A Werewolf In Under-Town

"Slink, you can't be serious."

"It's all reversible."

"That's not the point. You can't just do this to another man's house."

"It's not your actual house, Shaggy!" Slink shouted over the tumult of voices in the room.

"Again, not the point." Shaggy growled across the glowing blue table sitting where his coffee table used to go.

Levy placed a hand on his shoulder, silently telling him to reel it in. When he heard that Slink was working out of their house. He had assumed that meant the kid was coordinating with messengers, bots, or the in-game menus. Instead, the little bastard had installed a war table right in Shaggy's living room. It took up a large portion of the room, which was already made smaller by Slink's Command Center crew.

All around, people were passing out data slates and operating tiny computer screens. On the table itself was a hologram of Under-Town and the forces battling throughout the underground city. Slink was taking in and disseminating information as fast as he could while arguing with Shaggy. But judging by the look on Petra's face, the discussion was not a welcome distraction. The dragon-lady was standing next to Slink, helpfully offering advice and passing him information when they entered the room. Now she was glaring at Shaggy as if she were going to slap him.

"I need you two helping the evacuation at the bar. Now!" Slink said idly as he tapped in a few more commands on the War Table.

"Not happening, kiddo." Shaggy growled as he pushed his way closer to the table. "We've got Xang's orders to stay out of it."

"What?!" Petra asked as Slink snapped his head up to look at Shaggy.

"Our patron suspects the bots are just the first wave. He wants Shaggy and me to wait for the human element of K-Tech's attack. Then all the blood spilled during the fighting will go to our patron." Levy explained.

Slink looked a little queasy as Petra patted his shoulder roughly.

"You were right, boss! This is only the first wave!"

Shaggy quirked an eyebrow at that and looked down at the war table. On the map, much of their Guild was shown as green. They were all wrapped around the Viper's Den in Under-Town, and they weren't moving. Slink snapped out of his daze at Shaggy's staring.

"I figured we should pull back until the worst of it hit. I didn't know what that would be. But the bots aren't strong enough to be the primary attack."

"Also, if we tire ourselves out fighting K-Tech, we won't have the manpower to hit the Raks and the Phreaks," Petra added.

"What about the UGB?"

"They've clearly joined K-Tech or are at least helping them. The Governor was last reported in Rak turf trying to 'apprehend criminals.' The Raks aren't taking that lying down, though. They've called in reinforcements from the surface and are hitting back all across their turf."

As Slink explained, he zoomed the War Table out to show a larger map of Under-Town. Multiple red dots were spread across the digital map as the K-Tech bots streamed in from everywhere. But the Raks, in blue, were holding them off in the south, and pockets of yellow were all along the western side. Shaggy assumed they were the Phreaks. More disorganized than the Raks but still fighting.

"What about them?" Levy asked, pointing to a dome of white in the north.

"The Brute Clans have somehow sealed themselves off. They've got a shield that held against the initial assault, and it has stayed stable throughout the attack. Lord knows where they got the damn thing, though. