Vaudevillain

The room was dark as the night sky and just as cold. Four figures stood in the darkness, lounging around in the dark as if on break. Silhouettes of lights hung above the group, and the outline of a computer panel with a soundboard rested behind them.

Sweet Dream shivered, "Can't we make a heater or something? Also, why would anyone decide to add temperature effects in their game?"

"Jack's busy creating the finishing touches," Rampart said. "And she needs to get those factories up and running. We have the cloud machine but no drones yet."

"Then why can't Dr. Zlo make something," Sweet Dream grumbled.

"Because! I see no need to make a simple heater for convenience!" The villain replied.

"I can make you something hot?" Cass said.

"You have hot chocolate?" Sweet Dream asked.

Cass turned around for a second, then spun back with a mug of cocoa in his hand, whipped cream sitting on top.

"You are a lifesaver." Sweet Dream cupped the warm liquid in her hands, letting the feeling come back into them.

"I don't know, it never gets lower than a mild chill or heat," Rampart said.

"Well this 'mild chill' is going to make my fingers freeze off."

"Ha! I never took you as one to lose to a bit of cold!" Dr. Zlo said.

"I live in a warm climate, alright? There's a reason I moved across the country to go to college."

Dr. Zlo, Rampart, and Sweet Dream were currently inside a studio room designed for broadcasting. The team had concluded that more exposure was better than none, as they wanted to attract a lot of players. So Dylan and Jack went to work designing a simple broadcasting room, complete with all the heroic and villainous effects one could want. Dylan had provided the structure while Jack used her set design experience to add special effects.

At some point, they planned to move this room inside of the skyscraper, or maybe split it into two, so heroes and villains had separate stations. But currently, the building sat on the outskirts of the city, near the teleporter station. Nikola, Merla, and Titan had spent the last few days grinding for Alienite, and the mining site on Resource Hill was finally starting to produce results. Because of that, the group now had a decent stockpile of goods. Goods that were used in all the various projects as soon as they were produced.

Skyline's skeletal structure was starting to resemble an actual city, albeit one that someone in a videogame planned. A coliseum sat on the right of the teleport, and the making of a warehouse split between heroes and villains was coming together as well. Dylan walked over to the broadcasting room's wall and opened the door to let in some light. As it spilled inside, the player looked out at the growing skyscraper representing the hero portion of the city.

"I'm spending too much time in the land of do-gooders," Dr. Zlo said.

"Well, until we get more materials, our bases down below are going to be difficult," Sweet Dream answered. "Jack doesn't want to waste more construction drones, and the chance they'd fall off the city is something she won't risk."

"Bah, just tie them with some rope. If they do fall, that will catch them."

Dylan looked over to the material hub, where Jack was most likely staying. Behind it was the makings of the NPC factory, even though it couldn't be seen from this distance. Menagerie still needed to work on producing a few NPC characters, but that job had been taken.

Dextra had always wanted to use the NPC mercenaries as a stopgap option, something quick to help collect materials. Now that the ground team had collected enough Alienite, the villain went all-in on producing specialized minions. Dextra had even moved the Mad Factory down to Resource Hill for better efficiency.

New NPCs milled around the hill now, replacing the bought mercenaries and slowly replacing the workers. Each person in Menagerie had gotten the chance to use the factory, though Dextra was by far the most frequent user. His first design used the living mud picked up from the destroyed giant combined with some Alienite and a few Quli rayguns. The resulting minion reminded Dylan of alien rock people, but these could split into pieces. The minion couldn't create more of itself, like how Shizuka used clones, but each piece split off could still operate machinery. And just like that, a quarter of the mercenaries were replaced.

Nikola had taken a stab at creating something as well. Sticking to his theme, Nikola's new minion was a ball of lightning. He intended it to be used for defense, but Merla remembered what happened when lightning strikes trees. The bark explosively flies off, and since the minion could control the current, the actual tree wasn't too harmed. So after some negotiations, Nikola agreed to leave his minion for wood production and make a new minion.

"Your hands warmed up enough to use a camera?" Rampart asked.

"If Zlo closes the door," Sweet Dream replied.

"Finally, you were taking so long!" Dr. Zlo spun on his heels and pulled the door shut behind him.

"You're always so dramatic," the candy villainess said.

