Vaudevillain

Nomsky groaned in annoyance as another mob of business suited minions ran down the street. He hated dealing with human wave tactics in games. There was no fun in constantly beating back the same mob every time. Variety was the spice of life after all. It was partly why he picked the power he did. Power armor was always versatile.

This was the player’s third wave and he was starting to get bored. But it wasn’t like he could stop, he’d set his base up in this city, and the player wasn’t about to lose it. It had taken longer than he’d expected to grind up the materials for his small storefront. Apparently, it had cost more because it straddled the edge of both the upper streets and the lower tunnels.

It had been so worth it, however. As a neutral party Nomsky had been able to work for both sides of the city, plying his skills as a mercenary. It gave him the variety he wanted and it let him learn the ins and outs of the city.

And now some crazy villain by the name of CEOverlord decided he wanted to control the city. Well, not if Nomsky had anything to say about it. Of course, first he had to get his storefront defenses up and running so he could actually leave.

A large club shaped like a stapler swung toward the player. He stopped it with his power armor, kicking out and disarming the opponent. A quick flick of the wrist followed, Nomsky conjuring up a grenade with his power that sent a rumble down the street as it exploded.

Suits flew everywhere, flying into the air like popcorn in an uncovered pot. Yet, the ground still rumbled. Confused, Nomsky took to the skies, trying to see if anything more dangerous was coming his way.

Three players bolted down the street, a cloud of dust kicking up behind them. One of them seemed to have a continuous supply of flashbangs that they tossed to their companion. The companion used a golf club of all things, knocking the tossed flashbangs back into the cloud of dust. The final player had an old man in his hands, a cage wrapped around him.

The rhythmic thumping of repeated grenades joined the cacophony of noise coming from behind the players. Grunts of annoyance, anger, and every once and a while the occasional sacre bleu! rang out.

“What the h*ll?” Nomsky asked himself.

As the crowd grew closer, the group behind the players revealed itself. Nomsky saw a man in a spotted leopard outfit, a man with a forehead so square he could be used as a straightedge, and a man in a skintight black suit that only showed his eyes. Behind them ran a man in a suit and sunglasses. Anger rested on all of their faces.

It only took a moment for the players ahead to see the crowd of minions assaulting Nomsky’s storefront. However, instead of trying to go around the group instantly switched tactics. The player above watched as the one carrying the old man shapeshifted an arm into two large walls that formed a V. The player creating the grenades grabbed the struggling old man and held him up while they bulldozed through the minions without stopping.

The group chasing behind, villains from what Nomsky could tell, used the opening to gain some distance on the players now that they were no longer hindered by the flash grenades. The one in the suit seemed to be the most dangerous, their powers moving everything out of the way to give him a straight shot. But just when it seemed like the sunglasses super caught up, the hero with the golf club turned around and smacked three grenades toward the group with their powers in quick succession. The resulting explosion forced the villains back once more, resetting the chase.

“Okay, so where is this next piazza?” Nomsky heard the player in the middle ask.

“Not much further!” said the shapeshifter. “Past the small footbridge ahead.”

They must have been talking about Bright Piazza, Nomsky reasoned. Though, why they were leading a mob of people there was anyone’s guess.

“Remember to keep them within a hundred feet!” the last player below said. “We don’t have time to reset this whole thing.”

“We know already!” Gameset said, thoroughly annoyed. “You’ve told us a hundred times.”

“Only four actually,” Approximo said. “And I can carry Gio again!”

Of a Kind wasted no time in handing the NPC off, grateful to go back to his previous role. He tossed a grenade behind him lazily, cooking it for a moment before letting it explode. A few of CEOverlord’s minions fell flinched as the light and sound disoriented them.

“Alright, I’m done playing nice guy!” a gruff voice shouted from behind.

The players turned to see Brickhead lowering his square head. “Time for a pounding!”

The villain charged, his short feet stomping harder on the ground as he barreled in a straight line toward the heroes. Gameset tried to stop him with a flashbang, but it only seemed to make the villain angrier. He stomped closer, his footsteps almost an earthquake.

