A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy turned another bland corner as he searched the halls of the bank. The damn place was set up like an office building once you got behind the main lobby. Multiple times, he found himself circling back to the lobby just to reorient himself. Tom and his boys were tearing up the place, clearing the guards, emptying desks, and checking the registers. As Shaggy entered the lobby for the fourth time, he chuckled to himself. A few of Tom's people were still there, wrecking up the place.

The shady-looking Tom had gathered a group that was just as shady-looking as him. Each one had a shifty, hunched over look about them. They scanned the environment like they were looking for threats and exits at all times. The two that were busy breaking a desk open with a pair of stanchions were wearing long cloaks. If Shaggy didn't know better, he would've mistaken them for some of Vlad's people.

"Hey! I think the desk has had enough. Maybe go check the upper floors, huh?"

The two sallow-looking men glared up at him until they recognized him. Then the shorter of the two gulped loudly before nodding.

"Sure thing, boss. We'll go help the others."

Stumbling over each other, the two hurried away as Shaggy glanced around again. The lobby had two large double doors at serving as its entrance. But alongside that, there were at least six more exits out of the damn place. Two on the east and west walls, then two more on the north. Shaggy had initially tried one of the northern exits. Hoping it would take him around the bank's offices. But that was not to be. It simply led him back around to the side entrance. Then he tried one exit to the west and then one to the east. He felt like a god-damn cartoon character.

The sound of footsteps slamming into the tiled floors made him look around. Seth slid into the lobby from a dead run. The speedster slid a few feet before catching himself and standing straight again. The boy had been exploring the halls the same as Shaggy, but judging by the look on his face, he'd found something.

"Got it?"

"I think so, Boss. There's an odd wall down that hallway."

Seth pointed to the other north exit. Shaggy bit his lip in aggravation. This was already taking too long. They'd gotten a few personal items and some terminals. But nothing that screamed Epic Haul. Shaggy gestured for the boy to lead the way as he jogged along. Seth kept pace with him as they entered the gray hallway and followed it around. Multiple office doors dotted the walls, a few busted open from Tom's boys.

"Wasn't the goal to be as stealthy as possible." Seth asked.

"That plan went out the window when Leslie blasted our way in. Granted, Tom and his boys aren't helping things. But hey, I ain't going to deny them a bit of scratch."

The boy looked contemplative for a few seconds before nodding to himself. "Y'know, there are a few vending machines we could probably repurpose."

"Ha! If you can get them to the vans, feel free," Shaggy said as he realized they were running now.

They took several sharp turns and entered another long hallway going south along the eastern edge of the building. Shaggy shook his head as his brain tried to map out the building. It made no sense. He was already on the side of the building with their cars and yet the side exit was nowhere in sight.

"Fucking magic." Shaggy grumbled as Seth put an arm out.

"It's here, boss."

The young boy slowed to a stop near a large stretch of wall. If Shaggy's internal navigation wasn't on the fritz, it was a wall facing into the bank. There was a water fountain embedded in the wall, but little else. Shaggy raised an eyebrow at his youngest pack member and Seth cough awkwardly.

"Just look, boss. Doesn't something seem off?"

Seth pointed down the southern end of the hallway. "Office, trash can, restroom, picture…"

He turned and looked down at the northern end. "Picture, restroom, trash can, office. And then it repeats. All the way down the hall like that."

"Except for right here." Shaggy nodded.

The wall in front of them was about twenty feet of empty space. The nearest thing on both ends was a picture hanging by itself. Seth dashed over to the north picture and started examining the frame.

"Maybe there's some kind of mechanism or spell? I think I should go get-"

SCREEEEECH

Shaggy pushed his claws into the wall and felt the familiar touch of metal hit his claws. The noise of his claws ripping through the tough steel made him wince. But he continued until he had ripped a small hole in the wall. Shaggy poked his head into the hole a bit and looked through. On the other side was a large, square room. The room had blue-steel walls, floors, and ceilings. But sitting directly across from Shaggy was an enormous vault door in the shape of a cog.

"Well, that's derivative." Shaggy scoffed as he pulled his head out. Seth was looking at him weirdly, but Shaggy just shrugged his shoulders. "Like I said, stealth is out."

"What the hell did you do?!" Leslie's voice shouted at him from up above.

Shaggy started and looked up. There was a small grey speaker built into the hallway that he hadn't seen before. He looked at Seth and the boy shook his head. Apparently, he hadn't seen it either.

"Leslie?"

"Yeah? How did you two get into that hallway? Matter of fact, where IS that hallway?"

Shaggy sighed. "Leslie, I think some magic fuckery is going on. We've been exploring this bank for the past forty minutes. You've never spoken to us over the comms before."

"Yes, I have! I was talking to you when you entered and exited the lobby. Haven't you been taking my instructions about which hallways to take?"

