Chapter 36: The Sinister Six, Part 4

At her apartment, Felicia Hardy was watching the stolen drone footage with great pleasure. She grinned as she saw the young man's nubile form and his female companion's enthusiasm at the encounter.

"Peter Parker, you sure know how to show a lady a good time!" the recorded Mary Jane exclaimed.

So that's who my little Spider-Man is. thought Black Cat as she put away the footage.

Meanwhile, at a construction site in Queens, trouble was brewing.

"Hey, you! Flint! Get over here!"

Cassandra "Flint" Baker sighed as she approached the foreman.

"What's the deal?" she asked.

"I want ya to help out with dat load of sand comin' in before quittin' time."

"Sand? Seriously?"

"It's good sand, mind you. Straight from some sort of project in Georgia."

"Boss, if that's the case, I'd hate to know what the project was."

As she walked away, her cell phone went off.

"Cass Baker here."

"Cassandra, it's me, William."

"How's everything goin' at Columbia, bro?"

"It's fine."

"I'd like to chat some more, but I've got a job to do, Will. Get back to ya soon. Bye."

And with that, Cassandra hung up and approached the incoming truck. One of her coworkers was waving a Geiger counter over the shipment.

"So, what's with the gadget, Frank?" she asked.

"This stuff's radioactive, that's what. Whoever decided to bring this stuff in is stupid as hell."

As Cassandra leaned over to get a good look at the material, she fell off the platform and into the sand itself.

"Cass! I'll fish ya out!" Frank exclaimed, leaning out to grab her.

But before he could do anything, Cassandra sank into the sand.

"Cass! NO!"

Not ten minutes later, sand shot out of the truck and went soaring into the air.

"The hell?" one worker exclaimed as the airborne sand settled.

"Who cares, Edwin? It's quittin' time, man!"

And with that, the site was abandoned. A few hours later, something began to happen. Across the site, the grains of sand began to gather. Once they were all centralized, they began to form into Cassandra Baker.

"The hell?" she muttered.

Just then, something clicked.

"Right…radioactive sand."

Thoughts raced through her head. Her falling into the sand. Frank being the only one who tried to help her. Everyone else leaving the site without paying any attention to her. She considered tracking them down and killing them, but purged the thought from her head. Just then, she got an idea.

"New York, look out. Flint Baker's back in town!"

The next morning, at the warehouse, Gwen Stacy and Ben Reilly were finishing up some adjustments to Gwen's computer security system.

"Can't believe someone just walked in here and hacked my machine." Gwen muttered.

"How'd they find this place?" Ben asked in response.

Before Gwen could get a response out, Ben turned on the morning news.

"Good morning, New York. I'm Nicholas Finch, and here's today's top story. Another string of bank robberies has broken out across the city-"

The TV went off immediately, and Gwen dashed off. Meanwhile, at the Parker residence, Peter was rudely awakened by his cell phone going off.

"Gwen Stacy, I presume?" he muttered.

"Peter, there's something big going on."

"More bank robberies?"

"Look, I need you and Mary Jane to meet me at Ditko Bank."

"Can't make it. I've got to get to work at the Bugle."

"Just get me through to Mary Jane."

As if on cue, Mary Jane rose from the bed.

"I'm listening." she groggily mumbled.

Some time later, Mary Jane, Gwen, and Ben were all standing near Ditko Bank.

"Anything interesting at your end, Gwen?" Mary Jane asked.

"Not really, no. Unless you count someone breaking into the warehouse and hacking my computer."

Before Mary Jane could get out a response, Jean DeWolff approached them.

"Lieutenant DeWolff, I need-"

"It's Captain DeWolff now, Miss Stacy. Getting two supervillains in jail tends to go a long way."

"Fine, Captain. I need to see the crime scene."

Captain DeWolff paused.

"Sorry, but there's nothing there."

Gwen's eyes went wide.

"Nothing at all?"

"Well, almost nothing. Just some sand on the floor."

"I need a sample."

Captain DeWolff handed her a glass jar.

"Take it. The CSI boys already got their sample."

Later, back at the warehouse, Ben looked over the analysis results.

"It's definitely sand, but there's some kind of weird impurities in here."

