[Midtown Science High School]
[Basketball Gym]
"Go, Reggie!"
A fierce game was in progress.
But at that moment, a boy used too much force and threw the basketball out to the sidelines.
It knocked over a girl's bucket of dye.
A cute girl with glasses stood up and said, "You did that on purpose, didn't you, Flash?"
A tall white teenager said indifferently, "Of course not, but you'd better watch yourself."
Then he picked up the basketball and went back onto the court.
While the girl with glasses was still fuming, a messy-haired Peter Parker walked over.
"Hi," Parker helped her pick up the bucket and asked after standing up, "Are you okay?"
At that moment, on the court, Flash hit the ball over again.
It was about to hit the girl.
Peter Parker reacted quickly. Without even looking back, he reached out and grabbed it.
Catching the basketball in his hand.
The girl with glasses looked at Parker in surprise.
"Give me the ball, Parker," Flash walked over and made a gesture.
Peter Parker looked at him, then walked toward the court, "You want the ball?"
"It's simple. Just take it from me."
Flash smiled, not taking Parker seriously at all.
He walked over and suddenly reached for the ball in Parker's hand.
But grabbed nothing.
A soft gasp rose from the court.
Flash frowned and reached again.
Peter Parker dribbled quickly, letting the ball pass behind his back and into his other hand.
It was like a magic trick.
Flash's face flushed hot. He said in a low voice, "Cut it out, man."
Peter Parker just smiled without saying anything, then raised his hand and held the ball in front of Flash, "Here."
Just as Flash was about to reach for it, a hand pressed down on the ball.
Peter Parker looked up and saw a blond man. He suddenly remembered seeing him on the subway yesterday.
Alex looked at the future Spider-Man and smiled, "Let me try?"
The next second, Peter Parker felt a huge force hit his hand.
Then the basketball was easily taken away.
He froze for a moment.
As for Flash, he had no idea what had just happened.
"Here you go."
Alex tossed the ball to the tall teenager.
Peter Parker glanced at Alex, then turned and walked away.
As he walked, a voice sounded in his mind.
["You're not the only one who's special."]
It was Alex's voice.
Directly inside his head.
It could be said to be an extended ability of 'mind invasion,' something Alex had only recently figured out.
Now, he had invaded Spider-Man's mind and made his voice echo directly inside it.
Peter Parker stopped, then turned to look at Alex standing on the court.
Alex smiled and walked toward the exit.
Peter thought for a moment, then decided to follow.
.
.
.
They arrived at the rooftop of the school building.
Peter spread his hands, "You got bitten by a spider too?"
Alex laughed, "No, I'm not like you."
"I'm the kind who's born this way."
"Really?", Peter Parker asked with interest.
Alex lifted his feet slightly off the ground.
"Cool," Peter whistled, "You can fly?"
"More than that. I can do a lot more," Alex landed back on the ground.
Peter walked toward him, smiling, "You don't look like a teacher here."
Alex shrugged, "Of course not."
"I just happened to pass by today, and just happened to see you."
"I remember your performance on the subway yesterday, so I came in to take a look."
Peter Parker was excited to find someone like himself. He asked curiously, "What do you usually do? Do you use your abilities to help people?"
"You want to know?"
Alex smiled, "Then I'll come find you this afternoon."
"I'll tell you what I usually do."
"Okay."
"It's a deal."
———
In the blink of an eye, it was evening.
Peter Parker saw Alex outside the school gate.
"Come with me," Alex waved.
The young Spider-Man followed him away from the school.
At the school entrance, a pretty girl was looking around.
Then she saw Peter Parker's back.
Holding her textbooks, she said, "That's strange, who is Peter with?"
At that moment, a girl passed by, "Gwen, aren't you going home yet?"
"Just about to. See you," Gwen Stacy waved goodbye to her classmate and then headed toward the subway station.
———
On the other side, Peter Parker looked at the man in front of him in confusion.
He had actually brought him to a fast food restaurant.
"Why?"
Alex laughed, "Don't I need to eat?"
"No, no."
Peter Parker laughed, "I thought you'd be doing something special."
"I will."
"But not now."
"Right now, it's dinner time."
Alex called a waiter and ordered two meals.
By the time they finished eating and walked out, it was already dark.
"Alright, now you can come with me."
Alex led him into an alley, then tapped the vibranium wristband.
The wristband immediately released countless nano-particles.
In a moment, Alex was already wearing a black vibranium battle suit, with a red cape fastened behind him.
"Wow, that's amazing."
"How did you do that?", Peter Parker said with admiration.
Alex's "transformation" was like those mysterious heroes in movies.
"It's nothing."
"So, are you ready?", Alex asked with a smile.
Peter Parker looked confused, "Ready for what?"
Alex didn't answer. He simply grabbed him and flew up into the air.
