They call her Human Torch! Chapter 19
Monday night January 2, 2012
Kitty and I were on our way back to the school, there was a crazy amount of traffic from all the extra tourists in the city that watched the fireworks for New Years. Natasha and I had spiked our drinks while we swam in the heated pool all day and then joined Kitty in her room at night where she was right all those months ago when she said the fireworks would look amazing. We had a quiet and simple dinner and we really bonded with her that night. As soon as we got to the school I helped Kitty take her bags up to her room, usually she only brought the basic stuff on weekends but she had packed 2 bags since she had been on break with me since a week before Christmas, then I went straight to Logan's room.
"Hey, how was your New Year?"
"Hey Bella."
He hugged me and lifted me a foot off the ground.
"It was good, boring but good. I think next year I will take you up on the invitation. How was your trip home?"
"Ugh, I ran into my ex's family, not too pleasant but I did learn a few things. Anyway I came to ask you about Colossus."
"What about 'im? He's a good kid."
"Why didn't you ever tell me that he and Kitty were close?"
"Didn't think it was important. When I first saw them together I thought they had a little crush on each other but it's nothing like that, they don't even talk much, it's like they are both so anti-social that they stuck to each other simply for the company. He is not very social but he is a fast learner and loyal person, he would give his life and die fighting to protect anyone here even though most of the students don't notice him in a room or know his name."
I sighed listening to Logan, I really need to talk to this kid.
"Why the sudden interest?"
"I had no idea who he was until a 2 days ago. How could I not know about such a close friend to my daughter? She is kinda hurt that they are not close anymore and I thought I could talk to him, meet him, see if everything is okay or if he just pushed Kitty away because he was not interested in her friendship anymore."
"I know how this is gonna end."
"What?"
"You're gonna end up taking him in too."
"Oh haha Logan! I just want to talk to him."
"Sure, you just mark my words."
He motioned for me to follow him and he led me up to the second floor, opposite side of the house from Kitty's room. Once he nodded at the door he winked at me and left with a smirk on his face. Asshole. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door, a second later I heard a faint 'come in' from the other side. I hadn't thought of what he would look like really but when I swung the door open and saw a large metal man, well.. that was not it. When he looked into my eyes I saw recognition pass for a second before he jumped up to a sitting position on his bed and his skin slowly turned from metal to flesh. He was at least 6ft 5 or 7 inches, he had brown cropped hair and huge arms, everything about him seemed huge and muscular actually, he had the body of a 27 year old not a 17 year old but his baby face gave his young age away.
"Hi. I am Bella."
"I know who you are."
I remembered Kitty saying he was from Russia and that his adoptive parents were Russian too so it surprised me that his accent was not very strong.
"Right well, um I just wanted to meet you and I was hoping we could chat?"
He seemed wary at first but then worry clouded his features.
"Is Kitty okay?"
Oh, he was worried about her, this I could use.
"Well physically she is fine."
"What do you mean?"
"She had never told me about you, I would have come to meet you sooner if she had. 2 days ago she was feeling a little down and she finally told me about how close she was to you until she met me. Then you two seemed to have a distance, it hurts her feeling and I want to ask you why you created that space between the 2 of you?"
"I didn't, we just grew apart. It has nothing to do with you."
"Then why were you worried about her? I can see the loneliness in your eyes talking about her. She didn't send me, she actually doesn't know I was coming to talk to you right now, she thinks I am with Logan."
"Look ma'am I don't mean to be rude but I just have my reasons okay?"
"I understand that but I want to know if I can help you if you need it. If you tell me that there is no reason other than you just not wanting her friendship anymore then I will leave you alone."
He looked down and I saw a myriad of emotions cross his face. He looked vulnerable and I took it as an okay to come closer so I sat next to him on his bed. He didn't have a twin bed like Kitty did but of course he wouldn't even fit in a twin.
"Look, you don't have to lie to me, just tell me what is going on, if you don't want me to tell anyone else then I won't but you can't keep these emotions inside you, they will just hurt you in the end."
