A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy winced as Maven’s power armor skimmed against the tunnel wall again. After some quick back and forth, Shaggy decided to let the Vigilante group join him. Well, it was that or be forced to listen to them whine all damn day. Maven and Holly were experts at bickering about nothing. The pair had no problem with standing in the middle of the deli and yakking until the cows came home. Forn and Trevor seemed used to the back and forth, so they both found seats and settled in.

But Shaggy wasn’t having that. He ordered the kids to get out, so he could get back to work. But through some weird negotiation jujitsu, Maven talked their way down into the tunnels. Shaggy grit his teeth as the armored suit hit a pipe on the wall. Holly had offered him credits and information in exchange for a ride along. Their neighborhood was shockingly quiet in the afternoon. So the kids were bored.

But a few thousand credits and a favor was quickly becoming too low a price. As they trudged westward under the city, Shaggy grit his teeth and ignored the loud whirring and crashing of Maven’s suit. Instead, he focused on what he was going to have the damn kids do. Like hunt down that Tiger-shifter and try to cut off his tail. Or maybe roam into the HLO headquarters and shoot up the place.

Shaggy grinned to himself at the thought, but a loud screech of metal breaking filled the tunnel. Gripping his ears, he spun around to see Maven’s bulky armor had reached out a hand to steady itself and bent some kind of steam pipe along the wall.

Shaggy growled. “Seriously, you couldn’t have made that thing smaller?”

Holly looked up from her tablet as Maven disentangled herself from the wall. Forn and Trevor chuckled and shot Holly a few looks.

“I worked with what we had. Maven wanted a suit of power armor. But once she had it, she’s refused to let me innovate on the design. I have come up with multiple copies of slimmer suits, bigger suits, and even-”

“Yeah, yeah.” Maven complained. “This one is more than enough. It’s not my fault they built these tunnels so small. Aren’t there aliens just as big as my armor? This is discrimination against the large, that’s what it is.”

Shaggy rolled his eyes and turned back. They had only been traveling for thirty minutes and already Shaggy was ready to risk the surface. But he hadn’t told the brat brigade about his legal troubles. Instead, he told them they were mapping out the tunnel system. Maven and the others seemed mollified, but Holly had a constant suspicious look on her face. Shaggy would bet that the young engineer was the reason Maven and the rest were still alive.

Not for the first time, Shaggy spotted a door leading out of the tunnel. But just like the few others he had seen, there was a large yellow sign on the door. It read the same as the others, ‘Indefinitely closed.’ Shaggy tried the door a few times and then nodded to himself. Sturdy and reinforced, just like the others. He was sure there were magical protections in place too, but he didn’t know how to test them.

“Can I break this one down?” Maven’s modulated voice said.

Shaggy groaned and rolled his eyes. “No. I’m verifying that our tunnels are safe. Not creating back-doors to my deli.”

“What about that giant hole in the wall we passed just under the deli?” Trevor asked. “You said that was a kobold hole, right?”

“It was. But we cleared it out. Now we are working on closing it up. Don’t need anymore surprises.”

“Says you.” Forn hissed. “I would love a surprise. This entire trip had been a bust. I was expecting some giant rats or something. But this underground field trip has been a waste of time, Holly.”

Maven’s helmeted head nodded as her bulky frame moved away from the wall. Holly didn’t even look up from her tablet.

“Working with our fellow players in the area is bound to be a good thing. Not to mention that we are talking about the player that started and ended the Cog Raid. We are bound to trip up upon something great if we hang around.”

“Not really.” Shaggy sighed. “I mean, I lucked into a lot of that. But that’s how these games go, right? First you're just wandering around a giant open world and the next thing you know, you’ve saved the princess and been awarded a barony.”

Holly looked over the rim of her tablet. “Maybe. But rumor is you're still hiding secrets.”

“Who isn’t? And what makes you think you're entitled to any of them?”

“At the moment, we are your partners. Which should mean that you share-”

“Hold your horses.” Shaggy said, spinning on his heel. “Let’s get something straight. Y’all cratered your way into my neighborhood. But you are actually doing good. So I can respect and appreciate that. However, if you think you can force your way into anyone's good graces, then you have problems, kid. This is not a partnership. I’m just chaperoning the kids. Which means that I owe you nothing.”

