A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy stamped the form with his 'approved' stamp and set it aside. Grabbing a new one from his coffee table, he quickly scanned the contents before stamping it. Beside him, Levy was doing the same thing with a stack of her own documents. For a moment, Shaggy found everything peaceful. Just the two of them, sitting in their living room, working on stuff, and sharing quiet companionship. Then reality set in.

"Wait a minute…" Shaggy groaned. "I hired a guy to do this. I know I did."

"Bodecker is more of a CFO, dear. He handles our finances and passes everything he is not qualified to handle up to us," Levy explained.

"How is he not qualified to handle approving the building deal with the Sqwilliup Family? That's literally sending a payment out?"

"Let me see?"

Levy leaned over him to see the document in his hand and skimmed through it. When she was done, she pointed a slim finger at the top of the page.

"Dear, that's a request for protection from the Sqwilliup family. They want to make sure their teams are covered while they are on our turf."

Shaggy rolled his eyes before stamping the page. "We need to find someone to do this shit. We're supposed to be investigating the block to the south!"

"This is barely fifteen pages, Shaggy. We can finish this and go look for your ghosts or whatever. Besides, this is better than what the others are doing. Imagine setting up rotating schedules for the Lackeys in Under-Town. Gah!"

"Sure, that would suck. But this is not better. I mean, I'm a crime boss, right? Why am I… confirming protection increases for Nuc's Associated Businesses? Wait… what happened to Nuc's business?"

"Nothing. She and the other heads of her Crime Ring just want to increase the size of their protection teams." Levy said, still reading over his lap.

Shaggy took a moment to read the request in his hand and scoffed at the contents. "Their afraid of the increased gang activity in the area? That's us! They know that's us. What the hell?"

"Hey, they are still paying for the added protection, and it says that Nuc wants a Ward Upgrade. That's five hundred credits for the added guard to all their monthly payments and a onetime ten thousand credit payment for the ward. I'd say it's worth it."

Shaggy grumbled but acquiesced as he stamped the sheet. "Still doesn't answer why I'm doing this."

"Because we are the bosses. We need to be aware of what is happening on our turf. At least broadly."

Shaggy checked the next sheet and skimmed the info. It was a confirmation of above ground supply procurement. Essentially, a bunch of Lackeys were asking permission to go robbing. Shaggy checked the area they were going and signed off when he saw they were headed into Phreak turf. They knew the risks and more supplies were always a good thing.

The two of them sat in silence again as they both quickly took care of the mundane aspects of running a criminal empire. Once he was finished, Shaggy sat back and sipped his coffee as Levy took care of her own pile. She had a little bit more on her plate and Shaggy could see that the stacks of paper on her side of the desk were even a different color. When she caught him looking, her purple eyes sparkled, and she hid the sheet.

"Fae business." She chirped happily.

"So long as you're not selling us out to the lollipop league, you can keep it to yourself."

"Boo! You're no fun. You're supposed to get all jealous."

"I think I will happily keep my nose out of Fae affairs. Anything pressing though?"

"Naw. Just things that I need to handle before the week is up."

"Not right now?"

"No, love. Not right now. We can still go on our night walk into your ghost neighborhood."

Shaggy sighed again as he finished his coffee. "It's not ghosts, dear."

"Sure."

Levy kept smiling as she finished signing off on her own papers. When she finished, the two of them submitted the papers to the terminal and double-checked their gear. Well, Levy checked her gear, Shaggy just made sure his boots were tied and his pockets were full of snacks. Once she was ready, the two of them headed out of the cabin and into the cave.

Shaggy sent a notice to his pack as they walked. His pack were completing their missions or working on their own projects. So tonight was another date night with his lovely wife. They ascended through the tunnels and exited out of the deli, as usual. Franklin and his meat golem, Chops, were handling orders as they passed by the main room. A few NPC citizens gave them curious looks, but Shaggy just grinned at them.

Once they were on the sidewalk, Levy wrapped her arm around his and sighed happily.

"So, do we just walk south until we find something?"

"Walk? My lovely lady, why would we ever walk anywhere?" Shaggy said pompously.

Levy waited a beat before responding. "Because that's how we've been getting around this whole time."

There was a long awkward silence as Shaggy mistimed their car's arrival. Sybil had sent them a small grey sedan and Shaggy had tried to cue up its appearance for a big reveal. Instead, he was stuck waiting like an idiot as the Lackey parked across the street from them and then waved like an idiot. Levy snickered at him as Shaggy rubbed a hand down his face.

