Peter's Confusion

"Dad, it's dinner time now, and you're already off work. Let's eat first, instead of worrying about work. Otherwise, it won't taste good if it gets cold. It would be a waste of all the hard work Mom put into preparing it in the kitchen."

Seeing the tension between the two men she loved most, which had finally eased, gradually escalate again, Gwen felt a great headache coming on.

Then, unable to contain his curiosity, he wondered where Peter, who was always honest and well-behaved, and especially dared not speak loudly in front of George, got this stubbornness. He spoke up, trying to change the subject and brush it off.

"No, Gwen, this is a question worth exploring further."

Unfortunately, Gwen greatly underestimated the instinctive competitive spirit between men.

Before Peter could take the step Gwen offered, he steered the conversation in a new direction.

Sheriff George then raised his hand, interrupting everyone's words and actions.

His tone gradually became serious, and he continued speaking slowly and deliberately.

"Let me put it this way, Peter, if we wanted to catch those guys, we would have done it already... The reason we've been letting them go is because one of them is actually an undercover agent we sent from our side."

"Huh? An undercover agent?"

"That's right. Last year, a large drug trafficking organization emerged in New York City, continuously supplying drugs to the city. So, in order to dismantle this criminal group in one fell swoop, after gathering intelligence from various sources, we decided to have our most elite officers infiltrate them, posing as criminals. The plan was to signal us when the time was right, allowing us to take down the entire criminal organization."

"We spent a lot of manpower and resources to help him gain a foothold in the criminal group and gradually win the trust of the higher-ups."

"That robbery was something he and we had planned, a staged performance for the criminal gang. By making outstanding contributions to the gang, he could use it as leverage to advance his rank within the organization, allowing him to gather more crucial intelligence and ensure the successful completion of the subsequent raid."

"This was a strategy, or as the saying goes in the mysterious Eastern anti-drug superpower, 'A small act of impatience can ruin a great plan'... But now, because of those two idiots who call themselves Spider-Man, all our efforts over the past few months have been wasted!"

As he spoke, the thought of his meticulously planned arrest, which was almost fruitful, was thwarted by those two masked, self-proclaimed righteous clowns. Even the usually composed Sheriff George couldn't help but clench his fists, displaying a look of gnashing hatred.

As a result, Peter, who was originally unwilling to back down, suddenly looked much more guilty.

Uh, if I remember correctly...

Before I decided to take action, Riley did seem to have warned me not to act rashly.

Unfortunately, having only recently become a superhero, he was still caught up in the excitement of fighting crime. He didn't even bother to hear what Riley was saying before rushing out.

Thinking about it that way...

No wonder Sheriff George thought the Spider-Man in black was smarter than the Spider-Man in red...

It turns out that Riley had seen through the hidden secret all along!

"But Dad, we can't entirely blame them... After all, they didn't know you had such a far-reaching plan. It was a misunderstanding caused by a lack of information...?"

And when Peter, in a daze, began to doubt whether everything he had done before was right or wrong.

Like most young people, Howard harbored a fantasy about superheroes, so he cautiously opened his mouth and tentatively refuted his father's point of view.

"But that doesn't mean he can determine who's good and who's bad based on his personal sense of right and wrong, and arbitrarily use force to enforce the law... To put it bluntly, who gave him this power? This is simply a provocation against the New York City Police Department!"

Unfortunately, Howard's act of speaking up for Spider-Man only added fuel to the fire for Sheriff George, who was already furious.

In a cold reply, Sheriff George's gaze swept around the table before finally settling on Peter's face.

After taking a deep breath and calming himself down, Sheriff George, seemingly answering Howard's question, was actually worried that his newly accepted son-in-law would have his values ​​skewed by a weirdo like Spider-Man, so he continued rambling on.

"I'm not that old-fashioned. Of course I know that the guy you call Spider-Man is trying to do some good things, and strictly speaking, he hasn't really done anything heinous..."

"But that's the problem. We can't condone or tolerate illegal acts just because our intentions are good. The law exists to maintain order."

"If everyone felt that as long as they were doing 'good deeds' in their subjective intentions, they could ignore the constraints of the law and do whatever they wanted, wouldn't society be in complete chaos?"

"But Uncle George, aside from the misunderstanding you mentioned, Spider-Man has indeed effectively prevented a lot of crimes, hasn't he?"

After listening to Sheriff George's words, Peter realized that the life of a superhero was far from as simple as he had imagined.

Even so, Peter did not believe that what he had done was as serious as Sheriff George said, or that it was a criminal act that trampled on the law.

So he took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound like it came from the curiosity and confusion of a young man, rather than a biased defense that deliberately contradicted Sheriff George.

Peter bit his lip tightly, then spoke again to Sheriff George.

"Besides, it always takes time for the police to arrive at the scene. When ordinary people face immediate danger, what if Spider-Man were there...!"

"So you believe that this so-called Spider-Man can break the law at will?"

Before Peter could finish speaking, Sheriff George shook his head in disappointment, interrupting him once again. His tone was even more forceful as he asked, enunciating each word clearly.

"If someone tomorrow thinks they know better than us police officers how to maintain order, and goes out in strange clothes, fantasizing that they are a vigilante, should we encourage this behavior?"

"Dad, Peter didn't say that. He just pointed out that sometimes reality is complicated... Okay, okay, let's not talk about that now, let's eat!"

Seeing Peter rendered speechless, and even herself gradually convinced by her father's point of view, Gwen was unwilling to see the two of them continue their tense argument.

"The reality is that no one—no matter how good their intentions—can be above the law. Spider-Man's selfless acts of fighting evil are certainly commendable from a personal perspective. But from a broader perspective, this is precisely what we need to guard against! We must not allow Spider-Man to become an exception in this society!"

Even so, Sheriff George tapped the table and gave his final summary.

This caused Peter's mind to go completely blank and freeze. His mouth opened and closed for a long time, but he couldn't utter a single word.

He recalled his uncle's often-quoted saying: "With great power comes great responsibility."

But now it seems that what Sheriff George said made sense.

This left Peter in a state of conflicting confusion, unsure of whom he should believe.

After a long silence, he struggled to organize his thoughts and began to mutter cautiously.

"Uncle George, I understand your position. But since Spider-Man appeared, the crime rate in New York has indeed decreased. This is data compiled by the Daily Bugle, so it can't be wrong, right...?"

"It's just a short-term effect, child. We can't just focus on the present."

Seeing that Peter had given up, Sheriff George nodded slightly and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, in his heart, he felt fortunate that he had pulled Peter back onto the right path before he went astray.

She stood up, walked to Peter's side, patted Peter's shoulder gently, and comforted and explained in a soft voice.

"In the long run, this kind of vigilante behavior will erode public trust in the law enforcement system... For example, if they all firmly believe that they will be rescued by Spider-Man like those lucky people, will they still choose to seek our help through formal procedures such as calling the police?"

"Most importantly, if Spider-Man clashes with our police force... should the public trust Spider-Man's personal judgment, or should they trust the laws and regulations that the police are working hard to uphold?"