A Werewolf In Under-Town

“So what’s it do?” Levy asked excitedly.

Shaggy rolled his eyes and checked his Evolution Trees again.

Defense Lvl 15

Tough Bones Lvl 5

Reinforced Bones Lvl 2

Enhanced Evasion Lvl 4

Fire Resistance Lvl 1*

“Right now it’s just the Fire Resistance, like I said before,” Shaggy said as he scanned the whole of his trees.

His skills had been knocked back to zero when he was killed, but they were on the rise again. He also had a good chunk of Evo Points to go through. The lycanthrope tree was sitting at Three-hundred and twenty-six while the General tree was slightly lower at two-hundred and eighty-two. But with the amount of points per level for his trees, he didn’t think it was a load of points.

“So you think it’ll become something more later?”

“If it works like my last brush with demonic blood, it’s altered my Evo Trees somehow. I just only see the one change for now, though. I didn’t get Demonic Leather and Burning Edge till I opened my trees further.”

Levy shifted in her seat to look at him, the grin still plastered on her face. “Do you think it’ll happen again if I summon another demon?”

Shaggy looked down at his hands and tried to think. But he could only shrug. “I don’t know. It didn’t happen when I clawed up Korrigan’s demons. So maybe it only happens when it’s blood that pleases Xang.”

“That makes sense. But remember, Korrigan’s demons aren’t actual demons. She created them when she made her pocket dimension. They have all the same characteristics. But they aren’t from another plane like actual demons.”

“Maybe that’s the clue then. I have to kill something from another plane, maybe?” Shaggy asked as he looked out the front window of the van.

Levy hmm’d in thought for a few seconds, but quickly shook her head. “That can’t be right. You’ve killed things from another dimension before, haven’t you? I mean, besides demons.”

Shaggy wracked his brain. “Robots, space vampires, other players, hybrid mutants, those douchebags in white armor…”

He went silent as he kept thinking. The van suddenly jerked roughly to the side, and Levy and Shaggy hurriedly looked out the window. But all that met them was the calm Texas countryside. Shaggy glanced to the front of the van to see the sheepish Stanley’s face turning red.

“Sorry, boss. There was a turtle in the road.”

Rita, in the passenger seat, snorted as Tom kicked the back of the driver's seat and rolled over. Low snores quickly emanated from Tom’s seat and Stanley spun his eyes back to the road. Shaggy rolled his own eyes as his wife giggled next to him on the seat.

After a rather brutal negotiation session, Levy netted their deli with a steady supply of meat and other animal products. Along with some promises to introduce them to other sellers of various goods. It had taken a sizeable chunk of the afternoon, but now they were on their way back. The sun was setting and Shaggy was looking forward to a quick night run before logging off.

He still expected for the angel shoe to drop at some point. But he didn’t know if they’d even notice that his nanite trackers were gone. If it was like regular government work, he’d get lost in the shuffle until it came time for his re-trial. As for the HLO, Shaggy was ready for them to be more overt in their attempts to stop them. He expected full on hit-squads of Supe and troopers to hit the neighborhood soon.

Shaggy grinned as he flexed his hands and thought about distributing his points. But Levy placed a hand on his knee, distracting him.

“Remember, we have to log off on time tonight. I’m not covering for you for another day.”

Shaggy looked hurt. “Oh, come on! I have to go out on a run with the pack. We have to keep the HLO out of our territory. Also, I want to meet with Derek’s neighborhood watch thing.”

“All things that can be done later. You can miss a day in the game. Besides, maybe that will help with your angels.”

“I don’t think so. Besides, what about the HLO? They could make a push while we are gone.”

“Your pack can handle it, babe. You have to make an appearance at work. Even if you’re in charge of the company, you at least have to check over the paperwork. And talk to that damn secretary of yours. He was downright snippy with me on the vid.”

“Fine. But that means we are also going to miss the first truck of supplies. What if they get stopped by the HLO?”

“Our people will handle it.” Levy reiterated.

“Boss! Just fucking trust us!” Rita yelled from the passenger seat.

Shaggy gulped and sat back in his chair. They were right. He’d been playing for a little too long. He needed to go handle real-world business. Although he promised himself that as soon as he was done with the business, he was going to rush back home. Levy smirked at him, clearly understanding his intention but saying nothing.

