They call her Human Torch! Chapter 6
January, 11th
"Bella dear, are you nervous?"
I looked up to see Mrs. Grim sitting across the waiting room from me, I didn't even notice when she walked in. I had been stuck in my head since my meeting with the guys an hour ago and then when I walked in and saw Mr. Lent's family already here I just tried to sit as far away as I could before things got too awkward.
"No ma'am, I have a lot to think about is all. Are you okay?"
"Yes dear don't you worry about me. I have had a lot to think about as well, you know originally I had no desire to receive any money from that vile man! All I wanted was to give my boy and Reed the memorial they deserved, one full of friends and people who loved them but then I saw how expensive all that truly is and I just can't afford it. I could have enough if it were just for Ben but I wouldn't feel right leaving Reed out of it, the poor boy always looked to me as a mother and over the years he really became a son to me as well. I remember when he was 8, he brought me some wild flowers for mothers day and he had the brightest blush on his cheeks!"
I started crying just watching her laugh while the tears rolled down her cheeks, I had never thought about how Mrs. Grim saw Mr. Richards, I should have figured she saw him grow up along side her son.
"Well in that case, you deserve to get more than whatever they give you. I thought the company had taken care of all those expenses though? They said they would."
She scoffed at what I said but I saw even more tears gather in her eyes.
"They didn't do a thing but be cruel. I had a man show up and give me two marble boxes, he said it was the ashes of- of what was left"
I immediately scooted over and put my arm around her as she broke down, she calmed down after a minute and went to the bathroom to fix herself up. I looked over when we heard someone scoff only to see Mr. Lent's widow. I had truly felt bad for that family and gave my condolences the day they had to see the video in court but week after week they proved to be the most cold people I had ever met and Mrs. Grim agreed with me, they were only here to get their share of money and I would be very surprised if they even showed up to the hearing after they got their money today. Suddenly the conference door opened and Brian stepped out.
"Bella, we need you in here."
"Why? I thought we were not allowed?"
"They want to know why you are asking for more than just money, they are not fighting it, hell they would give you whatever you wanted at this point but they just want to you to give your reasons. They are looking to see if you are just being greedy. Answer honestly and don't say a thing about money, don't you dare mention that you are not interested in your share of the money!"
I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders.
"Okay, let's go."
He nodded and led me to the conference room. A second later I thanked god I had met all of these men before. I don't think I could speak if I had not, there were like 30 of them! Even the head CEO of the bank came out, of course he did, his company was about to gain a shitload of money!
"Hi"
Well this is awkward.. they could at least say hi back, the fuckers. God why am I cussing so much in my thoughts lately? Must be the influence of all these people.
"Ms. Swan, we have heard your requests from your lawyers but now we would like to hear why you feel you deserve them."
Straight to the point. Okay.
"I wouldn't be as bold as to say that 'I deserve it' exactly but I would most certainly find a better use than others. I requested 2 things, first and foremost I asked about the formula that the company made for unstable molecules, I recently discovered that the suit I wore in the space station is the only thing in my wardrobe that I cannot burn, unstable molecules conform to my body's needs and they are resistant to the flames on my skin. If I could get the formula, I have 2 friends that are as enthusiastic about science as I and together we could use the formula to make more clothing that could last longer for me. It would be cheaper than buying more clothes every month. The second request I understand is a lot to ask for, the reason I am asking for ownership of Mr. Reed Richards' apartment is because of 3 things actually; first is that if I could gain access to his research on cosmic energy then I could maybe find more information to see if what happened to me was predicted, I have looked up as much as I could but I still have no answers, he studied cosmic energy for years before he brought the idea to Von Doom Inc. Second is that if I had ownership then I could use the lab in his apartment and finally take a sample of my own DNA, I know it was altered in the exposure to the cosmic cloud but I want to know just how much. Am I a mutant? Did the exposure give me the mutant gene or just activate the gene already in me? Maybe I'm not a mutant at all and this is all just something different. I want answers to what happened to me and unfortunately I can't trust someone else to give them my DNA so I have to conduct the tests on myself, the equipment is very expensive and I would have no where to put it anyway because the apartment I am in now is only mine until the end of the trial so the property would not only give me the equipment but it would also give me a place to live after this ordeal. My third and last reason is because these past few weeks I have gotten rather close to Mrs. Grimm and she has told me so many stories about her son and Reed growing up, I would love to be able to go into his apartment and look for any pictures of her son, of both of them, anything that she would cherish, I would love to do that for her. I feel like my reasons are not unreasonable..."
