A huge snowstorm had hit New York last night, everything was covered in a white powder wonderland. To some people, it would mean a snow day for most of the students at Midtown High. Others like the heroes of New York take it as an extra day of S.H.I.E.L.D training. Peter had woken up to the sound of his alarm clock and his communicator. Nova called him in a pain saying that there were Skrull robots attacking the city and they can't hold them off. Peter jumped out of bed and scrambled to get himself in his Spider-Man suit.
The second he reached the window, someone had pelted him with snowballs causing him to fall out the window and landed face first into the snow. He looked up to see his team laughing their heads off at Spidey's ultimate face plant. Nova had filmed the whole thing and even took pictures. "Hey Nova, copy me? It'll be an early Christmas present." Phantom stated.
"Just call me Santa Claus. Ho, Ho, Ho!" Nova joked.
Spider-Man got up with snow dripping down his pants, he glared at Nova's little prank. He figured that they should be in school but Power Man told him that school was canceled. Spider-Man figured that they had gotten up extra early just to torture him. White Tiger said that their prank was a fringe benefit. They were actually here to pick up Spider-Man under Agent Coulson's orders for some 'extra credit'. Which meant they were reported to S.H.E.I.L.D station I.C.E for winter survival training.
"So we get the day off 'cause of snow. Then we gotta go work out, in more snow?" Spider-Man questioned.
White Tiger stated that this is a mandatory team building exercise for all of them to do. Nova then smirked saying that he had a better idea to spend their snow day. That started to worry both Spider-Man and Phantom cause when Nova has an idea, it always ends badly. But an hour and thirteen minutes later, they were out of the snow and into a beautiful island paradise. Peter, Danny R, Sam, and Luke had changed out of their hero gear and into beach shorts and sunglasses.
Ava figured that they were gonna get in trouble but she had changed into a bathing suit with a pink flower in her hair. Ava stated that if they were gonna get in trouble then they might as well have some fun in the sun. Phantom still kept his hero suit on since he can't reveal his identity to the team but that wasn't gonna stop him from having fun. "How did you guys find this place?" Luke asked.
Sam had found it in the S.H.E.I.L.D database filed under 'classy'. Sam told them that if Coulson finds out then he'll just say that he entered in the wrong coordinates. Peter didn't look that convinced, a snow day plus tropical island is greater than or equal to the wrath of Coulson. Sam wasn't listening, he just took of his sunglasses and jumped into the water. The others joined in the fun in the water while Phantom just sat on the beach. When he wasn't looking, Luke and Peter grabbed him by the arms and legs and threw him into the water.
Peter's spidey sense started going off saying that there was something behind him. He turned around fast but there was nothing behind him. He just shook it off, that was when sent a wave towards both Peter and Luke as payback for tossing him into the ocean. This was paradise, what could go wrong?
Hours into the day, the team was having a blast with their day in the sun. Danny R asked why this place was even in the database, Sam figured that this was Fury's secret island hideaway. Phantom started picturing Fury, Coulson, Dr. Conners, and even the Hulk in Hawiian shirts and flower necklaces having a beach party. Phantom immedently shook the image out of his head, the less they know, the better. Peter asked Phantom if he was hot with his gear on but he didn't mind it one bit.
Sam was using his helmet as a pail to scoop up sand in, he actually made a sand replica of himself as Nova. Danny R was just using a stick to draw wavy lines in the sand. Ava was sitting on a beach chair doing her math homework. But Peter found out that it was a fake cover and Ava was actually reading a romance novel called Thundering Hearts. "Never pegged you for a romance type." Phantom commented.
"What?! It's a good book, ok!" Ava shouted.
Luke and Peter were playing with a football until Luke dove right onto Sam's sand sculpture catching the football. Sam dumped the sand from his helmet onto Luke's head as payback for messing up his sculpture. Peter's spidey sense went off again telling him that something was off with this island. Sam just stated that Peter was guilty of ditching Coulson so he challenged him to a volleyball match. Peter took the challenge and paired up with Ava and Phantom while Sam paired up with Danny R and Luke.
Ava told them that they could not use their powers in the game. They started playing right up until Ava did a backflip and hit the ball with her foot which hit Sam in the face. "Hey! You said no powers!" Sam complained.
"Yeah, but not no skills." Ava snapped back.
