Vaudevillain

Dr. Zlo reached the ruins of the mansion well before John showed up, thanks to his rocket shoes. He stared morosely at the wreckage as he landed. No longer did a grand design of architecture sit before him. Instead, the mansion was little more than a bundle of sticks.

"Curse that Singularity for his betrayal," Dr. Zlo said.

The villain treaded through his garden and blinked in surprise. A few of his statues still stood. Somehow, the marble statues lived throughout the entirety of the mansion bombardment. Dr. Zlo brought a hand up to brush the statue's face. Cold from the marble seeped through his new gloves.

"At least some of my inventions are still alive."

The statue whirred to life, stepping off its pedestal and turning away from Dr. Zlo.

"Stand down," the villain said. "This is between me and him."

The statue went still, obeying its creator's commands. Dr. Zlo stepped out of the garden, brushing a stray leaf off his suit jacket. John stood at the gates of the mansion, anger already on his face. The two men walked forward until they reached earshot of each other. Neither made a motion to attack, both sides waiting to see what the other did.

Well, Dr. Zlo wasn't about to stew in silence. The mustached villain leaned forward on his cane, "Well, you're braver than I thought. Either that or just stupid. Didn't you consider this would be a trap? I am the foremost crimina–"

"Oh, just shut up," John interrupted. "I get it. You're 'Dr. Zlo,' criminal mastermind. No need to announce it every ten seconds. And I knew you wouldn't make this a trap, Dylan."

"Because I'm the one who always had the ideas. I always made the plans. You only followed along."

"Ha!" Dr. Zlo barked. "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my idea to steal the mothership! Don't delude yourself. It only makes you look silly."

"Shut the f*ck up," John growled. "You know as well as I do that without me you wouldn't have gotten the idea in the first place. Admit it; you need me."

Dr. Zlo scoffed, "Need you for what? As some muscle that steals my inventions? Or did you forget the part where my genius stole the spaceship without you."

"Sheer luck," John said. "And you still lost it in the end. If we did it my way, you might have known that!"

"If I did it your way, I would still be in the basement of the mansion. You'd have me crafting parts for some asinine machine instead of performing viciously evil deeds for all to see!"

"At least you'd have the mansion!" John countered.

Dr. Zlo smiled with a bitter, twisted sneer, "And now we get to the core of the issue. Tell me, did you find out the mansion would be attacked by happenstance, or did you manufacture it?"

John rolled his eyes, "You're still on that? Someone was going to attack sooner or later. I helped you by saving the factories. And what did you do? You asked me to apologize!"

Dr. Zlo deflated, his eyes full of pity, "You really think this is about the mansion getting attacked?"

John's stare was all the answer Dylan needed.

"Look, John," Dylan started. "I don't care about the mansion getting destroyed. I don't care that you took the factories. What I care about is that you lied to me, you know you lied to me, and you refuse to admit it."

"Because I was right!" John seethed.

"Because you manufactured it, or at least did nothing to stop it. Seriously, you think I didn't know that my base wasn't well defended? That's partly the point! From day one, I told you exactly what I intended to do. And what did you do? You ignored it, called it dumb. It hurt at the time, but we had different styles. I understood that."

Dylan took a deep breath, "Then, someone made that video, and I got a stupid amount of views. Suddenly, you didn't mind so much about playing with me. Why was that?"

"Because I gave you the idea to steal the mothership, and we decided to do it together. I didn't have to join you."

"But you did, without even trying to convince me to meet with you. You didn't even try and make me play a hero. And the more I think about that, the more I wonder why. You've never been one to follow along. Why is it that you decided to then?"

John's face was indignant, "Maybe I wanted to play together? Can't it be that simple? But then you ruined it."

Dylan rolled his eyes, "I ruined it? Do you know how ridiculous you sound? Everyone knows you stole my inventions, everyone knows you had something to do with the hero attacking, and you still say this is my fault?"

"Because it wouldn't have happened if you just listened!" John yelled. "If you listened and reinforced the base with all the defenses, that hero wouldn't have gotten in!"

"And it wouldn't have happened if you didn't let it happen!" Dylan yelled back.

"You know what, I don't have to take this sh*t from you," John said. "I came here to prove you wrong, to show that I'm the better player. So stop trying to get out of this fight and come at me."

