Web of Insanity

Thomas frowned. His mornings were usually dull and boring. 

He'd wake up, get dressed and walk to work. Usually, nothing interesting happened, especially when he lived in a crime-free neighborhood.

So he was surprised to look up on his way to work this morning and see a flying storm of sand hit him headfirst. 

A lot of people screamed. Not Thomas. He was too tired to properly process the unnatural phenomenon. 

He frowned even more. Something was missing. 

He tapped his pockets. 

…his wallet was gone. 

“SON OF A-” 

Flint flew along the path, snatching up as many wallets as he could. 

The more wallets gone, the better. Not only would he be getting the cash he needed for his daughter, but it would be sure to draw in the "Spider-Men". 

A flying storm of sand. He'd show them what they did to him, what he had become. 

The Spiders had buried him, it was only fair to return the favor.

Then, he saw it. A bank. 

He'd robbed a few of those back when he had been working for Hammerhead, but he always has some help while doing so. 

How he was now, could he possibly do it solo? 

…only one way to know. 

Basil was off on his morning stroll, enjoying the early day’s sun, when he heard it. The shrill sound of an alarm system, coming from the bank.

With both spiders off dealing with the rest of Hammerhead’s goons, it looked like it was up to Overgrowth to set things right.

He scrambled into the nearest alley and threw on his hero outfit. 

A little slower than he'd like, he usually changed into it while at home, but he’d have to make do.

Basil stumbled out of the alleway and towards the bank, smashing in with vines tearing the sealed security doors open. 

“Oh, come on! Where’s those damned Spiders at?!” The robber shouted, having turned around and spotted Overgrowth.

“They’re busy at the moment. So, I’m subbing in! Call me Overgrowth. So…” he says, summoning a trio of vines that burst through the floorboards.

“…Do you wanna make this easy, or be a weed?”

“…seriously? That’s your tagline? Even the spiders have better jokes than you!”

"Y-yeah well, I'm not them! So you're gonna have to deal with this!" Basil shouts, getting the vines to ensnare the man tightly. "There! I've already won!" 

“Don’t count your wins yet, punk.” The robber says, before shifting into sand and falling out of the thorny hold.

Basil jumped back. He didn't expect that. 

"O-oh, okay! So you turn to sand! Big deal, I-" 

Basil is cut off as a massive fist of sand slams into him. In quick thinking, he summons a wall of plants to cushion him. 

It still hurt, but at least his back didn't break.

“You think a buncha daisies’ll stop me?! I’m…ah, screw it, let’s go simple. I’m Sandman, and it’s about to be lights out for youse!” He shouted, his arm shifting into a sharpened blade and slashing towards Basil.

Basil held back the urge to scream in fear, and instantly a vine pulled him down and barely dodged the blade.

Not by much, however, as a small gash on his arm indicated. 

Basil gulped. Okay, so he can transform his sand into weapons. Nothing too absurd. 

Wait, why did everything suddenly smell like watermelon?

“The hell?! Why’s everything smellin like a damn picnic out here?!” ‘Sandman’ shouted, turning around.

Basil was just as confused, until he looked at his arm. The blood seeping from his wound was bright pink, and as it turned out, was also the source of the overpowering fruit smell.

That was very, very, concerning. 

It's almost as though…he was a watermelon. 

Bad mental image. Not the time for that. Covering his wound with a layer of thin vines, he did the only thing he could think of: drop a watermelon on Sandman.

In an instant, a massive watermelon drops down on the robber, the juice seeping into the sand and soaking it up. 

"The hell do you think you're doing?!" 

“What? You brought up the watermelon, I couldn’t resist!”

"I said 'PICNIC', and if you're so concerned about what I say so much, how about this: 'DROP DEAD'!" Sandman shouts. 

Forming his hand into a large hammer, Sandman swung down towards Basil, who narrowly dodged. However, the young gardener noticed something: Sandman had gotten slower.

He squinted. 

The sand was wet. Was that the reason he got slower? Only one way to find out.

Basil created another massive watermelon and, using a vine, chucked it right at the robber. 

He groaned as the juice splattered once more all over him. 

“The fuck are you doing, punk?!” He shouted as Basil threw yet another massive watermelon at him.

“Might wanna consider a name change, Sandman. Mud’s all the rage, hehe!” Basil snarkily replied, getting a vine to hit the robber. The smack made the robber, now made of mud, splatter across the room. 

“What’d you do to me?!”

“That’s just what happens when sand gets soaked! Well, I’ve got a garden to tend to. When the cops show, tell them Overgrowth’s happy to help out anytime!”

