The villain charged towards me with loud thunderous steps. Spikes grew in place of his fists and the sand seemed to vibrate with his anger as he drew closer. Had he completely forgotten about the hostages? I frowned and leapt over him as he stabbed at me, my heart leaping into my mouth. That had been dangerously close. I fired a web and as I went to swing towards the hostages, something grabbed my leg and pulled me back down to earth with a fury. I slammed against the ground and the sand guy kicked me, across the floor. I skidded, but recovered quickly and leapt up again, wincing slightly. He was charging at me again. Shit. I raised my shaking hands, balling them into fists. He swung at me and I dodged before tripping him with a web and darting towards the hostages.
This guy seriously had it out for me. At least I could use that against him. My spider sense roared and I jumped back as spikes shot out of the sand on the ground, then dodged again as he stabbed at me from behind. I dodged under another wild swing and swept his legs out from under him. As he fell, his hand morphed and growing large. With no time to dodge he flattened me against the ground. I punched through the hand but it morphed again pulling me towards him. He hit me with his other fist the blow heavy, and I punched back. We scuffled on the ground for a bit before I kicked off of him, taking a chance to spit the sand out of my mouth and breath. Both of us got up, even further from the hostages. There was a moment of silence between us, the sound of the helicopter rotors beating overhead and police sirens in the distance filling the space. He still glared at me, the incredible hatred clear in his eyes.
“Spider-Man! You bastard!” he shouted , rushing at me.
“W-what do you even want with me?” I said, dodging an attack.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know!!” he roared, stabbing at me again.
I evaded and landed slightly away from him. I fired a web at him, but it couldn’t stick against the sifting sand of his body. Dodging another attack I tried to rush past, but more spikes of sand emerged between me and the hostages, and the villain attacked me again. I just couldn’t get around. He was faster than he looked and his morphing made it difficult to pinpoint exactly where he could reach. I’d have to knock him out then rescue the hostages, or just stall till the police got here.
I frowned. With powers like these he would’ve been at least some kind of noteworthy villain, but I didn’t recognise him. Who was he? I hadn’t really stayed up to date with any heroes and villains that weren’t the Vanguard or New World, past high-school. I’d never seen him before. He wasn’t wearing a costume or anything, just plain clothes.
“Who even are you? Why’re hurting innocent people?” I asked.
“You wanna act all high and mighty now there’s camera’s here too, huh?! Don’t pretend you care about innocent people!!” he roared, leaping towards me.
I dodged his attack and tried to push him backwards. My hands sunk slightly into his sand body. Crap. He grabbed me, throwing me across the floor. My spider sense buzzed as I looked up to see a wave of sand coming towards me. It crashed into me, before attempting to crush me. I heard a shout of anger and my spider sense buzzed. I dodged a spike that embedded itself in the ground next to me feet and then the sand guy grabbed me by the neck. I clawed at his hand furiously to no avail, as he pulled me closer.
“I’m going to gouge your eyes out you fucker” he said, the hatred in his voice burning brightly.
Instantly terror filled my heart and I wrenched myself from his grip, leaping as far backwards as possible. My hands trembled as my heart beat out of my chest. I stood still frozen by fear. This guy was trying to kill me. I’d known that before, but now I felt like I understood it. Holy shit. The urge to run suddenly felt a lot more present in my mind. The screams of the hostages shook me out of my daze.
“Focus dammit” I mumbled. I leapt upwards and pulled myself towards them with a web. Big mistake. Waves of sand surged towards me in a torrent as I shot through the air. I pulled myself to the side with a web, only to be assaulted by a sea of spikes. I didn’t have time to think. A crackle of electricity shot through my brain and my body weaved through the spikes of sand instinctively. The moment a part of me landed on the ground I used my entire body to throw myself away from the barrage and leapt as another wave of sand tried to crush me.
I came to a stop, glancing between the charging villain and the hostages behind him. More sand swirled around him now, as he ran at me, followed by a wave of it. Jesus. My hands felt cold and I was drenched in sweat. I stumbled backwards as wisps of sand moved towards me, the screams of the hostages echoing in the background. I needed to do something, but I was too afraid. The only keeping me alive right now was my spider sense. I dodged another spike and stepped back, steadily getting further from the hostages. Their screams grew louder. I shot webs forwards, preparing to slingshot myself to them but hesitated as the sand nearby shifted slightly.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Come on, dammit! Get your head in the game” I whispered harshly. I clenched my fists, searching desperately for something to help me. Of course there wasn’t anything, I was in the middle of a damn park. I was panicking, not thinking straight. I needed a way to calm myself. What could I do?!
“Let go of the hostages! Coward!” I shouted. The sand guy roared with anger and the wave following him surged forwards.. Oh crap. I flipped dodging sand spikes effortlessly. My spider sense flared and just as I landed another wall of sand crashed into me., sending me flying across the floor. I jumped up quickly, dodging a cartoonishly large sand hammer.
