Vaudevillain

Chapter 240: Dark Side of the Moon

Shizuka jumped off the rocket with a twirl, kicking up a cloud of dust as she landed. She continued into a roll, coming up with both hands in the air like a gymnast. A simple bubble helmet sat on her head, a hose running from it to an oxygen tank on her back.

"Ta-da!" The ninja exclaimed.

"Yes, very impressive," The Professor said. "But we are on a time schedule."

Shizuka rolled her eyes, "Doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun. But fiiiiine. Hand me the factories."

The Professor opened his inventory, placing both factories on the ground in front.

"Remember," he started.

"These things only have a range of a few kilometers. I know," Shizuka sighed. "It's like you don't trust me or something."

The Professor responded with a look.

Shizuka responded with a smirk.

"Right then," she said, taking both the factories. "I'll be back in ten, maybe twenty minutes tops. Keep the engine warm for me."

With those words, Shizuka turned toward the heroes guild moon base and sprinted. Instantly, her body shot into the air, the moon's gravity sending her higher than expected.

"Ahaha! Whoops!" she laughed. "Forgot about that pesky gravity."

The ninja quickly corrected her gait, using the moon's gravity to leap across the gray soil. The others watched her go.

"Are we sure about this?" The Professor asked the others.

Leatherface shrugged, "I don't see why not? Just because she isn't serious doesn't mean she can't get the job done."

The Professor looked out at the expanding dust cloud and sighed, "I guess it's out of our hands now."

Shizuka hummed a ditty to herself as she ran toward the heroes guild. Dextra had given her a few instructions to infiltrate the guild, but Shizuka had ignored them. Part of the fun of stealth games was finding your own way inside.

The guild's walls grew as Shizuka hopped closer, eventually eclipsing the view of the space around. To the left sat the large bubble dome, bright-colored explosions and beams flying around. Shizuka looked over enviously, sad she couldn't join in on all the fun. But no, she had a job to finish.

Sighing to herself, Shizuka pulled the minion factories out of her inventory and placed them next to the wall. A control pad unfolded in front, and Shizuka wasted no time typing in the commands.

"This little factory gets three days," she hummed. "This little factory gets six. This little factory teleports in circles, and so on and so forth."

With deft hands, Shizuka programmed the factories to activate within the set parameters. She smiled as everything finished. Their plan to destroy the moon and take over the world was starting out wonderfully.

"Alright," the ninja said once both factories finished. "Time for the finishing touch."

Shizuka pulled a marker out of her inventory with an evil grin and labeled the factories '1' and '3.'

"There. Now let's see them run around to find number two. If they can."

Giggling, the ninja turned to leave, but the colorful lights nearby made her pause. It wouldn't be that much of a problem if she checked the dome out, would it? It wasn't like she hadn't set up the factories already.

Humming lackadaisically, Shizuka turned and made her way over to the dome, her curiosity and hedonistic nature getting the better of her. That didn't mean Shizuka wasn't keeping an eye out for things. She still made sure to keep to the shadows so heroes couldn't find her. At least until she made it to the dome.

What she saw on the other side made her bright grin glow like the sun.

Heroes of all shapes and sizes ran across the moon's surface toward a group of shimmering holes in the center of the dome. The holes were hard to describe, a mix between an empty void and a serene blue. But the things stepping from the portals were simple. Shizuka pegged them as rhino men.

Each invader stood a good three chests taller than the average hero and had a single massive horn where their nose should be. Tough grey skin covered their bodies, which in turn was covered by a layer of protective armor. As they stepped out of the portal, the rhino men would charge, opening their mouths in what Shizuka could only assume was a warcry. The invaders would brandish guns with bayonet attachements, rushing at their perceived enemies like zealots.

The heroes answered in kind, their mish-mash of powers racing forward to attack head on. The two groups clashed in a whirlwind of power, sending shockwaves across the dome but pushing the rhinos back. Other heroes would then strike the disoriented enemies, taking them down one by one until the wave finished. Once it did, a timer popped up, counting down from ten minutes.

