Some Like It Hot

[Vulre Oakenlimb]

The greatest showman in the multiverse stepped out from the rift in reality that spawned him, the tear in the fabric of existence erasing itself from memory as quickly as it ripped itself open. Or did it even exist in the first place?

Of course, once you started pondering philosophical quandaries like that, you end up spending your days locked in a dark room with nothing more than a chalkboard and a computer permanently connected to the weirder chatrooms. Been there, done that, found the occasional lizard-person. But there was no purpose for such… BORING activities in this new realm of possibility. It was time to pull off one hell of a gag on this entire damn universe…

His spandex-clad fingers flew to his bracer, tapping upon the near-mystical sigils emblazoned upon it, varying reports flooding his domed helmet.

What he saw did not please him. Not a single drone to dupe whatever heroes infested this land, no robotic ancient Mayan Gods to control (Damn the Avengers, he’d put far too much work into that set to see it wasted!), to speak nothing of the dilapidated state of his suit. Just how did Omni expect him to put on a proper performance without his equipment?

He took a deep breath, the fresh air within his orb filling his lungs. The show must go on, after all. Underfunded and understaffed? That just meant you were the Underdog. As the Webhead was always happy to remind him, all of his plans were frequently undone by an exceptionally lucky break, some cruel twist of fate that outweighed all of his careful prepwork.

Ah well. It’s not like that grinning bastard saw fit to bring in someone with the unholy confidence to wear their underpants on the outside here to enforce their version of justice.

He quickly typed in a series of commands, one eye observing the emptiness around him. As promising as this world might be, he was THE Master of Misdirection, a title which demanded subterfuge. The shimmering scales of his armour began to fade, The Maestro of Mayhem slowly turning transparent. The projectors mounted upon his torso activated, the twin stone eyes opening and constructing a near-perfect replica of himself, and-Dear lord, do my thighs really look that big?

A brief moment later, the narcissistic semblance was reforged, emerald scales glimmering beneath a sourceless sun, a dark purple cloak wrapped around the hologram’s broad shoulders. The translucent form of the true Mysterio hovered around his image, carefully inspecting himself for any flaws. A few extra muscles couldn’t hurt, and nor could a larger codpiece…

The alterations were quickly finished, the idealized pinnacle of arrogance before him standing resplendent under the sunless sky. It was undoubtedly a piss-poor set, but you worked with what you got. Beneath his helmet, his eyes sought out an audience.

There.

What appeared to be a green-skinned pyromaniacal Opera Singer faced off a pointy-eared mercenary of sorts.

Act One, Scene One, go.

He rapidly keyed in commands as he approached under his near-invisible illusion, commanding his holographic representation to approach the pair, his malevolent mind working on the perfect approach. You always made an entrance, no matter the scenario. Without drama, a Supervillain was nothing more than a particularly strong thug without an ounce of worth in their being.

Raw Omnillium coalesced before him as the decoy made their approach, pure will forming a shape within his outstretched hand.

With a flourish of its digitized cape, the hologram made itself known, the viridian scales coating it shining as it bowed, the featureless glass dome reflecting their surprised faces as a voice that never learnt there was a limit to dramatic tones spoke up. “Greetings, fellow players! I am Mysteeerriiioo The Magnificent!”

His voice echoed in the brief silence, a cloud of purple smoke consuming his figure before the near-six feet of Supervillain appeared next to the Elf-like hired gun, directly interposing itself between the pair and the still-invisible puppetmaster. “The proper pronunciation is either a thoroughly cowed and fearful whisper, or a praise-filled scream shouting my many virtues to the heavens.”

Three. Two. One.

A flick of his wrist sent the freshly forged card flying, sailing through the distance with near-perfect precision as his illusion extended a hand towards the Magmatic maiden. “My card, Madame.” The paper flew through the emptiness of the illusion, seemingly erupting from a bracer as the shocked damsel struggled to catch the card, her lava-wrought gauntlets tossing the card in the air several times before it could be held steadily enough to read.

Upon its embossed surface were the golden-gilt words: Mysterio. Master of Illusion. Maestro of Mayhem. Professional Supervillain. Birthday Parties at your own peril.

