* Machine Man (X-51) Guest Appearance

Bored with preparing for the next day's tutorial, Peter Parker decides to don his Spider-Man costume and web-swing out over the city. Meanwhile, at Ryker's Island Prison, two guards watch with amusement as the Sandman struggles to escape from a "flowing plexiglass bubble" designed by Reed Richards. Quite transparent, the elastic bubble easily withstands The Sandman's strongest blows while containing all of his body's sand grains. Making his rounds in another section of the prison, a guard named Grant Stevens passes by the cell of Machine Man's old enemy, Baron Brimstone. A skillful illusionist, Brimstone quickly hypnotizes Stevens into releasing him and accompanying him to the property office. There Brimstone exchanges his prison clothing for his magician's costume. A few moments later, much to the surprise of the onlooking guards, Brimstone emerges from a puff of smoke in the Sandman's cell. Stunning the guards with energy bolts, the red-bearded criminal greets the astonished Sandman. When one of the guards pulls out his pistol, Brimstone disables him with another energy blast. Then he hurriedly requests the Sandman's aid in a "matter of personal vengeance," and the Sandman quickly agrees.

A gesture from the magician causes the Sandman's plexiglass bubble to vanish, and the two criminals teleport away in another puff of smoke. Seconds later, they materialize in front of Brimstone's huge Upper Westchester mansion. Brimstone's display truly impresses the Sandman, and Brimstone declares that he has become reasonably competent in the mystic arts after years of study. Yet, he continues, he also uses advanced technology when necessary. The Sandman can see the teleportation device strapped to Brimstone's back when Brimstone removes his cape. When he asks whom Brimstone wants destroyed, the magician explains that Machine Man recently disrupted a highly profitable enterprise of his and so must pay for his impertinence. Then he remarks that Machine Man seemed inordinately fond of a Delmar Insurance Company file clerk named Pamela Quinn, and the Sandman immediately suggests kidnapping the woman to bait their trap. Together, gloats Brimstone, they will destroy the Machine Man.

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