› CHAPTER SIX ‹
Raleigh hid away by himself in a corner of the musty smelling hotel he and his classmates were staying at for the night. Everyone from his class trip were crowded in the lobby watching the news on the small television screen and trying to come to terms with everything that had just happened. They were all, fortunately, safe after the attack. They were just shaken up, but more than anything, they were excited to learn whatever they could about the recent occurrence.
Raleigh had long since changed out of his dripping wet clothing and was now in a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt, that he would put back on after taking a needed shower. In his dominant hand was his cell phone, which had surprisingly survived the plunge in the water.
"Do you know if you're going to be returning home, yet?" Trystan's slightly worried tone filled Raleigh's ear and the boy leaned his forehead into the wall and closed his eyes.
"I don't know, I think we're still planning to stay. It was just one attack and no one got hurt. And there was someone who got rid of it." Raleigh explained, his voice thick with exhaustion. He peaked at the television, which was showing a loop of the stranger attacking the water beast. "You don't know anything about who that guy was, do you?"
"No, this is the first time I've seen him on the news," Trystan explained. "He kind of looked like Doctor Strange, yeah?"
"Yeah. Yeah, kind of." He was glad he wasn't the only one who saw the uncanny resemblance in how he dressed and how the powers acted. They were even green like Doctor Strange's was when he used the Time Stone! The only big difference that Raleigh could tell, or at least could assume from what he witnessed, was that this guy's powers didn't activate from any magic or sorcery, but instead seemed to be a part of him—kind of like how Raleigh's powers were a part of him. That brought a lot of questions, because who is this guy and where did he come from, and why did he just decide to appear as this monster showed up?
Chills ran down his spine.
"You are okay, right?" Trystan whispered with concern.
Raleigh sighed. This was the first big battle Raleigh had been included in since the defeat of Thanos and his army. For eight months, he and Peter had only been dealing with the crime of regular human beings and hadn't come across anything supernatural or abnormal in that entire time. There was, of course, going to be worry that Raleigh was going to relapse back into the mentality he was in after Tony died.
"Yeah, totally."
He didn't know if he was the definition of okay, but he was handling things better then he thought he would. So maybe he lied when he answered Trystan, but he liked to think he wasn't.
Attempting to make the situation more uplifting, while also bringing up the other elephant in the room, Trystan turned the situation onto something else. "I guess it was a good thing May made sure I packed your suit."
Little did Trystan know that Raleigh hadn't even used it. "Sure. It's also a good thing you told Mr. Harrington that I get homesick and should be roomed with Peter and Ned, yeah?"
"Raleigh—" He tried to defend himself, but Raleigh didn't let him.
"I told you—I've been telling you—that I don't want to bother Peter about this! And now it's like you're trying to force me to do it." Maybe he was being a tad dramatic, they were just sharing a room, but the thought of a situation coming up where he would have to tell Peter everything... it was a legitimate fear. He doesn't want to put all that on him and he can't—he can't talk about it.
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. Think of it as a light nudge. I just think it'll help you if you finally open up about everything because it's not healthy keeping all this to yourself." Trystan explained, his voice rising in some sort of fatherly panic. "You won't talk to me or someone certified, so you need to at least talk to Peter. He'll understand."
Raleigh knew where Trystan was coming from. The man was protective of Raleigh and cared about him just as much as Raleigh was with his friends and family. They both would do anything for one another, but this was something Raleigh physically and mentally couldn't bring himself to do for Trystan. He didn't know how to.
There were a few agonizing seconds of silence before Raleigh decided to end the conversation. "Look, I'll call you back if anything changes. Bye."
He could faintly hear Trystan calling for him to wait as he pulled the phone away from his ear, but he ignored it and ended the call. Dropping his arm dramatically, he lightly knocked his forehead against the wall a couple of times, until he finally decided to put away his phone and rejoin the group. He passed by Peter, who was still by the payphones talking to his aunt, before stopping beside the stairs where MJ sat silently and Jaron exasperated talked to his families on his cellphone. He caught a small snippet from Jaron about how he had already called his parents and his sister, Layla, and could only assume he was now speaking with the couple that adopted him after the initial snap.
He leaned against the railing on the stairs and watched the news, where they continued to replay the same few clips of the water monster and the new hero. An Italian woman talked quickly over it.
"Who is that guy?" Betty asked as they focused on the green-smoked hero. That was a question Raleigh had.
