Spider-Man was swinging through the city, having a grand time after all the madness considering The Sin Eater and everything else. It was nice having a personal day swinging through the city feeling on top of the world just relaxing, enjoying being alive and stopping enough criminal plot. It was about 3 days since then and now, a simple little robbery was happening down below him, only two crocks who held up a jewelry store. Easy peasy.
He landed in front of them. "Hello! You happened to catch me during my me time, so how about you both have some as well!" Spidey then webbed them together hanging from a pole. "Give you both a chance to get to know each other better? How about that? Hope you'll be cellmates in prison!"
Now the crocks were webbed up, he took the time to return the stolen jewelry walking down the street to give it back personally. Happily so, he return the stolen property and was thanked pretty well by the store owner who were glad Spider-Man came to save the day, a nice end to a minor inconvenience
Unbeknownst to him, a familiar foe was watching on thanks to his little spy robots set up around the city. At jewelry stories for the most part, trying to keep out an eye on The Amazing Spider-Man, wanting to study. Who would do this? Doctor Octopus would be, sitting inside of his liar watching on as his newest associate brought back some goodies of which they stole easily thanks to their new abilities.
"Ah, Flint! You returned just in time! Look at whom I've gotten a glimpse of." The doctor began saying sinisterly.
"Uh, who Doc?" He asked unsure.
Doctor Octopus slapped his head. "Spider-Man of course! I've got him in my sight again, I believe you're ready at last to face the fool!"
"You mean payback, on Spider-Man!" He realized and grinned.
"Indeed! Major revenge against that wall crawler! He'll never be seeing you coming, unlike the Rhino you will have the element of surprise. Sandman!" Doctor Octopus cried proud by his latest creation, hard work of which could only dream of being replicated by the slimmest of chances by the brilliant mad doctor
The Sandman smiled. "Yeah! I'm going to send that little creep to the pound town!"
Doc Ock stared at him for a moment, appearing to think something.
"What do I have mustard on my face or something? Oh wait! I can't ha!" He remembered and felt proud of himself.
"Just like the cursed arachnid! Can never escape this!" He muttered to himself upon hearing Sandman's comments and cleared his throat when turning around. "Just be a good boy and kill Spider-Man, you'll receive a handsome award! Along with being known on the streets as the one to shut him up!"
Sandman laughed and left the lair though a secret way designed for him.
Elsewhere, Peter was at ESU with Gwen checking on her while having her lab assistant job with Doctor Conners.
"I want to geek out so badly about all of this!" Peter exclaimed, impressed by the entire laboratory, always impressed by the brilliance of Doc Conners.
"And you'll have time to geek out. I just wanted to show you this." Gwen shared a microscope with him, which had incredible results.
Peter was greatly surprised. "Doctor Conners, oh my god. He managed to speed up reptile regeneration! The cells are speeding along, he cut the time in half! This is incredible, the breakthrough here. It's very impressive!"
"Indeed it is!" Conners entered the conversation. "Glad you are impressed, it'd be even more so once I am able to crack it for humans. The life changing effects, the lives it'd help would be incredible!" He exclaimed.
"If anyone can do it Doctor Conners, it'd be you. With help from Gwen of course." He smiled at them both and shook Conner's hand. "Oh, sorry." He remembered Conner's missing hand feeling badly about it.
"Don't be, hopefully one day I'll be able to shake both your hands. And win some arm wrestling contests." He joked.
Peter nodded to him and waved. "You sure will doc, I've gotta head out. Thank you both so much for keeping me up to date on that!"
"Anytime." Gwen replied, waving back to him.
As he left, Peter did spot professor Warren acting suspiciously. Almost like he was keeping tabs on them. However, he ignored this suspension for now going to meet MJ. Though kept firmly in his mind, The Sin Eater knew something about him, some dirty little secret that wasn't exposed.
As he walked away, he did think about Gwen. Glad she's doing alright, considering her father is still in a coma. She wasn't ever exactly the feely type of person. Like she hasn't mentioned that Landon thing Harry mentioned, really wish she'd just tell me about that too. Maybe she's just thinking of her dad and trying to focus on that now/ I really hope Captain Stacy will wake up soon. Maybe I should go check on him later. He thought.
Peter then found MJ out on the campus talking to Sally.
"Hey Peter!" She waved to him, while her friend walked away. Still not exactly the biggest fan of his and decided against sticking around.
"Hey MJ, I got to see Doctor Conner's lab! It was incredible!" He then replied.
"You always do enjoy anything scientific." She pointed out and smirked at him.
Peter did the same back. "Science is a very broad category you know, covering a wholly molly amount of ground! It branches out into a lot, I think you'd be surprised by how much actually is classified as scientific!" He said confidently.
