VV4, 73 - Candy From the Mouth of Babes

VV4, 73 - Candy From the Mouth of Babes

Dr. Zlo stomped across the empty streets, his eyes peeled for any manner of tomfoolery. Jacques followed alongside him, hands over their eyes as if peering far into the distance. In the alleyways, villains waited. For what, well that seemed obvious.

Dr. Dobro still hadn’t arrived.

“Right, searching for a mother and child is taking too long,” Dr. Zlo finally said. “Jacques!”

The minions snapped to attention.

“Disguise yourselves!” Dr. Zlo clapped.

The Jacques scrambled, a number crashing into each other as they attempted to enact their leader’s will. Most fell in a heap.

The last two standing looked across to each other, shrugged, then walked out of sight. They returned a minute later in a bad disguise. Mostly because one of the Jacques had attempted to cram himself into a stroller. The minion’s long legs stuck out like antenna on an old television.

The ‘mother’ fared little better with their disguise. A slapdash blond wig draped over the Jacques’ featureless head, doing nothing to mask the minion’s distinctively blank face. The sun dress it wore was also on backwards. Plus, the tag still stuck out.

“Perhaps it would be better to leave disguises up to someone... more qualified?” Ms. Tama requested.

“Bah, the Jacques are perfectly adequate!” Dr. Zlo said. “Come! Let us lie in wait for our foe!”

Ms. Tama gave a thin smile. “Right. But this is the last time.”

“Of course!” Dr. Zlo agreed. “Because this time Dr. Dobro will be unable to resist saving these poor innocents from harm!”

With an evil cackle, Dr. Zlo crept over to an available alley and wrapped himself around the corner. Evil eyes poked out from the wall as he idly twirled his mustache. “Any second now...”

Sugar flew through the air like hail in a snowstorm, battering Riptide’s surfboard as he surfed to the side.

“Oh, dude, she’s getting better at this!” the villain laughed.

Sure enough, Saccharine had stopped trying to snipe Riptide out of the sky and had instead moved toward scattershot. Cracked gemstone candy shattered upward in an attempt to lay the villain’s transport low. So far, Riptide had been able to bear the worst of it, but he could see the chip damage slowly accumulating.

“Right, time to surf the swell!” the villain cheered.

He dove, angling his transport away from the attack he’d started. The cannons followed, pelting armor with enhanced sugary goodness. However, the maneuver left Saccharine’s forces split. The hero now had to contend with Riptide on the opposite side of her defenses.

Riptide hadn’t planned for this, but he knew when he could improvise.

Suddenly, she noticed the morality machine in the distance. “Finally!”

With no care for stealth, Shizuka rushed toward the machine, ready to find nearby heroes and throw them inside. Never once did she see the white shadow moving behind her.

Sweet Dream grumbled as she continued to push against Mr. Black’s annoying traps. So far, it had been that one hero and machines. Machines all the way down. It was as if the heroes didn’t even want to fight! Which was stupid, because she knew that they were itching for combat.

That meant there were plans in motion that she couldn’t see. Which annoyed her. Plus, she kept having to use her chocolate to incapacitate a few machines each floor. Nothing debilitating, but it was certainly getting... annoying.

“This f*cker’s trying to bait me, isn’t he?” she muttered under her breath.

It would be right up Dextra’s alley to slowly whittle her down until she couldn’t fight back properly. Which meant it was likely up Mr. Black’s alley as well. Which sucked.

Sweet Dream groaned. She hated having to make decisions like this. Sure, slowly clearing out each floor as they moved toward Mr. Black meant everyone was safer, but it was so boring! And she was a girl of action.

Also, the others were getting antsy as well.

“Right!” she shouted. “This isn’t going fast enough. You, you, and you. Get up front. You’re our shields, got it?”

The three beefy, defensive villains nodded.

“You six,” she pointed to spellcasters. “You’re job is to shield our sides. Don’t let any fire through!”

They nodded.

Finally, she turned to three more defensively oriented villains. “You’re bringing up our rear. Everyone else, merge in the center! We’re rushing straight to Mr. Black!”

The villains cheered, happy to get a move on.

Underneath the city, far away from the fighting, a hero waited. He stood in front of numerous screens, eyes intently scanning every detail. An explorer’s hat rested on his head, the tan garb matching his fetching brown adventurer’s mustache. It twitched imperceptibly as a camera caught another Jacques strolling through the city as if it owned the place.

“Soon, my villainous foe,” Dr. Dobro whispered. “Soon we shall clash. But first, we must determine the proper field of battle!”

Behind him, a number of Dr. Dobro’s own staff were at work. They were magical constructs. Animated brooms, shovels, and other archaeological paraphernalia. The scratched out a pattern on the floor. A suspiciously magical sigil.

Dr. Dobro sighed as he watched another Jacques vandalize his fair city. But again, it was not yet time.