Vaudevillain

Thomas sat with Shizuka and Nikola on the edge of Skyline, waiting for the others to arrive. The new patch had dropped only a few minutes ago, and Thomas had spent the past few minutes searching for the perfect plot of land. Truthfully, he'd searched earlier on before the patch arrived, but his power didn't reveal anything new. His superintelligence told him Phlebotinium was located in the wilderness and that it caused strange effects, but the ability couldn't give him specifics.

Dextra's power might act similar to a wiki, but it wasn't a complete documentation of World of Supers. From what Thomas could tell, the power worked by accumulating information from sources Dextra read, saw, or heard. From there, the ability would start making connections and grant Thomas as much information as it could. So Thomas changed his queries to search for locations of dangerous monsters. If Phlebotinium caused strange effects, it stood to reason that one of those effects would be monsters.

Skyline was currently traveling towards such a place, crawling along thanks to Jack's engines. Thomas watched the trees pass by underneath, a gold and green patchwork as the leaves changed colors.

"If this was Earth, this would be near the Appalachians," Thomas mused.

"What was that?" Nikola said.

"Nothing. Do you see Dr. Zlo and the rest? We should be coming up on the location soon."

"Not yet, Dex," Shizuka said. "You sure we'll find a mine around here? The land's kind of flat."

"I know we'll find monsters, and I assume that means we'll be able to find Phlebotinium around it. But I could be wrong."

Shizuka snorted, "Dextra Black, smartest supervillain of our time, might be wrong. And I'm the Queen of England."

"You could be, for all we know," Nikola said.

"As if. Who would want to be a stuffy royal anyway? I'd much rather stay a ninja, going wherever I please."

"Royals can do that too."

"Not without a line of paparazzi chasing them. I don't need people documenting my every move."

"I see something," Thomas said, pointing in the distance.

Nikola and Shizuka turned to look in Thomas's direction. His finger pointed at a rocky hill jutting out from the sea of trees below. On top of the ridge, Dr. Zlo and Rampart's teams were facing off against a series of mutated forest animals.

"Is that a saber-toothed squirrel?" Nikola asked.

"It totally is!" Shizuka laughed. "Quick, we need to find a dwarf or something."

"Why?"

"I want to dress him as a caveman and force him to ride it."

Nikola shook his head, "I'll never understand how your mind jumps to these conclusions."

"We're about two minutes out if we stay on Skyline," Thomas said. He motioned to Nikola, "But if you take your rocket scooter, you can get there in about half a minute."

"And if he takes me with him?" Shizuka asked.

"Around a minute."

"Well, you heard the lady," Shizuka said, clapping a hand on Nikola's back. "Get that scooter, and let's go."

Nikola rolled his eyes, "Cool your jets. I doubt those guys will need us to join them."

The forest rumbled, causing both Thomas and Shizuka to give Nikola a look.

"What?"

_________

"Rotating barriers," Rampart said.

The players around him readied themselves as Rampart's protection lowered for a tenth of a second. A squirrel jumped through the opening; fangs bared at Merla. She launched a blast of magical energy with a quick chant, impacting the saber-toothed squirrel and sending it flying back. It grabbed at a passing tree branch with its claws and used the momentum to swing back around.

Rampart's barrier appeared just then, stopping the squirrel's attack. Oro followed up with a golden punch, driving the critter into the dirt. It vanished a few seconds later, leaving a few teeth behind. Two more squirrels arrived with fangs at the ready. Oro returned to his stance, waiting for the squirrels to strike.

They never got the chance. A blast of blue energy cut across the ground, slicing through both squirrels. Riptide flew by moments later, laser on his surfboard lashing out at the other attackers.

"You alright, dude?" the surfer asked.

"Never better," Oro replied. "Thanks for the help."

"Anytime."

Riptide flew off to another part of the battlefield, leaving Oro to deal with a group of hairless boars. As Oro readied himself, he thought back to the beginning of the fight.

"This is the place, right?" Merla asked the group.

"According to Dextra, yeah," Oro answered.

He, Rampart, and Merla were with Dr. Zlo, Riptide, and Sweet Dream in order to find the locations of unique materials for their base. Dextra assumed anything special would have protection and spent the last few days gathering information. Rumor of dangerous creatures had brought them to this wooded area.

"I don't see anything strange," Merla said.

"Nothing here either, dudes," Riptide added as he searched through the treetops.

"There's a hill to our left," Dr. Zlo said.

"Anything unique about it?" Rampart asked.

The villain shrugged, "There's no trees. But the area is pretty rocky."

"It might mean something," Oro said.

"Or it's just a pile of rocks," Sweet Dream said.

"We should still check it out," Rampart said. "Anything different in this forest could lead us to something."

"Um, does a fanged squirrel count as different?" Riptide asked.

The others all turned to look in his direction. Sure enough, on top of a tree branch was a squirrel with fangs. The creature was bigger than most dogs, yet stood on the tree with the grace of a ballerina.