With that, Basil went out the way he came with the help of some vines. As he rushed into the nearby alleyway to remove his costume, he noticed something. His wound had already healed. No scab or anything even. Weird.

On the bright side, he didn't have to explain to anyone why his blood smelled like fruit. 

Maybe his plant powers had a bit more to them than just moving vines…

By the time the cops got to the bank, Sandman had slipped away. Drying out back into his sandy form, he frowned. Beaten by a kid and a bunch of watermelons.

If he couldn't beat a kid like that, then Spider-men could very easily beat him as well. 

He needed to be stronger. 

He needed more sand. 

…construction sites. They had sand. He'd been forced to remember Fisk Construction sites when he worked for Hammerhead, so as to not tick off the Kingpin.

There was one nearby, and he didn't care if he ticked off the Kingpin no more. 

To be honest, he hated any of those gangsters. After the spiders, he’d deal with them.

Flint smiled to himself as he walked along the sewer path. He was going to have fun. He'd be different from those other super weirdos. Everyone would know the "Sandman" soon enough, and he was going to make a bang doing so. 

Hero had just finished webbing up some more of Hammerhead’s goons. He and Tarantula definitely had more to deal with, but his brother was out looking for the next outpost.

Dealing with an entire mafia head's crew wasn't easy. Hero knew the other dons were no better than Hammerhead, but at least terrorizing the public wasn't something they did on a regular basis, alongside drug runs. For now, he’d stay out of that, Hammerhead first. 

“Oye, hermano!”

"Yeah, what is it?" Hero asks, turning to Kel. 

“Thought I saw one of Hammerhead’s goons at that construction site! Cmon!” Kel replied, already preparing to swing off.

“Better get ready then. Especially since-“

“Yeah yeah, since I just got my suit repaired.”

"Alright, good. Let's go!" Hero says, shooting a web and swinging away. 

Kel follows along, swinging right behind his brother. 

Soon enough, the duo arrived. Surprisingly, only one grunt awaited them.

“Fuckin finally. Been waiting for both of youse, Y’know. Remember me?”

"Uh…" Kel squints. "No, cause your face is kind of…made of sand?" 

“Damn, I’m hurt. You don’t remember? It was only two fuckin days ago when you LEFT ME FOR DEAD! YOU MADE ME INTO A FREAK, TOOK AWAY THE INSURANCE THAT MY DAUGHTER WOULDN’T GET HURT BY THE MOB! You left me to rot in a tomb of sand and toxic waste! I’m Flint Marko…or at least, I was. Now, I’m Sandman, an I’ll be the guy who buries the botha ya!”

"Flint Marko…yeah, I remember you." Kel says. "And I'm sorry, but if you're going to try and kill me, I'm not gonna be so apologetic."

“Figures. Well then, les just get dis over with.”

"If that's what you want!" Hero says, jumping in and throwing a punch at Flint, only for his fist to go right through and get stuck. 

"...and I need to remind myself I have to think smarter, not harder." 

"No kiddin." Flint replies, before turning his fist massive made of sand and punching Hero away from him. He hits a metal pole and winces.

"Sand, huh. That's…a problem." 

“No shit, Sherlock. That’s the whole reason I picked this spot!” Flint replies with a laugh. "You two’re no strangers to odd powered-up weirdos, but now you're on my turf! Nothing but sand around you!" 

"Yeah, but how do you plan to control all the sand?" Kel asks. "I mean, you're just one guy! And there's two of us!" 

"Lemme show you just what I can do then!" 

Kel feels the ground beneath his feet move slightly. He looks down and sees the sand below start to move in towards Flint. Soon, it's almost a storm, the way the sand was absorbed. Flint takes in more and more and more sand… 

Until he's towering entirely over Kel and Hero. 

“And this is why we don’t underestimate a villain!” Hero shouts, quickly moving out of the way as a massive hand of sand nearly squashes him into nothing. 

“NOW WHO’S GETTIN BURIED?!”

"HOPEFULLY NOT ME!" Hero shouts, flinging a stack of bricks right at the massive sand man. 

“YA THINK THAT’LL HELP?! HOW ABOUT I SEND ‘EM BACK?!” Flint's voice is now deeper, hoarse. 

The bricks are caught, and instantly thrown back. 

"Come on…think…sand and water is mud…sand and fire is glass….which one? Maybe both?" 

“OYE CABRON, OVER HERE!” Kel shouted, standing atop a nearby water tower. 

Flint turns to Kel, shouting as he throws his arm up for a slap. Instantly, Kel moves out of the way, the water tower smashing and splashing all over the place. 

