Vaudevillain

Chapter 69: Tactical Retreat

Dr. Zlo jumped back under cover of the truck after shooting, narrowly dodging the bullets fired from the robots. He landed in between the mix of heroes and villains, a nasty smile on his face.

"Did you seriously start the fight before making a plan?" Sweet Dream said incredulously.

"Of course not," Dr. Zlo replied. "My current plan is to make a daring escape with Cass. I'm fairly sure he has what we came for."

A large hand grabbed Dr. Zlo's shoulder. The villain looked up to see Titan gazing at him. "Stealing is wrong," said the hero.

"I feel like that is something you should worry about later," Dr. Zlo replied.

"I made a promise to right the wrongs of my ancestors," Titan started. "I will not sit by while crime is committed in my sight."

"Well, aren't you a goody two shoes," Dr. Zlo started.

"We don't have time for this!" Sweet Dream interrupted. "Any minute now, an army of robots with guns is going to attack us. We either need to make a plan and fight or get out of here."

"She's right," Rampart said. "And I know you hate it, Titan, but these villains do have the only car."

"I can take them," Titan grumbled.

"Sure you can," Oro said. "But think of it this way. If we choose to fight, these villains will get away. If we stick with them, we have a chance to take back what they stole."

"Hold on, I don't remember inviting you into this plan," said Dr. Zlo.

Merla's hand glowed and pointed at the villain, "Call it hostile negotiations."

"Not very heroic," the villain commented.

"Desperate times," Merla countered.

"Can we stop with the posturing?" Sweet Dream asked. "Zlo, we don't have much choice in taking these guys with us."

"Fine," answered the villain. "But make it known I'm doing this under duress."

"Cool, so what's the plan?"

Dr. Zlo pulled out his taffy cannon and made sure it was on the sticky setting. "We use these."

A quick shot on his hand created a sticky ball of taffy. "Cass comes driving by, and anyone who can't fly jumps on for a quick escape."

"That's your plan?" Sweet Dream said.

Dr. Zlo raised an eyebrow, "Have you come up with anything better the last few seconds?"

"No," she grumbled.

"Then it's settled. All in favor of my brilliant plan?"

Dr. Zlo raised his hand, followed by Riptide.

"What if we miss?" asked Oro.

"Then you fall victim to an army of robots. It's not like we have that many chances," Merla said. She raised her hand, "I'm in too."

Reluctantly, the rest of the group joined.

"Excellent," Dr. Zlo handed his taffy cannon off to Sweet Dream. "I'll go get Cass's attention."

Dr. Zlo hopped on top of the truck and yelled, "Cass! Swing the car around here, and don't stop driving! We're making a hasty escape!"

"Oh no you don't!" yelled John. He urged his army to move faster, attempting to cut Cass off from the rest.

Sweet Dream and the other non-flyers coated a hand in sticky taffy while Merla, Dr. Zlo, and Riptide readied themselves. "I don't know how long our shields will last against this many people," Dr. Zlo said.

"It's cool, dude. The worst that can happen is we get taken out," Riptide replied.

The revving of an engine signaled the start of the plan. "Let's go," said Sweet Dream.

Hero and villain alike dashed out from behind cover and sprinted toward the oncoming truck. At the same time, Dr. Zlo and the other flyers blasted off into the air. The robots didn't even bother splitting targets, as all of them trained their weapons on Dr. Zlo.

Seeing an opportunity, Merla cast a rebound shield over the villain. Bullets returned to their sender, punching holes into robots and knocking them over. Undeterred, the robots kept firing, forcing Dr. Zlo higher into the air to escape their range.

"Coward!" John cried as Dr. Zlo climbed upward. "Fine! If you won't face me, maybe your friends will!"

John spat out another command, and the robots turned as one to fire on the truck. Rampart conjured a barrier, wincing as it shattered under the concentrated volley.

"There goes one of my shields," he said.

"Jump!" Oro replied, ignoring the man's comment to slam a fist on the speeding truck. Sweet Dream and Titan followed, landing on the hood and bed of the car, respectively. Rampart was the last, almost missing the side of the vehicle as it rushed past. But Titan's reflexes and durability let him grab his teammate's taffied hand and pulled him up.

Rampart tossed up another barrier for protection, this one holding up against the assault. The monk hero had to switch it out a second later before the next volley of fire overloaded the shield. "Punch it!" he yelled.

Cass didn't need telling twice; his foot slammed on the gas pedal. The truck squealed as tires found traction and jerked the car forward. Sweet Dream found herself flipping over the hood and landing on the roof of the vehicle. A small twinge of pain shot through, indicating she had taken some damage.

"Sh*t!" cursed the woman. Her free hand grasped wildly in the air until it found purchase on the opened window. Stable, Sweet Dream stared forward, squinting to keep the wind from blinding her.

"We got incoming!" the woman yelled.

The rest of the group turned to look. Robots spilled out ahead of them from cracks in the ground, lining up in rows with guns at the ready.

