Vaudevillain

Chapter 1: Dylan Makes a Decision

Dylan sat at his computer and munched down on a bag of chips. The crunchy snack was the last of his ordered dinner, a sandwich combo from Joe's Diner, the local place down the street. He liked stopping there after stressful days at work. The owner Joe made a mean Italian sandwich, Dylan's favorite stress relief meal. Recently Dylan had been seeing more of Joe. The architecture firm he worked for downtown had snagged a huge contract for the city's revitalization project and the whole place had been put hard to work designing and contracting.

But that was work stuff. Dylan was home now and work was behind him. Right now he was enjoying the rest of his day, the interview with Arthur Jovanovich playing on his second monitor. He had been following the game for a while, ever since Vert had announced the game on their website. He crunched down on a chip as Arthur premiered a gameplay video.

The premise of the game immediately interested him. An open-world MMO where people played as superheroes with freedom of choice sounded like an amazing idea. And sure, if the idea wasn't executed correctly the game would be terrible, but Dylan believed Vert would deliver. There was also the fact it was a superhero MMO.

Of course, anyone who knew Dylan could tell you the superhero part is what interested him. An entire wall in his bedroom was lined with posters and comics of superheroes from every genre. He had old comics from every age: The Golden age, the Silver age, the Bronze age, all of them. Each comic was packed into a clear plastic casing to prevent dust buildup while still open so he could read them. Bookshelves lined the wall perpendicular, filled with more comics and organized by volume.

Most of Dylan's extra income went into purchasing these collections of comics and paraphernalia. After that, he'd buy games that caught his eye and anything leftover got stuck in a savings account. Most would say his idea of personal finance was backward but Dylan believed in living life to its fullest. Saving up to enjoy his life when he was about to kick the bucket wasn't his style.

The Netchat on his computer pinged with a message.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Dude did you see the Vert interview at the games expo!

It was his friend John. The two had known each other since high school. Both had joined the games club at their school, which turned out to be a club for board games. John and Dylan were the only two who played online games and had hit it off, sharing their IDs.

Superfan39526:

Uh, duh? You think I'd miss something like that?

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

I mean you said work was pushing you so I dunno

But

My god

That announcement

Superfan39526:

I know!

That video was so sweet. The graphics look so good.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Not that!

The one where you can get paid to play videogames!

Superfan39526:

Oh

Yeah I saw that

Not really interested.

And it was true. Dylan liked his current job, despite how busy he was at the moment. He made good money, enough to live with plenty of cash to spare. So he saw no need to treat World of Supers as a job.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

NOT INTERESTED

YOU COULD GET PAID TO PLAY VIDEOGAMES

THATS LIKE

EVERYTHING I WANTED AS A KID

Superfan39526:

Yeah, but I got a good job.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

BUT GETTING PAID TO PLAY GAMES

Superfan39526:

Well you'll have one less competitor then

John was obviously excited about the announcement and he'd always wanted to work with games. Unfortunately, the world wasn't so kind to John. The man had been trying for years to join any game studio but had been turned down. So John worked as an IT specialist instead.

But for Dylan gaming was a hobby. He knew if he took the game seriously he'd end up hating everything he loved about games. He enjoyed the feeling he got pretending to be the hero or villain and immersing himself in the story. He lost himself in the imagined worlds and tried to build his characters to match the strengths and flaws he gave them.

Not John. His friend was the type to min-max. Dylan remembered one time when they were trying out a new MOBA. John had found guides and researched all the mechanics while Dylan just jumped into the tutorial. In the first game, Dylan had picked a support character but had been assigned a damage role. John had yelled at him the entire game, going on about the correct build for the character, why they sucked as a carry, and how Dylan should be playing his character differently.

But that was John, the man was a full-on meta slave. Dylan liked trying new things, even if they weren't the most optimal. He played DPS characters as supports or combined two skills that were never meant to work together. Ninety-nine percent of the time his experiments ended in catastrophic failure. But that one percent success was too good to pass up.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

So you going hero or villain first?

Dylan thought about it. From what he read the heroes' headquarters was stationed on a moon base and an AI would issue quests. Heroes could also go solo and make their own way but wouldn't have access to the same perks. Villains could do something similar. Start as a henchman for a crime boss and work your way up or go at it on your own.

