A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy sat in another alley just southwest of Under-Town’s Arena Square. He was with C'eereni and a few recruits Petra and the Lackeys put together. They were a group of scaring looking thugs at first, but now that Shaggy was about to lead them into a Phreak Trap House. They looked like they were getting cold feet. Even C’eereni seemed to think the same as Shaggy glanced at him.

Slink and Ephemara were working on the Rakgu problem. Vlad had to log out of the game, and Ren was overseeing the building. The Perinadon seemed to think that Frank would work better without Shaggy or Vlad around. So Shaggy was doing the job for the Needle Sisters. They were going to raid a drug house and steal some of the Phreak’s drugs.

Shaggy watched another twitchy Alien amble into the wooden two story saloon-looking building. The massive Alien at the door didn’t even bat an eye as the tweaker walked in. C’eereni had told him they were pretty lax on security, but Shaggy hadn’t believed it until now. That was the fourth person to just waltz in.

“We can’t be doing this, man.” A voice spoke up from the mass of six recruits.

Shaggy sighed as he spun around and glanced at them. “Why not?”

No one spoke up for a few beats until the same voice replied. “Because it’s impossible.”

“Okay, then you are free to leave. But I have a plan that will limit the risks.”

Shaggy singled out every face in the mass of people until the speaker stepped out from the pile. It was a slim red alien who looked more than happy to leave. Shaggy burst into movement the moment the guy left the scrum of people. Before anyone noticed, he had the poor guy in the air by his throat. The skinny alien beat on Shaggy’s arm ineffectually and tried to choke out words.

“You... said... irk..I... could-”

“Yes, yes. Don’t strain yourself. You are going to leave. I just want to impart some last words to you. If you speak of this to anyone, I’ll hunt you down and make you bleed. Got me?”

Shaggy grew his claws and waved them in front of the choking alien’s face. He felt the alien nod his head and dropped him. Shaggy turned back to the remaining five thugs and glared at them. The alien sputtered for a bit on the ground before he crawled away. Shaggy saw C’eereni watching the guy and gave the Lackey a nod in appreciation.

“So,” Shaggy started. “We are going to hit this building. C’eereni here has counted five guards inside, with one at the door. Which means this will be a piece of cake.”

The others, aside from C’eereni, stared at him disbelievingly. But Shaggy ignored them and went on to explain his plan.

“So I’m sure one of the others in our crew would have us sneak in and limit confrontation. But that’s not really my thing. I am more of an upfront kinda of guy. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I thought you said your plan would limit the risks.” Said another voice.

Shaggy nodded. “Yes, to you lot. For me, well, it’s not really a risk, but it’s going to be a pain. I am going to march up front and draw their attention. You lot sneak around and enter through the back. If there’s no door, use a window. If there’s no window, make one. C’eereni, you’re going to lead them.”

“Yes, boss.” C’eereni said, looking happy.

“All you should have to deal with is a couple of addicts. Everyone’s attention should be on me. So you lot work your way around and when you hear me making a ruckus, rob the place.”

C’eereni nodded as he started herding the mass of thugs out of the alley and into the main road heading west. Shaggy leaned against a building and watched the drug house. He stretched out his legs and arms as he waited and thought about their burgeoning empire. So far, things had been fun, but not too difficult. They had a good thing going so far.

He was a little surprised more players hadn’t made their way down here. But he figured that was because of the hidden nature of Under-Town. Shaggy wondered how a villain got things going above ground. There was the odd opportunity to join an NPC villain’s crew and work your way up. But Shaggy didn’t think too many players would go that route. Few players liked to take orders.

Hopefully, by the time more and more players made their way down here. Shaggy and his friends would be better set up. It was going to get pretty hectic when different player gangs started growing. Maybe they could get a Big Five sort of truce going. He shook off his thoughts and went back to watching the house.

After a few minutes, Shaggy started stripping out of his clothes. He folded them and set them aside in the alley and stood there in the dirt, nude. Shaggy gave another long sigh and changed, his body twisted and reformed again. He felt like it was getting faster, but the pain was still intense and he had to grit his teeth to not make any noise. Although he didn’t think he succeeded.

Shaggy shook the pain from his lupine form and walked tentatively toward the house. He wanted to give the door guard enough time to notice him. Which didn’t take long before Shaggy meandered toward the drug house. He swore he could smell the alien’s fear as he got closer and closer. The alien man stumbled for a gun and shouted something inside the house.

Shaggy sat on his rump and waited. Pretty soon, another alien stuck his head out the door and the pair of them stared at him in shock. Shaggy took a few more steps closer and yawned. Showing off his large canine teeth. The two Aliens started having a whispered conversation in front of the door, which Shaggy used as an excuse to walk closer. As he did, both aliens spun and raised their weapons. Luckily for Shaggy, they only had pistols.

