There Must also Come...

[Before Transition]

I turn towards Ben and look at him sadly. "That's great and all Ben but what if you did get shot in the head when I tackled him? What if there was a child there and I tackled him and the child ended up shot!? What then!? I'm grateful for your words Ben but at the end of the day I'm just a kid who got in over his head and I'm not like Iron Man or Mr Fantastic, I don't have any powers!" I start my new rant which is coincidently about power, I wonder what Ben might say in response to this.

Ben still has the same look on his face and his expression is calm. "You don't need powers to be a hero son, you just need to want to help people and that's it." He tells me,I guess that's the veteran finally showing his face. "But powers would sure help, there was a million and one ways for that incident to go wrong and if you ask me we were lucky that you were only paralysed from the waist down because it could have gone a hell of a lot worse than it did, I'm sorry if my words are a bit harsh but it's the truth!"

May looks a bit angry at my words along with Peter but Ben starts to speak before they can express their anger. "You might be right son but, now I'm not much of a religious man but there is one thing that stuck with me, 'All it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'. Do you know what that means? It's about doing nothing when bad things happen, that guy was gonna shoot me and you didn't do nothing, you did something and that's all anyone can ask for, the mark of a good man." Peter and May's expressions deflate a bit at that but I can still tell they are a bit frustrated with me.

Man Ben is a well of wisdom, I got a quote about good and evil out of him but it's not the quote I'm fishing for so I've got to throw out my line one more time. "I suppose you are right but it's about capability as well, I could try to help but I may just make things worse and no one wants that. It's all good and well to want to help but if you don't have the power or ability to help then you'll just make things worse, it should be left to the professionals and superheroes to save people because that's what they are trained for and they are good at it while I could just make things worse." Man, these guys must think I'm a bummer now but all I want is a specific word of wisdom from Ben.

Ben nods at me. "Yes, that is true. There are people who are professionally trained to help people and they have the power and ability to help others especially with situations like I was in but that doesn't mean what you did was wrong, even if I was shot in the head and died I wouldn't blame you because you tried to help me and that all you can ask for. People like Mr Fantastic and Iron Man well, 'With Great Power There Must Also Come Great Responsibility' and those people haven great power and they use it responsibly, they use it to help others because that's what they are capable of with their super powers. Everyone has power no matter how small and it is up to them to use their power responsibly and in the best way possible, take Peter here for example. He may not look it but he has a great power!"

Peter eyebrows shoot up and his eyes widen in shock thinking that his uncle Ben knows about his spider powers, I'm also wondering if Ben knows. "I- I do. I h-have a p- power? Stop kidding uncle Ben, I don't have any powers." Peter starts to panic and tries to mitigate the situation but he's not doing it very well, I guess he'll learn to lie better after becoming Spider-Man but everyone will believe that Peter is just a coward who runs away from super villains, I guess that 'Great Responsibility' isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Ben just smiles softly at him and let's out a little chuckle. "But you do have a power Peter and that power is your mind, I have no doubt that if Peter were to suddenly develop powers he would start to help people with them because me and May have raised him into a kind young man but Peter doesn't need super powers to help others. Peter may look a little small and he might need to eat a lot of wheat cakes to grow up big and strong but that doesn't matter because he can still help others. Peter has his brilliant mind and with it he could help thousands of people, he is a genius and wants to became a scientist that will develop things that will help others. That is his great power and I have no doubt that Peter will use it responsibly, you don't need to be able to fly through the sky or have bulletproof skin to be a hero." He says while looking at Peter with pride but Peter turns his head away in embarrassment so no one can see him, at least that what the other parked think but I know better.

I can see his fist clenched and I know that he feels guilty and ashamed at the fact that he hasn't lived up to what his uncle believes him to be capable of which is great for me, Spider-Man was born out of shame and guilt for effectively getting his uncle who was like a father to him killed. The Spider-Man of this universe will be born out of shame and killed for effectively making his uncle a cripple and for not living up to his expectations. I can see the fire that has lit in peters eyes and I no longer need to worry about his path though it might be slightly different to the original spiders.

Now that that is finished it time to complete what I came here to do, which is to use my money to get rid of some of this guilt which is weighing me down. "Okay Ben but I still feel bad for my part in putting you in this condition so the least you can do is let me pay your hospital fees and before you say anything I am no leaving this room till you agree to it. I know that the bill for this kind of treatment is out of your budget and it would put you so far in the red that you would think your drowning in Kool-Aid so I'm going to pay for it, don't worry consider this me paying you back for all the help your son has given me in school with helping me study arm passing my exams."

Peter hasn't actually helped me at all but I'm expecting he'll keep his mouth shut because he knows how much they need my help, especially considering they are living on a pension and they will be spending more on all sorts of stuff now that Ben's a paraplegic. They were actually doing just fine financially before this but with Ben's new situation they'll be scraping by now, in the original universe when Ben dies May would only get part of his pension which would be enough for her and Peter to live on but they stayed in their house.

It was probably expected that they would sell the house and move to a two person apartment or something but they stayed at the house because that was where they had all there memories and where they would remember Ben but this meant that they would begin to struggle for cash which forced Peter to get a job at the Bugle to help out his aunt. Now they would still be scrimping and scraping if they have to pay off this hospitals bill so the least I can do is help them out with this.

I can already tell that Ben is about to refuse me but I have a plan to get them to accept the money, after all it is just chump change for me so the least I can do is help them out which may also coincidentally ease my conscious a bit.

________________________________________________

<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

(www.pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)

A special thank you to my patrons Tim Brown, Stormrall and Leonidas Simon. Thank you for the support.