[Marisa Kirisame]

As she was riding her horse she heard some iddiot going on about him being a Super villain and something about Birthday partys at your own peril and she rolled her eyes "What a moron". she sucked up the Om and walked up to the group hiding her knife and held out her hand to the guy with the fishbowl and then said

"Howdey i'm Chara, Chara Dremurr how are you"?

and he bent down and just stared at her from the Fishbowl and then said to his group
"oh look what we have here, a little kid that proboly could not hurt a fly" that got to her and she started to smoke black and looked at them with her Red eyes "You don't know who you are talking to don't cha"? and they all looked at her though she could not tell what they were thinking she was going to have Lots of fun with them. and she stopped having black smoke come off her and grabbed her knife and started to entertain herself with it not caring what the group thought or did with her.

After what seemed like forever she spoke again this time with a very cold and cruel voice
"Well I have one question for you three that I want the truth to, Do you think your above consequences"? and she awaited there responses.

[Lord Dominator]

Dominator had been impressed by Mysterio’s entrance, and she could count on one hand the number of times a villain had actually been able to make a positive impression on her. Sure, he was a little cheesy, but he didn’t seem like a total moron. That put him, easily, in the top ten.

Still, she couldn’t let that level of arrogance go unmatched, could she?

“Mysterio the Magnificent, huh?” She purred, her voice definitely not sounding fearful or full of praise – more amused. Her lip curled into a smirk, and she stepped towards the impressive figure, sliding the card somewhere about her outfit as she did so. The woman makes sure he can see her giving him the once over, a clear inspection up and down.

“Well, aren’t you … entertaining. The classic smoke bomb entrance, some nice execution there too.” She waved one gloved hand around vaguely, “I mean, if it were me, I’d couple it with an actual execution, but, you can’t have everything I guess.” 

Those long legs of hers completed a graceful circuit of the tall illusion – coming frightfully close to walking right through the invisible villain, but thankfully he was both quick and stealthy enough that he could dart out the way before Dominator touched him. Besides, her attention was most definitely taken up with the muscle-bound figure before her. Usually, beefcakes were tiresome idiots – but this one seemed like he actually knew how to have a good time!

“I’m Lord Dominator.” She started, opening her mouth to continue, only to be shut up by the sudden interruption of Chara’s entrance. Dominator’s bright pink eyes took in the child, and she burst out laughing all over again – a short, sharp cackle.

"Consequences?” She asked, “Let me put this in a way even YOU can understand!"

She spared a glimpse towards Mysterio. It was difficult, with the helmet, to be sure whether he knew what was coming next. But there are some connections between villains which go beyond mere words and into something deeper; the laws of genre convention demand it. She dipped her head, and she was certain that he’d have her back.

“HIT IT!”

Snapping her fingers in time to a beat, the woman’s voice was low and dark and she started to sing. Dominator loomed over Chara, looking down on the girl with the knife as she answered the ‘question’ that the girl had put to her.

The following is sung roughly in line with: 

"I bring the wrath with doom impending,
Fires burn and worlds ending,
Your planet's gone and I'm ascending!”

A twirl, and she danced backwards, throwing her arms open to encompass the whole blank space and everyone in it. Dominator’s face was a picture of rapturous glee, the woman’s grin pure malevolence.

“Your cries are like the sweetest birdsong.”

She stretched her hand out, and a bluebird descended from above, twittering, to land on her finger like some bizarre parody of a Disney Princess…

“Actually, scratch that, the birds are all gone!”

A sudden clenching of her hand and the bird disappeared with a snap.

“And now your death is sure to come on.”

Heatless flame licked around the trio, and Dominator made a mental note to thank Mysterio for these touches later. The woman’s helmet closed sharply over her features, and the green visor flashed dark red as she summoned up her armour for added height, casting a shadow that seemed to stretch over all three. Her voice was now a reverberating growl that seemed almost to shake the ground on its own!

“You scared? Good! Because I'm CRUSHING!
Your armies, your heart, and I'm not bluffing!
My ONLY desire to see you suffering!”

She stomped back towards Chara and then… the armour melted away, as quickly as it had appeared, and she was behind the girl, voice a silky-sweet coo.

“I'm not doing this because I'm upset,
I destroy civilisations because I am THE BEST
Greatest in the galaxy!” 

Her fingers came together to form a hashtag symbol next to her head, coupled with a sway of her hips to the side. 

“SMASHTAG, betterthantherest. See, in case you forget...”

Where the pedestal came from was a mysterious mystery, but she wasn’t going to question it as she walked up the stairs, fashionable sneakers taking each step to place her above her no-doubt-awestruck audience, belting out the chorus with renewed vigour.