He sighed and seemed to study me for a moment.
"Did anyone ever tell you that Jean tried to take Kitty in and mentor her?"
I won't lie and say that I didn't feel a little spike in jealousy for a second before I squashed it down.
"No. What happened there?"
"Things were going pretty good, Jean had patience with her and was talking to her about the history of the school. Kitty and I don't get along very much with other students because we are introverted, we met and quickly got along, we understood each other in a way that no one else did and if there was something that we disagreed on then we would simply pass it instead of judging each other on it like most of the others would. We both just needed someone to call family because we didn't feel like the others were our family. We grew dependent on each other, I would go with her to her training with Jean and I would help her with math while she helped me in English. Jean was not really okay with Kitty always looking to me in the training, like if she was nervous or was not sure about something she would look to me for assurance or to give her the okay, Jean did not like that it felt like she was mentoring 2 instead of 1 so she slowly started lowering standards and canceling sessions until it stopped altogether, Kitty thought it was just because Jean was busy but I knew better. She gave up on Kitty because she got the impression that we were a package deal and she did not want my end of the deal. When she came home after meeting you, she was so happy and excited, I was worried when she went off with Rogue and Bobby but I thought it was good for her to try to socialize with the others. She told me about you and it was nothing like with Jean, she wanted to know you more and learn from you, I thought she just looked up to you for saving her things or she wanted to be your friend so I was happy for her and excited to meet you too, then she told me that you wanted to adopt her. I – I was.. am very happy for her, she deserves it."
"But?"
"But I could not get in the way this time. She had to learn to depend on you, not me. I couldn't ruin her chance for more by being seen as her baggage. I know she is hurt and I never meant for her to be hurt but she is happier now so it is worth the 'loneliness' that I feel."
He hung his head down as I rubbed his arm. I felt for him and I loved that he would try to protect Kitty like that but he took her choice on the matter away from her instead of talking to her about it.
"You know, when I was 17 I moved to a new town with my dad, there I met this boy that quickly became my boyfriend and even quicker he became my world, I never made close friends at the school because I was always with him. He was trouble though, he was not a mutant but he did have an ability and some of his family members did too. I was just a weak human to them then and he always reminded me of how easily they could hurt me. I ignored it because I was just too dependent on him. On my 18th birthday they did hurt me, he was strong and accidentally pushed me into a glass table, I was fine, just a few stitches but he became distant and hardly spent time with me, a few days later he came to my house to tell me that he was leaving, that I would never see him again because he was basically tired of me being such a weak human. My whole world fell apart, he was my world and I let him consume me in every way, I didn't even know what to do because I use to just follow him and whatever he wanted to do and how he wanted to do things. A few things happened that snapped me out of it but then a few day's ago I ran into some of his family members, they revealed to me that he loved me but only left to protect me, it doesn't change anything for me, I would never want to see him again but the point is, if he would have talked to me about it then things would have been much different. Do you understand why I told you that?"
"Yes but I am not all Kitty has."
"I know that, but she does not know why you just pushed aside her friendship, it hurts her but she hurts for you more, she doesn't want you to be lonely in here, she deserves for you to tell her everything you told me so she can understand."
"She will only fight me on it."
"Of course she will, as she should. She knows me and now you do too. Your excuse has run it's course and you have to make up something else because I am perfectly fine on you 2 being best friends. It's not dependency, it's friendship. I was just like that with my friend Darcy when I was in school too, we stuck out and couldn't fit in so we held on to each other as tight as we could. She is my sister in every way but blood. I have a trip that I have to make this weekend so I hope you use this week and the weekend to repair your friendship with her or at least tell her why you did what you did. I am picking her up on Wednesday to go to dinner before I leave on Thursday. I would love it if you joined us."
"Really?"
"Of course. You are her friend, you mean a lot to her and clearly she means a lot to you. What kind of person would I be if I had a problem with that? Jean was.. I don't even know what she was thinking or how she could do that to both of you, I am glad because if she hadn't then I wouldn't have Kitty as a daughter. I hope you can join us for dinner or for a weekend when I come back."