"It's kind of cute," Merla said.

She moved forward a step to get a better look at the animal. The squirrel turned its head and hissed, unhinging its jaw in the process. A grisly set of teeth poked out, and Oro saw pieces of meat stuck between the molars. Merla jumped back, chanting and moving her arms to cast a spell. Dr. Zlo blasted the squirrel with his monocle, sending the creature sailing off the tree.

"What an unelegant monster," Dr. Zlo said. "I hope none of my creations ever turn out that ugly."

Oro opened his mouth to reply but stopped as the rustling of leaves turned into several hisses.

"I don't think that was the only creature," Oro said.

"Indeed. It looks like we're heading in the right direction then."

"Probably," Rampart said. "Anyone who can't fly, form up on me. Zlo, Riptide, the two of you provide cover while I keep us all shielded."

Sweet Dream shifted into her chocolate form, "I bet I can take all of these easily."

"Save your chocolate for now. We don't know how many of these things are out there."

Rampart pulled up his barriers in a cube around the others just as a couple of squirrels charged forward. The animals crashed against the shimmering wall, teeth scratching as they tried to break through. Laser blasts followed moments later, killing or harming the attacking animals.

"We should make our way to the hill," Oro said. "It's a better defensible position."

"Good plan."

Rampart and the rest started walking over, the dog-sized squirrels trying to smash through the barriers every step of the way. Periodically, Rampart would rotate his barriers, and the animals charged through. Sweet Dream cleaned up most of them, her chocolate body sending the animals to dreamland. Oro finished them off with punches, just in case they recovered quickly.

They arrived at the edge of the hill a minute later, slogging through the waves of squirrels.

"How many of these things are there?" Merla complained. "I'm starting to run low on mana."

"Once we reach the top of the hill, we can make our stand," Rampart said.

"I'll cover you," Oro said. He stepped out of the barrier, fists at the ready.

The first squirrel reached him in moments, its maw opening to take a chunk out of his side. Oro brought his hand down in a chop, cracking the squirrel's neck as he did. Another squirrel charged, and Oro met it with a knee to the teeth. Fangs snapped under the hero's strike, and the squirrel fell to the ground.

Two more squirrels charged at Oro, and the hero was forced to bring an arm up to block while his other arm clotheslined the second squirrel. Teeth sank into his golden arm, earning a wince of pain. Oro tried to shake the animal off, but the teeth stayed embedded in his arm. Grunting, Oro slammed the animal into the ground. Dazed, the animal released its hold. Oro kicked it away and backpedaled up the hill.

"These f*ckers hurt!" Oro yelled. "They broke through my armor."

"I think they have armor-piercing!" Rampart called back. "Get back in the barriers!"

Oro did as told, stepping through the small opening Rampart made. A squirrel tried to follow after, but Merla blasted it with magic.

"Save your strength," Rampart said. "Looks like we have a bit of a fight on our hands."

Oro looked down at the base of the hill. More squirrels were joining others on the treetops, and a few were creeping around on the ground. Oro turned around to see more coming from the other side.

"Well, d*mn."

"What, this too much for you?" Rampart jabbed.

"Nah," Oro said, readying himself. "I'm upset we didn't think to do this earlier. This right here is a proper fight."

"Focus you two," Merla said. "They're coming."

Oro and Rampart turned as squirrels charged in groups of three. Riptide and Dr. Zlo flew above, blasting at anything they could while Rampart used his barriers to make a pyramid. The monk closed off all but one small sliver of an opening, allowing Oro to punch back anything that came close. The squirrels swarmed over the barrier, blocking out the sun for seconds at a time.

Riptide and Dr. Zlo fired into the mass, knocking groups of squirrels off at a time. Rampart coordinated with Sweet Dream, opening the barrier to let the animals swarm her. The rabid animals bit into Sweet Dream's chocolate and promptly fell under her hallucinogenic candy. Merla finished off the drugged animals with quick magic strikes to the head.

After a few more rounds of fighting, the squirrels were finally starting to die out. The animals could no longer swarm the barrier, which was good as Rampart was running out of steam. Sweet Dream's chocolate was running low as well, and Merla was practically running on fumes. Oro was still going strong since his power didn't revolve around a resource, but he had made a few slip-ups here and there that dropped his durability a bit.

"Only a few more!" Rampart called out. The group stood a little straighter with the news, ready to finish off the last of the animals. And then the forest rumbled.

Oro fell to the ground as the hill around them shook. Wildy, the hero looked around for the source, only to see the squirrels running away.

"What's going on?" Merla said.

"How should I know!" Oro yelled back.

"Calm down! Just keep your eyes peeled and work on recovering!" Rampart commanded.

Riptide and Dr. Zlo flew around the area, eyes peeled.

"There!" Riptide yelled.

The group turned to look. A patch of ground was standing up in the distance, trees and dirt falling off in muddy landslides.

"F*cking hell," Oro breathed out. "That thing's giant."