Vaudevillain

Chapter 62: Clandestine Meetings

"Remember," Dylan said as they landed, "The person we're meeting is a hardcore roleplayer. You don't have to join in, but Dextra might not respond to the meta aspects of the game."

"No worries, dude," answered Riptide.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," replied Sweet Dream as she jumped off Riptide's surfboard. Once she was off, Riptide tucked the surfboard into his inventory and went to join the others at the meeting place.

The location Dextra gave Dylan was a small cafe located in the financial district. It was a minimalist place, nothing like the cozy decor found in most coffee shops. Black and white chairs dotted the interior, reminding Dr. Zlo of a chessboard. The team decided to leave their minions behind as a show of good faith, and to make sure none died if this was a trap.

"This place would be more fitting if one of us was a hero," said Dr. Zlo.

"Why's that, dude?" Riptide replied.

The monocled villain waved a hand around the area, "A black and white theme is classic good versus evil. However, we're all villains."

"Talk about it later," Sweet Dream said, "Dextra's here." She pointed over to a table in the center of the shop. Dextra Black sat patiently sipping a steaming mug. Behind the villainess stood Hans and Shizuka. The ninja leaned over a free chair and winked at the three when they looked over.

"Off we go then," answered Dr. Zlo. He strode over to one of the open chairs and sat with a flourish. Legs crossed, Dr. Zlo leaned over the table to stare at Dextra.

"To be honest," he said after a few seconds, "I expected to meet in a wretched hive of scum and villainy."

"Come now, doctor," Dextra replied. "Neither of us would be caught dead in an establishment like that. We have standards."

"Too true," Dr. Zlo replied.

Sweet Dream and Riptide pulled their own chairs over.

"I see you've made a few friends," Dextra commented.

"Associates, nothing more."

"Yeah, dude. We work together because we can get something from each other," Riptide interjected.

"Though, not everything was like taking candy from a baby," spoke Sweet Dream.

"Indeed," Dextra sipped their drink. "I see your plan to steal the alien mothership was unsuccessful."

"A momentary setback," Dr. Zlo scoffed. "Our new plan cannot fail."

"Ah, but it is failure I'm here to talk about," replied Dextra. "You see, I have also been thwarted in my plans. I held the entire city in the palm of my hand, but divine intervention prevented my success."

"Ha!" Barked Dr. Zlo. "You believe the gods themselves came down to stop you?"

Dextra gave him a glare and hissed, "I know it. For the same thing that happened to me happened to you. We both succeeded that day. We both would have become something great, something above the sniveling masses. And yet something appeared to stop us. Granted, I was compensated nicely for the trouble. But I do not take kindly to losing."

"What do you propose?" asked Sweet Dream.

Dextra glanced at the other woman, "Gods should not stick their hands into the world of mortals. This world should be ours to rule as we see fit! It should not be controlled by the whims of some higher power."

"Dude, hardcore," Riptide said.

"I propose we work together to face this new threat," continued Dextra. "With our genius combined we can break the stranglehold the gods have on this planet."

The table sat silent for a second as they absorbed the last of Dextra's speech.

"As if I care if some deity interferes," Dr. Zlo answered.

"You should," Dextra replied. "Or would you rather watch as all your grand schemes were stopped by forces outside your control?"

"She's got a point," Sweet Dream said. "We would've had a freaking spaceship if they didn't intervene."

"Yeah, dude. I don't mind it anymore but losing the ship after we got it sucked. I couldn't take that happening on all the big stuff we do. Like, what if they stop us when we try making that tsunami?"

"You have a point" mused Dr. Zlo. "Very well, let me hear this plan of yours."

Dextra took another sip, "It's simple. We create our own gallery of rogues to face off against the gods."

"Wait, hold up," Sweet Dream said. "Are you saying we make a faction to intentionally break the world?"

"Nothing so mundane. No, our goal will be to strike at the very heart of the gods themselves."

"Wait, hold up dude. Can we do this out of character for a second? I'm getting confused."

