A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy rubbed the claws of his right hand against the claws of his left. It sent an interesting tingle down his forearm. It was a fun feeling to have as he walked down the dirt streets of Under-Town’s North side. The Lackeys had spread out in different directions, looking for the next gang. Rita had been the first to find them a few blocks away. Closer to the northeast cave wall of Under-Town.

The Lackeys were now following behind Shaggy, watching him carefully as he strolled down the streets. He had seen a few guys wearing similar purple bandannas on a few street corners. They were just hanging around watching the various dirt roads. Occasionally talking to the random citizenry. Shaggy hadn’t seen any drugs exchange hands yet, but the guys had to be doing something. Unless they were just lookouts.

Once he had shifted his hands into claws, that’s when the gang members moved. Several walked toward him while others moved further east. Shaggy slipped his claws easily into the oncoming gangsters and kept walking. It had been laughably easy, and he was now cockily strolling down the street, scratching his claws against each other. He was glancing around at the shacks when a noise ahead of him pulled his vision forward.

More gangsters had appeared, each wearing various bits of purple clothing. Shaggy grinned and raised his bloody claws. He saw a tall, muscular human grimace as a few of the other assembled gangsters shifted nervously. He looked around and started counting. Going by the scent trails in the air, there were eight thugs in front of him and two more on nearby rooftops. Luckily, the buildings were so short and close together that Shaggy figured he could jump up to deal with the ranged filth.

“See, Jacko. He’s obviously crazy. Let’s just blow this fuck away and go back to the girls.” Said a shorter orange Alien next to the large human.

Shaggy started forward. Doing his best to appear menacing. He was sure his bloody claws helped. He was moving at a brisk walk when the first shot went off. Not from the streets, but from one of the bastards on a nearby roof. Shaggy felt the bullet hit him and saw another piece of his white shirt go sailing away from his body. Thankfully, the Professor’s armor underneath his shirt helped absorb some of the impact. But he was going to need new clothes after this. Maybe he would steal Yuki’s clothes. They were about the same size.

“Oh, fuck this!” a voice shouted from ahead of him.

Shaggy felt the bullet hole close, and he burst into a full run down the street. The eight gangsters ahead of him were now clearly scared as they drew their own weapons. Shaggy was extremely surprised to see that all eight had guns and not just the regular black pistols he had seen. Several had large silver guns and the muscular leader, Jacko, was wielding a damn hand-cannon. It looked like a damn gold-plated revolver.

Smoke and gunfire rose in the street as Shaggy jumped forward. He could feel the holes opening up in his legs and arms as he flew through the air. Thankfully, the dumbass gangsters had all stayed where they were. Taking up shooting stances to fill him with lead. Shaggy fell upon them with his claws extended, rending flesh wherever he touched. He felt and heard several bullets hit his body, but he ignored them as he chopped through a man’s arm.

Screams joined the gunfire as Shaggy spun. His claws were stained red as random men and woman went down around him. Most with pieces missing. He righted himself and tried to find Jacko. But the gang leader was clearly smarter than his men. He had back-pedaled away from the melee and was reloading his large six shooter. Shaggy stabbed his claws down into a groaning gangster and then started for the leader. But a loud noise and sharp pain forced him to stop.

One of the shooters on the roofs had hit him in the kneecap. It was healing and Shaggy was getting good at ignoring the pain. But Shaggy figured he would do more harm if he moved. Jacko saw this and grinned as he loaded another bullet into the revolver’s cylinder. Shaggy threw himself to the side and toward the building where more gunfire was coming from. Most of the guys in the street were down or scurrying away. So Shaggy ignored them and let his knee heal.

Shaggy glanced up and saw Jacko raising his large revolver. He jumped on his newly healed knee and grabbed the rim of the roof, lifting himself up and over. A few more bullets pelted his shoulders and head, but he ignored them as he lunged at the hapless gunmen on the roof. She tried to dodge, but Shaggy proved too quick for her. Planting his claws into the meat of her belly and ripping upward. Her screams filled the air as gunshots came from another roof.

