Bubble Boy

The Crucible trembled.

Troy's fist slammed into Starman's jaw with a crack of kinetic energy, hurling him across the training field like a cannonball. He hit the ground with a thud that rattled the reinforced foundation beneath them.

Zoe screamed silently behind the pillar, hands over her mouth.

Starman didn't get up right away.

Troy blurred forward in a streak of white-blue light, the wind snapping behind him. His boots struck the grass, then another punch, square into his father's ribs, sending him tumbling again.

"You don't get to shape her," Troy spat, panting, fists glowing. "You don't get to touch her future!"

Starman rolled to his knees, wiping dust from his face. No blood. No retaliation.

He looked up, breathing slow, steady.

"I won't fight you, son."

Troy roared and launched again.

Another earth-shaking blow drove Starman to the ground. His body cracked the hardened field in spiderweb lines. A warning klaxon flickered from the Crucible walls, sensors registering seismic disturbance.

Still, Starman didn't raise a hand.

"You made me a weapon," Troy snarled. "Not again. Never again."

He lifted his arm for another strike.

"Dad!"

Zoe shot from the shadows like a flare, eyes wild, voice shrill. She landed between them in a burst of wind and panic, arms out, blocking her grandfather with her body.

Troy halted mid-swing.

Zoe's red-glowing eyes bored into him. "Stop it!"

His breath hitched.

The glow in her irises pulsed. Bright. Dangerous. Her jaw clenched, her stance guarded. Like she wasn't just protecting Starman, like she might strike him.

"Zoe…" Troy whispered.

"You're hurting him," she said, voice shaking with rage.

"He deserves it!"

She stepped forward. "So do you, then?"

Troy flinched as if struck. Her power radiated off her now, bubbles forming and popping around her fists, heat rising in the air.

And in that moment, the way she looked at him…

It wasn't his daughter.

It was something sharper. Angrier. Something forged in fire and shadow.

"I'm not your enemy," he said softly.

Zoe didn't lower her fists.

Troy's shoulders slumped. The light around him dimmed.

He turned, saying nothing, and lifted off the ground with a gust of displaced air. In seconds, he vanished into the clouds above the Crucible.

Zoe stayed frozen in place, chest heaving.

Behind her, Starman slowly stood.

Back home, the silence was crushing.

Troy sat slumped on the living room couch, hands over his face, the television off, windows shuttered.

He didn't hear Annie enter until the couch shifted under her weight.

She handed him a cup of coffee.

He didn't drink it.

"Do I want to know?" she asked gently.

His voice was hoarse. "I hit him. Hard."

"Good."

Troy gave her a pained look.

Annie shrugged. "He probably deserved it."

"That's not what I'm afraid of."

She waited.

He lowered his hands.

"She looked at me like I was... like I was him."

Annie touched his shoulder. "She's scared. Confused."

"No. I saw it, Annie. That rage. The power in her eyes. I saw him. She wanted to hit me. She almost did."

Annie's voice dropped. "And if she had?"

"I wouldn't have stopped her."

Silence stretched between them.

Then Annie said, "She's still a child. She's still your child."

Troy leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Not for long."

Annie sighed and leaned against him.

"You're not losing her," she said. "But if you want her to trust you... you're going to have to stop treating her like you're the only one who's ever been hurt by him."

Troy closed his eyes.

And for the first time in years, he didn't feel like a hero.

He just felt like a father, scared, outmatched, and deeply, terribly human.

The city shimmered below, lights flickering like stars scattered across earth. Nightingale never truly slept, its spires hummed with energy, its skyways whispered with passing helicopters.

Zoe sat on the edge of an old observatory roof, legs dangling into the breeze. Her fists were still clenched. The glow in her eyes had dimmed, but not completely faded.

Starman sat beside her, quiet as stone, his cape trailing in the wind.

"I shouldn't have looked at him like that," Zoe said at last.

Starman glanced sideways. "No. You shouldn't have."

She bristled. "He hit you."

"I deserved it."

"Then why does it feel like I did something wrong?"

"Because he's your father," Starman said quietly. "And no matter how angry you are, he's still the man who held your hand through thunderstorms. Who taught you to ride your bike. Who made you blueberry pancakes when you were sick."

Zoe bit her lip, rage mixing with guilt. "You said you gave me purpose. You treated me like I was capable. He, he's scared of me."

"He's scared for you," Starman corrected. "And after everything I did to him, I don't blame him."

Zoe frowned. "What does that mean?"

Starman stared out over the skyline. "No one ever told you. Of course they didn't."

She looked at him.

He sighed. And began.

"I wasn't born here, Zoe. I was born on Xypho. A war-world, half light, half ruin. My real name I don't even know and I was a prince. Firstborn of the royal line, heir to an empire. But I was... different. And my parents knew that, they sent me away. So they sent me here. A child exile."

Zoe blinked. "Like... Superman?"

"Hardly." His smile didn't reach his eyes. "The government found me. Not a family. Not a farm. A lab. Cold walls. Needles. Weapons testing. They didn't raise me. They built me. Turned me into a blunt instrument."

Zoe's breath caught. "I... didn't know."

"When I broke free, I didn't run. I ascended. I became Starman. I founded the Legion. Gathered powerful beings and led them like an army. We kept order. We were justice."

His voice darkened.

"I ruled with fear. No mercy. If you killed, it was forgiven. If you questioned me, it wasn't. I executed criminals without trial. And sometimes... I executed my own."

Zoe's eyes widened.

"I killed Orion. A young aspiring hero who looked up to me. And Elemental a founding member of the Legion."

"Wait," Zoe whispered. "Orion? The Starman prodigy? He was..., he was Dad's..."

"Friend. And yes." Starman's gaze dropped. "And Elemental, I ordered him to leave a warning on Annie. He didn't stop at a warning."

Zoe's heart thundered. "The burns. Her scars. You..."

"I didn't know how bad it would be," he said, voice cracking. "I told myself it was necessary. A lesson. But there is no lesson in cruelty. There is only rot."

She couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.

"I lost everything. The Legion begin falling apart. And then... came Dravus. A scout from Xypho. He came to kill me. And he nearly did. I barely survived. Not from strength but because your father killed him. Leaving only rage and ruin."

He looked at her then, aged and tired.

"But Jace found me. Took me in. Showed me what it meant to be a hero. What it really meant. And I've tried to be better ever since."

Zoe stared.

Starman braced for her to recoil. To curse him. To fly away and never look back.

Instead, she leaned forward. Wrapped her arms around him. Held him tight.

"We all make mistakes," she whispered. "Big ones. Small ones. World-breaking ones. But if you try to fix them... that's what matters."

Starman didn't move at first.

Then, slowly, he rested a hand on her back.

For the first time in decades, his eyes stung.

The stars above Nightingale flickered on, one by one, as if watching.

And for a while, neither of them said a word.