Dylan groaned. Even now, John treated him like an idiot. He'd been trying to get some reason from his former friend. And all John could think about was proving Dylan wrong. Well, fine then, no more chances.

Dylan mentally decided to stop reaching out to John. This wasn't a fight between two friends; it was a fight between Dr. Zlo and Singularity. And Dr. Zlo had a bone to pick with the betrayer.

John started the fight by shifting his arm into a gun. Blasts of energy lanced out toward Dr. Zlo, only for them to miss entirely as the villain pressed the top of his pocket watch. John followed the movement, swinging his arm around to keep track of his enemy.

Dr. Zlo tapped his watch again, moving a meter to his left. His laser monocle returned fire, only for the attack to dissipate on a translucent shield. John's arm kept shifting, becoming a beehive of holes that blasted energy like a sprinkler. Unable to teleport safely, Dr. Zlo ignited his rocket shoes to soar over the blast.

The villain landed behind John. "Is that truly all you have?" Dr. Zlo mocked. "I expected a bit more from someone who 'plays the game correctly.'"

John snarled in frustration and spun around, only to flinch from two gloves smacking his face.

"And so, the duel begins!" shouted the doctor.

"Did you seriously just hit me with f*cking gloves!" raged John.

Dr. Zlo tipped his hat, secretly pressing the on switch on his drone, "No, not f*cking gloves. Dueling gloves!"

John recoiled as a punch clocked him in the chin. Frantically, the man looked around. A slap connected with his face, and John caught a glimpse of the attacker. He stared stupidly at the floating pair of gloves. His face contorted as the right hand taunted him to attack.

John's other arm shifted, the forearm changing into a wide chainsaw. It revved menacingly at Dr. Zlo.

"Oh good, you brought power tools to help clean up after your defeat."

"Stop talking and fight!" John yelled. He swiped at an incoming glove while firing another blast of energy at Dr. Zlo.

The villain swooped under the blast. With a quick alter of his trajectory, Dr. Zlo took a page out of Riptide's book and spun under John's arm. His hand pressed down on his cane and fired off a round of adhesive gel, sticking John to the grass. The man twisted to follow, but the adhesive tripped him up and brought him to the ground.

"Take that!" Dr. Zlo gloated. He fired more lasers from his monocle, each one impacting John's shield.

John grunted as the gloves performed another one-two punch combo. But the man endured the blows and brought his chainsaw into the ground. The blade severed the adhesive in one quick strike, and John sprang to his feet.

"Seems you learned a little something after all these years."

"Oh, don't try to make this something you did. All of this is my idea, the gloves, the lasers, the gel, all mine. You are nothing but a footnote in my road to conquest."

"Seriously, f*ck off with the roleplaying already."

"Never!" Dr. Zlo fired another laser.

John jumped to the side, switching his arm over to a different weapon. He hadn't expected to use this, but Dylan was actually more of a threat than usual. In the past, it only took John a bit of effort to beat his friend. Despite himself, John was proud. It seemed Dylan finally learned something from him.

John's arm melted down into one solid, hollow tube that hung stiffly at his side. His vision switched to a head's up display that highlighted heat around the area. John smiled as Dr. Zlo's rocket shoes lit up like a Christmas Tree. And John had the perfect present for his former friend.

John looked up at Dr. Zlo, the tech's targeting system locking onto the villain. In turn, Dr. Zlo flitted around on his rocket shoes and teleporter, firing laser after laser into John's shield. Just as it seemed like his defense would break, the system locked on. With a mental pull of the trigger, his arm loaded a rocket and fired.

Smoke erupted from John, and Dr. Zlo saw a burning missile racing to his location. With a quick tap of his teleporter, Dr. Zlo moved out of the way, only to see the missile change direction. Frowning, the villain performed a loop and raced behind the mansion in an attempt to escape.

The missile followed, inching closer every second. Dr. Zlo dipped under broken support beams, weaved through holes in the rubbles, and looped around obstructions, but nothing could stop the missile. With no way to evade the weapon, Dr. Zlo twisted back around toward John, activating his stopwatch to evade.

"Let's give you a taste of your own medicine," Dr. Zlo said.

John smirked as Dylan came closer. He knew the missile launcher would come in handy. Dylan's power meant staying in the back of the fight and letting the inventions do all the work. Well, now his enemy had to come into fighting range, and John was sure he'd have the upper hand there.

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