Vaudevillain

Chapter 70: Calm Before the Storm

Dr. Zlo spotted the truck a few minutes after leaving the battlefield. He watched as Riptide directed the vehicle around the air in a lazy circle, slowly bringing the machine to a stop. The doctor reached the group a few seconds later.

"Curse that Singularity!" he yelled as he touched down on the roof.

"Dude, your friend has some issues," Riptide commented.

"Seriously. Oh, and these guys are down to join in the guild," Sweet Dream said.

"Ah, more recruits to take on the pesky interlopers from beyond."

"He means Vert right?" Merla asked.

"Yeah, just roll with it. He's in character now," Sweet Dream replied.

"While your intentions are selfish," Titan started, "forcing the gods to see reason is a noble act that will benefit the entire planet. I will help you."

Dr. Zlo waved him off, "Yes, great. But right now, I have more important things to worry about. Singularity is out for my head, and I doubt he plans to stop."

"Yeah dude, kinda weird that you have a villain as your nemesis when you aren't a hero," Riptide said.

"And he won't stop if we kill him," Sweet Dream grumbled. "I know his type."

"Indeed," Dr. Zlo commented. "So I propose a ruse! But first, we need to find his tracking device."

Dr. Zlo switched his cane over to his smokescreen and circled the truck in a blast of fog.

"There, we're hidden for a bit of time. Riptide, if you need to move us I'll create more smoke."

"Got it, dude."

"What is this going to accomplish?" Merla asked.

"Since your slow mind can't keep up with my dizzying intellect, I will explain."

"Hey"

The villain thrust out a hand, "My foe must have some way to keep tabs on us, and it isn't through the use of a tracking device. I thoroughly checked for those earlier. Therefore, we are followed by some form of camera drone. Similar to my hatbots I imagine, but nowhere near as effective. By hiding the truck in this smokescreen, we make ourselves look like a cloud, forcing the drone to come close enough where we can see it!"

"What if it's tracking the cloud, genius?" Merla shot back, her tone harsh.

"Bah, the machine isn't smart enough for that," Dr. Zlo dismissed.

"And if it was?" Sweet Dream asked. "How would you use your dizzying intellect to counter the strategy?"

"Aha, well. Riptide, can you surf us over to that copse of clouds?"

"You mean the big one over there? Sure, dude. I'll need a bit of a push though."

Dr. Zlo nodded and pointed to Merla, "Do you have something that can keep the smokescreen near us?"

"She can't but I can," Rampart said.

"Excellent! Do it. I'll move us over to the clouds and you can all thank me later."

With that, Dr. Zlo dropped down to the back of the truck and activated his rocket shoes. The vehicle pushed through the air, Riptide steering from the hood and Rampart keeping all the smoke nearby with a box of barriers. Once they reached the larger cloud cover, Dr. Zlo hopped back up.

"Now, the machine will have no choice but to fly up here! As expected of my genius!"

Sweet Dream cleared her throat. Dr. Zlo rolled his eyes, "Ugh, fine. You had a small part to play as well."

"Thank you."

"So what," Oro said, "we just keep our eyes peeled?"

"Yes, and when you do see it, we shall take it out!"

Riptide's disintegration cannon flashed, and everyone flinched. A sad beeping noise followed the attack, "I think I got it, dudes."

"Just in case, let's spend a bit more time searching," Sweet Dream said.

The group searched for a bit longer before deciding the coast was clear.

"Alright, dudes. Where to next?" Riptide asked.

"I need materials," Dr. Zlo said.

"I think we should meet up with Dextra," Sweet Dream argued. "Let him know we have others who want to join up."

"Yes, and Dextra would know where to find the things I need. Very well, let's go find our villainous friend."

Sweet Dream opened up the chat function and created a group message with Dextra and the others.

Candequeen:

Hey, we found a few people interested in joining

Where are you at so we can meet?

D.Black:

Come to 66 Moola Ave.

In the financial district.

"That has got to be the dumbest street name," Sweet Dream muttered.

"What?" Riptide asked.

"Dextra says to meet at 66 Moola Avenue. Which is the dumbest street name I've heard in a while."

"I don't know, I've heard there's a group of streets in the real world that are named, This Street, That Street, and The Other Street," Rampart replied.

"Oh god, that's terrible."

"Dude, my favorites are the ones named after swear words. Like f*cking," Riptide said.

The group of players continued their lighthearted conversation as Riptide surfed the group over to Dextra. Along the way, the conversation shifted to Dr. Zlo.

"So, what's your plan to deal with that *ss?" Sweet Dream asked.

"Well, if you must know"

Sweet Dream held up a hand, "Stopping you now. Don't grandstand for me, please? I'm not one of your targets."

