A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy grew out the claws on both of his hands as the sounds of footsteps turned into a low roar. Placing his back to Levy, he got ready to fight their way out. But after a muttered word from his wife, a purple wall grew out of the ground between them and the oncoming construction workers. Lawyer and Worker looked slightly annoyed. Even as Worker Sqwilliup was held in the air by Levy's magic. With one hand aiming her staff at Worker and the other raised toward the enormous wall she had summoned, Levy smirked.

"How about we cut the bullshit, huh? We aren't here to play games, slaughter people or banter with debate novices. We came to hire y'all to build out our territory."

Lawyer glanced at his fellow suspended in the air and then at the horde of workers beating against Levy's magic. Shaggy even saw a few construction workers lob their own spells at the magical wall. Then a few got the bright idea to head to the second floor. There was a waist-high wall overlooking their position in the lobby up there. He could see them making a run for it. With a grunt, Shaggy leapt to the second floor and crouched on the wall. Cekrass was raging to come in and join the fun, but Shaggy held him off. Levy was negotiating.

"Your use of the word 'territory' is a noticeable choice. You don't actually believe you own any of the land out there, do you? Why, all the land out there belongs to the state of Texas. You all are just managing businesses on said land," said Lawyer.

Shaggy heard Levy sigh from his position on the second floor. He turned to look at her and was in time to see her fling Worker through the air. The chains that bound him whipped around and hurled him toward Levy's purple wall. Shaggy winced as the man's face came into contact with the magical construct. But nothing happened. Worker went sailing through the wall and collided with several other construction workers. Levy tapped her staff against the tiled floor and her wall grew up through the ceiling of the first floor hallway. It sprung to life in front of Shaggy just as a group of workers came barreling up the stairs.

The purple wall stretched into the second floor ceiling and Shaggy huffed loudly as he spun around. A group of rock-like aliens were wailing on Levy's magic again and Shaggy's claws were starting to itch.

"Seriously!?" Shaggy groaned as the workers ran back to the stairs. Probably to climb to the third floor.

"You can fight the ones that survive the fall, love. Now come down here. I think I found the smart one."

Shaggy growled and threw himself off the second floor, back down to the lobby. Lawyer still looked unfazed by everything that happened. He was adjusting his suit as Levy loomed over him, staff in hand. Shaggy shifted his claws back into hands and stood beside his wife again. The muted attacks against Levy's shield were the only sound for a few quick beats. Levy leaned against her staff and waited until Lawyer was ready to talk again.

When three minutes had passed, and Levy's shield was still strong, Lawyer sighed loudly.

"Fine. Yes, we are aware of your criminal connection. We are also aware that you know about our own connections. Also, we know the Raks know about your little 'territory.'"

"So, you know, and know that we know, and you know the Raks know. Great, everything is now cleared up. Can we get on with the deal?"

"And why would we want to deal with you? You are clearly a bunch of small-time hoods from Under-Town with delusions of grandeur. Sure, you might control a few neighborhoods. But the Raks and ourselves operate on a higher plane."

"I'd believe that of the Rakgu." Levy nodded. "But not of the Sqwilliup. Aren't you guys out here licking your wounds?"

Lawyer's eyes narrowed, but he kept a civil smile on his face. "I thought you were through with games, Mrs. Robertson? What my organization is doing out in the sticks of Texas is none of your concern. Suffice it to say, we are still a very lucrative and big group."

"Sure." Levy said dryly.

The sound of something crashing to the floor echoed in the lobby, and the three of them turned toward it. A gray alien with stone skin was pulling themself from a pit in the floor. Shaggy glanced up and spotted several more aliens on the third-floor balcony looking down into the lobby. The alien had flung themself from the third floor all the way down and was now charging them. Shaggy wanted to howl as his fingers started to shift. But Levy put another damper on his fun.

"No claws, love. We're still talking."

Shaggy grunted in annoyance as he rushed to meet the charging alien. The big alien's gravel-like features shifted into a sneer as he reared back to punch Shaggy. The haymaker sailed over Shaggy's head as he ducked and leaned in to hug the bigger man around the middle. Sticking his leg out, Shaggy went for a hip-toss. Initially, he wanted to slam the big bastard into the floor.. But a last second thought made him hurl his payload toward Levy's magical shield.

The look on the stone alien's face was priceless as Shaggy tossed him like a rag-doll toward the shield. Again, there was no sound of impact. Instead, the stoney bastard hit his friends on the other side and Shaggy raised his arms in triumph. He was still celebrating when two more big construction workers hit the lobby floor. Shaggy cracked his fingers and went to work as Levy continued talking to Lawyer.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"So then I have to ask, why did you accept our offer?" Levy asked as Shaggy snapped a rugged-looking human's knee.

Lawyer, barely batted an eye. "Originally, we were going to deny the job. But then we saw several Rak backed businesses blacklisting you. We just had to figure out why."

"Is that why we are here? So you can probe us for information?"

"Phrasing Levy!" Shaggy shouted as he punted a Perinadon across the floor.

"No." Lawyer said, ignoring Levy's innuendo. "We decided to get involved when we realized who was on your western border."

"The Phreaks?"

"Yes. One of the biggest groups of the now fractured gang. They are still loosely connected, but their fractured leadership makes them ripe for takeover."

"You want a base to attack them from? One that can be freely attacked without you losing a damn thing." Levy snarled angrily.

