Chapter 372: 72: The Fight Begins

Chapter 72: The Fight Begins

Dr. Zlo reached the ruins of the mansion well before John showed up, thanks to his rocket shoes. He stared morosely at the wreckage as he landed. No longer did a grand design of architecture sit before him. Instead, the mansion was little more than a bundle of sticks.

"Curse that Singularity for his betrayal," Dr. Zlo said.

The villain treaded through his garden and blinked in surprise. A few of his statues still stood. Somehow, the marble statues lived throughout the entirety of the mansion bombardment. Dr. Zlo brought a hand up to brush the statue's face. Cold from the marble seeped through his new gloves.

"At least some of my inventions are still alive."

The statue whirred to life, stepping off its pedestal and turning away from Dr. Zlo.

"Stand down," the villain said. "This is between me and him."

The statue went still, obeying its creator's commands. Dr. Zlo stepped out of the garden, brushing a stray leaf off his suit jacket. John stood at the gates of the mansion, anger already on his face. The two men walked forward until they reached earshot of each other. Neither made a motion to attack, both sides waiting to see what the other did.

Well, Dr. Zlo wasn't about to stew in silence. The mustached villain leaned forward on his cane, "Well, you're braver than I thought. Either that or just stupid. Didn't you consider this would be a trap? I am the foremost crimina"

"Oh, just shut up," John interrupted. "I get it. You're 'Dr. Zlo,' criminal mastermind. No need to announce it every ten seconds. And I knew you wouldn't make this a trap, Dylan."

"Oh? And why's that?" Dr. Zlo questioned.

"Because I'm the one who always had the ideas. I always made the plans. You only followed along."

"Ha!" Dr. Zlo barked. "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my idea to steal the mothership! Don't delude yourself. It only makes you look silly."

"Shut the f*ck up," John growled. "You know as well as I do that without me you wouldn't have gotten the idea in the first place. Admit it; you need me."

Dr. Zlo scoffed, "Need you for what? As some muscle that steals my inventions? Or did you forget the part where my genius stole the spaceship without you."

"Sheer luck," John said. "And you still lost it in the end. If we did it my way, you might have known that!"

"If I did it your way, I would still be in the basement of the mansion. You'd have me crafting parts for some asinine machine instead of performing viciously evil deeds for all to see!"

"At least you'd have the mansion!" John countered.

Dr. Zlo smiled with a bitter, twisted sneer, "And now we get to the core of the issue. Tell me, did you find out the mansion would be attacked by happenstance, or did you manufacture it?"

John rolled his eyes, "You're still on that? Someone was going to attack sooner or later. I helped you by saving the factories. And what did you do? You asked me to apologize!"

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"Did you seriously just hit me with f*cking gloves!" raged John.

Dr. Zlo tipped his hat, secretly pressing the on switch on his drone, "No, not f*cking gloves. Dueling gloves!"

John recoiled as a punch clocked him in the chin. Frantically, the man looked around. A slap connected with his face, and John caught a glimpse of the attacker. He stared stupidly at the floating pair of gloves. His face contorted as the right hand taunted him to attack.

John's other arm shifted, the forearm changing into a wide chainsaw. It revved menacingly at Dr. Zlo.

"Oh good, you brought power tools to help clean up after your defeat."

"Stop talking and fight!" John yelled. He swiped at an incoming glove while firing another blast of energy at Dr. Zlo.

The villain swooped under the blast. With a quick alter of his trajectory, Dr. Zlo took a page out of Riptide's book and spun under John's arm. His hand pressed down on his cane and fired off a round of adhesive gel, sticking John to the grass. The man twisted to follow, but the adhesive tripped him up and brought him to the ground.

"Take that!" Dr. Zlo gloated. He fired more lasers from his monocle, each one impacting John's shield.

John grunted as the gloves performed another one-two punch combo. But the man endured the blows and brought his chainsaw into the ground. The blade severed the adhesive in one quick strike, and John sprang to his feet.

"Seems you learned a little something after all these years."

"Oh, don't try to make this something you did. All of this is my idea, the gloves, the lasers, the gel, all mine. You are nothing but a footnote in my road to conquest."

"Seriously, f*ck off with the roleplaying already."

"Never!" Dr. Zlo fired another laser.

John jumped to the side, switching his arm over to a different weapon. He hadn't expected to use this, but Dylan was actually more of a threat than usual. In the past, it only took John a bit of effort to beat his friend. Despite himself, John was proud. It seemed Dylan finally learned something from him.

John's arm melted down into one solid, hollow tube that hung stiffly at his side. His vision switched to a head's up display that highlighted heat around the area. John smiled as Dr. Zlo's rocket shoes lit up like a Christmas Tree. And John had the perfect present for his former friend.

John looked up at Dr. Zlo, the tech's targeting system locking onto the villain. In turn, Dr. Zlo flitted around on his rocket shoes and teleporter, firing laser after laser into John's shield. Just as it seemed like his defense would break, the system locked on. With a mental pull of the trigger, his arm loaded a rocket and fired.

Smoke erupted from John, and Dr. Zlo saw a burning missile racing to his location. With a quick tap of his teleporter, Dr. Zlo moved out of the way, only to see the missile change direction. Frowning, the villain performed a loop and raced behind the mansion in an attempt to escape.

The missile followed, inching closer every second. Dr. Zlo dipped under broken support beams, weaved through holes in the rubbles, and looped around obstructions, but nothing could stop the missile. With no way to evade the weapon, Dr. Zlo twisted back around toward John, activating his stopwatch to evade.

"Let's give you a taste of your own medicine," Dr. Zlo said.

John smirked as Dylan came closer. He knew the missile launcher would come in handy. Dylan's power meant staying in the back of the fight and letting the inventions do all the work. Well, now his enemy had to come into fighting range, and John was sure he'd have the upper hand there.

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