Thomas sighed, "Look. I want your help making a faction in the game and out of it. I don't like that Vert gets to pick and choose what parts of the world get updated. This should be a world where we make our own history. Sure, Vert can introduce expansions that shake the status quo, but the main goal should be providing freedom to the players in every aspect. I reached out to you because you had the same thing happen. I lost the city and you lost the mothership because Vert decided events needed to be scripted in instead of letting players create unique solutions."

"Oh, I get it. We're going to make a guild in the game, but petition Vert outside of it for more freedoms," Riptide said.

Thomas nodded, "Right. Shizuka here is on board with it, and I have maybe a couple from my old faction in on it as well. But not all of them have the time or energy to go against Vert. Right now, the game has an awesome amount of free choice but only when it comes to superpowers. A lot of the game is limited by the mechanics Vert keeps adding. Like, there's no need to squat for a base when you have an entire working economy."

"I think Vert's actually going to fix that," Sweet Dream said. "When we talked with the IT guy he said a patch was coming soon that would shake that up."

"If so, awesome. But my point still stands. Vert can't have a scripted MMO and a sandbox at the same time. Or else this game will fail and we'll all be stuck with this horribly executed great idea."

Sweet Dream turned to both her friends, "What do you think?"

"I'm down for it," Riptide answered.

Dylan thought about it. The idea of the game appealed to him at first, and playing as a supervillain was still amazingly fun. But Dextra was right, a lot of his enjoyment in the game came from playing it his way. If Vert kept making these streamlined stories the appeal would be lost on him. That wouldn't mean he'd quit playing, but World of Supers would end up as another game on the shelf, left to sit until Dylan got bored of the next new thing.

The idea of it bothered him. Partly because he liked the character but partly because of everything that had happened over the course of playing. Leaving the game behind after the fallout with John left a sour taste in his mouth, and it made him feel like a pushover again. If Dylan left, it would feel like he ran away.

"I think I can get behind the idea," Dylan answered. He turned to Sweet Dream, "We can use the recordings we made to make a video about it. Make one for the heist and one about how we lost the mothership."

"That's a good idea," Thomas said. "I should start recording everything as well."

"Dude, yeah! We'd get so many views if we had both the guy who stole the mothership and the guy who took over the city," Riptide added. "And then we could really hit Vert where it hurts."

"I thought you didn't hold a grudge?" Sweet Dream asked.

"I lied, duh."

"Anyway, let me send you my Netchat ID and we can talk about it more out of game." Thomas rose out of his chair and signaled to Hans. The bodyguard made to escort his charge out the door.

"Wait, dude!" Riptide shouted.

"Yes?"

"We should work out what our faction will be called. And how we plan to break stuff."

"He's right, amazingly," Sweet Dream said. "The three of us got a ton of cash for the heist. I'm guessing you did as well. If we plan to work together we should decide how to spend it."

"You're right. I planned to do that another time once we gained a few more members."

"Nah, let's get a draft done now," Dylan said. "Then when we get new members we can show them a more concrete plan. Plus, making a draft now can help us get to know each other.

"You have a point," Thomas agreed. "How about we jump off and talk on Netchat. That way I can get my other friend in."

"Sounds good, dude," Riptide answered.

"Awesome," Thomas said as he sent over his Netchat username. Dylan received it a few moments later.

"See you in a few," Sweet Dream said.

Thomas waved goodbye, allowing Hans to escort him out.

"See ya soon guys," Shizuka said.

"I hope we didn't bite off more than we could chew," Sweet Dream said after they left.

"We can leave if it gets too intense," Dylan replied, standing from his chair.

The others followed suit and all three villains made their way out of the caf. Flying home, they discussed all sorts of options, trying to figure out what would make Vert stop and listen to their demands. None of the ideas stuck, until Riptide spoke up, "What if we did the tsunami bomb and targeted as many cities as possible. Went full world domination. Dude, we could actually ransom Vert. Ha! That would be awesome!"

"That could be a good idea," Sweet Dream said. "But we'd get banned if we tried to ransom the company behind the game."

"So we do it in-game. Go full roleplaying with it," Dylan said. "If we get banned, we have a case against Vert. Because all we did was work within the confines of the game."

"Dude, I like it. We could make so much money doing it too!" Riptide exclaimed.

The three friends filled out a few more of the details before logging out to meet up with Dextra. With any luck, the others would like the plan just as much as they did.