All the options sounded fun and Dylan was sure that he'd play every type at some point. But a certain villain trope had been worming its way into his mind recently. It was something he didn't see outside of children's cartoons or comedies, mostly because popular culture had made the relatable villain popular. He was thinking of the pure evil type of villain. Evil for evil's sake and charismatic from sheer confidence.

Superfan39526:

I'm thinking villain

Go at it solo for the first character

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

What no way you need that support network.

Look I've been reading all the spoilers and leaks

They all say you want the support network if you want to reach the end game content fast

You'll get free powerups and gadgets for working with them

Going solo means you gotta get it all yourself and that means slower leveling which means you won't get noticed by Vert for the job

Superfan39526:

I said I didn't care about the job.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Sure you don't

Look I'm going hero first, plan to work under the big NPC heroes as a sidekick

Gonna get a lot of free stuff quick and then make a betrayal to become a villain

That's gonna get me noticed for sure

Dylan rolled his eyes. No doubt John had taken the idea from one of the top comments, which meant he and hundreds of others would try the plan. But he also knew John wouldn't let the conversation drop unless he admitted something.

Superfan39526:

Alright I'll start under a crime lord as a henchman then.

He didn't have to start as a megalomaniac. He could be some crime lord's shadowy right hand. That could be fun.

He dismissed the idea as he thought of it. It wasn't like he didn't like the character trope, but it felt so mundane. He'd imagined playing as a mad scientist coming out with deadly inventions that threatened the very fabric of the universe. He could see it now. He'd laugh maniacally as a ragtag group of heroes fought their way past his deathbots and into his lair. There he would square off against his foes and defeat them in a blaze of glory! As the heroes lay defeated he would gloat about his perfect plan and then unleash his terror! The universe would be his!

Something felt off about that statement, but Dylan couldn't put his finger on it. He reached into his bag of chips for some brain fuel but came up empty. He'd eaten the last of them in his chat with John. Grumbling, Dylan went to his kitchen to grab an apple or something.

He came back to an advertisement on his computer. The games expo had finished the last of its interview with Arthur and was showing off a kid's phone game. It was one of those simple games where you would match three colored shapes to score points. The twist on this one was an evil-looking man stood at the top cackling manically. The villain dropped the colored shapes which turned out to be bombs. If you matched enough shapes the bombs exploded early, match enough and the bombs would blow up in the villains face.

That's what he was missing! The villain was supposed to lose. He couldn't be a supremely evil villain out to destroy the universe and succeed with it. But that did change some of his ideas. He couldn't play a competent evil villain if he had to lose the fight. That left the competent villain who was beaten by his hubris or the bungling villain who was a threat but constantly stopped.

The question for Dylan was which sounded more fun. The hubristic villain had style, their presence filled a room. The most charismatic villains were this type. But the problem with these villains is that they were a one-time thing. These antagonists were so caught up in their grand scheme that it couldn't possibly fail. So when it did they tended to go down with the ship.

The bungling villain didn't have that problem, but they were designed for children's television. These villains might be confident, but their schemes would never work correctly. Their inventions would have random effects and backfire on them in the end. Of course, the villain would always be back again next week with some harebrained scheme.

He liked parts of both villains. He wanted to be this overly confident, self-assured character who grabbed a room with their presence. But he also wanted to keep playing the character if his plans failed. He knew his pride wouldn't let him continue playing the hubristic villain if he failed a scheme. Though he didn't want to go full bungling villain either. The absurd plans sounded exciting and fun but he didn't want to lose every scheme. Some had to be a little bit successful or he'd get bored.

Maybe he could combine the two? Have all the confidence and all the wacky ideas together. Yeah. Who cares if one scheme didn't work when you have twenty more ready to go, all equally able to take over the world. He could even have some fail on purpose in order to make his successes that much better.

An image was coming into Dylan's head now. A villain who would take over the world interestingly. Sure, he could try world domination with mind control, or giant robots. But what if he instead used mind-controlled giant robots! He'd have to ask for mad science as his first power, as it was the only powerset he knew that allowed for a wide array of schemes.

He turned towards his wall of comics. Yes, he'd combine the personalities of his favorite dastardly villains and add the charisma needed for people to treat them as a threat. Images of a tall man dressed in a suit and sporting a curved mustache formed in his head. The combination of all his favorites put into one character. Dylan couldn't wait for the game to release.

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