A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy rolled out of the way of a Perinadon with an electrified horn and came up with his claws out. Slashing blindly into the crowd, he heard the massive alien slam into the tunnel wall. Debris fell off the wall and joined the already vast pile of pipes, bodies, and chunks of wall. Shaggy waited for the tunnel to cave in finally. But nothing happened, instead he had to jump away from a slimy tentacle arm.

The Bunch must have called in reinforcements. Because he was still dealing with a large number of them. The tunnel was littered with the bodies of his enemies, and yet they still pushed forward at him. He’d been forced to retreat several times when taking out a particularly resilient hybrid took too long. He’d end up surrounded and have to slice his way out. All the while, he continued to try to damage the tunnel walls.

The Bunch goons were equally in danger of being trampled by their own friends as they were to be killed by Shaggy. He kicked out and felt his foot connect with a torso before he turned and jumped away again. With practiced precision, Shaggy sliced up the wall. He aimed for what appeared to be seams in the foundation. His claws sliced deep into the wall and the various pipes mounted across it.

By this point, the pipes no longer shot any sort of steam or liquid at him. Instead, they clattered to the floor, and he kicked them at the oncoming hoard of thugs. Ripping the debris from the wall, Shaggy tossed a few larger chunks at his attackers before he tried to move to the opposite wall. But they were on top of him again.

“How much damage does it take to collapse a damn tunnel!?” Shaggy shouted as he jammed his claws into the throat of a cheetah-woman.

Ignoring the woman’s gurgling death throes, Shaggy tossed her body into the crowd. He felt several punches and kicks hit his side, so swiped a claw across the crowd. Again, he had to back up as the thugs pushed him. The tunnel was only wide enough for two of them to come at him at a time. But that didn’t stop some of them from crawling on the walls and ceiling. The long-armed one even stretched around their compatriots to try to grab him.

Growling to himself, Shaggy turned and ran down the tunnel. He was getting closer to his turf, and he didn’t want to lead an army of hybrid right to his deli’s backdoor. So he decided to get some space and find some way to bring the tunnel down. He put on some speed and raced down the tunnel, swiping his claws along the walls to dislodge some pipes. He didn’t think they would cause too much trouble. But maybe some dumbass would trip on them.

Shaggy sprinted for ten seconds, then turned around. Hoping to see some space between him and his pursuers. But while there were some, a few of the faster animal hybrids were still on his trail. He growled as he pulled to a stop and caught a skinny-legged avian hybrid as they threw themselves at him. Shaggy body-slammed the bird and kicked him as hard as he could. The coughing hybrid slid across the ground, back the way they had come.

Shaggy took the brief seconds he had to launch himself upward, sinking his claws into the ceiling. Jamming his claws into the cement and rock, Shaggy pulled. It took several precious moments, but Shaggy eventually came away with a sizeable chunk of the ceiling. He fell to the floor with it and used his momentum to swing his arms around. When he faced the oncoming crowd again, Shaggy shifted his hands back to normal and the chunk of ceiling went sailing.

The large gray chunk of cement went end over end as hybrids tried to get out of its way. It slammed into the crowd and multiple aliens and mutants fell over each other. He was about to grab another enormous chunk from the ceiling when a Cheetah-man ran up to him. The cat-man had his claws out and was ready to gouge Shaggy’s eyes. Shaggy stepped closer and punched the hybrid in the knee. A loud pop echoed in the tunnel and his opponent yowled in pain. Shaggy spun around the hybrid as he fell and placed his hands around the man’s neck. With a quick twist and a hard snap, the body went limp and Shaggy went back to his ceiling plan.

Judging that he had enough time to pull one more chunk off the ceiling, Shaggy launched himself. It played out as a repeat of the first attempt, except this time the chunk came out easier and the crowd was much closer when they fell over each other. Dirt started falling on Shaggy’s head from the large hole he had made above. But that was it. Nothing else happened.

“ARGH!” Shaggy roared in annoyance.

Now he was going to have to switch to the man-beast form and slaughter all of them before they got too close. It was his backup plan for when if the ceiling collapse plan didn’t work. But he had wanted to save it for the last possible moment. He couldn’t hold it long and he would need to wipe out as many as possible while he could.

Shaggy was focusing his emotions inward when a tingle at the back of his mind made him move. When he did, a blue laser blot shot down the tunnel and hit the mass of oncoming hybrids. Shaggy didn’t even need to turn to feel the smug grin on Vick’s face. The sharpshooter quickly opened fire as Shaggy hugged the wall and backed up. Soon he felt Cekrass, Stanley, and even Tom rushing his way.

Shaggy grinned and started issuing orders as his pack rushed down the hall.

“Cekrass and Stanley break down the walls. Tom, you and I are on the crowd. Vick, provide cover as needed.”

Stanley and Cekrass slid to a halt as Vick’s laser fire danced around them. They both gave him curious stares as Tom whined.

“What!? Why me?!”

“Cause we are bringing this tunnel down, so I need the strongest on that. So get in there!”

