Peter winced visibly when she mentioned the mimic she knew being killed. There had been attempts, many many attempts at that. The scar on his face was testament to that, along with a dozen others hidden under his clothing. Even with his ability to regenerate, they had scarred him.
And the physical scars were nothing compared to the ones left on his mind and soul.
But Peter had survived. And so had Annie. Survivors together, of different wars perhaps, but Peter had a feeling the cause had been similar enough. The fear of the different.
Mutant. That, combined with the name 'Stark' had Peter remembering his Marvel comics, and smiling. "That's impressive," he said, not bothering to curb the admiration in his voice. "I never got to know much about the personality of machines, with my other ability. Things just pretty much responded to what I needed from them."
He was frowning a bit now, feeling vaguely uncomfortable that he had been unconsciously bullying the machines under his power. But he'd never had to stop and consider how a wheel might feel about turning. Good Lord. With his empathy, this could prove to be overwhelming pretty quickly.
So, yes. Mental shields at maximum until he learned how to keep this new ability under control. Peter took a moment to rub at his forehead. "This is going to be tricky."