Vaudevillain

At first, Dylan tried to take a step forward in his new body. He instead fell flat on his face.

"Ow," he said.

He moved to stand up and his knuckles rapped against the ground, making him wince.

"Okay, body and mind aren't synced. Okay."

Dylan once again moved to stand up, this time taking care to pay attention to his entire body. He felt like a baby learning to walk, each step needing his entire focus.

Dylan toddled along towards the obstacle course. He was glad he hadn't set up any recording yet. Anyone watching this would get a kick out of a mustachioed villain taking baby's first steps. He was sure streamers were breathing sighs of relief right about now. The nature of VR made it hard to have a chatbox open to interact with viewers so most said they would upload videos on their channels instead.

Over the three days, Dylan had run through the obstacle course four times. The first round through he spent the time concentrating on each step. After walking through the course once he found it much easier to judge his steps. He only tripped up once the second time through.

Once done with the second lap, Dylan decided to take a break. A small icon shaped like a gear sat in the top right corner of his vision, right in his periphery. When he looked up at it a menu expanded over his vision and the gear changed to an X.

Character

Inventory

Chat

Friends

Credits

Settings

Logout

It was already seven in the morning! Dylan had to get ready for work. He quickly logged out of the game and watched as the obstacle course shrunk down to the size of a pin before disappearing. Words appeared telling him that it was now safe to take off the VIS.

He grabbed the helmet off and jumped out of bed. Dylan ran into the kitchen, noticing that his steps felt a bit off. But the feeling quickly passed. He grabbed two pieces of wheat bread and threw them into the toaster and dashed into the bathroom. He did his business and made it back in time for the toast to pop up. He grabbed a butter knife and used it to slather his toast with the butter spread from the fridge.

Work was a slog of meetings that Dylan daydreamed through and periods of drafting he methodically performed. During the meetings, he kept imagining large and complicated lairs for his character. The last meeting ended while he imagined a pool filled with mechanical sharks strapped with lasers. He wondered if his powers in-game would let him make such a thing.

Work ended with nothing new to report so Dylan made his way home. Once again he stopped by Joe's diner on the way, not wanting to cook anything tonight. He said hi to Joe and ordered another Italian sandwich. The order arrived in a minute and Dylan rushed out the door, eager to eat and play more World of Supers.

He kicked off his shoes as he opened his front door and made his way to his room. His computer showed a few unread messages from John.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Dude I can't believe we have to wait forty hours to play the game

Oh right you're working

Lmk when you get back then

Dylan sat down at his computer chair and opened up his sandwich with one hand while typing a reply.

Superfan39526:

Back

Forty hours isn't that long since you can play the game while sleeping. Only five days.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Five days I can't play my hero!

The one I made is so cool

I'm giving him elemental powers

Superfan39526:

Gonna make a nuclear man?

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

What?

Oh

Naw

Elemental like earth, wind, and fire

Superfan39526:

Sweet

I want to get mad science powers.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

That's dumb

The science stuff is going to be expensive for sure

And I bet you went solo too didn't you

Superfan39526:

You know me so well.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Man I really wanted to have this whole epic clash with you

Hero vs villain

Fight of the century

And then we'd both get picked by Vert and could play games for a living

Superfan39526:

You know I'd get bored.

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Yeah

SIGH

Guess I'll have to go at it alone

Anyways I'm gonna grind through this obstacle course

Superfan39526:

You trip the first time? My character is taller than me so I fell flat on my face

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

HA

No I just changed my hair color

Made it the four elemental colors

Other than that I look like me

But now the 40 hours makes sense

STILL GOTTA GRIND IT OUT THO

Superfan39526:

Ha yeah

See ya then

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Yeah see ya

Oh

Add me in game

DemarX is username

Superfan39526:

What no demonslayer?

xXxDemonSlayerxXx:

Man cmon

I was like 13 when I made the name

Stupid chat services not letting you change your username

K bye for real now

Superfan39526:

K

Dylan finished up the last of his sandwich and cleaned the crumbs off his desk. He itched to get back into the game but decided against it. First, he looked to see if there was some sort of alarm system for the VIS. He wasn't about to get fired because he arrived late from playing the game for too long. It looked like there was a built-in alarm in the settings. He held back getting into the game until the end of the day, finishing chores instead. His plan was to time the end of the forty hours with the beginning of the weekend. That way he had all weekend to play.

