Even after shooting the Sin Eater, who he later found out was named Cletus, Jonah regretted not taking the actual time off as he had hurriedly swung over to his place of work. Quickly changing and entering through the door. "Parks! What the hell man?", a woman that appeared slightly older than he did says storming over to him.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I just got a little held up.", Jonah says nervously.
"Yeah, that's been your excuse your past few shifts.", she says slightly disappointed. "You were here on time just fine a month ago, but for some reason you're always running late and you look like you got hit by a fucking train."
"I know.", Jonah says with a sigh. "I'll try to make it on time next time."
"There won't be a next time, I know this because you've always said this when I asked you.", the manager points to the door. "Get out. We'll mail you your last check soon."
"What- no I need this job.", Jonah protested angrily, he was still running off of the anger he felt from the man he only recently killed.
"You're doing a piss poor job at showing it, now get off before I make you.", she says as his co-workers pretended to not hear anything but clearly tried to. Jonah snarled before turning around and walking right out.
"Fuckin Parks Fortune strikes again.", his incredible hearing allowed him to hear the sounds of two people struggling nearby. With a grin, he immediately put on his suit.
A blond man with sky blue eyes had pinned a woman with dark hair against a wall with a gun pointed to her head. "What the fuck did I tell you about hanging out with him huh?", the man spat with hatred as the woman shook on the verge of bursting into tears at the threat aimed at her temples.
"Let's make this quick.", the man suddenly looked up to see the Bullet Spider standing on the wall of the alleyway before flipping off and landing on the ground. "I'm not in the best mood right now."
"Stay back!", the blond man aimed his pistol at the masked vigilante as he took the safety off.
Bullet Spider caught it, the slightest tremble of his hand as he began sweating. The woman looking back between himself and the blond man. "Hey, blue eyes, you scared ain't you? You're shakin real bad man. You'll miss."
With a quick draw, he had pulled out his own gun with a smile under his mask. "But I won't.", the man had began to tremble as Bullet Spider stood there, unmoving, unbothered and seemingly taking amusement out of this.
They stood there for what felt like an eternity, the soon to be criminal standing there shaking as the vigilante just stood there completely calm. "Exhale."
The man pulled the trigger, but Bullet Spider was faster. His hollow point bullet lodging itself into the mans torso and dispersing inside of him as he fell onto the ground. "Have a nice rest of your nice, ma'am.", Bullet Spider gave a thumbs up as he shot a web line and swung away.
The woman gagged as she sprinted off, kicking off her heels to run faster.
Norman Osborn overlooked a woman having a large and clunky backpack strung onto her with gauntlets being slid over her soft hands as she stood in a pit of sand. "Sir? Is it wise to... y'know, use the Molecular Constructive Modification? I mean we haven't run any tests before hand.", Elsa Brock says nervously as Norman stared at her with an apathetic face.
"Humanity hasn't gotten this far by playing it safe, over 200 years of evolution and here we stand on the backs of blood and bones.", Norman states as he looked away from her and down to the young woman wearing the backpack, gloves and a skintight suit.
"Seriously, there can be a risk to something like this.", Elsa says with a tinge of concern in her voice.
"Didn't I assign you to work on the Weapon V?", Norman sternly states with a fake smile before putting his hand on her shoulder. "If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut so you don't end up as one of the test subjects."
The blond woman nodded nervously as Norman looked away from her and pressed a button that activated the intercom. "Now then, Mrs. Waters, I would like to personally thank you for volunteering. It means quite a lot to us considering the bad PR we've been getting very recently."
["Oh no problem, Mr. Osborn!"]
"Please, call me Norman.", Norman says in his fake, overly friendly voice as Elsa looked at him with contempt. "Begin the trial run."
The auburn haired woman gave a thumbs up as she flipped the switches on both gauntlets, a mechanical whirring sound was heard as the large and clunky backpack began to glow. She nodded before lifting her hands up, nothing happened for a moment before... the sand began to churn.
