughter and footsteps filling the campus grounds.

Annie walked alone along the sidewalk, earbuds in, her green hair bouncing with each step. Her backpack was covered in stickers, mushrooms, vines, and a bubble boy pin Sam gave her. She smiled as she thought of Troy.

She passed a group of students gossiping.

"Did you see the Legion Tower broadcast last night?"

"Troy and Gladiator were sparring, dude's insane."

Annie rolled her eyes with a smile. "Of course they're talking about him."

She turned the corner...

...and froze.

A man stood in the alley. Pale long white hair. Glowing red eyes. Dressed in a black suit with strength pulsing faintly across his skin.

Eidolon.

Before she could scream, a vine burst from her hand...

...but it was crushed midair. Her legs buckled.

Everything went dark.

Interior – Unknown Location – Later

A metallic hum.

Cold steel.

Annie's eyes fluttered open. She was strapped to a slanted table in the center of a sterile white lab. Her arms restrained, vines twitching uselessly around her wrists. Tubes ran from her veins into a monstrous machine that hummed beside her.

Across from her, another table. Another pod.

Eidolon climbed into it, wincing as he removed his shirt. His torso was scarred, deep burns carving across his ribs, shoulder, and chest, old wounds, raw and never healed.

He looked at her, not with malice, but weariness.

"Starman did this to me , his own son." he said softly. "He called me clone before tearing me apart like I was an animal."

Annie's voice cracked. "What does this have to do with me?"

"You don't understand your power," Eidolon replied. "You grow flowers and vines… but your power is more than that. You have life in your veins. Dr. Vladimir saw it. That's why he built this."

He gestured at the machine that now sparked with green energy, reacting to Annie's pulse.

"You can heal. Even something like me."

Her eyes widened. "You want me to fix… that? You're insane!"

"I don't want to die," Eidolon whispered. "Not like this. Not forgotten. Not broken."

He lowered himself into the adjacent machine. The core lit up between them.

The moment he connected, Annie screamed.

Her body began to glow, an eerie, vibrant green.

Her vines thrashed against the restraints.

Eidolon clenched his teeth as the energy surged into him, his wounds beginning to mend.

But Annie...

She screamed louder.

Her veins lit up like roots under her skin.

The machine roared to life, sparks dancing.

Outside the lab, alarms blared.

But inside...

The healing had begun.

And so had the pain.

Interior – Unknown Lab – Minutes Later

The machine hissed. The glow faded. The lab dimmed.

Eidolon stepped out of the healing chamber, taller, muscular , his skin no longer pale but glowing faintly with a healthy flush. The scars that once marred his torso had vanished, replaced by unblemished flesh. His eyes still burned red, but now with resolve and a faint green glow.

He looked down at Annie.

She was slumped in the restraints, pale and drenched in sweat. Her breathing was shallow, her once vibrant green hair now duller at the ends. The vines on her arms hung limp, twitching only slightly.

Gently, he unstrapped her and lifted her into his arms.

"You'll live," he murmured. "But you gave too much."

He placed her on a reclining bed nearby, hooking an IV into her arm. Her eyes fluttered.

"I… I feel like I'm dying…" she whispered hoarsely.

"You're not." He handed her a small vial filled with glowing green liquid. "This will help you recover some strength. It's synthesized from your own blood. Painful irony, I know."

She took it shakily, sipping.

He sat beside her. The weight of what he had done, or what he had become, hung thick in the air.

"I didn't want this," he said quietly. "I didn't want to be a monster."

Annie coughed. "You aren't a monster but why did you become the leader of the Syndicate?"

Eidolon shocked by her words even after everything he did she didn't hate him.

Eidolon sighed. "Because they saw me as more than just a mistake. Starman discarded me. The Legion wanted me dead. Dr. Vladimir offered purpose."

"You kidnapped me."

"I did. And I hate myself for it."

A long silence.

Annie looked at him, really looked at him. "You said you're Troy's brother."

"I was created in a lab from Starman and his mother's DNA, so technically yes. I am his older brother but I was raised without love like a lab experiment."

Before she could respond...

BOOM!

The wall behind them exploded, smoke and dust spraying in every direction. Sirens screamed. Eidolon leapt to his feet, arms raised instinctively.

Out of the smoke...

Bubble Boy.

His eyes were wild. Anger twisted his usually calm face into something feral. A shimmering forcefield surrounded him like a second skin. His hands pulsed with blue energy, his body crackling.

"Troy," Annie gasped weakly, relief washing over her.

He didn't look at her yet. His gaze was locked on Eidolon.

"You bastard," Troy hissed. "You touched her."

Eidolon raised a hand. "Troy..."

"DON'T SAY MY NAME!"

Troy's bubble aura flared, pushing back the debris. "You touched her," he repeated, venom in every syllable.

"I didn't hurt her..."

"You drained her life, you piece of trash! You think that doesn't count?!"

Annie coughed again. "Troy… he just wanted to live..."

That snapped his attention to her. His expression softened. "Annie…"

Then it hardened again as he turned to Eidolon. "That doesn't give him the right to drain you like a blood bag. And you...you...hurt her."

The air vibrated.

Bubbles swirled wildly around him, glowing brighter than ever.

Eidolon took a step back. "I didn't know she was yours."

"She's not mine. She's hers. And she didn't deserve this."

Troy's foot slammed down.

The floor cracked.

"You're not walking away from this."