Vaudevillain

The first part of the plan was simple; it involved Mabel. More specifically, it involved Mabel's power and another alien attack. Dr. Zlo stood at the front door with Riptide and Sweet Dream, waiting for the next alien attack to appear in front of them. Dr. Zlo took a sip from the martini Cass had made for him and scanned the yard.

Over the last few days, Vert had performed a few hotfixes to straighten out the new expansion. Sweet Dream had been the first to see it and informed the others. It looked like Vert had added a toggle option to the alien invasions, so players not in-game wouldn't come back to destroyed bases. The new toggle could be found in the base building tab, and the team wasted no time activating it.

Riptide ended up focusing on an entirely different portion of the hotfixes, the bugs. "Censor field around players no longer targetable by hero powers. What's the censor field?"

"It's that invisible wall hovering around a player's groin and chest. Keeps players from getting too close and personal." Sweet Dream answered.

Riptide laughed, "I bet that caused so many issues. Imagine someone pasting a gun onto the censor field."

"I was trying to keep that image out of my mind, Surf."

Surfsup flexed. "You mean Riptide!"

"Right, Riptide."

The others had decided it would be a good idea to use their character names from now on, as it helped get everyone into the mood. Both Sweet Dream and Riptide were starting to join in on Dr. Zlo's roleplaying antics and were using the downtime to flesh out their characters. Sweet Dream leaned towards playing a regal queen or princess of chocolate that aimed to control all the candy in the world. Riptide was playing himself with a more evil demeanor.

A hatbot flew in on a pigeon, landing on Dr. Zlo's shoulder. It beeped out a quick message before directing the pigeon inside. "What'd it say?" Asked Sweet Dream.

"Good question, Cass?" Dr. Zlo turned to his butler.

"Deloris said the aliens were coming, boss. Over in the garden."

"Excellent!" Dr. Zlo placed the drink in his hand on Cass's silver platter and stepped off the mansion steps with a flourish. "Mabel! Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready for you, Zlo hon." Mabel stepped out of the sitting room and sauntered over to Dr. Zlo.

"I'm sure you are, but my true love is evil! Let us be off."

Mabel sighed wistfully, "oh, why must he play hard to get."

Cass rolled his eyes. Mabel shot him a look. Cass looked away and whistled as nonchalantly as he could.

"Are you coming?" Dr. Zlo called.

Mabel gave Cass the, "I'm watching you gesture," and swayed around to her leader. "Coming hon." She stepped off the mansion step, the rest following behind.

The garden had been uprooted and upturned by the Jacques, creating a maze of hedges and trees to block sight of the mansion. Statues of Dr. Zlo littered the maze yard, activating when an intruder entered. The whole team could hear the sounds of battle up ahead as the figures performed their task with mechanical precision.

"Shouldn't we hurry, boss?" Cass asked. He nervously looked around the maze for aliens.

"Nonsense, Cass. I would look completely ridiculous if I ran into the fight. We aren't some jughead charging into a fight; we're villains of class!"

"Okay then, boss." Cass straightened and tried to look confident.

"That's the spirit, Cass!"

An orange streak burst through the bushes and landed between Dr. Zlo and Cass. Cass squeaked and jumped to the side. Dr. Zlo sighed, "We'll work on it."

The Quli alien groaned and opened its eyes. "For Qraxos!" It cried as it tried to scramble for its weapon.

"Now, dear, you're too tense. Relax, and let Momma Mabel take care of you for a bit." Both Cass and the alien stiffened, then slumped their shoulders in relaxation.

"Mabel?" Dr. Zlo said.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you use your power on Cass?"

"He seemed so tense. I thought it would be good for him."

Dr. Zlo shook his head. "I need Cass working properly, Mabel. Who else would make our drinks? Release your hold on him, and don't do it again."

Mabel pouted. "Fine, but only because it's you asking." She turned to Cass. "You can stop listening to me now, dear."

Cass tensed up in anxiety once again.

"I have to get me a minion like that," Sweet Dream said.

Dr. Zlo barked a laugh. "Ha! Mabel is one of a kind. You won't find another minion like her."

"Oh, stop it, Zlo hon. You're makin' me blush."

"More aliens incoming, dudes!" Riptide said.

"Mabel!" Dr. Zlo commanded. "Work your magic!"

The Quli burst through the bushes, shouting their warcry.

