Chapter 9: Enter Sandman
-Friday April 6th, 2019-
"The police still have no leads on the other two escaped convicts, but the NYPD has assured us that they are doing everything in their power to find them. No other information has been made clear at this time but residents are advised to immediately report any sightings of these men to the police. In other news, Filthy Rich is moving forward with his plans to-"
Thorax exited out of the news feed on his phone and said to Flash "Well, this is good. At least the NYPD are looking for these guys and Bishop."
It was a free period and Flash and Thorax were in the library, looking at a news feed on Thorax's phone while Flash finished up a bit of Math homework.
"True. But it's also gonna be an even bigger pain in the ass. Bishop was keeping a low profile before. And while they didn't mention anything about Bishop, since I have no doubt Shining Armor wants to keep it quiet, if they're anything like most criminal masterminds they'll have eyes and ears everywhere."
"Including law enforcement?"
"Especially law enforcement. More than likely they've heard their codename being used-"
"-which means they're going to go from 'low profile' to 'damn near invisible' now." Thorax sighed. "So, how are we going to find them?"
Flash thought about it for a few seconds before asking "Did we ever find out what the missing tech from Oscorp was that's still missing?"
Thorax shook his head. "Nope. My hack into the Research Center only got me as far as Project Icarus. The rest of the tech that's still in Bishop's possession is still a mystery and Oscorp still ain't talking to the NYPD, FBI, or anyone else." Seeing the look on Flash's face he asked "I take it you have an idea?"
"Yeah. But we're definitely gonna need Twilight's help for this."
Abacus Cinch looked at the man in front of her; six foot six with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a physique akin to most football players. This was Flint Marko, a common criminal who was wanted for petty theft alongside his partner Alex O'Hirn. Both of whom had been recruited and readily accepted the deal.
Thought Flint had noticed that O'Hirn wasn't there. Concerned for his friend he asked "Hey, where's Alex?"
"Where still getting some of the materials for his enhancements," she replied. "That and while he was at Rykers he sadly got a light case of food poisoning, and believe me when I say he'll have a much better chance of surviving the process when he's at full health."
He nodded, remembering that Alex did look a little pale when they got to this place. "Alright. Is he gonna be okay?"
"He's being looked over by my medical staff. He'll be fine in a few days."
Flint then looked at the machine in front of them. It was a glass tube with two large machines on either side that looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie (which did little to alleviate the bad feeling he was currently having) and a large amount of sand on the floor of the tube. "So, what exactly is this thing gonna do to me?"
"I'll spare you the more scientific details, but basically it's going to bind that sand to your skin cells, granting you an extremely dense silicon-based armor. It will make you bulletproof and far stronger than before."
"Enough for me to squash that pain in the ass bug-man?"
"More than likely."
Looking at the machine again, he asked "This ain't gonna hurt, is it?"
"Just some mild discomfort from the energy being used. Nothing you shouldn't be able to handle."
Pushing down the bad feeling he had he stepped into the tube, Cinch tightening the restraints on his arms and legs. She then closed the tube, making sure it was sealed before exiting the room. Once on the other side she looked at Doctor Octavius, who didn't even spare her a glance and said "It's ready."
Smiling, Cinch flipped several switches before pushing the activation button. "Then let's begin."
The machines around the tube began to hum before the room was bathed in a green glow. As this happened the sand at the bottom of the tube was soon lifted off of the ground and flung violently around like a miniature tornado. The sand whipped and tore at Flint, giving him the feeling of being inside of a sandstorm. It hurt but it wasn't that bad.
But then it got worse. Much worse.
He suddenly started to lose feeling in his hands, and as he looked down he was horrified by what he saw.
His hands, feet, and even his clothes were turning into sand and falling apart!
"Hey! HEY! TURN OFF THE MACHINE! TURN OFF THE MACHINE!"
There was no answer to his pleas, and the machine didn't turn off.
And in less than a minute, Flint Marko was gone. All that was left was a now slightly larger pile of sand.
Cinch had watched the whole thing impassively, her face betraying no emotion whatsoever. "Well, that was a failure. I suppose we'll just sweep him up and try again."
"Right. I'll activate the- Hmm?"