"All the world's a stage, as some snobbish writer said," Dr. Zlo replied.

"You did not just insult Shakespeare like that," Rampart said.

"What, you a fan?" Sweet Dream said. "I didn't think anyone actually wanted to read his stuff."

"I like watching the plays," Rampart replied. "There's a group that does reenactments near me, and they're pretty great. It's a lot easier to follow along in a play."

"Enough about boring playwrights. It's time to record me doing some villainy!" Dr. Zlo said.

"Yeah, boss!" Cass cheered.

Sweet Dream rolled her eyes, "Alright, drama queen. Remember, Rampart and I will be doing the recording, so keep your body turned our way. We can't have the camera catching your bad side."

"But that's my best side!" Dr. Zlo joked.

"Just, get it right this time. No more flashy heel turns unless you want the audience to ignore your face."

Nodding, Dr. Zlo made his way off the stage. Rampart waited three seconds, then signaled to Cass. The minion, who had moved over to a panel of buttons and switches, nodded and flipped one of the console's various controls. Light filled the room, washing a high-backed chair with a warm glow. Sweet Dream waved a hand, and Dr. Zlo entered.

He strode into the room, cane leading the way like a vanguard. Rampart and Sweet Dream followed his movement, their eyes tracking him every step of the way. The villain strode over to the chair and sat down, crossing his legs and laying the cane on top.

"Hello, all you mundane people living a boringly grey existence. As you know, I am Dr. Zlo! Criminal mastermind, and I come to you with an announcement. In three days' time, I will be assaulting the cities of Thenapolis, Cartis, and Haven City with my newest weapon."

Dr. Zlo swung his cane into the air and whipped it to point at Sweet Dream. "Those of you who wish to stop me better be there by eight PM sharp! Otherwise, if you wish to run, consider this your first warning!"

With that, Dr. Zlo raised his hands to the air and laughed, an evil cackle meant to shake a hero to the bones. "Muahahaha! Oh, and those of you who wish to join me and help in my conquest of the coast can come as well. But know that I ALONE am the one responsible for the carnage. You will only be a small footnote."

With that, Rampart signaled Cass again. The minion pressed down on a button. Lightning flashed across the background, and thunder boomed seconds later. Dr. Zlo laughed some more, his head tilting back as he looked down on the helpless masses.

"Alright, Cut!!" Sweet Dream yelled.

Dr. Zlo finished his mad cackle, then walked over to the other players.

"What'd you think?" Rampart asked Sweet Dream.

"He didn't spin in place on the way there, the lighting obscured him just right, and he didn't jump out of his seat and shoot at the background this time. Overall, I'd say we got it."

Rampart heaved a sigh, "Thank god. I was starting to get bored."

"AS if anyone can get bored when Dr. Zlo! Is in the room," the villain responded.

"You'd think so, but hearing your speech every few minutes was getting old."

"Make sure you send me the footage before you go anywhere," Sweet Dream said. "We're getting this out tomorrow so others can apply to join on Friday."

Rampart nodded, "You got it."

Sweet Dream turned back to Dr. Zlo. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I have a few ideas for the upcoming fights I want to run by you."

"Oh? What sinister sweets do you have in store for me this time?

"So I've got Jawbreaker and Sill for minions, but I'm still lacking in the weapons department. And Sill still needs some wimpy creatures to command."

"How about taffy creatures?" Dr. Zlo asked.

"I was thinking along the lines of licorice," Sweet Dream replied. "I'm more about the lesser liked candies: like jawbreakers, licorice, or those cinnamon flavored ones."

"What about hard candies?"

"I'm not an old lady. I still have plenty of time before I go senile and start offering that tacky stuff."

"Licorice minions it is, then. And for weapons?"

"Something that I can use in my default form would be great. The taffy gun is good and all, but I need more firepower if I want to contend with all the incoming heroes. I'm thinking something like a dark chocolate blaster that turns people into chocolate, or at least coats them when they're hit."

Dr. Zlo smiled wickedly, "Diabolical. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Oh, and Riptide was looking for some stuff as well, but I don't know if he has any ideas yet."

"I'm sure he'll turn up at some point, saying how cool it would be to have this or that."

Sweet Dream gave that loving, defeated smile a partner shares when their significant other does something embarrassing. "Yeah. I hope he doesn't go too overboard."

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