Vaudevillain

Chapter 190: Invitations and Infiltrations

"You motherf*ckers!" the voice shouted. "What makes you think you can do this!"

"Aw, what's wrong? Can't take what you dish out?" Valiant taunted.

The hero stood on the edge of a clock tower, a group of Trollstompers standing with him and holding two players by their arms and legs. These two were notorious trolls in the city of Victis and were continually messing with new players. Their modus operandi consisted of finding new players, running over to them, grabbing them, and tossing them high enough into the sky to cause fall damage. If the new player didn't outright die, they'd rush to where the person landed and do it again.

It put a sour taste into Valiant's mouth when he heard about it. He was all for the idea if it was against experienced players since they could react to the surprise in time, but this was just bullying. New players didn't have the same reaction speed as those who had already played for a while, putting them at a severe disadvantage. Plus, no one wanted to start a new game only to have some idiot troll kill their character a few times for fun.

The worst part was these two didn't stop after the heroes guild put out contracts. Matt figured it was because the consequences weren't severe enough. After all, what was a small loss in reputation when your goal was to mess with new players. No, these trolls deserved a more specific punishment.

That was why Matt-att currently stood on Victis's tallest structure, the clock tower. Steam whistled as the engines inside the building pushed the clock hands along, NPC workers inside scurrying around to keep the machines working. Matt thought it was an odd choice to have a steam-powered clock, but it seemed all of Victis took after the Victorian Steampunk genre. Hero and villain alike ran around in pompous suits and poofy dresses, making the Trollstompers look out of place in their militarized gear.

"We'll f*cking get you for this!" one of the trolls roared.

"You can sure try," Valiant replied, steam from the clock tower puffing into the air around him. He waved a hand dismissively as the two trolls struggled, "But what can two people do against an entire faction? Especially one that isn't afraid to dish out some just punishments."

"You call dropping us repeatedly until we reach zero rep just?" the troll argued.

Valiant looked confused, "Isn't that what you were doing? Tossing people into the air and letting them fall."

"We were just teaching them that fall damage exists!" the other troll argued weakly.

Valiant smiled, an evil grin spreading across that didn't fit the man's face, "Well then. Consider this advanced fall damage, a graduate-level course on the subject. Hope you f*ckers have a nice lesson!"

With that, Valiant nodded to his group, and the Trollstompers tossed the two over the edge, letting them fall into a spike pit the faction had set up earlier. The two trolls died and respawned nearby, where more Trollstompers waited to capture them. A few minutes later, the two trolls were back, yelling obscenities and swearing revenge. Valiant dropped them again and again, each time taunting the two.

The process didn't continue for long. The two trolls wised up and logged out of the game, deciding to wait out the storm. Little did they know that the Trollstompers were in for the long haul.

Matt-att laughed, "Do they think we won't be waiting for them when they come back?"

His stream laughed with him, enjoying the punishment the two received. There was a sort of catharsis that came with watching two trolls get their just desserts.

"Now, what else is there to do here?" the streamer mused. "With all this steampunk tech, you'd think we'd see more airships. I remember that was a big part of Steampunk."

"Airships got banned in the city," a Trollstomper explained. "Too many heroes and villains fighting on top of them and causing property damage when the ship exploded."

Matt-att snapped his fingers, "D*mn. I was hoping to keep an airship around for those two when they came back."

"We'll make sure to find them when they log on," the Trollstomper answered. "It's not like they'll be able to get out of the city. We've got all the exits covered."

Matt-att nodded, "Good. We'll show those two f*ckers how painful it is to hit the ground multiple times. That'll teach them to bully new players."

The streamer walked away from the clock tower's edge, heading down through the steamy interior. Matt-att hadn't gotten a good look at the clock tower's insides, and he wanted to admire some of Vert's many designs. Because despite all the issues with World of Supers, the game was probably the best proof of concept the streamer had ever seen. It had all the best parts of open-world games: flexible NPCs, cleverly designed worlds, and a breadth of powers no one ever saw. It was a shame all the small issues with the game kept breaking Matt-att's immersion. The respawn mechanic was terrible, and the player economy actively ruined trading with others. At least Vert actively worked to fix the issues.

