A Werewolf In Under-Town

"This is insane." Shaggy grumbled while ducking.

He made sure his head was below the lip of the roof's edge as a Purple Alien flew overhead. It was the fifth one in under an hour. Supes were the freaking drones of Abilene. They were fucking everywhere.

"It kinda makes sense, though. I mean, the HLO can't send of fleet of drones everywhere, right?" Stanley said from next to him.

"So… what? They supply the big cities and the smaller ones just have to deal?"

There was a beeping near Shaggy's waist and the Two Way came to life. "I wouldn't call Abilene small, Shaggy."

Shaggy stuck his head up a little to look over the edge at the building across the street. The purple Super was gone, but he'd seen a couple double-back for safety. Rita was standing on the other roof, sword gleaming on her hip as she stood without a care. Clearly hearing their conversation, either over their Link or because of her enhanced senses. She wasn't wrong, though. Abilene was fairly bustling, not to Austin's levels. But there were a fair number of Players in the streets and skies. Which made their job a pain in the ass.

"Keep the comms clear, people!" Vlad hissed over the Two-Way. "The convoy should show up any minute."

"You said that thirty minutes ago. I don't believe you anymore," Ren's voice rumbled.

"Are we sure their layover is in this hotel?" Levy asked.

She and Ren were running the ground game for this operation. They were in a hotel lobby just up the road, running recon. Ren would gauge the Supes guarding the shipment, while Levy would check the magical protections. Meanwhile, the rest of them were in the surrounding buildings. Vlad and Slink inside while Shaggy and his pack were on the roofs. Of course, that meant they were ducking flying jackasses all day.

Shaggy pulled himself to his feet while watching the sky. Unclipping the Two-Way from his belt, he said.

"That's what Ephe's spy said. Apparently, she pulled it from the mind of one of the hotel staff. It hasn't been made public yet, though. So I'm guessing they don't want to cause a stir."

"Something's happening." Ren whispered over the radio.

"The staff is moving. I think we're going to have to go radio silent for a bit," Levy added.

Shaggy leaned over the side of the building and looked down the road. The streets were empty and the super coverage over the air was light. Some jackass in a yellow tracksuit was zooming around above the city, but Shaggy didn't think the dude could really see anything. Probably a Player too enchanted with the power of flight to do his damn job.

Shaggy turned his nose upward and scented the air. The normal scents of city life filled his nostrils and Shaggy almost relaxed at the familiar smells. The smell of cars, pavement, sweat, and smoke filled the city. He could almost differentiate the differences between Austin and Abilene through scent alone. Then a loud boom filled the sky and a ripple of wind rolled across the roof. The sound was accompanied by a sharp scent of someone sweating profusely.

"Boss, eyes up! We got someone!"

Shaggy's eyes snapped open at Rita's words and he searched the sky. He didn't have to look far as the gray-black dot in the air was floating right next to the yellow jackass. They were too high for Shaggy to hear, but the two Supes were clearly in heated conversation. The new guy, who was clearly in some kind of uniform, was calmly explaining something as the yellow guy was flailing around in disagreement.

The conversation went on for a few seconds more until the uniformed Supe must've lost his patience. There was a blur of movement and the yellow-suit guy was suddenly plummeting toward the ground. He broke apart into cubes before he hit, but the exchange made it clear that the uniformed guy wasn't playing around. Shaggy grimaced as he watched the exchange until he noticed that the uniformed Supe was looking around.

"Duck!" He ordered, switching his Two-Way to off.

The last thing he needed was for his radio to give them away. He silently gave the order for Rita to do the same and they waited. He relied on his other senses to keep track of the flying Supe. The guy reeked of sweat and had clearly been flying for several hours. It wasn't a precise practice, but Shaggy could tell where the guy was in relation to his position. The Supe did a full sweep around the hotel before landing.

"Tom, are we clear?"

There was a beat as the scout of their pack stuck his head up. "Yeah, boss. The dude's on the ground."

Shaggy sighed as he switched his Two-Way back on. It was still at low volume, but already he could hear Vlad shouting for information.

"What's going on out there? We just saw a bunch of Player cubes hit the pavement."

"We just had one of the flying military escorts make themselves known, Vlad. Chill."

"What about the other one?" Slink asked. "There were two, right?"

Shaggy shrugged his shoulders and looked around. Across the street, Rita and her team were also checking the sky. There was no sign of the other escorts and Shaggy got a bad feeling. But it was interrupted by the appearance of a large truck at the end of the road. It was joined by several smaller cars as it pulled right to the front of the hotel. A weird scent hit Shaggy's nose as the wind blew down the street. It took a moment for him to recognize the scent, but when he did, he almost swore.

"Anyone got better eyes on the convoy?" He asked quietly over the radio.

"Yeah, dude. Slink and I can see them from here. They don't look too good, though." Dave answered.

"Explain, Dave." Vlad ordered.

It was Slink that answered.

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"Their cars are smoking and the truck looks like it took a direct hit to its side. Looks like laser weapons hit the cars and a fireball spell or something hit the truck."

"What other kinds of crazy people want arcane books?! Seriously! What are the odds?"

"Pretty good, actually. We're not the only ones in the game, Shaggy, and this shipment was on the news."

"Whoever they were, they must've wiped out. I mean, the shipment is here now. So they missed their chance, right?"

"Or we've got competition," Vlad hissed.

"Kind of wish I hadn't sent Ephe's people back to Austin now." Shaggy lamented before a snort filled his Pack Link.

"Boss! I'm just as good as Ephe. Trust me. I've got this."