She paused when she saw the pile of sand start to move, rising up from the ground. It eventually began to form a head, torso, and arms (and hands, though no fingers yet.) As the seconds rolled by the rest of the body was formed, slowly gaining definition though no color, yet.
Octavius and Cinch watched all of this was a sick sense of awe. "Incredible," Octavius said. "Instead of binding the sand to his cells, the energy somehow matched his body's atomic structure to match the sand itself."
"Indeed." Cinch smiled. "It's definitely going to be interesting seeing the wallcrawler try to-"
CRASH!
They both looked to see the now more defined Flint Marko smash through the tube, roaring in anger "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU PEOPLE DONE TO ME!?" His right hand turned into a hammer, which he slammed onto the observation window. "ANSWER ME! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"
Turning on the microphone, Cinch said "Excuse me, Mister Marko? If you would kindly calm down-"
"DON'T TELL ME TO BE CALM, BITCH! ESPECIALLY NOT AFTER THIS!" He gestured to himself, still without color.
Cinch pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is going to be a long day."
Shining Armor took a bite out of his burger while he waited for Pharynx in the diner. After the commissioner gave him that file on his friend, needless to say he had some questions for him.
Fortunately he didn't have to wait too long, as Pharynx soon arrived and sat down. "So," he asked "why exactly did you call me to meet you here? You didn't sound like you had good news."
He didn't say anything. Instead, Shining Armor pulled the file out of his bag and laid it down in front of Pharynx. "Recognize this?"
Pharynx seemed confused, before opening the folder and reading the contents. He was shocked for a second before sighing and asking "How did Crush get this? The only people who have this were-"
"He has some friends in high places who owe him favors. Now-"
"You're not gonna arrest me, are you?"
Shining shook his head. "No. I read that part of your file where you got interviewed by Federal Agents and took some very advanced Lie Detector Tests. By the way, how advanced where they?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. created super-polygraphs that are designed to catch a lie before the subject even makes it. Trust me, Black Widow tested it and even she couldn't sneak a lie past it."
"Well according to your file and the U.S. government, you're clean. But that's not why I'm here." He took another bite from his burger, swallowed, and said "What I can't understand is why an agent for a UN funded anti-terrorist organization, now dismantled, is now working as an investigative journalist for The Daily Bugle."
"What's there to understand?"
"Well, according to your file you were part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Investigative Unit, and you have a plethora of skills in nonlethal takedowns, Crime Scene Investigation, and Forensic Sciences. You busted several cases that most police officers in the countries you worked in couldn't solve, and brought down some VERY dangerous people. With your skills you could've gotten a job at the CIA, FBI, hell even the NYPD."
Pharynx nodded. "I know that and I tried. But I ran into two problems. First off, for the most part the higher ups of those agencies can't be bothered to tell the difference between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA. I've talked to a few of my old buddies who weren't HYDRA and the few that were able to get in are constantly getting a hard time because of that fact."
"Okay, that makes sense. But I'm sure you'd be able to deal with that."
"True. But what I can't deal with is the second problem. My mother."
"Oh. That makes more sense."
Pharynx and Thorax's mother wasn't exactly a good person. No scratch that, she was one of the worst.
Three years ago there had been a slew of abductions in New York City of people ranging from the age of fifteen to thirty. The whole city had been in a panic during the time, with every law enforcement agency and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Investigative Unit investigating to try and find the culprit. Eventually SH.I.E.L.D's Investigative Unit caught a lucky break, finding some of the missing people and getting the evidence to nab the person behind it all.
And the person in question was none other than Chrysalis C. Ling, the CEO of the Scarab Corporation, one of the biggest supplier of medical equipment in the USA. This came as a shock to many, least of all her two sons who had no idea what she'd been doing.
But the biggest shock was what the people had been abducted for.
Apparently the Scarab Corporation was running some less than legal dealings in their back rooms. Specifically, an organ harvesting ring. The abductees would be held for days in cramped cells while waiting to be pulled out to have whatever organ or organs they needed/wanted.
And should the abductee in question lose an organ that would be vital? They would then strip them down to the bones, quite literally. They would take every organ that was salvageable, and then drain every drop of blood in their bodies, all of which would then be put in cold storage until a customer came along.
Fortunately a joint S.H.I.E.L.D., FBI, and NYPD S.W.A.T. task force raided the place and saved the abductees and arrested everyone involved; though sadly 137 of the abductees hadn't made it.