Within seconds, a large shield erected in front of her. She let out an audible gasp of surprise as she began to create more, layering them as Norman felt the surprised eyes of Elsa Brock as the volunteer kept making the constructs.
"Now then, try more complex structures.", Norman says in the intercom.
["Yes sir.", the woman says with a smile as she began to manipulate the sand shield, creating a sort of rough shape similar to that of a human hand. The digits began to wiggle slightly before forming a thumbs up gesture.
"See? Nothing to worry about.", Norman says as Elsa looked at him in confusion.
It was just then... the woman began to cough, the sand construct dropped back down into loose sand as she began to dry heave. Norman looked at her with an ever present smile as the volunteer tore off one of the gauntlets only to notice one small problem...
Her fingers were crumbling into sand, she began to panic as she whipped off the other gauntlet, tearing off her arm and leaving a trail of sand as a result as she let out a scream of horror. Her body began to contort violently as the machine began to let off smoke.
"Sir, we need to shut it off immediately.", Elsa looked at Norman again only to see a disturbingly satisfied look on his face. "What... what did you do?"
Norman shrugged as the woman kept screaming, her screams turning into sobs as she tried to speak only for her jaw to slid off and fall into sand. She wobbled forward for a few steps as her legs snapped off into sand. The moment she collided with the ground, she was finally silenced as the rest of her body was reduced to nothing but sand.
"How unfortunate.", Norman shook his head in faux disappointment. "I believe we'll have to shelve this project."
Elsa looked at him in disgust and horror masked by indifference. "I-I'll get someone to remove the equipment and dispose of it."
"Good, now if you'll excuse me.", Norman walked off as he took out his phone, answering an incoming call with a wide smile. "Ah, hello, Mr. Martello! You must be calling about that... project, don't worry, everything is going as planned."
["Hey, this is Hobie. I'm out of town for a few days taking care of my aunt, I probably won't be on my phone too often so just leave a message honestly. Or don't."]
"These past couple of hours have been nothing but a shit show.", Bullet Spider says to himself as he swung through the city with a discouraged expression under his torn mask and broken goggles. "Damn... rhino really DID do a number on me."
...
"Maybe I'll get pneumonia and die, if I'm lucky.", was all that he could say as he landed on the wall of the Manhattan hospital, he crawled along and checked through a few windows until stopping at the one looking into his mothers room.
"Can't say I didn't expect this, drinking for a solid nine years probably won't do great on you... but still.", Jonah couldn't help but just feel this pit in his stomach.
He sat against the wall of the building as he looked down at the streets below, being so high up he was barely visible to those who didn't have telescopes. "I'll have to check in with her tomorrow as me, not sure a hospital would like a vigilante barging through their door asking for a random woman."
The mere thought of it made him let out a dry laugh before standing on the side of the building. "I should head back for tonight, I don't remember the last time I actually slept in my own bed for more than three minutes."
He took one last look at his mother before leaping off and rolling into another roof across and swinging from there.
A man wearing a blue protective environmental suit with the Oscorp Logo on his left shoulder was humming a tune as he listened to music inside his helmet. With a tool box in hand he had dismantled some of the main components of the Molecular Construction Modification device, disconnecting it from the gauntlets and dismantling the primary batteries.
That was when he felt it... movement, he looked around to see if anyone was there but shrugged as nobody was there. "Eh.", was all he muttered as he felt something brush against his foot. He immediately jolted up, looking around as managed to turn off the music.
He looked over to see trails of sand leading past the device and towards a large mound. The man looked confused as the mound of sand began to twitch, before something began to pull itself out. The rough shape of a human was seen briefly before becoming loose sand once again.
Without another word, the man just ran out. The sand creature tried to pull itself out again, to reach out to the man. It let out a groan as if trying to call towards him but simply let out a sobbing noise as the man had left.