"He's like Iron-Man and Thor rolled into one." Brad described.
"He's all right." Flash scoffs unimpressed. "He's no Spider-Man or Aureate."
Raleigh raised a brow at the Midtown Tech bully. Everyone knew Flash Thomson had a fascination with the two New York heroes, which started after the two of them stole his father's car from the Homecoming dance, and grew among the years; and even if it was supposed to be flattering to Raleigh, it was just mostly weird.
Ever since they made news back when they took down Adrian Toomes and his business, Aureate and Spider-Man became more known—but it was the Blip and Tony's death that skyrocketed their popularity. Now, because of it, all of his peers talked about not only Spider-Man now, but also Aureate. It was especially weird when it came from someone who liked to make fun of both Peter and Raleigh, not knowing they were the people he looked up to.
MJ also noticed the way Flash continuously praised Spider-Man and Aureate. "What is it with you and Spider-Man and Aureate?"
"What? They're just awesome, okay?" Flash noted. "They protect the neighborhood and city, and you know, they're inspiring. They inspire me to be a better man."
Peter made his way to stand beside Raleigh, studying the images on the television. Flash noticed the boy and nodded to him with a smug look and a wink. "Sup, dickwad? Thought you drowned."
The irony in what just happened was understandably only spotted by Peter and him. Peter played it off with a smile and a sarcastic thumbs up and Raleigh covered his mouth when a laugh nearly seeped out of him. Although he was trying to hide his amusement, it was still noticed by Flash. He scowled at him. "What?"
Having to pretend the smile was something other then what it was, he decided to point out the second most ironic thing in what the boy said. He removed his hand and smirked at him while quoting his last words. "It's just, a better man?"
To no surprise, Flash didn't appreciate the teasing being looped back on him. "What if that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing." He waved him away, not shocked that he didn't catch the hypocrisy in what he did. "Don't worry about it."
Flash opened his mouth, ready to start arguing or sending out some insults to Raleigh, when Brad stopped them by noting something off the newscast. "It sounds like his name's Mysterio."
"L'uomo del misterio," MJ quoted the woman news anchor, "it's Italian for man of mystery. They don't actually know who he is."
"Mysterio..." Ned echoed with a nod.
"Cool name." Both Ned and Betty said at the same time. The couple looked at one another with a grin. "Babe!"
Jaron, now sitting on the other side of MJ, muttered to himself. "I still don't get it." It was quiet for a second, the news softly playing int he background, until Jaron leaned on his knees to see past MJ and scrutinize Raleigh. "Where did you end up disappearing to? We thought you were behind us and then you were gone."
Raleigh peered at Peter, who seemed unsure of how to answer. He turned back to Jaron, who also caught the attention of MJ. He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "There were a lot of people."
Peter glanced between the girl and boy. "So how much of that did you guys actually see?"
"Not much. I was running." MJ stated and Jaron nodded in agreement.
"Right. Me too." Peter crossed his arms and Raleigh watched him. "I was also running... away."
"And also apparently letting Raleigh fall in the canal," Jaron said, not meaning to be accusatory, but coming off that way. When Raleigh came back to the hotel soaked to the bone—somehow being one of the only ones who ended up like that—he had to come up with an explanation to the teachers.
Raleigh turned to him and was quick to defend Peter. "To be fair, I fell in when I lost Peter in the crowd. So it wasn't his fault." He glanced at Peter, who appeared a little down by Jaron's words. "And a little water never hurt anybody."
"Actually water holds tons of parasites," MJ informed them bluntly, "Giardia Intestinalis is one that can cause pretty disgusting side effects."
Raleigh scratched his forehead as he snapped his eyes down at his friend. He pursed his lips and bit the inside of his cheek as he watched her smile widely in his direction. He shook his head and faced away from her. "Thank you, MJ."
› › › ›
Later that evening, while everyone started to get ready for bed, Raleigh locked himself in one of the few stalls in the communal bathroom, that also had a shower. The smell of the dirty canal water and the grimy feel across his skin was starting to bother him, and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing what was crawling along his skin. He only brought a small tub of soap and shampoo and before he was finished with his shower, he realized his mistake when he had packed, because past him forgot to bring extras. So by the time he finished his shower, he only had a small smidge left.