"I take it that's for us?"

"If he had done as instructed and pulled the car up right here, that would have been the prefect reveal." Shaggy whined.

Levy was already off the curb and walking toward their car as she said. "Yes, it would've been. SHOTGUN!"

"There are only two of us!" Shaggy called back as he followed after his wife.

"Then should I shout NOT DRIVING?"

Shaggy rolled his eyes as he took the key fob from the Lackey and waved him off. The alien man grinned like an idiot before he tore off running toward the deli. Unlocking the car's doors, he and Levy got into the small car and got themselves comfortable. Once they were both happy, Shaggy switched the car on and pointed them southward.

"Take Woodrow Ave. That'll take us right down the center of the block."

"Shouldn't we be a little more sneaky about this?"

"What's more sneaky? Hiding amongst all the other traffic on Woodrow or being the only car rolling through the backstreets."

"Fair enough." Shaggy said as he turned on the four-lane road and kept them at a steady pace.

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The sun was just setting, and the orange light of day was sinking into the ground. Cars were cruising smoothly all around them, and Shaggy kept his eyes open as they entered the next block down. This was the area he had fought Ryall and Mr. White. It was full of niche shops and cafes. The buildings were old, or at least built to look that way. Each side street cut the number of lanes down to two and was lined with curbside parking.

As he watched the buildings roll by, Levy muttered a spell out her window. Shaggy noticed a whiff of purple magic sailing into the night and asked.

"Scrying spell?"

"No. I'd have to know what to look for. That was just a weak magical detection spell."

"Anything?"

"No ghosts, unfortunately." Levy sighed. "But there are faint traces of magic in the air. They are weak, though. Not quite magic. Maybe abilities…"

Levy fell silent as her mind wrapped around the problem. Shaggy stayed quiet as he kept driving. As Levy fell deeper into thought, Shaggy opened his window and took a whiff of the air. If his wife was going to use her abilities to the fullest, he had better do the same. Almost immediately, Shaggy scented blood on the wind. His eyes went wide, and he jerked the car toward the scent.

Horns blared and people screamed at him, but Shaggy ignored the NPCs as he pointed his car down the street. Two-story brick buildings lined the street as Shaggy had to slow to a crawl. The speed limit along the street being much slower than the main road. Civilians crisscrossed the streets as they carried bags to their cars. Shaggy spotted several small department stores lining the road off to their left, as their right side was full of tiny cafes and bookstores.

"Do you have something, boy? Whadda ya got, huh? What'cha got?" Levy said excitedly.

Shaggy suppressed a snort before he answered. "Blood. It's weak, but getting stronger now."

Levy cast another spell out of her window before turning back to the road and keeping her eyes open. Shaggy tried to watch everyone as more civilians filled the sidewalks and businesses. He frowned as he realized that this neighborhood was far more busy than their own. Sure, it had an assemblage of stores more geared toward shopping, but it still irked him. Levy noticed it too as they continued down the packed street.

"A couple of bookstores and departments stores can't be all it takes for a block to be successful." She said.

Shaggy nodded as the smell of blood grew stronger on the wind. He was about to voice his agreement as well when a pop-up flew into his face and he froze.

Notification

You have stepped into a Protected Territory. The next few streets are the designated area of the [Shadow League] Guild. All [Shadow League] business and NPCs are under protection for the next [288] hours. All attacks on [Shadow League] members by other players will be nullified while in their protected area. The Area's owners have been notified of your presence.

"Love, back the fucking car up." Levy's voice said, knocking Shaggy out of his notification.

As he closed the blue window, he immediately noticed the street ahead of them was filled with people. But not the normal NPCs from just a few seconds back. This group was all dressed in the same black uniform. Their faces were covered and Shaggy saw the glint of metal in a few of their hands. Movement on either side of them drew Shaggy's eyes to the tops of the nearby buildings and he sighed. The black-clad figures were up on the roofs as well.

"Are those…?" Shaggy grimaced as he put the car into reverse.

"They're fucking ninjas!" Levy cheered as Shaggy slammed on the gas.

Their car rocketed backwards as the traffic behind them all honked their horns. Thankfully, there was enough space for the first few cars to get out of their way as Shaggy raced backward. A few of the cars had to engage their hover modes to get away. But Shaggy didn't give a shit. He and Levy were useless on the other guilds' turf.

