A Werewolf In Under-Town

The going was slow, but Shaggy and his crew were making good time. The credits didn't take up that much space. They were in chit, chip, and stick form. With denominations ranging from fifty credits all the way up to five thousand credit sticks. Sharl had found a credit checker and was keeping a running tally helped by Leslie and her girls. Shaggy wasn't keeping that close of an eye on things. Instead, his eyes were practically glued to the vault's terminal screen.

Danger Level: Minimum-High

The danger level was rising as they filled the cars and their pockets. It still wasn't at a level to write home about. But Shaggy was sure that as soon as they hit the other vaults, that level would skyrocket. He mentally checked in with Tom, who was stationed on the roof.

"Anything?"

"Just a warm breeze and these fucking mosquitoes, boss."

"Good. The first vaults are nearly empty. We'll be moving to the second and third floor soon."

"Need help?"

"No, we should be fine."

"Joy."

Shaggy ignored the annoyed tone of Tom's mental message and looked around a final time. The golden lock boxes had been broken into and the floors picked clean. There had been multiple artifacts and heirloom jewelry that got tossed into the cars as well. In fact, some of Tom's people were wearing an odd collection of their ill-gotten gains. Shaggy rolled his eyes as he started for the hallway.

"Okay everyone! It's time for the next two vaults on the second floor. Sharl, is the floor clear?"

The pale and pierced woman froze at being singled out, but quickly rallied. "Yes! Sir! I mean, we took out a portion of the guards on the second floor and were about to move to the third."

"Camera's show that the second floor is clear. But we've got some wandering guards on the third floor. They checked in with us on the hour, but we just acknowledged the check-in. They seem to be on break now." Milo said from the speaker above them all.

Shaggy nodded and then looked around. "Okay, Milo, meet me on the second floor with Seth. Leslie, you're on the cameras. Meanwhile, everyone else make for the third floor and clear it. Once that's done, come back down to the second floor and get ready to empty some more vaults."

"What about Leslie? She needs someone to watch her back," growled Chromia from over the speaker.

"Then stick with her, Chromia. But I want most of our people helping clear the third floor."

Sharl gave Branka and the two alien women with her a skeptical look. But eventually she shrugged and got Tom's team together. Branka snorted at the other woman's gaze before turning and running for the end of the hall. Dory the minotauress and Leslie's elfin teammate shot Shaggy apologetic looks before running after their young teammate. Shaggy sighed heavily, but let the teams have their little social dynamics. So long as they all worked together, he wasn't going to complain.

He let them all clear the hall before he gave the vault and its room one last look. Scuff marks and random bits of trash from the lock boxes littered the room now. His people had really ransacked the place. With a grin on his lips, Shaggy dashed away. The stairs to the second floor were in the lobby and as far as he knew, all halls ended back there, anyway. He got into the lobby in time to see Branka and Sharl lead their teams up the stairs at a quiet, but hurried, pace.

Seth and Milo were waiting by the stairs as the two groups jostled their way up. Shaggy rolled his eyes and headed across the lobby to the second staircase. But Milo stopped him, calling out.

"Boss! That staircase leads to the fourth floor!"

Shaggy froze as he looked at the identical staircases on either side of him. They looked identical and seemed to be exactly the same. He trotted over to Milo and Seth with a question in his eyes.

"Folded Architecture, boss. Remember?"

"Shit. That affects all the floors."

Milo nodded. "To varying degrees. I imagine this building is closer to twenty stories instead of four."

"Fan-fucking-tastic. So are we sure where the damn vaults are, then?"

"Yeah, boss. The vaults have to be accounted for by the bank. So it's public knowledge. Hard to find public knowledge, but still…"

The boy trailed off as Shaggy walked up the stairs. Seth followed along as Milo brought up the rear. Ahead of them, Shaggy could hear his people marching to the third floor. He got to the first landing and turned to head up to the second floor when he felt a wave of something hit him. Milo let out a little grunt as well, but Seth seemed unaffected as he kept moving.

"Wait!"

Shaggy sharpened his senses as he looked around. But Milo had the answer first, and it was one Shaggy hadn't been expecting.

"Dynamic shifting."

"Say again?"

"The first and second floors share the same folded architecture, boss. But it looks like the second floor shifts."

Shaggy's response was to raise his eyebrow as he glared at the young mage.

"It means that the 'papers' that make up the second floor are shuffled occasionally."

Shaggy wanted to rub his eyes, as he could imagine the headache this was going to cause. "Can we put a stop to this fuckery? I mean, seriously, who designs a place like this?"

"Banks wanting to protect their shit." Seth answered jokingly.

"We'd have to find the device creating the folded space. But if we messed it up, we'd cause the entire building to collapse."

Shaggy bit his tongue and continued to the second floor. "Are we at least sure the floor is clear?"

Leslie's voice answered him from a speaker on the wall next to the staircase. "Yep, the kid showed me how to filter between folded spaces. The floor has been cleared and the vaults are waiting. I have to keep switching between cameras as the floors shift, but I think I have a handle on it."

