Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

While Peter was on the run, he was caught off guard by his spider-sense warning. Disoriented, he couldn't dodge in time. A swift gold and red mecha suit swooped in, catching him around the waist. It carried him for a distance at high speed before abruptly throwing him to the ground.

Peter was left dazed and disoriented. The striking gold and red suit hovered in the air. Peter, shaking from the shock, removed his mask. A voice came from the suit, "That guy was right, you are just a high school kid…"

Peter slammed his fist on the ground in anger, "I'm not just a kid, I'm Spider-Man!"

Stark snorted dismissively from the suit, "Spider Man? Ah yes, you have quite the reputation in the gangster circles of Hell's Kitchen. The only good thing you have done is help them win a lot of money."

Peter's rage blazed, threatening to consume him. This stranger in a robot suit attacked him, mocked him, and threw him. Peter lunged at him, but the Iron Man suit nimbly evaded by drawing a graceful arc in mid-air.

Little Spider had no combat skills yet, nor any experience fighting robots. Obviously, he had no strategy against the Mark 5, equipped with Jarvis.

Spider Man roared, "You damned robot, I will show you what I am capable of!"

The Iron Man suit touched down, "Oh, will you? Show me how you beat up those second-rate boxers!"

Stark knew how to hit where it hurt. Little Spider's face alternated between red and pale. But apparently, Stark had no interest in bantering any longer with this "kid." He spoke colder,

"Run home, kid. New York is not your personal playground. Just because you're different doesn't mean you can bounce around town. Someone already has their eyes on you."

Stark had no respect for the current Little Spider, especially upon learning that he was using his unusual abilities to fight in underground boxing rings. To him, it was a mind-numbingly stupid action.

Stark had his own pride. Despite his arrogance and stubbornness, the real Iron Man had awakened after his kidnapping. That was why he had no patience for Peter's immature antics.

Peter stood defiantly, and angrily hurled his mask to the ground. He said, "You accuse me of running wild… but aren't you doing the same?!"

His reason returning, he said to Stark, "Yeah, you...with your fancy suit. That can't be cheap. You have enough money to play around with stuff like this."

"But what about me? My aunt and uncle are sick and can't even afford the medical bills. I need the money. Why can't I fight in the boxing rings? I haven't hurt anyone with these powers!"

Stark crossed his arms and responded, "Have you ever thought that by having this ability and not using it to save others, you are already hurting them?"

Peter made a face, as if incredulous at the ludicrous idea. He said, "I took my ability and decided to use it for myself. Why should I have to help others with it?"

Peter, who had not yet experienced the death of Ben Parker, didn't understand the meaning of "With great power, comes great responsibility." He believed, with conviction, that he had every right to use his powers for personal gain.

His perspective wasn't entirely wrong. Everyone lives for themselves after all. But as Spider Man, Peter is destined to become a Superhero, his inherent kindness and resilience slowly brought forth with age.

As for Stark, despite his arrogance, he always felt a sense of responsibility to protect humanity and Earth. This sense of duty was a part of him.

At this point, Stark could see that Peter was unusually emotional, likely due to recent events. He said, "I know you have many unresolved feelings. I've been there too. But some things you can only understand once you've experienced them firsthand. I can't substitute those experiences with words of wisdom. I can only tell you this; if you continue to harbor such thoughts, there will be a day when you regret it."

With that, Stark's suit took off, leaving Peter alone, depressed and lost.

Peter didn't understand why everyone seemed to be against him, as if he was a born villain. Why did having superpowers make his life more agonizing than ever before?

He had earned money, but dared not give it directly to Uncle Ben. His sleep was disturbed due to his nocturnal exploits, negatively affecting his grades. The excitement of receiving new abilities had blinded him to Gwen's feelings, and now she was giving him the cold shoulder. He wanted to beat up his arch-rival Thompson, but he couldn't risk fighting at school and had to bear his insults.

This damn superpower, it really didn't bring him any huge benefits, it didn't allow him to turn his life around overnight, to live the comfortable life he wanted, he didn't understand where the problem was.