His eyes bugged out of his head when I said that.
"You would let me come with her for a weekend?!"
"Why wouldn't I? You 2 are not romantically involved right?"
Yep, he pulled the same face that Kitty did. Definitely no romance between these 2.
"No, no. I can assure you I only see her like a friend."
"Good, then you wouldn't sneak into her room at night. That is the only concern I could have but you just squashed it. Look, you don't know me so please don't block yourself or act any different around Kitty in fear of my reaction. I am not like anyone you have met, you have to be yourself and relax around me because nothing you do will make me not want Kitty. Okay?"
He hesitated for a moment as he looked for something in my eyes. Soon a small gleam of hope shown in his eyes and he gave me a shy nod.
"Okay. Thank you for seeking me out tonight Ma'am."
"No problem. And god don't call ma'am! My name is Bella. Nice to meet you by the way."
"Nice to meet you too.. Bella. Um the people here call me Colossus or Peter."
"You don't sound so sure."
"Well my full name is Piotr Rasputin. Piotr is difficult for people to remember so they just call me Peter."
"Did they ask you if they could?"
"Well no but I really don't mind."
"Would you mind if I just called you Piotr? It is a different name, one that makes you stand out from all the generic ones."
He nodded and smiled at me again. Finally I got up and extended my hand for him to shake. His big hand engulfed mine but still he gave a good strong shake.
"Have a goodnight Piotr, I really hope to see you around more often now."
"Hopefully you will."
I smiled and made my way back downstairs where Logan sat in the lounge by the front door with a smirk.
"So that went very well, should I pull out his parents number to have them sign the guardian paperwork?"
"God Logan shut up! You are a nosy bastard!"
"Hey I told you I have heightened hearing! You have it now too so you know you can hear almost every conversation in this half of the mansion."
"Yes I do know all about your hearing but guess what? I also know that we can so easily tune it out. I don't even decipher the words being said or who is saying them because I am not paying attention."
"Whatever."
"Like I said, Nosy bastard!"
He laughed and I could still hear him chuckling as I got into my car.
Wednesday January 4, 2012
The passed 2 day's flew by, work was too easy and Kitty had been texting me a lot, first to ask if I had talked to Piotr and then again to ask what I said. They quickly fixed their friendship and she had been texting me every 3 hours to tell me that they were planning to have lunch together or that they were doing homework together, she was happy and that made me happy. He had told her why he created space and she was angry for a moment but quickly got over it and even thanked him for caring about her like that. I was on my way now to pick her up and take her to eat, I was not sure if he would agree to come or not, I hoped he did because I knew if he meant a lot to Kitty then it would mean a lot to her if the both of us were close as well. I am nervous but I am not sure why, Peter and Char would land tonight and we were flying out tomorrow, I was actually more nervous about making conversation with Piotr than I was to face the Volturi assholes. Soon I pulled up and was relived to see that both Kitty and Piotr were sitting on the front steps. He seemed nervous too so I decided to be as open and relaxed as I could be with him, I noticed a group of kids about their age standing a few feet away from them and they were staring. God these kids were nosy. I got out of the car and Kitty jumped up to hug me with Piotr following slowly.
"Hey mom!"
I swear the group of kids all gasped and looked at her incredulously. Even Piotr looked surprised.
"Hey baby girl, ready to go?"
"Yep! We are starving!"
"Good. Hi Piotr! How have you been this week?"
He smiled at me and was about to respond while he shook my hand but I surprised him and pulled his large frame in for a hug.
"Uh g-good thanks Bella."
"Good to hear. Alright lets get going because I am pretty hungry too. You both cleared it with Charles right?"
Once they both nodded I made sure their seat belts were on and took off. Once again Kitty took control of the radio but she put some alternative music instead of her usual pop, I figured it must be for his sake.
"Hey guys does a steakhouse sound good or are you craving something else?"
"Oh I was just telling Colossus how much I was craving a baked potato! They always have those in steakhouses. Plus with how much this guy eats, a steakhouse portion should fill him up."