"I can imagine so! What are you planning on doing today? Web swinging around the city or maybe a day, just for us?" She suggested.
He smiled for a moment and then recalled Captain Stacy. "I'd love having us time, there is always a but. Isn't there? I was thinking about paying a visit to Gwen's father, as Spider-Man. Just wanted to see for myself how he's holding out."
"I really thought you were going to start blaming yourself again." She joked, while also speaking the truth. "Seriously it's okay, you haven't seen him for some days now and you two did start getting a closer bond or working relationship. You should see him. Then maybe after the most certainly mandatory super villain attack, we could have some time to hang out?"
Now chuckling softly and smiling again he nodded. "I'd love that a lot, MJ!" He then switched the subject. "How's hanging with Sally going?"
"It's been fine, she's been a bit stuck up at times. Apart from that, I really do like being around her. I know you basically know nothing about her and she hasn't exactly been helping the matter. Point is, she's fun to be around. I like her. And we've got things in common, like acting." MJ expressed.
"Glad you are having a nice time and really? She's got an interest in acting? You I believe, but her? She was once in a school play, you know, was pretty bad. Like shockingly." He admitted and looked puzzled.
MJ laughed. "Funny enough, she told me about that school play too. Give a bit of a different account of it, as I'm sure you could imagine."
He shrugged. "At least she's got a lot of confidence in herself!"
"That she most differently does." MJ smiled. "Do you want to head out? While the day is still young?"
"You really think I'm going to get distracted by a super villain, don't you?" Peter asked, crossing his arms and not believing it.
She rolled her eyes. "Says the guy who's certain the universe is against him?"
Peter paused and put his hand under his chin. "Uhhh, you know, say! Look at the time! I should head out, gotta get started before we hang out right?" He then left, as she giggled at him rolling her eyes right around walking off.
Now as Spider-Man, he sneaked into Stacy's hospital window to his surprise discovering that officer Dewolff was checking on him.
"Hey! Are you back on duty?" He immediately asked, peaking in.
"Not quite, still getting evaluated to make sure everything is in order. Soon enough I'll be back on duty. Not quick enough, not after everything that happened. What I was forced to do, by that lunatic. I need to make up for what I've done." Dewolff claimed.
Spider-Man came inside. "Quite frankly officer Dewolff, I think you've done a fantastic job! And it wasn't your fault you were brainwashed by Carter, how could you have possibly known what kinda man he is!" He said trying to cheer her up, feeling warmed up to her after all the recent events.
"You seem to believe in someone, you hardly know." She pointed out.
"I'm something of an optimistic person myself. I always tend to believe the best in people and I see you're a good person. Stacy clearly trusted you and it's obvious you treat the guy too paying him a visit." Spider-Man replied back.
She smiled slightly. "You are persistent aren't you? It's funny how life can turn out, before I didn't trust you. After what happened to Gargon, I might've even hated you. Blamed you for the fate he suffered in the end, he was my partner and I felt like I failed him. I needed somebody to blame, you made sense at the time, now I see Gargon wasn't who I thought he was. Now, I'm talking to you and owe a lot to you of debt. You saved my life, big time. Nobody else would've believed in my innocence, I didn't even! But, Spider-Man did. And for that, I really am grateful for you being in this city helping out. I can finally see what Captain Stacy sees in you." Dewolff confessed now looking more bright and positive towards the hero.
"Wow, uh. Wow. Thank you officer Dewolff. I appreciate that, like a lot. Helping you was the right thing to do and believe me, I'm glad too I didn't trust Carter. Listening to your story and helping you, that was the best decision I could've made." He nodded. "Glad to know someone else is on my side."
While they spoke, outside, all of a sudden trouble could be heard. A car flew into the car as Spider-Man turned around, seeing nobody attacking seemingly so. "Okay, that's weird and scary. Now a ghost is after me." He then turned back to Dewolff. "Looks like I'm my own right?"
"Afraid so. Good luck Spider-Man." She replied, as he turned back out the window.
"I'm going to need it, being haunted by a ghost!" Spidey leaped out the window scanning around the area. Why did MJ have to be right? I wanted a break! A day off! Just a day without super villains, it's been insane lately! Of course I wish for that and the universe responds by giving me a foe I can't even spot! He thought to himself not seeing anything out of the ordinary, besides a pile of sand. Sand? In manhattan? That isn't something you see everyday. Spidey approached it carefully.
The sand twitched. "Uhh, did anybody else see that move?" He asked and then his spider-sense went off as he turned his back. Getting caught off guard, the sand turned into a hand slapping him across the street. "That's odd." He realized the sand hit him and kept a closer eye on it. "Alrighty Sandy! I know you're not actually sand! Or maybe you are sentient sand? That'd be my luck, wouldn't it?"