“I bring the wrath with doom impending,
Fires burn and worlds ending,
Your planet's gone and I'm ascending!”

Looking down on them all, she pointed at the child once more; directly addressing Chara with provocative verse. 

“You've got LIGHT YEARS before you catch up to me,
You talk a big game but you're how old, what, three?
Even other villains can't touch me!”

Lunging from the top of the pedestal she crashed down into the middle of the group, fist slamming into the floor with enough force to crack it, sending splinters of strange white matter erupting up around her. Her neck cracked, and she turned to look into Chara’s eyes.

“You talk about consequences? Hah! I'm QUAKING!
Oh wait, no, that's laughter; I'm shaking!”

And she is! Straightening up to her full height, the woman’s shoulders shudder with laughter and she throws her head back, giving herself a couple of moments to flex her hand and try to work out the bruising – why did she do that? It really hurt! But, the show had to go on. 

“Hahahahaha!”

And then a pirouette, sashaying her hips from side to side.

“Your question? Here's my answer, sweet thing: 
Any punishment you can name? I really deserve it!”

Dark shadowy bars fall across her – as though she were locked up… for a moment, she cowers back from her unseen jailer, and then, suddenly, both hands burst into lava-covered glory, and the shadows explode away.

“But I'm the greatest in the galaxy, silly twit,
So what're you gonna do? You're going to sit there as I commit
Atrocity after atrocity 'cause…”

Jak was favoured at this point – the woman stalking towards him with fire blazing in her eyes.

“I bring the wrath with doom impending,
Fires burn and worlds ending,
Your planet's gone and I'm ascending!”

By this point, Mysterio had been given enough time to be ready – and if Dominator had been impressed and thankful before, what happened next was sure to buy her gratitude. 

Because she found herself standing atop a world – one she didn’t recognise, but then she’d never been to Earth. As she walked in place, the globe twirled beneath her feet, and what had been a ferocious smile turns to one of genuine, energetic delight. Man! She’d been in such a bad mood before, but this? This was actually fun!

“Can't stop me cause you know I'm right!
Where I step you'll find no light,
What's that brat? You want to put up a fight?”

Lava covered hands were flicked towards her chest in the classic ‘come on then’ motion, the Greatest in the Galaxy inviting small fry to come out and play.

“That's cute! Really! You're welcome to try!
I tried to play nice now you're all gonna die,
Because I'm soaring above consequences high in the sky,”

She looked towards where she'd last seen Mysterio but... where was that guy? Hm. She'd just assumed that it was him handling the special effects, but she couldn't actually see him. Maybe she was doing it through sheer force of will? That was how things were supposed to work here, right? But... if he'd missed this, she was actually going to be annoyed! 

The momentary hesitation brought a few beats of silence, and then she dipped her head – a signal such a professional showman was sure to realise meant that she was coming towards the end of the song. She wasn't sure if it was her or him, but she was going to bring this thing to the hottest climax she could manage - her finger pointing out at her audience.

“Say your prayers, you know how this one ends...”

And the world came to a stop beneath her feet.

“I'm bringing the wrath with doom impending!”

Hopping backwards, her arms stretched out, grasping the globe and lifting it up above her head. Lava dripped from her fingers, scoring deep gouges across the Earth’s surface. The cries and screams of desperate people barely audible in the wind above her raised voice.

“The fires burning and your world's ending!”

Flames ignite across the globe’s surface, cities, countries, continents erupting into bright and dazzling flame, reflected in Dominator’s eyes as she stares with rapturous glee at the decimated world.

“Your planet's gone and I'm ascending!”

Her hands come together, and there’s a brilliant flash of light, almost blindingly bright as the world is crushed beneath her fingers, and she finds herself rising up on a platform over the gathered group.

“Your hope is gone and I'm ascending!”

Her visor snapped back down, just to add that booming, menacing growl in the final line.

“Your life is DONE and I'M! ASCENDING!"
 
And just like that, normality is restored to the world. The music – for there had been music – dies away with that last word, and Dominator’s knees quaked before they gave out. She was left on the platform, and with some effort she managed to wrench her helmet off, showing the bright white mane that was normally kept hidden – now completely and totally drenched with sweat.

