A Werewolf In Under-Town

A small hiss echoed in the dark department store as Mr. White’s injector went off. In a flash, the vial’s purple liquid was gone and Shaggy could see the muscles in Mr. White’s neck tense as the needle's contents hit them. The pale alien seized up as whatever the purple liquid was filled his body. But Shaggy didn’t have time for further examination. Ryall had thrown himself at Shaggy as Mr. White injected himself.

Shaggy swore and raised his claws at the fast-moving, furry missile. Ryall hit him in the chest and tried to rake his claws across him. But Shaggy took a step back and stabbed out with his own claws. The tiger-shifter batted Shaggy’s claws away, and the two tussled for a short while. Ryall was still faster and stronger. But Shaggy was tougher and his healing gave him an edge. Every time Ryall’s short nails tore open Shaggy’s flesh, he made sure to inflict the same on the tiger-man. However, Shaggy knew that unless something changed, he was in for a Pyrrhic victory.

Another flash of tiny black nails and Shaggy’s fur and blood went spraying. Ignoring the pain, he slashed his own claws through Ryall’s thigh. His wounds were healing too, but not as fast as Shaggy’s. Ryall staggered back and waited for the leg wound to close. But Shaggy took the opportunity and dove at the Ryall’s leg. Wrapping his arms around the leg, Shaggy kicked out at Ryall’s other foot and sent them both tumbling to the floor.

Ryall tried to catch himself and succeeded in breaking his fall. Shaggy let go of the leg, slashing it as he moved to mount Ryall. But the tiger shifter was too fast. He grabbed Shaggy by the arm and flipped them over. Now the humanoid tiger was looming over him, claws ready to slash his face. Ryall’s sharp claws descended just as Shaggy jammed his own into the tiger’s soft belly. Shaggy’s vision went black and pain exploded in his face. He knew Ryall had just destroyed his eyes, but Shaggy didn’t care. On reflex, he raked his own claws up Ryall’s body.

Ryall yowled in pain and leapt backward. Shaggy, now free of his opponent’s weight, slid himself back. His face quickly healed and his eyes grew back in time for him to glare across at the panting tiger-shifter. Ryall was holding a furry arm to his stomach as blood spilled out everywhere. He was healing slowly and glaring back. Shaggy wiped blood from his face with a long furry hand and started to get up. That’s when a white blur slammed into his side.

Shaggy felt his body leave the floor, and he spun through the air. He collided with the far wall of the department store and bricks were shaken loose from it. He had left a large indent on the wall, which looked like it was about to collapse. Shaggy hurriedly pulled himself to his feet as he remembered the third little member of their fight. Ryall was still across the room, kneeling on the floor. But a white blur was already in front of him. He swiped a claw horizontally in front of him, but Mr. White barely paused as he went around Shaggy’s swing and slammed into him again.

Shaggy was thrust back into the wall. Bricks went scattering against the floor and the wall trembled slightly. Mr. White appeared in front of Shaggy, his super-speed turning off. The pale man was now aglow with purple light. It suffused his skin and made his black veins more pronounced. Even his iris glowed purple. Mr. White’s arm snapped out quickly as his hand fumbled to grab Shaggy by his chest fur. With uncommon strength, the HLO stooge yanked Shaggy closer and started screaming in Shaggy’s lupine face.

“You fucking fool. You do not know the power the HLO wields. Soon this whole damn city will be under our control. We alone have the power and the dedication to protect this city. No, this whole insignificant planet from-”

Shaggy wasn’t listening as he grabbed the foolish alien by the neck. With little effort, he lifted the yapping Mr. White into the air and tried to slash him twice. But the pale alien’s clothes still refused to be cut. Mr. White grinned at him as he kicked Shaggy in the chest multiple times. Snorting in annoyance, Shaggy swung them both around and then tossed Mr. White back toward Ryall. The tiger-shifter was already on his feet and casually dodged the human-sized missile as it sailed past him.

Shaggy panted as he stared back at Ryall. The tiger-man was glaring angrily at him. Shaggy glared back, but he could tell his man-beast shift was about to crap out on him. He could hold it fine enough, but all the healing and the fighting were draining him quick. A battle of attrition with Ryall was a dumb move. He needed to end things fast.

