Spider-Man : Enter Sandman

Part 7


Robert Geoffries rubbed his eyes. The midnight shift on the security desk at Bestman & Toomes was murder. He couldn't understand why he always had to be the one taking the graveyard shift. He heard footsteps coming down the hall. Looking at the security monitor, he saw that it was Mr. Toomes, pacing up and down the hallways and muttering things to himself. Geoffries took a sip of his coffee again. Then he heard it - something moving in the ventilation shafts. It sounded big. He got up from his chair, and tried to touch the pipe with his hand. It was too high up and out of reach.

Geoffries stood on his chair, careful not to fall over. He gently prodded the vent, trying to figure out what was crawling around. A section of the vent came loose at his touch, and heaps of sand poured out of it, collecting in a pile on the floor.

" Sand? " Geoffries said to himself, puzzled. " I'd better get the janitor to come and clean this up. "

He got down from his chair, and picked up the phone to call the janitor. As he turned his back on the pile of sand on the floor, it started moving, twitching - by itself. It rose up off the ground, first in a conical shape, but then started shaping into a human body.

" Yeah you better get down here and clean up this mess, " Geoffries said to the janitor, who had just been awoken by the phone call. " No, not tomorrow morning, you better come and clean this up now... " He turned to look at the sand on the floor, and was surprised to see a man standing there instead.

" Who... what... where did YOU come from?? " Geoffries stammered.

" From Never-never land. " The Sandman replied menacingly. " I might take you there too, little one. "

Geoffries dropped the phone and reached for his gun. Before he could unholster it though, Will Baker, the Sandman punched him right in the face. The man somersaulted over his desk from the impact, blood streaming from his nose. He got to his feet again.

" Back off, fella... " He warned, this time successfully drawing his gun. Baker started laughing. The security guard was shaking now - he had never encountered a man laughing at a gun in his face.

" Tell your boss I'm coming for him, " Baker said at the terrified man. " Tell that bald freak the Sandman is coming to put him to sleep... for good. "

With that, Baker's body turned to a sandy brown colour - it looked like he was a man made entirely from sea sand, some masterpiece a little child could have sculpted.

The Sandman walked to the front door, his hands shifted and changed shapes into hammers. With a mighty blow, he knocked the metal door right out of its hinges, taking parts of the brick wall with it, and walked into the street. Feeling a strong breeze, the Sandman changed the density of his molecules, and was blown away into the night.

With a gaping mouth, Geoffries stared at the hole in the wall, then simply fainted.



Peter checked his watch as he walked into his apartment. 1AM. He yawned, and pulled off his jacket and shirt. It had been a long day, and not to mention stressful. He was worried that he could not get ahold of Mary Jane to tell her about what happened to her mother and stepfather. It was too late to call her now. He'd phone first thing in the morning, he told himself.


Mary Jane checked her answering machine, as she dried her hair. At least those producers liked her audition for 'Secret Hospital'. Maybe she could even start acting soon. Who cared if it was a Soap Opera? Acting is acting. Several messages played through, then she heard Peter Parker's voice. He sounded troubled.

" M.J, it's Peter. I just wanted to let you know... your mom... she... she's in hospital. New York General. John beat her up pretty badly. Sorry to break you the news this way, M.J, I'll try phoning you later. Hang in there. If you ever need anything - I'm just a phone call away. "

Her eyes filled with tears. That creep had gone too far this time! He'd never beaten her or her mother before, but deep down, Mary Jane knew it was just a matter of time before her stepfather became physical. Frantically she dialled New York General's number, and inquired after her mother. The nurse, after keeping her on hold for about fifteen minutes, told her that her mother had been unconcious when she was brought in, but since then had woken up and had dinner. Right now she was sleeping. Her condition wasn't very serious, apart from a few bad bruises and scars on her face.

Somewhat relieved, Mary Jane hung up. She picked up the phone again, to dial Peter's number, when she checked the time. It was much too late to bother him now. She hung up again. She held her face in her hands, and cried silently. What if her mother had been seriously hurt? What if that bastard had actually killed her? Mary Jane walked to her bed in a daze, got in under the cover, curled up in a fetus postion and silently cried herself to sleep.

She woke up the next morning to knocking at her front door. She rubbed her eyes out, and looked at the time again. It was 11am! She leaped up from out of the covers, and put on an old bath robe.

" I'll be right there! " She shouted, looking at her face in the bedroom mirror. Her eyes were blood red, from crying all night, and she had dark rings under her eyes. " No time to put on the make up now, M.J . " She said to herself, and went to the door.

" Who's there? " She asked, her hand on the knob already.

" Your friendly neighborhood science geek, " Peter replied - almost kicking himself after he uttered the words. Spider-Man had written her a similar note. Negligence. Oh well, maybe she wouldn't notice.

" Peter! " She exclaimed as she opened the door. " Thanks for coming by. "

" You got my message? " He asked, seeing she had been crying. She nodded. " How are you doing? " Peter asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

" I've been better, " Mary Jane said sadly.

" Well I came to pick you up so we can go visit your Mom. " Peter said, crossing his arms over his chest.

" You got a car? "

" Well no, but I figured we could share a cab. "

" Sounds fine to me, Tiger. " Mary Jane motioned to the couch. " Have a seat while I get changed and freshen up. "

Peter sat down, and switched on the television. " Thanks, M.J " he called after he as she left the room. He flicked through the channels, nothing catching his interest, and then stopped when he saw the news report on Channel 5 News.

The same mutant Sandman creature had attacked a security guard over at Bestman and Toomes Electronics the night before. The security cameras had caught footage of him in action - shaping from the pile of sand that had fallen from the ventilation shaft, his hands changing into hammer shaped weapons when he broke down the door, and then blowing away as dust in the wind after leaving the security guard scared out of his wits. The image on T.V paused on a frame of the man in his human form. Then zoomed in on his face.

Peter saw the features, the golden tooth... then recognised him as the man at the Science Expo - the man he had stopped from murdering the man at the Bestman and Toomes booth. He definately didn't have any super powers when Spider-Man fought him that day. Peter frowned. He must be after something, or someone at Bestman and Toomes. That's twice now that he's been involved in some kind of violence directed at the company and its people.

Mary Jane came out of her room, fully dressed and make up applied, breaking Peter's concentration. " All ready to go, Tiger. " She said to Peter and grabbed him by the hand.

" What's wrong? " She asked as she saw Peter's troubled expression. " Cat got the friendly neighborhood science geek's tongue? " She joked. She didn't miss his comment earlier. Peter grimaced. Goodbye secret identity, he thought. But Mary Jane said nothing else about it.

" Nothin's wrong Mary Jane - I just saw this news report about some super powered monster causing trouble downtown, and I got worried about Aunt May. "