“Man, I swear that did not take nearly as much out of me the last time…” She panted to herself. Geez! Stupid Omniverse, one little performance full of continuous acrobatics and bellowing, and she was ready to take a nap!

No. She couldn’t allow that. Forcing herself back up to her feet, her knees shook but she could still stare down at the trio, and shout out: 

“Was that clear enough for you? Huh?!”

[Marisa Kirisame]

She decided to talk after the stunt was over by this iddiot and then she heard her say “Was that clear enough for you? Huh?!” so she got up and then said "Ah monologues had to deal with them too much back home and now I have to deal with them here?!" she said oh you don't need a monologue to be a good Villain unlike you I actually have killed the same world,"

her voice grew cold and Megalo strike back started to play "I only needed six souls and a monster to become a god and kill Humanity now you might be wondering why I want to kill my people well ill tell you they forced another group of creatures down into the earth and locked them up in there so" she spun her hand with a sort of royalty also her voice changed and she showed her true face to them "They called me a demon so I ran and fell down to the only family I had"

she "glitched" to behind Lord dominator and continued her rant "All of you guys are like them thinking there above consequences" she started to have black smoke come off of her and pulled out her knife witch turned from grey to red then to green and then back to grey and she then said 

"This is hilarious... we have a Comedian, a Genocidal tryhard, and A Megalomaniac oh yea we have someone who I have no quarrel with" she then tiped her head to one side and asked "I wonder ... when everyone will learn that I cant die back home or here I will come back" she stopped smokeing and put her knife back "well I hope you learn from this experience and summoned her horse and rode off to the Camelot portal before going through.

[Jak Mar]

Jak forcibly placed a smile on his face “I heard you loud and clear, it’s just i’ve heard that from every other villain i’ve faced in my world. “

“Welcome to the Omniverse, Dominator.”  Jak resisted a chuckle himself.

Jak raised an eyebrow and pretended to look offended. “Don’t you get it? I always played the hero back home. Yet nobody knew I was a pretty good villian too. It’s all in the goals of the person. Have you played a HERO and a Villain? I have. I’ve taken down robots bigger than myself AND you, and lived to tell the tale.

I think me and my buddy deserve a little rest for getting no respect, hm?

You can be scary, but I don’t think you know what I’m even capable of.

Jak held back his anger in check or else “he” would come out..

If anybody around the hero was looking, dark eco spouted from the man’s body as claws began to jut from the man’s hand.

“Sorry, this hero doesn’t play games”.

A creepy smirk arrived on Jak’s face.

Then two more folks stepped in, a magician and then some girl with a knife.

.. wait. A kid?

Mysterio had set the scene with Dominator as a strange scene began to play.

And then… singing?

Half Jak/Half dark Jak inwardly groaned.

The two villains started to sing out something about consequences. Jak seemed to play along in the song for some reason but growled when the “fake” earth melted in the song and went to normal.

[Vulre Oakenlimb]

As the last of the illusions serving to accentuate the Villainess’ performance faded away, the sound of clapping emerged from the haze of purplish smoke obscuring the previous position of Mysterio. “Oh, well done. You have no idea how few people fully appreciate artistry with their villainy.” The Illusionist’s form stepped out from the mists, his adonis-like body clad in the emerald scales of his suit, occasionally allowing a tendril of fog to penetrate its ethereal body, a hint at its true nature. “A beautiful performance, marred only by the unappreciating audience. You might as well be doing television, wasting such talent on this… Peanut Gallery.”

The ‘heroic’ mercenary swaggered forward, the bulk of their weapon humming ever-so-slightly, the alien technology concealed within its construction undoubtedly significantly more powerful than most earth-born technology. “Just what do you mean by that, bubble-head? I’ve blown bigger ‘bots than you to bits, so what makes you think tha-”

The Maestro of Misdirection raised a hand, ceasing the Hired Gun’s speech. “Now then, allow me to show you something.” The opaque sphere atop his torso fell away, rolling across his muscled arm before coming to a stop in his palm, a void left behind where his head should have been. A viridian hand hovered over the crystal ball, the mystic mists within dancing upon the puppetmaster’s strings. “Behold, mortal, an infinite number of dimensions and multiverses, each one different from the rest. Worlds where I became a hero, planets which you burnt to the ground. I would like to enlighten you as to one specific variable that somehow, by some twist of fate, remains constant throughout all possible permutations of reality.”