The sand creature had pulled its upper torso from the growing mound, creating slender arms with stubs at the end as it morphed itself into a more feminine shape. The apparently female creature began cough as the lower body began to form, slowly yet surely it stood up.
It wobbled in place for a moment, coughing up more sand that just merged back into the pile. The creature looked at its hand, confused, frightened, horrified even. That was when it formed the expression someone would make when they had a great idea.
The feminine began to shift, it's nubs turning into fingers as color began to creep around. The shape of a wolf cut began to form as more identifiable facial features became present. Valerie Waters had looked around and pushed her self away from the broken backpack.
"W-h-hat.", Valerie coughed as she felt around her throat, she concentrated again for a moment. "I'm... alive?", that was when she heard the sounds of footsteps as she dropped back into a pile of sand and slithered through one of the lower vents just as a security team charged in with what looked like flamethrowers.
Valerie began to recollect everything that happened up until she got turned into the sand itself, the malfunction, the pain, the screaming. The most prominent memory was that wicked grin Norman had as she was supposedly dying. "D-Did he plan this? No. He wouldn't have! But... he just watched me get turned into fucking sand!"
"I need help! I need help!", those words repeated through her mind as she internally panicked the moment she got outside, reforming into her original form as she breathed heavily. "Wait..."
Valerie coughed up more sand as she struggled to maintain her form, her thoughts were so scattered she couldn't focus. She didn't even notice someone standing on a roof nearby, just watching her every movement.
Stumbling into the subway, magnets and white lights began to illuminate around the neck, face and chest. "I got eyes on em."
After finding the backpack he left on top of his apartment complex's roof and changing, Jonah traveled down the stairs and entered his apartment with his head hanging low. "What a day.", he threw off his backpack carelessly as no one else was home, taking out his web shooters he took them to the table.
"Let's see.", he popped one of his talons and pulled up a circular metal band to looked inside. He counted to himself and nodded before doing the same to its twin, nodding again as he clamped them back on. "Okay, lot less used than usual but that's a good thing.
Jonah yawned as he went to his fridge, moments later he was at the counter eating hot pockets he may or may not have forgotten about. "I should really get more web options, maybe sumthin like taser webs. Would be fuckin awesome!"
Before he could take another bite of his hot pocket, his burner phone began ringing. He quickly grabbed his web shooter and threw a web line at the backpack, yanking it forward and digging through it quickly before pulling out the phone and answering it. "Yes?"
["You got a second?"]
"Why yes I do."
["Good, we've gotten a report of some suspicious woman wandering around Queens."]
"Oh then I got the night off, okay-"
["I'm not fucking finished asshole."] Yuri restrained herself from yelling before taking a few deep breaths. ["Witnesses say she looks like she was... melting? Another said she was trialing an abundant amount of sand."]
"So you assume that because I got powers I can deal with something like that.", Jonah says as he slowly took a bite of his hot pocket. "I'm offended."
["Good.", Yuri says before ending the call.
"Wow... okay, bitch.", Jonah hissed as he decided to just finish his hot pockets and then leave his apartment.
Valerie forced her drooping eye back to its original position as she took deep breaths, her form still trailing sand as she forced herself to walk upright. A hopeful smile formed on her face once she saw her house, the same house her father got her as a bizarre yet welcomed wedding gift.
It was almost as if a switch was flipped as her form solidified, the sand that trailed and the body parts that slid down had snapped right back together. She quickly ran to the front door and searched her pockets. "Fuck my keys are gone too..."
She focused, transforming her arm into sand and sliding it into the cracks of the door. Unlatching the locks, she opened the door for herself and took in the familiar surroundings. She saw her husband sleeping on the couch, she quickly ran over and shook him. "Oscar! Wake up!"
The man with short brown hair jolted awake as he looked up at his wife. "Oh you're back? Damn, if I had known you would be here by the same day I would've left you something-", Oscar's mouth was prompt shushed with her finger.