The sand formed into a person. "Not quite, Spider jerk! It's payback time!"
Spider-Man looked at him. "Who are you? Am I missing something? Is this formlier?" He wondered about it.
"Flint Marko! You knocked me around a couple times!"
"Really? Another brand new super villain who I've faced already. Interesting coincidence, are you a fan of doctors? And Octopuses?" Spidey asked, figuring out who must've been behind this again.
Marko looked puzzled. "What? Why, how, ah screw it you're an annoying little punk and your time is almost up! And besides! You sent my buddy to jail, Chance!"
"You must've heard that from a broken telephone, I didn't send him to jail! He was trying to reform and he was mistakenly brought in by police!" Spidey replied, shaking his head and looking around. "Who told you that? The squid?"
"The doc wouldn't lie! And he wanted me to take you out, a win win the way I see it! Now shut your mouth! Cause it's time to die by, The Sandman!" He exclaimed, making his hand turn into a giant hammer.
"Ah, right. Time to fight." Spider-Man remembered and leaped back avoiding the incoming hammer dropping down, shaking the ground. "That's concerning." He then tried punching his foe, only to discover the hard way that he wasn't a solid mass. Now trying to break free, Sandman head butt him while laughing, sending him to the ground. "That's going to hurt in the morning."
"Don't worry Spider-Man! There won't be any more mornings, for you!" He exclaimed trying to punch again, but wasn't fast enough this time.
Spidey shot out small chunks of webbing rapidly, which went though Sandman seeming to be having a helpful effect making him shrink a bit. So he kept on firing, making Sandman move away, now a sand pile. "Hey! Where are you going! We just started our tango!" Spider-Man remarked chasing after him, only to realize it was a trick as he raised back up looking even bigger blasting him with a load of sand flying through a window now after being hit.
"Ha! You fell for it! Not such a smart guy now are you?" Sandman mocked.
"We all make mistakes, like you. Do you know a lot about sand?" Spidey then asked, spotting something in the corner of his eye.
Sandman looked confused and seemed to be thinking about it, screeching their head not understanding. "It gets everywhere, kids like it and uh, what else?"
"Water and sand, don't mix!" Spider-Man remarked and wacked open a water hydrant spraying the water at Sandman.
"No!" Sandman cried. "That isn't plasient at all, but you can't get rid of me that easily! I can still survive as mud!"
"Oh really? You're 100% sure about that?" Spidey asked.
Sandman nodded while being more mudlike, trying to find cover. "Yeah! I might not be as tough as mud, but I'm still tough enough to keep on kicking! The Doc tested the limits of how much water I can handle! So you can't kill me!"
"You must've been really misinformed pal, I'm not a killer and you just told me exactly how to beat you, mudman!" Spider exclaimed shooting more webbing at Sandman and deciding on making his own web hammer, it wasn't big, but it worked as he gave his foe a taste of his own medicine slamming down on him. Now continuing to slam down, Sandman got the better of him blasting up into the air, then moving towards a grate escaping down there.
"Great. He's escaping. Should I really go down there and chase after him?" Spidey thought to himself and looked around at some of the destruction caused. "Ah, fine I'll go get him!" He declared to nobody in particular jumping down below. Finding to his displeasure not only did it stink, but there happened to be a subway nearby. "This is one of my more, idiotic ideas." He remarked, allowed walking around finding a trail of sand, which was a pretty good indicator of where his foe was.
Following the sand left behind, Spidey discovered a lot more of sand and said foe draining more of it into themself. "Ah, so it was a trap?"
"Yeah, the doc told me where to find more sand. Who'd guess there is some underground!" He exclaimed looking bigger, growing in size.
"I probably should've expected this." Spider-Man admitted and then tried to dodge the incoming attack, a giant fist. While failing, he was wammed right through a wall crashing through and then having his spider-sense go off. Don't need my spider-sense for that! The train was coming zooming towards him and he leaped out of the way to the top of the tunnel nearly getting rammed over. "Close call." He then said out loud again.
"You're about to have another one, webhead!" Sandman exclaimed and tried smashing his fists into the ceiling to get Spider-Man down.
"Watch it! You might brough the tunnel down! Are you wanting to crash a city street into a train? Urr, the other way around. Ah, forget it."
Flint listened. "Ah fine! I'm only after you, I'm not looking to be causing a lot of collateral damage!" He then continued chasing after Spider-Man, who was now swinging away. "Hey! Come back here!" Sandman realized and chased after him.