The game continued like nothing had happened, until Peter missed the ball and it rolled into the jungle. Peter went into the jungle to get the ball back but there was something about the jungle that made this so called paradise creepy. The minute Peter found the ball, something strange happened. The trees began to move and there was a loud moan that was coming from everywhere. Peter freaked out and ran back to the beach, only to crash right onto Phantom (again). Peter landed right on top of Phantom making it look like they were about to kiss.
"Hey lovebirds! Honeymoon is over!" Sam shouted.
Both Peter and Phantom scurried off of each other and shouted at Sam that they are not lovebirds. Luke changed the subject and asked Peter about the ball, he just left it in the jungle when he got spooked out. Suddenly, a little boy with dirty blonde hair and a green shirt came out of the jungle with the volleyball. The kid introduced himself as Sandy, his family live here on the island. Luke was getting a weird vibe from the kid, even Peter's spider sense wasn't happy. Ava asked the kid where his family were, the kid just gave off a weird smile telling her that they are around.
Sandy wanted the team to play hide and seek then ran off into the jungle. Peter and Luke tried to get back to the jet but they somehow got stuck in the sand beneath them. This was getting freakier by the second, even Sam was creeped out from the kid. Phantom told him that they can't just leave a helpless kid in the jungle like that. "Phantom, that kid looks like half of every set of freaky twins from every scary movie I ever saw in my life." Sam complained.
"Fine! If you're gonna be heartless to a little kid then I'll go by myself, alone, in the jungle." Phantom stated as he went into the jungle.
He started calling out to Sandy but he couldn't see him, just hearing his voice all around him. Phantom ended up bumping into an older man dressed exactly like Sandy, the man's name was Fling, he is Sandy's older brother. Flint thanked Phantom for playing with his brother since it gets lonely out here with just the two of them. They were a little out of their touch out here on the island. Phantom was about to head by to the others but Flint stopped him from leaving. Flint wanted Phantom to find Sandy in the old ruins hidden in the jungle.
Phantom tried to tell Flint that he didn't see any ruins but he was gone and somehow the rest of the team and Phantom were in the ruins. They heard Sandy shouting "Catch me if you can!" and laughing like a maniac. The team was freaking out from this creepy jungle, White Tiger suggested a tactical retreat and the team quickly agreed. They ran out of the jungle back to the beach where their jet was waiting. Just as they made it to the jet, Sandy was somehow already there looking angry. He was angry that the team was trying to ditch him.
Phantom tried to get Sandy to calm down and reason with him but Sandy just called Phantom a liar. The same growl from before echoed through the jungle, the ground began to shake underneath their feet. Suddenly, Sandy turned into nothing but sand "Guys, did you just see what he did?" White Tiger asked.
"He is but a grain of sand in an ocean of trouble." Iron Fist stated.
Then out of no where, a giant sand hand popped out and grabbed ahold of their jet. The sand just moved on it's own, dragging the jet to the top of the ruins. Another sand hand appeared and tried to attack the team but they moved out of the way. Phantom asked Nova if the file on this place said anything else about it except classy. Nova actually forgot that it also said 'fied' as in classified. Nova also pointed out that they were near Bermuda as in the Bermuda Triangle.
"Are you insane?! The Bermuda Triangle is cursed! No one makes it out alive! Why did you mention it earlier?!" Phantom shouted.
More sand hands started attacking them, then sand spikes and sand bricks. Flint was in on this attack as well as Sandy and it was driving the team crazy. Spider-Man suggested to Flint and Sandy that they stop before someone gets hurt, namely them. But Flint and Sandy didn't listen, they trapped the team in a huge sand box that swallowed them. Somehow they ended up back at the entrance of the ruin covered in sand. But they were split out into different groups.
Spider-Man had Power Man and Phantom while White Tiger was with Iron Fist and Nova. "We need out of this sandbox now." Spider-Man said.
White Tiger was angry, she just washed her hair and now it was covered in sand. Flint and Sandy stated that they have a new game for them to play as the ground around them turned into a maze. Flint showed up in from of Spider-Man's group with just the top part of his body, the lower part was a sandnado. He tried to attack them but Phantom touched both Power Man and Spider-Man to make them intangible then shoved them through the sand wall. They started running from Flint, but it was like he was everywhere. Nova and his group distracted Flint while Spider-Man tried to figure out what was going on.
Phantom spotted some hieroglyphs on one of the sand walls, it was telling Flint's life story. He broke out of prison and tried to make a break for it. There was an atomic explosion that mutated Flint's body into nothing but sand. Power Man spotted a hieroglyph that looked exactly like Fury but with an Afro. Spider-Man even found one that looked like Agent Coulson but with a ponytail. Spider-Man snapped a picture of the hieroglyphs and copied the picture to everyone.
