Vaudevillain

Dr. Zlo started with a simple laser, more as a distraction than anything else. Matt-att almost lazily blocked the blow, running forward to get into melee range of Dr. Zlo. The villain leaped back from the charge, bringing his cane up to spray adhesive on the ground. Matt-att jumped to the side, stepping over the white goo as it splashed on the sandy coast.

"You can't run!" the streamer jeered.

"It's a tactical retreat!" Dr. Zlo countered.

Another laser beam shot from Dr. Zlo's monocle as the villain kept his distance. From what the player remembered, Matt-att needed to touch something to attack it. So Dr. Zlo would fly around and wait for a moment to use his button bombs, taunting the entire time.

Matt-att's outstretched hand was the first sign things weren't quite the same as the last fight. The white snowfield beam that followed was the second. Dr. Zlo jerked to the side as the beam flew toward him, crashing into a group of players who'd stopped to watch the fight. Two of the players caught Dr. Zlo, keeping the man from falling into the dirt.

"Well, I did not expect that," Dr. Zlo said as he righted himself. "I must say you come with all sorts of surprises."

"Gotta make it interesting," Matt-att said.

The hero stomped toward Dr. Zlo, hand up to block incoming laser fire. Dr. Zlo turned the knob on his cane, then stepped forward to meet his foe. Before the two could meet, something flew toward Matt-att from behind. Dr. Zlo fired his laser at the projectile, striking it from the air. A boomerang fell to the ground in front of Matt-att, a smokey hole through the center.

"Hold a moment," Dr. Zlo asked the hero.

The villain activated his rocket boots, hovering in the air to attract everyone's attention. "I kindly ask that no one interfere with my fight! I don't need the help of those lesser than me to take on someone of this level!"

"That goes for you too, Trollstompers!" Matt-att yelled out. "I'm taking out this guy! Nobody else is gonna help!"

A few of the players soured. They'd hoped to lend a helping hand to their leaders to show off a bit and maybe get ahead of the others in promotions. That wouldn't work now that both leaders declared their intention to fight one-on-one. However, a few players still harbored the idea, thinking the possible rewards were worth the trouble.

With intentions declared, Dr. Zlo landed back on the ground, resuming his march toward Matt-att. The hero did the same, stopping when Dr. Zlo did. The two were only a few feet away now, and Matt-att couldn't help but taunt.

"Are you sure you want to stand so close? You know that one touch will take you out."

"Are you telling me to cower before you?" Dr. Zlo shot back. "That doesn't sound very heroic now, does it?"

"I don't know," Matt-att replied. "Stopping your act of terrorism on this city seems heroic to me?"

Dr. Zlo looked shocked, "A terrorist? Is that what you see me as?"

"What else could you be?"

"A criminal mastermind!" Dr. Zlo said, pointing his cane for effect.

"With this mess of a plan?" Matt-att answered. "I've seen better ideas from ten-year-old cod players."

Dr. Zlo sighed, "I'll admit, this isn't the most eloquent of schemes. There isn't nearly enough villainous mayhem, and my part in all this has been rather limited. But, that is the price I must pay to use such a number of people. I don't have nearly enough resources to do this on my own, not just yet."

"Well, you won't be doing it for a long time still," Matt-att said, rolling his neck. "I'm taking you down."

"You can try!" the villain said.

Matt-att rushed forward, making a beeline to tackle Dr. Zlo. Before he could reach the villain, a green liquid shot out of Dr. Zlo's cane, spilling over the ground like broken egg yolks. Matt-att immediately moved to the right to circumvent the liquid, creating his shield to stop anything that came his way. Dr. Zlo followed Matt-att's arc, aiming his frictionless gel just ahead of the hero.

Matt-att switched up his moves, juking in random directions to keep Dr. Zlo on his toes. Then, after a few seconds of movement, the streamer caught a mistake. Dr. Zlo shot the stream too close to Matt-att, and the hero took the chance to place his shield over the gel and absorb the kinetic energy. The gel fell before Matt-att's feet, stopping the hero's advance but adding to his arsenal.

"What a ridiculous power," Dr. Zlo complained.

"Thanks, I try," Matt-att replied.

The hero kept his shield up until Dr. Zlo stopped his assault, then crouched low and placed his hand on the ground. The gel around the hero broke apart into particles, then floated away on the wind like dandelion seeds.

"Now, that's just unfair!" Dr. Zlo shouted as he fired another laser.

