Starlight › Marvel [1] ✓

024. the aftermath

› CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ‹

The news went on an overdrive after learning about Spider-Man and Aureate's takedown of Adrian Toomes, whom the public renamed, The Vulture. The story about them was being replayed across all the different news stations throughout the entire weekend, but to keep Raleigh's mind off the accident and instead focused on healing, Trystan kept the television off.

After the fight against the Vulture, he was left pretty beaten up and Trystan was forced to pick at his knowledge from being a part medic at S.H.I.E.L.D. and helping fix up Raleigh's major wounds. He had stitched up the cuts and stabs on Raleigh's right leg. His shoulder had been popped out of place and Trystan forcefully snapped it back into its socket. The rest of his wounds only required ice and ointment to care for them.

The entire time he was helping Raleigh, Trsyan debated on either scolding him for the danger he put himself in or complimenting him on his hard work. Once he was finished, he settled with both, while Odin congratulated him on his good job and claimed he received his courage to challenge Toomes from his Asgardian background—Raleigh disagreed, but he didn't tell him that.

When Monday came around, Raleigh downed two different kinds of over-the-counter pain medicine and refrained himself from wincing at every sharp pain that coerced through his body. Fortunately, it was easy for him to keep his mind off the pain with the entire school talking about Spider-Man and Aureate. Before Toomes, Aureate himself wasn't talked about much, being in the shadows of Spider-Man, so it was a nice change to have his hero self displayed. On the other hand, while it was nice to hear about what they did, he felt bad for Liz since everyone was also talking about what he did and bringing her name into it.

There was also a rumor that Liz was moving and that caused guilt to rip through his body. While it was obvious they did the right thing by taking down Toomes and keeping the weapons from being manufactured, he still felt bad for Liz Allen. There were only a half a school year left and he knew the girl was originally excited about graduating from Midtown School of Science and Technology, but now she was going to have to join a whole new school or just receive her GED online.

Raleigh wanted to find Liz and speak with her, but he acknowledged they weren't friends and it would be awkward if he just went up to her. Anyway, he had someone else he needed to go see and apologize to.

Michelle Jones stood at her locker, sorting through her books, when Raleigh Ridley scooted behind her.

"Mey, Michelle..." Raleigh swallowed a lump in his throat and tensed as the girl turned to him with her unreadable expression. "Um, I really need and want to apologize for leaving you alone on Friday, you know, after taking you to the dance. I didn't—I didn't want to do that."

"Then why did you?" Michelle raised her brows while frowning at him. "Why did you suddenly leave after Peter did?"

"Uh." Raleigh scratched his hand uncomfortably. "I just wanted to make sure he was alright... he's my friend."