"HA! How's that?" Kel shouts, landing onto the top of a metal frame. "Wet and muddy!" 

Sandman’s response was to break out of the larger muddy form.

Almost instantly, an almost just as large sand titan reappears. 

With a shout, it grabs the mud and throws it right at Kel, who tries to get away, but the amount of mud is too much. Kel drops to the ground, covered in the sticky mud. 

"Ew! Gross!" He quickly wipes it off as he gets to his feet. "That's cheating! You can't just change like that!" 

Flint doesn't even respond to that, picking up a bulldozer, using it as a weapon and attempting to smash it down on Kel. 

Hero quickly catapults himself towards Kel, pulling him out of the way as the bulldozer explodes when it hits the ground. 

“You know you’re gonna have to pay for breaking that, right?”

Once again, Flint just groans and screams. 

"He’s definitely lost it!" Kel says. 

"Yeah, no kidding. We need to turn him to glass." 

"Why glass? Does the mud not work?" 

"With mud, he can just cut himself off or slip away. But I don't think he could move himself if he was solid glass." 

"What? Are you sure?" 

Hero sighs. "No, but we have to try." 

Kel looks around. "There! I could overpower those generators and make a massive explosion!" 

Hero nods. 

"I'll make sure no one gets close to the construction site. For once, I trust you. So don’t die on me!”

With that, Hero swings off while Kel rushes toward the generators.

Kel quickly grabs a generator using his web, bringing it with him, dodging out of the way as the Sandman attempts to swat him out of the air. 

“Oye, time to turn up the heat!” He shouts, slamming his palm onto the generator, his hand crackling with energy. With no time to lose, he hurls the generator at Sandman.

However, Sandman dodged around it.

“YOU SERIOUS?! Y’KNOW WHAT, LET’S JUST MAKE THIS QUICK!”

Kel looks around and scans the area. There's about 3 more generators left. If he could get them all together… 

Kel took a deep breath. Then opened his eyes and started running. As a massive hand of sand came towards him, he flung himself upwards like a catapult with his webs and soared above the titan. 

"HERE GOES!" 

As soon as he could see all three generators, he quickly shot his webs, and pulled them all right towards him in the air. 

“THIS IS GONNA STING!”

As soon as all three of the massive boxes were together, Kel's hands charged in orange and yellow energy, and he slammed them downwards, the generator shooting right down into the Sandman, bursting in electricity. 

For a moment, there was silence as the generators were absorbed by the sand and Kel landed on his feet upon the ground. 

Then a massive explosion that nearly leveled the site.

Sandman’s…well, sand was blown all over the site. Bursts of sand flew all over the area, and Kel pulled his hand up to shield himself. Marko definitely wasn’t stuck in place, but it’d be awhile before he’d reform.

"No glass?! Did I blow up a refrigerator or something?!" Kel shouted in frustration. This wasn't what he had planned, but it didn't matter. He’d figure it out, hopefully. 

Or so he thought, as the sand slowly started to swirl up into a tornado, despite the very clear lack of wind. The sand slowly rises into the air, before gliding away from the now ruined construction site. 

“¡Eso es una estupidez!”

Reforming in an alleyway, Sandman caught his breath. Three superheroes had him on the ropes in one day. How the hell was he supposed to deal with that?!

Enraged, he was about to beat the crap out of the nearby dumpster when he heard something. A metallic scuttling sound from behind him.

He turned around. An inhuman figure shrouded in shadow stands there, looking at him. 

"Who the hell are you? I know you weren't there when I came in here, so you clearly ain't some nobody." 

“I am here to talk.” The figure replied in a text to speech voice.

“Then talk. Whaddya want?!”

“I’ll keep this brief. You want to end Spider-Man. I want his body. Meet me at 1038 Spooner Street in Closeby City tomorrow, if you accept my deal. I’m preparing a small team to deal with him. Besides the joy of snuffing out his life, I’ll give you something else. More than enough money to keep that daughter of your’s on the right track.”

Flint hesitates. "And how do I know you can do that, give me what I want?" 

A laugh. That was odd, hearing a text to speech program laugh. Unnerving, unusual, and that was coming from a guy made of sand. 

"You don't. But do you have any other choice?" 

The figure extended a metallic tendril forward, and it displayed a holographic display of a small warehouse.

“This is the place we’ll meet at. There will be four others as well. Well, are you in?”

The figure extends a metallic tendril for a handshake.

Sandman hesitates again, but agrees, grabbing the tendril and shaking it, knowing there was no turning back anymore. 