The villain sighed, "Fine. A villain like Singularity is all too common in our world. He is a creature of relentless willpower. So, I can't face him head on. He'll come back, and back, and back, each time with something slightly different. Eventually, I'd lose and he would gloat. It wouldn't matter how many times I did win, all that would matter is the one time he won. Therefore, I plan to ignore his head on assaults entirely."

"How?" Oro asked.

"By creating robotic clones of myself, obviously."

"Dude, that was anything but obvious," Riptide said.

Dr. Zlo smiled, "I'll explain then!"

"I think you got baited," Sweet Dream whispered. Riptide nodded in agreement.

"By creating Zlobots in my image, I can distract Singularity and lead him on wild goose chases across cities while I stay safe in my lair plotting. The best part is, he'll chase after each one in the hopes of finding me."

"And if he does find you?" Rampart asked.

"I run away, or send a minion in to fight him. The best way to win here is to show that facing him isn't worth my time."

Sweet Dream barked a laugh, "I love it!"

"Yeah, dude. It sounds awesome," Riptide said.

The heroes also gave their approval, with the exception of Titan. The large hero sat on the truck, brooding over how quickly his team bonded with villains. But it was all in good fun, both Titan and his friends knew how much he loved roleplaying.

Riptide surfed down onto a street below with the last bit of momentum from Dr. Zlo's earlier push. At that point, Cass took over driving back to Dextra. The heroes and villain stuck to the vehicle with taffy peeled their hands away and jumped into the back with the minions. A few minutes later, the truck stopped at 66 Moola Avenue.

A small, almost quaint, bank greeted the group as they stepped out. Dr. Zlo looked up to see the words "Black Banking and Barter" in bold letters.

"How does he keep getting all these buildings?" Sweet Dream asked.

"Ms. Black owns many front companies around the city," Hans said, startling everyone.

The suited man had somehow snuck up behind the group of players. Hans walked by the group, pulling open the door to the bank, "Ms. Black is waiting for you inside."

Nodding uncertainly, the group made their way into the building. Dextra sat at the front receptionist desk, waiting with hands crossed and a placid smile.

"Welcome to Black Banking and Barter, my new front I plan to install around the cities. The best part is, I can treat this as an actual bank."

"Dude, right on," Riptide said.

"Quite, but let's get down to business. I assume you four are here to join up with the guild?"

"I'd like to hear more about it," Rampart said. "All I know at the moment is you're trying to get Vert to back down on scripting events. How do you plan to go about that?"

"The first order of business is to create videos of our success and Vert's subsequent rollback of it," Dextra started. "From there, I plan to start a petition to request Vert change their policy. If that doesn't work, we plan to use the guild to find exploits within the rules."

"Couldn't they just ban you after too many issues?" Merla asked.

"Oh sure, but that's terrible press. We'd become martyrs and most likely gamers around the planet would boycott. Nothing upsets someone more than unfair practices. But I doubt it would come to that."

"Hey, while you guys work out the details, I need to get working on my plan against Singularity," Dr. Zlo said.

Dextra turned to him, "Is this some new hero?"

"Villain, actually. He used to be a part of my group until he betrayed us."

"Ah, a traitor."

"And a stubborn one," Sweet Dream said. "He could have left but decided to get back at Dr. Zlo for, 'playing the game wrong.'"

Dextra frowned, "One of those people. Very well, what do you plan to do?"

"I will make an army of Zlobots to keep him off my trail, that way he can't keep chasing after me."

"A good secondary plan," Dextra said. "But what do you plan to do about him right now?"

"Avoid him."

"That's a bad idea."

Dylan tilted his head in confusion, "Why's that?"

"Yeah, avoiding stuff like this seems par for the course," Sweet Dream added.

"Sure, if you want him to think you're running away from him. That would only stoke the player's ego."

"So then, what do I do?"

Dextra smiled, "May I suggest challenging him to a fight? Then, when you win, his pride will be crushed. Afterwards, you can run away as you please."

Dr. Zlo looked thoughtful, "So, you're saying that to show he isn't worth my time, I have to beat him first. Afterwards, I can enact the Zlobot plan."

"Precisely," Dextra answered.

"Yes, Singularity will rue the day he tried to challenge me, the great Dr. Zlo!"

"Glad to see that's cleared up. If you need anything talk to Shizuka. I'm going to go over my plans with the others."

Shizuka appeared to Dextra's left, waving. Cackling, Dr. Zlo strode toward the ninja, ideas forming in his head. Dextra was right, it wouldn't be enough to create the Zlobots. Dylan had to utterly beat his friend and show how much better he was at the game. That way, when John inevitably came back for a fight, Dr. Zlo could gloat and taunt as much as he wanted.

Dylan pulled up his power tab, there were a few things he needed to make before the grand finale.