Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
UTONIUM TOWER, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Beatriz Utonium could hear the muffled sobs and sniffles of her mother coming from behind the closed door of the lab. They were quite faint and subtle but nonetheless Beatriz heard all of it and the sound brought tears to her eyes as her heart was hit with a pang of guilt and sorrow. It had been exactly a month since the death of Bruce Banner— correction: the murder of Bruce Banner —and her mother wasn't doing any better. In fact, the women was progressively getting worse as the days passed by.
The aftermath of the second superhuman civil war left the world in shambles with the people at a loss of faith in their heroes and the heroes at a loss of their loved ones that had fallen in battle. Heroes like Bruce Banner were among the many that didn't make it through the war and while many of his teammates and friends took his death hard no one could compare the pain her mother felt. Barbara Utonium was in love with Bruce Banner ever since they were in college together. To her mother, Bruce was more than a teammate, more than a colleague, more than a friend, he was her one and only and now he was no more.
A large part of Beatriz felt responsible for Bruce's death even though she had no involvement with the tragedy she was still present when it happened. She could have stopped it. She could have saved him. She could have helped. She could have done something, anything. Her sister, Brianna, tried to tell her that there was nothing they could do as she bluntly explained there was no saving anyone with an arrow straight to the head no matter how badly she wanted to help.
It was difficult to listen to her words especially when Beatriz knew Brianna felt guilty too. Even Bella felt guilty. The only difference between the three was that Brianna and Bella hid it better than Beatriz did. Beatriz wore her heart on her sleeve and there was no hiding the way she felt about the situation especially with seeing what it did to her mother. Seeing his death affect the woman in such a way that tore her apart had Beatriz wishing she could turn back time and erase everything that had happened but she knew that wasn't possible. The deed had been done and Bruce Banner would forever remain buried six feet under cold, lonely, and dead.
The young brunette sighed softly as she wiped the tears that managed to escape her glossy brown eyes before walking away from the closed door that concealed the sorrowful state her mother was in and into her room where she carefully shut the door behind her. Beatriz tried to tell herself that things would get better, that everything would go back to the way things were, that there was nothing to worry about, but she wasn't as oblivious as most people thought. She knew nothing was going to be the same ever again. The damage had been done and the only thing they could do was pick up the pieces remaining and try to put everything back together to their best abilities. Easier said than done.
