Vaudevillain

Chapter 106: Ironing Out the Kinks

Dr. Zlo walked up the hill a bit, to better put himself in the spotlight.   "Imagine, if you will," he started, "an unsuspecting city. Nothing goes on in its boring day-to-day humdrum. Sure, there are heroes and villains, but the work they do is simple. The villains rob banks, and heroes help old ladies across the street."   Dr. Zlo paused to see if everyone was paying attention. Riptide was looking around, but Dr. Zlo expected that from him. His companion wasn't too interested in the minutiae of the plans. Riptide cared more about the thrill.   "Of course, there's nothing wrong with this type of villainy and heroism. I cherish all the small acts, as they will make our world-shattering escapades all the more noticeable!"   "Get to the point already!" Oro jeered in jest.   Dr. Zlo fired a laser at the hero's feet. "I guess some people don't understand how to create anticipation. Now, where was I?"   "About to tell us your master plan," Jack said.   The villain nodded, "Quite right."   Dr. Zlo took a breath.   "The plan is simple; we destroy the cities of Thenapolis, Cartis, and Haven to announce our goal to take over the world!"   "Take it back from the gods, you mean," Titan said.   Dr. Zlo waved a hand, "Semantics. The end result is the same. And at the same time, we'll use this event to recruit like-minded individuals in our grand goal!"   "And how do we go about it?" Rampart said.   "I'm glad you asked!" Dr. Zlo pulled out a sheet of paper with the requirements for his wave machine.   "This here," he said as he handed the sheet off to Dextra, "is my latest great creation. The Wave Widget!"   "Hold up," Shizuka said. "Aren't widgets something you find on your phone?"   "Dr. Zlo doesn't subscribe to the conventional description of things!" Dr. Zlo bellowed.   "But he does speak in the third person," Oro joked.   "I shall use this device to bring crashing waves down on the three cities, destroying them and rendering them unusable! The plan is for Riptide, Sweet Dream, and I to each take one device and activate it outside the city. Heroes, led by our heroic teammates, can try to find us and stop the detonation, or wait until the waves come crashing down and pitifully attempt to stop them! Villains, corralled by our villainous comrades,  can try to keep heroes from stopping us! It's the perfect plan!"   Dr. Zlo threw his head back and laughed, imitating the cartoons he watched as a kid.   Once he stopped, silence greeted him. He looked to see his friends and teammates with raised eyebrows or excited faces. Dextra, in particular, held a thoughtful gaze. Rampart stood nearby, his face scrunched as he thought through the plan.   "I think we need more buildup," Dextra said at last.   "And we'll need ways to keep all the others in check," Rampart added.   "Bah, my plan is fine on its own. But since you insist on changing perfection, tell me what you would change," Dr. Zlo said.   Rampart gestured for Dextra to go first.   "Since this is our recruitment drive," Dextra started, "we need a way for the players to show their skills. All types of skills. Your current plan only allows for combat, but we plan to accept others who might not have combat skills. What if we added a couple of steps to the plan? Say, have each of you hide out in a building and leave clues. We can treat it like you three needing extra materials to make the devices even stronger. If you're stopped, the devices take longer to charge. If not, the detonation happens faster."   "That kind of makes us more like minibosses then," Sweet Dream said.   "Hmm, true," Dextra said. "Since this is Dr. Zlo's grand idea, he shouldn't be relegated to a miniboss."   "Oh, what if I took Dr. Zlo's spot, and he gets to fly around and appear if players stop all three bombs. And he's got some other giant weapon to use!" Shizuka said excitedly.   "I like your style!" Dr. Zlo said. "I can create my next greatest device, the combat zeppelin!"   Oro snorted a laugh.   "Don't mock the combat zeppelin!" Dr. Zlo shouted, pointing his finger at the hero.   "I'm not, I'm not," Oro wheezed out. "But the image in my head is ridiculous. You're going to make it have a top hat, aren't you."   "Don't be absurd," Dr. Zlo replied. "It's going to have a bow tie."   "Before you two lose it," Rampart said. "We need to hammer this out a bit more. How are we making sure all the applicants obey the rules?"   "If they don't, they can't join Menagerie," Merla said.   Sweet Dream shook her head, "That'll only stop some people. And it might make those who break the rules break more later on since they know they blew it."   "What if we had wristbands, dudes," Riptide said. "Like at concerts."   "Have each hero and villain wear a wristband. Then if they break the rules, it punishes them?" Merla asked the group.   "That sounds like a lot of work," Shizuka replied. "Not it."   "Please, we all know I'd be the one to make the bands," Jack said.   "Or we make a factory," Sweet Dream said.   "We do have the one Dr. Zlo made," Oro said.   "That requires Sciencium or other materials now. It was the first thing I checked logging in," Jack said.   "Well, that sucks," Riptide said. "I was hoping to make some more shark minions."   "We still can," Sweet Dream reassured him. "We just need to grind more Alienite."   "It should be easy once our resources start coming in," Dextra said. "And we can increase our funds by charging guild members."   "So, are we going with the wristband idea?" Shizuka asked. "Because I want to make sure mine explodes if someone tries to steal it."   "I like it," Jack said. "It gives me an excuse to make something new."   "We'll need to decide on our base rules then," Rampart said.   "Make it so players need to wait five minutes to rejoin the battle, and if they don't, they're out," Oro said.   "Five minutes seems like a while," Merla commented.   "This isn't a PVP match," Oro explained. "We want a consequence for death, but players should be allowed to retry later on. Five minutes should give those who succeed a long enough time to finish whatever they were doing."   "And we can make it so that those who don't wait five minutes are marked with the wristband as attack-on-sight," Jack said. "Ooh, I should make it so you can't remove the band until we end the recruitment. That way, no one can hide their status."   "Make them brightly colored too," Oro said. "Maybe blue for heroes and red for villains?"   "I was thinking red for anyone who breaks the rules," Jack said.   "Use white and black for the bands," Dr. Zlo said. "Villains must have hearts black as night if they want to join us."   "And heroes are pure, so they shine," Oro said.   "So, the bands glow white for hero, black for villain, and red for those who break the rules," Rampart said. "The current plan is for players to chase Sweet Dream, Riptide, and Shizuka around the city they're assigned and stop them from acquiring resources to hasten the charging of the bomb. If they stop them, the bomb charges slower, giving players more time to find the machine. How are they going to find it?"   "We should leave clues, dudes," Riptide said.   "Like what?" Rampart asked.   "Like, I'll have my device near a boat shop or surf shack, and the players can find it there. When I run around the area, I'll leave graffiti of the place nearby or something."   "That sounds fun. I can leave a bunch of saltwater candies or something," Sweet Dream added.   "And I can have my clones taunt people toward the area!" Shizuka said excitedly. "Oh man, I can't wait to mess with some people."   Okay, so we lead them to the bombs with clues. How do they stop the device?" Rampart continued.   "Destroy it, or disable it," Dextra said. "I'm sure plenty of the heroes around can do that much."   "And if they can't, the bombs go off and they can still try to stop the waves," Oro said.   "They can try!" Dr. Zlo said. "For I shall be there in all my glory, ready to thwart them at every turn! For none can stop Dr. Zlo!"   "So that's the general plan for heroes," Rampart said. "I like it. I'm guessing villains will be working with you guys to make sure the cities are destroyed?"   "They can if they want, but I think villains should be able to work on either side. It happens a lot in superhero comics, you know. Some world-threatening villain shows up, and some of the other villains join the heroes because it's their city or planet or whatever," Oro said.   "But they'll have to convince the heroes they're here to help. And the villain could turn on them at any second," Jack said.   "Alright, I like it," Rampart said. "Finally, how are we going to announce this?"