Chrysalis had been nailed with the maximum sentence, and would have been given the death sentence. But as it turned out her organ harvesting ring had managed to get a clientele that included drug kingpins, international crime lords, several terrorist leaders. In exchange for the names and information, her sentence was reduced to life in prison with zero chance of parole or visitation. To this day she was locked up in a special isolation cell in the maximum security wing at the Raft, guarded at all times by ten guards instructed to kill her the moment she ever try to escape.
Unfortunately, Chrysalis's identity was somehow leaked to the press. So Shining could imagine just how hard it had been for Pharynx, and possibly Thorax in the future, to try and get out of the shadow of their mother.
A thought occurred to Shining as he processed this. "It was you, wasn't it? You were part of the team that brought her down."
Pharynx nodded, sighing. "I made the arrest personally. Not every day you get to lock up your own mother." He took a sip of his coffee and said "You know, looking back I always thought something was wrong with my mother. And not just in the 'she never hugs me enough' or the 'she pays more attention to my little sibling than she does me' way. I mean she always seemed cold, emotionless, often like she doesn't even really care about me or Thorax. I never knew she was a frigging sociopath* who couldn't see the wrong or the horror in what she was doing."
"You'd be surprised what you don't know about the people close to you," Shining Armor stated. "An old friend of mine in college, he seemed to be a pretty normal guy."
"Yeah. So what was his problem?"
"Turns out he was the son of an arms dealer. Last time I saw him, he had taken over his father's business and I was the one to arrest him. Needless to say we won't be playing Ogres and Oubliettes again anytime soon."
Pharynx chuckled at that. "Yeah. So, you're not mad at me for not telling you that I used to be with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Hey, we all got our secrets man. Trust me."
"So, we're good?"
"Yeah. But there's been rumors that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s still around, just operating mostly in the shadows. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
Pharynx shook his head. "If you had bothered to read everything in my file, you'd know that I 'retired' from S.H.I.E.L.D. shortly before The Fall so that I could look out for my little brother. Honestly, aside from some old buddies and a few contacts I made back in the day, I've had zero contact with anyone or anything having to do with S.H.I.E.L.D."
Looking to that part of the file and seeing he was right, Shining said "Okay then. Just wanted to make sure."
"Hey, with Chrysalis locked up I'm the only family Thorax has left. Last thing I need is to get dragged into some international incident that greatly increases my chances of getting tortured, maimed, or killed."
"Considering you've gotten stabbed and had your ass dragged out of a firefight, I can understand that."
Pharynx's phone buzzed as he got a text. Reading it he said "Well I'd better get going. I'm meeting with an old friend for some drinks."
"I gotta get back to the station too." Picking up the check Shining said "See you around. And stay out of trouble."
Chuckling he asked "Is that the cop talking or my friend talking?"
Shining chuckled. "Both."
"You're crazy," Twilight said. "Absolutely. Bonkers."
It was after school and the gang had all met up at the lair. Once Flash explained the situation to Twilight about Bishop, he proposed his idea.
Since they doubted Bishop would just announce where they were or who they were, he figured maybe they could track down the Oscorp tech that was still missing; or, at the very least figure out what they were planning to do with said tech. Since they couldn't get in through Thorax's hack in the Research Center, they'd have to find another place for Thorax to hack.
But that was a problem in itself; Oscorp had multiple buildings scattered across Manhattan, ranging from research facilities to testing areas to power plants. While they could cut out a few of those, it still left way too many places to try and hack into to find what they were after.
So Flash got the brilliant (read: insane) idea. Why not go straight to the source?
"You realize that Oscorp Tower is essentially the nerve center of everything that is Oscorp," Twilight asked in disbelief. "That place isn't just office space; it's got its own labs, testing facilities, living quarters, and row upon row of server farms. Even if you did get inside, it would take days if not weeks to find what we were looking for unless someone inside told you where to find it."
Flash nodded. "I know. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go for the nerve center, within the nerve center."
If it were possible for Twilight's jaw to drop any further, it would have. She then took her glasses off and facepalmed. "You can't be serious."
"I am."
"You want to break into Norman Osborn's office. A place that has enough security measures and systems to rival the White House. And you want to hack into his computer, which is probably just as secure." Seeing that he was in fact being serious she asked "Are you out of your mind? Wait, don't answer that. I already know."
