บท 23: 23 No day at the Beach
Chapter 23: No Day at the Beach.
"Aren't you excited?
It was Kurt who said this statement at seven o'clock in the morning, before Harry was functionally ready to be excited. The two of them walked down to breakfast with Kitty and Rogue following both of them. Both girls looked highly amused by this back and forth exchange between the two X-Men.
"Yes, Kurt, thrilled," Harry answered when his eyes narrowed towards the fuzzy mutant but despite that fact a small flicker of a smile crossed his face.
"Come on, it's a trip to the beach, a nice outing, what's more exciting than that?" Kurt asked when he waved his arms around and his eyes focused on Harry's face . "Look at you, you could use some sun and some fresh air."
"Kurt's got a point, Harry," Rogue chimed in and Harry gave her a look of mock agitation, like he felt she betrayed him. Rogue patted Harry on the arm in a consoling manner.
"Yeah, it's not going to be that bad, besides Storm is chaperoning, so it could be fun, at least she can keep any bad weather at bay," Kitty answered with a bright smile as she grabbed an arm around Harry's arm as the couple sat themselves down at the table.
"Nice to see you see me as useful, Kitty."
Ororo showed up out of the blue and Kitty opened her mouth, on the edge of an apology, but the weather witch had just brushed it off with a smile. She had walked out to join the team at the table with good grace.
Scott elected not to go to the beach, rather just staying home to help the Professor and Logan track down the new mutant energy signatures that they had found some time ago, to offer them a place to the school. Logan was not much of a beach goer, so he was most certainly out, and Jean was off on an outing of her own with friends.
Jean did invite Scott, but he had decided to stay behind, thinking that Jean had done so out of pity. Even if that was furthest from the truth that was beside the point, that was what Scott believed. After what happened on Asteroid M, Scott was still going through a crisis of confidence and it was that point where Kurt sat down at the table to help himself to the maple syrup.
"Scott ,you know you're welcomed to come with us," Kurt commented in a bright voice and Scott appreciated Kurt's optimistic attitude even though Scott himself did not have that much optimism to offer at this point. Kurt continued his sale's pitch. "It's going to be a real fun time."
Scott felt sorely tempted but he shook off the temptation.
"I just think I should show some leadership qualities and stay behind, but thanks for the offer," Scott replied in a swift voice, not even bothering to look at the other members of the X-Men. He thought that after the recent fiasco, he could regain some of his confidence as long as Harry was out of the picture.
Ororo had picked up the newspaper and began to read it, a smile crossing her face when she saw the weather forecast.
"Well it seems as if someone has smiled upon you, today is going to be a picture perfect day without a cloud in the sky. So it does seem like you might not need my help after all, Kitty."
Kitty had the decency to look a bit embarrassed, but she recovered quickly with a smile on her face before she looked at Ororo with an apologetic expression dancing in her eyes. Ororo found amusement in Kitty's attempt to apologize to her.
"You know we always enjoy your company, no matter what," Kitty replied at that moment and Harry shifted in his chair. "So do you got this little trip cleared with the Sorcerer Supreme?"
"He's got pressing matters to attend to in another dimension, helping out a friend of his, Clea, I think her name is," Harry responded to his girlfriend when he recalled what Strange said.
"Are you sure she's just a friend?" Kurt asked raising his eyebrows when he looked at Harry, but Harry just took a moment to look at his teammate. "Or could this dimensional problem be just an excuse for something else."
Harry had a shrewd idea what Kurt was thinking about but he just responded with a shrug.
"Maybe, maybe not, but that's none of my business if it is," Harry answered in a swift voice which caused Kurt to shrug and Rogue and Kitty to look rather amused, thinking that there might be something to Kurt's claims. "Besides, he said that we're ahead of schedule with my progress, so a week off won't kill us. And it's not as if I'm not practicing independently."
That point was true; Harry had been practicing his spells on an independent level, growing stronger and stronger. Strange offered him suggestions on how to improve, channeling the least amount of magic for the most amount of impact. Those were lessons that served him rather nicely and he hoped to improve upon them as he got more experienced. Perhaps even adapting magic in ways that even Strange could have predicted.