The pathway ahead curved, and while the heroes turned with it, Brickhead continued on his journey in a straight line. He crashed through the wall propping a house up, breaking through with wild abandon.

“Crap, we’re going to lose him if he does that!” Of a Kind shouted.

“Split up!” Gameset said. She looked to Of a Kind. “You pull Brickhead back toward us and we’ll focus on keeping these guys together.”

Of a Kind nodded. “Alright.”

He turned to leave, but not before a suit of power armor fell from the sky to fly next to them.

“Perhaps I could help?” Nomsky asked.

“What? Who are you?” Gameset asked. She dodged an incoming attack from the crowd behind.

“Call me Nomsky,” the player said. “I heard you were pulling these guys to Bright Piazza and it got me curious.”

“We’re grabbing a bunch of NPCs and herding them to the coliseum,” Gameset said quickly. “We plan to activate the Dr. Zlo raid and use him to fight CEOverlord.”

Nomsky burst out laughing. “That’s ridiculous!”

“It’s fun is what it is,” Gameset said with a smile. She avoided another attack from behind, sending a grenade back in response.

“Well consider me interested,” Nomsky said.

“Great, help Of a Kind get Brickhead back on track. Once we reach the Piazza and trigger a cutscene the villains can’t chase us for a moment. We can regroup then.”

“Cool beans,” Nomsky said. The player flew off toward Of a Kind, ready to help.

“This is going to get harder now that we don’t have infinite grenades,” Approximo said.

“I’ve got enough in my inventory,” Gameset said. “But I’ll be more sparing with them.”

The two continued making their escape until they entered an open area with lights and candles covering the walls and hanging across alleys.

“You could see this place from space,” Gameset commented.

“None of them are lit yet,” Approximo said.

“Yeah, Aces said we need to light everything up for this next bit,” Gameset said.

“Do you have a lighter?” Approximo asked.

“I can do you one better,” Gameset said.

She pulled an arrow and a lighter out of her inventory. The end of the arrow had been coated in a dark liquid and wrapped tight with something flammable. Gamset lit the end of the arrow and quickly pulled a bow out, notching the flaming projectile in a smooth motion.

“Now to line up the shot,” she murmured.

The villains behind were catching up but Gameset slowed down to find a good line. With the way the candles sat across the walls, it didn’t take long for her to find a good angle. With a simple release, the heroine fired the fire arrow across the tops of lines of candles, igniting the lot of them in one go.

“Put a wall between us!” Gameset said as the arrow fired.

Approximo did so, changing one of his hands into the side of a house.

“Keep that between us and Turvy,” Gameset said. “If he spins us around at the wrong moment this is over.”

Approximo nodded, but winced as he felt something slam into his shapeshifted hand. It felt like a kick, and Dylan was surprised to see that it did damage through his new armor.

“We might not have long,” the hero said. “One of them is already eating through my health.”

“This’ll only take a moment,” Gameset muttered.

She pulled out a quiver of the fire arrows, and stood it on the ground below. She quickly lit the whole lot, letting the flames spread to each arrow before reaching down and plucking one out with such speed that the fire couldn’t burn her. With a quick turn she fired another arrow down a line of candles, igniting a fourth of the wicks around the Piazza. Two more shots later saw the arrows whizzing toward the last of the candles.

“Okay, drop the wall,” Gameset said, grabbing another arrow.

Approximo did. As soon as the wall vanished Gameset fired another arrow. It instantly spun around due to Turvy’s power, but Gameset had already sent two more arrows flying in the interim. One smashed into the turned arrow while the other made a beeline toward the villain.

It snuffed out a second before if struck Turvy, Latroc the Leapord catching it in his hands. But before he could turn on the heroes, a cackling laugh echoed through the Piazza.

“I am the great Gloom! Purveyor of darkness and stealer of the light! These lit candles are an affront to my authority and shall be extinguished!”

A prompt appeared on screen.

Stop Gloom by protecting the Piazza candles! 100/100 still lit.

Y/N

Dylan pressed yes. “Quick, grab a candle!”

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