Getting redressed in his sweats and shirt from earlier, his phone alerted him to a text from inside his pocket. Thinking it was just going to be another message from either May, Happy, Trystan, or even possibly Fury, he tiresomely pulled the phone out and unlocked it. Going to the messages, he was surprised to see the most recent text was from Peter.
Can you maybe possibly head over to our room? Now. Code: Fury is here.
Raleigh stared blankly at the message, his eyes lingering on the end of it. He didn't exactly know what Peter meant by that... or he liked to think he didn't know what Peter meant by the message. After all, they didn't have codes in the first place, something Ned was very disappointed about and tried to change often. However, the longer Raleigh sat there and reread the code, the more he realized the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was with Peter right then—inside their shared hotel room. Without any confrontation with the man Raleigh had yet to properly meet, he already knew he would be unhappy with how he and Peter deliberately avoided his persistent calls.
Without replying, he shoved on his shirt and opened the bathroom door. Mr. Harrington breathed a heavy sigh of relief upon seeing the bathroom freed up, and almost pushed Raleigh to the side as he hurried to the toilet. He slammed the door shut behind Raleigh and the ravenet sidestepped away from it in a slight daze.
Shaking his head, he continued on his way to his shared motel room. Their room wasn't too far from where the communal bathrooms were, but the walk felt longer then it did previously and he didn't know if it was due to the panicked thoughts racing through him right then. His stomach was churning and his heart was pumping anxiously in his throat.
What is Fury doing here?
Why was Peter telling me to come now?
Oh, God, was Fury going to kill us for ignoring him?!
He was also jittery because all he could see when Fury was mentioned was the bullet wounds in his chest and the blood soaking and pooling down his black suit—the way Agent Sharon Carter held his wounds while red stained her hands and how Captain Steve Rogers jumped out of the window to chase the shooter. That was the first time he thought he had actually witnessed someone dying, and he grew up these last few years fully believing Nick Fury died in Captain America's apartment.
Maybe he should have some interest in seeing the former director since Fury could answer some questions that he knew he could dig up within his subconscious, but he didn't have any interest. The man hid everything from him after Raleigh accidentally killed his adopted parents, and silently passed him off to one of his agents. Had Sharon not been forced to move Raleigh, he was certain he would still be living in the dark—and possibly have had another lethal accident.
As he strolled up to room 14, he found that the door was already closed and he couldn't hear anything. Knowing he could easily run away and hopefully avoid Fury's probable anger, he quickly twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door—he couldn't leave Peter to deal with the fire by himself, that wasn't how things went.
He didn't even make it completely into the room before his eyes landed on Ned's body passed out on the bed, half of his body hanging off. With his hand still on the doorknob, his mouth fell open, and his body grew rigid. He only relaxed when he noticed the slow and controlled movement in his chest and the small blue feathered dart sticking out of his neck.
"Raleigh..."
Remembering why he was there in the first place, he snapped his attention to the person who called him. Peter stood wearing a pair of plaid sleep pants and a blue t-shirt with a toothbrush clenched in one hand and his phone in the other. His body was just as rigid as Raleigh's had been seconds ago and his face was morphed with worry, causing wrinkles to form on his forehead. His hazel eyes snapped off of Raleigh and onto something around the corner, silently telling—warning—Raleigh to hurry up.
Listening to him, Raleigh carefully closed the door behind him, before walking inside the room. However, his body shut down once more when he rounded the corner and came face-to-face with the man who put together the Avengers.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Aureate."
Raleigh pinched his skin. "What are you doing here?"
"Why do you think?" The man settled his hand, which was conveniently holding the tranquilizer gun he shot Ned with, onto his propped knee. "You and your friend kept dodging my calls."
"And you don't think this is inappropriate?" Raleigh continued, while gnawing at the inside of his cheek.
Nick appeared unimpressed with the question. "Why would I think that?"
Raleigh huffed out an exasperated laugh and threw up his hands. "Well, for one, you're in three teenage boys' hotel room at night; and, oh I don't know, I also watched you bleed out on Captain America's floor!"
He spoke the last bit slowly as if it was a hard concept to understand, but Fury didn't reply to the accusation. The man only stared at him with his one good eye. The silent, hard stare, uneased Raleigh, causing him to squirm uncomfortably In his spot. It appeared that was what the man was looking for because he leaned back. Pulling something out of his pocket, he slammed it down on the table in front of him.