Training in the Danger Room was going really well, especially with Harry focusing a great deal on physical training as well. This was also encouraged by the Sorcerer Supreme who stated that if Harry ever encountered a magical being with more power than himself, than it would be useful to know how to defend himself in the physical manner.
There were many magical beings that Strange fought in the past that were strong from a magical perspective but weak as an insect from a physical perspective. Providing one could be inventive enough to get around the actual shielding spells that these enemies were likely to have and break through. There were many magical beings that were in fact crafty enough and did engage in using an underused organ known as the brain many times over.
Still Harry shook himself out of those thoughts and to be honest, he was kind of excited to be able to get out and about, and head off to a trip. The drive would be a bit long down to Florida, but it would be a great time to really get out and do something.
The fact that Harry read some rumors that there was a treasure buried near the beach they were going to had nothing to do with his excitement. No absolutely nothing at all, nothing whatsoever, not even a bit, not at all, no sir, okay maybe a little bit.
Of course that was far from the only reason that Harry wanted to get out and he conceded that Kurt had a point that he could use a time off. He had been training pretty much every single day since he had arrived here and on the days that he had not been training, Harry had been fighting for his life against some enemy.
Regardless, Harry resolved to enjoy a nice day in the sun with friends and hopefully without any problems. There would be plenty when they got back, but surely the crime rate was not as high in Florida as it was in New York? Although it struck Harry as odd that there were a lot of super heroes in this city, but at the same time there was a lot of crime. Harry wondered if the heroes came first or was it the villains?
That was a chicken or the egg argument for another time, but right now it was time to finish breakfast and then head on off for a day of fun and excitement.
The Daily Bugle was one of the top newspaper companies in New York and one that seemed to thrive despite the Internet really catching on big over the past couple of years. Despite that fact, print media would not die as one particular individual would see that it would not become a dinosaur to his dying breath.
"Parker, in my office, pronto!"
The booming voice of the publisher of the Daily Bugle J. Jonah Jameson echoed for everyone in the entire building to hear and most of the city block. The interesting fact was that while many would tell Jameson to use his indoor voice, this voice was in fact his indoor voice. He could get much louder and much more boisterous especially if he was in the mood to do so. That was just the way that Jameson rolled as he conducted his day to day operations in his business.
A young man entered the office, that young man was Peter Parker. Peter knew by now that when Jameson said to jump, it was likely going to be some big news that might have affected his other persona. The other persona that Peter remembered was someone that Jameson had bashed constantly in the paper. There were many claims that Spider-Man was either a threat, a menace, or both, depending on what side of the bed that Jameson got out of on any given day.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Peter inquired at that point, looking at Jameson in all of his glory, a brown suit with a flat top haircut and a mustache that Hitler would envy.
"Yes, Parker, why did you think I called for you?" Jameson boomed in a loud voice as he stared down Peter, before he continued. "Word's coming in that there are beach goers all across Florida who have been terrorized by some monster on the beach."
Peter's eyes perked up at that point, there were beach goers that were terrorized, sure that could potentially be a problem, but he failed to see what that had to do with anything going on in New York City. Jameson was only all too happy to enlighten Peter on the situation and he did so at that very moment in his usual booming voice.
"Sources are saying that a hand came up from the sand and pulled some hapless beachgoer deep underground. He was found a short time later, barely breathing, and his watch had been missing, along with a wad of cash that he had on him."
Peter's eyes grew wide at that moment, he recognized the pattern, it seemed like his old sparring partner, Flint Marko, also known as the Sandman, was at it again. Sandman gave Peter a few fits in the past, but as far as Peter knew, the Sandman had been put into police custody as of their battle a few months ago.
'And remember, if it wasn't for Spider-Man, Marko would be just some petty thief knocking off drug stores still,' Peter thought to himself, feeling a twinge of guilt at the role that he had in the creation of the Sandman, but he brushed his thoughts of guilt out of his mind. 'Never mind that Parker, focus.'
'This seems like the very sort of thing that wall crawling reprobate Spider-Man would be in the middle of," Jameson continued with his usual demeanor when he stared at Peter through beady little eyes.