"No. We haven't. Get Milo on your damn terminal and see what he says about it."

There was some scuffling over the speaker, and Shaggy took the time to widen the hole in the wall. Seth kept guard for a bit, but eventually Shaggy told the boy to grab his vending machines and see about getting them out. He also wanted the boy to try to map the halls. Seth dashed off just as Milo's voice crackled over the speakers.

"Uhhh, hi. I mean, yes… boss. What can I do for you?"

"There's something magical about these halls, Milo. Can you figure it out from there?"

"Something magical? Can he be more vague? My finger's on the wha- oh!"

There was a click and Shaggy rolled his eyes and slashed at the wall again. Soon, the speaker crackled to life again and Milo asked.

"Do you know what kind of magical things are happening?"

"The hallways are looping around into each other. I'm pretty sure this one is on the same side of the building we came in on. But that would mean I'm barely down the way from where you are. Then there's the lack of communication between Leslie and the teams inside. She says she's been talking to us, but I haven't heard a single word from her until I ripped this wall open."

"And… uhhh… Why are you ripping that wall open?"

"Oh, you know, it asked me stupid questions. WHY DO YOU THINK?! There's a damn vault behind it nimrod!"

"No reason for name calling," Milo muttered before the speaker clicked off again.

Shaggy took his anger out on the wall as Chromia's voice crackled to life.

"Don't go scaring the help, wolf."

"Hows the parking lot look, chrome dome?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We're all clear on the cameras. But with what we just learned, Branka took the girls outside."

"Smart move. Seth should be joining you shortly. Make use of him and maybe give him a hand."

"Fine." Chromia grumbled.

The line went quiet again and Shaggy finally created a hole large enough to step through. As carefully as possible and expecting a trap to trigger, he stepped on to the blue-metal floor. Immediately, his senses picked up a dull hum coming from all around him. It was like standing in the doorway of an active laundry mat. Shaggy tensed and waited for something to attack him. From the hole in the wall, Milo's excited voice echoed in the hallway.

"Sir, this bank is within a folded space pocket. It's incredible."

Shaggy waited for the mage to go on, but when he didn't, Shaggy stuck his head back into the hall. "Explain!"

"Oh! Um, the space this bank occupies folds in on itself. So your hallway does, indeed, occupy the same space as this one. Just kinda on a different level."

"So am I like in a different dimension or vibrating at a different frequency or something?"

"Nothing that crazy, sir. You're just in your own folded pocket. Imagine sheets of paper stacked on top of each other. You are technically one sheet up from where we are."

"So, can you counter the spell?"

"Hehehe," Milo's chuckle sounded eerily close to condescension in Shaggy's ear. "Sir, it's not a spell. This is just a highly advanced architectural design. Certain species of aliens were playing with this type of thing for a long time."

"If it's not magic, then how did Leslie miss us for such a long time?"

"She didn't. She just couldn't track you accurately over the camera system. Then, when she caught up with you, the speakers were attuned to the wrong floor. We can talk now cause you literally cut a hole in your sheet down to ours."

"Wait. So the vault IS in your damn hallway?!"

"Buried behind a shit ton of bricks and plaster, sir. But it's there."

Shaggy rubbed a hand down his face and sighed. "Fine. Are there any traps or mechanisms on this vault door I need to be aware of?"

"One moment."

The speaker in the hallway clicked off again, and Shaggy stared across the room at the giant vault door. It was solid metal and looked thick as hell. He figured he was going to have to wolf-out and give it his all. But first, he wanted confirmation that the fires of hell would not drop down on his head.

There was an audible click from Shaggy's blue-metal room and he tensed up again. But Leslie's voice came screaming into the square room. The noise was coming from everywhere and Shaggy winced as Leslie explained.

"It doesn't look like there's anything technical on that vault door, boss."

"And I can't sense any magic coming from it. I think you are clear."

Shaggy nodded as he sent a ping to Tom. He wanted his team moving the credits out of the vault as fast as possible. Tom confirmed the command and then started moving his people. Out loud, Shaggy said.

"Leslie, get Tom and his people to me as fast as you can. We're going to start moving credits."

Her response was drowned out as Shaggy shifted into his hybrid form. His muscles bulged and his arms and legs grew longer. His clothes seeped into his body and the inner wolf howled in triumph as he made his entrance. Shaggy let the mangy mutt have its time in the shine before he got back in the driver's seat and charged the metal vault door.

There was a virtual arcade's worth of toggles, switches, and buttons on the vault door's surface. But Shaggy ignored them all as he leapt into the air and clasped his massive furred hands together. He brought them down with a meaty thwack on the spoked handle of the vault door. Metal creaked, and the door shuddered as Shaggy felt his hands break. They quickly healed and Shaggy attacked again. The four prongs of the handle shivered and Shaggy slammed down his full weight onto them. He ignored the pain and the shouts from the speaker system. Instead, he attacked the vault door like it had kicked his cat.