She put her head on his shoulder and sighed wistfully as Shaggy started mentally cataloging things he wanted done in the real world. A lot of his work could be delegated to other parties and, like Levy had said, he didn’t need to go on repair jobs. He stayed in his head until they crossed into Austin proper.

The rolling plains and warehouses shifted into residential buildings and offices. Gas stations and guiding towers dotted the land as flying cars lit up the darkening sky. Shaggy smirked as he watched a Supe in the distance battling a flying bug. Speedster activity also increased as they approached the city. He even spotted a ring of robed mages standing on a driveway around a chalk sigil. He blinked as the sigil glowed, but they were out of the neighborhood before anything happened.

Shaggy smiled as Levy adjusted her position. “Not our problem.” She whispered.

“You didn’t even see anything.”

“I could feel you tense up, love. It’s cute to watch you fight your instinct to stick your nose into the beehive. But, seriously, we need to wake up.”

Shaggy kissed his wife’s forehead. “I know. It was just a bunch of mages summoning something, anyway. Wouldn’t even be a challenge.”

She returned his kiss and snuggled closer. They were getting closer to downtown, so Shaggy decided to take the time and spend his points. They weren’t doing any good sitting there unspent and Shaggy abhorred point hoarding. With a relaxed sigh, he brought up his Lycanthrope Tree.

• Lycanthropy Mutation Tree

Attack Lvl 19

Canines Lvl 2

Claws Lvl 15

Demon Claws Lvl 17

Sharpness Lvl 16

Serrated Edge

Convex Edge Lvl 5

Burning Edge Lvl 3

Defense Lvl 15

Tough Bones Lvl 5

Reinforced Bones Lvl 2

Enhanced Evasion Lvl 4

Fire Resistance Lvl 1

Utility Lvl 15

Partial Transformation Lvl 13

Limb transformation Lvl 4

Hybrid Form Lvl 1

Regeneration Lvl 30

Limb Regen Lvl 3

Pain Suppression Lvl 5

Points: 326

Shaggy quickly dumped points into Fire resistance, raising it to Level Two. Which took fifty points to accomplish. He sighed. It was quite the point hog, but overall, a small price to pay. He briefly wondered if he’d get total immunity at some point and how much that would cost. Shaking off the thought, Shaggy went back to work and spent the rest of his points.

He paid the price for increasing the Hybrid Form, as well as getting his Defense and Utility Tree up to par. He wanted all his base trees to twenty as soon as possible. Then he would see about evolving the rest of his trees. After that was done, he had enough points to shove into partial transformation to get it to level fourteen. He glanced through the tree quickly as he felt Stanley slow the van down.

They were in the city proper now. So Shaggy quickly brought up his General Tree.

• General Tree

Toughness Lvl 32

Thick Skin Lvl 17

Skin Resistances Lvl 5

Skin Durability Lvl 6

Rawhide

Demon Leather Lvl 1

Dermal Armor Lvl 5

Shifting Plates Lvl 5

Defense Lvl 2

Reflexes Lvl 25

Quick Hands Lvl 15

Manual Dexterity Lvl 5

Shadowboxing Lvl 5

Quick Feet Lvl 5

Slide Move Lvl 4

Mind Lvl 25

Enhanced Focus Lvl 5

Perception manipulation Lvl 3

Mental Defense Lvl 5

Psychic Barrier Lvl 3

Points: 282

After spending around eighty points to raise Demon Leather to two, Shaggy grimaced at the rest of his trees. He wanted to increase everything. His Toughness had served him well, but after the fight with the Tiger-shifter, Shaggy knew he had to be faster. But he also didn’t want to neglect his mental defenses. All it would take is one asshole mind controller, and he’d be fucked along with anyone with him. Shaggy chewed his lips as he thought about the options. But Mr. White’s smug face and the looming threat of the Tiger, Mr. Ryall, forced his hand. He mentally smacked the Quick Feet option under his reflex tree and held it down. Not even bothering to watch the levels go up or his point well dry, Shaggy waited for his points to run out.

When everything was said and done, Shaggy’s Quick Feet cell had increased from five to thirteen. Shaggy sighed happily as he sat back in his seat. Maybe that was stupid, but the next time the tiger fucker came around, maybe things would be a little more fair. Levy snuggled in closer as the van slowed down again. Stanley turned in the driver’s seat to look back at them.

