A Prank Gone Wrong

Chapter 5—"Sanded"

Author's Note: As the title of the chapter suggests, we introduce the Sandman into our super-villain prank war! What side will our sandy super-villain be on? Well, my loyal readers, that's for me to know and for you to find out (not to worry! You most certainly will!) Enjoy!

The two villains, known respectively as Sandman and Electro, stood in Doctor Otto Octavius's bedroom. Sandman stared at his fellow criminal blankly. "Tell me again what we're doing in Doc Ock's house," he said uneasily. "He would seriously kill us if he got back here and found us..."

The electric-manipulating villain waved a hand. "Don't worry. Doctor Octavius won't be coming back anytime soon. I saw him leave this morning. Knowing him, when he's on one of his scientific stealing rampages, he won't be back until tonight." He gave Sandman a sideways glance. "And again, I already told you what we're doing here. Octavius has humiliated me for the very last time."

"Oh, yeah, now I remember..." Marko Flint said, finally remembering what Electro had told him just a week earlier. "You wanted me to put sand into everything of Octavius's."

"That's right," Max replied proudly. "This will be something for the ages."

"Yeah, but..."

"But what?" Electro snapped, a little annoyed that Sandman would doubt his master plan.

"But won't Ock know that it was me that did it? I mean, there's not too many people around that can—"

"Yes, of course he will! That's exactly the point, numbskull! I want that six-armed freak to know that I have people backing me! And besides, I'm paying you, aren't I?"

"Well, yeah, but everybody knows that—"

"Then shut up and do what I paid you to do!"

Sandman grinned. "Well, it's not every day that you get to prank an egotistical asshole like Doc Ock. So..." He formed his hand into a fist. "Like that stupid flame-boy of the Fantastic Four says, 'Sand on!'"

"It's 'flame on,' numbskull."

"I know. I made my own variation of his little catch phrase." With that, the Sandman's fist became that of sand. He opened up one of the drawers and wrung out his hand, spilling sand into the drawer. He did this for every dresser and desk drawer in the room. "Is that it, Max?" he asked when he was through.

Max grinned maliciously. "Oh, no. We've only just started."

When the Sandman was through, the bathtub and the kitchen sink were clogged with a multitude of sand, a small layer of sand coated the sheets on the bed, and he had made sure to put sand in all of the appliances, including the toaster, the microwave, the television, and most of Ock's equipment. Sandman looked at Electro with his eyebrows raised. "Did I do good?" he asked.

Electro clapped a hand on his fellow criminal's broad shoulder. "You have done well. You have done better than well. You have done an excellent job, my friend. Care to go get some pizza at my place? My treat."

A little over an hour later, Doc Ock got home from another successful raid. He had managed to successfully break into the military base with minimal carnage and obtain all of the uranium and plutonium he needed.

Ah, life was good. The maniacal scientist sank into an armchair, pleased with himself.

It was a few minutes before he discovered that the recliner he was sitting in felt...grainy. It was as though someone had put pebbles inside the seat. He stood up, brushing the seat. His hand came away with sand.

Hmmm. He had to admit to himself that that was strange, but nothing was going to ruin his good day. He would worry about it later.

Octavius went over to his laptop, turning it on.

He was greeting by a incomprehensible string of letters and numbers on his screen. He tried everything he knew, but could not get the computer to reboot or even do anything other than spew nonsense. He pressed a button to open the CD-ROM drive and a multitude of sand spilled out, creating a small pile of the substance on his desk.

Ock narrowed his eyes. So Electro was playing his little pranks again, was he? And this time (as he had suspected) he had gotten other villains to help. It seemed as though his former ally had gotten Sandman to do some of the dirty pranking work for him.

Hmmm... Ock walked around his house carefully, examining things to see what other damage Sandman had done.

It turned out he had done tremendous damage.

Sand was inconspicuously everywhere; inside all of the appliances, clogging his equipment, his drains, oh good Lord, even his underwear drawer!

Standing in the kitchen, Ock, fuming, discovered a note on the fridge.

Hello Octavius!

You have just been 'sanded.' Hope you enjoy trying to remove sand out of everything you own!

Sincerely,

Max Dillon and Marko Flint

The six-limbed scientist was furious! In an angry frenzy, he nearly smashed a window with one of his tentacles. But he told himself to calm down. As his late mother had once said, "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

Not only was he going to get revenge on both Electro and Sandman, he was going to throw a little blackmail into it as well. Maybe, just maybe, he could blackmail Max into stopping this whole ridiculous prank war. It was childish, and it was interfering with his work.

But the wheels of hilarious pranking were already in motion, and as he would soon discover, not even the Master Planner could stop them.

Author's Note: To be continued! What villains will side with Ock? Will he successfully manage to blackmail Electro? Who will be pranked next, and how? Keep reading, and please do review!