Hero and Villian

The strange Viscet was mumbling and cackling to himself while he was working on a strange machine that occasionally huffed steam. His frame was glowing slightly in the dim interior of his laboratory and once in a while he wiped away thick pearls of goo obscuring his field of vision.

When he heard a door fly open behind him, he wasn't alarmed in the slightest. Instead, a big, toothy grin appeared on his face and he turned around to look at the intruder.

“Ambrose the detective!” He called, laughing in a similar manner to that of a children cartoon's villain. “My biggest enemy! My one true rival! Have you arrived to sabotage my plans of taking over Edornoldn? Be ready to cower in fear of my newest creation: The Death Ray™! With its help, I shall conquer the lands and turn all of its inhabitants into my obedient, undead army!”

Strychnine flayed his arms around as he made his grandeur speech, only the thick gloves he was wearing prevented him from spraying black goo everywhere. His voice echoed loudly around them, but the other Viscet appeared far from impressed.

Instead, he was just standing in the doorway, arms crossed in front of his chest. He frowned and sighed. “Strych... may I remind you that you have already claimed that about the last...” Ambrose paused, silently counting on his fingers. “... three... four... gadgets that you invented?”

“I swear, it's true this time around! I finally figured out what went wrong!”

“Sure you did, buddy. I actually came to talk to you about the-”

“Now, aren't you going to stop me before I release this deadly machine onto the innocents?”

The detective flicked his tail. “No. I don't care about your confetti cannon. I want to-”

“But you are the hero of the people! My sworn nemesis!”

Ambrose took a deep breath. He was unsure of whether to be amused or annoyed by the little self-proclaimed villain's antics. It had been annoying at first, then somewhat amusing, and now it was like stumbling into a child's game of make-believe.

“I am not your enemy, Strychnine. I am not a hero and you're not the villain.”

The gooey Viscet pouted. He tried himself at an angry expression, but clearly failed. It only made him look like a child that had been told there would be no chocolate for dinner. “That is the worst insult that you have ever thrown my way, foul fiend!”

Ambrose didn't even reply anymore. He stepped towards Strych, who threw himself in the way of the detective and his precious machine.

“I will not let you stop me, hero! Plan your next step carefully, or I will press this button to activate the Death Ray™ and plunge all of Edornoldn into chaos!”

Naturally, Ambrose ignored the ramblings of the other, simply walking around him. He was not in the mood to humor him even in the slightest; eventually, he – hopefully – would grow out of this cartoonish villainy. Although he doubted, that Strychnine would ever actually grow up...

“Don't say I haven't warned you!”

Strychnine called out, as he slammed his fist down onto a big, red button. The machine instantly sprung to life and started to sputter, whirl and smoke. It cast the laboratory in an ominous red light for a moment, before its canon activated and released... glitter?... all over Ambrose's coat.

The detective sighed, clearly exhausted.

Strychnine gave him an apologetic shrug.

Alas, the hero saved the day again!