Vaudevillain

Dylan rifled through the papers, looking over the contract from Vert. Legalese covered the page, making Dylan's head swirl at the confusing words.

"I feel like I need a lawyer for this," Dylan said.

"Oh, don't worry," Rick said. "There's nothing too complicated about it. Basically, it's your standard NDA agreement with a list of caveats. You're able to talk about our agreement, and the news can ask a few questions, but you can't leak any of the story we're making, and if we make a few new mechanics, you can't leak that either."

Dylan rifled through the papers as Rick talked, noting the essential areas. Years of leasing apartments had taught him how to read through the legalese and get to the heart of the issue.

"Hold on," Dylan said after a bit of reading. "This contract still says you get the rights to use my character's image even if I don't have him as the main boss?"

"Right," Rick said. "See, our marketing team would like to use the player's images for the art on each expansion. Link things back to the player, you know."

"Okay," Dylan said. "But if I sign this, you'll have me turn over all the rights for marketing Dr. Zlo the character."

"That's not a problem, is it?" Rick asked.

Dylan thought about it. The contract seemed innocuous enough, and it was something Dylan might have signed off on before playing Dr. Zlo. Now though, the man couldn't help but think about things with something of a devious mind.

Dylan realized that if he signed the contract as it was, Vert could attempt to keep Dr. Zlo for their own purposes. There wasn't a time limit in the agreement, other than the general copyright laws that were too strict. That meant Vert would effectively own Dr. Zlo, something Dylan wasn't fond of at all. Menagerie was making a decent amount of pocket change now, thanks to Dr. Zlo's Viewtube videos. There was a chance Vert took those if Dylan signed off on this.

"I'm already using Dr. Zlo for marketing purposes," Dylan explained to Rick. "If I sign off on this, you could take my videos down, couldn't you?"

"We wouldn't do that," Rick said hastily.

Dylan almost snorted. He didn't have to be devious to know that was the biggest lie he'd heard all day. Dylan already knew that if a contract specified something that the other party could do, but wouldn't do "out of good faith," well, then the contract probably needed a clause limiting the other party.

"I can't sign this as it is," Dylan said. "Even if you wouldn't do that, Rick. If someone replaces you, I won't get that same guarantee."

Rick's winning smiled faltered for a second before returning full-force. "You're right, you're right. I wasn't thinking about it after the event. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I guess."

"It's not a problem to use Dr. Zlo for art," Dylan said. "But I can't hand over the rights to the character."

"I understand," Rick said. "I'll just take this then."

Rick grabbed the contract.

"Let me get the legal boys to rewrite it a bit, and we'll send it over when it's ready," Rick said. "I'm sorry we couldn't come to a conclusion here."

"It's not a problem," Dylan said, standing to meet up with Rick. "I got to see a bit of your amazing company, so I think I came out ahead."

"Aha, interested in working in video games?" Rick asked.

"Oh, not really," Dylan said. "I've got a good job right now. But I'm always interested in the floor designs of other companies."

"You work as a consultant or something?" Rick asked as he opened the conference room door.

"Architecture," Dylan answered. "Just finished working on a contract with my city recently."

"Hey, nice," Rick said. "I've got a relative who works construction. I actually contracted him to build the offices here."

Dylan kept up the small talk until the two men made it back to the front lobby.

"I'll make sure to let legal know what you want, and we'll send the official contract over through email," Rick said.

"Thanks, talk to you soon then, I guess," Dylan said.

Dylan was on his way home when he noticed his phone going off. He looked down to see a voice call from Thomas. The man must be wondering how things went with Vert. Dylan let the call ring then redialed Thomas once he reached a stoplight.

"Hey," Dylan said. "You wondering how it went?"

"Yeah," Thomas said.

"Nothing too bad, I guess," Dylan said. "I talked to Rick, their relations person, and he answered a few of our questions."

"Which ones?" Thomas urged.

"The ones pertaining to the raid boss position," Dylan said. "He wasn't a developer, so he couldn't answer the other questions."

"Fair," Thomas said. "So what did he say?"

Dylan filled his friend in, explaining Rick's answers to their questions. Once he was done, Thomas took a second before speaking.

"It sounds like they want to railroad players again," Thomas said.

