THE SHADOW OF THE FIRE

chapter 9

Kyla pov
After the talk with hill i waited a bit and then i went to the kitchen. There were just hill, stark and another man. The two men were talking on a sofa and hill was on the counter. When she saw me she smiled, stark and the other man turned to me and got up. The other man held his hand out for me to shake, i did and he said
- i'm bruce banner.
- i am kyla.
Then i turned to stark
- can i ask you something?
- of course.
- could you change my bed to one... less soft?
- why would you want a hard bed?
- i guess i am not used to a soft one and i can't sleep in it.
- ok, no problem, kiddo.
- i am literally older than you.
- how can you be older than him?
Both men were looking at me trying to understand, i looked at hill for support and she just gave me a thumbs up, very useful.
- i was born in 1929.
- what? Really?
- yeah.
- so you are like another rogers?
- kind of, but not really
- that's cool.
- if you are comfortable with it, could i run some test to see if your cells are acting different then the ones of a person your age?
Bruce wanted to experiment on me. No, maybe not really experiment, but maybe a bit. No, kyla, he just wants to see if my cells act different.
- ok. But i have to mention that i have fire powers.
- oh ok. Don't worry.
I smiled a bit, maybe being here wasn't going to be that bad.
A bit later i was into bruce's lab. He had run some tests and we were waiting for the results. In that moment hill walked into the room, with natasha by her side. It was the end of november, so it was almost her birthday, i should ask hill to take me to buy her a present.
- kyla?
I realized i had been staring into the void for... I don't know how long.
- sorry, i zoned out.
Natasha was talking with bruce and hill was sat beside me.
- are you ok?
- yes. Why do you ask?
- you seem a bit off.
- hill?
- yeah?
- can you take me to a place? I need to buy a thing.
- of course.
- thank you.
She smiled at me and got up. In that moment bruce turned to us and said
- the results of the tests are amazing. Your body works the same as a normal body, your cells are the ones of a 29 years old, even if you are older. Also, your body can regulate it's temperature, if you reach an high level of control, you could be able to hide from the thermal scanners. You said that you can also create fire, right?
- yes. I change the temperature of my body.
- can i see? If you are comfortable with it.
- ok. Do you need only a small flame or all the body?
- you can do it in all your body?
- yes?
- amazing...
- i'll just take my suit, or i will end up naked.
Hill laughed a bit and natasha was just staring at me from the other side of the room with a stern look on her face. Bruce was over excited. I went into my room and i quickly changed into my suit. I left there the protections and the belt. I was about to leave there my mask, but then i took it. I didn't want to have burns on my face. I returned in the lab and they all turned to me. I walked to a space and i put on my mask. I closed my eyes and i took a deep breath, then i caught fire. I opened my eyes, bruce seemed excited, natasha had a small smirk on her face, her damn smirk. In the corner of my eye i saw hill. She was trying to look calm, but her eyes said otherwise, there was just fear in them. She was scared. She was scared of me. A lot of time had passed from the last time someone looked at me like that. I put out the fire and took off my mask. I walked to hill and she flinched.
- are you ok, maria?
She just nodded sharply. Natsha, sensing that something was wrong, was now standing at hill's side.
- come with me, ria.
Natasha took her hand and lead her outof the lab, leaving just me and bruce. I asked him
- hey, do you know what happened?
- i think that something triggered her. She has ptsd from the army, but she never talked with any of us. Just natasha seems to know her for real.
- oh.
The army. It makes sense. I will have to apologize.
- can i go?
- of course you can. See you later.
- bye.
I went out of the lab and i started searching for maria. I knocked at her bedroom's door and someone yelled
- who is it?
- it's... Kyla.
- come in.
I opened the door and i was met with a clean and tidy room. Maria and natasha were sat on the bed, when i walked closer nataha got up and gestured for me to take a seat. Then she went out of the room, leaving just maria and me.