Sitting on the rooftop of a building in Hell's Kitchen, basking in the cold night wind of New York, Spider Man kept thinking.

At that moment, his extraordinary hearing allowed him to catch a murmur coming from the alleyway behind the building.

That was the back door of a nightclub, normally guarded by two burly bouncers who Peter could see from where he was sitting, but they couldn't see him.

Peter saw a bald man in a jacket, seemingly talking to his subordinates. Peter's eyesight and hearing were far superior to normal people; he noticed a target-like circular mark on the bald man's forehead. He heard the bald man saying:

"...As long as we floor the gas before he reacts, y'know, Andre has a nice car, it's been modified, accelerates much faster than a regular car."

"If we stay still at first, not making a sound, and hit him the moment he turns the corner, he is toast."

His subordinate said: "I know there is an intersection at the end of Mary Street that would be suitable. It's full of construction waste so the smell of the car can be disguised..."

The bald man exposed a wicked smile and said: "We have to take him out before that woman. This way the Golden boss will know who his most faithful subordinate is..."

Listening absentmindedly from the rooftop, Peter gathered from their conversation that they were planning to use a car to kill someone. But Peter, freshly educated, rebelliously thought, what does this have to do with him? It's merely a gang fight, one gang member wanting to kill another. Why should he intervene?

Anyway, there were no good guys in this damn Hell's Kitchen.

Thinking this, Peter slowly started walking back. It was already very late, and he had told his Uncle Ben that he wouldn't be returning tonight. So, he went back to Night Devil's cabin; Night Devil was still fast asleep.

Peter thought that perhaps his earlier assumption was not entirely correct. There was one good person in Hell's Kitchen, and that was his friend in front of him, who perhaps was too good.

Peter looked at the wound on his friend's calf, it was still bleeding. Whereas, the bruise that Peter received from Iron Man had completely healed by now. This seemed ridiculous to Peter, Night Devil was just an ordinary person. He didn't have self-healing powers like Peter did.

Therefore, by meddling in others' business, he got himself into this awful condition. He desired to learn Night Devil's martial arts skills, but he didn't want to adopt his approach to life.

If he had angrily rushed into action, wanting to uphold justice, when he heard the gang's conversation earlier, then he wouldn't have had a peaceful night. There were at least dozens of bouncers in the nightclub. He would have had to knock each one of them down. That bald man might have been particularly hardy. With so many of them, if he got hit accidentally, it would have hurt quite a bit.

And the result would probably have been stopping a gang war, but would that count as doing a good deed? There were no innocent people in Hell's Kitchen. Those involved in gang wars would be other gangs. Peter wondered why he should spend a whole night, risking injury, meddling in such affairs?

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Peter slowly drifted off to sleep. In his dreams, he made a fortune using his powers and bought a house on the busiest street in Queens District. Uncle Ben and Aunt May moved into the new big house. They hired private doctors; Uncle Ben's illness was cured, and Aunt May seemed to have aged in reverse by a dozen years. They led a very affluent and happy life.

The first half of the dream was fairly wonderful, but perhaps due to Night Devil's painful moans in the night, the latter half quickly took a darker turn.

While Peter was out, a criminal broke into his beautiful big house, killing Uncle Ben and Aunt May and looting everything. Their neighbours saw the criminal but nobody called the police. When the police arrived, they couldn't catch the culprit immediately. Peter became a lonely soul, roaming the city every day, trying to find the culprit who shattered his blissful life, but without any clues.

Finally, in his dream, Night Devil appeared. Peter questioned Night Devil as to why, despite fighting so many criminals, he missed these few culprits? Night Devil replied coldly:

"The only one who can bear all the responsibility for this is, I'm afraid, you yourself."

Peter woke up in a cold sweat, just as the New York sky was starting to lighten. The cold air seeping in from the gaps in the window got into his lungs, a cold so intense that it made him feel like crying.

Night Devil woke up too. Peter poured him some water. Night Devil said: "Thanks, but I might have to bother you to fetch some medicine from the clinic at the end of Mary Street later."