“Of course, you have a taste for this.”
Hawking looked at Peter’s sketch, the iconic red and blue Spider-Man suit he first wore when fighting in the underground rings.
“Flavius!”
With a gesture, a transformation spell was cast, and Peter’s school uniform instantly morphed into the Spider-Man suit. However, Hawking had enhanced it a bit to resemble Peter’s suit in the future, complete with a spider emblem on the chest.
“That’s cool!”
Peter touched the Spider-Man suit he was now wearing, jumped excitedly in place, and struck a spider-like pose, shooting webs toward a tree in front of him.
“Hawking, your abilities are just like magic.”
“The suit should last about three hours before it reverts. You’ll need to get a new one yourself tomorrow.”
Hawking explained, and then he changed his clothes into a shimmering golden armor.
At that moment, Peter was stunned again.
“So you are that guy—Iron Man!!!”
He naturally knew who Iron Man was, as his classmates had been talking non-stop about him the past few days, and many admired him, including his not-so-friendly classmate, Thompson.
Previously, when Hawking had invited him to fight crime at night, he felt it was similar to what Iron Man would do; he thought Hawking was imitating Iron Man, but it turned out Hawking was indeed Iron Man.
“Let’s go, today we’ll mainly be operating in Queens!”
Hawking leaped up, and Peter followed right behind.
Peter only had about two hours free each night; the Bronx was too far and would waste a lot of time traveling, so it made more sense to start directly in Queens.
He mainly needed Peter for his spider sense to locate hidden indoor homicide cases, which was a more efficient way to collect justice points, and Queens was not short of such incidents.
After two hours, he could head back to the Bronx alone.
Mainly because Peter was still inexperienced. Later on, when he was more seasoned, they could head directly to Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, which wasn’t far from Queens and was rife with murder cases.
“In that building, I sense someone calling for help!”
Before long, Peter suddenly stopped and called out to Hawking, pointing towards the eighth floor of a nearby apartment.
Hawking, following Peter’s lead, quickly rescued an elderly man who had nearly fatally fallen and also called an ambulance for him.
“There, that factory sounds like gunfire.”
“Underground, someone fell into a sewer pipe and hit their head; they’re in bad shape.”
With the help of Peter’s spider-sense, Hawking’s efficiency significantly increased, and the progress bar for his justice points grew several times faster.
At this rate, he might unlock the third protagonist template within a year.
Two hours later, on the rooftop of Peter’s house.
“You did very well. Let’s stop here for today and continue tomorrow.”
Hawking patted Peter on the shoulder, a satisfied look on his face.
However, Peter looked somewhat conflicted:
“Hawking, why can’t we intervene in every incident?”
During the two hours they spent combating crime, he noticed many criminal acts, but Hawking didn’t intervene and even stopped Peter when he wanted to help.
This was something he couldn’t quite understand.
To Peter’s confusion, Hawking wasn’t surprised but explained seriously:
“It’s not that I don’t want to help, but because some situations are not that severe, and the victims at most suffer some financial loss or minor injuries.
If we waste time on these, it could mean that others whose lives are at immediate risk might die because they couldn’t get our help.
Does that make sense?”
“Yes… I understand, but I still feel a bit guilty.”
Peter scratched his head.
“You’re just too kind.”
Upon hearing Peter’s words, Hawking knew that Peter was taking the consequences of the incidents they hadn’t intervened in at heart.
Peter hadn’t fully transformed after his Uncle Ben’s death and wasn’t brainwashed by the adage, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Still, his nature was to be kind, and he would’ve followed a similar path even without those events.
If Hawking had the same experiences as Peter, hearing “With great power comes great responsibility” would be dismissed as nonsense. If you said, “With great power comes great accountability,” he might believe it a bit.
If his uncle had been murdered, Hawking’s response with his abilities would be to seek an act of bloody vengeance. Helping others casually in the future could happen, but sacrificing his life to aid others like Peter would be out of the question.
That’s just the difference between people; he and Peter are not the same type of person.
Of course, deep down, he still greatly admired and liked people like Peter.
“Like this, I’ll familiarize you with the basics until you’re proficient. Then, we can split up and coordinate via communicators.
Notify me when you encounter potentially life-threatening situations, and I’ll handle them. You take care of the less dangerous ones. Together, we aim to help everyone who needs it.”
“That’s good, Hawking. Compared to you, I feel selfish. Once the holidays start, I’ll have time during the day, too. I can help out then without needing any payment from you.”
Hearing Hawking’s response, Peter’s face showed a look of shame.
Hawking used his abilities to help those in need, whereas Peter was motivated by money and cars before deciding to assist, even questioning Hawking’s actions.
Compared to Hawking’s nobility, he felt incredibly selfish.
Hawking laughed and replied:
“Haha, don’t think like that. I do this because I have spare time and money, whereas you have school and dreams. Don’t feel obligated; that would be moral coercion.
But if you’re free during the summer and want to help, I’m happy to have you, and it’s still a hundred dollars an hour.
Don’t refuse. I know you need tuition fees for school, and your uncle was laid off, so your family needs money, too. The premise of helping others is first to support yourself and your family.”
“Thank you, Hawking!”
At that moment, Peter looked at Hawking as if he were a sun filled with light, so dazzling and brilliant.
They were about the same age, yet their philosophies were worlds apart.
Sometimes, Peter felt Hawking was like a mature philosopher, even though he was still a naive child.
He didn’t know that in terms of age, Hawking was two years younger than him.
“Tomorrow, same place in Queens Park.”
Leaving these final words, Hawking leaped away, returning to the Bronx to continue his unfinished work.
It was just one in the morning, and he still had five more hours of work.
Although less efficient alone than with Peter, every little bit counts, and he also needed to continue building his reputation.
……
Become a Patron read up to 30 chapter ahead public release ^_^
Please join Discord Server so we can talk ^_^
