Vaudevillain

The image shown in front of Psy-Ops revealed the group of players from before, dressed in a myriad of costumes. They overlooked the group of Menagerie recruits, prepping various powers but keeping out of sight. Psy-Ops rewound the playback, following the group down through the building and out towards the city's outskirts, where they joined another group of players. The hero continued rewinding the playback, watching the new group walk backward to a giant raft on the coast.

"Whoever's running the show is on a giant raft in the ocean," Psy-Ops told the group.

"A raft?" Fursation asked.

Psy-Ops looked back through the recording. On second look, the vessel wasn't quite a raft.

"Actually, it looks more like someone tried making an artificial island. I see dirt piled up on floats, and what I thought were masts are trees."

Yuppie elbowed his friend, "How do you get masts and trees confused?"

Psy-Ops pushed his friend in jest, "Shuddap, I wasn't looking at the tops. Was trying to find the leaders."

"And did you?" Rampart asked.

"I think so," Psy-Ops answered. He looked back at the screen showing the past. "There's someone giving orders at least. He's decked out in traditional superhero garb and all that. There's two people next to him as well. One's dressed like a mechanical dragonfly, with the wings and everything. Another is just in normal clothes."

Psy-Ops waved a hand, "You know. Shirt, pants, shoes. Normal."

"They an NPC then?" Yuppie asked.

Psy-Ops gave his friend a look, "You know my power can't tell if someone is a player or an NPC."

"Well, at least we know what we're looking for," Shizuka said, jumping into the conversation.

Psy-Ops nodded, "I can take us to the last place the island was sitting, but I doubt it's still there."

"I'll at least let Dextra know," Rampart said. "In the meantime, we can head that way to make sure."

Shizuka put an arm over Yuppie and Psy-Ops and leaned forward, "Good job! I love me a good scouting mission. We can use the rabbits!"

"Um, yeah," Yuppie said.

Psy-Ops rolled his eyes. Even though his friend disliked Shizuka, he still couldn't keep himself together when a girl touched him.

"I'll lead the way," Psy-Ops said, throwing Shizuka's arm off him.

"To boldly go where no one has gone before!" Shizuka cheered.

Yuppie and Fursation followed, with Rampart bringing up the rear as he called Dextra.

"I see," Dextra said as Rampart finished his explanation.

The player turned to his minion, "Our enemies are rather crafty, Hans."

"Yes, Ms. Black."

"A mobile command center is rather intelligent, and I'm not surprised someone else came up with the idea. I do, however, dislike it being used against me."

"Of course, Ms. Black."

Dextra brought up their power interface, typing in various searches to possibly pinpoint the enemy's location, but the results were vague at best.

"Truly a difficult enemy," Dextra muttered.

Realistically, Thomas knew that finding the enemy base and destroying it didn't mean the battle was over. The lack of a penalty on respawn meant any player could get right back into the fight. It was why he went ahead with Shizuka's plan. It was the best idea he knew that limited the enemy's troops during the battle.

That didn't mean Dextra knew that, though. Dextra Black was a denizen of World of Supers, and as such, treated this world as the real one. Vert was the god of the game, arbitrarily deciding things for the little people. Other players were powered like himself, and they were subject to society's rules like the rest. Respawning was just the enemy narrowly escaping death.

But boy, was it hard for Thomas to stick to character when his enemies used wave tactics like this—having to treat every kill like a failure when that same player appeared again a few minutes later struck a blow to Dextra's pride. The villain was supposed to be intelligent, yet every mook he encountered came back right as rain.

No use dwelling on it, Thomas told himself. Hopefully, a hotfix or some other patch would come out in a few days to fix the problem. And if not, Thomas would find a new game. Plenty of new VR worlds were getting announced to compete with World of Supers.

"Hans, we need to make a call."

"Here you are, Ms. Black." Hans held out a communicator for Dextra to take.

The villain opened a channel and made a group call to Jack, Dr. Zlo, and Nikola.

"What's up, Dex?" Jack asked. She was the first to answer the call, Nikola and Dr. Zlo answering a second later.

"Hello all," Dextra said. "I have new information. Our enemy is directing their troops from a mobile command base in the seas around the island. Their last known location was to the North, but there's every chance the group has traveled since then. I'm calling all of you to keep you informed and to work out a plan."

"You need me to bring Skyline or something?" Jack asked.

"Seems a bit much for one command base," Nikola replied.

"Overwhelming firepower is the only answer we should bring to our enemies!" Dr. Zlo boomed.

