Vaudevillain

Chapter 86: Fire Works

While Psy-ops fell through the floor, he reflected on the last minute or so of combat with the silver villain. His grenade had created a momentary pause in the battle, stopping the NPC heroes from advancing on Singularity. The villain took the chance to create more of his self-replicating nanomachines, throwing as many as possible around him. Robots in the shapes of bees, moths, and beetles landed on the ground and munched away at the dirt below them.

Psy-ops and the rest tried to isolate the bots and destroy them, but their replication came too fast. For every one they killed, ten more appeared in its place. Soon, half the field was covered in a writhing mass of robots. Desperate, Electri fired off blast after blast of electricity, the lightning arcing through multiple bots. For a moment, it seemed the electric heroine would be able to hold off the tide. Until Psy-ops noticed the bots were eating the destroyed remains of their brethren.

"Get everyone out of here!" the heroine yelled to the players.

The quest appeared in Psy-ops's vision, and he assumed his friends saw the same thing. Fursation and Yuppie took off into the air, grabbing as many hostages as possible and depositing them on the school's roof. Yuppie blasted the door leading down off its hinges while Fursation ripped off the rope tying the hostages. Grateful NPCs dashed down the exit, while the two heroes flew back to the battlefield to grab the rest of the captured marching band.

John took the opening in the fight to take his blocky bulk over to the Zlobots. Psy-ops caught the villain fleeing out of the corner of his eye and made to follow. He stopped once he was in earshot of the two villains, using the bleachers to stay out of the way.

"You gonna cheat again, Dylan?" Singularity said.

"Of course!" the Zlobots boasted. "I'm a villain; it's part of our repertoire."

The three bots aimed their sonic guns at the chrome villain and commanded the Jacques to attack. The remaining Jacques, along with Quartet, charged at Singularity. John jumped into the air, transforming out of his blocky form mid-jump. He landed a few feet away, dodging the sound cannons and showing off his new, sleek form. Groups of Jacques turned as one to attack the threat, broken instruments at the ready.

Singularity ignored the minions, jumping over the crowd once again and landing right next to the Zlobots. The three villains recoiled, aiming their cannons at the approaching man. John's body shimmered under the light, and Psy-ops barely tracked what happened next. The chrome villain had surged forward with a boost of speed, arriving directly in front of a Dr. Zlo and impaling him with his hand.

Sparks flew out of the Zlobot's chest, and the robot spasmed as its insides short-circuited from the blow. "Another f*cking robot!" John cursed.

"Ha, I knew you were an imposter!" the remaining Dr. Zlo's shouted.

Singularity angrily discarded the spasming robot, not even bothering to absorb it for armor. He took a deep breath after the strike, forcibly calming down. "No, I knew you were like this. But, how did you get them to act so in sync with you, Dylan? I thought it was some illusion tech you made, not two robots that acted exactly like you."

"I'll never reveal all my plans!" the Zlobots said.

Singularity shimmered again and dodged under the incoming blasts from the Zlobots. He appeared next to the bot on the left and quickly stabbed it through the neck. More sparks flew as the Zlobot crumpled to the ground.

"D*mn, you're one lucky guy," John commented. "I was sure I picked the right one."

"I-impossible!" the Zlobot yelled. The villain turned to run,

"Jacques, protect me!"

Singularity's body shimmered again, arriving right beside the fleeing Zlobot. "Do you like it?" John asked. "This tech enhances my body to beyond superhuman levels. For a half-second, I get more strength and speed than anyone in the game. I got it to counter your teleporting."

The Zlobot turned and shot another blast from his sound cannon, which Singularity promptly dodged. The chrome villain appeared on the other side of the Zlobot, an evil smile on his face.

"I had to pay a lot of money to get this too. Real money, not the stuff here. I think it was worth it, though, it let me ruin your day."

Psy-ops sucked in a breath. This guy just admitted that he used real money to enhance his gameplay. Psy-ops wasn't sure that was allowed, but it left a sour taste in his mouth even if it was. He hated players who got a leg up on the competition because they were richer than others. So while Singularity kept gloating, Psy-ops opened his menu and sent a report of the man's possible cheating.

Singularity kicked the last Zlobot to the ground, laughing as he did. "I win this time, Dylan. And I'll win the next one too, and the next. I'm not going to stop until you either admit I was right or you quit."

With that, the villain stabbed through the last Zlobot, his smile faltering as sparks erupted from the robot.

"No f*cking way," John cursed. His smile flipped entirely into an unhinged frown. "Is this really another f*cking robot!" he shouted. "I can't believe this! Where the f*ck are you, Dylan!"

Psy-ops watched from the bleachers as Singularity kicked the spasming robot away in anger. Jacques finally appeared next to the man, only for their bodies to fall to pieces as John ripped through their limbs. "F*ck!!!" the villain screamed one more time.