She was teasing him and he actually blushed a bit but when he laughed with her I was reassured that he was not too embarrassed or offended. I drove about 20 minutes until we got to the steakhouse that my phone said was closest. Once we were standing in front however, it read Brazilian Steakhouse.
"Well Kitty, I don't think you are getting your baked potato. What do you guys say, wanna try something new?"
They shrugged and so we walked in and were surprised to see that for a weekday it was pretty full. We were seated by the back wall and I was grateful for it, I was not comfortable sitting in the middle anymore, not after all the scenarios that Nat embedded in my head during training.
"Hi! My name is Rosanna, I will be your server today. Have any of you been to a Brazilian Steakhouse before?"
"No."
"Well in that case, welcome! The way we work is that there are waiters walking around as you can see with different types of meats, this tab here is green on this side and red on the other, green is to keep the meat coming and if you are done or just want a break then you can switch it over. These prongs are to grab on to the meat that they slice fresh for you, over there is a buffet set up with some sides to accompany the main courses. Any questions?"
We just shook our heads, I had never been to a place like this before. An all you can eat buffet sure but all you can eat meat buffet? We were stunned but she broke us out of it by asking what we wanted to drink. Piotr and I opted to try a Brazilian soda while Kitty stuck to her usual order of lemonade. Once we got up and filled our plates with the sides we did not have a chance to chat at all, literally as soon as we sat down men started coming every 2 minutes, the timing was exact, every 2 minutes. I would say yes to a type of meat and before I finished the small slice there was already someone else waiting for you to swallow to answer if you wanted some or not. Kitty was overwhelmed and kept saying sure because she didn't want to be rude but she was a slow eater and had a pile of meat of her plate, Piotr on the other hand inhaled his slice and impatiently waited for the next minute for the new meat to come out. I had to laugh every time that a new person walked towards us, Piotr anticipated it and Kitty gave me a look that clearly said 'help me!' an hour and a half later we finally flipped the tab to red and instantly its like a repellent, no one approached us or even came near our table. Kitty and I finished over 40 minutes ago but we waited until Piotr got his fill, boy could he eat!
"So which was your favorite?"
I had to think about Kitty's question, they had over 26 different types of meats so variety was no problem here for sure.
"I think the Parmesan crusted chicken was very good. How about you guys?"
Piotr quickly responded "Filet mignon with garlic was the best."
"Oh yes that was good! I love garlic!"
Kitty scrunched up her nose and responded "The grilled pineapple."
"What?!" We both responded at the same time but really we were confused.
"Kitty that is not a type of meat!"
"I know but all that meat was too much! The pineapple they brought out was refreshing."
Piotr scoffed and bumped his elbow with hers
"You are a strange one."
"Whatever! You are huge so of course you eat a lot and my mom can just burn half the food in her stomach to make some more fit in there so I am clearly at a disadvantage!"
We laughed but after eating and drinking so much I chose to go pee before the long ride back to the school and even longer one back home. Once I come out I met the waitress halfway and chose to just pay at the counter.
"How was it?"
"Great, we enjoyed the food and the experience."
"Perfect! Lets see, your total is 175.37."
"Excuse me?!"
"Yes ma'am, it is 50 dollars per person, 4 dollars per drink, and the 13.37 for the 8.25% tax."
Wow. Well I guess now I know why I didn't see anyone else in converse and a t shirt. I handed my card over and if I really thought about it well I could easily afford to eat here 3 times a day but just because I could doesn't mean I should. I know Mrs. Grimm had gotten use to the money we got and she spent it on whatever she wanted but I never liked to spend it, on Kitty and others sure but for myself? Not really. I went back to the table and sat while Kitty finished her lemonade. Once we were back in the car we actually were able to talk but there was no traffic so the ride was short and soon I was dropping both of them off. I got out of the car to give Kitty a proper goodbye hug but she teared up a bit.
"Mom are you sure I can't come with you?"
"No Kitty, you can't."
"Please just come back safe. Please."
"I will honey, I will be back by by Thursday, just in time to pick you up okay?"