"I can't ram through that many!" Cass shouted.

Riptide and Merla ducked down next to the truck, both their shields low from random bullets connecting.

"I don't have much mana left!" The magician yelled.

"Looks like we're fighting our way through," Oro said.

"Wait, dude!" Riptide exclaimed to Merla. "Can you do that reflect shield again?"

Merla looked confused but nodded. "I have enough mana for another. Why?"

Riptide pumped a fist, "Get on the truck and get ready to cast. I've got an idea."

"Okay" Merla said. She landed on the hood of the truck, Riptide touching down next to her.

"So, remember how I went flying before?" Riptide said.

"Yeah?" Merla replied.

"My power lets me surf anything, and I think something weird happened when I surfed your shield. I wanna recreate it."

Understanding flashed across Merla's face. "Got it."

Riptide stored his board and turned to Cass, "Yo, dude, can you keep your hands off the steering wheel for a bit? I'm going to surf us out of here."

Cass nodded and removed his hands. Riptide activated his power, "Okay, dude. I'm surfing this thing now. Make the shield in front so I can surf it, and make sure to time it so the shield ends while we're on it."

Merla nodded, her face tight with concentration.

"Brace yourselves, dudes!" Riptide yelled. He crouched down, doing his best to keep a low center of gravity.

Merla cast her spell, the glimmering shield appearing flat with the asphalt. Riptide surfed on top of it and braced for impact. The spell dissipated, shrinking back into whatever space it came from. The interaction between powers happened again, and the truck shot off into the air. Riptide grunted as he tried to keep the car from twisting out of control, but he could only prevent the truck from performing front flips. The car turned in circles like a bullet through the air, dizzying everyone on the vehicle.

"Ride the wave!!!" Riptide cheered.

"What the f*ck!" shouted John.

Dr. Zlo blinked. He didn't remember anyone installing a rocket booster on the truck. Oh well, at least everyone escaped. The villain looked down at Singularity in contempt. He lowered himself down into speaking range.

"This is why you bring different types of robots!" Dr. Zlo taunted.

John snarled in frustration, "Shut up! Come down and face me! Or are you going to run away again like you always do!"

"This isn't running away!" Dr. Zlo yelled back. "This is a tactical retreat! Mark my words, this isn't over! You tried to use me in your own schemes and then lashed out when I discovered your machinations! I was willing to forgive you over it. After all, every good villain needs the traitorous companion. But you decided to play your hand early."

John barked another command, and a burst of bullet fire shot into the air, ricocheting off Dr. Zlo's shields. The villain blasted back up out of range, barely catching John's parting words.

"I'm going to make sure you can't do anything the way you want to, Dylan! You hear me?"

Dylan sighed. It seemed he had lost a friend today.

"So, what were you guys up to the past few weeks?" Rampart asked. "I had thought we'd hear from you about a fight a lot earlier, to be honest."

"Oh dude," Riptide burst, "it was sick! We stole that mothership in the sky!"

"No f*cking way," Oro blurted.

"Yes way," Sweet Dream said. She retold the story of invading the ship with Mabel and then fighting their way into the control room. Riptide joined in with his usual gusto, going into detail on all his favorite parts. Unsurprisingly, his favorite parts involved surfing. Sweet Dream finished up with the attack on the mansion and Vert stopping them.

The heroes were silent for a few seconds before Rampart spoke up, "Well d*mn."

"Well d*mn is right," Sweet Dream replied. "I was so pissed off then, but couldn't do anything about it."

"Yeah. Plus, Zlo had to deal with some stuff," Riptide added. "So we didn't argue as much as we could."

"God, that's so dumb," Merla said. "You guys found a workaround, and you can't even keep what you stole."

"Tell me about it," Sweet Dream said. "Getting cash was nice, but I was looking forward to using the tractor beam to steal a ton of candy. Plus, we trashed our base thinking we could use the mothership as a new one."

"Yeah, Vert tried to sell everyone on this free choice game but hasn't really pulled through, have they?" Oro questioned.

"I mean, some of the mechanics are great," Rampart said. "But, I gotta admit making a scripted event in a game like this isn't a good look."

"We should complain or something," Oro said.

"Well, we all met up with another friend who's looking to make a guild that petitions to Vert about this stuff," Sweet Dream said. "But that means a lot of work inside and outside the game."

"Ooh, yeah. That's hard," Merla said. "I only have time to play while sleeping. No way would I be able to help out."

"I can help," Rampart said. "As a broke college student, I've got nothing but time."

"Same," Oro said.

"Do either of you know video editing?" Sweet Dream asked.

"Yeah, all of us do, actually," Rampart said. "That's how we met."

"Oh thank god. I got a ton of footage from our mothership heist and our friend's takeover plan. There's no way I can cut and edit all of it by myself. Can I rope you into helping out?"

"Sure," Oro said. "I can use it for my portfolio."

Rampart nodded in agreement.

"Dude, we're going to make an awesome channel!" Riptide cheered.