Shaggy grabbed the woman’s gun and returned fire at the adjacent roof. The shooter was using the roof’s lip for cover, so Shaggy sent a few rounds at the shooter to keep him down. As he did, he took another running leap and easily cleared the gap between buildings. Shaggy came down into a forward roll and lost his grip on his gun. He heard it go clattering across the roof as he got back to his feet.

The second roof shooter was hurriedly smacking another magazine into his pistol. The poor purple Alien was wide-eyed as Shaggy approached. Shaggy grinned with his sharp teeth and lunged just as the thug raised his gun. The shot went off and Shaggy felt the bullet hit his chest armor. The bullet clinked to the metal roof and Shaggy felt the bruise healing as he mutilated the shooter with his claws.

Shaggy grabbed the new gun and checked himself. With his increased Toughness and Defense, normal pistols did next to nothing to him. The Kevlar in his Ifirt Armor was just icing on the cake. But the large caliber guns were actually piercing his skin and parts of the armor. Jacko’s own gun had taken large chunks off the leather armor. The holes were all healed close, but now Shaggy was practically shirtless, with his armor missing a few pieces. His pants weren’t doing too well, either.

Shaggy glanced down for a few seconds at the corpse of the shooter he had just killed. But the guy’s shirt was shredded. Sighing, he glanced over the edge of the roof and checked for Jacko. But the leader was long gone. His own Lackeys were off in the distance to the west, watching. Shaggy waved them forward and reached into his pockets.

Shaggy grabbed a chocolate bar whose wrapper was covered in his own blood from his pocket. He sighed again, but unwrapped the bar and scarfed it down. He just thanked his lucky stars the thing hadn’t been hit by a bullet. The taste of gunpowder could ruin any chocolate bar. He felt his healing finish as he leapt over the side of the roof and thudded to the dirt floor.

Blobby and the others were going through the nearby dead thugs as Yuki walked up to Shaggy. The stocky man was almost sauntering as he approached.

“You missed one.” Yuki said smugly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get him.” Shaggy said, throwing the chocolate wrapper to the ground. “Why don’t you hand over your shirt so I can chase him down?”

Yuki glared. “Why do you need my shirt?”

Shaggy waved at his shirtless torso. “Come on! I can’t go around topless!”

“You have your armor!”

“~Yeah, Boss. Besides, anything you put on is going to get ruined, anyway. You need some enchanted clothing~” Blobby burbled as their tentacles rifled through a dead gangster’s pockets.

Vick nodded quietly as he pointed at the bodies. “Also, can you stop using your claws? Going through severed limbs and bloody clothes is not a fun time.”

Shaggy threw his hands up in the air and put on an indignant expression. “Oh, I’m sorry if looting is too disgusting for all of you. Why don’t you all sit down and I’ll make tea for everyone.”

“That actually sounds nice.” Rita smiled. “I’ll take an earl grey.”

“Coffee for me.”

“I like Green Tea.”

“Chai, please.”

“I’M NOT TAKING DRINK ORDERS!” Shaggy shouted while trying not to laugh.

He could see the other Lackeys smiling and thought about checking their loyalties. But suddenly, the ground beneath Shaggy’s feet shook roughly. He saw all the other Lackeys, except Blobby, stumble and try to keep their feet. He looked around just as the shaking stopped. The odd Alien or Human sticking their head outside their door, but there was no sign of what had caused the sudden earthquake.

The other Lackey’s all looked worriedly at the ceiling above them. But after a few tense minutes, things seemed to calm down. Shaggy adjusted his armor and moved closer to Blobby.

“This whole cavern is reinforced, right?”

“~I believe so. Supposedly, the criminals that founded Under-Town had everything reinforced with magic. But that could just be hearsay~”

“Delightful.” Shaggy muttered as nearby Tom was collecting credits.

