Vaudevillain

Dr. Zlo growled at the hero hovering in front of him, the man having returned after sending both Riptide and Sweet Dream home with Mabel.

"Now, how about you pack up your things and leave?" the hero asked. "While I'm still asking nicely."

"Ha!" Dr. Zlo laughed. "Do you really think that your paltry threats will work on a villain of my caliber? I am Dr. Zlo! The greatest cri--"

The villain found himself cut off by the hero, the man flying forward to strike at Dr. Zlo. The villain twisted out of the way, barely scraping by thanks to his rocket shoes' erratic flight patterns.

"How rude!" Dr. Zlo shouted. "At least wait for me to finish!"

The villain grabbed his gloves, tossing them at the hero. The dueling gloves activated, balling into fists and giving the enemy a one-two punch. Explosions rocked the area between Dr. Zlo and the hero, sending both flying backward, though none worse for wear.

"Cass!" Dr. Zlo shouted. "Get Quartet and help me out!"

"You got it, boss!" Cass shouted.

The silvery butler turned, scanning the area for Quartet. The minion found him behind an upturned piece of rubble, hiding from the heroes. Periodically, the villain would release blasts of controlled sound, kicking up whirlwinds or shooting pulsing sound blades to pick off stragglers.

"I'm not getting involved with that mess!" Quartet complained. "No way, no how!"

Cass furrowed his brow, "Listen, you. I'm not about to let the boss fail this scheme of his. If that means forcing you to do your job, then I'll do it."

"Since when did you have a backbone?" Quartet asked.

"Since I got an arm that makes you listen to me," Cass answered. The minion's arm transformed into a wicked needle after he spoke.

"Okay, I get the point," Quartet answered. "Don't use that thing on me."

"Just hold down that hero for a few more minutes," Cass said. "We've got to make sure there's enough time for the death ray to go off."

Quartet grudgingly accepted, jumping out of his hiding spot to send a blast of sound at the hero facing Dr. Zlo. It struck the NPC in the chest, staggering him but doing no damage. Dr. Zlo followed up by shooting the hero with his laser, but a matching blast from the hero canceled the beams out.

"Stop getting in my way!" Dr. Zlo shouted.

Inwardly, Dylan was excited. The big guns were finally in play. He'd expected something like this to happen. Vert would have to make something that prevented players from attacking the heroes guild headquarters, or else a bunch of players would attempt the assault.

A hero similar to Superiorman made sense in that aspect, considering the titular character's insane variety of powers. Any player going up against the NPC would have to deal with laser vision, freeze breath, X-ray vision, super strength, flight, and an impossible amount of other powers. Often ones explicitly created to deal with threats in the moment. Even groups would have a hard time facing the character, as Superiorman was practically invincible to everything. There were only two things the character was vulnerable to; magic and Kryonite.

Of course, Vert's version of the character wasn't likely to have such issues, not if he was supposed to be the final protector.

But that wouldn't stop Dr. Zlo from trying. So while the villain shouted at the NPC, he carved a spell out with his cane, shooting a crackling lance of disintegration at the incoming hero. If the hero dodged, there was a chance magic worked on him. If he took the blow, it was likely impossible. All Dr. Zlo could do after that is stall for time.

Speaking of which, Dr. Zlo glanced at the countdown timer on his wrist. Another minute had passed, leaving six minutes left for the death ray to fire. Dylan cursed. He was sure more time had passed since the NPC showed himself.

The NPC hero rolled away from Dr. Zlo's disintegration beam, signaling to the villain that magic might work. Quartet and Cass arrived at that moment, the former shooting blasts of sound that sent the hero reeling backward as they struck. Cass followed up with a burst of fire from his hand, the nanobots changing into a flamethrower.

Dr. Zlo used the time to activate his hat drone and send it at the hero along with his gloves. It wasn't a large window of time, as the hero had already recovered from the surprise attack, flying straight through Cass's flames to strike at Dr. Zlo. The villain rolled out of the way, attempting to stick a button bomb on the back of the hero's cape.