"It actually won't be that hard to break into his computer," Thorax said. "Once you secure an uplink between our computers, I can work my magic and he'll never know. I've even got a program primed for something like this."
Twilight sighed. "That's not the problem. The problem would be getting you into the top floor, which IS his office. Since I doubt you're going to just walk in through the front door, you're more than likely going to try and crawl up the outside of the building. Besides the obvious security cameras, there's no telling what other security measures they've put in place in the event of corporate espionage."
"They really think someone's going to crawl up the side of the tower and try and break in," Flash asked.
"Isn't that what you're planning on doing," Twilight asked.
"Yes, but I have spider powers, so it would make sense for that. Most corporate spies don't. So why would they-"
"It doesn't matter. Either way, it's not going to be easy."
Flash nodded. "I know that. But this is obviously the best and fastest way to figure out what Bishop is up to. And I doubt Norman Osborn's going to just give Spider-Man the info if he asks him nicely."
"Yeah, fair point." Realizing he wasn't going to change his mind, she asked "What do you need?"
"Thorax is working on getting the info on what kind of security they installed, especially since they probably overhauled everything because of Toomes. Once he has that intel, we'll go from there."
"And in the meantime, we'll have to deal with either Flint Marko or Alex O'Hirn becoming supervillains," Thorax said as he worked on programming the bug they were going to put into Osborn's computer.
Flash rolled his eyes. "Yeah, just what I need." Grabbing his costume he said "I'm going out on patrol. Let me know if something comes up."
Abacus and Octavius looked at Flint Marko, now looking completely human and in his former colors. After taking a few hours to calm him down they explained what had happened to him, and how his new abilities were actually a lot better than the silicone armor they were aiming for.
Changing his hand into a hammer, and then a mace, he couldn't argue with that.
Talking into the microphone, Cinch said "Don't forget our deal, Mister Marko."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah. I squash the spider, I get a clean record and a big score. Consider it done."
And with that, his body turned into a cloud of sand and flew in through an air vent. Octavius blinked. "Well... He could have used the door."
Meanwhile on the surface, the cloud of sand that was Flint Marko drifted out of the air vent and reformed into his human form. Now, how do I get Spider-Man's attention?
As he turned the corner he saw a bank, and a grin stretched across his face. Heh. I get his attention and make a little money on the side. Win-win for everyone except the bug.
Dropping down from the tree, Spider-Man said ""Mission accomplished."
He promptly turned to the ten year old girl and held out what was in his hands, a small black cat with yellow eyes. The girl eagerly accepted the cat and said "Thank you Spider-Man."
Smiling under his mask, he replied "No problem. I'm a sucker for cute cats." Giving said cat a boop on the nose, he said "Might wanna keep a closer eye on this little guy."
The girl giggled and said "Actually, Felicia's a girl."
"Oh. It's so hard to tell sometimes." Ruffling the girl's hair he said "You be careful going home, okay?"
"Okay!"
As she ran off with her cat in her arms, he heard Twilight say "Aww. That's so cute."
"I'd like to see Jameson try and screw you over on this one," Thorax added.
"Knowing him, he'd try and find some way to make it look like I took the cat or something." Grabbing his camera that he had webbed to to the wall he added "Least I got some good pictures for the Spidey-Blog."
"Gonna have to wait to send them. Just picked up some police chatter, a bank in the Financial District is being robbed by... Seriously?"
"What?"
"They're saying it's Flint Marko, but he's... apparently made of sand now? What the actual hell do they mean by that?"
Coming up on the bank he said "Considering he's more than likely gotten superpowers from Bishop, I'd say anything's possible."
His Spider-Sense went off, just in time as the doors of the bank were blown off their hinges by a massive blast of sand, surprisingly having two large duffel bags held inside of it. Landing on the street in front of it, Spider-Man was then surprised when the sand began to gather together and form into- "Hey Flint," he said jovially. "So, I take it you followed Mac Gargan on the superpowered supervillain train?"
"Yeah. The lady who gave me this was actually just trying to give me some sort of sand armor. But this-" He transformed his fists into hammers. "-THIS is much better."