Shaggy looked across to the other rooftop in time to see a small dark figure throw themselves off the side. He bit back an angry rant and contacted Cekrass.

"Cover him, will you, big guy? Make sure he doesn't get spotted."

There was a spike of annoyance over the link from Tom. But Shaggy wasn't taking chances. The convoy had already fought off one robbery attempt. Which explained the flying Supes' lack of patience. The rest of the convoy was probably just as agitated. Almost to underscore his thoughts, there was a sudden flood of people pouring out of the hotel.

"Hotel! Y'all see that?"

"Can't miss it, Shaggy. They look pissed." Slink answered.

"Now what's going on?"

"I don't know, dudes. But it looks like they are kicking people out of the hotel."

Shaggy tried to get a better view of the hotel entrance. But the truck was in the way now. He could see a large mob of people flooding the streets and sidewalks. They didn't look like they were running, though. A good deal of them were even carrying their luggage. Soon enough, the radio squawked to life angrily again.

"This is the inside team. We've been forced out." Ren explained. "The military wants the entire hotel scanned and cleared for their layover."

"Levy?" Shaggy asked, momentarily worried.

"Here, love and a few credits richer too."

"Yeah, they gave everyone the credits needed to pay for another hotel. What the fuck's going on."

Shaggy kept his eyes on the streets as the people kept flooding out. Slink explained things to Levy and Ren over the communication. For a few tense minutes, they all watched the chaos in the streets. The people were clearly angry, but they heaved their bags to their cars or down the road. Shaggy briefly wondered where the next largest hotel in the city was.

"So, what do we do now?" Dave asked.

"Same thing as before." Vlad said simply. "We wait to see what happens. This was always going to be a recon stop for us. If the books are too hard to steal, we turn around and do something else. There's a pretty big bank in Abilene, y'know?"

"You really want to do that after your last bank robbery attempt?" Shaggy snickered.

"Bite me. I was hampered by my inept team."

"Uh-huh."

"We need to pull back." Slink ordered. "The shipment is too hot right now. We'll wait for the morning and then see where we're at."

There were sounds of agreement over the radio as Shaggy got a psychic ping from Cekrass. Opening the link, he waited.

"Boss, Tom did a thing."

"What? What thing?!"

"Calm down. I'm in the hotel as a bellman right now."

"You're in the where doing what?!" Shaggy practically bellowed.

Tom shushed him. "Boss, it's fine. Big guy is watching my exit. There was a new guy that was supposed to show up today and I just took his place."

"Where's the new guy?"

"Unconscious in the alley with Cekrass. Don't worry. I'll just get some information and then book it. The entire staff is too freaked out, anyway. No one is even noticing me."

"Fucking keep it that way, Tom. I don't have the time or energy to get a new pack member."

"Is that an option?" Rita asked.

Shaggy rubbed his eyes as the Link filled with bickering. His pack were a bunch of damn children. Meanwhile, the Two-Way in his hand was vibrating as people tried to reach him.

"Helloooo~ Shaggy? You alive?"

"Sorry. Tom just went insane."

"What?"

"What does that mean?"

"He didn't!"

"Yes, Levy, he did. He got himself a new job as a bellman and is inside the hotel."

"Damn it, Shaggy! I thought we were going to wait!"

"Hey, I just sent him to see if he could hear something about what was going on! He's the one that knocked out a trainee and took his spot."

"He did what?"

"I'm going to miss him."

There was a general ascent as the radio buzzed with life. Shaggy let his friends talk as he turned his attention back to Tom. He didn't sink all the way into the link again. But he kept an eye on the man's general state. He felt Stanley lead his body toward the roof door as everyone pulled away from the hotel.

Tom was in a fairly good mood as he was taught how to do his job at the hotel. There was a brief spike in agitation as the group from the convoy walked it. But all the staff were reminded to keep their heads down and just do their jobs. Shaggy felt Tom quickly catalog a few faces before he stuck his head back down and went to work. It seemed like he was going to be okay.

He momentarily came back to himself to jump down the stairs toward street level. But when his feet hit the sidewalk, he turned toward the hotel. Stanley missed a step before turning to join him and Shaggy felt the rest of his pack pick up on his mood. Cekrass was two buildings away from the hotel on its left side now, watching over an unconscious young man. But the rest of Shaggy's pack were creeping closer to the hotel.

"Shaggy? Where ya going?" Slink asked slowly.

"I got a pack member in that hotel, Slink. I'm not leaving without knowing he's safe. Y'all go plan the next steps without me."

"Shaggy! Stop! That place is crawling with HLO and military personnel." Vlad said.

"Actually, it's just the HLO stooges. The Flyer is the only military Supe."

"It doesn't matter! It's too risky to go inside."

"Who said anything about going inside!? My Pack are just going to take up positions around the hotel. Once our idiot is safe, we'll pull back."

Shaggy waved a hand at Stanley and the young man ran off down a side street. Their link passed information faster than words. His pack knew what he wanted them to do and surprisingly, none of them disagreed.

"Awww, y'all do care." Tom gushed.

"Shut up and do your job, jackass."

"Yeah, Tom. Get out of there quick. I'm hungry."

"I don't want to keep knocking this kid out. It's bound to do permanent damage, eventually."

Shaggy took the next side street up and turned away from the hotel. He'd swing around and take the twelve o'clock position and then wait. All Tom had to do was get whatever info he could and then get out. He didn't have Ephe's phasing abilities, but the man was a legendarily forgetful person. People would forget him moments after meeting him. He'd be fine.

Shaggy felt a shiver go down his spine as he had that thought. The sun was high, and the streets were warm. He shook it off as nothing and began jogging. Everything was going to be fine.