"Jack," Dextra said, retaking control over the conversation, "I need you to brainstorm ways to limit enemy respawns. Shizuka is already working on tying enemies down, but we'll need more on a larger scale if what I'm envisioning happens."

"And what's that?" Nikola said.

"We're going to see a war in the middle of Haven city," Dextra said. "One filled with troops that cannot die and do not grow tired."

"Oh Jeez," Jack said. "Yeah, I'll start working on it."

"Dr. Zlo. Have you collected the rest of our members?" Dextra asked.

"On my way to steal the last of them!" the villain exclaimed.

"Good. Nikola, I need you to work with Shizuka. She's with Rampart and some heroes heading to the enemy's last known location. I'll send you the general area in a second."

"Sounds good, Dextra," Nikola answered.

Dextra stood to pace across the room, opening a message box and his power. With a few motions, the player found Shizuka's location and sent the directions to Nikola. With that done, she turned back to the communicator.

"Now, our next st–"

Hans tackled Dextra to the ground as the nearby window shattered inward. Glass shards fell onto the floor like snow, and a snide voice filled the room.

"You know, I thought it would be harder to find you."

Hans rolled off Dextra and jumped to his feet, throwing a hidden knife in the process. Steel flashed through the air, only to clatter against a glowing shield.

"Dex! Are you alright?" Jack yelled through the communicator.

Dextra took a second to stand and brush anything off his clothes. Once sure nothing marred him, Dextra turned to the intruder.

"I see manners are lost on you. The front door would have sufficed. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The player hovering above wagged a finger, "I think you mean, to whom."

Dextra scoffed, "No, I meant to what. You don't deserve the formality of to whom."

"I'm hurt," the player said. "Here I am, offering grammar lessons out of the goodness of my heart, and you decide to rebuke me. For shame."

Dextra glanced over to Hans, who stood at the ready with knives in hand. But it was apparent her minion wasn't in good condition. Glass shards covered the man's back, the result of protecting Dextra from the surprise attack. It wasn't likely that he could take another strong hit, and this enemy wasn't a pushover.

"What is it you want?" Dextra said.

"I want you to stop your assault on Haven," the player said.

Dextra looked at him, "My assault?"

The player nodded, "Yep. Your whole event has put a lot of players back. It isn't fair, you know?"

"I'm a villainess, if you haven't noticed," Dextra replied. "Fair isn't in my vocabulary."

The player nodded, "Right right, which is why I need you to come with me. With your leadership gone, we can crush your little group."

Dextra stared at the hovering player. From the looks of it, their main power was the barrier covering their person. Armor protected their torso and legs, a bulky military vest that undoubtedly stopped bullets. Around his waist was a utility belt filled with various gizmos and gadgets that screamed danger. Glowing halos pulsed from the boots on his feet, and Dextra knew that was what kept him hovering.

Dextra grimaced and glanced at Hans.

"Don't think your minion can stop me," the player said. "I know all he can do is throw knives."

"You're mistaken," Dextra said. "Hans is so much more than that." The villain looked at his minion and nodded.

Hans nodded back, "Of course, Ms. Black."

With those words, Hans exploded into action. Knives, one for each of Hans's fingers, flew at the hovering player, aiming for gaps in his armor. Each blade connected with the barrier surrounding the man, but it did pull his attention away from Dextra.

"You really think he can stop me?" the player chided. "What can someone with knives do?"

"You'd be surprised," Dextra said, opening his power. The villain quickly went to work analyzing the enemy's ability, trusting Hans to keep him occupied long enough.

Hans let loose another bundle of knives, this time aiming them all at the player's head. Knife after knife connected with the barrier, but all he had to show for it was a small glow as the last blade struck the man's protection.

"Good try," the man said. "But my turn now."

The player leaned forward, rocketing at Hans like a human cannonball. Nimbly, Hans rolled out of the way, letting a knife fly as he dodged. The sound of metal falling to the ground reached Dextra, followed by a crash as the enemy smashed into the bookcase on the opposite wall.

"I rather liked this décor," Dextra complained.

"I as well, Ms. Black," Hans said.

Despite his expertise, Dextra knew his minion was in danger. One good strike would take him out for good, and it hastened the villain's search against the hovering player.

"Good dodge," the player said. "You're better than most of the NPCs I go up against."

A knife clattered to the ground, resulting from another attempt by Hans to pierce the man's barrier.

"Okay, that's getting annoying," the player said.

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