A snap of his fingers turned the sphere sable, its surface blackening as it became as empty as the Mercenary’s skull.

“Behold, sir Mar, every single dimension in which anyone gives a damn about you.”

He allowed the orb to fall to the earth, soundlessly shattering as its disparate pieces faded into mist, a fresh sphere rising from between his shoulders.

“The number one rule of this grand Gag, Mar, is to always make an entrance. It matters not if it’s a single rube, or a city full of grovelling minions. Without theatricality, you’re nothing more than a heavily armed thug with delusions of grandeur.”

Mysterio turned, the regal purple cloth of his cloak fluttering in the wind that seemingly only he could experience.

“And if this sorry excuse for a welcome party is any indication of the rest of this new realm, then I daresay the lovely La-Lord Dominator and myself have a lot to teach you all about what it’s like to steal more than just the show. Don’t get me wrong, you could use a lot of help on that front as well, but as entertaining as it is to see you crawl, I think some baby steps are in order.”

A long cane flew from his bracer, softly impacting on the blank surface of the Nexus.
“Let me show you how it’s done, Mar.” An oddly appropriate name, given whatever cataclysm had been centered on his unfortunate face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQyNN2SfPwQ

“Any dolt with half a brain, can see that it’s no fun being sane.”

The walking stick was brought downwards, stopping just short of the mercenary’s skull, eliciting a flinch from the abhuman. Might be a bit too much grey matter to ask, in their case.

“There’s a beauty in sowing woe, take heed, oh unworthy foe, this gig’s about far more than merely causing pain.”

A puff of smoke heralded his disappearance, shortly before choking tendrils of violet smoke brought him nearer to the mercenary, pressing a hand to his bubble-helmed head as he neared Jak’s cranium.

“Listen close to this foolish upstart, and hear that lack of sound.”

A frenzy of infuriated slaps forced the Illusion away, the Hired Gun’s hand at one point passing effortlessly through the empty air where his corporeal form should have been.

A crack of thunder announced him as he reformed once more, a billowing cape streaked with lightning serving as the coupe de grace as he towered behind the alien, dark stormclouds obscuring his now-gigantic frame, unlimited power flowing freely from hands easily as large as a man’s torso.

“Hopes and dreams are shattering apart, and falling to the ground.” Framed pictures began to fall from his hands, every single precious memory splintering into a thousand pieces as it landed, the aspirations within dashed. An actor denied his time in the spotlight, forever doomed to don the obscuration of a stuntman, remaining in obfuscation whilst an insufferable half-rate thespian received acclamation.

“And yet you all believe your eyes, despite how the world’s full of filth and lies”

The titanic figure vanished, tendrils of mist vanishing and parting as the illusion ended. The noticeably slimmer true Mysterio stepped through his giant’s former position, smoke swirling around his helmet in a circular, hypnotic motion.

“But isn’t it plain to see, that Evil’s indisputably on the rise?”

“I don’t th-” stammered the Sellsword, who was starting to become moderately discomforted by the sheer quantity of impromptu performances.

“Anyone with half a brain, would flee during the refrain! For these villains are everywhere, but they just don’t seem to care.”

He pried open the fingers of his left hand, revealing the grinning visage of Omni, their mutual captor. Cracks began to run across its porcelain surface, violent violet light shining from within as it began to crumble, the dilettante demiurge falling to pieces as the Maestro of Mayhem envisioned Deicide.

“And soon, for lack of competition, we will be all that remains.”

[Lord Dominator]

"None of us were wondering that." Lord Dominator said to the kid, only to turn around with a sudden start when Chara glitched behind her. Creepy. "Where do we think we are, exactly?" She asked, genuine confusion flashing across the green woman's features. This kid was... clearly insane. Which would be fine, but she had a strange knife, and Dominator wasn't entirely sure whether she should be worried about that or not - ordinarily, she wouldn't, but everything today had been going in a very confusing direction. 

As Chara rode away, Lord Dominator shook her head, looking to the other two. "Is it just me?" She asks, "Because I'm thinking that we're going to have to kill that girl sooner rather than later. 

At the question from Jak, Dominator shook her head. "Hero isn't really my style. She said. "Call it type casting if you like, but I've always seen myself more as Final Boss material." 

There's a faint smile on her lips as Mysterio complements her, and the woman shakes her head slowly. "If you came from my universe, you'd get it." She says, "Everyone there is ... was ... is a complete moron. I don't 'perform' for them, I do it for myself. The only audience that matters."