"We're been following some occurrences." The triangular device flipped open, and from the middle, it illuminated a golden hue. A globe of Earth spun gently between the three of them. The hologram flicked to a small rendition of a ruined city, and above it played a pixelated video of people running away, while a dust-looking monster attacked the buildings behind them. It reminded Raleigh, almost too much, of the monster they saw today. "A week ago, a village in Mexico was wiped out by a cyclone. Witnesses say that cyclone had a face."
He was cut off as Ned began snoring loudly. All of their attention shifted to the passed out boy, before turning back onto Fury and the hologram. The picture changed to a different map of a different land while a similar video was shown, this time of a monster made out of storm clouds.
"Three days later, a similar event in Morocco. A village was destroyed by what may be another world-threatening—"
There was a soft knock on the door and Betty's voice, muffled from the door between them, softly called for her boyfriend. Fury raised his gun in the direction of the entrance, in preparation. "Babe, you still awake? You're not answering any of my texts."
"Um, he's asleep, Betty," Peter explained with a shaky voice.
"Oh, already?" Peter hummed in answer and Betty stepped back. "Hm. Okay."
She left and Fury continued. "That's why it's imperative—"
Once again, he was cut off as Mr. Dell knocked on the door. "Hey, boys. So that canal water today was filled with dangerous bacteria..."
His voice droned out as Fury turned to them with a glower. "Another person touches that door, we're all going to be attending another funeral."
Raleigh cringed, not knowing if he was being serious or not. He, honestly, didn't want to find out. Apparently, Fury didn't either, because he grabbed the device off the table and shut it off before giving the two teens a harsh stare.
"Suit up."
› › › ›
No more than fifteen minutes later, Peter Parker and Raleigh Ridley found themselves on a boat with Nick Furt dressed in their alias' suits, while the moonlight shimmered against the rippling water. The man sat by the controls of the vehicle, while the two teens stood in front of them, their elbows brushing with how close they were. Raleigh tapped his foot lightly, careful to not disturb the water-vehicle. He was relieved he had his gloves on over his hands, because the urge to pick at the scab was growing with every second they remained in silence.
"Stark left these for you." Fury suddenly broke the quiet and pulled out a glasses case from a bag. He handed it to Peter, who gawked at it through his mask, and proceeded to tug out a small black jewelry case and lift it towards Raleigh's line of sight.
Raleigh stared blankly at the small box, his arms suddenly feeling too numb to reach forward and grab it. However, he knew Fury's patience was running thin with him, so he forced himself to gingerly wrap his fingers around the soft leather box. As his thumbs slid down the shell, the wonder and curiosity suddenly ignited, and without any more hesitancy, he clicked open the lid. He was immediately met with a dimmed glow, and upon moving the white and gold tissue paper, he noticed two black bands resting on top of one another with a small circular section radiating a small white light. He reached for one of the bands and pulled it out.
He didn't know what it was, but he knew it had to be something if Tony left it for him.
"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." Fury suddenly quoted Shakespeare towards Peter. "Stark said you wouldn't get that because it's not a Star Wars reference."
Raleigh peered closer towards what Peter was holding and he felt his heart clench at the sight. In the glasses case wasn't just any old glasses, but the ones that Tony Stark often wore. They were the same glasses that Tony was wearing when Raleigh returned to Earth with Bruce after being gone for months on end. At the time, Tony had talked to FRIDAY through them, but he wasn't sure if they had the same A.I. built-in them since Pepper had control over FRIDAY.
"But he also said you'd at least know where it's from." FUry dipped his head in Raleigh's direction and the ravenet awkwardly put back the bands in the box and closed it. He numbly nodded to the former director and looked back at Peter, who was just as shaken up by what he was given. It didn't matter that he didn't know what it was, it was the fact that these were once Tony's. He left behind something for him and that meant a lot.
Suddenly the boat stopped and Fury stood up. "We're here."
The three of them stepped out of the boat and silently followed Fury. Raleigh hugged his arms around his body, realizing just then how silent the floating city was. No one wanted to be out after witnessing and possibly suffering the water beasts attack. He paused momentarily as Fury walked up to a worn-down abandoned building and Peter realized the hesitancy because he halted just a few feet ahead and turned to him with a concerned downward curve of his lips. It didn't take long for Fury to get to the door and when he did, he too realized the lack of followers and scowled at the two teenagers.
"Hurry along."
