A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy blinked his eyes and stretched again as he stared at the small stack of papers. He bit back a yawn as the sound of Levy's own pen entered his ears. Once again, they were sitting side-by-side, going over the daily reports from Bodecker. Nothing really needed his input at the moment. It was more of a general catch up on things. Which Shaggy appreciated.

Levy must have seen his attempt to mask his tiredness because she asked. "Seriously? It wasn't that bad."

"Love, I kept waking up with the feeling of blood dripping on me. That's the last time we sleep in-game, or at the very least in your damn tower."

"How do you know it was supposed to be blood?"

"Cause our new God, Xang the chatty, kept telling me it was," Shaggy complained before deepening his voice and speaking in a raspy tone. "Anointed in the blood of your enemies, you shall conquer and paint the world."

Shaggy rolled his eyes as Levy looked around furtively. He wasn't worried; he had mocked the almighty sleep-disturber to his non-corporeal face last night during the dreams. After the third time, the Blood God had woken him up. Shaggy had a low tolerance for bullshit past midnight. Especially when he was spooned up with his wife.

The Blood God seemed to take the late-night scolding in stride, though. Mostly ignoring Shaggy and going on and on about blood, death, and bathing. Shaggy's in-game sleep had been so annoying that he almost logged out. But Levy had convinced that spending a night in her tower would be fun and he didn't want her waking up without him there.

"You shouldn't mock a God, dear. They can be fairly petty."

Shaggy snorted. "Pfft! Not Xang. I read the guy the riot act last night and he still let me wake up."

"After annoying you all night with nonsense premonitions, right?"

Shaggy slowly nodded as a thought crossed his mind. Looking at Levy's face, Shaggy started to think that was exactly what happened. The first time he had been awakened by Xang's voice echoing in his head. The second time, the Blood God got his entire message out before Shaggy woke up again. Then the third time, Shaggy was already mid-tirade before the God got a word out. Had his God really annoyed him half the night because he yelled at him?

"That's just petty." Shaggy groaned, leaning back on their couch and closing his eyes.

"It's what you get when you yell at a God, love." Levy chuckled as she placed the last sheet of her own papers down. "Finished?"

"Yeah. Nothing interesting happened last night. At least from Bodecker's side. We've got more construction workers coming in and we need to meet with them soon. But first I want to check in with my Pack."

"That's fine. I need to check on the Fae Woods and see how those are doing inside the tower."

"Secret Fae stuff?"

"Secret Fae stuff. But don't worry, it won't take that long and then we can head topside. I want to get moving on the neighborhood construction."

"Same." Shaggy said, getting to his feet and shaking out his knees.

With a thought, he checked in on the others to see where the members of his pack were. Surprisingly, they were all in the cave for once. They all seemed fairly tired as well. Shaggy hoped they hadn't stayed out all night.

"Vick did." Sybil immediately sent, throwing their sniper under the bus.

"It was necessary. Those damn ninjas pushed the border wherever they could. My guys are good, but they had me running up and down the south road most of the night." Vick complained.

"But thanks to that, I managed to dig a little deeper into their turf, boss. Those pajama-wearing nut-jobs are feisty bastards. But if you get them focused on one thing, they lose all self-awareness."

Shaggy rolled his eyes at Tom's antics and asked. "What did you dig up, Tom?"

"Just that they don't seem to be fully integrated into their neighborhood. Most people seem unaware of them. And when they show up, people run for the hills."

"Wait. So the civvies don't know they are Heroes?"

"It doesn't look like it, boss."

"Does anyone care to know what I discovered?" Ephemara's voice asked over the Link.

"Is it important?" Shaggy teased.

A mental snort echoed across the Link as images of thugs flashed across Shaggy's mind. They were loaded for war, carrying all sorts of melee weapons and firearms. The feeling he got from the Link was that this was something that happened early this morning. When Shaggy got a little worried, Rita and Ephemara sent him calming thoughts.

"Don't worry, boss. They are just massing up right now," Ephemara said.

"But we wager they'll make their move soon. We'll need to increase the patrols on the western edge of our turf," Rita advised.

But Shaggy was shaking his head as he turned and started heading toward the cave exit. "No. We need to let them in a few streets. Cekrass, Stanley, and the Pups are with me. Vick, Sybil, and Tom can watch the south as we deal with this invasion."

A plan formed in his mind as he walked. Something that each member of his pack got snippets of as it flashed through his brain. He was already planning what to do in case this massive charge was a ruse. Ephemara chuckled darkly in his mind as she slowly pieced together his plan.

"Do you want me to hit them as they come in?" She asked, clearly excited.

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"Nope. I want them relaxed and cocky as they waltz into our turf. Once they are on the run, though. You and yours hit them all the way back home."

"And if we kill them all before they get there?"

"Even better."

Rita sent annoyed feelings through the Link as she found her role in his plan. "Northern border? Really, Shaggy?"

"I want you to take those recruits you've been running through the ringer and march them around the north and east. Just in case they Phreaks are trying to slip something by us."

Rita's feelings instantly changed. "You want to send the new recruits into a gang war?"

"They aren't kids, Rita… Wait, are they kids?"

"No. But they haven't exactly been trained yet, boss. They need better gear too."

"Well, they can't get better gear unless they contribute to the Legion, and what better training is there than an actual fight? But, if you are that worried, grab some standard patrols as well. I just want you to watch our asses."