Luckily, Psy-ops didn't have to watch the tantrum much longer, as Singularity disappeared a moment later. Psy-ops assumed the villain logged out. Of course, they still had to contend with the last gift he left. Those replicating machines were getting out of hand.

A good three-quarters of the field was covered in the metallic mass of machines, eating through the dirt around. Though, a few of the creations started to behave differently, swarming to the air to assault the attacking heroes. Electri looked to be the worst off, the nanomachines swarming the woman. It was only thanks to her electric powers, the arcs of electricity striking any bot getting too close, that kept her in the fight.

"What are we even going to do about this?" Psy-ops muttered.

His commbead picked up the words, transmitting them to his team.

"You got me there," Fursation replied. "I'm not built to take on swarms like this."

"What about your fire element?" Psy-ops asked. "And I still have a few explosives. Might be able to encircle the swarm and hold it off that way."

"You guys are thinking about this wrong," Yuppie said. "This isn't a slash-and-burn scenario. We need something to annihilate the area. Lucky for you guys, I've got a little something for that exact scenario."

"We're not using a nuke in the city," Psy-ops argued.

"Please, I'd never use something like that. You know me, Psy. I want things to be a bit more elegant."

"Spit it out already," Fursation said. "If you haven't noticed, there's a f*cking nano swarm."

"Alright, alright. I've been working on a targeting field for my suit. Only got it to work yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to test it yet. But I should be able to target the entire swarm with the computer and unleash swathes of missiles to deal with this thing."

"What's the catch," Psy-ops said.

"Well, it might not work on so many targets for one. And two, as soon as I start blasting, those robots are gonna come for me. I'll need some cover."

"You got it," Fursation said. "Just let me switch to water form. It does best at keeping things off people."

"I'll try to get large groups with my explosives," Psy-ops said.

"Good, gonna start now," Yuppie answered.

Psy-ops watched his friend fly up over the football field and hover over the swarm. Yuppie's helmet bent down, indicating the man was starting to act. Psy-ops scanned the area, noting that Dr. Zlo's remaining minions had huddled together. He watched as the one who looked like a barbershop quartet member pointed his cane at the ground. A blast of fire came out, which the minion used to encircle the remaining Jacques and a couple of cheerleaders. The swarm recoiled from the heat, refusing to charge through the wall of fire to the food beyond.

"Fire works," Psy-ops said. "So we can still burn these things if we need to."

"Good to know," Fursation replied. The hero had transformed into his water eagle form, which looked like his earth eagle but blue.

"It's no good," Yuppie said. "I can only get about twenty targets total."

"Just start shooting," Psy-ops said. "Get them into the air, and target the largest swarms. Fursation, change to a fire form, and start burning the corpses. That way, these things can't replicate."

"Oh, good idea," Fursation replied. The man swooped down onto the bleachers and shifted into his fire wolf form. Orange fur replaced blue feathers as the man turned.

Yuppie nodded his agreement, unleashing a salvo of missiles into the group. The explosions rocked the area, alerting the swarm to the new threat. Instantly, groups of mechanical bees and moths flew into the sky, zooming straight for the metal cased hero. Psy-ops fired into the swarm, only bothering to aim at the group. There wasn't a chance he would miss with that many targets.

To his surprise, the bullet that connected instantly killed a robot. Before it could fall, a group of machines clustered around and stripped it apart. Psy-ops felt the link he established disappear and realized he would have to work fast to control the groups. The hero stored his rifle and took out a pistol from his inventory. In his other hand, Psy-ops grabbed a grenade and started the link for his power. He shot into the swarm of machines, immediately throwing the grenade as he did. Once the bullet connected, Psy-ops linked the grenade with the body and watched as the explosive traveled up into the sky.

It exploded in a cloud of shrapnel, a bit away from the heart of the swarm but close enough to take a chunk out of their forces. Yuppie followed up with blasts of missiles, thinning even more of the herd. Down below, Fursastion raced around the field, setting fire to the piles of dead robots as they fell.

Seeing the effectiveness of the player's plan, the heroes started to follow suit. Electri fired off blasts of electricity, felling swathes of the machines. At the same time, her team followed up by moving the bodies to the fire as best they could. Soon, the entire field blazed, Psy-ops feeling the heat from the field directly on his face. Quartet and the Jacques huddled closer as the fires encroached.

Finally, the last of the swarm was killed off, and Fursation switched back to his water eagle form. Rainclouds appeared over the player as he flew across the field, dousing the flames. Psy-ops jumped off the bleachers and back onto the field, making his way over to Electri. The heroine nodded at him as he came over.

"Thanks for the help," she started. But before she could continue, a loud crack sounded across the field. Confused, Psy-ops looked around, thinking another villain had arrived. He only realized what was happening as the ground shifted under his feet.

The combined assault from the nanobots had destabilized the area above the secret lab. While that usually wouldn't be a problem, the fire and water from Fursation's power were enough to break through the foundations. The ceiling below broke, and Psy-ops felt weightless for a brief moment before falling.

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