Peter opens his mouth to say something to Raleigh, when the ravenet shakes his head and pinches his skin under his suit as he hurried to Fury's side. He didn't know what was wrong, but he thought a sense of uneasy was trying to lay down on him.
It's just because of everything that has happened. I just need to breathe. He told himself as the trio entered the dimly lit building.
The ground is covered in a thin layer of water and it only gets worse when they enter a basement of sorts. The dimmed lighting brightens as they walk down the steps. As they get to a doorway, Fury speaks up once more.
"You can lose the masks. Everyone here has seen you two without them. You'd only be feigning anonymity..." He tilts his chin slightly towards Peter. "...and breathing through spandex for no good reason."
The two teens stop to look at one another. Their identity was supposed to be a secret, so who else was around the corner that knew who Spider-Man and Aureate were? Yet there wasn't a reason to argue with Fury, so Raleigh pulled a face and shrugged his shoulders before peeling off his mask and scrunching it in his hand holding his newly acquired box. Peter followed his example and tugged off his mask and caught up with him and Fury through the doorway.
Lights marked the settled roofing, while dampness dripped down the rocked walls. Tables covered in wires, tech, and other gears, were lined along the walls and Raleigh nervously tugged his lips upwards when the few people standing around their tables turned to silently look at them.
"Come on." Fury urged them further into the basement. He waited for them to catch up with him before he began directing them towards the different agents in the basement. He flicked his wrist where a woman with a slicked-back ponytail was typing away on a computer. She didn't bother to turn around at her boss' voice. "Over there, we have Maria Hill."
Raleigh nearly stumbled over his feet at the surprisingly familiar name. Maria Hill was one of the few names that remained locked away at the back of Raleigh's head ever since Sharon Carter explained his true background. At the time, the names of the people weren't important to Raleigh, but upon hearing it again, it punched everything he had stored away in his mind back to the front. Apparently out of himself and Sharon, Maria was the only other person he trusted enough to know about Raleigh, before even Raleigh himself knew about himself.
Before any of them could regard his unusual behavior, Fury continued pointing out the agents.
"That is Dimitri." He pointed to a man with knotted back hair who was clocking a gun and glaring at them. Raleigh and Peter both sidestepped closer to one another. "And this is Mr. Beck."
Fury stepped to the side at the same time a man walked around a round table and goosebumps immediately traveled up Raleigh's arms. The red cape swung about his body as the man moved to face the two new arrivals and small blue lights shined brightly off of his gold outfit and reflected off of the puddles on the ground. Despite missing a part of his uniform, Raleigh easily recognized this man as the same man who swooped in and saved Venice and it's people just hours prior.
He and Peter weren't the only ones revealing their identity now.
"Mysterio?" Peter managed to finally stutter.
The man furrowed his thick eyebrows at them. "What?"
"Doesn't matter." Peter waved it off with a timid smile. "It's what my friends have been calling you."
"Well," the adult walked forward with his hand outstretched for Peter to take, "you can call me Quentin."
Taking the initiative, Peter left Raleigh and shook the man's hand. His face was nearly glowing from how awestruck he was—because this man... he was just like them! Besides a handful of texts and calls from Professor Hulk, Sam Willson, and the occasional FaceTime from Valkyrie, this was the first hero Raleigh has seen since the Battle for Earth—and it was the same for Peter. However, while Peter was in complete awe, Raleigh was something else.
He forced his lips together and clamped his hand with Quentin Beck's hand when he turned to him.
"You handled yourself well out there today," Quentin said, dipping his chin from one to the other. "Both of you did. I saw what you did with the tower. We could use someone like you two on my world."
He directed his back on them and went back towards the round table he was previously at. Raleigh blinked and waited for him to explain what he meant by my world, but the man just settled his hands on the table and leaned into it as a gold hologram of a map sparked from it. It was as if this was a completely normal thing to admit to two strangers, or as if this was just a normal thing in general. He knew things were different and everyone was still learning more about their universe, but... He wasn't sure what Quentin meant, not really.
Peter shook his head. "I'm sorry. Your world?"
"Mr. Beck is from Earth." Fury explained, moving to the computer Maria Hill was glaring at. "Just not yours."
Raleigh's face scrunched into confusion.
"There are multiple realities," Quentin explained from in front of a golden hologram. "This is Earth Dimension 616. I'm from Earth 833."
