Vaudevillain

Isaac groaned at the wave of notifications running through his email. Tonight was proving to be particularly stressful. The IT worker was having to train new employees and deal with the influx of tickets. Jessica and Tyler weren't the worst hires by far, but the latter kept asking simple questions. That, and the former kept getting his attention to confirm every little thing. It was starting to wear on Isaac's nerves.

But the man wasn't an IT worker for nothing. Isaac had dealt with many stressful events in his life, and this was no different than the rest. Centering himself, Isaac clicked on the latest email notification and read the ticket description.

The ticket in question complained about Menagerie's bomb in Thenapolis. Many players lost their property to the flood, and all of them wanted to complain about the loss. Isaac sighed. Dr. Zlo was at it again.

Though it wasn't like Vert could stop the villain this time, destruction of property had always been a part of the game, and plenty of others had pulled off something to this scale before. Dr. Zlo was hardly the first one to attack a city. Though, Isaac did have to admit that no one else had caused quite as much damage to an area. Almost all of Thenapolis was submerged like the lost city of Atlantis.

From what Isaac could piece together through tickets, Menagerie had destroyed at least three fledgling faction headquarters, two rendezvous points from factions spanning multiple cities, and a shared storage depot for craftspeople in various factions. An impressive amount of damage, to say the least, worthy of someone who called themselves a criminal mastermind. Too bad Isaac's enthusiasm was cut by having to deal with all the complaints.

By habit, Isaac closed all the tickets, using the automated system to inform the player that while environmental destruction is upsetting, it was entirely within the game's rules. The system then went on to list all the issues that were bannable, such as paying real money for in-game items. Sure, a few players would try to reopen the tickets, but far more would let the matter die and just repurchase everything they lost. And it wasn't like the automated repair system wouldn't help them rebuild their bases.

That didn't stop gamers from complaining. Leave it to them to find a fault in literally everything. Of course, some complaints were more valid than others. Like the tickets about griefing that were becoming increasingly more prevalent with the recent patch.

For beating another player in combat and completing your crime, you have been granted reputation! Your current reputation is now B. Your reputation will increase to A after 37 more escapade(s).

For beating another player in combat and completing your crime, you have been granted reputation! Your current reputation is now B. Your reputation will increase to A after 35 more escapade(s).

For beating another player in combat and completing your crime, you have been granted reputation! Your current reputation is now B. Your reputation will increase to A after 31 more escapade(s).

For beating another player in combat and completing your crime, you have been granted reputation! Your current reputation is now B. Your reputation will increase to A after 29 more escapade(s).

For beating another player in combat and completing your crime, you have been granted reputation! Your current reputation is now B. Your reputation will increase to A after 27 more escapade(s).

…

Dylan kept laughing as the lines of dialogue crossed his vision, ticking him from B rank to A. He didn't know how much reputation he would receive from his act of villainy, but this was certainly more than he expected. Thenapolis must have held a lot of heroes and villains. Though according to Sweet Dream, logins had started to rise.

"I truly am the most vile, most despicable, most reprehensible villain there is!"

Mabel looked over to her employer, "Hon, Haven City. Things there are heating up hotter than a summer in July."

Dr. Zlo snapped a look at Mabel, "Must we discuss work so soon after our triumph?"

Mabel sipped on her tea, "Yes, hon. Unless you only want to shoot one load."

Dr. Zlo threw his head back in shock, "Why, Mabel. Such language! Don't forget Suitor is in the room."

Mabel waggled her eyebrows, "Oh, I know."

While the two were talking, Cass walked over to the projector's controls and changed channels. Shizuka popped up onscreen, Rampart and a group of heroes not far behind. Dr. Zlo spun to watch, taking another glass of champagne as Cass offered it to him.

Of the three plans, if you could call Riptide's entire mess a plan, Shizuka's was the most convoluted. Though, Dylan expected as much from his guildmate. The ninja was entirely too hedonistic when it came to World of Supers, and her lackadaisical style of planning shoved everything she wanted to do into the scheme.

Her entire idea centered around what was basically a giant footrace against her and her minions. The player didn't even bother to try and set up the game. Once Rampart finished with the rules, the woman appeared on stage and announced that she held the timer for the Wave Widget and that she would give it to anyone who could catch her. Immediately, Shizuka created a smoke cloud and sprinted out of the clearing.