With that explanation given, she is more than happy to be the audience to Mysterio's performance, now that they are coming thick and fast. There's a chuckle, the woman shaking her head and clapping in the aftermath of it. 

"Bravo, bravo." She says, "That was... so, incredibly dumb! It was perfect for getting through to this guy." She jerked her thumb to Jak, as though there was any doubt at all who she was talking about.

Again, there was a sashay in her step as she walked towards the supervillain of the moment. There was, after all, only so far they were going to get in this white plain of nothingness - unless they felt like getting involved in one of the fights taking place around the Nexus. Which ... really, she had absolutely no interest in; she didn't know what the stakes were, or who these guys even were, really, beyond the most general terms.

"So, tell you what." She says, "I'm going to head over to those guys over there." She waved in the vague direction of the Coruscant Gate, "And see if I can't figure out what's going on around here. You feel like coming with me?"

Jak? Well... Jak can be cheerfully ignored at this point. She was fairly confident the Mercenary Hero wasn't going to attack her, and even if he wasn't going to give her his card, they could part ways amicably enough. But this guy? He seemed like he could be a useful ally. Or, at the very least, someone amusing to keep in contact with - and if that other idiot was right, there was a non-zero percent chance that the people on the gate might try to kidnap her for experiments. Which would be ... inconvenient.

[Jak Mar]

The illusions were messing with the mercenary’s mind at times, but the musical numbers currently just seemed like a joke to kick the hero around. First this Alien who sings  musicals made him swoon over her. Curse the woman’s wills over the common man.

He’d sooner than later rip those two swelling grins off Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Sadly that’s the only way to get it through their thick skulls that you had to sing in tones only they could understand. Yes, he said it. SING IT.

God damnit, he hated this part.

Cue one singing moment later…

After an awkward and tense moment between the three of them, the growing tension was so thick you can cut it with a knife. Jak’s monster form was coming to life in front of the strange entity and the alien and with every step, Jak’s dark eco sparks started to spark more and more. Even the two nearby could feel some sort of spark even if they were not close.  

Jak didn’t say much except “Now, I think we are on even playing terms, woman.”

Jak’s eyes were black as pools as his form began to change.  The hero of Dante’s Abyss was turning into the villain nobody wanted him to be. Demon horns jutted out of the mercenary’s head as his teeth became sharp and his claws became increasingly long. The demon’s claws was On the woman's shirt grasping it.

Then Erik arrived and he stopped "Erik?!" "Don't worry, it's me Jak."

[Erik Vrell]

As Erik waited for Jak, his train of thought was interrupted by a group nearby which quickly erupted into a musical number. As Erik watched in awe from a distance, he heard someone say the name Jack, or in this case, Jak. Could it be the man Erik was waiting for? Before the psychic could approach, there was yet another ear-splittingly loud performance. Once he was sure the dust had settled, Erik approached the group. 

He smiled nervously as eyes turned to him, suddenly aware that a slightly violent altercation was taking place before him. "Just ask if one of them is Jak," He thought to himself, "If he isn't here, get the hell out. If he is, then we'll just have to try to defuse the situation."

"Um, would any of you happen to be Jak Mar?" Erik mumbled sheepishly, desperately hoping he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire between the green skinned girl and the odd, hissing man whose hands were around her neck.

[Vulre Oakenlimb]

A hum flooded the atmosphere as an impossibly large weapon manifested itself in Mysterio’s hands, its chrome-plated bulk draped in errant wires and tubing. The crimson glow within its barrel intensified as the recent arrival and his errant companion turned to face the Illusionist. A flick of a switch mounted upon the firearm’s flank wreathed it in lightning, as the Supervillain deigned to speak. “Now listen here, Tall, Dark, and Hideous. While I’m sure you’re used to scaring off the new arrivals, I can assure you that I have seen henchmen more intimidating than you.” The electricity coruscating about his death ray arced to the nexus, a shower of sparks accompanying the pyrotechnic display. “How about you run along, lest we decide to answer this posturing with more than just insults of our own?”

The mercenary’s ebon skin pulled back in a snarl as he turned to look upon the Superior Villain. “Just who do you think you are to talk to me like that?” His sable eyes scarcely noticed the oversized device of obliteration, beginning to suspect that there was something far more insidious occurring with Mysterio than he had first thought.