"Whoa."
"You really can fly?"
"Oh man, I'm so jealous!"
"If only I could fly too."
Peter Parker cheered excitedly.
A moment later, he was placed on a rooftop.
Peter Parker was puzzled, "What are we doing here, sir?"
Alex floated in the air outside the rooftop, smiling, and pointed downward.
Only then did Peter look below.
Below was a dim alley. A man wearing a gold chain had a knife pressed against a woman's neck.
"Hand over everything valuable you've got, now!"
The woman hurriedly said, "I'll give you all the money, please don't hurt me."
On the rooftop, Peter immediately understood.
This was a robbery.
At that moment, he heard Alex ask, "If it were you, what would you do?"
Peter Parker froze for a moment, then thought seriously, "If it were me, I'd catch the criminal and send him to the police station."
"That's it?"
Alex smiled, "What if he comes out of the police station and commits crimes again?"
Peter Parker looked lost, scratching his head, "I don't know. Maybe… that's something the police should worry about?"
Alex didn't continue that line of thought. Instead, he said, "Didn't you want to know what I usually do?"
"This is what I do."
After saying that, Alex dropped into the alley with a whoosh.
The moment he landed, the entire alley shook.
On the rooftop, Peter couldn't help but say, "He's so cool."
Then he saw Alex walk over.
In the alley, the man was startled by Alex dropping from the sky.
He looked up in confusion, not knowing where Alex had come from.
Then he pointed the knife at Alex, "You'd better not stick your nose into this."
Seeing Alex continue walking toward him without stopping, the man shouted and stabbed toward Alex's chest.
Alex reached out and grabbed the knife.
With a squeeze, the dagger shattered instantly.
Then Alex's eyes lit up, and two streams of golden light swept out, slicing across the man's arm holding the knife.
The arm immediately fell from his body and hit the ground.
The wound was charred black. Blood hadn't even had time to flow before it was burned dry by the heat vision.
The man froze for a moment, then screamed, clutching his severed arm and stumbling backward.
"My hand."
"My hand."
Only then did Alex say, "Remember this. This time it's one hand."
"Next time, be ready to say goodbye to your life."
"Now get lost!"
The man looked at the arm on the ground, fear filling his eyes, and quickly ran out of the alley.
Alex smiled, then flew back up.
Returning to the rooftop.
Peter Parker looked at Alex now, his eyes carrying something different.
He had never expected Alex to be so brutal, directly cutting off the man's arm.
Alex looked at him, "What, you think I shouldn't have done that?"
"No…"
"Yes."
Peter Parker shook his head again, "I'm not sure, but I feel like that was too cruel."
"Cruel?", Alex spread his hands, "Exactly."
"Mr. Parker, if you really look into this world—"
"You'll find that most of the time, it's cruel."
"What people call warmth is just an illusion."
"It's fleeting."
"Peel back that layer, and you'll see cruelty everywhere."
"And people like that—"
"Do you think they can be reformed?"
"Do you think throwing them into a police station will make them change?"
"No, Mr. Parker."
"They won't."
"Without a deep enough lesson, when they come out, they'll keep doing bad things."
"And when that happens, it's the innocent who get hurt."
"For those innocent people, isn't that also a kind of cruelty?"
Deep down, Peter Parker felt that Alex's words were too extreme, but he couldn't find a way to refute them.
Alex continued, "When we were kids, if we did something wrong, our parents punished us."
"If it was bad enough, we might even get beaten."
"But it's those punishments and that pain that draw the line for us."
"They let us know what we must not cross."
"What I'm doing is exactly that."
"I hurt these criminals so they feel deep pain."
"So the next time they think about making the same mistake, they'll remember that pain."
"And then they'll know they can't do it again."
"Because the pain carved into their bones will remind them."
"That's what I'm doing."
———
What happened tonight hit Peter Parker hard.
So much so that when he got home, he was still a bit dazed.
He even overlooked Uncle Ben sitting at the door.
It wasn't until Uncle Ben coughed lightly, that Peter Parker snapped back.
"Hey, Uncle Ben, sorry, I was thinking about something."
"I didn't see you."
Uncle Ben said with a stern face, "You don't need to apologize to me, but you should apologize to your Aunt May."
"Mr. Parker, did you forget that I'm on the night shift tonight?"
"I told you this morning to pick up your Aunt May in the evening."
"And what did you do?"
"You didn't answer my calls, and you let my wife, your aunt, walk twelve blocks alone late at night."
"In that, you're just like your father."
At the mention of his father, Peter Parker shook his head, "Don't bring him up."
"And yeah, this is my fault."
"I'm sorry. I got distracted."
Uncle Ben snorted, "Distracted. Your father was always distracted too."
"And he'd always ignore the people around him."