According to the hieroglyphs, Fury just dumped Flint here on this island and then just left. "My guess, this is supposed to be a special prison just for one inmate until we came here." Phantom stated.
They needed to get off this island now before Flint finds them. Iron Fist just smashed down a wall and got his group out. Spider-Man, Phantom, and Power Man were out first, Nova slowed them down since he got sand in his pants. White Tiger found the drawings on the wall as well, someone wanted them to caught Flint's story. That was when Sandy appeared in front of them, he started morphing into Flint who then turned into a giant sand monster. He was controlling all the sand from underneath the team.
Spider-Man had Nova fire a blast at the ground and it worked, the blast caused some damaged. "What about the boy?" White Tiger asked.
"Just an imaginary play mate. Flinty McSandman made him up." Phantom joked.
The Sandman name ticked off Flint and tried to attack the team. Suddenly something blasted Flint and sent him scattering into sand particles. The blast sounded familiar to Phantom, that was went he heard another blast hit one of the sand hands that tried to attack him. "I come for a visit and you're already in a fight, Babypop." A female voice said.
Phantom turned around to the top of the ruins where Ember McClain was there, floating above the jet. Spider-Man asked Phantom if he knew that ghost with the flaming blue hair. Phantom introduced the team to Ember but White Tiger told them to just run to the jet. They ran and ran but Flint wasn't making it easy for them. As soon as they reached the jet, Ember unleashed a loud blast to stunned Flint and got them on the jet. White Tiger started up the jet and they managed to get away from the island.
Ember started hugging Phantom tight, she came for a visit and wanted to apologized for Skulker hunting him again. Johnny and Kitten had told her all about Phantom's new home, she had missed him. She then punched his arm hard "That's for scaring me half to death! Honestly, I had to ask Technis if he could track you down! You're lucky he managed to sneak onto this jet or I wouldn't have been here to save your butt again." Ember ranted.
Phantom looked shocked and so did the team, they now have a two ghosts in the jet. Phantom was about to ask where Technis was but a voice echoed in the jet. Technis's face appeared on the screens "Hey kid. Miss me?" Technis asked, "Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride back to New York."
A few hours later they had arrived back in cold, snowy New York. Spider-Man was worried about what Fury was gonna do to them when he finds out that they met Sandman. Nova seemed convinced that Fury will never notice but he was wrong. Fury sent a squad of jets to direct the team to an alternate landing site. He then appeared on the screen looking mad, he wasn't the only one on the screen, Plasmias was there too. Spider-Man told Fury that they had no idea about that island or Sandman.
Fury explained that Flint Marko is too dangerous to keep in a normal prison. So they parked him alone in the middle of a huge body of water which was their only option. Flint draws his power from contact with the ground. If he ever set foot on the mainland, it would be catastrophic for them all. But Spider-Man assured Fury that they had left Sandman where they found him. But Fury wasn't convinced, he had them follow the escort back to the helicarrier for a full scrub-down.
Spider-Man figured that the scrub down sounded like a spa day for them. Phantom tried to fly away but Ember gripped him tight saying that he was not going anywhere. Just as Spider-Man removed his shoe, sand came pouring out of it and it was Sandman. He took the controls and started to lead the jet towards the city. White Tiger tried to steer them out of there but the controls were frozen. Spider-Man jumped outside onto the roof of the jet, he then webbed the wings and steered them towards the frozen river.
Technis got control of the jet and crashed them onto the frozen river just in time. The team, Ember and Technis got out of the jet but Sandman came out of the jet too. When he saw the helicarrier, he wasn't letting Fury stop him from reaching the mainland. The team tried everything to slow down Sandman but nothing worked. That was when Phantom got an idea, he ordered Nova to use his powers on Sandman with all the heat. Nova flew in front of Sandman and started using his powers.
"Take it up to 2,000 degrees!" Phantom shouted.
Nova turned up the heat then just as Sandman was almost about to touch the ground, he turned into a glass statue. "You are a genius, Phantom. Sometimes it pays to be a science geek. Spider-Man stated.
The team and Sandman were taken to the helicarrier, Fury had Sandman put in a contaminated cell. Phantom stayed with Ember, Plasmias and Technis while the team ended up getting the scrub-down. Even though the scrub down wasn't needed, Fury figured that it would be a good punishment. As for Phantom, Plasmias grounded him for a week and he was stuck with extra training.