I honestly have no idea how that went, these people have the most perfect poker faces. Brian, Aaron, and Tom smiled at me and gave me the signal that I was dismissed.
"Thank you for any consideration you put into this. Excuse me."
When I walked back into the other room Mrs. Grimm looked up at me with concern.
"Did something go wrong dear? I came back and you were gone."
"No, they are still talking. I just requested 2 things and they wanted to hear my reasoning for them."
I expected her to ask what I had requested or to look at me judgmentally for requesting anything at all but she kept smiling at me and asked no questions.
"I understand, and I'm sure you have good intentions."
"Thank you, I think they are but I do have to admit that my reasoning was a bit selfish. I just want all the information I can get on cosmic energy. I can't imagine that I will find something that can fix this and if I do, I don't know if I would go through with it but I want to know about myself. I want to know if there are any deadly side effects or just anything that will affect me in the long run."
"That's normal Bella, I really hope you get whatever you asked for. And if you do find something that will take away your fire, make sure you do it for yourself and for the right reasons. You can't be fixed because you are not broken."
This woman is an angel.
"Thanks. I requested a formula that the company made that would allow me to make clothes that are not going to turn to ash like my other clothes."
"That is so great! Oh I hope you get it dear!"
"I also requested Reed's apartment. I want to know all about the research he did and his equipment would really help me study myself. I don't know if that is something you are not okay with. If there is anything in there that you want, you could take anything back."
"Oh don't fret. It's a comfort that it might go to you instead of the bank. I know you would value his most important part of his life that was his lab. He would spend endless hours in there."
"I'm relived to hear that."
We sat there for another 40 minutes and I never knew this could take so long. I hope the guys aren't fighting too much for me, I don't want to seem greedy to them. Finally Mr. Evert's assistant came out and told us we could enter the conference room. The mood was not too heavy in here but I still had no way of knowing which direction this could go, as soon as we sat down they started talking again.
"Before we begin we would like to point out that all decisions have been approved and no objections will be taken into consideration. The detailed decisions are on record and you are all free to read them, however in the sake of cutting this meeting short, we will only go over the shares of the people in this room."
With that said, they hit a button to start recording.
"The money collected from personal items came out to 1.3 billion, Personal bank accounts came to 8 million, Company money was 35 billion, and the company building was sold for 4.9 billion. All the money put together came to 49.2 billion, 50% going to the bank for their ownership of the company. The bank gets 24.6 billion and the 24.6 billion that remains is to be split evenly between the remaining people involved. Let it go on record, that means each of you will receive 2.46 billion dollars."
Fuck. Fucking shit. That's a shitload of money.
"That's it?! how do you expect me to live the rest of my life with that? How do you expect me to raise my children with that? I demand a recount! Something obviously went wrong there because my husband would have demanded more money!"
Ugh! Of course she is not satisfied! Her husband was twice her age and she was probably only using him for money! I still have not seen her shed a single tear.
"Like I said, our count is final. I would like to point out however, your late husband invested 500,000 dollars to the company just like the rest of these men, the money you are getting back is many times multiplied."
"This is shit! My whole family lost him so all my children should count in the split!"
"Oh my god you ungrateful bitch."
"Excuse me?!"
I said that out loud didn't I?
"You heard me. Look around, everyone is fine with what they got but you! You are complaining because 2 billion is not enough? I could live comfortably for the rest of my life with less than half of that but no not you!"
"You stupid whore! You don't know what you are talking about!"
"Really? You know you could get an actual fucking job like the rest of us instead of being a 'stay at home mom' I use that term very loosely because I'm sure all the money will be blown on more plastic surgery and Botox! Oh and of course paying the people you hire to cook, clean, and care for your kids! All you do is go shopping! You should be grateful for what you have you undeserving bitch!"
She came rushing at me suddenly and slapped me as hard as she could but of course I didn't feel anything, I felt not only my temper but my actual temperature rising. Not here please not here! I couldn't rein it in and I felt the heat turn to actual flames. The bitch jumped away in fear though and started crying so that's a plus there. Thank god I am wearing the unstable molecule suit under my clothes now or else I would have wound up naked in front of these people.
"Bella, control yourself dear. These are the people you have grown close to the past few months, don't lose their trust like this baby girl."
That's all it took for me to turn it off. Not the fear of losing the trust of others but just her voice being so calm and caring for me. I turned and saw everyone was against the walls as far from me as possible so I tried to play it off as much as I could but of course I should have learned by now that this group doesn't play.