He dashed the remaining distance between them and snapped his jaws at the first alien’s face. Shaggy felt blood wash into his mouth as gunfire echoed in his ears. He felt the pangs of heat where the bullets hit, but he ignored it and bit down until he heard a crunch and then let go. Maw still bloody. He swiped a large paw at the second Alien who was reloading his pistol. His paw smacked the man in the chest and sent him wheeling into the side of the drug house.

Shaggy was on him before he hit the ground and quickly ripped into the fallen man. Nearby, he heard the front door open again and a rush of feet. He turned to see two more people staring wide-eyed at his appearance. As Shaggy moved to attack, one of the goons moved quicker than the other and got off a few rounds with his machine gun. He felt the bullets finally penetrate his skin and bite into his flesh.

Shaggy viciously killed his first target with a bite to the throat and turned to the second one, who was just bringing up their gun. He instinctively turned his body away and kicked out with his back legs. He felt his paws hit the body and then there was the loud thud of the body hitting a wall. Shaggy checked his work and once he was sure the second gunman was dead, he moved toward the house.

There were scent trails all over the house. So he couldn’t really get a lock on anyone. But he was really hoping his people were inside. As he was sniffing, the distinct smell of burning air hit his nostrils. He twisted his head in confusion as he also heard a slight whirring noise. Instinct or some game mechanic made him jump sideways as a beam of blue energy slammed into the ground where he was standing.

“Shit!” a voice screamed from a second-story window.

Shaggy grinned wolfishly and leapt toward the window. He belatedly hoped the gun couldn’t rapid fire. As he slammed into the window and squeezed the bulk of his head through, he saw a tan man rapidly slapping a large circular gun, trying to make it fire faster. Shaggy released a loud bark, startling the man and making him drop his weapon. Shaggy snorted and casually swiped his claws through the man’s face.

He backed out the window and started trotting back to his clothes in a matter of seconds. By C’eereni’s scouting numbers, his job was done. Shaggy thought about the joke that was this job and casually got dressed. If this was what passed for a Big Four gang, he and the guys were going to dominate. Sure, they had to do something about the weapon disparity between their groups, but that was a fixable problem.

Shaggy got dressed in the alley and jogged back to the drug house. He quickly looted the bodies outside and walked in. There were several addicts laid out in the hallway. He wasn’t sure if his guys did that or if they were just being junkies, but he shrugged and moved on. It took a few seconds of searching before he found his guys. They looked a little bruised up, but none the worse for wear.

Shaggy raised an eyebrow at C’eereni, who shook his head sadly. “A few of the junkies fought for their stashes, but we handled it.”

C’eereni pointed at several duffel bags the others were carrying and Shaggy nodded. “Is that all of it?”

The alien man snorted as some recruits laughed. “Nowhere near, boss. That’s just what we’ve found on the first floor. We were about to do the second now.”

Shaggy scratched his ear and waved them on. “Well, come on then, let’s get to it. We should have the run of the place.”

His group of thugs gave a light cheer and then bolted up the stairs with Shaggy on their heels. He watched calmly as his people ransacked the second floor. He was sure to find the room with the laser gun and picked it up before anyone else, but he mostly just stood to the side. C’eereni directed the new Lackeys as they gathered all the vials, pill bottles, and baggies and threw them into a new duffel bag they had picked up.

Shaggy studied the laser gun for a few seconds. But other than finding out that it was more hobbled together than he originally thought, he didn’t note anything of interest. It did have a charging meter that told you when the next shot could be fired, but that just made him laugh. Apparently, the Phreaks weren’t exactly experts with these things. Not for the first time, Shaggy thought they should get a crafter on the team.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud whizzing noise, followed by an even louder boom. The whole building shook as everyone of his guys froze up and stared at the front of the building. The noise had come from right outside the building. With growing tension, Shaggy walked toward the second-floor window and peered out. He felt C’eereni join him as he sucked in a breath between his teeth.

“I knew this was too easy.” Shaggy muttered.

Outside, in the large dirt street, were over fifty Phreaks. All in various states of dress with their animal and insectoid appendages bulging in clothes or sticking up from their bodies. He spotted several of the large-bore laser guns among the assembled Phreaks along with some heavy duty rifles. Shaggy sighed as he wished there was a bar to check how much enhanced healing he had left. He saw C’eereni next to him, shaking in fear, and Shaggy grabbed the alien around the shoulders and dragged him away from the window.

“Ok so they have some kind of silent alarm or something. But we just do the same plan as last time. You get the boys out the back and I’ll draw them away.”