Spider-Man swung away as fast as he could. Game plan, what's my game plan? The water was working against this guy, I should use that to my advantage. There has gotta be a way back to the sewage systems nearby and genius here isn't going to exactly stop chasing me. Easy enough, as long as another train doesn't come. As he thought this, another train was zooming towards him. Sometimes I wish I swore more. Spidey then rushed away shooting out weblines fast trying to outrun a train. Along with the enemy intentionally trying to kill him.
He managed to move so fast and escaped the incoming train by finding an open part of the tunnel and finding the sewage system. Yes! Spider-Man threw himself towards the water crashing into it. That hurt a lot. Oruch. Arms tried, body tried. Might've broken something, could be going better.
The Sandman came down. "Prepare to die, Spidey!"
"Could I not die? To be or not to be?" Spider-Man remarked trying to distract him and managed to spot a pipe, getting ready to web it wide open.
"That's that mean? Ah, just die already!" Marko shouted out and tried smashing down his hammer fists.
"Missed me! Now you gotta- never mind." Spider-Man joked while avoiding his sandy adversary leaping out of the way bringing him right into the perfect spot for the trap which he intelligently set off himself blowing the water pipe open blasting himself full of water making him turn into a muddy mess.
Now as a puddle of mudd, he still managed to talk, somehow. "I'll get you for this! You think you're so smart! Tricking me like you tricked Chance!"
"I say again, I didn't trick Chance! He suffered bad luck, and a reporter turned him into the police, not me. You, on the other hand, aren't such a swell guy! Let's head off to prison, shall we?" Spider-Man replied and tried to web up the Sandman.
"Ah! So you mean I should be getting revenge on that reporter, whoever they are! Yeah, that's a great idea!" Sandman exclaimed, again somehow as a puddle.
Spider-Man slapped his head. "Wasn't the idea."
However trying to web up mudd failed and he managed to break loose, falling into the water drifting away down below
"Crap. Hopefully I won't see that guy again for sometime at least. And more importantly, I hope Sandy won't be smart enough to find out Eddie was responsible." He then smelt himself. "Great. Just fantastic. I think my nose fell off."
Spider-Man, a lot more stinky, departed the sewage systems and found a little robot spying on the attack webbing a hold of it. "Sorry Doc! Failed again!" He crushed it and then left, now deciding to keep an eye out for those things.
Now, after winning the fight and heading home. He decided on calling MJ and letting her know about his stinky situation. Along with the incoming delay, naturally.
"You fought a giant sand monster, in the sewage system? Seriously, it's a good thing I know you aren't lying!" MJ replied to him catching her up.
"Yeah, I'll see you soon! Just imagine you'd be wanting me to smell nicer." Peter replied back while swinging through the city.
"Certainly I do. Hopefully no more trouble will happen today, right?"
Peter laughed. "Oh you so jinxed it."
However the rest of the day was fine, nothing else was happening around them. Besides being unknown to Spider-Man, a great danger was on the horizon. Something, out of this world…
(As usual, the below was written months ago. The next storyline is finished, can't say how it'll turn out, but hope you all will enjoy)
Next time, as hinted for sometime now. Pay attention to space.
Focusing on this chapter, it was nice introducing Sandman at last. There really are so many villains apart from Spider-Man's rogue gallery, still a lot of big villains I haven't even brought in yet. Probably won't be able to have them all. There are already a lot of villains hanging around.
I wanted to take my time properly bringing in more of the big villains, Sandman is an interesting one, from his powerset. For his first appearance I didn't want to blow my load showing off brand new powers, so exact more when he returns which could be sooner than later. It was also nice having that connection back to Chance, I wanted to give some more importance to that chapter, apart from the right now obvious one of the continued plot of Eddie Brock.
Finally, I am egure for what's coming next and anxious too. It's been a long time coming and I can't even believe saying it's almost here. For a very long time, I truly believed I wouldn't ever get to this point, but here we are.
In Response to C.G
Thank you for understanding and your kindness. I really do continue to apologize for the state of affairs. Right now I'm slowly going off my medication. Hopefully that will help, as unfortunately it didn't do its purpose. Another set back though was unexpected stressful news of my dad going into the ICU. I'm not really close with him but still it's affected me. Right now it seems like things might be okay. Still writing about Jacob Kane's unfortunate time really doesn't seem appealing right now with Batwoman so unfortunately that's hurt my desire to look over the chapter right now though it's over halfway with being complete. Hopefully that'll pass. I really really want to continue with Batwoman and get back into writing more actively.
I understand that yeah it has been really annoying the strike, there hasn't seemed to be any real movement yet too, it really sucks about Spider-Verse. It is really cold of them to do that, which seems to be the strategy still. Thank you, she hasn't watched it as much lately but she's really happy owning the whole series now. That's nice about your dad. And she was curious, actually she told me about the finale probably why I had Jag on the brain to buy it for her.