The NPC flew by too fast for Dr. Zlo to succeed, and the bomb fell to the ground, where it stuck to a passing hero. The explosion knocked multiple heroes off their feet, stalling the mass exodus that was flying toward Skyline. The space between the city and the moon had lit up like a festival. Beams of energy arced across the void like fireworks, attracting the eyes with their myriad colors.

A distraction that slowed Dr. Zlo just enough to get clipped by the NPC.

The villain spun in place, his rocket shoes sending him careening into the ground. He landed with a mighty crack, the force of the blow creating a small crater and kicking up dust. Dylan winced as his health bar dropped seventy-five percent, putting him at low health. One more strike would activate the reset button, and Dr. Zlo would be out of the fight for good.

"Boss!" Cass shouted in alarm. The minion turned to the NPC, "How dare you do that to boss!"

Cass's arm started to grow, becoming a heaping mass of muscle as large as Cass was wide. The minion reared back, swinging with all his might at the caped hero nearby. Dr. Zlo saw the attack through the cloud of dust and fully expected Cass to miss. Indeed, it looked like that would be the case as the NPC easily flew out of striking range.

But then something unexpected happened. Cass's arm detached from his person, surprising Dr. Zlo, the hero, and Cass all at once. The hulking arm smashed into the NPC, sending him flying into the sky head over heels.

Cass quickly took the chance to rush over to Dr. Zlo, helping his leader out of the small crater.

"Good job, Cass," Dr. Zlo coughed out.

"I didn't know I had it in me, boss," Cass said.

"Well, try to keep it up," Dr. Zlo said, looking up at the sky. "I doubt you did any lasting damage."

Cass looked up with wide eyes, "What are we going to do, boss?"

Dr. Zlo looked at his watch again; only thirty seconds had passed in that exchange. "We stall, Cass," the villain said grimly. "This hero won't be able to save the moon if he can't get to Skyline."

"Right," Cass nodded, his eyes growing steely.

Dr. Zlo patted the minion on the back. It was an uncharacteristic action from the villain, but Dylan wasn't about to let his most loyal minion feel unappreciated. Cass's eyes instantly went from steely to teary as his admiration for his boss threatened to overwhelm him.

"Oh, save the sobbing for later," Dr. Zlo complained. "It ruins our evil presence."

"Yes, boss," Cass sniffed. The minion turned back to look at the NPC hero, who had recovered and was flying back toward Dr. Zlo at impossible speeds.

"Dodge!" Dr. Zlo shouted, activating his rocket shoes.

Cass followed suit, his arm transforming into a propeller to take him off the ground. Quartet reacted a moment later, using his sound powers to kick himself into the air.

Half of the minion's bodies were too late.

The NPC slammed back into the moon, kicking up a crater that knocked two of Quartet's bodies high into the air. The caped hero instantly reacted, flying over and giving each body a quick punch that sent it back into Quartet's body. The minion coughed in pain as two of his four bodies returned.

"It seems you all want to play hardball," the hero said. "I had wanted to keep this nice, but it seems you won't allow me that courtesy."

"Ha!" Dr. Zlo laughed. "You ask a villain to play nice? You're more naïve than I thought, do-gooder!"

"Call it a sense of decency," the hero responded. "One that you can't seem to keep."

"Ha!" Dr. Zlo laughed again, barely dodging a strike from the hero. "You assume that I was born with any decency at all! I assure you, I am entirely despicable. After all, I plan to destroy the very moon your pesky guild is sitting on!"

The hero grimaced at those words, "I can't let you do that."

"Then try and stop me!" Dr. Zlo taunted. The villain waved his cane, conjuring another disintegration spell that lanced at the hero. Dr. Zlo expected it to get dodged like before, only to be surprised as the hero tanked the blow and flew right into the villain's face.

"You deceiver!" Dr. Zlo roared.

"Just good tactics," the hero answered, swinging his fist.

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