Mr. White pulled himself to his feet from behind Ryall. Adjusting his tie and sleeves, the pale alien walked up to Ryall’s side and added his own glare toward Shaggy. With a cough, Mr. White turned to Ryall and said.

“Whatever disagreements you have with my employer and I can probably wait until we’ve disposed of this mongrel, yes? Mr. Ryall, I suggest we-HRK!”

Ryall's large, furry fist slammed into Mr. White’s face, sending the slim man to the floor. Shaggy took that opportunity to dash off into the store. He needed to end things quick, but that meant he'd need one critical hit on Ryall. Duking it out with him was a losing game. He needed to be sneaky and use stealth to line up the perfect strike.

He kept low to the floor and used his long arms and clawed feet to fling himself along. He loped toward the middle of the store and looked for a proper place to hide. But all he found were more empty clothes racks. The slim metal frames would do nothing to hide his bulk. Then he spotted a hole in the ceiling leading to the second floor. He put strength into his legs and leapt as Ryall and Mr. White fought behind him.

On the second floor, Shaggy found the same empty clothing racks. But now the floor was broken up into sections via large panel dividers. Shaggy hunched lower and moved toward the front of the store. He could still hear Ryall and Mr. White fighting. But he gave the pale alien poor odds against the tiger-shifter. Shaggy kept the stairs to the first and third floors on his right as he reached the mezzanine, looking down onto the first floor. From there, he could see the cash registers and the front of the store. But Ryall and Mr. White’s fight was slightly out of view. He crouched low in the dark and waited for his chance. A pounce from here at the appropriate target would be devastating.

The fight beneath him raged on and Shaggy winced as he felt his transformed state slowly draining him. Out of the fight, he had a little bit longer, but the man-beast form was going to drop at some point. Mr. White went sailing into some registers underneath Shaggy and he tensed up, ready to pounce. But Ryall didn’t follow the alien. Instead, Shaggy heard footsteps on the stairs. Swearing to himself, Shaggy got crouched down and hid behind a partition.

Ryall came barreling up to the second floor. His whiskers were twitching, and his nose flared. Shaggy briefly worried the cat was going to sniff him out. But it appeared that Ryall couldn’t as he scanned the massive second floor. Shaggy circled wide, keeping low and making sure he could see the giant tiger-shifter at all times. Ryall slowly moved further into the second floor and kept spinning as he searched for Shaggy, his nose smelling the air and his clawed hands tensed.

Shaggy waited for his chance as he stalked around. His ability to hold his shift was almost spent, and he was going to have to move soon. So when Ryall spun his back to Shaggy, and he was close enough, Shaggy pounced. His claws up and ready. Ryall yowled in alarm as Shaggy hit his back, his claws stabbing deep into the other shifter. With a quick twitch of his hands, Shaggy dragged his right arm up and his left arm down, tearing a sizeable chunk out of Ryall’s back.

But the stubborn cat didn’t go down. Instead, he yowled in outrage and flung himself back first toward the western wall. Shaggy slammed into the wall, his claws digging deeper into Ryall’s back. But the tiger-shifter didn’t seem to care as he backed up and did it again. Shaggy felt his back break and heal itself against the heavy brick wall. As it did, he felt the man-beast shift fall from his body and a heavy lethargy settled on him. He fell from Ryall’s back, but the shifter spun on him and grabbed him by the neck. Seeing his state, Ryall snorted in derision.

“Still too weak.” Ryall growled as he gripped Shaggy’s head.

Shaggy felt his body bend as Ryall shoved his face into and through the brick wall of the second floor. With Ryall’s claws digging into his face, Shaggy was dragged northward along the western wall, breaking bricks with his face along the way. Shaggy felt multiple wounds appear and heal on his face as he was dragged through the wall by Ryall. His ear was torn off, his eyes were stabbed by brick splinters, and his nose was broken repeatedly. Once Ryall dragged him through the entire western wall and the building rumbled ominously, he looked at Shaggy’s face.

Shaggy felt some of his teeth grow back in as he smiled up at the big cat. Ryall sneered.

“That fucking healing of yours.”

Shaggy grew his claws as Ryall looked ready to drag him through the northern wall, too. But Mr. White’s blurred form appeared at Ryall’s side. The blur smacked into Ryall, shaking all of them. Mr. White looked like he was in rough shape as he fell out of his super speed. His face was bruised, and the purple glow that surrounded him was flickering. It looked like Ryall had wrung the pale alien through the ringer. But he was still standing and looked almost ready to fight. If it wasn’t for the punch-drunk way he was stumbling about.