Flint charged at him, but Spider-Man easily dodged his strikes and threw a punch at his face. It connected, but to his shock the moment it made contact Flint's cheek exploded in a shower of sand. "Oh god! I am so sorry! I-"
The words died in his throat as Flint's cheek reformed, sand filling up the gap and transforming to look like his actual cheek again. "Ah, don't worry about it," Flint said. "'Tis but a scratch."
Flint threw a punch that caught Spider-Man in the chest, only his whole arm turned into sand and extended, slamming Spider-Man into a building on the other side of the street and leaving a nice imprint of himself in the bricks. Pain shot up through most of his body as he made impact. Never knew sand could hurt so much.
Smirking as he walked over, Flint said "Oh man. You have no idea how good that felt." before he threw another giant sand punch.
Fortunately Spider-Man was able to flip out of the way, sticking to the building above him. "Sorry mister Sandman, but I'm not ready to go to sleep yet."
Flint rolled his eyes. "Really? Sandman? That's the best you can come up with."
"Well I was thinking Mister Beach or the Living Sand Castle, but the first one was already taken and the second one just sounds silly." He chuckled. "Wait, I got it! Lord Litter Box!"
Flint groaned. "Sandman it is. Now, where were we?"
"Last I checked, I was planting my foot firmly somewhere between your lungs and colon."
Smirking, Sandman shifted his body until there was a nice size whole in his torso. "Go ahead. Take your best shot."
Sweat-dropping, Spider-Man replied "Okay. Well I guess I'll just- WHOA!"
He immediately jumped out of the way of another one of Sandman's fists, before web-swinging away. "Guys, need a plan!" Dodging a blast of sand he added "Need a plan fast!"
"I'm looking at the data your suit picked up right now," Twilight said over the comm. "Based on what I'm seeing his whole body is now entirely sand."
"Yeah, I figured that. How do I stop him?!"
"Well for one thing I recommend keeping him away from Coney Island. He gets anymore sand to play with this situation can get much worse. Other than that, best I can say is we either wash him away with water or find the world's strongest vacuum cleaner and suck him up."
"I sincerely doubt there's any vacuum cleaner that can hold him, and isn't there a chance that washing him away with water might kill him?"
There was a second of silence before Twilight replied "With how he is now, I'm not even sure he can be killed."
Thorax then said "Wait, guys I might have an idea."
Dodging several punches and sand blasts, Spider-Man asked "What?"
"There's a construction site about two blocks down that was pouring cement today. Everyone's on lunch break right now, but from what I'm seeing their cement mixer's still going."
Understanding what he was getting at, Spider-Man swung away and yelled "Hey Sandy! Come and get me!"
Taking that as a challenge, Sandman turned himself into a cloud of sand and flew after him.
Getting to the construction site ahead of him, Spider-Man landed in front of the cement mixer. Seeing the crew he yelled "You guys need to get out of here! Now!"
Seeing the living sand cloud coming from over the fence, the foreman wisely decided to follow his advice. "Clear out and give Spidey some room!"
As they proceeded to do so, Spider-Man dodged one of Sandman's hammer strikes and landed next to the foreman who was about to leave. "Quick question; how do I pour the cement in your mixer?"
"Big red release lever on the right side. Why?" Seeing Spider-Man jerk his thumb at Sandman, he said "Try not to use all the cement. That stuff ain't cheap."
"Got it. Now go!"
Once he was gone Spider-Man perched on top of a loose construction beam. "Hey Sandman! Heads up!"
With that he grabbed a hold of the beam, front flipping forward and bringing the beam down onto Sandman, smashing him into a loose pile of sand...
...that immediately shot forward and slammed into his stomach, taking the form of Flint Marko again. As Spider-Man was knocked back, Sandman changed his hands into hammers again and deadpanned "Really? 'Heads up?' That's the best you could do?"
"Oh, like you could do any better!" He promptly followed this by firing web shots at Sandman, but the shots either went right through him or didn't slow him down at all. Dodging a hammer strike, Spider-Man flipped over him and shot several Impact Webs down on him, effectively cocooning him. Landing and seeing that he wasn't breaking free, he said "Huh. Maybe I won't need-"
The words died in his throat as solid sand spikes stabbed through the webs, before shifting through the holes and reform into Sandman again. "Okay, maybe I will need that cement," he muttered.