He shoved the laser gun into the Lackeys hand and started to take off his armor. No sense in wasting it. Once he had his armor off, he handed that to C’eereni and ran downstairs.

He felt C’eereni following behind him. Once they got to the first floor, Shaggy saw several of the recruits worriedly shouting at each other. Shaggy snapped at them as they all gathered near the back wall of the building.

“Hey! Nothing’s changed. All right? You lot slip out the back while they chase me, got it?”

“But they are around back too!” A woman’s voice broke through from the tumult of complaints he got.

Shaggy grit his teeth and seethed as he glanced out a back window. He could see a few flying Phreaks on the rooftops of the various buildings. He tried to turn his seething into a feral grin, but he didn’t think any of them were buying it.

“Don’t worry. They will follow me. You lot just get the stuff home, okay?”

There were some reluctant nods, but Shaggy ignored them and rushed to the front of the building. He could hear a voice yelling at those inside to surrender and be killed. Shaggy almost laughed at that, but he was busy changing again. No time to take off his clothes, he screamed as the pain took him again and let his clothes rip as his wolf shape formed and he rushed outside on four legs.

There was the whiz-snap of one of the laser guns almost immediately, but Shaggy jumped aside. He felt the fur on his right side burning as he rushed at the line of Phreaks. Gunfire resounded in the street as several more rounds burned into his skin. He picked out the leader and ran full pelt toward the man. It was a white-furred lion-looking humanoid. The Phreak was mid-yell when Shaggy wrapped his jaws around the man’s side and lifted him.

The Phreak was tougher than most, as Shaggy large canines had to work to break the skin. But once he had a firm hold on the lion-man, he ran through the Phreaks. Running around the drug den and toward it’s backside. He shook the man in his maw at the Phreaks on the roofs behind the building and then went off running again. He felt his prey trying to wriggle free, but he bit down even harder and ran back to the front of the house.

The snapping of laser fire and the cacophony of gunfire were joined by the buzzing of insect wings as Shaggy returned to the front of the building. Shaggy once again waved the lion-man in his jaws weakly around before he bolted down the street toward the Arena. He could feel his healing getting slower as ever bullet pelted his skin. Even the ones that didn’t penetrate his skin still left bruises that needed healing. He was just lucky none of the lasers had hit him yet.

“Don’t...chase...” the lion-man said weakly, coughing up blood in Shaggy teeth.

Shaggy wasn’t sure anyone had heard the lion-man over the tumult of gunfire. But he wouldn’t take the chance. He bit down even harder, hearing a crack and feeling the man in his jaws go limp. The buzzing of wings was growing closer, so he looked back to see a wave of Phreaks running, flying, and some even loping right toward him. He didn’t have time to do a head count, but he was sure most of them were on his ass. Firing their weapons wildly as they ran.

He was running straight for the populated Arena Square. Shaggy knew that it was the same direction as their base, but he was hoping he could lead them toward Rakgu territory and create more tension between the groups. He just had to hope that C’eereni and the recruits knew to keep their heads down. If not, this whole shitshow was for nothing.

Shaggy huffed and puffed as he ran. The occasional bullet would smack into his flank, but thankfully, the laser guns had stopped firing. The fliers were the most annoying part. They buzzed and flapped behind him, pelting him with rifle fire. Heedless of their boss in his jaws. Once Shaggy got into the square, he dove into the mass of civilians and used them as cover, hoping the Phreaks would slow their firing. They didn’t.

Screams resounded everywhere and bullets started flying back at the Phreaks from some of the crowd. Now Shaggy was in the middle of a crossfire, but the Phreaks were in a running battle with everyone. Shaggy grinned as he even saw a group of people in suits firing back at the Phreaks. Now the Raks and the Phreaks were really going to get into it. He just hoped no one asked Tillani about a big wolf any time soon.

With that thought, Shaggy ran further east, looking for a big enough building to hide out in. Some of the Phreak fliers were off his tail now. Having to deal with the shoot-out in front of the arena. But he could still hear running behind him and the odd bullet would pierce his skin. As his neck muscles screamed at him, he dropped the long-dead lion Phreak and ran off like a shot.

It took a few more blocks into the Rak's turf before he found a half-collapsed brick building. Shaggy still had fliers on him, but he was hoping the half collapsed second floor would give him some cover. He threw his body into and through the wall of the building and quickly began the shift. He heard shouting coming from the alley as his body twisted back into his human shape. The bullet wounds from his wolf form healed slightly as he kneeled naked on the linoleum floor of the building.

But as he did, a loud creaking noise came from above him. Shaggy glanced up just in time to see what remained of the second floor crashing down on him. The sound of yelling, gunfire and shifting stone echoed in his ears as everything went dark.