"Do you think Sandman and Spider-Man are working together?" Peter asked at that point and Jameson's eyes snapped towards Peter as they narrowed in suspicion. There was a long awkward pause before the editor of the Daily Bugle had responded to Peter's sudden inquiry.
"Sandman and Spider-Man, that's a dastardly duo if I ever heard one," Jameson remarked as he looked directly at Peter, mulling over something in his mind. "So I've decided that you are going to head off to Florida and get some pictures what's happening at the beach, and fly coach Parker, that's about as good as you're getting. I want pictures, pictures of Spider-Man!"
Peter nodded; he supposed that he could not get Jameson to unclench his fists enough to get any kind of good treatment. These photos were helping Aunt May out, even if he had to endure the constant bashing of his web slinging alter ego from Jameson to the point where it was almost cartoonish. Peter decided that was his cue to leave, if Jameson wanted pictures, then he'll get pictures, plenty of pictures.
Peter decided that it would be a long trip to Florida and information would need to be something that he would need to make it a successful one. He knew one person who might be able to dig it up for him at the speed of light. She would be able to help him, she had done so before.
After Peter had walked down the stairs, he moved into an alley off to the side, between the Daily Bugle and the apartment complex next to it. He felt sorry for any people who lived there who had to endure Jameson's constant shouting and wondered if there were any noise nuisance reports that were directed at that blowhard. That would not surprise Peter at the slightest, but right now he dialed the number on his cell phone.
Peter waited for the phone to be picked up before Gwen had answered it on the other end.
"Hello," Gwen responded on the other end of the phone and Peter was prompt to answer.
"Hey, Gwen, can you run a check for the beaches that had been hit in Florida recently?" Peter asked and if Gwen thought this question the least bit weird, she did not say anything. There was a moment where Peter waited.
"Swing by my house, and I'll get you a print off of all of the beaches that he hit, maybe there's a pattern," Gwen answered after a long moment's pause. "Is there any particular reason why you want this list?"
"Jameson's sending me off to Florida to get photos, and he thinks that Spider-Man might be down there as well," Peter responded swiftly to Gwen before he paused and a smile crossed over his face. "Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint him."
Gwen just snickered in this point and Peter left the alleyway talking to her.
"I'll be over there in a little bit, thanks Gwen, you're the best," Peter responded over the phone.
"Glad to be appreciated," Gwen answered as the sounds of paper being printed could be heard in the background with Peter moving off to leave, hoping that this information would allow him to get to the bottom of the Sandman case and predict his next move.
And after that it was off to Florida in coach, compliments of one J. Jonah Jameson and his generous spirit.
The sun was shining in the sky and the beach goers were rabid as the members of the X-Men arrived at the beach. Harry stepped onto the sand, amused by the craziness going on around him. Although to be fair, it was Spring Break, which apparently was a huge thing in America or so he heard. He really could not say any more than he heard and Kurt followed him at that moment, with Rogue and Kitty moving closely behind. Ororo brought up the rear and smiled as she looked into the sky.
There was not a cloud in the sky and a hitch in the arrangements today, so she did not have to cause a bit of interference to make sure everything panned out perfectly. That much was certain for the weather witch at this point as she looked into the sky and saw the fluffy white clouds. The warm breeze and the smell of the sea area just added to the actual picture perfect atmosphere.
All and all, it was a perfect day.
"I'm going to go see if I can catch some waves," Kurt commented in an excited voice making sure his image inducer was secured.
"The Professor made that thing water proof, right?" Kitty asked him with a raised eyebrow, but Harry just tapped his finger to it.
"If it wasn't water proof, now it is," Harry answered with a smile and Kurt nodded graciously before he scrambled off to try and his hand at surfing.
Rogue's face contorted with a bit of amusement at Kurt's actions, as she watched Kurt leave. She turned to Harry and Kitty, before she offered a remark. "You know, he's just a bit eager, isn't he?"
"Just a little bit, totally," Kitty answered as she walked over towards the beach and stood beside Harry before the pair of them had sat down on a towel that Harry had magically conjured on the beach, with a boom box beside them and a packed lunch. Rogue joined them and Kitty had handed Harry the sun screen lotion. "You know what to do, Harry."