He was about to fire another Impact Web before Sandman extended his arm and grabbed him throwing him against the cement tank and knocking the wind out of him. As he walked up to him, standing right under the mixer, he said "You've always had the advantage before because you were the only one with powers. But now King Sandman reigns supreme!"
Firing a web line and snagging the release lever, he said "Your Majesty; allow me to build a statue in your honor!"
And with a swift yank he pulled the lever, and the mixer dumped a generous amount of concrete on the unsuspecting Sandman. He immediately got up and closed it, just in time to see Flint Marko try to get out of the cement.
Fortunately for him, unfortunately for Sandman, the cement hardened just in time. "Not exactly what I'd call high art, but I like it." Seeing the foreman he said "Good news, you guys should still have plenty of cement."
"Thanks. We called the cops while you were dealing with him. They should be here soon."
"Great. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get the sand out of my suit."
Cinch looked over what she'd been working on all day while Flint Marko, or Sandman as the news was calling him, was out keeping Spider-Man distracted. It was the armor she wore as Bishop, specifically with the breastplate opened up and revealing its inner workings. On a holographic screen were the details of Twilight Sparkle's device, which the girl had dubbed as the Arcane-O-Meter (Seriously?) "Hmm. A few more adjustments and it should be complete," she said to herself. "Then I just need to test it to make sure what I absorb won't overload my primary power source."
At that she looked behind her gigantic machine, focusing on a single sport right in the cent of it all. If an ordinary person were to look closely they wouldn't see anything odd.
But Abacus was anything but ordinary, and so she could see something; a slight gap, a tear, in the air that had just the faintest glow of purple.
Smiling she said "Soon, that little tear will be something much bigger. But as it is now I'll be able to extract what I need to pay off Norman Osborn for helping me. After that, I just have to wait." Her smile turned into a full on grin and she finished "And it'll be worth it. The next Friendship Games will be one for the history books.
'And a day that the world will never forget."
After getting scrubbed in the shower Tony had set up in their base (which in the event of emergencies also functioned as a chemical shower for the suit) Flash got dressed in his civilian garb and met up with his team. "Okay, " Flash said as he finished drying off his hair. "Marko's taken care of. That just leaves O'Hirn."
Thorax nodded. "Yeah. Not looking forward to what Bishop's gonna give him."
"Bishop must really want me dead for what happened with Vulture and Mason."
Twilight looked up from the computer she was working at. "I'm not so sure that's what this is about." Seeing she had the boy's attention, she continued "Think about it for a second. Mason said that them stealing that last device was the last job she hired them for. Considering there's been no other tech thefts from Oscorp since we took them down, this leads me to believe that she already has all the tech that she needs for whatever her plan is."
Thinking about it, Flash realized she was right. "Go on."
"Bishop breaks out three guys who have a history with you and are holding a serious grudge. She gives them superpowers and offers them a large sum of money if they kill you, as evidenced by when Gargan said this."
She pushed a button and a clip from his fight with Scorpion played:
"A gift from the lady who helped bust me out," he replied, his tail rearing up behind him. "She gave it to me, along with the promise of a clean record and a lot of money if I do this job."
Stopping it she continued "And while I don't doubt she'd be ecstatic if Gargan had killed you, when he didn't she just sent Marko, and will no doubt send O'Hirn next. But, why? The suit she gave Gargan had very advanced hardware and at least three gallons of pure and undiluted hydroclouric acid, which is not cheap. While Marko didn't have anything like that I doubt the method in which he gain his powers was...cheap. The same will probably be said with O'Hirn when he gets whatever it is he's getting. So, why would she pour all of this money and resources just to kill you?"
Some of the pieces were starting to come together, and Thorax was the first one to say what they were thinking. "Gargan, Marko, and O'Hirn aren't assassins."
Flash nodded. "They're distractions. While I'm fighting these guys, she's God knows where setting this tech up for her master plan, which we still don't know what that is." Sighing, he said "We need to find out who she is and take her down. Fast. If she keeps making supervillains like these guys she might end up tearing the city apart."
"I agree," Thorax said. "Um, quick question though. Not to be sexist or anything, but why do you two seem to think Bishop's a woman? "
"Both Scorpion and Sandman referred to the person who gave them their powers and abilities as a lady," Twilight replied. "And you would think that might just be a female scientist working for Bishop, but then Gargan also said that the same lady was the one who offered him the job to kill Spider-Man. Factor that in with Toomes and Mason saying Bishop would give them their job details personally, and all signs point to Bishop being a woman."