"Yeah, I got that impression too," Dylan said. "And then there was this bit in the contract about signing over the character's rights. That concerned me a bit, not going to lie."

"You didn't sign it did you?" Thomas said.

"No way," Dylan answered. "I wasn't about to hand over Dr. Zlo to 'the gods.'"

The two friends laughed, recalling their first major conversation together.

"Well, it isn't all bad, I guess," Thomas said. "It sounds like you get most of the creative freedoms, even if the company might limit a few things."

"It's too bad about permanent changes, though," Dylan said. "I would have loved to send an asteroid hurtling into a city."

"That sounds more like Dextra's thing," Thomas said. "You'd be the type to steal the moon. Or turn it into cheese."

"Ha!" Dylan laughed as he turned into his driveway. "Great minds think alike, I suppose."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I was thinking of having Dr. Zlo's big thing be stealing the moon. He'd make a giant space station that shrinks it down, making it his greatest trophy," Dylan explained.

"That sounds awesome," Thomas said. "But that sounds awfully close to permanent changes."

"It's not like Dr. Zlo would win," Dylan continued. "At most, he might get as far as shrinking it down. I'm sure Vert would be fine with the idea."

"Maybe," Thomas said, with none of Dylan's confidence.

"Well, whatever," Dylan said. "I'll think about it more when the updated contract comes. Right now, I want to jump online and do something crazy."

"Any ideas coming to mind?" Thomas asked.

"I'm thinking something, wacky," Dylan said.

Skyline had progressed significantly in the few weeks since Menagerie's big event, and the city was starting to look like something other than a few buildings placed near each other. Heroes and villains roamed the upper portion, NPC robots built by the crafters joining in with determined movements. The grand skyscraper stood tall, still the centerpiece of the flying city.

That wasn't to say other buildings weren't starting to stick out. A large dome, made of some transparent material, now hovered in the air near the skyscraper. One of the recruits was a stargazer and wanted their base to relate to the fact. Below it stood a gift shop selling all sorts of Dr. Zlo paraphernalia. The small storefront had weirded Dylan out at first, but he realized Dr. Zlo would probably love the idea. The player behind the idea thought so too, and they spent no time getting approval for the idea.

Dylan walked by the storefront, taking care to keep his secret identity active, and ducked down a side alley. The end of the passage held a small door, which Dylan opened and went through. The man stepped inside a small box, a button resting near the door. One push caused the room to shake, a soft dinging noise ringing through the room once the shaking stopped. Dylan opened the door again, stepping out into the underside of Skyline.

Drawing his lab coat closer together, Eric Vil made his way out of the alley and past the descending spire where all the so-called important villains resided. What did they know of importance, sitting inside a glass box all day? No, Eric bet that those inside the skyscraper wouldn't know true importance if it hit them upside the head with a fish.

Sniffing derogatorily at the building as he passed, Eric pushed his way down the street until he came to his abode. The gothic mansion at the top of the hill, complete with all the traps needed to keep pesky interlopers out. Eric tapped out the key code to his gate door with practiced ease, waiting as it slid open with an ominous screech. The man walked in once it finished, disappearing into the distance.

Once out of sight, Eric changed back into Dr. Zlo! Criminal mastermind! Handing Cass his coat, the villain strode into his ornate hallway, Mabel joining his side a moment later.

"How are you today, Mabel?" Dr. Zlo asked.

"Doing good, hon," Mabel responded.

"I'm doing good too, boss," Cass said, joining the two after hanging Dr. Zlo's lab coat.

"That's great, Cass," Dr. Zlo said dismissively.

The villain walked down the hallway, arriving in an ornate lounge. Gilded framed pictures hung on the walls, separated by large bookshelves with leatherbound books. A plush red chair rested in front of a cozy fireplace, a bust of Dr. Zlo sitting on an end table next to it.

Dr. Zlo walked over to the bust in two steps and flipped the statue's head, revealing a red button. The villain then placed his thumb on the button, the fingerprint scanner unlocking the mechanism and depressing the switch inside. The fireplace snuffed out, sliding backward to reveal a dark staircase leading down.

"Ah, it's good to be back!" Dr. Zlo said.

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