Vaudevillain

Merla stood at the edge of the round harbor, her eyes peeled for any villains heading her way. Some villain players, but mostly those of the heroic persuasion, milled about behind her in a line. All the better to see Riptide when he arrived.

Merla was sure that the surfer would head this way, mainly because that was the objective. According to the devised plot, the cruise ship resting in the harbor held a powerful engine that would boost the Wave Widget's power. This wasn't true, of course. Dr. Zlo's bomb could go off at any time. The timers were arbitrary, but it raised the stakes between the heroes and villains in the event and (hopefully) allowed the niche powers to shine.

Like Spook, the hero she met earlier. That player had picked an impressive power. Essentially, whenever Spook died, the player came back as an incorporeal ghost, unseeable and untouchable by normal means. Spook could use spectral energy to affect the environment, which shortened their active time as a spirit. However, it gave the hero a fighting chance against others who could attack him.

Spook's power was the entire reason Merla knew what happened to Riptide, how the villain surfed over to the aquarium and got into a fight with an NPC hero. Only to join up with those steampunk villains afterward. Spook's power ran out following the group, but he was sure they were heading to the harbor. The issue Merla had right now was that Riptide was taking too long.

Every second Riptide waited gave the players more time to regroup, and even now, Merla thought the number of them around the harbor was too much. It meant the villain would have to pull off something incredible to succeed in stealing his target. It wasn't like Merla didn't think her friend could do it; Riptide had pulled off some rather insane stunts over the past few weeks. Plus, his constant curiosity led to discovering all sorts of interesting interactions. She was just worried that this time his distracted nature would get in his way.

"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it," she sighed.

"What's that?" Hardlight said.

"Nothing."

Merla took a few steps away from the annoying hero. Hardlight really wasn't someone she could get along with for any length of time. The hero had a blunt nature that grated against her like nails on a chalkboard, and it didn't help that he was good at the game. He seemed to have that same competence Rampart and Dextra had, minus the amicable personality.

Merla ignored him and went back to scanning the skies. Where in the world was Riptide?

"Are you quite sure we're heading in the right direction?" the Professor asked.

"Totally, dude," Riptide replied. "Just keep heading downtown!"

"Boss, we need to go to the harbor!" G.W. yelled.

"Later, dude!" Riptide answered. "We need to get something first."

"What could you possibly need in downtown Cartis?" Victoria asked as she swerved through lines of traffic.

Riptide pointed to the Professor, "You said heroes were already heading to the harbor, correct?"

"That is what my sources said," the villain replied.

"Well, dudes, we can't take Merla and the other heroes head-on. We won't be able to steal the cruise ship if we do that."

"Ah, I see," the Professor replied.

"I don't," Chemster said. "Explain it to me."

"Our esteemed friend is going to create a diversion," the Professor said. "We'll drag the heroes away from the harbor by making it look like we're attacking somewhere downtown." The villain turned to Riptide, "I assume you know of a location that resembles a ship?"

"Uh, no?" Riptide replied. "I was thinking to get to the top of that giant skyscraper and use it to surf so high in the sky we surprise the heroes with our attack. But your plan sounds way better, dude!"

The Professor blinked, along with the rest of the villains.

"Are you, sure, that you're one of Dr. Zlo's allies?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah, dude! Why?"

"It's just. You don't seem the type," the villain continued.

Riptide tilted his head in confusion.

"She means that Dr. Zlo is a villain of class! And you're dressed in surfer gear," Chemster hastily explained.

"Yeah, dude. I couldn't surf without my gear. Dr. Zlo was the one who made it!"

Chemster jumped at the words. "You mean to say that Dr. Zlo created your weapons?"

"That's right," Riptide replied proudly.

Chemster ran his hands over Riptide's rashguard.

"Woah, dude. Buy me dinner first."

Victoria sniffed in disgust at Chemster's actions. "Have some restraint. Just because one of Dr. Zlo's companions acts like a surf bum doesn't mean you should emulate him."

"You don't understand!" Chemster yelled. "I need to know what Dr. Zlo did to make such devices! It is vitally important to my research!"

"Your melt-anything acid?" Bubble said.

