Everything Burns
Johnny Storm let out a pained sigh, and stared out of the apartment window as rain pounded against the glass, it slid down the window and tricked to the depths below. Thunder boomed across the sky and lightning cracked across the sky, briefly lighting up the dim apartment.
A Storm watched a storm.
The Human Torch pulled his gaze away from the window, a puzzled and slightly annoyed expression on his handsome features. Reed, Susie and Johnny had betrayed him. How dare they accuse him of being a reckless, thoughtless, arrogant member of the team! Johnny had thought that after the 'Dr. Doom' fiasco, that the team were solid. That they were indeed, a team.
But no, apparently Johnny had 'endangered citizens' a short while after. That he had almost killed a man. Killed him my ass! If it wasn't for Johnny, the man would've fallen to his death if The Human Torch hadn't intervened. If it wasn't for him 'flaming on' and catching the guy. How the hell could he have known that the heat he caused the man to almost burn alive.
How could he have been so stupid?
Stupid, stupid, Johnny Storm. That's what he was, a foolish young man that didn't' deserve what he had. He had never worked for anything.
Johnny pulled a coat over his shoulders and disappeared out of the apartment.
The acrid stench of something burning had begun to flood the apartment. On the floor, by the window, Johnny Storm's Fantastic Four suit had been set ablaze.
- - -
The boy stumbled out of the alleyway, thick crimson liquid dribbling from his busted lip; he wiped the blood away with the back of his hand, grimacing as he did so. Rain clung to his exposed skin, chilling his nerves, and luckily the pain from his wounds. The short sleeved, dirty white tee-shirt didn't combat the icy cold though, although he didn't have much else. The rain was almost a god send though, it washed away the faint smell of sweat and the more heavy stench of blood from him though. The water plastered his brown hair to his head, and his blue eyes started aimlessly at the ground beneath him. With a groan, he fell forward, hitting the floor with a dull thump.
The next thing he knew, he was being lifted up. The boy's eyes slowly flickered open, he moaned painfully as his eyes focused.
"Hey, are you okay?"
The fifteen year old bolted, squirming out of the man's grasp and shrinking back against the soaked wall behind him.
"Hey, no, chill out, kid," The man, Johnny, said slowly, softly. "What's your name?"
"..C-Chris," Chris said quietly, barely audible over the storm.
"Well, Chris, that was quite a nasty fall you had there," Johnny said gently. "You've busted your lip pretty badly…"
"…I didn't hurt myself from falling," Chris replied, whispered.
Johnny's eyes flashed in apparent victory, but unlike his usual self, he didn't press on the issue any more.
"..You look cold, here, take this," Johnny said, pulling his sodden jacket off and laying it over the boy's shoulders, frowning slightly as he flinched.
"Come on, let me take you someplace warm."
Chris looked up at Johnny and for once in his life, he accepted someone's help.
To be continued.