"Well, at least it's fuckery we can deal with. Lead the way, Leslie."

"You want to turn right here and go down this hallway? Then, when you get to the end, turn left and then an immediate right."

Shaggy waved for Seth and Milo to follow as he jogged. It was when he made the second turn that a problem arose.

"Fuck, it did it again." Shaggy said as a wave of something crashed over him.

"It should be fine." Milo said as he panted next to Shaggy. "How are you feeling that, anyway?"

Shaggy shrugged. "Werewolf? It feels like riding in an elevator. The pressure change is slightly noticeable."

"I don't notice it." Seth said, sounding annoyed.

"You're a young wolf, pup. See what happens after you grow a little."

Seth seemed placated by that, but still annoyed. Leslie's voice came over a nearby speaker again as Shaggy looked around.

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"Okay, the new path should be simpler. Take the second left off this hallway and then keep heading straight. If another shift doesn't hit, you should be on the right track."

Shaggy nodded and then turned to Seth. "You're up, Speedster. Find that vault and then wait for us."

Seth nodded and then turned into a blur. A blast of air hit Shaggy in the face and he felt the urge to chase after his pack mate. But Milo, gasping next to him, held him up. The mage was leaning against the far wall, still catching his breath. Seeing Shaggy's gaze, Milo grimaced.

"I was never in great shape."

"Gotta live up to the trope somehow, huh?"

"What?"

"Never mind. You ready to go?"

"Yeah. I can do this."

Shaggy didn't ask again as he took off in another light jog. The next fifteen minutes were an annoying mix of waiting for Milo and vectoring toward their target. The shifts came at odd and unplanned intervals, and Leslie always needed a few seconds to reorient her cameras. Seth used the pack link to announce that he made it to the vaults after the first ten minutes. He sent Shaggy a weird mental image of two vault doors right across from an extremely large window. In the image, the vaults looked smaller than the first one, but Shaggy chalked that up to the boy's position. It was only when he finally arrived that Shaggy realized the two vaults were really tiny. At least for vaults.

Both vaults were only about six feet off the ground and looked like twin metal barrels laying on their side. On the face of each one was another large tumbler lock. But Shaggy refrained from attacking them because of the glowing runes written large across the tumblers. These vaults were clearly magical in nature.

"Well… shit." Shaggy deadpanned as he slid to a stop near in the large room housing the vaults.

The room was arranged like a damn waiting area, with the vaults on one side and the chairs and tables on the other. Massive windows made up the right wall as the left one was full of ornate pictures and a hallway leading away from everything. Shaggy was surprised the vaults were just sitting out in the open. But then again, who was going to try anything in a bank when the vaults were clearly magic'd out the wazoo?

Milo stared at the two vaults in wonder until Shaggy shook him by the shoulder. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sir. Hi."

"Hi." Shaggy said. "Do you want to try something with these two vaults or are we brute forcing them?"

"NO! Don't touch them! They're perfect!" Milo shouted in the dark room.

His voice echoed a little, and Shaggy stared at the mage in shock. He was almost convinced the doors had done something to the boy until Milo coughed awkwardly.

"I just mean that they are unique works of art and that I would be remiss as a mage if something happened to them."

"Kid, they are vaults keeping me from my credits. If you want to save their artistic doors, that's fine. But we are on a clock here. Can you handle them?"

Milo gulped before nodding slowly. "Yeah, it's just a runic alphabet set to the phases of some alien moon… I think."

"You think?!"

"I didn't finish that section of my studies. But I'm pretty sure we just need to line them up to the correct phases."

"Pretty sure?"

"And it has to be done at the same time on both vault doors." Milo added, ignoring Shaggy's question.

Shaggy grunted in annoyance. The glowing tumblers on both locks seemed to brighten at his anger. He took a step forward when Seth tapped his shoulder.

"Let me do it, boss. I'm quick enough to adjust to what Milo is doing."

Shaggy grimaced as Seth looked into his face. He didn't know what kind of defenses the vault doors had, but it couldn't be that dangerous, right? Giving a nod, Shaggy moved to the side as the two young boys moved to the vault doors. Milo waved his hand around both of them first before he started muttering around the tumblers. Shaggy could see a blue shimmer appear around both boys as they went to work. At least they were being somewhat safe.

He put his back to the large window overlooking the eastern parking lot. Because of the folded nature of the building, he found they were significantly higher than the second floor. But he could still make out their van and the cars Tom's people brought. He gazed across the skyline of the small town they were in. The streets were lit by streetlamps and the odd hover car that flew overhead. So far, nothing seemed amiss.

The boys worked in silence for the longest time. Milo would move his tumbler and Seth would use his speed to keep up with the movements. Matching his tumbler to Milo's. Sharl and Branka's teams made their way to them in the time it took Milo to work. Apparently, the third floor was ready and waiting for them. All they needed to do was finish up here and they could hit the magical artifacts section of the building.

That's when things went to shit.