"Yes! Suppose he can create a container that holds my greatest creation. In that case, I can finally use my ingenious invention to threaten those pesky researchers in the Gentlemen's Society! Those pompous rich pricks will rue the day they laughed at my genius!"

"Dude! That's an awesome backstory," Riptide said cheerily. He clapped Chemster on the back.

"Oh, um. Thank you," Chemster replied.

"I think I'm starting to see why you're part of Dr. Zlo's group," the Professor said.

"Cool, dude. Oh, we should totally go with your plan to distract the heroes!"

The Professor smiled, "Well then, if you insist. Victoria, make a right at the next intersection."

"Very well, Professor."

Merla frowned as another group of heroes complained. Riptide hadn't shown for ten minutes now, and even the heroes that had to wait five minutes after dying had made their way to the harbor. Villains weren't approaching the place either, because Riptide still hadn't shown up.

"Where is he?" She grunted. "I swear if he forgot where to be, I'm going to have Sweet Dream kill him."

The sound of speakers coming to life made Merla look up.

"Ahem," the voice started. "Attention those of you desperately attempting to stop the glorious hero Riptide. As none of you have the intellect to decipher his clues, the villain has so graciously allowed us to declare the location of our target. After all, it wouldn't be any fun to steal what we need without showing our superiority."

The voices around Merla stopped their complaints to her to turn to the speakers.

"Since the lot of you are too imbecilic to understand, our target is the headquarters of Cruisex manufacturing located near downtown Cartis. We have secured their experimental engine and shall now install it into Dr. Zlo's Wave Widget. You better hurry if you want to stop us!"

"It's a trap," Hardlight said matter-of-factly. "They know they took too long coming to the harbor and are trying to distract us."

Merla agreed but didn't want to share the same position as this jerk. So she kept silent. After all, this was about others looking to join.

"Why is it a trap?" another hero asked. "We've sat here for minutes already, and he hasn't shown!"

Cries of agreement echoed throughout the crowd.

Hardlight shrugged, "I don't care what you think. But I'm staying."

"Then good luck being a loser," the hero replied. He jumped into the sky, bouncing across building walls like a rubber ball. Other heroes streamed after him, taking about two-thirds of the heroes.

Merla heard shouting shortly after. It seemed the heroes met up with the villains hanging back for Riptide. She sighed again, in relief this time. Despite Riptide's tardiness, he'd created enough tension to spark more competition. Now all she needed to do was prepare herself for his arrival.

But first, maybe she could play a bit of a prank on Hardlight.

She walked over to the hero, "So why is the announcement a trap?"

"Because you're here," he answered immediately. "You're supposed to be his rival. There's no way you wouldn't be around when he appears."

"I think you're misunderstanding," Merla said. "We're not recruiting based on following the players already in the guild."

"I'm not following. I'm deducing," Hardlight countered. "You said you knew how he operated, which means you know how he tends to act. Since you didn't leave when the announcement came, he must be coming here."

"Hmm. Alright then," Merla replied. She cast her flying spell and jumped into the air.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Hardlight yelled.

"I was just waiting for the others to clear out the villains around us! I can't face all of those on my own, after all."

Merla shot off into the sky, her parting words barely audible, "And like you said, I'm his rival. That means I have to be the one facing him. I can't go down before that happens."

"Sh*t! Get back here!" Hardlight shouted. He conjured a disk of energy and rocketed forward. But Merla was already out of sight.

The others all made to follow after Hardlight, activating their various powers to follow Merla. The exodus was slow going, as it took a second for each player to relay the information and activate their abilities. Another quarter had left by the time Merla looped back around the building. Confused, the last stragglers halted.

"Wait, so it is a trap?" Spook asked as Merla touched down.

"Pretty sure," Merla replied. "Riptide isn't one who thinks about things deeply. If he drew a cruise ship as a clue, he meant a cruise ship."

"Then why did you say it wasn't?"

"Did you see that Hardlight guy? He's such a jerk. I didn't want him to join the fight. Besides, he's had his chance to fight."

"Now come on," Merla said. "We need to arrange ourselves to trap Riptide. But that man's as slippery as an eel, so be on your toes."

The remaining players around Merla nodded. A few wanted to comment that her stunt pulled other players away as well, but they kept quiet. There was a chance Merla would pull the same type of prank with them, and that would mean they lost their shot. Better to stay silent.

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