Vaudevillain

Dylan rushed over at the sound of Cass's voice, pushing past a beam of wood. As Dylan ducked under the wood, he spied a metallic arm on the ground, something laying on top of it. Shock ran through Dylan, and the man stumbled to the ground.

Cass's arm was on the ground in front of the Zlomobile, and what looked to be Brunhilde's maid dress rested atop it.

"I'm alright, boss," Dylan heard.

Surprised, the player looked up to see Cass sitting in the passenger seat of the Zlomobile, slumped against the car's frame with a weary expression.

"Cass!" Dylan shouted, not even attempting to sound like Dr. Zlo. "You're alright!"

"Course I am, boss," Cass coughed. "What kind of butler would I be if I left you alone?"

Dylan jumped up, opening the door of the Zlomobile and grabbing onto Cass.

"I'm alright, boss," Cass protested. "Really."

"Nonsense," Dylan said. "You're missing an arm."

"Once we're done with this, Cass," Dylan said. "I'll make you more than just an arm."

"Heh. I'm looking forward to it."

Cass looked down as he stepped out of the car, "Brunhilde saved me. Pushed me back into the car when things started shaking. I was an idiot and tried to get out, thinking she was gonna do something. I thought she didn't like me."

Dylan patted his minion on the arm, "I think she liked you more than me, to be honest."

"And Mabel," Cass continued. "She didn't even know what hit her. One moment she was directing Jacques to get the phone booth, and then a buncha stone just rained down. Crushed her flat."

"She would've made some joke about it," Dylan said, trying to reassure his minion. "Probably something about a brick house."

Cass didn't respond, and Dylan realized he didn't know what to say. What could he say? That Mabel was only an NPC, just like him? That neither of them had lives outside of what he defined? That neither of them were real?

It didn't feel like that was the case, not at the moment. Cass's actions felt too close to a human's. But Dylan had no way to tell if it was programmed into him or if it was something emergent. After all, games used fictional characters to tug at the heartstrings all the time.

"I always thought I'd be the first one to go," Cass said after a moment.

"What?" Dylan said.

"I mean, look at me, boss," Cass said. "I'm just the butler. Mabel had mind-control powers, and Brunhilde could storm an armed fortress by herself. All I could do was make a good martini."

Dylan stopped trying to figure out how real Cass was. It was evident that didn't matter at the moment. His first minion was having a crisis, and Dylan didn't have the heart to callously ignore it.

"Don't you say that!" Dylan said, using his best Dr. Zlo accent. "You were always my finest creation! My most loyal companion, by my side since the beginning! Why, I would never have invented half of my ideas without you! So don't you ever say all you're good for is a martini! You're much more than that!"

Cass looked up at his creator, "You mean that?"

"Every word," Dr. Zlo said. "Now, get up. We need to rebuild. I need to see if I can bring back Mabel and Brunhilde, and you need to get a new arm."

Cass's eyes brightened, "You think we can save them?"

"I wouldn't be a criminal mastermind if I didn't at least try the impossible!" Dr. Zlo shouted.

"Yeah, dude! You tell 'em!" Riptide cheered.

The rest of Dr. Zlo's friends stepped over the rubble to stand by him. Riptide and Sweet Dream laid hands on Dylan's shoulders.

"But first, you need to get some new threads," Sweet Dream commented.

Dylan looked down at his character, seeing his suit in tatters.

"Ah, yes. One moment."

The villain opened his inventory, replacing his tattered suit with a fresh one. Dr. Zlo straightened his tie as the process finished, then turned to his friends.

Jack walked forward, "So, where should we start?"

The sound of an engine sounded before Dr. Zlo could speak. The villain looked up to see Dextra driving over in a hovercar, the player's entourage riding behind. Behind them came Rampart and his group in one of the transport buses, Oro leaning out the door and waving at Dylan. They all landed a short distance away, converging on Dr. Zlo to give him condolences.

"Oh my god, what a mess," Shizuka said as everyone stepped down. "It's like a tornado swept through or something."

"Shizuka," Dextra said in a clipped tone. "Too soon."

"Sheesh, sorry," the ninja answered. "Just trying to lighten the mood. Not like we can't rebuild this."