"Wait—wait." Raleigh narrowed his eyes and folded his arms in front of him as he passed Peter and got closer to the newcomer. "So you're trying to say there's a—a what? A multiverse?"
The man nodded silently and Peter bounced to Raleigh's side. "But I thought that was theoretical. I mean that completely changed how we understand the initial singularity. We're talking about an eternal inflation system. And how does that even work with all the quantum? It's insane!"
Fury and Hill turned around from their station and both of them gave Peter an equal look of displeasure. The young boy chokes back his words and smiles apologetically. "S-sorry. It's just really cool."
"Don't ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room," Quentin told him and Peter beamed, somehow more awed by the hero. Few adults dealt with Peter and Raleigh's rampant rambling, so it was a nice change for them to find someone allowing and even encouraging it.
Of course, while Raleigh was silent, his mind was racing with questions when it came to the multiverse. Would the Avengers disruption in other timelines and realities affect the other Earths, as well? Since there's other Earths, would those also be apart of the Nine Realms, like their Earth and Asgard is? What would his other dimensioned self be doing; and would he still have the same background?
There were too many questions to even begin sorting through, and the thought of shuffling through them all was making him dizzy.
"Anyway—" Maria Hill moved the conversation along and pushed something on the keyboard beside her. The hologram between Peter, Raleigh, and Quentin Beck swirled upward into something that resembled a beautiful spiral galaxy.
Quentin peered his eyes over the hologram as he explained his story and about the monsters Fury showed them."They were born in stable orbits within black holes. Creatures formed from the primary elements..." The galaxy shifted and four figures formed in front of them. One resembled rocks, while another was orange like fire, and the ones behind resembled the air monster from Mexico and the water monster from earlier. They circled one another. "Air, water, fire, earth. The Science Division had a technical name. We just called them Elementals."
"Versions of them exist across mythologies." Maria continued.
"Turns out, the myths are real." Quentin finished.
"Like Thor!" Peter readily said and Raleigh snapped his head in his friend's direction. At one point that was the most unearthly thing for humanity to adapt to, but then Thor was dropped in New Mexico around 2011. Considering everything, this meant that Raleigh would also be considered a not-so myth—except there's nothing in the books about Loki's son who resembled Raleigh in any sort. "Thor was a myth, now we study him in physics class."
"Yeah, it's a little weird," Raleigh admitted lowly, catching the attention of everyone. He grimaced to himself since Peter was the only one who understood why he said that. He just shrugged halfheartedly at everyone and cocked a grin at Fury.
The man rolled his eye and walked around the hologram table. "Well, these myths are threats."
The picture flicked to an image of an Earth, just slightly different from the Earth they were currently on. Small markers pulsated on certain parts of the land. "They first materialized on my Earth many years ago. We mobilized them and fought them, but with each battle, they grew, got stronger. I was apart of the last battalion left trying to stop them." The Earth in front of them had an explosion of red flames, which traveled over the globe, eventually covering the entire planet. "All we did was delay the inevitable."
Raleigh lowered his head and bit his lip, because that sounded too similar to their experience with Thanos. In the end, all they did was delay Vision's death and Thanos' rise to power.
Maria continued. "The Elementals are here now, attacking the same coordinates. Our satellites confirmed it."
"So thank Mr. Beck for destroying the other three." Fury stated. "There's only one left: fire."
"The strongest of them all." Quentin swallowed back his grief as the Earth crumbled into nothing but dust. "The one that destroyed my Earth. It's the one that took my family."
They watched as he played with a wedding band on his ring finger. Raleigh peeked back at Quentin's face, seeing the painfully familiar guilt and grief that Raleigh dealt with for all the people he witnessed and know died before and during the Battle of Earth. Quentin lost a lot, from losing his Earth and all the people residing there, knowing his family was amongst them, and being the only one who survived the war. All that pain would be weighing down on him. He had to live the remainder of his life remembering what happened while trying to find a way to live with it, and Raleigh understood in his own way what kind of effect that had on a person.
"And it will be in Prague in approximately forty-eight hours," Maria explained.
"We have one mission: kill it." Fury turned around in the seat he was in and nodded in their direction. "And you two are coming with us."
"I'm sorry, did you say Prague?"
"Yeah, and what do you mean by we're coming with you?" Raleigh butted in, setting his hand on Peter's forearm. "If I'm being honest with you, and I am, I don't think this is something we should be involved in."