Ryall roared in the slim man’s face and Shaggy took the chance to both claw Ryall’s arms and kick Mr. White. His foot caught Mr. White in the chest and sent him flying across the room. A dull thud resounded as the speedster hit the far wall. But his clawing of Ryall’s arms just made the tiger-shifter palm his head harder. The tiger’s claws dug into his head and Shaggy was readying himself for another trip through a wall when the building shook again.

This time, the noise was joined by the sound of bricks tumbling and a wall collapsing. The building teetered, and Ryall glanced around in annoyance. Shaggy, recognizing the sound from his own experience with collapsing buildings, wrenched his head free of Ryall’s grasp and threw himself out a second-story window nearby. The department store groaned and then caved into itself. It happened so fast that as Shaggy hit the street outside, the second and third stories of the building folded inward. Taking the entire building down in a matter of seconds. Soon, all that was left was an enormous pile of bricks and some bent clothing racks.

Shaggy panted in the middle of the street. After the cacophony of noise that the building collapsing caused his ears were ringing. He stared at the pile of bricks, claws ready and waiting. He’d survived a building falling on him and he was sure Ryall could, too. True to form, some bricks at the top of the pile started to move. Shaggy dashed over, readying to slam his claws into Ryall’s furry head. But what he found surprised him.

It wasn’t Ryall; it was Mr. White. The lithe alien was dragging himself out of the wreckage as Shaggy ran over. Mr. White heard the noise and turned to look. Seeing Shaggy, the alien’s pale face went paler, and he started trying to get to his feet. Shaggy didn’t want that to happen, so he pounced. He caught Mr. White in the side, sending them both sprawling across the bricks. Mr. White grunted in pain as Shaggy rolled out of the attack. Quickly getting to his feet, Shaggy kicked the HLO thug onto his back and glared down at the man. Mr. White looked terrified as he tried to raise his hands to defend himself.

“Mr. Robertson, I realize that…”

Shaggy didn’t listen any further as he jabbed his claws into the alien’s face. Unlike his suit, Mr. White’s face was apparently highly susceptible to Shaggy’s claws. All five of them sank deep into the alien’s flesh and Shaggy yanked them to the side, opening Mr. White’s skull to the elements. Mr. White’s body twitched several times before coming to rest, and Shaggy sighed. That was one down. His inner wolf wanted to howl in triumph, but the sound of shifting bricks froze him in place. With an explosion of force, Ryall leaped out of the ruined building and roared angrily.

His face was bloody, and it looked like one of his paws was broken. Shaggy tiredly watched the tiger-shifter as he steadied himself. Ryall seemed to sense Shaggy as he finished his roar and immediately glared at him. Shaggy saw the Tiger-shifter's eyes shoot down to Mr. White. A grim smile appearing on his face.

“I guess that’s one down.”

Shaggy snorted. “That’s exactly what I thought.”

Ryall stumbled along the bricks of the collapsed building. Trying to get closer to Shaggy. His cuts and broken hand never healed as he got closer and closer. Shaggy figured the tiger-man was out of juice and grinned. He spread his claws wide, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Ryall stopped a few feet away, his broken hand clutched to his side. Looking at Shaggy, and then down at his hand, the big cat came to a decision.

With a sigh, the big cat tossed his head back and blew out a long breath. As he did, his body shrank and his fur receded. Ryall’s black-haired, green-eyed human form sneered at Shaggy as he raised his repaired hand to his face. The man was still pretty big, but nowhere near his shifted size. His leather jacket and motorcycle boots gave off the image of a pissed off biker. He flexed his muscles and cracked his neck, all the while glaring at Shaggy.

“You remember how this part goes, right?”

“Not this time, little kitten.”

Shaggy crouched low and spread his claws. Ryall did the same, his human hands shifting into large cat paws. The pair waited in silence under the night sky as they both tried to find the perfect time to strike. Somewhere nearby a brick fell down a pile of its brethren and Shaggy feigned being distracted. Ryall took the bait and leapt. Shaggy waited until the other shifter was in the air and then pounced. The two crashed into each over the ruins of the department store, Mr. White’s corpse long forgotten.