Milo and Seth barely had enough time to scream as a shock of red lightning hit them both and blew them across the room. Shaggy watched as a blue shield appeared over both boys and then was shattered, as whatever protection Milo had cast was obliterated. The mage and his robes slammed into a desk before coming to a stop in a smoldering ruin. Seth crashed through a row of chair and then slid along the carpeted floor on his back, his metal armor smoking.

Shaggy moved for his pack mate first. He was by the boy's side in a moment, his breath catching in his throat as he saw Seth's healing start to work. His scorched skin was flaking away as the boy groaned in pain. Shaggy sighed and then looked over to Milo. Branka and Sharl were already there, checking the mage over. Branka caught Shaggy's gaze and shook her head once. The mage was dead. That's when the alarms went off.

The floor turned red as bright lights emerged from the ceiling and flashed repeatedly. A loud klaxon echoed through the room and Sharl and Branka's team shouted in pain and confusion. Shaggy turned toward the nearest speaker and started shouting commands.

"Okay! We're doing this the hard way! Leslie, Chromia, meet us outside! The rest of you clear the way!"

"Boss!?" Sharl shouted as Shaggy marched toward the two vaults.

There was no way in hell Shaggy was leaving the things after they tried to fry one of his pack members. And he was beginning to like Milo. He shifted into his hybrid form and burst forth as people scrambled behind him. With little effort, Shaggy grabbed the first vault in his massive claws and chucked it toward the window. The glass shattered, and the vault fell toward the parking lot. Shaggy's instincts made him dodge as the second vault followed the first as if they were tied together. He came out of his side roll in time to see the second vault drop to the ground below. Snorting, Shaggy moved back to Seth and picked the boy up. Hopefully, the drop would break the vaults open. If not, they'd take both of the damn things.

"Boss, we got incoming!"

"How many?"

"Two flyers and a bunch of cars."

"Good. Meet us in the parking lot."

Shaggy cut the connection as he looked around at Sharl's and Branka's teams. Branka was already moving toward the broken window. Having picked up on Shaggy's plan. The red-haired teen signaled for her teammates to follow her as she placed her hands and feet on the outside window. Dory, the minotauress and the Elf lady grabbed hold of Branka and the three of them went down the side of the building with practiced ease. Branka's wall crawling abilities probably weren't enough to go up the side of the building. But sliding down was a breeze.

Shaggy nodded his lupine head and then turned to Sharl. The woman still looked confused, but then the building shook and she leapt at Shaggy. She gripped onto his fur in fear as the others of her team did the same. Shaggy growled in his throat but moved to the window. He had planned to carry them down, but hanging off him was also an option, he guessed. He pointed at Milo's body and Sharl seemed to momentarily come back to herself.

"Tito, burn the body!"

A man on Shaggy's waist raised a fist and a fireball shot out, incinerating the evidence. The mage was tied to the Legion and, worst yet, his wife. They couldn't leave him. Milo burned as Shaggy stepped out the window and dropped like a sack of bricks. Tom's crew pulled bunches of hair out of Shaggy's body as he dropped a long way before using his claws to slow his descent. He scraped the side of the building all to hell as it rumbled ominously. Once he was close enough, Shaggy dropped to the cement parking lot and took stock.

Sharl's team was jumping away from him as they tried to get themselves under control. Branka and Leslie were standing near the parking lot's entrance, ready and waiting. The two vaults Shaggy had tossed were embedded in the parking lot, opened and three times their previous size. Credits were flowing out of the cracks of the broken safes, along with a few trinkets Shaggy was unsure about. Tom landed nearby as he leapt from the roof, which made Shaggy turn back to the building. The rumbling was getting louder now, and Shaggy was sure the building was growing.

"Boss?" Seth coughed from within his arms.

The boy's healing was done, but he looked exhausted. Shaggy was sure the kid was tapped. Shaggy shifted back to human and started giving orders again.

"Two teams! One is repelling attackers, and the other is loading credits! Move!"

Shaggy put down Seth as everyone jumped to work. Tom's team hurried toward the vaults as Leslie's team faced the roads. Seth went to help Tom, but Shaggy shook his head and ordered the kid into one of the cars.

"Nope. You're running on empty. Grab a gun and stay back. That's an order."

Shaggy didn't wait for the kid to object before he hurried to the parking lot entrance and joined Leslie.

"Things were going so well, huh?" Chromia said sarcastically.

"Not now, metal head. I nearly lost a pack member."

"You lost a mage, though."

"Barely knew him." Shaggy shrugged.

Already the sounds of sirens were growing closer, and the building's rumbling was going away. Shaggy looked up to see the bank building now standing thirty stories tall. A marvel of steel and glass. The sound of the air snapping drew Shaggy's gaze back to the road and the two figures floating in the sky. Just beyond them was a fleet of cop cars heading their direction. Shaggy couldn't place the two aliens in the sky, but judging by their matching outfits and smug looks, he assumed they were heroes.

"Good." Shaggy growled. "I need something to punch right now."

The lead Supe swooped low to address them and Shaggy didn't even let the guy get off a word. With no preamble or warning, he pounced. There was going to be blood tonight.