Marvel Comics: The Sentinel(Sentry)

"That was an accident! And I've paid the price for it!" The scattered sand reformed as Flint Marko roared.

Originally unemployed and desperate, he had teamed up with some gang-affiliated friends to rob a bank. After the heist, they encountered Uncle Ben outside.

Flint had only wanted to steal the old man's car to escape, but his panicked partner shot and killed Ben. Though it wasn't his fault, Flint was still sent to prison.

"My daughter is sick, she needs treatment! Stay out of my way!" Flint bellowed, his body erupting into a swirling storm of sand, growing taller and more massive until he loomed like a monstrous giant.

A massive sandy hand ripped a lamppost from the street and swung it at Spider-Man. The black-clad figure dodged effortlessly with the symbiotic suit enhancing his reflexes to inhuman levels. To him, Flint's attacks were slow, clumsy, and laughably easy to avoid.

"Oh, what a noble criminal! Stealing to save your sick daughter? I'm so touched I could cry! Want a round of applause, Sandy?" Spider-Man sneered, completely ignoring Flint's explanation. His voice dripped with venomous mockery.

"You're just a bug hiding behind a mask. Spider-Man? A superhero? You don't deserve that title!" Flint retaliated furiously, his arms dissolving into a whirling sandstorm. The grains lashed out like bullets, pockmarking walls with rapid-fire impacts.

"I faced consequences for my mistakes. But you? Who gave you the right to judge others? You're just a pathetic, self-righteous jerk!"

The insult ignited Spider-Man's rage. Firing a web-line, he launched himself like a human slingshot, his body a black blur as he tore through the sandstorm and kicked Flint's head apart in an explosion of grit.

"I AM a superhero, Sandy. The cops can't catch every criminal, that's why New York needs me! I make this city safer!"

But physical attacks meant nothing to Flint. His sandy body simply reformed, unharmed.

"You gonna keep dodging like a cockroach?" Flint growled...

Though unhurt, he was growing frustrated... this fight was going nowhere, yet the spider wouldn't back off.

"Then stand still and let me arrest you!" Spider-Man shot web after web, dancing around Flint's sluggish strikes.

He shattered the Sandman's arm with a kick, ducked a crushing punch, then swept Flint's legs, only for them to dissolve into harmless dust.

Unbalanced, Flint scattered into the wind before reforming. His sand-based physiology made him nearly invulnerable to brute force.

Spider-Man snarled in frustration, until his eyes landed on a nearby fire hydrant.

A wild grin split his face, "Catch this, Sandy!" Webbing the hydrant, he wrenched it free with a powerful tug.

Flint merely snorted and crushed it in his sandy fist, but the broken pipe unleashed a geyser of water.

"Merry Christmas! Here's your present!"

Spider-Man rode the pressurized spray, directing the jet like a firehose straight at Flint. The water hit like a freight train, drenching the Sandman's body. Instantly, his movements slowed, grains clumping together like wet cement.

"Like your gift? Too bad naughty boys don't get Santa's blessings. Spider-Man's sending you straight to jail!"

A spinning kick shattered Flint's half-melted form. His head took agonizing seconds to reform. Trapped in the downpour, his body was breaking apart, dissolving into sludge.

"Let me get the money for my daughter's treatment... then I'll turn myself in," Flint pleaded, his voice desperate.

He wasn't a good man, but his love for his family was real.

"You think I'd fall for that? Spider-Man's no idiot!"

With a deranged laugh, the black-suited hero reared back for a finishing blow...

"Daddy...?" A frail voice cut through the chaos.

Spider-Man froze.

A little girl in an oxygen mask leaned out from an apartment window, her wide eyes fixed on Flint's crumbling form.

"Don't hurt my daddy!"

The words hit Peter like a bucket of ice water. His fury instantly evaporated.

Staring at his reflection in the rainwater, he barely recognized himself, "I... what am I doing?"

The battlefield's devastation horrified him. This wasn't Spider-Man's work.

Panicked, he fired a web-line and fled into the night...

.....

Meanwhile, Sean's car glided through Long Island when his phone rang...

On the line, Dr. Connors' voice trembled with barely contained excitement.

After listening, Sean's eyes gleamed, "Peter... you've just handed me a gift..."