Shaggy spotted Holly’s ears turning red as he spun back around and continued down the tunnel. But he got a surprise after a few more quick steps. Up ahead, he spotted a sharp turn in the tunnel. Which was odd. For the most part, the tunnel had been a fairly straight shot. With minor deviation for doors into locked buildings. But ahead was a right-angle turn that was covered in the shadow of a dim light. Shaggy turned around to tell the others, but they were a lot further back.

It looked like they all stopped walking after Shaggy had turned on them. Now the four of them had their heads together and were whispering. Well, three of them were whispering. Maven’s modulated electronic voice carried in the echoey tunnels. Then again, Shaggy’s hearing made their whispers moot, anyway.

“Let’s just go, Holly. You heard him. He isn’t interested in making friends. Besides, we don’t need the asshole.” Trevor whispered.

Forn nodded. “Yeah, after this gig, we will have enough to form a Super Group and then we can start getting contracts from the city instead of neighborhoods. No more ducking HLO drones and no more running from the cops.”

Shaggy placed his back on the wall and closed his eyes as he listened. Holly gave a snort of derision before she whispered back.

“Please. We don’t know what this guy could be sitting on. According to the forums, he is a part of a Villain Guild called the Legion. So he is a fount of knowledge when it comes to villain stuff. Not to mention the number of people we saw coming in and out of that ‘deli.’ It was over fifty people. Where did they all go?”

“Who cares?” Maven’s modulated voice whined. “It’s not like we have to set up our SG here, right? Let’s just leave and tell the cops that a known criminal is running a deli. No muss, no fuss.”

Shaggy slowly lowered his hand down to his thigh and started shifting it. If the brats were going to turn on him, he’d cube them all before the big mech could swing a punch. But Holly was shaking her head, a voice growing in volume and intensity.

“No, Madeline! We are talking about an actual player-run Villain group. We don’t want that kind of heat. By all accounts, their guild is bigger than the four of us. They’d squash us.”

“So what the fuck’s the plan then, Rico?” Trevor hissed.

Holly glanced Shaggy’s way, but he kept his eyes as closed as possible as he waited. “Well, I wanted to see what he was capable of. The vids show him tearing through metal with his claws and transforming into a giant wolf. But I wanted to see it.”

“Why!?”

“Because I was thinking of starting our SG in this neighborhood.”

Shaggy involuntarily snorted when he heard that. The noise made Holly and her friends spin toward him, and he cracked a smile. Raising his hand, Shaggy scratched his cheek with his long claw. Maven got her large metal body between Shaggy and her allies as Shaggy chuckled. Cracking his neck, Shaggy asked.

“Now why would you wanna do a thing like that? I think I’ve been pretty clear that this is my neighborhood, haven’t I?”

Maven drew back a fist and looked ready to dash forward, but Holly’s voice stopped her.

“Because if we create our SG here and start taking contract with the neighbors, that will supersede any other claims.”

Shaggy froze. Catching Holly’s eye around the side of Maven’s armor, Shaggy raised his hand. With a thought, he shifted it back to normal and took another few steps closer. But Maven wasn’t having it.

“That’s close enough, Villain!”

Shaggy almost snorted again. But instead he asked. “So you know what’s happening to this neighborhood?”

Holly nodded, easing her way past Maven. “Why do you think I chose it? A ripe neighborhood, full of downtrodden and abused citizens. People just waiting for a group of heroes to come to their rescue.”

“You know they aren’t going to let you start anything here, right?”

“The paperwork has already been filed and City Hall is just waiting for the credits. It may not stop them outright, but it’ll be a stick in their spokes.”

“Holly…?” Maven said as Shaggy saw Forn and Trevor brace themselves.

But Holly ignored the big metal power suit and stared at Shaggy. “Think about it. You hit them from the dark and we take care of things in the light. Sounds like a good deal, huh?”

Shaggy rubbed his chin, rolling over the thought. “Sure, but what about when the dust settles? You really wanna be neighbors with a bunch of criminals.”

“You’re players, though. Which means we can negotiate.”

Shaggy said nothing, but felt his head twist in confusion.

“Think about it. An independent SG and criminal organization within blocks of each other. We could plan events, stage crimes, maybe even use each other’s grunts to train.”