Harry knew what to do indeed as he saw Kitty in a blue bikini and Rogue was wearing a black one as the two of them laid down on each other side by side on their stomachs, before Harry squirted suntan lotion on the smalls of their backs and began to rub it in.
"Oh, that's it, Harry," Rogue moaned as Harry rubbed the suntan lotion into the shoulders and back for her.
"Yeah, do us, and then we'll do you," Kitty managed at that point, before she paused and she smirked in amusement. "You know, that sounded a lot more PG in my head."
Harry just responded with a smile as he continued to work the suntan lotion into their backs and legs, feeling the nice and soft flesh. He hiked up their bikini bottoms a little bit to rub the lotion deep on their cheeks and the two girls moaned when Harry brushed up close to a sensitive area, teasing them, but not taking the plunge.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Kurt yelled as he was going to try his hand at surfing, the key word being try, but that was something that was done a bit more in theory and not so much in practice.
Kitty, Rogue, and Harry paused their activities for a brief moment to watch Kurt take to the waves and for a second it appeared that he was doing a good job, or rather an adequate enough job where he did not embarrass himself too much. At least that was to the point where he was able to remain upright for more than a few moments.
Then a current hit hard and Kurt lost his balance, before he fell down on the surfboard and got washed out to the beach. He took it in stride, bouncing back in good graces.
What they did not take in stride was the fact that the beach shook underneath them. The first shake was minor but the second shake was major, which rocked more than the X-Men. Kitty, Harry, and Rogue got back to their feet and now Kurt was joining them, struggling to get a standing position. He nearly tripped and fell on his face, but had somehow managed to recover.
Another smash from beneath the sand had echoed and it was Ororo who had noticed at that point that something was going rather wrong. What was going wrong they could not say, but the beach goers had been spooked to the point where they were in fact backing off in a bit of abject terror. They drew in a long breath at that point as Harry in particular tried to find the source of the disturbance.
"Look!" Kitty yelled pointing to a ripple in the sand and two beach patrons jumped back from this action, when a hand was emerging from the sand.
"What's happening?" Kurt asked and Harry immediately performed a scanning spell, trying to figure out what could be causing this.
"I think…I think the beach is alive," Harry answered, frowning when he tried to interpret the results of the scanning spell. That could not be right at the slightest.
Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue all looked numb in shock, before Kurt exclaimed in a rather panicked voice. "The beach is alive? What do you mean the beach is alive?"
"I mean it's sentient," Harry answered at that point without skipping a beat and Kurt took a step back, his face contorting into a grimace when a pair of hands erupted out of the beach near him.
He disappeared into a teleportation cloud of dust and dropped down, but it turned out that there were many other hands appearing at other locations of the beach, trying to attack them. One of the beach goers was about to be pulled straight underneath the sand.
Thinking quickly, Harry rushed in and sent a slicing charm towards the hands. The sand hands had been cut off at the wrists, but they slowly and surely began to reform at this point, before they actually shifted into multiple hands.
Ororo motioned for them to step back and tried to temper the Earthquakes with her powers, but a huge wall of sand rose up on the ground and knocked her for a loop. She tried to fight back once again, but once again the sand storm had been kicked up again and again. The sand walls closed around her and Ororo lost her nerve, she did not like enclosed spaces at all.
She dropped to her knees in a panic when Rogue and Kitty moved over to check to see if she was alright.
Harry once again tried to blast whatever this thing was with a wind storm spell, but it was far from solid. In fact, there seemed to be a bit of the consciousness spread between whatever this thing was. He might have to transfigure this thing, but he had never transfigured anything that was this big.
There was a first time for everything, and Harry hoped that he could do it right, but as of this very moment, he was a bit outgunned. It was time for some creative maneuvering.
Flint Marko used to be a two-bit thug who knocked off grocery stores and gas stations, but now he was a pure and dangerous force of nature. He was going to crush anyone who had got in his way and too many people had gotten in his way throughout his time as Sandman. He felt anger towards everyone in the world, who thought that they were safe to go out on the beach.