Dr. Zlo wasn't there to watch any of it since his focus was on Sweet Dream, but heroes and villains immediately rushed to catch the ninja. Instead of the initial street brawl like in Cartis and Thenapolis, the players engaged each other in small teams as their various powers separated them in the initial sprint.

A few of the speedsters tried to catch Shizuka immediately, but the ninja escaped capture by using her multiple clones to confuse her pursuers. Others tried to create and lay traps for the woman but found them dismantled by Shizuka's ninja rabbit minions she demanded from Dr. Zlo. The fuzzy little critters stabbed through drones and kicked over cameras, making sure to wiggle their cute noses in the viewfinder whenever they could. Not even the hatbots were immune; many sent spiraling to the ground from a ninja rabbit strike.

"Sweet Dream is not going to like this," Dr. Zlo as he watched a rabbit hop on a hatbot and kicked it to the ground. "And I don't like it either. I didn't invent these cuddly menaces to attack my own minions. It looks like I'll need to get revenge on Shizuka."

Haven city was in an uproar. Dr. Zlo's plan to destroy the town had all the players out, especially now that Thenapolis had fallen to his evil scheme. Plenty inside the city was streaming the event, and clips of the aftermath circled the internet immediately. Players with a stake in the island city rushed to log in. Either to retrieve their equipment or stop Dr. Zlo's plan.

The factions aligning with Menagerie for the duration did their best to keep players out, but they couldn't stop everyone. As such, the participants in the event were bombarded by outsiders, turning the initial brawl between good and evil into a messy dogpile.

Psy-Ops grunted as he twisted away from a spiked rope emitted from a player. He needn't have bothered, as Rampart placed a shield in the way at the last second.

"You alright?" the monk hero asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Psy-Ops answered.

Fursation came up behind him and offered a hand, which Psy-Ops took. Yuppie flew past the group, unleashing a salvo of missiles at the attacking player. Fiery clouds mushroomed out, eliminating the player and respawning him away from the fight. The iron-cladded hero landed next to Rampart.

"D*mn it," he cursed. "I lost sight of the ninja when the rope guy showed up."

"That's okay," Rampart said. "Things have gotten out of hand anyway."

The monk conjured another barrier to block incoming gunfire from a rooftop. "These players are relentless," the man said. "How are we supposed to fight if there's no reset penalty?"

"Do the same," Fursation said matter-of-factly. "It's not like we have to worry about the rules with outside parties, right?" The player-focused a blast of electricity at the attacking player, stunning him as Psy-Ops finished them off with a gunshot.

"Right," Rampart nodded. "But the bracelets will still go on a timer if you die and reset back to five minutes if you're killed by an unaffiliated party. And the band still goes red if you attack a player during that time."

"Seems like bad planning," Yuppie complained.

Rampart crossed his arms, "It wasn't like we were expecting there to be so much resistance."

"The question is, should we focus on finishing the event?" Psy-Ops said.

"We should at least try," Rampart said. "But I need to make a call first."

Psy-Ops pointed to a storefront selling used books and other knick-knacks, "Let's take shelter then."

The four players shuffled inside, doing their best to stay out of sight. Once under cover, Rampart pulled out the communicator for contacting the others and dialed Dextra.

"Go," the villain said.

"Hey, Dex," Rampart said. "We any closer to stopping these jerks ruining our good time?"

"Hardly," Dextra answered. "I've got the other factions working together, but someone is coordinating the outsiders. Someone who has a power similar to mine since they keep finding the gaps in our line."

"F*ck," Rampart cursed. "Do you think we can still finish this event?"

"It's possible, considering how many players joined us," Dextra answered. "But they would have to ignore fighting each other."

"That's possible," Rampart said. "Announce that you unleashed a virus in the city that turns supers against each other. We can make it like our players have to work together to stop the outside threat. Heck, we could even make the bomb the last resort if we needed to."

"Ah, the nuclear option," Dextra mused. "Yes, I could see it working. I'll let the world know that my serum was unleashed early, and multiple supers have contracted it."

"Great, I'll leave it to you," Rampart said, hanging up on the villain. He turned to Psy-Ops and the others, "Now that that's done, let's go find our ninja."

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