Elements

Chapter 23

Hey everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter. This one's dedicated to musicplayer78, because of the cake. It is not a lie! Thanks for those who commented and voted. It means a lot.

🌜🌑🌘🌗🌖🌕🌔🌓🌒🌑🌛
Ben's POV:

The second the words left my mouth, I heard her freeze. I kept my gaze fixed on the ground, smiling faintly at the memory of our first meeting. So much had changed since then.

I heard footsteps on the pathway coming back towards the bench I was sitting on. Seconds later, a pair of worn black combat boots appeared on the spot of pavement I was staring down.

"A treehouse?" I heard her voice ask. She sounded so confused at the idea of two random teenage super heroes meeting in a complete stranger's tree house.

Okay, maybe it was pretty weird.

"Yup" was my simple one word response. I finally looked up at her, breaking a smile.

Ella raised an eyebrow at me, and asked, "Care to elaborate?". I laughed and patted the bench next to me, indicating for her to sit next to me.

When she hesitated, I said, "Its a long story, and you won't want to stand for all of it.". She finally smiled at me and took a seat. I took a deep breath and started my story- our story.

Ella's POV:

He took a deep breath before beginning.

"Before I say anything about how we met, there's a few things you should know. First, my powers. I'm like the worlds best hunter. I can track anything, even if the trail is years old. I can tell you right now who was the last person to sit on this bench and exactly where they went after. I also have perfect aim when it comes to projectiles like guns, arrows, knives- you name it, I can hit it.

"Second, my parents are scientists. When they found out about my powers, they subtly ran tests on me. Eventually I caught on and ran away, but they were relentless. They tried to chase me. I was barely fourteen when I left.

"Eventually I found myself in a small neighborhood, with my dad chasing me in a van. I had an advantage though- I could go through narrow allies to lose him. There was one house that looked like it had been abandoned, so I tried to break in. I couldn't pick the lock very fast, so I hopped the fence.

"At this point it was starting to rain, so my dad slipped when he got out of the car to chase me. In the seconds it took him to hop the fence, I climbed into the tree house in the backyard. By some miracle, he couldn't get over the fence and drive around in hopes that I had headed beck to the streets.

"Anyway, I thought I had gotten lucky with the great hiding spot- until I realized it was already occupied. There was a soggy girl about my age sitting below a closed window. You had a kitten in your lap, and both you and it were staring at me like I was going to kill you.

"You stood up, placed the kitten on the ground, and said, 'Defend'. The next thing I knew, I was pinned to the floor by a flipping PUMA, not a kitten. It had its claws raised and ready to kill me at a moment's order from you. Needles to say I was terrified. After some explaining, you let me up and I was shocked to watch a puma turn back into an adorable kitten.

"After that, you told me you were also on the run from a guy named The Puppeteer. You said that he killed your sister and maybe your parents, and now he wanted you. We agreed to share the treehouse as long as was needed."

I had remained silent the whole time Ben had been speaking, out of curiosity. But now, as he looked at me to gauge my reaction, I couldn't have spoken if I wanted to. Instead, I gestured for him to continue with his story. He smiled and went on.