As it turned out, Marko did not commit these crimes for his health at first, no far from it. The sandy criminal started his criminal career when his daughter had been struck by a terminal illness that only gave her a few years to live. He was laid off his job as a construction worker and a string of bad luck prevented him from getting a job. So, he had to use other means to supplement his income.
Those means were knocking off a few places, a gas station here, a grocery store there, even a rare bowling alley. At first Marko seemed to be a bit reluctant to indulge in such wanton criminal activities, but damn if they got easier and easier as time passed. The criminal career was going great.
Until Spider-Man stuck his nose where it did not belong and stopped his criminal activities when he moved up to do a bank job. Marko was incensed that the web slinger butted his nose in where it did not belong, but he was out gunned in battle.
Cutting his losses, Marko fled the scene of the crime, but he had run into a lab where they were conducting an experiment. One thing lead to another and Marko was bombarded with silicon particles that sliced his skin, to turn him into the Sandman that he was today.
What was worse as after he recovered from his ordeal, he got the news that his daughter had tragically passed on. That news angered him and if Spider-Man had just stood back, minded his own business, and allowed him to complete these jobs, she might have gotten the treatments to be live to see her fifth birthday. The first people Sandman killed were the doctors who refused to treat her because he didn't have enough money.
Doctors were nothing but parasites, they did not help people, they only lined their own pockets out of the greed and the desire to make money. Sandman was not a killer per say but he took great pleasure in murdering those greedy quacks. It was only fair after what those doctors had taken from him.
Right now, Sandman was about to line his pockets to get that one big score even though it would not fill the void from when he lost his daughter. He heard a rumor that there was a treasure off of the coast and he wanted to cash in big time on it. Sandman was going to cash in on this treasure; no one was going to stop him from doing that.
Sandman heard the sounds of Spider-Man swinging towards him and felt the grimace of someone trying to stop him. That kid with the dark hair who was throwing those weird energy bolts from his hands started to give on his nerves. Sandman imagined smashing that brat into dust particles, yeah that would feel good.
Spider-Man dropped down as he turned around to search for the Sandman, a frown appearing on his face. The beach had suddenly gotten quiet.
"Marko?" Spider-Man called out into the beach, greatly unnerved by the calmness. "Marko?"
"Polo!" Sandman growled as a large fist rose out from the beach, that barely triggered Spider-Man's spider sense before he had been smashed down to the ground from the impact of the fist connecting into his face.
'Oh come on, how am I supposed to be up an entire beach?' Spider-Man thought at this moment, when suddenly several figures rose from the sand and advanced on him.
Kurt, Rogue, Kitty, and Harry all spotted Spider-Man lying in the sand as Ororo tried to keep the sand storm at bay that had terrorized the civilians. The cat might be out of the bag regarding their powers, but they had no choice. This was going to take some explaining to do, but they would worry about that after the bad guy was defeated.
"Hey man, are you okay?" Kurt asked as he helped Spider-Man up to his feet but the web slinger had to shake his head from side to side.
"Yeah, just fine, just dandy," Spider-Man answered at that point as several men made of sand dressed in green sweaters and black pants rose from the sand with murderous intentions in their eyes.
"We will crush you Spider-Man," the Sandmen chanted as they marched. "And we'll get your little friends too!"
"Not if you can't catch us first!" Kurt yelled before he teleported out of the way and caused two of the Sandman dupes to smash each other. Harry scattered the sand with a well placed whirlwind spell.
Spider-Man made specialized webbing to contain Sandman but the problem was to hit the right one, for if he grabbed the dupes, then what was the point?
"You can't win, I own this beach and I own you!" Sandman growled in a triumph voice as a wave of sand cascaded down and nearly buried Kitty. She pulled herself out as Harry pulled her to her feet.
"Alright, there?" Harry asked before he smashed several of the sand dupes and ripped them apart. "I'm close to pinpointing the real Sandman….he's that hot dog vendor over there."
The group blinked in surprise before they nodded at that point.
