"Uncle Ben... I..." Peter stammered, trying to say something, but his mind had gone completely blank.
"Put on a jacket before you catch a chill." Ben placed the hot cocoa on Peter's desk and sat down on the edge of the bed across from him.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Peter lowered his head and kept stitching the suit, while the alarm clock behind him ticked away.
"Peter, I know everything," Ben said at last, holding his mug of cocoa. "I'm a reporter. I notice the little details. That thing you do with your hands? You've done it since you were a kid."
Peter lowered his head even further, guilt washing over him.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Ben. I didn't mean to hide it from you. I just... I didn't want you and Aunt May to worry."
"I know. I know all of it. You and your brother are good boys. You always have been." Ben placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, steadying him.
"If your father, Richard, could see you now, he would be incredibly proud."
"When I was young, I killed men on the battlefield. After I came home, I used a pen to expose the ugliness of powerful people and help ordinary Americans see what their government was really doing. I've spent my whole life doing dangerous things because I knew that if I didn't, weaker people would be the ones who suffered."
Ben looked into Peter's eyes and spoke each word with weight.
"Peter, you have a kind of power many people would dream of having. Power that might as well be godlike. You could use it to make money. To gain fame. To get revenge on the people who hurt you."
"But, son, there is one thing you must never forget."
"With great power comes great responsibility."
The words rang through Peter's heart like a bell.
"This power is not a privilege that places you above ordinary people. It is a gift that allows you to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Don't let anger or hatred blind you. Never lose sight of your line."
Peter threw himself into Ben's arms.
He understood what those words meant.
Outside the door, May and Clark stood behind the half-open door, watching the warm scene inside.
"That old man," May whispered with a smile. "Getting this dramatic at his age."
But the satisfaction on her face made it clear she approved of her husband's lesson.
"Yeah," Clark said softly. "With a family like ours, Peter is going to become an incredible superhero."
"Then you'll have to keep an eye on your little brother." May patted her eldest son, who had suddenly shot up to six-foot-three.
The next day, at Midtown High.
Peter looked more determined and composed than ever.
But when their group entered the classroom, they saw Harry Osborn, who had been missing for days.
Harry was dressed properly again, no longer as disheveled as before, but he still looked hollow, as though something inside him had gone missing. He stared blankly at the blackboard, completely ignoring the chatter around him.
Seeing Harry in that state, the group walked over.
"Harry? What happened?" Clark asked.
Harry slowly raised his head. When he saw Peter and the others, his voice came out hoarse.
"My father... is missing."
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
Norman Osborn was the CEO of one of the most famous companies in the world.
How could someone like that just disappear?
Was he kidnapped in Afghanistan too?
Was he trying to steal Tony Stark's headlines?
Though, honestly, the first time was interesting. The second time would just be copying.
Harry's tears slid down his face.
"Last night, six Oscorp board members were killed in an explosion at a private club. Some lunatic calling himself the Green Goblin did it. The police came to my house this morning. In the underground lab, they found my father's damaged clothes and a lot of empty enhancement serum canisters... They think my father might have been kidnapped by the Green Goblin, or... or something worse."
Harry didn't say the most terrifying possibility.
The police suspected Norman himself might be the murderous Green Goblin.
But as his son, Harry would rather believe his father had been kidnapped.
No one wanted to believe their own father was a killer.
"Oscorp is leaderless now. All our assets have been frozen by the government as part of the investigation. I... I have nothing left." Harry covered his face and began to sob.
Clark looked at him and understood.
Norman had probably gone to make something based on Clark's fake "weakness." Otherwise, he would have returned to his company to seize control.
Peter didn't think that far.
He had fought the Green Goblin only last night.
But now, he realized the green monster who had tried to kill him, the murderer who had slaughtered several board members, was his friend's father.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Should he tell Harry the truth?
That would be crueler than killing him.
Clark said nothing.
The gears had already begun to turn.
The Green Goblin and Spider-Man, destined enemies, had taken their first step onto the same path.
After school that afternoon.
When Clark and the others walked out of the building, the usually noisy school entrance suddenly fell quiet.
The reason was simple.
A striking Audi R8 was parked right outside the gate.
The students recognized the car at once.
It belonged to one of the biggest names in New York and all of America.
Tony Stark.
The car door opened.
But the person who stepped out wasn't Tony.
It was a heavyset man wearing sunglasses.
Happy Hogan.
Tony's personal bodyguard and driver.
Happy scanned the crowd before finally spotting his target. He walked straight toward Clark.
"You're Clark Parker?" Happy asked, curious.
He had no idea why his boss was trying to track down a high school student.
But he did know one thing.
Finding this kid had taken serious effort over the past few days.
"I am. And you are?" Clark held a comic book in one hand and raised his head with an innocent, harmless expression.
Of course, he had already recognized Happy.
Happy didn't waste words.
He pulled a custom Stark Industries tablet from his pocket and held it out in front of Clark.
Clark hadn't expected to be recognized like this.
Maybe Stark wanted to find his dad for an interview?
The screen lit up.
On it appeared Tony Stark, global headline magnet, billionaire, playboy, and public menace to calm conversations everywhere.
"Don't bother pretending to be surprised, big guy."
The second Tony said that, Clark immediately slapped the tablet screen down and shoved it into his backpack.
This was the school gate.
What was Tony thinking, blurting out his identity here?
"Over here." Clark grabbed Happy and pulled him away, waving for Peter and the others to go ahead.
Once they reached a quiet spot, Clark took the tablet back out.
Tony, on the screen, looked deeply unimpressed.
He had not expected to be stuffed into a backpack and ignored.
"Kid, you just left me waiting in a backpack. Do you have any idea how valuable my time is?"
"Tony Stark, get to the point. I don't think I have anything to do with a billionaire industrialist like you."
"Wow. No fun at all." Tony leaned back. "Clark Parker. Public nickname, the S-man. S.H.I.E.L.D. designation, Superman. Am I right?"
"Your speed is so ridiculous that military radar only caught a blue blur. Unfortunately for you, this world has something called Tony Stark. Using skeletal modeling, gait recognition, reverse-calculated muscle activation patterns, and a few algorithms that would make most engineers cry, I filtered through over seventy thousand high school boys in New York with similar builds. Eventually, the trail led to a run-down public school in Queens."
"So, interested in spending a weekend in California? Flights and hotel are on me. I'll even buy you the best cheeseburger in America."
"Sorry. I already have plans this weekend. New Mexico. If you want to meet me, do it there."
Clark refused without hesitation.
If he went to Tony's house and accidentally broke something, there was no way he could afford to pay for it.
Besides, Thor in New Mexico was much more interesting right now.
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