"I-I need help.", Valerie shudders as she began to shift her arms, turning them into long tendrils that locked the door and returned back to her side as normal human arms.
"What the fuck?!", Oscar immediately pushed her away on instinct but immediately noticed his error. "Holy shit I'm so sorry, what happened to you?"
Luckily, she was not angry at this as she looked at her hands. "I don't know."
Oscar sat straight as she sat down on one of the chairs. "Try to remember."
"I was using one of the Oscorp experimental construction equipment, they said it's meant to make hardened shields and disintegrate matter to make shields...", Valerie remembered the call a few days ago about her volunteer work and when to come in. "It was fine at first... but then I felt so much pain, it felt like my body was being torn apart by the atoms and just... black."
"You died?", Oscar sat straight as he swore he heard footsteps outside. "Well... what happened next?"
"I woke up, I... couldn't remember who I was at first, there was a man dismantling the machine I was using and I scared him off.", Valerie began to wiggle, her body turning into sand before it solidified once again. "I'm scared, I don't know what's going on!"
"All that matters is that you're alive and well... as well as you can be.", Oscar says as he got up and stood in front of her. "We'll figure this out, together."
Valerie had a bright smile etched across her face as she stood up and gave him a tight hug. They stopped breathing as they heard footsteps. "Is that Brennan?", she asked as Oscar looked at the stairs.
"No... they're way too heavy.", his eyes widened as he saw a figure standing ontop of the stairs, far taller than any child as two white dots began to glow around where a head would be... soon after, magenta lights glowed to life.
And he was holding a small child in his arms.
"Nice place.", a deeper voice said as the Prowler slowly stepped down the stairs as Valerie began to seethe, her eyes twitching. "Calm down, I'd rather leave here without hurting any kids in this."
"What do you want then?", Oscar says as he stood in front of Valerie, who simply began to shift in place.
"All I want is her to come along quietly.", The Prowler says pointing at her. "My client caught word of your existence, he wants a sit down with you. Talk business and such."
"I'd rather kill myself."
"Hey am I allowed to use the opened window or should I go through the front door?", The Prowler turned around to see Bullet Spider crawling along the wall. "Like genuine question."
"This ain't none of your business.", The Prowler says as purple electricity surged through his gauntlets. "Leave now."
"I mean... no?", Bullet Spider tilted his head. "I mean I was just passing the neighborhood until I saw some walking LED light crawling through a window, sooooo."
"This is none of your concern.", The Prowler says as he gently placed the child onto the chair as Bullet Spider leapt down.
"It is now asshole.", Bullet Spider says before pulling out his gun and aiming it at his head.
"I died for god knows how long, wake up as this... thing! And I can't even catch a few days just to figure it out? What the hell is wrong with you people?! You break into my home, threaten And me and my family and now you want me to come with you?", Valerie says as her husband slowly stepped away as the two costumed individuals looked at her.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
Within seconds the two were sent flying right out the windows by a powerful blast of sand. The Prowler dug his claws into the asphalt and halted himself, Bullet Spider on the other hand was sent crashing into the car across the street.
"Good job, dick head.", Bullet Spider groaned as he pulled himself out. "You made her mad."
"Oh you're blaming me? I wanted this to end quietly until you came along!", The Prowler exclaimed he turned to Bullet Spider.
"I was trying to defuse the situation!"
"Yeah, sure.", The Prowler seemed to roll his eyes as Valerie stepped out.
"Leave. Me. ALONE!", she exclaimed as she punched the ground, a fist of sand erupted from the ground and knocked The Prowler back as her lower body transformed.
Bullet Spider looked up only to dodge out of the way of an incoming punch from the sand woman. She hissed as another hand formed and grabbed his leg, throwing him into the Prowler. "Valerie!", Oscar ran to her as she looked at him.
Valerie looked at him with a saddened expression on her face. "Valerie's gone...", she said as she began to transform, her body dispersing into a cloud of sand as it floated off.