Rita pulled away from the connection. Shaggy could still feel that she was unhappy, but she was rushing to complete his orders. He could also feel the others rushing up to toward the streets. Wincing to himself, he told one of them to let Levy into what was going on and hurried out into the streets. He wasn't sure how long they had before the Phreaks launched their invasion. But he knew he wanted to be ready and waiting for them.

This first salvo was going to be important. It would set the tone for their entire engagement going forward. Shaggy had a plan to draw them in and then spank them until they ran off home. Hopefully, if they hit back hard enough, the Phreaks would fall back a little. Of course, they also ran the risk of pissing them all off. But that was something he was willing to risk. Especially with the size of the force headed to them.

Ephemara had only shown him snippets of the Phreaks getting ready for a fight. But Shaggy had counted over 50 bodies gearing up. Not with the standard lead pipes and shitty guns. But with proper melee weapons and energy rifle. He had even seen a few people in armor as well. That wouldn't stop him or his people much, but that would be a major pain in the ass for the normal Lackey. Which is why he was planning ambushes in his head.

"SHAGGY!" Levy's voice echoed through the streets behind him.

Turning, Shaggy spotted his wife running full-bore right at him. He grimaced to himself as he realized he had gotten caught up in his thoughts again. He slowed to a stop on the sidewalk and waited as his wife jogged to his side. When she reached him, she immediately slapped his shoulder as hard as she could.

"Really? You left me behind?"

"Sorry, love. It was an emergency. We don't know when these people are going to cross into our turf."

Levy rolled her eyes and poked him in the forehead with two fingers. "THINK! Remember the terminal notification about large-scale incursions?"

Shaggy gave a non-committal nod, before thinking better of it and shaking his head. He had enough time to see Levy rolling her eyes before he had to dodge her flicking his ear.

"Damn it, Shaggy. Read the manual. Any large-scale assault by an NPC gang during the Protection Period will be accompanied by a notification and kill counter."

"Shit. Really?" Shaggy asked, dodging another swat from Levy.

"Yes. Really. So calm down. We'll get notified when they cross over. For now, we need to find a decent spot and set up our own ambush."

"Yeah," Shaggy nodded. "I got Stanley and Cekrass coming. Along with Rin, Vud, and Seth."

"Six werewolves? Against how many Phreaks?"

"Well, it's seven Werewolves and you, my dear, right? I mean, plus Cekrass' own team."

Levy wobbled her head. "Okay, maybe that's not so bad. But I had your people grab a few of my mages as well. Just in case. Where are we doing this, though?"

Shaggy raised an arm and waited for his wife to link her own into his. "Why don't we choose a nice spot together? Somewhere where you can rain spells down upon them while my people rip them to shreds."

"Oh, you know just what to say, don't you? Let's find me a huge multi-story building with a decent balcony."

Shaggy glanced around at the short, squat buildings all around them. Most of which were still empty. But barely any of them went over five stories tall. He gave Levy a pained smile, and simply nodded. All he could do was quietly promise to try.

Suddenly, off in the distance behind Levy. Shaggy spotted Cekrass and Stanley rushing their way. Seth and the Bug brothers were just behind them, followed by a decent amount of Lackeys as well. He sent them all positive waves over the Link and turned back to the west. The Phreaks were pushing in and they needed to respond.

"Uh, actually, boss. They are still preparing on their side," Ephemara reported, sounding bored.

Shaggy put a finger to his temple and asked. "Wait, are you already over there?"

"Yeah, I shifted and then phased as I ran through the streets. No one around can even sense me when I'm in that form. I'm going to start getting my people situated. But first I thought you'd like to know that you have time. It seems like all these hybrid neanderthals are waiting for something… or someone."

"One of the Phreak's lieutenants?"

"I don't know. But the way these thugs are acting, I would think so."

Shaggy nodded as Levy bumped his shoulder. She didn't say anything, but the question was clear in her eyes.

"I think one of the Phreak lieutenants up here is tired of waiting around for us to kill ourselves. So they are making an end-run play."

"So we'll have to deal with a major player on the Phreak's team?"

"Looks like it. Keep your staff ready and your mana high. George the ape-man was a pain in the ass. I don't know what this next one will be. But if I know the Phreaks, whoever they are will be a pain in the ass."

"Dibs!" Levy screamed excitedly.

Shaggy rolled his eyes and glared up at his wife. "You are not going to solo a mid-tier boss of the Phreaks, love. At the very least, the Lackeys will help."

"Oh please, Shaggy. I could summon my own Lackeys at will, y'know. Besides, you already got your fight in the streets with our Legion's enemies. Now it's my turn."

The two of them locked eyes for a few seconds before Shaggy blew out an annoyed breath. "Fine! Do what you want. But my guys will be there for backup."

"Don't worry. So will mine. Now we just need to choose our battlefield." Levy said, grabbing his arm and rushing off down the street.

Behind them, the Lackeys, Mages, and Shaggy's pack made annoyed noises before running to catch up. They need to find a place that would be good for an ambush. The abandoned buildings would be a good place, and Shaggy liked their odds when fighting indoors. But Levy's magic would also be hampered.

Arm and arm, the two of them hurried up the sidewalk, staring at empty buildings and plotting their next moves. The Phreaks were coming and Shaggy and Levy had every intention of making them regret that mistake.