"Mr. Fury," Peter stopped Raleigh from vomiting out any more words, by resting his hand on the one that was on his arm, "what he means is this all seems like bigtime, you know, huge superhero kind of stuff. And, I mean, I'm just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, sir."
Fury doesn't skip a beat as he responds to the boy's statement. "Bitch, please. You've been to space."
"I know, but that was an accident." Peter defended himself, rubbing his hands together. He glanced at Raleigh. "Sir, there's gotta be someone else you can use. What—what about Thor?"
"Off-world."
"Okay, uh, Doctor Strange?"
"Unavailable." Maria replied.
"Okay, but what about, um," Raleigh stuttered, trying desperately to come up with someone who could take his and Peter's place, "uh, why not Ant-Man?"
"Busy." Maria continues, her voice dropping and the ravenet frowns in her direction.
"Captain Marvel?" Peter tried another one.
"Don't invoke her name." Fury scowls, his tone much harsher then it has been the entire night.
"Sir, look, I really wanna help. I do. But if my aunt finds out we left our class trip, she'll kill me." He motioned between him and Raleigh. "And if I'm seen like this in Europe after the Washington Monument, my whole class will figure out who I am, and it wouldn't take them very long to put the pieces together on who Raleigh is, and then—then the whole world will figure out who we are, then we're done."
Fury breaths and calmly stares at the two teenagers. "Okay. I understand."
"Really?" Raleigh's jaws almost fall open in astonishment. "You do?"
"Why don't you get back before your teachers miss you and become suspicious." He gave them a closed-mouth smile and the sight was more unnerving in comparison to the scowl he has been sending them the entire night. The expression wiped off his face as he turned to the guy. "Dimitri. Take them back to the hotel, please."
The man silently nods and begins gathering his stuff, while Peter thanked the leader of the group. "Thank you, Mr. Fury. And, uh, good luck."
He walked around Raleigh and the dark-headed boy awkwardly swayed his foot against the concrete ground. He pulled on a tight smile at Fury. "It's nice knowing you didn't actually die!" He walked away from the man and squinted his eyes, shaking his head at the words that just came out of his mouth. He hurried his pace up to where Peter was waiting for him. He waved to Quintin as he passed him. "Good luck, Mr. Beck."
"Bye, ma'am." Peter said to Maria, who replied with an annoyed 'yeah'.
Raleigh leaned into Peter, whispering to him. "Do you think that was a little too easy? Fury, I mean."
Despite the fact that the man was giving them the clear and the go-to to return to the hotel and back to their vacation, he couldn't shake off the uncertainty about it. Nick Fury was the man that put together six strangers, all with unique backgrounds and intense personalities, to create a group of heroes that would protect Earth. And as he had been spewing all night, Fury fooled not only HYDRA that he was dead but also government officials—and only someone who was stubborn and knew how to get around people could do that. So for him to willingly back down from two teenagers without much argument... something wasn't right about it.
"I honestly don't know." He whispered back. "Maybe he really does get it."
Raleigh lowered his head and stared at his booted feet.
He was supposed to protect Earth from threats and this Elemental was something that was threatening the safety and livability of the entire world. Yet, he already fought in a battle to help protect Earth from a threat, and the strain that war had put on him was vast. Just to keep him from being stuck in his own mind, he worked endlessly (when he wasn't keeping himself busy with school work) as Aureate to make sure everyone was safe back home. He was exhausted—both physically and mentally—from trying to take on everything while suffering from his own wounds. Maybe some people didn't think or understand that heroes deserved breaks too; and both he and Peter were desperately needing one right now.
He shrugged, tipping his arm into Peter's. "Maybe."
Authors Note:
This chapter has been a pain to get finished and I'm a little nervous because of that, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!
With everything happening in the world, I'd like to let you know that I have more information on how you can help the BLM movement on my recent announcement on my page. Within it, there will be links, that I also explain more about, which you can choose how to help. Please don't remain silent during this time, as your voice, no matter how small you may think it is, can make it to someone and end up making a difference. I love you all and hope you're all staying safe during this time <3
And with that, I'd also love to wish a big Happy Pride Month to everyone within the LGBTQIA+ community! What an amazing month to push out some more Reconcile chapters (something I plan and hopefully will accomplish to do, to celebrate pride!).
Again, as always, stay safe.