Vaudevillain

Sweet Dream and Riptide brought Dr. Zlo out of the forest and into Sleepless City. The bustling metropolis resembled an older New York City, Vert mixing various time periods together to create the virtual location. The more iconic statues and architecture were changed to protect the company legally. Still, by and large, the city was the same.

The two villains led Dr. Zlo out of the woods nearby and toward the city proper. A smattering of houses and shops greeted the trio as they exited, feeding into a series of bridges overhanging a glittering blue bay. Sleepless City stood on the other side, the skyscrapers looming in the dark. A golden woman holding aloft a dazzling lantern stood triumphantly at the end of the city, like a beacon to all lost souls.

"And they say villains are pretentious," Dr. Zlo commented.

"What's that?" Sweet Dream said.

"That statue," Dr. Zlo pointed. "What an overtly grand display to promote heroes."

"We should totally vandalize it, dudes!" Riptide said.

"One thing at a time," Sweet Dream chided. "Come on, the factory's near the water."

Sweet Dream brought them across one of the bridges, the trio walking past a gridlock of cars honking in concert.

"I need to talk to the villain who invented the car sometime," Dr. Zlo said. "There's a guy who learned how to make a lot of people angry."

"But later," Sweet Dream urged again. "Don't get distracted."

"I never get distracted," Dr. Zlo answered. "Besides, there's that Zrethra imbecile that's already using the undead. I'm not about to double up on that."

Sweet Dream turned down the street, leading everyone to the outskirts of Sleepless city.

"Our factory is down here, in the abandoned part of town," She said, changing the topic.

"As it tradition, dude," Riptide helpfully added.

Sweet Dream continued, ignoring her boyfriend for the moment, "The Licor-Icks are inside now, working on producing enough candies for people to buy. Sill's making sure they all stay in line. However, I need to hire some workers to drive the trucks. And we still need the addicting part."

"That isn't sugar," Riptide said.

"You can always find a few goons to hire," Dr. Zlo said airily. "Dextra used to do it all the time."

"What's the chances they rat us out?" Sweet Dream asked.

Riptide waved a hand, "We get them addicted to the candies, dude."

Dr. Zlo gave an approving look, "That's absolutely diabolical."

"Alright, that means we need to get them addicted after hiring them," Sweet Dream said. She turned to Dr. Zlo, "You got anything in mind?"

"A chocolate coating using your powers?" Dr. Zlo replied. "I think that would be the easiest."

"You can do that?" Sweet Dream asked, turning the corner.

"I can do anything," Dr. Zlo answered haughtily. "After all, I'm the–"

"Foremost criminal mastermind. We know already," Sweet Dream finished. The villain stopped in front of a ramshackle warehouse, "We're here."

Riptide strode forward, knocking on the warehouse doors in a particular rhythm. A knock from the other side of the door followed, and the entrance opened to reveal two Licor-Icks and Jawbreaker.

"I taught them that," Riptide said with pride. The surfer walked into the warehouse, high-fiving Jawbreaker. "Sup, dude."

Sweet Dream rolled her eyes, "He thinks he runs the place."

"I know I run the place," Riptide said jokingly.

"We run the place," Sweet Dream replied, just as jokingly.

"I don't care who runs the place," Dr. Zlo said. "Show me the workstations."

Sweet Dream led the villain into the warehouse. The doors closed behind him with a thump, and Dr. Zlo had to blink for a second as his eyes adjusted. The warehouse lights were older bulbs, glowing softly as they sat high above the workstations. Everything was awash in an orange glow, giving the Licor-Icks a strange coloring.

"This is the bakery," Sweet Dream said. "Riptide suggested making a sea salt caramel cookie. To combine our themes, you know?"

She pointed to a large machine sitting in the middle of the room. Three Licor-Icks moved around it, performing various tasks. One would feed sugar into a large tube while the second turned a crank nearby. The third stood on the other end of the machine, helping feed caramel out onto a conveyor belt. From there, the sugar traveled, making its way to a pipette.

"Down there is the cookie maker," Sweet Dream said, pointing to a multi-armed robot. "Licor-Icks feed it the materials, and it bakes the cookies, placing them on the belt for the caramel coating. After that comes decoration, which is where your addicting formula will come in."

Sweet Dream led the villain down the factory line to a set of stairs. Below stood a copy machine Dr. Zlo had made in the past. The gadget allowed others to copy objects and items as long as they could give it materials. Well, Materials or Phlebotinium.

Dr. Zlo eagerly rubbed his hands together as he saw the device, "Excellent. Let's get started!"