Mysterio’s weapon of mass destruction evaporated into smoke, his dome beaming as Jak began to realize his error. “Please, not anoth-”

”I’m glad you asked!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM5-i9NH0tM

A cane materialized itself in his hand, the rod tapping against the emptiness of their realm as he began to speak, setting a steady rhythm. “Now, this is a story, all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down, and I’d like you to take a minute, just sit right there, and I’ll tell you how I became the harbinger of terror.

In New York City, born and raised, working with a camera is how I spent most of my days, I had never even dreamed of breaking society’s rules! But one day, I decided I’d suffered enough fools.”

As Jak stared in silent desperation, a claw still hooked into the fabric of Dominator’s shirt, the Villainess whispered to her momentary foe, holding up a jade hand to shield her query from the musical mastermind. “Do you know where New York is?” Mar could only answer with a shrug, exasperation slowly overtaking his psyche.

The emerald-clad showman tossed his prop into the air, its ebon length erupting into a crimson mask.

“So I found some infuriating goody-two-shoes, and started to show the world how he was no good. So, I began to make some trouble in his neighbourhood, one little trick, and he got all scared-”

“Why are you singing?” Queried the newcomer, his incredibly boring features contorted in a visage of confusion.

This bought everyone present a blissful moment of silence, the Magnificence of Mysterio slowly turning to face Erik, his eyes undoubtedly locking onto him in a death stare underneath the reflective surface of his helmet. ”Why?” He spoke, his voice dripping with venom and malice. ”Because someone needs to have class. We’ve been abducted by an all-powerful entity, and forced to dance upon his strings. If I’m just a player on his grand stage, then I’ll make damn sure I’m in a show worth watching.”

He dusted off his slim chest, still glaring at the two recent arrivals. “Now then, if we’ve both insulted each other enough, I would very much like to accompany an intergalactic warlord on a journey to the local assembly of victims, and see if we can’t make some magic happen.”

[Lord Dominator]

Jak's transformation gains a raised eyebrow from Dominator, and as the clawed monster grasped her shirt, there was a momentary flash of concern. She was tired after all that singing, and she had been trying to avoid getting in any pointless fights. Her pride, though, demands that she can't let such an act go unanswered. Thankfully, it was just her shirt and not her throat, so in lieu of anything more drastic she brought both hands up beneath Jak's own and she pulled backwards to tear his claws free. Thankfully, with minimal damage to her shirt - there were a couple of rips, but not anywhere compromising. She could look like she meant to have it ripped in a fashionable way, at least until she had five minutes to work out how to fix it herself.

Mysterio made a remarkably good distraction for this sort of thing; she'd definitely have to remember that for later. He had some style, and he seemed to appreciate hers, too... yes, definite opportunities there - if he knew how to take orders half as well as he knew his choreography.

"Seriously, though." She said, looking to Jak sidelong as Mysterio's performance began again in earnest. She is polite enough to keep her voice down so as not to interrupt - but she's also not paying a great deal of attention right now, either. It isn't that she dislikes a good show, but there was work to worry about too, and hard as it was to believe it at times, Dominator always put work before pleasure. One couldn't conquer a galaxy if they kept getting distracted, after all!

So she leaned in next to the dark-eyed mercenary and his terrifying demonic visage, her voice a conspiratorial whisper. "That is a good look for you. If you change your mind about letting me hire you some time, you should look me up. Judging by the last twenty minutes, I'm going to need a lot of hired hands."

Of course, she'd need money to hire those hands, too, but that was a problem for tomorrow's Dominator. Today's Dominator could afford to take in the show with a cocky smile, and shake her head faintly in the aftermath of it.

"Alright then, now that we've got that cleared up." She said, clapping her hands together. "Mysterio and I shall go one way, Erik and Jak, you go another. Absolutely awful to meet both of you. I mean really. Not joking. Just the worst. Next time, let's either try having some basic manners, or just kill one another right off the bat and avoid wasting everyone's time. Okay? Okay. Cool. Bye!~"

With that cheerful put-down given, she waved her hand loosely over her shoulder and resumed her walk towards the Coruscant Gate. It wasn't far, and by this point the guards - who do look professional at least - have had plenty of time to realise that they're going to be approached. It is a good thing stormtroopers wear those full-face helmets or they'd either be looking scared or amused, and neither would serve them well with the pair of villains bearing down on them.