"Listen, kid."
"You really are a lot like your dad."
"That's a good thing."
"But your father had one thing right. He had beliefs. He had principles."
"He believed that if you could do good for others, you had a responsibility to do it."
"That's the key, not a choice."
"It's responsibility."
Peter Parker held his head, "I said don't talk about him!"
"He was great, right?"
"Then where is he? Let him come out and tell me this himself!"
He shouted, then threw down his backpack, pulled up his hoodie, and walked off into the empty street.
Aunt May hurried out, looking at her husband, "You promised you'd talk to him properly."
Uncle Ben glanced at the backpack on the ground, "He wasn't like this before."
"He must be troubled about something. I'll go check on him."
Uncle Ben walked onto the street, calling ahead, "Wait for me, Peter, come back, let's talk."
But the more he called, the faster Peter ran.
All of this was seen by Alex in the sky.
Watching the old man chasing Peter Parker, Alex said nothing.
———
After shaking off his uncle, Peter wandered the streets alone for quite a while.
Feeling a bit thirsty, he went into a convenience store.
He picked out a bottle of milk from the fridge, but when it came time to pay, he realized his wallet was in his backpack.
He slapped his forehead.
The cashier said impatiently, "Are you buying it or not? There are people waiting behind you."
Peter glanced back.
Behind him stood a man with shoulder-length blond hair and sunglasses.
Peter shook his head and put the milk back in the fridge.
When he turned around again, he saw the blond man knock items off the counter.
While the cashier went to pick them up, the man took money from the register.
As he was about to leave, he heard someone say—
"You'd better put the money back."
Peter Parker stood there with his hands in his pockets, speaking to the man.
"Mind your own business, kid."
He turned to leave.
Peter stepped in front of him.
Holding out his hand, "Give me the money."
"Get lost!"
The man kicked at Peter.
Peter easily dodged, then swept his leg and knocked the man flat on his back.
At that moment, the cashier shouted, "Give me back the money or I'll call the police!"
The blond man threw the money down and rushed out the door.
Peter didn't chase him. He picked up the money and placed it on the counter.
Then turned to leave.
But the cashier called out, "Wait."
After putting the money away, the cashier went to the fridge, took out the milk Peter had just returned, and tossed it to him.
"My treat."
"Thanks, kid."
Peter caught it and smiled. It was the happiest moment he had that night.
At that moment, he heard a gunshot.
Then someone screamed.
Peter ran out of the store with the milk in his hand and saw someone across the street slowly collapsing to the ground.
The milk slipped from his hand.
That person—
Was Uncle Ben!
"No! No! No!"
Peter rushed across the street and reached the old man, seeing him covered in blood.
"No! No! No! Uncle Ben."
"Don't scare me."
"Uncle Ben."
"Somebody help!"
"Call an ambulance!"
Peter pressed down on the man's body desperately, his hands covered in blood.
But he could feel the old man's body growing colder.
"This shouldn't be happening."
"This shouldn't be happening."
At that moment, Peter was filled with regret.
If he hadn't left home, none of this would have happened.
If something happened to Uncle Ben, he didn't know how he would face Aunt May.
Up in the sky, Alex quietly watched it all. Then turned and left.
———
"This is what the suspect looks like, ma'am. Please take a look and see if you recognize him."
"No, I don't."
"Oh God, why did this happen?"
At home, Peter curled up in a corner.
Listening to the conversation between the police and Aunt May, sinking into deep self-blame.
When the police were about to leave, he stood up, "Can I have that sketch?"
When he took the suspect sketch, Peter's whole body trembled.
Shoulder-length hair, sunglasses, it was the man from the convenience store he had just beaten up.
Peter began to shake.
He was filled with rage.
That rage—
Was directed at himself.
After dealing with the man, he hadn't handed him over to the police.
He had let him go.
If he had done something more, Uncle Ben wouldn't have been killed by that man.
At that moment, he remembered what Alex had said.
["Without a deep enough lesson, when they come out, they'll keep doing bad things."]
["And when that happens, it's the innocent who get hurt."]
Uncle Ben was that innocent person.
Because he hadn't intervened further, hadn't given that man a lasting lesson, the man had walked out of the store and killed Uncle Ben.
"It's all my fault!"
"It's all my fault!"
At that moment, a voice sounded in Peter Parker's mind.
["It's me."]
["I know where your uncle's killer is."]
Peter suddenly looked up.
———
A moment later, in a dim alley, Peter Parker saw Alex.
"Really?"
"You know where he is?", Peter Parker asked coldly.
Alex nodded, "Come with me."
"And—"
Alex took out something and tossed it to Peter Parker.
"You'd better wear it, unless you want people to recognize you and call the police when you do something."
Peter Parker caught it.
It was a mask.
He immediately put it on.
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