“You’re the coward!!!” he shouted, swinging his arm hammer at me again. My spider sense buzzed but I slipped as I tried to dodge and the hammer slammed into me. The wind left my lungs and the world twisted.
Suddenly I was on the floor, gasping, as my side throbbed with pain. I forced myself up again, as the sand man continued to approach. That hadn’t worked at all. I was still scared shitless, but now he was pissed and I was hurt. Gwen would’ve made a joke about how lame that was. I paused. Jokes. Gwen used to make jokes to lighten the mood. Why not try that? It’s not like I had anything left to lose.
“Is… is that all you’ve got? Second graders hit harder than that!” I shouted. I dodged as another wave of sand crashed next to me accompanied by an angry roar.
“Hey man how does your power work? Do you even have clothes anymore? Isn’t showing all this sand some kind of indecent exposure?” I said.
“Shut the hell up!!” he shouted, extending to large hammer fists at me. I dodged and landed closer to the edge of the clearing. I was drawing him even closer.
“I don’t know if you know this, but there’s a beach project the city’s trying to get started. Maybe it could be your 9-5? Or is kidnapping students more your thing?” I said.
“SHUT UP!!!” he roared, leaping towards me. I yanked myself to the side. This was it. I took a deep breath and fired webs towards the hostages. Sand shot towards me again, but this time I responded early. I charged, diving past the spikes and fired a web towards the hostages, pulling myself closer to them. I swivelled through the air weaving in and out of sand attacks before landing and breaking into a sprint. My heart beat out of my chest and I was still more than afraid, but I was running towards the danger. Holy shit it was working. The jokes worked. The mental fog of fear had lifted slightly.
My spider sense buzzed and I hurdled a few spikes, drawing closer to the hostages’ cries for help. Suddenly the sand in front of me swirled up, materialising into a man. I dodged as he swung a punch, but his arm extended around me, turning into sand. He held me tightly and I gasped as the pressure increased. In a panic I pushed back with as much strength as I could muster. It broke the sand apart with ease and he stumbled backwards, eyes wide. I pulled my fist back and hit him, my arm passing through his chest. He gasped then disintegrated into a pile of sand. The sand around us stopped moving and I froze. Had I just killed him?
“You… bastard” I heard the sand around me rumble, barely audible. Thank god. I still needed to be more careful though. As the sand started to move again I rushed over to the hostages, most of them already running. One, a teen boy, sat on the floor, his whole body shaking and unable to stand up as a similar looking girl shook him. I grabbed them both and swung away quickly. Relief washed over me and my body began to ache as the adrenaline wore off. I’d saved people. I’d fought against an actual supervillain and saved people.
“Put us down!” the girl shouted, clutching me tightly. Whoops. I came to a stop in a square and landed on the floor, setting the two down carefully.
“A-are you alright?” I asked. The guy nodded as the girl pulled him quickly into a hug. I let out a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall momentarily when my spider sense buzzed. I spun around just in time for the spike aimed at my stomach to cut through the side of my leg. I stumbled staring up at the sand that swirled through the air before it condensed and a foot slammed into my chest. I crashed to the ground, feeling the brick break underneath my back as all the wind left my lungs. A heavy sand fist slammed into me before I could do anything, crunching against my face and filling my suit with sand. Then everything was upside down. I crashed against something and fell to the floor.
I groaned, picking myself up. I looked over to see the sand man advancing slowly over towards me, a look of hatred in his eyes. People rushed out of the square, and the cop cars I’d heard within the park sounded a lot closer. He’d followed me. I don’t know why I thought he couldn’t. I coughed out sand, spraying it inside my mask and stumbled away from the villain my entire body aching with pain. My leg was bleeding, badly. I webbed the wound up, wincing. My spider sense buzzed and I dodged as he brought down a hammer where my head had been.
“Spider-Man!!!” he screamed swinging his hammer wildly at me as I stumbled backwards, narrowly dodging. Spikes grew on the end and grazed the side of my face, cutting through the mask. I stumbled backwards and he grabbed me with an extended arm. Then his hammer turned into a spear and he thrust forwards. Suddenly my mind grew sharp, the realisation that I was about to die. I roared kicking at his chest with enough force to disintegrate his mid-section. His grip loosened and his body fell, the spear barely missing my head.
We crashed to the floor and his grip on me tightened again. He hadn’t disintegrated. I jumped backwards, but his grip held firm. He slammed me into the floor then swung me around slamming me against something. I felt shoulder cry out in pain and a feeling of wetness spread over me. I gasped, crawling across the floor as I tried to make sense of up and down.
The feeling of wetness spread. Was I bleeding? No. Wait why wasn’t he attacking? I cleared my goggles to see the sand guy struggling to maintain his form under the spray of a fire hydrant. I scrambled upwards, quickly, before bumping into the back of a parked car. I looked around, frantic. Police cars had pulled up and everybody was gone. I glanced back at the villain, then at my trembling hands. He’d nearly gotten me. I fired a web and yanked myself off the floor, swinging away.