Gaining enough room to spin, Shaggy pulled the e-brake and yanked the steering wheel hard. They spun around, so they were facing the main road again and their car barreled forward. Behind them the ninjas gave chase, and he spotted a few even leap from the roofs. The jumpers missed the car all around them, but one landed the hood and another hit their roof. Immediately, a gleaming sword pierced down into Shaggy shoulder and he screamed in pain.

Beside him, Levy shot a spell out her window toward the one on their hood. But it hit the ninja in his cloth-covered chest and bounced away. Ignoring the pain in his arm as the sword was pulled out, Shaggy slammed on the brakes and sent both ninjas sailing into the street in front of them. Stepping on the gas again, Shaggy ran both of them over as his shoulder slowly healed.

Cars were veering out of their way onto the nearby sidewalks as they were chased by the running band of ninjas. Civilians were screaming, and Shaggy thought he could even hear the sounds of drones coming in.

"How far do we have to go?!" Shaggy said as he swerved around a car too slow to get out of their way.

"How would I know? The notice only said they had a few streets. So we can't be that far."

Shaggy nodded at that logic and stepped even harder on the pedal. They were approaching Woodrow again, and Shaggy felt sure the street would be the border to the other guild's territory. Unfortunately, he was proven correct when a line of cars appeared and blocked the road. More ninjas poured out of the cars and stood ready to attack them when they stopped.

Levy started muttering another spell and Shaggy didn't let up on the gas as he aimed their car at the blockade. A purple shield appeared in front of their car just before Shaggy plowed them straight through the ninja's blockade. Screeching metal and the thud of bodies hitting their car echoed inside as Shaggy felt the wheel nearly jerk out of his hand. They spun out into the middle of the four-lane road and Shaggy tried to get the car moving again, but all he got back was a sputtering sound when he hit the gas.

The sound of something dripping from their car made Shaggy nervous, so he nodded to Levy's door. Her door was on the far side, away from the ninjas. So they both piled out as tiny tink sounds could be heard from all around them. Spikes of pain flashed over Shaggy's back as the ninjas threw stuff at them. When they both hit the street, Shaggy noticed multiple kunai and throwing stars everywhere.

Levy shielded herself before returning fire with a purple magic missile. The sound of a ninja screaming in pain was like music to both their ears. His wife gave him a feral grin as Shaggy returned the look and started to shift. Footsteps were getting close now, but they had a fighting chance in the street. The guild protection was gone.

Shaggy adopted the man-beast form and charged around their wrecked car. Before him was a veritable sea of ninjas. They had been approaching the car with their weapons drawn. But at the sight of the half-man/half-wolf, they all froze. Levy and Shaggy took advantage of their shock and attacked.

Shaggy dove into the lead ninja, tearing them apart while Levy tossed spells from behind the car. A few ninjas charged Shaggy with their swords, attacking him with reckless abandon. Shaggy swiped his claws in large swings, rending the ninjas to pieces in front of him. More ninja stars and kunai slammed into Shaggy's bulky body, but few penetrated him.

The ninjas, seeing how things were going, started to fall back. Shaggy's wolf howled for him to give chase. But he beat back the instinct as the ninjas crossed into the side-street next to Woodrow Avenue. Levy tossed a few spells at the retreating ninja and Shaggy saw the purple magic sputter out as it crossed the threshold.

The ninja continued to bombard Shaggy's enormous form with more of their throwing weapons until a loud whistle echoed through the streets. The noise was accompanied by the sound of drones in the air, and Shaggy winced. White oblong police drones raced toward them, but Levy flung magic at them, making them crash into the street.

"I guess that answers that question." A voice shouted from within the horde of ninjas.

The sea of black-clothed ninjas parted and several more colorful ninjas revealed themselves. There were five of them, each in a different colored ninja uniform. From left to right, they were blue, red, white, yellow, and green. All five of them stepped forward as their ninja minions moved to accommodate them. Shaggy slowly shifted back to his human form as Levy stayed near their wrecked car.

The ninja in white placed their hands on their hips as they all got to the edge of the street.

"I take it you're the neighbors?"

Shaggy grunted instead of giving an answer, not really pleased with their reception. The white ninja nodded, seemingly understanding.

"Well, allow me to introduce our Super Group. We are the Shadow League, and no injustice shall escape our punishment!"

His proclamation was met with riotous cheers from all the ninjas surrounding them. Shaggy rolled his eyes as he took in the enormous problem before them. Apparently, they had Players to their south. And they were fucking good guys.