It took multiple attempts and Shaggy was sure he looked like an idiot before the spoked handle finally bent and then broke off. Shaggy and his wolf howled in triumph as the inner workings of the door were revealed to him. Where the spoked handle had been was a small hole full of wires and gears and blinking bits. All of which Shaggy figured were important. So he dove at them and tore into everything. Sparks flew and gears clanked to a halt. The inside of Shaggy's mouth was cut from the bits of metal as he dove head-first into the inner mechanism of the door.

Thankfully, this second onslaught took a shorter amount of time. He had just ripped out a sizeable chunk of electronics when he heard the door pop and a pneumatic hiss filled the room. Shaggy huffed loudly as he backed away from the swinging door. Finally, he could hear the sound of others in the room as well as the speaker echoing as Chromia laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHA! That's your cut from the night to me, little wizard."

"I'm a Sorcerer." Milo said sadly before practically shouting down the mic. "How did you do that?! That's a top-of-the-line K-Tech brand vault door! It's rated to low A-Tier!"

Shaggy spat out a mouthful of blood and bits of metal as he shifted back into a human. "Yeah, well, I've always been stubborn."

"I'll say." Tom cackled from his position near the hole in the wall.

Tom's entire team was assembled and waiting as the vault door finally opened. A golden glow filled their little square room as the vaults interior was revealed. Rows upon rows of golden lock boxes lined the walls as a pile of credit chips sat in the middle of the vault floor. The vault wasn't the biggest space, but it was only the first one of the night. They still had two more.

Shaggy grinned to himself as he waved Tom's people forward. "Get it to the cars, people! Double time!"

Most of Tom's team moved to follow orders. But Tom himself and a slight, pale woman held back. Shaggy could see Tom was waiting to introduce the woman, so he gave the pair a nod.

"Boss, this is Sharl. She helped me put together this team of ne'er-do-wells."

The woman was slightly taller than Tom and had short black hair cut short into a tight pixie cut. She had scars across her face and piercings in her nose and lip. Her hard-rock appearance was at immediate odds with the look of wonder she was giving Shaggy.

"It's an honor to meet you, boss."

Shaggy shook the woman's hand before he raised an eyebrow at Tom.

"She wanted to fan-girl a little. Help a dude out."

He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, but Shaggy met Sharl's smile with one of his own. "Yes, well, I hope this has been a fun night for you so far. Just help me keep this one in line and we'll talk more when we get back home, yeah?"

"Right. Absolutely, sir! I won't let you down."

The pale woman smiled at him and Tom again before she dashed off. As she went by, Shaggy swore he could smell sulfur come off the woman. He shook the scent out of his nose and looked at Tom again.

"Half-Demon. She's a fucking hellion, I tell ya. I figured with me being more of a lover than a fighter, I'd need a tough second."

"Pfft. Just be careful she doesn't take your job." Shaggy chuckled as he and Tom walked toward the vault to help.

As he got to the vault door, Shaggy spotted something he missed. There was a terminal at the center of the vault. It was covered on all sides by all denominations of credit devices. Judging by the way the NPCs were bypassing it, Shaggy guessed it was a player-only terminal. He moved up to it cautiously and brought up the menu.

There was only one screen to bring up and its contents made Shaggy growl. He knew things had been a touch too easy. The good thing was, apparently he could choose when to kick off the party.

Event Generated

A Bank Heist Event is ready to be generated.

Vaults opened 1 of 5

Danger Level: Minimum

The more vaults you open before generating the event will increase the Danger Level. If you try to leave without generating the Event, it will auto-generate. Auto-generated Bank Event will give less XP and increase the Danger Level by one tier.

Caution: Danger Level does not include any passing Players who get notified of the event.

Shaggy bit his lip and closed out the terminal. It was a sobering reminder that once things kicked off, they would have to deal with both the Supe NPCs and any player Hero that wandered their direction. They were a decent way out from Austin. But Player's were everywhere. Of course, that didn't mean he was going to cut and run now. There were credits to be made.

Tom's people were stuffing credits into bags, backpacks, and pockets. Sharl even had a duffel bag from the bank that she was filling. Tom felt his unease and gave him a look. Shaggy stepped closer and whispered some orders in the pale man's ear.

"Get to the roof. I want eyes in every direction. You see someone coming, you ring the alarm as fast as you can."

"What about all this?" Tom asked, pointing to the pile of credits.

"Leslie and her team can come help. In fact, I want everyone not on lookout, moving credits. We still got two more vaults to open."

Tom nodded and slipped from the room like a ghost. Shaggy grabbed another duffel bag from the wall and started filling it. Their night was going to end violently. That was pre-determined. But he was going to get out with as many credits as he could. That was for damn sure.