"What if you got hurt?! Do you even know how I would have felt if you had gotten hurt? That man had a gun–"
Her sincere worry was hitting my consciousness like a bitch for possibly stealing her son's body.
"It had fallen on the ground though,"
"It doesn't change the fact that he had a gun. You were careless!"
Tristain chose to stay quiet under the intense glare of his mother. There were a hundred arguments he could make here, but he knew she wouldn't give a damn.
After all his real mother would do the same
Everyone in the police station looked at Tristain with a little sympathy in their eyes.
He was a hero!
But rather than praise, he was getting scolded by his mother.
"Excuse me, I don't think you should scold the young man like that. I know what he did was dangerous, but he saved my life."
Thankfully, Uncle Ben, who was also there as a witness, quickly interjected before the scolding got worse, saving Tristain's ears.
He also nodded at the old man's words, leaving his mother's tongue tied.
"I know that... but what if I had lost him? I don't want him to do anything dangerous..."
"I understand your concerns, Mrs. Mercer." Uncle Ben consoled her, and it took a while before his mother finally calmed down.
Standing next to her, Tristain sighed, he could understand her emotions. After all, she was a protective mother and fighting criminals wasn't exactly good for your health.
He could still remember her face when one of the officers told her that the man he had blasted, Dennis Carradine, was someone who had committed lots of theft.
Tristain frowned and apologized to Anna inwardly as he glanced at the prompts that were still flashing in front of him.
[You have chosen the hero path.]
[Your body and soul have gone through a modification. You have gained new powers, and your overall power has greatly increased.]
[Do you wish to check your status?]
There were more prompts like this in his vision and only he saw them.
Tristain decided to wait until he was alone before checking out his new powers and deciding his next step. For now, he decided to focus on something more important.
Standing in one of the corners of the police station, Peter looked to be in a daze, still thinking about the masked man that could have potentially killed his uncle.
Unlike Tony Stark who looked exactly like Robert Downey Jr, Peter didn't resemble Tom Holland too much. With hazel eyes, brown hair and average height, his looks resembled the original Spiderman, Tobey Maguire much more.
Although not the exact copy, there were certainly some similarities.
Tristain shook his head as his thoughts started drifting from the topic.
He focused on his earlier actions and the consequences they could have.
He had saved Uncle Ben from the claws of death, but that was Spider-Man's cannon event.
Now that his uncle hadn't died, there was no guarantee whether Peter would become Spiderman.
If Spiderman wasn't born, what would happen to villains like Green Goblin, Vulture and Mysterio? He didn't have a clue about that.
Tristain thought of one of the possibilities and felt a pain in his head.
'Forget it, if they act up I will simply take care of them myself.' He steeled himself.
After he made his mind up and walked up to Peter.
"Sup, man." He spoke and extended his hand for a handshake.
"Tristain, again, thank you for saving my uncle. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there." He spoke with a grateful look and shook his hand; his grip was quite strong.
His conflicting emotions aside, he was thankful to Tristain because he had saved his uncle. He knew him from the chemistry classes they had together, but they had never talked much.
Just like him, Tristain was a loner.
Those were the only things Peter knew about him.
"No problem. I just did what I thought was right. Although, my mom doesn't exactly approve of me doing anything dangerous."
"Yeah, she seems to be really angry at you." Peter glanced at Tristain's mother, then suddenly asked. "Why did you do it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You could have gotten hurt. You probably knew the man had a gun and you could die. Still, you risked your life. Why?"
It was easy for Tristain to guess that Peter was trying to find answers to his questions through him.
'He must be thinking about the responsibility that comes with his powers.'
"Because it's the right thing to do." Peter looked at him in confusion as he said that.
"Why?"
"I don't know what you wanted to hear. If I hadn't knocked that man out, your uncle would have gotten hurt. Maybe other people too, and I don't need their deaths weighing on my consciousness when I could have done something about it."
"Even if it means risking your life?" Peter's eyes widened as he asked.
"Yes, all of us have a responsibility to help others."
There was silence for a while after that, though both Peter and Tristain didn't mind it.
Tristain just glanced at Peter until the latter opened his mouth.
"You know Uncle Ben often says something similar too. With great powers comes great responsibility?"
"Smart man."
"Yeah, I'm finally beggining to understanding what his words meant." Peter smiled as he got the answer he was searching for.