Yet another rewrite of the story, let's see if this ever gets past chapter 4.

It had been a little over a week since the oil tanker exploded off of the shores of New York City. The explosion had caused Flint Marko, the Sandman, to be turned into glass. Yes, he had been one of the city's worst super villains, but in the final moments of his life, he had sacrificed it for the sake of those he had accidentally put in harm's way, and he had even saved the super hero's life as well. It was slightly eerie seeing the glassy statue of the man be removed from the bay, piece by piece. He had been a living breathing- well maybe not breathing in his sand form at the time- person. Needless to say, the turn of events had been an unexpected one and had left the formerly red and blue clad hero with a lot on his mind. But right now, with the crime rate as low as it was right now, it gave the teenage hero plenty of time to think.

One of the things that repeatedly crossed Spider-Man's mind was whether or not Sandman had managed to survive the blast. He wondered that if there was enough of Sandman under the water, out of reach of the glass creating explosion that he could have gotten away. If he did survive, when would he show himself again? He just hoped that his next appearance wasn't going to be with the sinister six.

It seemed as though the answer to the question that had been hanging most on the wall crawler's mind was finally answered. Spidey had perched himself on a rooftop of one of New York's buildings, taking a small breather after stopping a carjacking. He tugged on his backpack, peeling it off the wall, and yanking the webbing off of it. Digging into his bag, be pulled out an energy bar. The mouth of his black suit opened up as he took a couple of lackadaisical bites of his snack.

Man it sure is nice to have quiet nights like these. Spidey thought to himself.

Just wait until the sun goes down, then scum of the Earth will begin to crawl out. They're like cockroaches. The voice at the back of his head said.

Peter inwardly sighed. That voice was right, or at least, it seemed that way. That was why the captivating sunset bathing the city in a golden glow was such a bitter sweet sight. The lights flicking on in the skyscrapers gave the city an even more alluring glow. It hearkened back to a memory he had of his childhood of catching fireflies, long before his mother had passes, long before he was forced into the system and bouncing from one family to another and the unpleasant memories that came with it.

The world always takes the best things from us, doesn't it?

Before he could reply to the simbiote, Peter felt the familiar tingling of his spider sense coming from the back of his neck. Someone was behind him. Spider-Man spun around and was met face to face with Sandman.

"I had a feeling that that explosion wouldn't be the end of you." Spidey said.

Spidey's adrenaline was pumping. He was ready for a fight at any second, but his spider sense wasn't going off anymore.

He's not attacking?

He's probably trying to get us to let our guard down. I wouldn't trust a thing he says to us.

Sandman rubbed the back of his neck and snorted. "Let me tell ya, it wasn't a fun feeling having half of your body getting melted into glass in that explosion."

Good. With all he's put us through, he deserved it.

Sure he's tried to kill us, on several occasions, but he did save us after all.

Spider-Man hesitated before speaking. "Yeah, I bet. You know if you hadn't of done what you had done, me and a lot of those men would have felt that explosion and not have lived."

There was a strange twist in his stomach. He'd never been saved by anyone else before. He was the one who did the saving. It was strange to think that despite their history, Sandman would save him from a horrible fate. It also made thanking him feel all the more strange and out of place. But Spider-Man felt that some form of a thank you was in order, after all, Sandman could have easily let him go up with the oil tanker as well.

"I wasn't no big deal." Sandman said, brushing off the attempted thanks. "It was all my fault anyhow. Besides, I just thought that you were one of those workers, so don't be getting any ideas of me getting soft and saving your webbed butt on purpose."

Spiderman nodded a faint smile on his lips beneath his mask. Of course, he should have known Flint better than that. At least he got the general idea of what he was trying to say.

Maybe he has changed, at least a little. Eh, it's a start.

Are you kidding? Him- change? People don't change that easily, especially those who have tried to murder us.

"I would never dream of it. Besides, I figured it was a mistake, especially after all the times you and your buddies tried to kill me." Spidey joked.

Sandman slowly nodded. "Yeah, well, like I said, don't get no ideas that I've gone soft or nothing. That's the only reason why I'm here was to make that clear to ya. You understand? After this, things go back to the way they were."

Of course, we were right.

I guess a tiger really doesn't change their stripes after ll.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Spidey said.

As if on cue, the familiar sounds of a jewelry store alarm started ringing. Spidey gave Sandman a salute, signaling the end of the temporary goodwill. The hero managed to catch a slight grin and nod from Sandman as he dove off the roof, ready to stop the attempted robbery.

Sandman shook his head after the young hero disappeared from his sight. That guy was never going to stop with the wise cracks. He must have driven his parents crazy when he was younger. Flint didn't know what he would have done if he had a smart mouth like that as a kid. He'd probably would have rolled his eyes so often that they would have been able to freely spin around on their own. It was then that Flint felt a twinge in his chest and stomach. He thought back to the memories of his son.

It had been so long since he had seen him. One of the last memories he had of his son was at his mother's out in the country. He, his son, and his son's mother had spent a long weekend escaping the city. He remembered the sight of his four year old's eyes lighting up when he saw the fireflies dance in the warm summer night air. Too bad things like that couldn't last forever.