"The perks of phleb upgrades!" Matt-att cackled.

The streamer rushed at Dr. Zlo again, blocking the incoming lasers with ease. Dr. Zlo took to the sky once more, his rocket boots scorching the shrub grass as he launched. He hovered just out of Matt-att's reach, pulling his gloves off angrily.

"Fine then! The gauntlet is thrown!"

With those words, Dr. Zlo tossed his gloves toward Matt-att. The cloth floated down, landing behind the streamer.

"Such a drama queen," the hero answered. "Why don't you come down and fight like a man?"

"A true man rises to the occasion!" Dr. Zlo cackled. "Or are you still unable to match my genius in flight?"

"I was just trying to make it easier for you," Matt-att said as he pulled a backpack out of his inventory. "After all, I have a lot more options if I can fly in the air."

Matt-att strapped the backpack over his shoulders and flipped the switch resting near his torso. The pack hummed to life and blue rings pulsed from the streamer's back.

"I had some of the boys in the lab make this for me," Matt-att said as he rose into the air. "Now you can't run anymore."

"Who's running?" Dr. Zlo smiled wickedly.

The villain snapped his fingers and pulled his top hat off. A propellor sprouted from the top, the blades unfolding and kicking to life. A second later, Dr. Zlo's hat drone hovered beside him, somehow looking angry in Matt-att's eyes.

Matt-att waved a hand, "So you have a robot. It won't help."

"We'll see about that," Dr. Zlo muttered.

Dr. Zlo patted his top hat on the brim, then commanded toward Matt-att. The top hat buzzed forward, its propeller an angry bee ready to sting.

The streamer rolled his eyes. "Did you forget my power," he said as he reached out for the drone.

Something struck Matt-att in the back, throwing off his grab and sending a wince of pain through his back. Surprised, the streamer shot into the air, whirling to see what struck him. He looked below to find a pair of white gloves, the same ones Dr. Zlo held earlier, wagging a finger in his direction.

"Come now, hero. Did you think a criminal mastermind like myself forgot about your disintegration powers?" Dr. Zlo taunted.

"D*mn you," Matt-att cursed. The player's stream reacted as well, various subscribers commenting with "lol's" and "rekt's."

Matt-att didn't have time to read anything scrolling by, now that Dr. Zlo had minions to help him. The streamer twirled in the air to dodge another charge from the hat drone, throwing his shield up as the dueling gloves went for another attack. The hero tried reaching out for a glove, but Dr. Zlo covered his minion with laser fire. Hand forced back, Matt-att was stuck dodging and blocking.

That wasn't to say the hero was out of options quite yet. Years of gaming had honed the hero's focus, and despite the man's frequent curses, Dr. Zlo couldn't get a hit in. The fight became a dance of red lasers, white punches, and shimmering shields as both players rose into the air.

Down below, a few players had stopped their assault to watch the ensuing fight, cheering on their respective leaders and making side bets on who would win. Near the waters, Dextra finally pushed past the last of the menagerie recruits; the few villains left standing keeping the player covered. With some time open, Dextra looked around the battlefield to take stock of the situation.

Sweet Dream and Riptide were working together with Shizuka to fight Rampart, Merla, and Titan. The two teams barreled through other fights, collecting and removing many of the recruits along the way. Further down, Dextra saw Nikola working with a recruit who made light constructs take down a team of players. To the left of that, Oro was running around with the recruit who helped break the Zloppelin, the two using their unique powers and knowledge to eliminate weaker targets. Behind them were a group of steampunk villains taking out Trollstompers and hero recruits alike.

"How chaotic," Dextra commented.

Despite the chaos, Dextra was enjoying the result. Jack was still monitoring the whole event with the hatbots and recording the players who stood out the most. All that was left now was to light the fuse on the wave widget, so to speak.

A glint of metal caught Dextra's eye, and the player looked up to see Dr. Zlo going at it with the leader of the Trollstompers. Dr. Zlo had added explosions to his mix of attacks now, pushing his foe even harder than before. However, Matt-att wasn't backing down, blocking everything that came his way while looking for an opening.

Dextra looked back down at Dr. Zlo's bomb, then back up at the villain. It would be a shame for the bomb to go off while Dr. Zlo was preoccupied. It wouldn't fit the image everyone had of Dr. Zlo, not at all. And what self-respecting villain like Dr. Zlo didn't leave a chance to gloat before the big finish?

Mind made up, Dextra opened the communicator and called Dr. Zlo.

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