"I know that," Dextra answered. "But it will take time. And the shock of the surprise hasn't exactly worn off yet."

"Um, boss," Cass said. "Not to interrupt or anything, but do you want me to make you a drink or something?"

Dylan looked at his butler incredulously, "Cass, you're missing an arm."

"I know," Cass said. "But you've got guests over. As your loyal butler, I should at least show a bit of hospitality."

Cass's chest puffed a bit when he said the words loyal butler, eliciting a small smile from Dylan.

"Later. Right now, we have plans to discuss. Isn't that right, everyone?"

"Oh, h*ll yeah dude," Riptide said. "We've gotta get revenge."

"Against who, though?" Sweet Dream said. She pointed to Dylan, "You already told us how you want to deal with your old friend. Was he the only one we need to deal with?"

"Not quite," Dextra said. "There were several factions waiting for us the moment Skyline landed. People who weren't exactly happy with our popularity for some reason or another. But not to worry, I enlisted a bit of help to take them out. Resource Hill is still up and running thanks to them."

"I was wondering why there wasn't more opposition," Sweet Dream said. "Stuff like this usually has more to it."

"The question is, what do we do to them?" Rampart asked. "Destroy their bases like they destroyed ours?"

"It would be better if we can find a way to stop them permanently," Dextra answered. "Or else we risk the same thing happening again. I hate to say it, but no amount of defense will beat someone dedicated to taking us out."

Dylan prepared to thrust his cane out, then remembered it had broken after John's assault. Instead, the player clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "One thing at a time. I say we worry about revenge after we get everything reset."

"Reset?" Oro asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Sweet Dream asked.

"We didn't exactly lose Skyline fairly," Dylan explained. "The guy who's been after me this whole time used a duplication glitch to access unlimited items, which is probably why he could infiltrate so easily in the first place. I bet if we explain the whole thing to Vert, they'll revert things after our ban."

Mostly, Dylan was hoping to get his minions back. He had no clue what would happen if he recreated Mabel. Would his minion still have her memories from before? Or would she be a blank slate, having to relearn everything once more? No, it was better to see if Vert could reset things.

"Are you sure they'll do that?" Sweet Dream asked. "I'm not exactly confident."

"They did give us compensation for finding bugs," Dylan answered. "I don't see why they wouldn't be able to help here. Plus, time rewinds are possible since Jack and I looked them up."

"For a certain level of possible," Jack answered.

"We wouldn't be asking them to reset the world," Dextra pointed out. "And the company does have a track record with fixing their bugs."

"Okay, we can try it," Sweet Dream said. "But what if they don't?"

"I don't know yet," Dylan said. He was trying not to think that far ahead. Outwardly, the player looked fine, but inwardly Dylan's gut was turning circles at the thought of losing his minions. While he hadn't interacted with Brunhilde much, Mabel had been a core component of Dr. Zlo's entourage since the beginning. He didn't want to think about losing her to something like this.

"I say we riot," Shizuka said.

Everyone turned to look at her.

The ninja rolled her eyes, "If they don't reset everything. You act like I want us to riot now."

"Can you blame us?" Oro said jokingly. "Your idea of fun is always on the destructive side."

"Hey now!" Shizuka shot back. "We're in a world of superheroes! Everything about them is destructive. I don't see any pacifist superheroes running around. Do you?"

"Before we get off track discussing the finer points of superheroes," Dextra said, seeing where the conversation was going. "Let's put in this ticket for a reset."

Sweet Dream looked over at Dylan, "You said you had footage of the event, right?"

Dylan nodded.

"Good. Hand it to me, and I'll cut it. Then you can send it along with your support ticket. Hopefully, we can get all of this done by tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan," Dylan answered.

Sweet Dream logged out of the game, Dylan following behind. Dextra did the same, deciding it would be better to try and coordinate things outside the game since their headquarters was destroyed. Shizuka and Oro, seeing the serious conversation had finished, started their talk about superheroes, Jack joining in for a bit. The rest of the players made their way to their destroyed hideouts, salvaging what they could just in case the support ticket didn't pan out.

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