"I cannot argue with that logic," Thorax replied. "So I guess that means double-time on our Oscorp infiltration?"
Flash nodded. "Yeah. Get us everything on their exterior defenses." Looking to Twilight, he asked "In the meantime, did you get anything from that device I grabbed off of Scorpion, Twilight?"
Twilight winced. "Sorta-kinda. I ran some scans on it, and I was able to find out that this device was somehow able to sync Scorpion's brainwaves to his tail without any sort of complex surgeries into his nerves or spine, and without messing up said things when you removed it. It's... scientifically speaking, just incredible."
Flash sweatdropped. "Your weird fangirling aside, if you know what it is then what's the problem?"
"Well it's one of the most advance pieces of tech I've ever seen that's NOT alien, which is already going to make it a pain since I REALLY don't want to damage it, but that's minor. No, the main problem is that whoever built it designed it so that if someone tries to tamper with it or tries to access the inner workings, the main power cell overloads and fries all of the interior components. And since those components are probably our best chance of finding a clue, I can't let that happen."
"So dissecting it is going to be a pain in the ass," Thorax asked.
"Yeah." She then smiled and added "But hey, I like a challenge."
Everyone laughed at that.
First person to see the Metallica reference gets a muffin. Assuming Derpy doesn't eat them all.
So in this chapter we find out more about Pharynx's backstory and his evil mother, we get Flint Marko becoming Sandman, and we see Flash and company trying to find out more about who they're up against. So all in all, just an averaged chapter in a fanfic inspired by a comic book and a show about pastel colored ponies. 
* I looked it up. The definition of sociopath is:
-a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is often antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.
Link here: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sociopath
Not to be confused with psychopath, though the two are pretty close and easy to confuse.
That being said, I am not a psychologist so if I or dictionary.com are wrong, feel free to correct me.
That's all for now. Tune in next time when our favorite superhero tries his best not to get squashed by THE RAMPAGE OF RHINO!
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Whoa. Looks like the old webhead is gonna be busy next chapter.
1. Dang! That's some backstory.
I mean, I have my own ideas for what human!Chrysalis could possibly be doing as a side job, and it's pretty bad, but it's not organ harvesting bad.
I have my reasons. That being said, seeing my boy be such a sweetie with the kitty is so adorable. 
Also, I understood that reference.
In other words, I have no idea what you're actually planning. 
2. Okay, I know I risk seriously offending you by saying this, but I don't like cats very much.
3. Regarding Spider-Flash's fight with Sandman, I'm just glad this one didn't turn out a close call like what happened with Scorpion. Whew!
4. Okay, guesses for what happens next: Twilight successfully hacks into the chip, Twilight breaks the chip, Flash tries to break into Norman Osborn's computer and shenanigans ensue, Flash actually somehow breaks into the computer with barely a hitch, Flash fights the Rhino, and that's all I've got.
5. So, when's the next interlude coming up? Sorry, I'm just a little curious about what's going on with Scootaloo, and well, you kinda left that bit hanging a little.
Oh my. Chrysalis is much worse in this than I assumed she would be. Let us hope she ain't escaping from jail anytime soon.
Nice job taking down Sandman, the way he handled him (being a reference to Spectacular) was one of my favorites. Flash and his team are getting closer to finding out Bishop's identity but they still have a long way to go. First Spidey needs to take down Rhino and I can't wait to see that.
I liked that small reference to Black Cat, that was clever. Also, this human version of Chrysalis is disgusting. If she ever appears in person, or escapes somehow I wonder if she'll become a member of Spidey's rogue gallery?
Spider-Man isn't the only one who can crack jokes in the middle of a fight.
9640012
Eeyup.
9640044
1. I'm actually curious to hear your ideas.
2. That's okay.
4. Patience Princess.
5. Again, patience.
9640049
No spoilers on that, but we all know she'll get out sometime in the future.
9640428
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
As for Chrysalis, just wait and see.
9640469
I told you it was pretty bad.
Well, I had this idea that Chrysalis was a human trafficker.
9640428 If she does become a villain, I know the perfect power for her. What if anyone she kisses becomes her mind slave for a period of time, with those slaves dressing like insects.
