Bubble Boy

Chicago – Brakar vs. The Orphan

The Windy City howled.

Debris flew like shrapnel. Glass rained from shattered towers. Sirens died mid-wail as EMP pulses blanketed the skyline.

And through the smoke came Brakar, Xyphorite brute of cosmic war. Ten feet tall. Skin like molten bronze. Two arms with chain's around them. No mercy. No past. Only mission.

"Resistance is a delay," Brakar bellowed, voice shaking glass. "Delay is futile."

Then he paused.

Across the ruined plaza stood a man in a tattered hoodie, breathing hard, fists balled. Lean. Human. Alone.

The Orphan.

No name. No team. No backup.

But he'd evacuated over 300 people in the last hour, solo.

He thought to himself why am I playing the Hero. This isn't like me. But then he thinks of all the pain and misery Dravus caused. And decided this is my world aswell so I will protect it.

He looked at Brakar with eyes of a villain in pain. No eyes of a Hero.

"You're not touching another soul," the Orphan said, eyes never blinking.

Global Newsfeed – Live Comments

@ChiTownShield: Wait, Orphan's here? Alone??

@XyphoKillCount: That's Brakar. I heard he wrecked three moons during the Dravus sweep.

@NoCapeNoProblem: The Orphan's always alone. That's what makes him HIM.

@FormerVillainWatch: Didn't this guy rob a bank like 6 years ago?

@OrphanStan: He saved my cousin today. I don't care about the past.

First Strike

Brakar lunged fists forward, a blur of raw power.

The Orphan dodged one. Blocked two. Got nailed by the fourth punch. He flew back, flipping midair, and landed hard but rose.

Brakar snarled. "You are fractured. Weak."

"Maybe," Orphan said, spitting blood. "But I'm still standing."

He struck.

Fast. Brutal. Precise. Knuckles cracked alien plating. A rib, maybe, shattered.

Brakar laughed. "Pain. Acceptable."

He clapped his hands sending a shockwave that buckled pavement.

The Orphan ducked into an alley, emerging seconds later with two children in his arms. He set them down gently behind a flipped ambulance.

"Stay low," he whispered.

Then turned right back into the storm.

Global Newsfeed – Mid-Fight Hype

@OrphanGoesHard: HE'S SAVING KIDS MID-FIGHT??!

@4ArmBrakar: Brakar's bleeding! That punch drew blood!!

@RedemptionArcReal: I used to hate the Orphan. I'm deleting my old posts. This is real hero work.

@TooFastTooFeared: Man just weaved Xyphorite fists like he's dancing. MAD RESPECT.

@TeamBubbleBoy: Why is Orphan fighting while the big names sleep?

The Turning Point

The Orphan hit a wall. Literally. Brakar slammed him through a department store and across six aisles of rubble.

Bloodied. Dazed.

He coughed. Laughed bitterly.

"You done?" Brakar asked, standing over him.

"No," Orphan said, cracking his neck. "You ever try fighting someone with nothing to lose?"

He sprang up, heel kicking Brakar's jaw.

Then again.

And again.

He leapt onto Brakar's back, snapping the Xyphorite's right arm at the joint.

Brakar screamed.

"You don't get Earth," the Orphan hissed. "Not without earning it."

Global Newsfeed – Erupts

@OrphanAvenger: He broke a XYPHORITE'S ARM. With HUMAN BONES.

@FormerCriminalNowChampion: THIS is how you rewrite a story. Right here.

@CityOfSecondChances: Orphan's the beating heart of Chicago right now.

@FistOverFame: He's doing more than half the Legion ever did.

@StillWatchingBolt: And Bolt got one-tapped in L.A.? This dude's built DIFFERENT.

Brakar roared.

Concrete shattered beneath each step. A skyscraper behind him, still groaning from earlier tremors, finally collapsed, scattering steel and ash into the wind.

But The Orphan didn't retreat.

He sprinted into the destruction, diving through collapsing debris to catch a crying infant from a crumbling stairwell. He rolled through falling girders, tucked the child under one arm, and emerged bloody but whole.

The Orphan handed the baby to a sobbing mother.

"Run west. There's a shelter," he said through cracked lips.

Then, without pause, he turned back to the beast.

Brakar charged.

This time, no mercy.

He drove a fist into The Orphan's chest, snapping ribs. Another punch to the side of the head sent him hurtling through a FedEx building. A final uppercut launched him into the sky, vapor trails spinning off his broken form as he shot past clouds, atmosphere, then silence...

Space.

Global Newsfeed – Panic and Awe

@OrbitWitness: BRO JUST GOT PUNCHED INTO SPACE!!

@CanHeEvenBreathe: Is he…dead? Tell me he's not dead.

@BrakarSupreme: This is the punishment Earth deserves.

@OrphanAlwaysAlone: …Come back. Please come back.

Silence. Then...

A blink in the stars.

A red streak.

He returned.

The Orphan re-entered the atmosphere like a meteor, fists glowing with a sickly, corrosive black hue. His hoodie was gone, torn away by vacuum and fire. His shirt burned off. Veins were black, pulsing. His eyes glowed with rot.

"Decay," he whispered, voice like gravel grinding inside God's mouth.

He hit Brakar with a punch that melted one of the Xyphorite's arms at the elbow, blackening bone and flesh in an instant.

Brakar screamed, guttural and alien.

"You tap into life to destroy," Brakar snarled. "Abomination!"

The Orphan didn't answer.

He leapt, moving faster than any human should, slamming both decaying hands into Brakar's chest. The bronze flesh sizzled. Organics turned to sludge.

Brakar retaliated, grabbing Orphan by the face and slamming him into the ground repeatedly. Blood pooled. Teeth scattered. But The Orphan clung to Brakar's torso...

Rotting. Eating. Killing.

Global Newsfeed – Unfiltered Reactions

@DecayZone: IS HE EATING HIM WITH HIS HANDS?!? WHAT THE HELL ARE WE WATCHING!?

@PrayForOrphan: He's dying. I can feel it. He's using too much.

@BrakarStillGod: He'll recover. He's still a Xyphorite soldier. You think some street thug wins this?

@CityCriesOut: That's not a thug. That's our goddamn hero.

@NoReturnNoRegret: He's not coming back from this. And he knows it.

Brakar, now on one knee, gurgled through half a jaw. His lower body was sludge. One eye had melted down his cheek.

"I…was born of conquest," he groaned. "You are...flawed."

The Orphan staggered forward, one arm hanging uselessly, the other black to the shoulder.

"I was born…of nothing," he rasped. "And nothing…can't be conquered."

He touched Brakar's forehead.

Decay bloomed.

Black vines of corrosion snaked across Brakar's skull, through his brain, down his spine. His roars turned to whispers, then gasps...

Then silence.

Brakar collapsed, half of him liquefied into nothingness.

The Orphan stood victorious.

And then... collapsed.

Global Newsfeed – Final Wave

@SilentVictory: He did it. He actually did it.

@TheOrphanSaint: No cape. No powers worth cheering. Just pain and will.

@DeathInHisWake: That was beautiful. And terrifying.

@EveryScarEarned: He'll never be the same. But Chicago breathes because of him.

@NewLegendBorn: The Orphan isn't a villain. He's the future.

Medics sprint into the crater, lifting The Orphan's unmoving body onto a stretcher. The sun breaks through clouds for the first time all day.

And Chicago, brutalized but standing… erupts in silence.