A door at the side of the dome opened, and heroes filtered out. Other heroes walked in moments later, taking their place as guards for the invaders.

"Well, that would get boring real quick," Shizuka huffed. To think she almost made a hero character to try the bubble dome out. She was glad she didn't now, if only because fighting waves of enemies wasn't her style.

Shizuka leaned back and stretched. "Guess I should head back. I'm sure they want to know if anything went wrong."

"Or," she said. "I could continue exploring and say I couldn't find a good place for the factories"

There had to be some way to infiltrate the heroes guild, probably through an airlock or airstrip of some kind. Heroes had to have some way of getting in and out that didn't involve teleporting. Mostly because Shizuka didn't believe for a second that every player would take a teleporter to reach the moon.

A message appeared before Shizuka could act on her thoughts.

The_Professor:

Dr. Zlo said his machines were online. What's taking you so long? We're on a time schedule.

Shizuka sighed. Of course someone was keeping tabs on her.

Sneakysneakinurhouse:

Yeah

A period of three days

That's plenty of time for me to scout

The_Professor:

If you get caught, you ruin the entire plan. They can't know we planted something.

Sneakysneakinurhouse:

IF

IF I get caught

Who's to say I don't get away scot-free

The_Professor:

If you decide to infiltrate, Dextra said we should leave you. Better for you to get caught alone.

Sneakysneakinurhouse:

Ugh

FIIIIIIIIIINE

I'll head back

The_Professor:

Good.

Shizuka grumbled as she closed out the messenger. How come no one let her have any fun anymore? All she wanted to do was mess around with the heroes a bit. Maybe make a few clones and open some things up. It wasn't like she wanted to give the whole plan away.

The player stomped back toward the escape ship and realized a few jumps in that she didn't remember where it was. Grumbling some more, Shizuka opened up the messenger to ask where they were.

She halted before she started typing. Getting lost could be a good excuse. She'd have to send out a few clones to 'get her bearings.' And if a few clones decided to sneak inside the heroes guild, who could blame her for performing preemptive reconnaissance.

Her grin returning, Shizuka activated her power and split into copies. She sent some in the general direction of the ship while she sent the rest to find an entrance to the heroes guild. Once done, Shizuka followed behind her first set of clones, opening up their vision feeds in her HUD. She found the outlines of Bart, The Professor, and the others in minutes, but what she was really interested in was getting into the heroes guild.

Her clones had indeed found an airstrip or docking station of some kind and had easily kept to the shadows to move inside. Once there, the clones shadowed other heroes, doing their best to explore the area.

They didn't get very far.

Despite her love of stealth, Shizuka wasn't what one would call cautious, and her reckless infiltration didn't go unnoticed. Various sensors, both magical and mundane, went off once she stepped foot inside the building, alerting the multiple heroes in charge. Many of Shizuka's clones were wiped out in moments, with only a few making it into the building proper.

Those that did had a few minutes to recklessly run through the area, attempting to find some kind of weakness or alternate escape route. Instead, most of the clones met with the front end of a fist.

In the end, only one clone found anything of importance. It had gotten lucky on both the first and second passes, somehow evading the heroes as they attacked. The evasion gave them enough time to work their way into a control room of sorts, though not anything critically important as far as Shizuka could tell.

Instead, what appeared in front of her was a large screen with a countdown on it. The same countdown that hovered over the bubble dome. Below the countdown sat a list of mobs, what Shizuka assumed to be the invaders.

But that wasn't the important part. What caught her eye was the large picture of the moon resting under the rest of the images, a smaller timer near it. The words, 'time until the next phlebotinium pulse,' flashed under the timer, making Shizuka's eyes go wide.

At that point, a hero came into the room and finished off her last clone. But Shizuka was already sprinting toward the escape ship. She couldn't wait to tell everyone the big reveal.