9640549
Interesting power. If she does have an insect theme like Queen Chrysalis then it would be trouble if she gets Spidey under her control.
9640521
Huh. You know, I didn't think of that one. But considering Chrysalis, that would've been a near perfect match.
9640549
9640550
Not quite what I was going for. And even then I wouldn't have Spidey being mind controlled by her (partially because that's a plot point that's been done to death.) because in my story any character (Flash Sentry, Miles Morales, possibly/probably Scootaloo) who has a Spidey-Sense has had their brain chemistry altered and that in turn has made them immune to mind control. Sorry, I just really hate stories where the main characters get mind controlled.
No, Chrysalis's powers are going to be caused by a mixture of cross species genetics (specifically a mix of hive-minded insects that have queens, like ants and bees) and magic. She will have an ability to "feed" on the emotions of others and turn that into energy that she can use, but that's all you guys are getting until she shows up in Book 2.
9640891 Got it. That idea's pretty good though. I should write that down encase I ever do a story with Flash sentry as a super hero.
9640891
That sounds cool, both the sneak peek of Chrysalis' powers and Spider-Man and those like him being immune to mind control. The way you describe Chrysalis almost reminds me a bit of a minor villain from Spidey's rogue gallery called The Queen (who was later called The Spider Queen). I personally enjoyed her a lot even if she only appeared in two major story arcs, but I can already tell what you have in mind for Chrysalis isn't exactly like her.
Alas, I've been patient for everything else so I'll just continue to do so with this too. Great job so far.
9640897
Feel free if you do. And be sure you send me the link to that story.
9640932
Thank you.
Sinester Six?
9641049
He has already stated they won’t be formed until Book 2. This first book is mainly for introducing Spidey’s rogue gallery and then expand on them in later books.
9641049
What 9641197 said.
Don't worry though, it's not a Spidey saga without a Sinister Six.
Human Chrysalis sounds vile, which is appropriate given what she does for a living. Also, nice touch with her full name and the company that she ran, I thought that was really clever.
And the references continue with this iteration of the Sandman. Good one there!
Also, props to Flash and the crew for figuring out that these new supervillains are a distraction for whatever Bishop is REALLY planning. Nice to see the heroes using their heads and thinking smart.
9641644
Thanks. I try.
What can I say, I really like those quips from Spectacular Spider-Man. As it is at this point I'm imaging every line of Flash Sentry's dialogue being voiced by Josh Keaton.
Well Twilight and Sci-Twi tend to be among the smartest charcters in MLP/EQG, and my version of Flash Sentry in this fic is pretty smart. Plus if there's one thing I'm tired of seeing in stories and I'm starting to hate, it's heroes/main characters being written to be dumb or blind to the bigger picture.
9641197 9641257
It's the start of the Sinester Six, even if they will appear in book 2.
9641880
Yep.
As a tiny bit of trivia, the very first album I remember buying was 'And justice for All' by Metallica, back in the 1980's. :D
Anyeay, great chapter. good action. I love that little bit where Spider-Man is aghast when he punches Flint's face in. Very good.
9640932
She also sounds a little like a minor and very silly Daredevil/Spiderman one shot villainess the Surgeon General, a amoral surgeon who turned to illegal organ trafficking. I only remember her cause the book she was in was featured on Atop The Fourth Wall, YouTube comic reviewer Linkara's bad comic review we series. He also reviews good comics and other comics related media for Patreon, reviewing a MLP Xmas special and 2 arch's of the comic. While no fan of MLP, though his wife is a brony, he does general rate them are good books.
9646717 And here I thought I was the only one who watched him.
Hey, ED. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you mention something about one of the Flashbacks basically being a Civil War do-over from Flash's point of view? It's just that the directors and Tom Holland said that the random kid in Iron Man 2 (which I haven't seen, embarrassingly enough
) was supposed to be pre-Spider-Man Peter Parker, and well, since Spider-Man in this universe is Flash instead of Peter, does that mean the random kid is also Flash instead of Peter? If it does, is that going to end up showing up in one of the Flashbacks? 
9648678
It'll get mentioned in one of the flashbacks, I can promise you that.
9645987
You got the reference. Here's your muffin.
Unfortunately Derpy got to all of them, so have a 🍪instead.