"That's actually kind of smart, posing as a hot dog vendor," Rogue answered as she rushed over and tried to drain Sandman of his powers, but Sandman shifted into sand particles and Rogue smashed against the vendor stand hard.
"I've got it!" Harry yelled as he conjured some water to saturate Sandman.
"So, you turned Sandman into mud man, that's just great," Kurt answered as the villain in question had begun to throw glops of mud at the team.
"Wait for it Kurt, wait for it," Harry answered as he flicked his wrist.
A freezing wind had struck Sandman with the moisture saturated in his body and froze it. Spider-Man's eyes widened as Sandman shattered into thousands of pieces, all shattered into ice. Harry now waved his hand to vanish the ice before Sandman could reform himself.
"Again, really?" Spider-Man asked at this point but Kurt just shook his head at Spider-Man. He was not too fond about what happened either, not a big fan of killing people, but on the other hand, Sandman could have killed a lot of people by burying them in the sand.
It was a dirty job and a part of Kurt thought that while Harry could take things too far sometimes, one could hardly fault him too much.
Harry just turned to Spider-Man at this moment and merely raised an eyebrow towards him.
"So, if you keep killing off my rogue's gallery, then I'll be up for early retirement, then," Spider-Man answered, trying to lighten the mood, and Harry offered him a smile in return.
"If it makes you feel better, there will always be bad guys for you to smack down. That's just the way things are, evil never truly dies, and it just takes a vacation."
Spider-Man thought about that and slowly nodded his head, but the fact was that he saw Sandman broken to pieces.
"Still, with him if a miniscule trace of him exists anywhere, he might still be alive," Spider-Man informed the group and they all straightened up before they knew what they had to do.
They spread out to make sure that all of the pieces were present and accounted for.
A few moments later after Spider-Man and Arcane searched the beach; they found that there was no trace whatsoever of Sandman that was left over. The two heroes found relief at this as Arcane rejoined his fellow X-Men. The web slinger looked at them with an apologetic expression on his face, even if they could not technically see it under his mask.
"So, it is nice meeting you guys…well the one's that I haven't met before, but it was still nice to meet you and we should really get together and do this again sometime and stuff."
The web slinger took a moment to adjust himself and Ororo had walked up to the entire group before she spoke.
"Well, I doubt that this was the day at the beach that we were hoping for, but it was a useful training exercise never the less, and even on vacation, you kept mostly to form," Ororo commented lightly when she looked at the other team members. "Logan would approve."
"Man, even on vacation, we can't get away from trouble," Kurt replied as he felt there was a dark cloud on his sunny day that really put a damper on his normally fun loving personality.
"Welcome to my life, hope you survive the experience," Harry answered before he walked over and saw a chest halfway out from the beach, not quite submerged in the sand, but close. "I think we found what Sandman was after."
'And what I'm after too,' Harry thought to himself.
"Ah man, this was so cool, he was after some kind of buried treasure," Kurt answered at this point as he tried to open it up, but found himself unable to do the deed.
"Allow me," Harry answered at this point as Kurt stepped to the side. Kitty, Rogue, and even Spider-Man looked curious at this point. He waved his hand and the trunk sprang open.
"No way, those can't be real," Rogue answered when she looked at the cargo inside.
As it turned out, the booty in the chest was an accurate term for the team had stumbled upon some pirate's collection of adult magazines. Harry, Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue exchanged a look as Kitty moved over closely to inspect the cargo a bit more closely.
"How does someone bend that way?" Kitty asked in a skeptical voice before she added as an afterthought. "Harry, we're going to have to try that one."
"Yes, and put yourself in traction along the way," Rogue remarked with a smirk and Kitty just shrugged before she offered a bit of a smile.
"You can't deny it would be worth it."
'Okay, that's more than I needed to hear or think about,' Spider-Man thought to himself before something struck him. 'Hey wait, he has…two girls? Two of them? Really? I barely have any luck with one, but he has two. It must be that bad boy thing, chicks did that. I so need a different costume, maybe that will help me. Maybe something in black, yeah that's it. And Gwen talks to him a lot."
Peter had no idea why his expression darkened at that moment, but he certainly knew that it did. He shook his head at that point to try and regain some semblance of his sanity before Storm turned to him with a smile crossing her face.
