The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 7: Control

           EDITED: 01/07/2024

          WORD COUNT: 7448

          It wasn't agreed on or voiced by our small party of three, yet Betty seems to realise that going back to Stan's isn't an option now that she and Bruce have reunited. Ten minutes after we find Bruce walking alone on the bridge, she guides her car to a gentle stop outside her house. It's two storeyed, with a front porch and tall windows, white with blue trimming and just from looking at the cosy and welcoming exterior, I know that it suits Betty perfectly.

          For the entirety of the car ride to her place, I sit silently in the back and listen to Bruce as he tries his best to explain to Betty why it is that he went on the run without going into too much detail. Sure; fleeing the States and leaving everything behind because he has something dangerous that the government wants to get their hands on is believable. Hell, even Betty buys it, even if she does sense that perhaps there is more to his story than Bruce is letting on.

          But Bruce being able to turn into giant, green rage monster every time he gets angry? I found it hard to believe at first, and I can control the elements for God's sake. Betty's head would likely explode at the truth which would only freak her out, so Bruce keeps a few details to himself, sparing his ex any more confusion for the night.

          What he does tell her though, is that her father is part of the reason why he left in the first place, although Betty isn't surprised by this. Apparently this is something that she has known from the beginning, having confronted her father about it when she had first woken up in the hospital after the accident. The two of them haven't really been on speaking terms ever since, and Betty had made it perfectly clear that she blamed her father for Bruce's disappearance; something that she can never truly forgive him for.

          Now, the three of us exit the car – Bruce and I with our bags in tow – and make a mad dash to the front porch, teeth chattering and bodies shivering as Betty unlocks the door, hurrying inside and urging us to quickly follow behind her.

          The house is just as grand on the inside as it was on the out, and I can't help but think that it is far too large for just a single person to live in. Betty had said to us during the ride over that there was enough spare rooms for Bruce and I to each have our own for the night, and after the less than ideal conditions that Bruce and I have had to endure over the past few weeks, it sounds like heaven.

          Betty quickly directs the two of us to the couch in the living room, before declaring that she would get some dry blankets for us. As she leaves, I can't help but notice the way that Bruce violently shivers beside me, clearly chilled to the bone. He had been walking out in the freezing cold and rain for at least half an hour before we have found her. Eyeing the fireplace in the corner of the room with a few logs stacked within it just waiting to be burned, I raise and hand and click my fingers. Fire engulfs them within seconds and I twist them until a small ball hovers above my palm. With a flick of my hand, it soars forward through the air and hits the logs gently, igniting them in an instant.

          Bruce, still shivering and now wide-eyed at what I had just done, nods his head. "T-Thanks."

          "No problem."

          It is at this time that Betty returns to the room. In her hands there is a pile of blankets and on top of those is a small box of matches. Her dark eyes immediately fall to the crackling flames and small noise of surprise falls from her lips.

           "I was... I was going to light the fire for you," she weakly whispers.

          Sending her a wry smile, I raise the same hand that I had created fire in only moments prior and once more allow fire to dance between my fingers. The orange flames dance in the reflection of Betty's eyes, and I simply reply, "Got it covered," before letting the fire die once more.