The rest of the week played out the same way. Dylan would go to work, daydream about his character, come home, do chores, do other games until night time, and then finally get into the game and run the course. His coordination in Dr. Zlo's body steadily improved over the period, until Dylan could run the course without any trips or falls. With that out of the way, Dylan started to work on more complicated tasks. Like how to take a fall.

He had fallen on his arm the wrong way after he tried to jump between two platforms and only felt a small twinge of pain for his trouble. A notification popped up to explain that pain was limited in the game. Enough for players to know they were hit but not enough to cause trauma. Any damage would appear on a health bar in-game. Lethal damage would force a drop in reputation and you would be respawned at a hospital or base.

But he had finished the required amount of time for the obstacle course and was now able to enter the actual game. But before his view changed again another notification appeared in his vision.

You have been granted the powers of Mad Science!

As a mad scientist, you are able to build absolutely anything. The only thing stopping you is finding the right materials for your complicated devices.

Those granted the Mad Science power have an interface with Vert's neural network. Enter the device you would like to build and the network will provide a list of materials needed. Once all the materials are collected, combine them in your inventory and watch as your new device emerges.

Note: Powers are still in beta and subject to change at any moment if deemed necessary.

Dylan did a fist pump as he read the screen. It was exactly the type of power he wanted. He couldn't wait to test it. Of course, he didn't have to wait.

The world around him flashed again, blinding Dylan. As he blinked the stars out of his eyes he found himself at the opening screen of World of Supers. He tapped the play game button with his fingers and watched as his invisible platform zoomed him away from the ground and into the sky. His stomach lurched from the change in perspective.

Determining starting location…

Note: All starting locations are random and cannot be changed.

Dylan looked down as he waited. He was up high enough to see multiple cities dot the landscape. Some sat next to oceans, while others were beside large mountains. One city was walled and Dylan could make out some sort of battle. Another floated in the sky on blue light.

Location selected.

You are starting in Haven City.

Have fun out there!

Dylan's platform veered to the side and zoomed over the landscape to an island city in the ocean. Haven City covered the entire island, only small portions next to beaches covered in natural growths. As the platform descended, Dylan could make out towering skyscrapers scattered around low storefronts and houses. At the center of the city, a large, teardrop-shaped building sat.

The building was too short to be a skyscraper, about half as tall of those around it, but what it lacked in height it made up for in presence. The teardrop top was colored a brilliant sea blue and it rested on top of marble walls. Pillars carved to look like men and women in suits sat at the front, propping up the beautiful roof. As Dylan rushed closer a sign carved over the pillars appeared. "Office of the Mayor and Heroes Headquarters."

So that would be where most heroes started. Of course, the platform moved right by it and descended down towards a financial district. At first Dylan thought he'd start in the middle of the financial district, but noticed that behind the district was a fenced off slum. Ramshackle buildings sat next to blocks of apartments.

The platform landed in front of one of the run-down buildings and phased through the floor.

Welcome to Haven City! Haven is known for a thriving financial sector and a private heroes guild paid for by taxes. The Mayor and his son are considered upright leaders and do their best to better the lives of those in the city. Their opposition is an entrenched mafia named the Khaum that have existed since the founding of the city. More information can be found by asking various citizens in the city.

Good luck out there player!

Dylan closed the window and noticed it had minimized in the top right of his vision. There were more icons now. One with a small person symbol, one with a map symbol, one with a book symbol, and the gear he had at the beginning. He opened each one.

The person was a layout of his character and the various items he held. It was here he found his power tab. Excited, Dylan tapped the power tab and watched with excitement as it opened up. A keyboard appeared near his hands and prompted him to enter an idea. He went with something simple, entering glue gun. A loading wheel appeared and spun for a second before the answer appeared.

Glue gun

Requirements:

Epoxy adhesive (1 bottle)

White glue (1 bottle)

Water gun (1)

9V batteries (9)

Copper wire (120 cm)

So Dylan would have to collect all of these items if he wanted to make the gun. It didn't sound too difficult, he bet he could find all the items in stores in the city. He dismissed the prompt. He wasn't about to make a glue gun be his first evil invention. That just screamed one-off joke villain. He went to the other icons instead.

The map was a map of the city. Notable places like his starting home had already been marked on the map and Dylan noticed a GPS system for navigating the streets. The book turned out to be a logbook/questbook combination. One tab held every notification he had received while the other tab listed active quests. He noticed the questbook had an unread notification but Dylan decided to open it later. He had more important things to do.