Shaggy could see the young girl visibly shake from excitement. He had to admit it was an interesting offer. But something about it rang hollow for him. As he tried to figure it out, Holly stepped forward, Maven and the other two close behind.

“All we would need,” Holly started. “Is a few weeks to get our feet underneath us.”

Shaggy blinked as he thought he understood. “You want the Legion to run interference with other players and Supers as you get your own guild up and running?”

“Exactly! It’s rough out there for young guilds in the cities. The bigger, more well-known ones are always eating or crushing us smaller guys. But if they thought this area was under Legion control—”

Shaggy nodded as the sound of rocks scraping echoed in the hall again. Glancing up at Maven, he saw the big armored suit was leaning against the far wall, its cockpit hatch open. The young blonde girl was glaring at her friend.

“Rico! This is not what we wanted. I thought we were going to play this game, not engage in some weird pantomime with other players.”

Holly glanced at Shaggy before turning to her friend. “Maven, this is only for a start. Once we are as big as the Legion, we can actually start a Guild War or something. But if we want to get started, we need protection. Who better to provide that than one of the most famous guilds right now?”

All of a sudden, Shaggy felt really dirty at having listened to Holly’s plan. It relied on his goodwill and eventually the plan was to cast the Legion out. Shaggy wanted to say something, but Maven beat him to it.

“That doesn’t sound fun, Holly. Play-fighting with friends until we grow strong enough to cast them aside? It just sounds wrong.”

Holly rubbed her forehead and pointed a straight hand up at Maven. “This is why you always lose at games.”

“Dude, this is an online game. I don’t think there’s an actual winner.” Trevor interrupted, but Forn smacked him on the arm and shook her head.

Holly glared at the boy before turning back to Maven. “It doesn’t have to be as dirty as you’re making it out to be. We can all benefit from the arrangement and grow stronger by playing both sides.”

Shaggy understood what the young woman was saying. But it just didn’t sound fun. He was about to say as much when the sound of stone scraping against stone echoed through the tunnel. But Maven’s suit was stock still against the wall. Shaggy spun around and looked down the hallway. At the far end, where the tunnel turned, three weird-looking humanoids marched around the corner.

The one in the lead froze as it looked up and spotted Shaggy. For his part, Shaggy stared back at the weird, octopus-headed man that was burbling at him. Just behind the octopus was a short hyena standing on both legs and a human man with gorilla arms. Comprehension dawned on Shaggy and he was charging as the words left his mouth.

“WILD BUNCH!”

To his surprise, his own battle cry was met by the Bunch’s own. “SHAGGY!”

With a pounce, Shaggy was among them, his claws extended and buried in octo-man’s neck. With a flick, he beheaded the beast-man and turned to the others. The hyena-man was faster, though, and he clamped his beast-like jaws on Shaggy’s arm. Wincing, Shaggy curled his arm and slammed the hyena against the opposite wall. Shaggy heard the hyena’s jaw snap as a hefty blow from ape-arms made him stagger.

“Fucking bastard!” Ape said as he reared back to slam both fists into Shaggy again.

Shaggy raked the claws of his left hand across the screaming hyena and turned to the ape. Both of the man’s hairy arms slammed down onto Shaggy’s shoulders and the tunnel floor cracked. Raising both claws, Shaggy ran them down the ape’s arms, tearing through fur and flesh. The ape howled in pain and recoiled around the corner. Shaggy chased the man and pounced on him. Claws up, Shaggy bore the larger man to the ground and slashed his claws into the Bunch member’s chest.

The ape-man twitched as Shaggy pulled away, his hands and shirt covered in blood. He quickly checked that the hyena and octopus were dead. Then he looked down the hall at his ‘party.’ Maven was back in her suit while Forn and Trevor cautiously moved forward. Shaggy saw no sign of Holly, though. But before he could ask, Forn shot him a look that seemed to say ‘Don’t.’ So he didn’t.

Instead, he forced a smile on his face and said.

“Well, it looks like our day is about to get way more exciting.”

He tried to add some pizzazz to his words, but Maven merely trudged along as Forn followed glumly. Surprisingly, Trevor put a hand on Shaggy’s shoulder.

“Good try, dude.”

Shaggy sighed and hurried after the morose teens. All things considered, he was beginning to think he preferred the arguing kind instead.