“Boss? Are we keeping this van? I mean, it’s stolen, but it’s not the only stolen vehicle we have, right?”

Shaggy nodded. “I’d like to keep it, but we need a place to stash it. Somewhere outside the neighborhood, but still close to the deli.”

Rita shifted in her seat. “I think I know a place.”

“How?”

She snorted. “Pfft! Boss, just cause you got yourself captured doesn’t mean we stopped patrolling. This neighborhood is going to be our second home. So we poked around. Turn up ahead, kid.”

Rita led Stanley through a few back alleys until they reached a small alcove behind some buildings. The kid got them parked and Shaggy woke Levy as Tom almost dashed from the car. Shaggy checked on the Pack Link to see what had the man in such a rush and he almost chuckled. Tom was already perched on a nearby roof, both scanning for threats and taking a leak off the side.

Rita got out of the van and opened the door for Levy and Shaggy while Stanley watched the alleyway. Once they were ready, they all walked to the end of the block and checked the streets. For the first time in a while, Shaggy noticed a disturbing silence filling the streets. It gave the dimly lit streets an eerie quality that followed them all the way toward their own block. Shaggy was wondering if they the HLO was actually backing off when a harsh metal clanking filled the silence.

Shaggy grit his teeth and tried to hone in on the source of the noise. Rita joined him as Stanley moved to cover Levy. Above them on the nearby roof, Tom checked in through the link. Memories of Cog’s robots echoed through Shaggy’s mind as he watched the streets. They had pulled to a stop under a streetlight, the clanking noise growing louder as it got closer.

Soon, a dark shape emerged from the darkness, its silhouette enhanced by the dim light. It was a humanoid, about eight-feet tall. The clanking was coming from the thing’s footsteps as it walked toward them slowly. Shaggy thought he saw other small shadows behind the giant, but before he could focus, a mechanical voice split the air.

“Halt! This is a protected area. State your business.”

The modulated voice was tinny and echoed across the street. Shaggy stayed silent as he waited for the thing to step into the light. His pack followed his lead as Levy started muttering under her breath. The clanking stopped as the giant metal form stood stock still, a quiet whirring replacing the sound.

The silence continued until an unfamiliar voice broke the tension. “Maven, there’s one on the roof.”

The giant robot’s head tilted upward and Shaggy realized what he was looking at. It was a Supe in a giant metal suit. Either that or a really flexible robot. Shaggy blew out a breath as the Supe’s modulated voice spoke again.

“They are still non-hostile. Our orders were only for the white-armored ones, anyway.”

Shaggy started at the mention of the HLO troopers and his pack immediately relaxed. Turning to Stanley, he raised an eyebrow, but the boy merely shrugged. Rita and Tom also did not know who these people were. Taking a chance, Shaggy said.

“We own a Deli. Just down the road. We’ve just returned from talking to our new supplier. Who the hell are you?”

The giant robot turned its head and spoke in a quiet tone. But with the modulation, it was easy for all of them to hear.

“I think it’s an NPC. Was it at the last meeting, Rico?”

Another whisper answered her. “I don’t know. I wasn’t counting.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, y’all are players!?” Levy shouted, dismissing her spell.

The tension drained out of the moment, and Shaggy relaxed as Levy pushed past him. All the talking ceased and the big robot turned back toward them. There was an audible hiss and the front of the giant armor opened up. Lit by the streetlamp, nestled in a comfy-looking seat, was a blond teenage girl. A smirk danced across the young girl’s face as she wiped sweat from her forehead.

“Geez, say something sooner! We almost started swinging.”

Two other players stepped around the giant metal armor. A young woman holding a shimmering blue tablet and an older boy wearing leather and smoking a cigarette. Tom’s alarm spiked as a third player made themselves known above them. This one was an androgynous, light-green skinned person with slitted eyes. They leapt from the rooftop, swung off the lamppost, and landed neatly on the robotic armor. The young girl’s smile widened as they all stepped into the light.

“We are The Watch. A vigilante adventuring group. We’ve been hired to protect the neighborhood!”

Shaggy and Levy shared a look at the girl’s cheery tone. But the girls’ companions looked at all of them with suspicion. Shaggy rubbed his eyes as he felt a headache coming on. Levy patted his arm and smiled back at the group of players. He had a sinking suspicion that they would not log out on time.