"Define weird." Mary Jane replied.

"Keratin and other proteins, deoxyribonucleic acid, and traces of human tissue."

Gwen and Mary Jane were stunned.

"It's like this stuff's alive." Ben muttered.

"It's sand. How can it be alive?" Gwen retorted.

Suddenly, the sample began to leap around in the jar.

"What the hell?" Gwen asked.

"It's as if something's trying to draw it in." Ben answered.

Meanwhile, Mary Jane was getting into her Scarlet Spider outfit. Just as she was finishing, the jar fell to the floor and shattered. To everyone's surprise, the sand went zooming out the door and made a beeline to a young and auburn-haired woman. Even more surprising was that the young woman seemed to absorb the sand once it made contact with her.

"I'll follow her." Mary Jane muttered.

And with that, Mary Jane began trailing the mysterious woman. After some time, the woman arrived at Kirby Savings and Loans and went around the back. Once she was certain nobody was watching, the woman began to turn into a mass of sand and entered the bank through a ventilation shaft.

"Now that explains a lot." Mary Jane muttered upon witnessing the event.

Minutes later, the woman walked out the back door of the bank.

"Freeze right there!" Mary Jane ordered.

The woman stared daggers at her opponent.

"Well, well, well. The Scarlet Spider isn't with Spider-Man for once."

Mary Jane launched webbing at the woman, who then turned back into a pile of sand before reforming.

"What the hell are you?"

"You can call me Sandwoman."

Mary Jane punched her foe in the cheek, only for her fist to just disturb the sand with no effect.

"Is that all you've got?"

Mary Jane smirked as she readied her venom blast.

"No."

Before Sandwoman could say anything, the venom blast disintegrated her.

"That was-"

Suddenly, the scattered sand began to reform back into Sandwoman.

"You really think that's going to stop me?"

Mary Jane jumped up onto a wall and began to scale it, only for Sandwoman to follow her up to the roof. The two locked eyes and began to brawl.

"You're a scrappy one, I'll give you that!" Sandwoman yelled.

Mary Jane head-butted her and threw her to the ground. This had no apparent effect on Sandwoman, who came right back up and turned her right hand into a mace.

"Nighty night, Scarlet." she quipped.

Before Mary Jane could be hit, Spider-Man swooped down onto the roof.

"About time you showed up!"

"Would you believe my job with the Bugle dictated I show up here?"

"Yes?"

"Good."

Sandwoman turned her other hand into a hammer.

"Looks like I'll get the both of you."

"How about not?"

And with that, Spider-Man sent his opponent off the roof and onto the street below.

"Uh, Tiger. I don't think that'll do anything to her."

Just then, Sandwoman reformed.

"Told you so."

Peter tapped his earpiece.

"We need backup, Gwen."

"What sort of backup?"

"Something that blows away sand."

"I don't have anything. Try breaking a fire hydrant or something."

And with that, Gwen hung up. Mary Jane turned to Peter.

"Got any ideas, Tiger?" she asked.

He nodded and leapt off the roof with Sandwoman in hot pursuit.

"Don't you think you're taking the phrase 'beach babe' a bit too literally?" Spider-Man snarked.

"You little-"

Once Sandwoman was in the right spot, Peter ripped the nearest fire hydrant out of the ground and watched as the water doused its target. Once the torrent stopped, Mary Jane webbed up Sandwoman as the police arrived.

"Success!" the two exclaimed.

Meanwhile, at OsCorp, Norman Osborne was viewing the UAV footage.

"My sinister six is complete."

He pressed a button.

"Miss Hardy, I have one more jailbreak for you…"

That night, at the jail, Cassandra Baker fumed in her cell.

"I'll get you, Spider-Man!"

"And you will."

Cassandra turned and saw a woman walk up to her cell.

"Who are you?"

"Call me the Black Cat. I have an offer for you."

"What is it?"

"My boss is looking for six unique individuals with a grudge against Spider-Man. He's already recruited five."

"Why me?"

"He was suitably impressed by your shapeshifting abilities."

"What do I get if I sign up?"

"Revenge, mostly."

Cassandra's eyes went wide.

"Deal."

And with that, Black Cat sprung the lock and Sandwoman left her cell.