Ben immediately dismissed May's suspicion, waving his hand in complete disbelief.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"This kid might be built like Peter, but Peter definitely doesn't have the Little Red Man's physical stats! Didn't you see him fighting that dinosaur-man to a standstill?"
"If that were Peter, one swipe from that green dinosaur and Peter would owe him a few extra lives!"
"Now, if you told me that was our son fighting the dinosaur, I'd believe you. After all, Tobey was born with freakish strength! Remember when he was in elementary school and he beat the living daylights out of those high school bullies who tried to take his lunch money?"
While adamantly denying the vigilante could be Peter, Ben couldn't resist sneaking in a proud compliment about his own son.
Hearing this, Tobey could only smile helplessly to himself.
He honestly didn't know whether Peter would be happy or depressed if he found out that the only reason his uncle didn't suspect him was because Ben thought he was too physically weak...
Tsk, tsk. Poor little Peter.
May rolled her eyes at Ben, then turned her attention back to Tobey, her voice shifting into a serious, maternal tone.
"Tobey, don't listen to your father. I am incredibly grateful that you are strong enough to protect yourself. But you must never use that strength to bully the weak, do you understand?"
Tobey nodded nonchalantly.
"Relax, May. I won't bully the weak. I don't need to terrorize helpless people to prove I'm strong."
At least, not currently.
Tobey's philosophy had always been to bully the strong. He preferred to use his overwhelming power to blow the heads off hardened criminals and take their dirty money!
After all, what money could weak people possibly have?
If you're going to extort someone, you extort the rich, "strong" guys!
Seeing Tobey's indifferent expression, May couldn't help but reach out and lightly rap her knuckles against his head.
"I know you wouldn't. But you also can't go acting like that young man on the news. You are not to play the hero and risk your life fighting inhuman monsters, do you understand me?"
Before Tobey could even reply, Ben instantly voiced his disagreement.
"Now, that's just not right, May! With great power, comes great responsibility! If Tobey actually had the ability to stop a monster, then he absolutely should step up and help people!"
"If everyone with power chose to be selfish and cold-hearted, what kind of society, what kind of country would we be living in?"
Hearing his old man drop the most iconic death flag in comic book history, Tobey's mouth twitched violently. He hurriedly interrupted him.
"Give it a rest, Ben! I have no interest in bullying the weak, but I have absolutely no interest in protecting them either."
"I don't know how much responsibility comes with great power..."
"But I do know that with great power, comes great wealth. And that wealth can give our family a much better life."
"So, if you really want to talk about my 'responsibility,' my only responsibility is making enough money to ensure this family lives comfortably."
Having declared his hyper-capitalist manifesto, Tobey didn't wait to see whether Ben and May agreed or disagreed. He immediately stood up and headed upstairs to his room.
It was 9:00 PM. Time for bed.
He had an important date tomorrow, after all.
As for Peter, Tobey would be sure to cheer for him in his dreams.
Knock, knock, knock.
The next morning, Tobey was violently awakened by someone hammering on his bedroom door.
He dragged himself out of bed and opened it.
Peter Parker was standing in the hallway, offering a bright, awkward smile that completely failed to hide the fact that his face was beaten black and blue.
"Hey, Tobey! Morning! Um... do you think I could borrow some of that magical Eastern medicine of yours?"
Tobey: ...
It seemed his dream-cheering hadn't been very effective.
"Come in."
Tobey gestured Peter inside, then pulled a bottle of homemade, traditional Chinese medicinal hit-fall wine (Die Da Jiu) from his nightstand.
He had learned the recipe from a veteran trucker in his past life.
As the old trucker used to say: In our line of work, getting banged up is inevitable. If you don't want to spend your life paying hospital bills, you better learn how to fix yourself.
The medicinal wine was incredibly effective for treating severe bruising, swelling, and the chronic muscle stiffness that came from driving long hauls.
Because of its utility, Tobey had always kept a batch brewed since transmigrating into this world.
To Peter, it was simply "magical Eastern medicine."
When Peter pulled his shirt over his head and lay face-down on the bed, Tobey actually winced.
Good lord.
Peter's back was an absolute masterpiece of overlapping purple, blue, and black bruises!
Tobey poured the pungent wine onto his hands and began forcefully rubbing it into Peter's bruised muscles.
"What the hell did you do last night?" Tobey asked, genuinely confused. "If you only went to save the civilians on the bridge, there is no way you should look like this."
Hearing Tobey's question, Peter awkwardly scratched the back of his head and slowly explained the rest of his night.
It turned out that Peter had originally only planned to save people.
And the rescue operation had been a massive success.
Arriving just in time, Peter had managed to save every single civilian trapped on the Williamsburg Bridge and successfully fought the Lizard to a standstill.
However, since there hadn't been a dramatic, cinematic moment where a little boy was trapped in a burning car dangling off the edge, Peter wasn't delayed.
When the Lizard realized the Oscorp executive had escaped and decided to flee, Peter abandoned the original canon script and aggressively pursued him.
Utilizing the thermal imaging built into his high-tech suit, Peter tracked the Lizard straight into the New York City sewer system.
Reptiles are cold-blooded, meaning their body temperature closely matches their environment, making them difficult to track via standard thermal imaging. However, Peter's superhuman arachnid vision compensated for the thermal camouflage, allowing him to easily follow the beast's trail.
But Peter had clearly forgotten one fundamental rule of combat.
His suit might have been waterproof and equipped with night vision, but a damp, claustrophobic sewer was not a spider's domain. A spider belonged high above the ground, swinging between skyscrapers!
The damp, twisting labyrinth of the sewers was the absolute undisputed domain of a lizard!
Fighting an apex predator in its own home arena was an act of supreme stupidity.
Realizing he was being tailed, the Lizard abruptly turned around and ambushed Peter in the dark!
Trapped in the cramped, flooded tunnels, Peter couldn't utilize his acrobatic agility or his web-swinging momentum. Debuffed by the environment and entirely out of his element, Peter was systematically dismantled.
He had barely managed to escape the sewers with his life, but not before the Lizard had absolutely beaten the living hell out of him!
If it hadn't been for the multi-million-dollar ballistic armor Tobey had gifted him, Peter wouldn't just be black and blue right now. He would be in pieces!
At the very least, his body would be permanently scarred by the Lizard's razor-sharp claws.
Listening to Peter recount his reckless, near-fatal mistake, Tobey just shook his head. He didn't bother verbally lecturing him.
Harsh words rarely taught a young man anything. In fact, they usually just triggered teenage rebellion.
Only the agonizing, visceral memory of real physical pain could force someone to truly mature.
Just like that damn father and son who had scammed and murdered Tobey in his past life. That single, agonizing betrayal had instantly eradicated any desire Tobey had to be a traditional superhero, transforming him into a ruthless, cold-blooded killer.
So, when Peter confidently claimed that if Tobey had been there, the "Spider-Brothers" could have easily defeated the Lizard...
Tobey didn't say a word. He just coated his hand in medicinal wine and violently slapped it directly onto the largest, darkest bruise on Peter's spine.
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