She nodded and let go but there were still tears and worry in her eyes. Piotr was confused, he didn't know where or why I was going but I could tell he was worried about Kitty's reaction. I went up to him and hugged him while giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"You take care of my baby until I come back."
He nodded but got a serious look on his face.
"With my life. Thank you for letting me come to eat, that was the best meal I have had in years."
I nodded and smiled at both of them before getting back in the car and driving home to pack.
.
.
At 10:30 pm my phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sug, the Mrs. and I are down in the lobby."
"I will open up the elevator for you in a sec."
Soon Peter and Char where on my floor and I gave them a quick tour before chatting for a few minutes but I left them to entertain themselves, I was very tired and I knew I would not get great sleep the next few days.
Saturday January 7, 2012
We had spent all of Thursday and most of Friday traveling and we were now in a hotel right outside of the city, we had gone over and over a whole lot of scenarios trying to plan ahead of everything.
"Bella if Jasper was here he would immediately make them feel fear, he would intimidate them, he is known in the vampire world for being a ruthless soldier. If we are flanking you, you have to give them that vibe, don't 'please' and 'thank you' cut any positive shit in your system loose now. You go in there, you see, you concur. You make it clear that you are alpha, you can kill them before they even get a chance to move, make them understand that you have no problem doing it."
I nodded and tried getting in that head space. The closer to the castle we got and the more vampires I smelled, the easier it got. Peter and Char were good but vampires had killed my dad and many innocent people, they were enemy number 1 on my book. In the reception there was a blonde woman, clearly human so I let Peter take the lead. As soon as the woman saw his red eyes I could almost smell the fear in the air, she reached down quickly and pressed a button on the desk, seconds later the huge wooden doors were thrown open and a hooded figure appeared. This is it. I took a deep breath and channeled my inner Natasha. Wiping all emotion from my face, I moved forward and was flanked. The vampire glared at me in surprise but when he saw just how serious Peter and Char looked he simply turned back to me expectantly.
"I wish to speak with your kings."
He sneered at me and spoke with a heavy Italian accent.
"Is that so? What makes you think I would let you come near them? You are but a mere human!"
Now that infuriated me. Before he had a chance to open his mouth again I stepped forward and ripped his arm off with one hand while putting my other hand over his mouth to stifle his scream of agony. I leaned back to let him see my smirk before whispering lowly in his ear.
"Mistake number 1 cost you your arm, I have yet to decide if I should burn it or not, why don't you prove that you are slightly useful and take me to your masters?"
I saw Peter grin for a second before quickly going back to his deadly glare. The vampire still whimpering in pain nodded frantically and led us down the corridor to another set of heavy doors. He quickly opened the door and practically ran to the throne in the middle to offer his remaining hand. Aro then. The guards were standing on the sides, just as Carlisle said they would be, the blond man on the right throne glared at us instantly when he saw me standing there with the vampires twitching arm still in my hand, Caius. So that left the expressionless vampire siting on the left throne to be Marcus. In my short minute to study everyone in the room, Aro stood, now done reading the last few moments in the vampires head.
"My my, what awful welcome we have given you dear. Someone as fast and strong as you should not be kept waiting to see us. Might I inquire who you are and what your dear name is?"
His hand extended towards me and I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I knew he could not read me and I put on a smirk that would let him know that I knew he would not be able to. I saw the anger and the fear in his eyes. Good, lets keep it there.
"My name is Isabella, Aro."
"Isabella, what fitting name. You seem to know more about us than you should Isabella. Clearly, human you are not so what may you pray tell, are you?"
"A little of this, little of that, some mutant thrown in and oh! Some venom was mixed in too."
Curiosity filled every ones eyes but I saw that greedy hunger that every one had told me about, take over his persona. I decided that I could play the mysterious threat later but right now I needed to get the ball rolling before they asked more about me.
"I have the knowledge that someone, a vampire, is planning to create a newborn army. Now I don't need your help to fight, I am capable enough to handle that, but we could use your tracker to point us in her direction."