Shaggy set about finding Jacko’s scent trail and tried to ignore the possibility of the cavern roof falling on all of them. The blue scent trail went further east, so Shaggy waited for the Lackeys to finish before he marched after the runaway gang leader. The Lackeys stayed back again as he followed the blue scent trail through a few streets.

Up ahead, he could see people in purple clothing running away from him. Jacko must have sent out a warning while he was running away. Shaggy ate another candy bar and kept an eye peeled for any snipers. But nothing happened the entire trip except for a few civilians running this way and that.

Shaggy ignored the non-combatants and kept moving until he reached one of the first decent houses he had ever seen in Under-Town. It was a nice two-story wooden place. That kind of reminded him of the Phreaks drug den, but nicer. It looked actually lived in and decently well cared for. The blue scent was leading him right to its front door, too.

But if that wasn’t enough of a clue. The fifteen purple-coated gangsters standing outside its doors were a big tip-off. A few of the thugs even had assault rifles, and one up front had an old-fashioned pump shotgun at his side. They all raised their weapons as Shaggy approached. But he just grinned and kept moving. He even shifted his hands back to human and raised them up like he was giving up.

Shotgun guy moved forward and raised his weapon aggressively. “Get the fuck out of here man, you don’t know who you’re fucking with.”

Shaggy stared down the barrel of the shotgun and smiled. “You’re right. I do not know who you are. But do you think that is something to brag about? I mean, I bet at least one of you has heard about me.”

Shotgun guy kept staring at Shaggy, but the others all glanced around. They all shared confused looks and then stared back at Shaggy. Clearly, none of them had heard of him. Shotgun guy took another step closer as Shaggy dropped the grin from his face and pretended to be affronted.

“Why do they always get close when they have a ranged weapon?” Shaggy thought as he widely gesticulated with his hands.

“Oh, come on! No one? Well, that’s…. great.”

Shaggy sprang into movement and slapped the barrel of the shotgun as hard as he could. It ripped from its owner’s hands and spun in midair. Shaggy took advantage of his good luck and quickly grabbed the stock of the shotgun and pulled the trigger. The deafening boom of the shotgun was accompanied by a fountain of blood raining down on Shaggy. The gangsters all stared in horror as the shotgun guy’s head disappeared and then they opened fire.

Shaggy felt his body get peppered with a large range of bullets. He returned fire with his shotgun and tried to hit the guys with assault rifles. Shaggy waded forward as his healing went into overdrive. He could feel his flesh pushing out spent bullets as new ones replaced them. But each time Shaggy fired was another person who could no longer shoot him. So he kept up his war of attrition. Safe in the knowledge that his enhanced healing would see him through.

But after three shots, the damn shotgun was empty. Shaggy growled as he used the weapon as a club on the retreating gangsters. He noticed idly that all of them were human as he batted a few with the shotgun. A few were retreating toward the house, but the front doors appeared locked. Apparently, Jacko was more than happy to let his crew wear Shaggy down.

Done playing, Shaggy grew his claws and made quick work of the small time gang. They had been more well armed than most of the gangs they had come across. But Shaggy’s healing was broken. Unless they had a ray gun of some kind, he wasn’t going to worry. The toughest part ended up being having to chase down a few stragglers. But once he was down, he returned to the two story building to find his Lackeys waiting outside.

“Yeah, boss. You’re going to need some blood-repellent clothes or something.” Rita said, looking Shaggy over.

Shaggy nodded as he wiped his blood-stained hands on his blood-sodden pants. “Or maybe I can wear all red?”

The others all smiled at him as he moved toward the house. Blobby was digesting a few bodies as Vick and the others went through pockets. Shaggy tried the doorknob to the house, but it was still locked and a quick shove showed it was also barricaded. He sighed as he started clawing up the door and calling out to the gang leader.