"What? I wasn't gonna kill her. I didn't even touch her."
Well my lawyers didn't find that funny at all, they kept sending me warning glances while everyone tried to collect themselves. Shortly after more details were given on timelines and how exactly that money would be received we were all dismissed, well they were. I had to stay back with all the lawyers and bank people. Even the investors got to leave. On her way out she couldn't resist, she actually had the balls to glare at me and say "I hope they take away your money for that stunt!" to which I said nothing, just smirked and snapped my fingers at her, she seemed confused until her hair started smoking. Then she just ran out screaming over her expensive hair. Who knows what she meant by that shit. Mrs. Grimm smiled but shook her head and put her hand on my shoulder as she passed.
"I will wait for you outside the building okay?"
"Sure, thank you."
After we were alone the lawyers all turned to me and the head of the bank spoke.
"Ms. Swan, your request for the unstable molecule formula has been granted and is now in the process, it will be personally delivered by Mr. Dooms lawyer tomorrow. The request for the apartment was not approved without the condition that some money from your share was taken, however it seems you have good people fighting for you. I personally agreed to give you the apartment on behalf of the bank as a gesture of good fortune. We are also prepared to offer you a bank account at our bank to save your money at half the interest that everyone else will get."
"That's really- that's great! Thank you, I really appreciate it."
"There is one condition I have to the apartment."
Shit! Of course there is.
"After your tests on yourself are done, if you do have the mutant gene- and this only applies if you have the mutant gene, if you do not then you get ownership with no strings attached, if you have the gene, you let the bank sponsor a mutant rights rally featuring you and your story."
"You want me to go public."
It was not a question, I knew it was what he wanted. It will happen eventually right? Sooner or later they would figure out who I am and where I lived, especially since I would be moving to Mr. Richards place.
"Okay, that is something I can agree to. Why is your bank interested in mutant rights though?"
"My late wife was a mutant. There's a possibility that my daughter could develop an ability when she gets a little older, if that is the case then I would like her to live in a world where she doesn't have to hide like her mother did and as you have been doing the past few weeks."
My respect for this man grew tenfold at that moment.
"Your daughter is very lucky to have such a supportive father. Even if I do not have the gene, let me know if I can help in anyway."
He simply nodded and cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable now.
"Yes, thank you. Well today is Tuesday, how does Thursday sound for a meeting at my office? We can set up a new account for your share of the money and we can fill out all the paperwork to transfer all of Mr. Richards papers under your name. Your lawyers will need to be present as well."
After setting up a time that worked for the guys we all finally took the elevator down to the lobby, as soon as we stepped out I could hear the chaos and see the hundreds of reporters outside. Mrs. Grimm came up to me cautiously.
"What happened? When we came in there were only about 10 of them?"
"Bella, Mrs. Lent ran out of the building telling the reporters that you burned her hair, she showed them and she said that when you got angry your body became covered in flames so your clothes burned off until you were just in your suit you wear under. She just exposed your abilities and she said your name was Isabella Swan, she must have remembered it from the private trial hearings she went to. I'm so sorry dear. She told them you are a mutant and that it happened on the space station."
I could do nothing but put my head in my hands. Aaron put his hand on my shoulder.
"I am really sorry it came out like this, you need to go out there and give a statement though. I mean they won't leave you alone for a while but if would be easier if you came out and said what happened, its better than them inventing crap about you."
"Your lawyer is right Ms. Swan. Clear your name now before they start assuming you burned Mrs. Lent maliciously. I too am sorry you could not keep your peace for a while longer. My company will still stand behind you and our agreement still stands through this. I hope the crowd of reporters won't keep you from the appointment but I understand if it needs to be canceled. If you need anything before then, please give me a call to my personal number. Here is my card."
"Thank you. I really appreciate it sir."
After he left through a back door I considered doing that too but I knew I had to face them, well maybe not personally. I turned to Tom, Aaron, and Brian.
"Is there anyway you guys could release a statement as my lawyers? I don't think I could speak in front of them. Can't you say that I can't speak about it personally because the case is still open?"
"Yes, that could actually work. Actually it is true too, I'm sure Mrs. Lent will probably be fined by the judge for releasing the information."
"You have to stand by us though, you can't just hide in here. Lets go back in the room and prepare what we have to say. Tom, go out there and tell them we will release a statement soon."
Shit this is actually happening right now?