It was all on him though. Had he not desperately wanted that big score, he wouldn't of wound up in jail for three years. By the time he had gotten out Mary had already met and married another guy. After doing time in the slammer, the girl that he had known had changed. She became a different person, not only in personality, but changing her name and their son's name as well. Mary felt it best that with his recent track record it would be best for Flint not to be in their son's life. After all, what would the influence of having a father who would be constantly going in and out of a jail the way a cop went in and out of a doughnut shop do to the psyche of their son? Flint, unfortunately, agreed with Mary's decision and distanced him from his son and former girlfriend.

But that had been ten, eleven years ago. Perhaps after all of this time, it was time to check in on his son. After all a lot can happen during a decade.

Sandman made his way back towards the new base. After Spidey had taken out the Master Planner's underwater layer, everyone had evacuated to a reserve safe house. The new building was hidden under an old abandoned warehouse in Harlem. It wasn't as technologically advanced as the underwater layer, but it was enough to house the sinister six and company.

Flint walked into the warehouse. He pressed passed the old rusted machinery and found a particular rusted control panel. Sandman flipped one of the side panels open and pushed a button. The grated floor slid open with an almost ear piercing screech, revealing a ladder that headed into a deep abyss. Sandman slipped into a sandy form and landed at the bottom of the ladder and reformed into his normal shape. He loved being able to take shortcuts like that. After waking down the series of access tunnels the familiar hand scanner came into sight. He placed his hand on the scanner, allowing the blue light to wash over his hand. There was a buzz and the metallic door in front of him slid open.

Rhino was sitting on a couch in the common room. He looked up from the television lethargically. He must have been expecting someone else, because as soon as it registered in his head, that Sandman was not the man he thought was going to come through the door, he sat up.

"Flint, I thought yous was dead." Rhino said.

Sandman snorted. "Thanks for your faith in me. But I'm alive and well. Hey, is the Doc here?"

Rhino gestured his head towards one of the doors on the back wall. "He's in his lab messing with stuff with the tinkerer or somethin. I don't know. Why?"

"I was wondering if he could help me find someone." Sandman said.

Rhino raised an eyebrow. "Who are you wanting him to find."

The two of them had gone way back. When he was in his early twenties and had just started working for the Big Man, Alex had been his partner in crime. Over the years they had found out quite a bit about each other. The fact that he had a son was no new news to Alex.

"My son." Flint confessed.

"Do you think that's a good idea after what happened last time you saw him?" Rhino asked.

Flint shrugged. "I dunno. He's older now. Maybe Mary will let me talk to him, at least once."

Alex gave him a skeptical look. He seemed to be mulling things over. Sure the rest of the villains thought that Alex was all muscle and no brain, but the big brute could be quite insightful when the time came. There had even been times where his quick thinking had kept them out of trouble when they had run into big pinches during a few of their jobs.

"Yeah, that might have worked before when we were just goons for the Big Man, but things changed when we became super villains. You had a hard time just with you just bumping into her before. I don't know how well it's going to go over if she knows that you're Sandman." Rhino pointed out.

With that said, Flint felt a twist in his stomach. Alex was right. There was no way Mary was going to let him see him now. But maybe if he found out where he lived, perhaps she would let him send a letter, use his real name to keep the fact that he was Sandman from his son. At least his son would know that his father was out there and did care, that he just kept his distance for his well being.

Flint nodded, "You're right, which is why-" with this, Flint's features morphed, making him look like a completely different man. "-I'm going to look like this when I see my kid."

Rhino shrugged. "Have it your way. Just don't be too disappointed if this whole thing doesn't work out the way you planned."

Flint rolled his eyes and changed back to his normal self. With that, he took a deep breath and headed into the lab. The door slid shut behind him and Otto glanced up in his direction. There was the feint hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

"Ah, Sandman. Good to see that the blast has not put an end to you. It would have put quite the damper on the plans that I had been working on." The doctor said.

Sandman nodded his head, "Yeah, I guess that would. But, ah, I have a favor to ask of ya."

Otto raised one of his eyebrows as one of his tentacles went to work tightening a screw on a nearby machine, and asked, his voice full of skepticism, "And what would that be?"

"You're still connected to the computer network in the city right?" Flint asked.

Otto's tentacles stopped their work for a brief moment. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Well after the accursed Spider-Man had ruined my grand layer, most of our servers were destroyed with it. We still have a few servers here, but I don't have the same amount of access as I did before. But what do you need me to do?" Doc Ock asked.

There was something in the way Otto had said that, that nearly name Flint shiver. He knew better than to show any signs of weakness around the mad genius though. He couldn't have him thinking he was weak- especially now after the oil tanker fiasco.

"I need you to find someone for me." Flint stated.

Otto's face twisted into an interested smile, "Oh, and who is that you want me to find?"

Flint took a deep breath. Once he opened this can of worms, he was never going to be able to close it. Sure it could be used as leverage against him, but Flint was so desperate, he didn't care about the consequences.

"My son." Flint finally said.