“Good. I’ll make sure the money ends up in the bank account of Keemia Marko. Well, I’ll be seeing you.”

The figure leaves the alleyway, once again letting out a text to speech laugh. Sandman looked at his hand, now holding a piece of paper.

A note.

“We’ll see how much the spider likes it when six foes strike at once. Remember, 1038 Spooner Street, at the abandoned Oscorp warehouse. Do not be late. Signed, Dr. O.”

Flint scoffs. "The hell did I just drag myself into." 

The labs at Oscorp were illuminated in a crimson red. Alarms blared as scientists fled in terror. And amongst the chaos, two stood tall making a mad dash for the exit.

“Cmon, hurry!” Electro shouted, his hands sparking with energy.

"Yeah yeah, gimme a second!" Mysterio says, digging through drawers. "Man, this place has really good stuff!" 

"We don't have time to loot!" 

A barrage of lasers reinforced his point.

Electro quickly shoots out bolts of electricity from his hands, and in an instant, the lasers short circuit and turn off. "Damn security!" 

“Whoever busted us out shoulda dealt with that!”

"Whoever busted us out can eat shit! I don't think they know how prison breaks work! We shouldn't be doing the majority of this work!" Electro shouts, shooting another blast of energy and unlocking a sealed door. 

Suddenly, a voice boomed through the intercoms. A text to speech voice, oddly enough.

“No need to worry. It took longer than expected, but the security systems are down for now. There’s an exit door to the right. Meet me at 1038 Spooner Street, at the abandoned Oscorp warehouse.”

“Why should we-“

“Is the chance to rid the world of Spider-Man enough reason? His body and powers would remain, but the man behind the mask would cease to be.”

Electro laughs. "And why the hell would we need your help to do that?!" 

“Long story short… I know a few like-minded individuals, and have some tech to improve your gear. I’ve studied your powers, and I’m impressed. What do you say?”

Electro pauses for a moment. 

"...you've got a deal. "

"Good. I guess sometimes it is easier to work with children." 

"Hey, we ain't no thumb suckers, ya hear?" 

“Bossman, you sure this isn’t a trap?” Mysterio asks in concern. 

The voice speaks up once more. 

“If it was, would I even have let you out? I have a mole in Oscorp for god’s sake. Just…trust me.”

Mysterio sighs. "Well, if Bossman goes…then I'll go too."

"That's what I like to hear." 

The voice laughed, before speaking once more.

“Two of your soon-to-be cohorts are already on their way here. Be here by tomorrow, and do not be late.”

"And the wings? The gauntlets?" Norman asks, walking down the path in urgency towards his office. 

"Gone sir. Everything that was under…him, is gone." One of the researchers said, walking right beside him. 

"What about Harry? What about Adrian?!" 

"Your son is…fine, sir, he's hanging around one of your wife's old research stations. We lost contact with Doctor Toomes over an hour ago, unfortunately." 

“He’s probably one of the fools who started this whole operation. He never did act right after Octavius left.” He sighed, slamming his fist into the wall.

“We’re still working on rebooting the systems, whoever hacked us did a good job.”

"Of course they did. Everything is just going wrong! What happens when the press catches wind of this?" 

"We…do still have…that." The researcher says, signaling to something on his clipboard. "It didn't get stolen, and from our last check, it still functions." 

"Are you kidding me? I haven't ridden that glider for…over 20 years! Too old for that stuff anymore, just get the damn people I hired to fix stuff to fix it!" 

“Understood. Also, I’ve got other news. One of our top secret weapons projects went missing last night, the compact repulsor units. Two guards were found dead at the scene, no thief on the cameras.”

"It's bad news all around, isn't it?" Norman sighs. "I don't know what Toomes and his gang of psychos are going to do, so get our 'army' to deal with it, make sure Harry stays safe, and whatever you do, make sure this is over as soon as possible!" 

"U-understood, Mister Osborn." With that, the researcher leaves the room in a hurry. 

Norman sits at his desk. He taps his fingers. Something isn't right. 

He presses a button on the phone in his office. "Carol." 

"Yes, Mister Osborn?" 

"...could you contact the HR department and get them to send me everything on Adrian Toomes?"

"Everything? As in, his past 30 years of working here everything?"

"I said what I said, get it done!" 

“Got it.”

With that, the phone line hangs up, and leaves Norman alone in the silence of his office. 

For a moment, he thinks about calling Harry up to him, but goes against it. 

He sighs. He couldn't lose everything he'd built. Not now, and especially not to a couple of freaks. 

Adrian was after something. 

Norman just needed to figure out what.