Shaggy waved the slim man forward and Tom whined like a puppy. With a flourish, Tom pulled two long daggers from his back and spun them expertly. With a glance at Shaggy, the pale pack member dove into the mass and started slashing people. Shaggy gave one last look at the others before he two dove into the mass of hybrids. Behind him, the sounds of destruction echoed in the tunnel, along with Vick’s rifle fire.

Shaggy punched, kicked and clawed whoever got close. But he soon found himself getting ganged up on even as Tom was right next to him, slashing his daggers across everyone. He realized that anyone who noticed the slim, pale man was immediately stabbed in the neck with a dagger. Meanwhile, the rest of the mob seemed to be oblivious to Tom slashing through their friends. But they saw Shaggy’s short form punching, scratching and kicking everyone.

“Damn it, Tom. Can’t you turn that off?” Shaggy said as a red pincer tried to grab around his neck.

“No. Or at least I’ve never tried.” Tom said as he danced around a furry form that charged Shaggy.

His dagger slashed out again and blood splattered everyone. Which caught more people’s attention, but Tom seemed adept at aiming for people that noticed him. Shaggy idly watched his pack mate as he jabbed his claws into the oncoming crowd. Tom was never one for the front line, but he seemed well suited to it. His unique ability, combined with his knife skill, made him a bloody menace in a fight. Even Shaggy would lose track of him when he had to fight off a particularly enraged Bunch thug.

A blue laser cut over Shaggy’s shoulder and slammed into a Perinadon's forehead. The large rhino-man went to the floor and carved a wake into the oncoming enemies. Through the masses, Shaggy could see even more Bunch thugs rushing down the tunnels. He growled in annoyance as Tom whined like a dog again. Behind them, the tunnel rumbled ominously and Cekrass’ raspy voice spoke up.

“Boss, it’s coming down.”

Shaggy grabbed Tom by his collar and dragged him back as the oncoming horde pushed forward. Dirt and debris fell on his head, and Shaggy wondered if he would make it. But Stanley’s slim arm grabbed him and yanked him clear of the falling ceiling. Mounds of dirt fell into the tunnel and dozens of hybrids were buried alive as Shaggy and his pack dropped further back. Cekrass threw a few heavy slabs of the tunnel walls and ceiling onto the mound as it grew.

“Who the fuck is that?” Tom asked.

Shaggy blinked. Tom was standing in front of him, even as he had his hand around what he thought was Tom’s shirt. Looking over, Shaggy saw he was holding a pale alien that was choking from Shaggy’s hold. He gave a sigh and jammed his claws into the alien’s forehead.

“No one. Now let’s get to collapsing the rest of this tunnel.”

“Boss… Do we have to? I mean, they are already buried under dirt. Can’t we just leave it at that?”

“No, Tom. Now run your ass back home and grab us some people. I want this tunnel under guard for the foreseeable future. Cekrass and Stanley? We are going to rip up the walls and build our own out of the debris, okay? This tunnel leads straight into Wild Bunch turf, and we don’t want them knowing that.”

“Don’t you think they know already?” Vick asked, lighting a cigarette.

Shaggy nodded. “Yes. But that just means we need to shore up the defenses here quickly and as best we can.”

“I’ll grab some of them Earth Mages then.” Tom said, dashing off.

Shaggy slapped his forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He shook off his annoyance at himself and set about breaking up the walls with Cekrass and Stanley. Vick stood to the side, watching and waiting. Shaggy could tell the man wanted to say something, so he waved him on.

“Go ahead, Vick. Let’s hear it.”

“Well, the south tunnel comes to an abrupt end about a block from the deli. Which makes sense as that leads into a residential area. The north tunnel goes a little farther, but it ends up just the same.”

“Yeah, the tunnel system this way was artificially extended by the Wild Bunch or someone. It looked like they combined several tunnel networks that were already there.”

Vick nodded a few times and took a long drag on his cigarette. “But the interesting thing happened when the east team went to seal up their side.”

“Interesting how?” Shaggy asked as he yanked a chunk of wall out and threw it.

“They found that the tunnel system had already been caved in and sealed off. Magically sealed off, I mean. The mages said that the debris was… glued together essentially. Also, the tunnel was obviously longer in that area, but it had been caved in like we are doing with this one.”

“HLO?”

“Or the city. Either way, someone didn’t want us accessing the eastern tunnel system.”

Shaggy grinned. Telling him he couldn’t go somewhere was a good way to make him go there. But he winced when he remembered he couldn’t make a move until nightfall. But then he had more things he wanted to do in the neighborhood. Especially with Maven’s group several blocks away. Vick seemed to read his expression and his feelings as the cowboy snorted.

“Yeah, we’ll put it on the list, boss.”

“Any word from Levy and the others?”

Vick shook his head and smiled. “Radio silent on account of us not having any radios to begin with.”

Shaggy let out a deep sigh and nodded understandingly.

“It’s on the list.”

Shaggy’s voice was joined by Stanley’s, Vick’s and even Cekrass’, as they all said the same thing at the same time. Shaggy glared humorously at his pack and went back to piling debris up in the middle of the tunnel. Stanley and the others chuckled at him and helped build their wall. All the while, Shaggy and Vick discussed the plans for the night as well as what they were going to do about the HLO and the Neighborhood Watch.