Dr. Zlo jumped back under cover of the truck after shooting, narrowly dodging the bullets fired from the robots. He landed in between the mix of heroes and villains, a nasty smile on his face.
"Did you seriously start the fight before making a plan?" Sweet Dream said incredulously.
"Of course not," Dr. Zlo replied. "My current plan is to make a daring escape with Cass. I'm fairly sure he has what we came for."
A large hand grabbed Dr. Zlo's shoulder. The villain looked up to see Titan gazing at him. "Stealing is wrong," said the hero.
"I feel like that is something you should worry about later," Dr. Zlo replied.
"I made a promise to right the wrongs of my ancestors," Titan started. "I will not sit by while crime is committed in my sight."
"Well, aren't you a goody two shoes," Dr. Zlo started.
"We don't have time for this!" Sweet Dream interrupted. "Any minute now, an army of robots with guns is going to attack us. We either need to make a plan and fight or get out of here."
"She's right," Rampart said. "And I know you hate it, Titan, but these villains do have the only car."
"I can take them," Titan grumbled.
"Sure you can," Oro said. "But think of it this way. If we choose to fight, these villains will get away. If we stick with them, we have a chance to take back what they stole."
"Hold on, I don't remember inviting you into this plan," said Dr. Zlo.
Merla's hand glowed and pointed at the villain, "Call it hostile negotiations."
"Not very heroic," the villain commented.
"Desperate times," Merla countered.
"Can we stop with the posturing?" Sweet Dream asked. "Zlo, we don't have much choice in taking these guys with us."
"Fine," answered the villain. "But make it known I'm doing this under duress."
"Cool, so what's the plan?"
Dr. Zlo pulled out his taffy cannon and made sure it was on the sticky setting. "We use these."
A quick shot on his hand created a sticky ball of taffy. "Cass comes driving by, and anyone who can't fly jumps on for a quick escape."
"That's your plan?" Sweet Dream said.
Dr. Zlo raised an eyebrow, "Have you come up with anything better the last few seconds?"
"No," she grumbled.
"Then it's settled. All in favor of my brilliant plan?"
Dr. Zlo raised his hand, followed by Riptide.
"What if we miss?" asked Oro.
"Then you fall victim to an army of robots. It's not like we have that many chances," Merla said. She raised her hand, "I'm in too."
Reluctantly, the rest of the group joined.
"Excellent," Dr. Zlo handed his taffy cannon off to Sweet Dream. "I'll go get Cass's attention."
Dr. Zlo hopped on top of the truck and yelled, "Cass! Swing the car around here, and don't stop driving! We're making a hasty escape!"
"Oh no you don't!" yelled John. He urged his army to move faster, attempting to cut Cass off from the rest.
Dr. Zlo blinked. He didn't remember anyone installing a rocket booster on the truck. Oh well, at least everyone escaped. The villain looked down at Singularity in contempt. He lowered himself down into speaking range.
"This is why you bring different types of robots!" Dr. Zlo taunted.
John snarled in frustration, "Shut up! Come down and face me! Or are you going to run away again like you always do!"
"This isn't running away!" Dr. Zlo yelled back. "This is a tactical retreat! Mark my words, this isn't over! You tried to use me in your own schemes and then lashed out when I discovered your machinations! I was willing to forgive you over it. After all, every good villain needs the traitorous companion. But you decided to play your hand early."
John barked another command, and a burst of bullet fire shot into the air, ricocheting off Dr. Zlo's shields. The villain blasted back up out of range, barely catching John's parting words.
"I'm going to make sure you can't do anything the way you want to, Dylan! You hear me?"
Dylan sighed. It seemed he had lost a friend today.
"So, what were you guys up to the past few weeks?" Rampart asked. "I had thought we'd hear from you about a fight a lot earlier, to be honest."
"Oh dude," Riptide burst, "it was sick! We stole that mothership in the sky!"
"No f*cking way," Oro blurted.
"Yes way," Sweet Dream said. She retold the story of invading the ship with Mabel and then fighting their way into the control room. Riptide joined in with his usual gusto, going into detail on all his favorite parts. Unsurprisingly, his favorite parts involved surfing. Sweet Dream finished up with the attack on the mansion and Vert stopping them.
The heroes were silent for a few seconds before Rampart spoke up, "Well d*mn."
"Well d*mn is right," Sweet Dream replied. "I was so pissed off then, but couldn't do anything about it."
"Yeah. Plus, Zlo had to deal with some stuff," Riptide added. "So we didn't argue as much as we could."
"God, that's so dumb," Merla said. "You guys found a workaround, and you can't even keep what you stole."
"Tell me about it," Sweet Dream said. "Getting cash was nice, but I was looking forward to using the tractor beam to steal a ton of candy. Plus, we trashed our base thinking we could use the mothership as a new one."
"Yeah, Vert tried to sell everyone on this free choice game but hasn't really pulled through, have they?" Oro questioned.
"I mean, some of the mechanics are great," Rampart said. "But, I gotta admit making a scripted event in a game like this isn't a good look."
"We should complain or something," Oro said.
"Well, we all met up with another friend who's looking to make a guild that petitions to Vert about this stuff," Sweet Dream said. "But that means a lot of work inside and outside the game."
"Ooh, yeah. That's hard," Merla said. "I only have time to play while sleeping. No way would I be able to help out."
"I can help," Rampart said. "As a broke college student, I've got nothing but time."
"Same," Oro said.
"Do either of you know video editing?" Sweet Dream asked.
"Yeah, all of us do, actually," Rampart said. "That's how we met."
"Oh thank god. I got a ton of footage from our mothership heist and our friend's takeover plan. There's no way I can cut and edit all of it by myself. Can I rope you into helping out?"
"Sure," Oro said. "I can use it for my portfolio."
Rampart nodded in agreement.
"Dude, we're going to make an awesome channel!" Riptide cheered.