Jasper was right about making hid feel pride, as soon as I asked for help he smiled wickedly in glee.
"Now why would I let you simply walk into our home and let you use someone from our guard for personal affairs?"
"Well the why is simple. There are many many reasons for you to do so. Exposure is the main cause, so many turn up missing to create the army and so many turn up dead from their feeding.. would you be alright with that? I mean mutants are free to roam the streets so perhaps it's time for Vampires is it not?"
Ooh I see that fury dancing around in his eyes. Caius jumped up and stormed towards me.
"You insolent girl, coming in here with thinly veiled threats? Do you not know how deep in the lions den you are? We are done listening to this poor excuse of a woman brother. Guards! Take her out."
2 large men moved to block the door while a 3rd moved towards me slowly and relaxed, thinking this would be easy. I grinned, making sure every one saw, and raised a circle of fire around him. Fear took over as they stepped back. I looked back over to the 'kings' and smiled as sweetly as I could.
"Did you not listen when I told you I needed no assistance to fight against an army of you? I don't like making too many threats, your friend who's arm I still hold proves that. Next time you make a move against me I will make a ring of fire around every person in here."
To further prove my point I tossed the arm into the fire that was still trapping him. Every one gasped and the owner of the arm snarled as he lunged at me, before he could land however, I turned him to ash.
"I just did you a favor, you should not have such uncontrolled vampires in your guard."
They stayed silent, just staring at me but I did see a woman with black hair creep up behind Aro and put her hand on his arm.
"Ah Renata, I have heard of you dear. The precious shield!"
In an attempt to make them fear me I ran as fast as I could, popping up behind her and dragged her away from Aro. She whimpered and struggled in my hold but the weakness behind the struggle confirmed what Jasper had theorized, without her gift she is a useless fighter, no tactic whatsoever. I sneered down at her as Aro turned in shock.
"So weak. You see I have some shield in me too and yours is defenseless against mine. Shall we see how fire affects your Master without your magic touch hm?"
She struggled to breath from the terror she was feeling and a large part of me wanted to stop but I couldn't lose focus. I needed to prove myself, I needed their fear. Snapping my head up I created a fireball and swung it around members of the guard, pausing it and propelling it towards someone, only to stop it inches away from the target. The fear radiated off of everyone and I know if Jasper would have been in here he would have trouble not letting it affect him. Peter and Char winked at me and that was the signal to stop and let him take over.
"If I were you I would give into the lady's demand. If we find the scent, and that is a big IF, will your tracker help point us in the right direction? We may not even need him so you take a great risk in denying her. Take my advice, get on her good side, agree to a favor that may not even be fulfilled, or get on her bad side and..."
The implication was left hanging clearly for all to take in. Aro was angry, that much I could tell from his posture but his eyes were full of fear, plenty of vampires had come against them but never did they make it out. He knew I would get out of here, it just depended on his move if I left ashes in my wake or not.
"In situations like these, I'm afraid I must converge with my brothers for some time and consider our options."
I smirked and I let go of Renata, dropping her to the ground. I spoke with as much glee as I could muster.
"Aro! You speak as if you had many options! However, in a show of respect, to prove that I am able of considering you my equal, I will indulge you in your request of time. After all, I have always wanted to see Italian architecture. We will be back at this same time in 3 days."
I walked back toward the middle and made a show of meeting eyes with everyone in the room before looking back to Aro.
"I will not be made a fool. I have seen and memorized every face that is in this room, if only 1 is missing in 3 day's, then I will burn this castle to the ground. Do not make the mistake of underestimating me. I have no qualms, I will burn this entire city and every vampire I encounter, just try and fuck with me."
I was satisfied with he nervously leaned away from me and turned to go without another word. Of course I just had to inflict a little more fear, using the high ceilings to my advantage, as soon as the doors closed behind the 3 of us I made a spark of fire explode in the air, not big enough for anyone to get hurt but enough to make flickers fall around like rain. I smirked and kept walking as I heard them scramble out of the fire's way. I had a good feeling about this.