"Spider-Man, you seem to be one who gets into trouble quite often," Storm offered when her gaze fell on the web slinger.
"Yeah a few times," Spider-Man answered where Rogue, Kurt, Harry, and Kitty all snorted at that point, that was a gross understatement. "Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, it's more than a few than a few times, but you can't really blame me, it's just that these people keep trying to kill me."
Harry looked at Spider-Man before he leaned forward to discuss a few matters with him. The young man just peered at the web slinger before he handed him a communication device.
"If you need any help, do feel free to call the X-Men," Arcane responded and Spider-Man seemed surprised, but Kitty just looked at Harry.
"Are you sure you can just give him a communicator device?" Kitty asked slowly widening her eyes, not that she didn't think that was a good idea.
"I'm a senior member of the team, shouldn't I have that right?" Harry responded and Kitty could hardly fault that logic, but once again it was Ororo who had spoken up.
"I believe that Harry is quite wise to give Spider-Man a communication device, given that he could prove to be a valuable ally. The link does work both ways."
"Yeah, you got a point, after the two times we bailed him out, he could return the favor every now and again," Kitty answered before she shifted on her feet with a smile. "He so totally owes us for everything."
The group all nodded as they tried to return to their leisurely activities on the beach, but for some reason it was hard to get back to the fun and games after what happened. Yet, they really had to try to get back to normal, the day was not over yet. They had no idea where Spider-Man had gone off to or how he got to Florida.
Harry in particular found himself disappointed by the contents of the ultimate stash. What kind of pirate steals porno? That was something that vexed Harry and he took another look at the chest before he saw an inscription on it.
Property of Long John Deadpool.
Something about that bit of news made a lot of sense suddenly.
Doctor Otto Octavius watched the scant few images that he received from the beach in Florida and a frown spread over his face when he saw the battle with the Sandman. He was curious about Spider-Man and these X-Men that he found out that they called themselves. It took a great deal of digging to locate that particular gem, but Otto was a brilliant man and he knew how to find out these things, where many would give up prior to the clutch.
Right now he had the miniscule particular of sand that one of his drones had managed to obtain before the rest disappeared from the efforts of that Arcane. A smile crossed his face when he studied the sand particle incased in the ice cube.
'I can rebuild him, stronger than ever,' Otto thought to himself when he had studied the particle of sand.
Sandman would be the third member of the group that he was forming when Marko was resurrected thanks to the power of science. Electro and Rhino had already enjoyed to join up, with Otto promising them their revenge against Spider-Man should they had agreed to join up with him.
Osborn was on his back about his lack of progress in determining what made Spider-Man's DNA work but hopefully that would be pacified once Otto had gotten his hands on the web head. The foolish child foiled a number of plans, even if he had done so to the point where he was ignorant that he meddled in Otto's affairs.
If anyone had excelled in ignorance that would be Spider-Man, he ran on pure luck and was a foolish child given powers.
Otto also kept an eye on these X-Men; they were a threat especially the one called Arcane. Given his stubbornness Otto had not quite given up the ghost on his attempt to determine what exactly this Arcane was even if he went through thousands of dollars of damaged equipment trying to analyze the hair sample.
Osborn demeaned him but soon Osborn would be the one who would be begging for mercy from him and Otto would have none.
The fool had even called him the name Doctor Octopus, as if that was not a title that he had not heard before. He had been made fun of by his fellow classmates because of his last name, his love for science, and had been bullied by them, being mockingly called "Doctor Octopus."
Come to think about it that name had a nice ring.
Otto remembered all of those who mocked him and Spider-Man had reminded him of all of those bullies who belittled him, brain dead jocks and meatheads the lot of them. If he had to make a hypothesis, Spider-Man was some jock who did not have an ounce of brains at all and thought that his wit was actually comical. Those with a few brain cells had laughed at him and not with him.
Still Otto would have his day and all who mocked him would perish, and it would start with Spider-Man and Osborn. Doctor Octopus would have his day as the world trembled before his might. Otto would gain his revenge on the entire world.
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