"Now dears," Mabel started. "Why don't you lower those nasty weapons and come give your Momma a hug."

The group of Quli stiffened, then lowered their weapons and walked over to Mabel. Each bent down to hug the old lady. Mabel returned it in kind. "Such good boys you are."

More Quli jumped out of the bushes, or flew out, depending on if they met a statue or not. Mabel took control of each one until twenty sat in front of her, all waiting patiently for their "mom" to give them orders. Another Quli stepped out of the bushes and raised their gun to shoot.

"Now, dear. Put that terrible thing away and come over to your Momma."

At first, the alien stiffened. Then Momma Mabel clutched her head in pain. The control she had over the alien fell away. Shaking off the effects, the Quli raised a weapon and readied a quick shot.

Riptide reacted first, flying out on his board. In one quick motion, he clipped the gun with the back of his surfboard. Swinging around, Riptide fired a laser and put the orange foe down. The villain finished it off with another quick blast from their board. The iconic rings of light appeared and pulled the alien away.

"What happened?" Riptide asked.

"I think I've reached my limit of control, Zlo hon," Mabel said as she clutched her head. "I have the nastiest headache right now."

"Well, twenty should do fine. It's enough to enact the second part of my master plan!"

Sweet Dream coughed, "Ahem. Our master plan."

"Of course. Our master plan!"

"H*ll yeah, dudes!"

"Quite right. Now, let's clean up the rest of these invaders. I have so many new toys to test out."

Dr. Zlo stepped forward through one of the hedge holes made by the alien, making his way to a clearing where his statues fought. Each bust already showed signs of damage, the outer stone layer chipping off to reveal the gearbox insides. Most of the statues lay on the floor, broken in multiple pieces. Four Quli crouched behind a fallen statue, taking potshots at Dr. Zlo facsimiles heaving their dead brethren at the aliens.

As Dr. Zlo stepped forward, he pulled off one of his button pins and tossed it into the four aliens. None of them paid attention to the small object landing between them, which meant none noticed it sizzling until it was too late. The button exploded, blasting the aliens every which way with a wave of force. Groggy, one tried to stand. Dr. Zlo aimed his laser monocle and fired.

The beam of red light connected and sent the alien down to the ground. Dr. Zlo performed the same action for each of the aliens until the rings of light appeared. Nodding in satisfaction, Dr. Zlo checked the base building tab. Another addition Vert made was a wave counter. The group had already defeated two waves, and three more were on their way.

"It seems these aliens are persistent. We have three more invasions before we can head off to complete our plan."

"We better get back to the mansion then, no telling where the next wave will appear."

"Oh, let me go next! I want to try out the armor you made. And this new ray gun." Riptide held up the new weapon Dr. Zlo had made.

"Let's use the next waves to test out the minions," Sweet Dream said.

"Fine, they can help. But the big ones are mine."

"Whatever we do, we should do at the mansion. Remember, the next wave is coming," Dr. Zlo said. He urged everyone out of the maze.

They arrived in front of the mansion in time to see another group of Quli appear, this time in the shielded group of three. They slowly advanced towards the front of the estate, guns at the ready for any attack. Riptide prepared to rush forward, but Sweet Dream stopped him.

"Look," she said, pointing up to the mansion roof.

Her rabbit minion stood above, surrounded by a group of pigeon riding hatbots. The group watched as the minion rummaged through their basket and produced a colored egg. A hatbot grabbed the item and jerked their pigeon into the air. The little robot soared above the Quli and let go of its package.

The egg fell to the ground and exploded among the aliens. Dirt kicked high into the air as the force of the blast sent Quli flying. More hatbots soared over, and Dylan imagined Flight of the Valkyries playing. Quli duck under shields for cover, but the bombardment continued until the riot shields cracked and shattered. With nothing left to protect them, the Quli fell apart, rings appearing to take them home.

"Well, that was certainly impressive," said Dr. Zlo.

"I think I'm going to name them Bouncing Betty," Sweet Dream commented. "BB for short."

"I like it. A good minion deserves a good name."

"I totally need to see mine in action now," Riptide said.

"Well, I think you're about to get your chance." Sweet Dream pointed at more rings of light manifesting in front of the fountain statue. Quartet, Jawbreaker, and Riptide's minion stepped out of the mansion door to meet the enemy. Riptide flew over to join them, ready to fight alongside his new follower.

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