“Jacko! Don’t make this harder than it has to be! I have some questions for ya!”

A gunshot went off from inside the house, but that was the only answer. Shaggy grunted as his claws cut into the wood. Yuki moved up next to Shaggy and pointed at his own wrist, mockingly.

“Man, this sure is taking you a while.” Yuki joked.

Shaggy grunted. “Please. There was no time component to our little bet. So just sit back and make yourself useful. Go get us all some drinks or something.”

Yuki was about to snap back when the world shook again. This time, Shaggy lost his balance and went down to the floor. The chunks from the front door he’d been cutting fell with him, landing in a pile on the porch. Shaggy righted himself and looked around as the whole underground cavern of Under-Town shook. Some sprinkles of dirt even fell from the nearby east wall.

Just as quickly, the earth stopped shaking and Shaggy glanced at his Lackeys. “Okay. Once I am done here, we’re heading back to the bar. Something’s up.”

No one disagreed with him, not even Yuki, as they all stared at the ceiling of the Under-Town Cavern. Shaggy ducked through the half-broke front door of the house and made his way through the front hallway. There was a set of stairs leading up, but Shaggy checked the downstairs first. He found a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a bathroom, but no Jacko. So he headed upstairs.

A low voice hint his ears just as he cleared the last step. He twisted his head, trying to hear the voice, but it was too quiet. He walked over toward the door the noise was coming from, doing nothing to mask his steps. A loud bang and chips of wood went flying as he got in front of the door. He felt the large bullet take another chunk of both him and his armor. At this point, Shaggy was amazed the Kevlar lined armor was even still hanging on. It had taken a beating.

“He’s here. You have to help me. That was the deal!” Jacko screamed frantically from inside the room.

Shaggy burst through the already broken door and fell upon the large, muscular man. Jacko had been standing next to a nightstand by a large bed. So Shaggy flung himself over the bed and easily tore into the man. Blood oozed over the nightstand and bed as Jacko dropped a weird silver device. Shaggy stomped it without a second thought.

Whoever was on the other end of that device didn’t need to know about him and his guys. Shaggy dug through Jacko’s clothes and collected a large amount of credits chips. Before he left, he also collected the smashed communicator Jacko was using. Maybe they could find a tech guy to make them some phones out of it or something. Shaggy made it back out to the front of the building and handed everything over to Tom.

“Okay. That’s it. We are out of here, people. Let’s go figure out what all thi--” Shaggy was cut off as another earthquake sent them all to the ground.

This time, the shaking seemed to crescendo, and a loud crash resounded from above. It sounded like glass breaking as Shaggy and the others all stared upward. Clumps of dirt fell as man-sized holes appeared in the roof of Under-Town. Shaggy thought he saw movement as more and more holes appeared in Under-Town’s ‘sky.’

“What the hell are those?” One of his Lackeys asked.

Shaggy was about to shake his head as the shaking grew more and more and something slammed into the house behind him. The roof cracked under the weight of whatever hit it and Shaggy heard something slammed into the floor of the two-story house. He rushed inside, followed by the Lackeys. Shaggy rounded the corner into the living room and swore.

“Oh, fuck me.”

Laying in a crater, having gone through a roof and two floors and into the dirt underneath the house, was a large Omega automaton from Cog’s Lair. The thing was in pieces, but Shaggy would recognize their large wrecking ball fists from anywhere. Behind him, the Lackeys all gasped at the sight of the bronze metal robot. Shaggy groaned and rushed back outside.

Looking up, he recognized hundreds upon hundreds of Cog Automatons crawling through the holes in Under-Towns roof. Shaggy began grabbing every gun he could find and jamming them into the nearest Lackey’s hands.

“Get as much shit as you can and book it back to the bar! They are going to need help.”

Yuki and the others all gazed around, looking shocked. “What the hell is going on?”

Shaggy grinned. “Under-Town’s going to war with a Super Villain.”