Matt-att reached the bottom of the clock tower to find a small drone rushing at his face. Instinctively, the streamer ducked, hearing the drone whizz over his head. Something clattered onto the ground behind him, prompting Matt-att to turn.

A small, silver disk lay on the ground behind Matt-att, circuitry running throughout the object. Curious, the streamer walked over to the gadget, keeping his shield up just in case the item was some kind of bomb. As he approached, the machine activated, the circuitry inside glowing a bright white. The disk popped into the air, spinning in place and projecting an image. An image of someone Matt-att knew well.

"Greetings, Valiant! Yes, it is I! Dr. Zlo!" the image started.

The Dr. Zlo bowed, removing his top hat in a gentlemanly gesture.

"Dang, that's a neat piece of tech," Matt-att admitted. Ever since watching Star Fights, Hologram technology was always something the man enjoyed.

"I am sure you're wondering what a criminal mastermind such as myself is doing contacting a hero of your standing," the hologram continued. "You see, I have completed a new invention and require some testing."

The image of a car replaced Dr. Zlo. "This is my newest creation, the Zlomobile! It is my getaway car and the vehicle I plan to use to ride in style. However, it needs testing."

Dr. Zlo reappeared, the man now holding a racing helmet under his arm, "And I have prepared a grand race in the city I reside! In the spirit of fair play, I am inviting a number of heroes and villains to join me in this race, the winner receiving a grand prize designed by yours truly! You have been granted the honor of being a lucky participant!"

Matt-att raised an eyebrow, "What do you think, chat?"

Excitement filled up the streamer's chat log, the watchers eager to see more of Dr. Zlo.

"If you are interested, be at these coordinates in a week's time with your vehicle of choice. And remember! Anything goes!"

The holographic Dr. Zlo bowed, the image vanishing and the mechanical disk clattering to the ground. Matt-att scooped it up, placing it into his inventory.

"Well, chat, it seems we need to get ourselves a racing car."

The streamer instantly opened his messenger to contact Ixzay. His friend would be a great mechanic for his new vehicle.

John sat in his room, angrily munching on a bag of chips as he watched Dylan's newest video. The guy was doing it all wrong, performing a bunch of useless crimes to build a useless getaway car. It would be better to grab Phlebotinium and get super speed. That way, he could outrun anything.

The man hated that his friend kept playing the game the wrong way, never upgrading his power or performing quests to get unique items. Dylan would never get in with Vert that way, not in a million years. And the worst part was, Dylan didn't think he was wrong!

Okay, maybe John had overdone it a bit when he got that streamer to attack, but it was to show Dylan just how bad things got in games like this! You couldn't run around acting like a cartoon criminal and not expect people to troll or come looking for revenge. That wasn't how people played the game!

Why couldn't his old friend see that? Dylan needed to make sure he was untouchable, or all the trolls would appear to ruin his day. Like when he tried to sink those cities. That Trollstomper group arrived and wrecked the whole thing, forcing a recruitment drive to became a full-scale battlefield.

John clicked on the newest video in Menagerie's Viewtube, some announcement by Dr. Zlo. Sure enough, Dylan was at it again, announcing to the world that he was planning a race to test his newest invention. That would never work; too many trolls would come in and ruin the whole event. They'd break the roads, add fake signs, and even flood the applications with stupid names. No, the event wouldn't work.

Of course, Dylan would probably go through it anyway, acting out his ridiculous trope of a character. He wouldn't even learn a lesson if something went wrong! It almost made John want to jump back in as Singularity to attack Dylan. But no, that wouldn't work. John had already seen the news that Dr. Zlo's fake bodies were showing up around the world, acting out convoluted plans that made no sense to the average player.

No, if John wanted to show Dylan the correct way to play, he'd have to do it some other way.

An idea came to the man. He could pretend to be someone else and get into Menagerie. Yeah, John could infiltrate the faction. He didn't know what he'd do from there, but it would get him into the place to show Dylan what he was doing wrong.

And who knows, maybe the two could be friends again. After all, it wasn't like Dylan was good at making friends. The man was a total introvert, never taking the initiative to find people on his own.