On to the (lone) reviewer:

To Lady Kayoss: Apology accepted. We already know that one, Noreen, has chosen to do the former, and one, Austin, has chosen to do the latter. But the other four...stay tuned.

On to the story...don't forget to read and review!

Chapter 10: Attack at the Curt Connors Dormitory

"Yo! Austin!" Rachelle Laufey ran to catch up with her beloved cousin. "Can I borrow your biology notes?"

"Sorry, can't help you there," said Austin. Pulling her close so nosy students wouldn't hear, he added, "You know all my notes are in the internal memory banks of my arms."

"Aw, no fun."

"It keeps little twerps like you from going through them when they should be studying."

"Come on. Please. I'll give you my English Literature notes," pleaded Rachelle.

"That won't work, the whole lecture is in the data banks, too."

"Damn it, Mom's threatened to take away my credit cards if I don't bring my GPA up. You've got to make me a set of my own smart arms."

"I doubt you'd want them," Austin said darkly.

"Sure I do. I think being Lady Octopus would be neat."

"No. You don't even know what I go through with them every day. Do you think I like to look like a freak? Do you think I want you to be treated like one?"

Rachelle looked up at him. Fortunately, despite acting tough, Austin had a very large soft spot for Rachelle, who was closer to him than even his own sister.

"But I'll download the biology notes. Just bring your laptop to my dorm room."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Rachelle ran off.

It was nighttime as Rachelle shuffled back to the Curt Connors Dormitory, laptop in hand. It was almost midnight; unlike Austin and May, who had scholarships, Rachelle had to work part-time to pay for college. Austin had left his dorm unlocked. For a normal person, this would be extremely foolish. However, Rachelle reasoned, when Doctor Octopus is your dad and Spider-girl is your girlfriend, no one would dare rob your dorm room.

Rachelle turned the lights on. Austin was out. Rachelle took advantage of his absence by peeking in his small refrigerator and looking for some snacks.

"Don't ask again, Flint!" Noreen pounded her fist on the table. "The Sinister Six is yet incomplete!"

"So what do you plan on doing about it?" drawled Flint. "You're the brains of the operation."

"I have not been able to convince Austin by reason. We will have to use force to bring him in, and then convince him. Flint, you're going to bring Austin in; I will give you the location of his dormitory room."

"I'll bring him in if you'll go out on a date with me afterwards," said Flint.

"Fine. Just go. Miranda, in the highly unlikely event Sandman fails, you are to retrieve him and bring him back. We're not going to do anything rash."

"Why is Sandbox doing this?" asked Miranda. "I can completely control my powers—and he can barely keep his grains together."

"He's been improving," snapped Girl Goblin. "Besides, unlike you, he'll do anything I tell him to, instead of mouthing off."

"Miranda's right," said Philomela. "Miranda is the most powerful of the group besides you, Noreen. If Austin is as powerful as you say, we need to send her in."

"I'm not going to use a cannonball to swat a fly, Philomela," said Noreen. "Austin will be asleep and completely off his guard at this time. Flint is hauling him in and the rest of us are saving our powers until the time is right." Noreen sat back in her chair, thinking of an excuse to blow off the date.

Rachelle peered into the refrigerator, which was filled with beakers of strange liquids as well as snacks. "Damn, how can Austin eat this stuff when it's been next to that stuff?"

Finally, she found a relatively uncontaminated package of Oreos. She started munching on them, setting her laptop on his desk.

A shadow advanced on the doorway.

"Okay, Austin, I'm sorry I ate your Oreos…"

Then she turned around. Whoever the hell the guy was, he wasn't her cousin.

"Perhaps you can tell me where Austin is, little girl," Flint smirked.

"Well, who the hell are you?" Rachelle asked.

"I'm the Sandman," he said.

"What are you gonna do, put me to sleep?" Rachelle replied.

"That's it!" Flint swung at her. Rachelle ducked.

"Are you gonna come out and play, little girl?"

"Nah," said Rachelle. "I forgot to bring my pail and shovel!"

I knew it. I knew it. I knew I should have stayed in California. New York City's a magnet for crazy super powered types, Rachelle thought.

"How about a hammer then?" Flint's arm turned into a hammer, and stretched out, knocking Rachelle flat.

"Where's your smart mouth now, little girl?" Flint grinned.

Rachelle looked around wildly. Magni, the athlete of the family, was also transferred to ESU. Her baseball bat…was under the bed. Rachelle took it…and swung!

"Holy shit!" Rachelle exclaimed. "It went right through him!"

"That's right," Flint mocked. "How smart are you, trying to hit a big pile of sand with a baseball bat? Now I'll get solid again and hit you…like this!"

Rachelle ducked again. Then she got an idea. She grabbed the giant Shop-Vac Austin had recently borrowed from the science professor.

"Do you think a little girl like you with no powers is gonna stop me?" mocked Flint.

"Uh, no," said Rachelle. "But her vacuum will!" She kicked the vacuum. It roared to life.

"What the f—!" Of course, Flint, like his father, being basically a big pile of sand, was promptly sucked up into the vacuum. Rachelle looked over the room, making sure every grain was sucked up.

"Whew," Rachelle said, leaning against the wall. "I always wanted to do something big and clean up!"

Then she paused. There was probably more crazies where he came from. Rachelle decided to get the hell out of the dorm room and let Austin deal with them.

"He should have been here with Austin by now!" Noreen snarled. "Fine. Miranda, you go out there and fetch the both of them. I'm taking a bubble bath."

Noreen stomped down the hall. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she muttered.

Miranda went over to her closet. She took out the special insulating costume Noreen had made for her. Miranda frowned. The costume looked exactly like her father's, complete with the lightning bolt mask. The whole thing was ugly as hell. But it was the only thing she could wear when up to full power, so she put it on.

She got to the Curt Connors dormitory within a couple of minutes, traveling along the electrical wiring. The dormitory of the target, Austin Smith, was empty. The only thing unusual was that there was a big Shop-Vac in the middle of the room.

"Flint?" Miranda looked into the room. "Flint? Where are you, you moron? It's been two hours and Noreen's getting pissed off."

Then she turned around. There was a peculiar knocking sound inside the vacuum.

"I'm in here, Miranda," the vacuum said.