The Starling Saviour

Chapter 77

'I never thought you'd befriend a cheater, but I was wrong,' Elliot suggested I was also wrong.

'And I never thought you would be talking about my life like it's a soap opera, but here we are,' I said back, making Elliot and I burst into laughter.

'I have missed a lot being cooped up in here,' Elliot commented light-heartedly, but I knew he was growing frustrated at his situation, and I couldn't blame him, not at all.

We became silent for a few moments, I spotting the thick bandages that covered the ends of Elliot's thighs, where his limbs ended. My stomach sank as I realised that the blast would change his life forever, and that my friend wouldn't be able to walk again unless he learnt how to use two prosthetic legs. How could this have happened purely down to coincidence? Someone didn't want us to know what Unidac Industries were creating, and they wanted us to pay for it.

'I'm so sorry, Elliot,' I apologised sadly on his behalf. 'This never should have happened. Whoever did this was truly evil, and I'm so sorry.'

'You don't need to be sorry, Aria,' Elliot told me very kindly. 'The person who caused the explosion is the one who should be, because I know a very angry vigilante who will kick their arse for destroying all the evidence we had on Unidac.'

'And more importantly, for what they did to you,' I added ferociously. 'I promised myself I wouldn't let any of my friends get hurt more than they have, but I failed. And for my mistake, they will pay.'

How I would find the menace behind this, however, was something I couldn't answer.

---

'Hey,' Tommy greeted me as I returned to the house from the hospital. 'How was Elliot?'

'He... He's getting better,' I answered, hanging my coat up on the rack in the lobby of the house. 'But he's not okay, not really. He tried to pretend he was in my company, but he's still shaken up after what happened.'

'It's only been four days since he was taken into hospital, Aria,' Tommy reminded me, level-headed. 'He won't have recovered yet, it'll take him months, years, to cope with what he's going through. Luckily, he has a friend like you to talk to.'

'But he has friends in Central City who probably miss him,' I interjected, feeling frustrated at the whole situation. 'He has a job there, a home. And because I asked him to help me, he can't see them anytime soon.'

'You know, there's a train that runs directly from Central City to Starling City every day,' Tommy pointed out with a small smile. 'They'll see him soon, it's not that hard to get on a train.'

'Says the man who has probably never stepped foot on a, what do you call it, a train?' I jeered as I stopped being so frazzled.

'I've been on a train!' Tommy took offence. 'In fact, in tenth grade, we went on a train to see a dam in Keystone City.'

'That sounds so exciting,' I pretended to be impressed. 'Did you go to the zoo to see some beavers too?'

'I think the school did like a year later, but I wasn't there,' Tommy told me with a mischievous look in his eyes. 'That Keystone trip was the last trip I didn't skip.'

'Oh yeah, I forgot you were a 'bad boy', as many the girls would've said as they pined for you,' I smirked at him, finding his old identity amusing. 'Why they were attracted to you, I don't know.'

'What, was I not your type in high school?' Tommy smirked back. 'What were you into, science nerds?'

'I just wasn't superficial, Tommy,' I declared proudly. 'And you sounded like you were so annoying in high school, I would have avoided you even if you had a pretty face.'