The Prowler pushed the Bullet Spider away and ran forward, his soles glowing the same magenta as he leapt off the ground. A motorcycle riding underneath him as he landed ontop and drove after her.
"Great, now I got sand in my mask.", Bullet Spider says as he leapt into the air, shooting a web line at a light pole and swung over the ground, launching himself into the air as he swung after the two.
Entering the Queensboro bridge, The Prowler effortlessly weaved through the streets as the cloud of sand seemingly sped up. "Go away!", she says annoyed.
"Can't let that happen.", The Prowler says as purple energy began to exit the exhaust ports, he suddenly felt something tugging on his back. He turned around to see the Bullet Spider surfing on the ground as a web line was attached to his back.
"Thanks for the lift! Kinda runnin low on fluids here if you get what I mean.", Bullet Spider comments as the Prowler charged his claws and sliced the webbing off which caused Bullet Spider to skid across the asphalt before shooting a web line and swung from it.
Just as the Prowler pulled out a sort of capsule-like device made of some sort of gold color, Bullet Spider was suddenly ontop of his motorcycle and put him into a chokehold. "That was mad fuckin foul son!"
"Get. Off!", the Prowler elbowed the Bullet Spider in his neck before propping himself up and kicked him off with a powerful magenta flash as the kick connected sending him soaring back. Catching himself with his web line, he sling shots himself back onto the bridge as he swung after them.
Bullet Spider pulled out his burner phone as he heard it buzzing. "Yeah?!"
["Why am I getting reports of a cloud of sand being chased by the Prowler and the Bullet Spider?"]
"Uhh... because I'm working?"
["Can you, I dunno, work faster?!"]
"Give me a goddamn break! I'll call you when I'm done.", Bullet Spider hissed as he ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket as he sped up. Bouncing off a delivery truck as he flew in with a wing kick, the Prowler immediately dropped to the ground and dodged it before blasting a beam of energy at Bullet Spider who effortlessly dodged this.
This did not go unnoticed by the cloud of sand that was Valerie, seizing this opportunity, she quickly seeped down to the sidewalk as a completely different looking woman as the Prowler had his attention drawn from her.
The moment Prowler looked back he scoffed. "Great."
"Man, the bitches must really hate you.", Bullet Spider laughed before he was sent soaring off the bridge by another energy blast that actually landed this time. He shot out a web line that just barely grabbed the bridge and caused a jolt as he just hanged there, holding on tightly to the web.
"Ugh... so no flips n tricks after hot pockets, noted.", Bullet Spider sighed as he heard the motorcycle vanish into the distance. "Oh, that's fuckin spectacular."
Oscar had his son sleeping on the couch after a through thirty minutes after the action. He grits his teeth as his wife was just... gone, he didn't know if she would ever return to him. "If they didn't even come here, she wouldn't have ran off. If it wasn't for that Spider-Man... she wouldn't have left me! I would've gladly taken that offer if it meant she would still be with me."
"It's all his fault!", Oscar seethed as he had an idea. "There was a recent opening at the Alchemax plant, one of their security guards couldn't go on... they'll need a replacement."
Oscar stood up, reinvigorated as he smirked. "I don't care how long it takes. I'll have my vengeance on that Spider-Man!"
Hammerhead sat in his office as he had his windows open, smoking a cigar as he had his back turned to the door. "So? Did you get her?"
"No, she got away thanks to that web headed moron.", The Prowler says as he let out a sigh.
"Unfortunate, since you're so valuable to not only myself but even Kingpin and Osborn, I can't really dispose of yous tha ways I'd do it usually.", Hammerhead turned around as he smiled. "I have a new assignment if you're interested."
The Prowler tilted his head as the markings around his helmets turned completely black, the glass and metallic framing sliding back as Hobie stared right back at him. "Go on."
"We got an issue regarding a little kitty cat."
/End/