The villain opened his power, typing in what he desired.

A truly dastardly invention devised by the fiendish Dr. Zlo! This formula uses Sweet Dream's chocolate essence to form a candy coating that makes anyone who eats it hungry for more! The more the hapless victim eats, the more they crave!

Sweet Dream's Chocolate (100g)

Coat (1)

Pack of Cigarettes (1)

Liquor Chocolates (1 box)

Sciencium (5g)

"As always, we'll need to get a few things," Dr. Zlo said. "This time, I need a coat, a pack of cigarettes, and a box of liquor chocolates."

"We could find those all in the same place," Sweet Dream said.

"Yeah, an airport!" Riptide cheered. "Dudes! We could hijack a plane, and I could surf it!"

"Or we could go to a mall," Sweet Dream said, rolling her eyes. "There's one somewhere downtown."

"Both places are going to have heroes," Dr. Zlo said. "It's a question of which is better."

"A mall has less security," Sweet Dream said.

"But an airport is more fun!" Riptide complained.

"And you'll get distracted, and we'll never get this plan done," Sweet Dream argued. "No, we're doing the mall."

Dr. Zlo shrugged, "You're the one with the plan. The mall it is!"

"Man," Riptide sagged. "You never want to have any fun."

Sweet Dream pat her boyfriend on the back. "All in good time. Besides, if you surf a plane now, we can't plan an entire thing around it. Don't you want to surf the best plane you possibly can?"

Riptide looked over at his girlfriend, "You know me too well. What are you planning?"

"A business that gets everyone to buy our chocolate-coated cookies," Sweet Dream answered honestly. "I'm thinking the brand should be sea-related. To keep with your theme."

"Are we going or not!" Dr. Zlo yelled over his shoulder. The villain had already made his way back to the doors leading outside and was standing next to Jawbreaker, his foot tapping impatiently.

"So impatient, dude!" Riptide laughed. "It's not like we've got anything else to do today!"

The Sleepless City Mall sat downtown, next to the old clock tower and the Hero's Last Stand Statue. Neither building resembled anything Dylan had seen in New York City, so they must have been additions by Vert to make the city "unique." Honestly, Dylan thought the clock tower clashed with the rest of the area, but his opinion didn't matter at the moment. Though, the clock could be a useful distraction.

"Riptide," Dr. Zlo said. "Can you surf up to that clocktower and see if it has bells?"

"You got something in mind, dude?" The surfer asked.

"A simple distraction," Dr. Zlo answered. "But most likely an effective one."

"I'm always down to surf," Riptide answered.

"Use the stealth board," Sweet Dream said. "We don't want to get caught yet."

Riptide nodded, pulling out a black surfboard that seemed to absorb the light around it. Dr. Zlo looked over the board, wondering if it had special properties.

The surfer caught Dr. Zlo's appraising look and smiled. "It's painted with one of those ultra-black paints. You know the ones."

Riptide jumped onto the board, the villain's body instantly vanishing.

"Apparently, it absorbs all the light that hits him," Sweet Dream said. "Makes him invisible."

"Except for the board," Dr. Zlo pointed out.

Sure enough, the surfboard still hovered nearby, visible to the villain, the black paint sucking in the light around it.

"Yeah, but who notices a black shadow flying around and goes, 'oh, that must be a villain,'" Riptide said. The surfer's voice came from above the board, proving that the villain was still around.

"Fair point," Dr. Zlo said. "But enough postulating. Be on your way."

Riptide's surfboard took off, leaving Sweet Dream and Dr. Zlo to look over the mall.

"Not a big place," Dr. Zlo said as he looked at the building. Sleepless City Mall sat on a single city block and was only two stories high. It was nothing compared to the sprawling complexes in other cities, the buildings taking up swathes of land with spreading parking lots and towering stores.

"I think it extends downward," Sweet Dream said. "Look. There's a parking lot sign over there, see?"

Dr. Zlo looked to where Sweet Dream pointed, seeing a parking sign and a sloping road leading downward.

"Ah," the villain said. "That could make things difficult if our targets are on different levels."

Sweet Dream shrugged, "We could always split up. Each of us grabs a different material."

"Well, a department store would easily have coats and cigarettes," Dr. Zlo answered. "But I'm not sure about liquor chocolates. I feel like those are souvenirs."

"When Riptide gets back, we'll get into our secret identities and scout," Sweet Dream said. "If there isn't some sort of souvenir shop, we'll find one somewhere else. Downtown is sure to have something."

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