His wife's anger resonated with Shaggy and he almost didn't pull a punch at the last second. He had been fighting a muscular mutant with stretchy arms. Shaggy's punch sent the poor man sailing across the floor, his arms flailing wildly. His opponent slammed into the far wall and went limp, but Shaggy was already on to the next dumbass to fling themselves from the third floor. He heard Levy get control of herself as Lawyer didn't deny the assumption.

"You can not honesty expect that we'll let you set up shop on our turf."

"I'd hardly call that span of broken shops, and ruined buildings, turf. But no, that is not what we want. We want you lot to do it, regularly."

Shaggy heard Levy suck in a breath, probably to utter some other suggestive statement. But he quickly cut her off. "So you want us to march into Phreak turf, like, what? Once a week? Twice a month? We do that and you'll let your little front business handle our construction work?"

"We want you to focus on them completely. How often and how large you escalate the conflict is up to you. Do that and we'll take up the contract to refurbish your neighborhood. For a price."

Levy snorted. "Pfft. A discounted price."

The Sqwilliup crime family stopped attacking Shaggy when he addressed the Lawyer alien. Even now, they seemed content to just watch things play out. Beyond the shield, Worker and his band of idiots were still smashing against Levy's shield. Shaggy wasn't sure how long Levy could keep the thing up and told Cekrass to stand by.

Lawyer glared at Levy for a few hot seconds, but eventually he nodded. "We could, perhaps, give you the Friends and Family rate."

Levy smiled, and Shaggy noticed the grip on her staff tighten slightly. She was either reaching the limits of her magic or something about the alien's words made her angry. Either way, his wolf didn't like the vulnerable position they were about to be in. And, frankly, neither did he. But there was something he wanted to know first.

"So while we're coming at the Phreaks from the east. What will you lot be doing? You seem to think you can wipe them out wholesale."

"I don't think anything, Mr. Shaggy. I know. I know exactly how the Phreaks are conducting their business, and I know where to hit them. All you need to do is draw their eye to you and my family will do the rest."

"And once that's done? We're just neighbors until you decide to go through us to get to the Raks?"

"We can discuss that once the Phreaks are dealt with. But I assure you, we have bigger things to worry about than some upstarts from Under-Town."

Shaggy could hear the alien lawyer's brain squealing away with plots. Thankfully, he had plenty of people on his own side that like to plot as well. He turned to see how Levy was taking things and found his wife hunched over her staff, sweating. It was time to go. With a mental order to Cekrass, Shaggy hurried over to his wife and started to shift. He ducked down between her legs just as his back turned onto a broad furry mat of black fur. The sound of the front wall collapsing caught everyone's attention as Levy finally dropped her spell. She ran her hand through his fur as Cekrass' green werewolf form charged into the lobby.

All credit to the lizard's new team, they each charged in right after him. Shaggy saw that Cekrass' team wielded an odd assortment of weapons. Everything from swords and maces to laser rifles and stun batons. They rushed into the lobby and immediately formed up around Shaggy and Cekrass. Both of them were growling as the Sqwilliup construction workers pushed in. But Lawyer raised a hand and everything stopped. Except the growling, of course.

"Well, this has been productive. I think the rest of our dealings can be done over the phone, correct?"

"Yeah… that sounds about right." Levy sighed heavily as she almost slumped against Shaggy's back.

"Very good. I'll have my people contact yours and we'll get that discount sorted."

"Nice doing business with you…" Levy trailed off sleepily before yawning.

"Alda, Mrs. Levy. Alda Sqwilliup The Fourth. I hope our business relationship is a long one."

Shaggy growled at the puny alien addressing his wife and then turned toward the exit his pack mate had made. With more destruction than was necessary, Shaggy and the others left the dark confines of the Sqwilliup building. Then they quickly fled the construction site. Once they were fully across the street, Shaggy shrunk back to down to his human form as Cekrass remained in wolf form.

"Nooooo! Bring the fluffy back!" Levy groaned as she clung to Shaggy's back.

"Quit it you. We have to go. You can sleep in the car."

Shaggy looked up and spotted Cekrass looking at his own spiky fur with a look of sadness. Shaggy could feel his lizard pack mate's sadness at not being… fluffy. He rolled his eyes and thanked every one of Cekrass' team. They hadn't really been necessary, but the help was appreciated. He gave them all the order to return home as he walked to their car, his senses on alert for any trickery. Once he got Levy situated in the passenger side, he entered the driver's side and turned the car on.

Levy groaned and turned away from the blast of cool air coming from the AC. She curled into herself on the seat, cracking one eye to glare at him.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think Ephemara is going to be very busy," Levy said, voice clear of pervious tiredness. "We are going to need to watch our own borders and the Phreaks. Alda is planning something."

"Clearly. Do you think they'll try something with the buildings they build us?"

"Yes. We are going to need our own people going over everything they do with a fine-tooth comb."

Shaggy nodded and pulled the car onto main street. "Hopefully, they'll give us a deal at least. Do you think we should have Bodecker look for more companies?"

Levy shrugged. "Couldn't hurt. Just don't be surprised if none of them will deal with us."

"Fair." Shaggy nodded. "Are you going to sleep the whole way home?"

"If you shut up and let me."

"Love you too, Hun."

"Love you." Levy sighed as she snuggled deeper into the passenger seat.