Vaudevillain

VV4, 77 - Black Licorice

Sweet Dream grumbled as they checked another listed floor off the list. Another empty room. Where in the world was her opponent? She knew he had to be in his base, if only because that was a stipulation for the event.

The only question now was, where?

Every check seemed to come up empty. And every subsequent search on the computers returned the same results. Not to mention that they hadn’t even found a group of heroes yet.

“I feel like we’re going in circles,” she complained.

People around her nodded. All of them were, if not physically, certainly mentally drained. Mr. Black hadn’t let up. Every room, every hallway seemed filled with robotic defenses.

Defenses easily pushed through, but draining.

“It can’t be his plan to tire us out,” Sweet Dream said. “He’s gotta know that won’t work. What am I missing?”

She shook her head. There was no time to sit and wait, she’d have to think while on the move. Luckily, everyone knew their role by now.

“Right, let’s go!” she shouted. “Next floor!”

The villains moved as a unit, defenses in place and ready for the inevitable. Sure enough, turrets once again burst from hidden panels, shooting all manner of projectiles their way. Sweet Dream countered with shields and precise attacks, swiftly removing the attackers.

They entered the next room, the halfway point between the roof and floor. And suddenly, Sweet Dream understood.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“F*ck,” she cursed.

The entire floor was open, separated only by the supporting pillars holding the building up. And on the other side of the empty room lay a line of heroes ready to attack.

“Shields!” she called.

And not a moment too soon as a rainbow of energy slammed into her formation. The front line of her foe’s formation had composed itself entirely of energy emitting heroes. Her tanks protected the majority of her forces, but a few succumbed to the onslaught.

“Those of you who can move get over there and disrupt them!” Sweet Dream shouted. “DPS, take someone who can shield and start moving forward. Use the supports as cover. They can’t afford to bring the building down.”

Everyone moved to respond. The heroes answered in kind, the back row jumping forward to intercept return fire.

“What about Mr. Black?” someone asked.

Sweet Dream bit her lip. “I don’t like it, but we have to split up.” She pointed to a few of the more powerful villains. “Gather up in groups of ten or so and go to the floors we pulled from the computers. The ones we haven’t checked. If Mr. Black isn’t on that floor keep moving. Eliminate any heroes you find and watch out for counterattacks.”

“Got it!” “No problem.” “What’ll you do?” the group answered.

Sweet Dream turned back to the chaos in front of her. “I’m going to take out as many of these heroes here that I can.”

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After all, it seemed she had a perfect area to flew her powers.

The villains she commanded gathered their forces and moved. Sweet Dream left them to their devices and stepped into the ensuing chaos forming before her.

She removed a line of weapons from her inventory. Chocolate cannons designed by her villainous compatriot. The ammunition was her chocolate, specially coated to survive the initial launch but still splatter on impact.

The best part was that she didn’t even need to shift into her larger form for this! Yesiree, no big easy targets here.

Each cannon was connected with a simple cord that she wove between her fingers. Now ready, she messaged her team to prepare. Once an opening presented itself, she yanked the cord, igniting the primer. An echoing boom rattled the far windows as balls of chocolate flew forth.

Many struck shields, the heroes responding to the noise appropriately. Only a single inattentive flier was struck by one of the cannonballs. It launched them to the end of the room, where they landed with a wet splat against the wall, looking every bit like a squashed bug on a windshield.

The heroes behind the shields had no trouble, but that didn’t stop the secondary trap of Sweet Dream’s assault. Heroes that had moved behind pillars or dodged the initial blast found themselves struck by the chocolate splatter. And while a small does of Sweet Dream’s hallucinogenic chocolate wouldn’t take them out of the fight, it was enough to distract. Villains swooped in, quickly finishing anyone caught out.

Sweet Dream moved forward, leaving the cannons behind as they would take too long to reload. Besides, she had other tricks. Like choco grenades.

With a quick pull of the pin and a heaving throw, Sweet Dream unleashed her next payload. These were more indiscriminate strikes, but more often than not her chocolate struck one of the heroes, leaving them open for more take downs.

Then, just when it looked like Sweet Dream might mop things up, a frosty white beam swept across the battlefield. Her grenades were suddenly frozen, the chocolate inside no longer molten and gooey, but as hard as a rock.

“Let’s all just cool it with the chocolate!” a man shouted.

He stepped forward with a surety that only the brave and reckless had, thought Sweet Dream leaned toward Reckless due to his outfit. He wore blue overall suspenders laden with a belt of what looked to be milk jugs. Underneath, just barely peeking over the top of the suspenders, was a cartoonish cow licking it’s lips. On the man’s head sat a straw hat and he chewed a piece of hay.

“Oh no,” Sweet Dream murmered.

“Villain!” the man shouted. “I am Dairy Dynamo! Hero of all things creamy! You have spoiled the good name of milk chocolate for too long! Come, let us do battle!”

Sweet Dream blinked, then scowled. She knew going into this that there would be Dr. Zlo types, and that she’d have to act alongside it. It didn’t mean she had to like it. Or match their energy.

“I would never spoil the dark richness of cocoa with milk,” she deadpanned. She grabbed the chocolate rifle from her inventory and let loose. Molten chocolate blasted toward Dairy Dynamo, ready to incapacitate.

The hero waved a hand, forming a shield of ice cream that froze and repelled the deadly treat. “No matter!” he shouted. “You shall fall all the same!”

He rushed forward, powers leaking from his hands to protect him from any incoming chocolate. Sweet Dream had a second to debate. She could try and move forward or backpedal.

Seeing as she didn’t know what all this Dairy Dynamo could do, she backed away, rifle firing. But the hero’s defenses were too strong, deflecting all the incoming chocolate. Sweet Dream realized she would need something a bit more indiscriminate.

Her hand reached into her inventory and pulled out another choco grenade. She cooked it just long enough for it to explode in the hero’s face and tossed it his way. Dairy Dynamo curled and formed a round dome of ice cream over his head, fully protecting him from the blow.

But doing so left him blind to Sweet Dream, a fact she used to quickly dash behind one of the few supporting pillars. With a moment to breath, she ran through her options.

Conventional weapons were out, as were grenades. She suspected her transformation would also fail, considering how often he could freeze her chocolate. That left her little in the way of options. And while it would be better for her to get someone else to take this guy, another part of her knew she could rise to the challenge.

Especially with the item she spied in her inventory. Yes, that could work.

Grinning, Sweet Dream pulled her surprise out and readied herself to go back out.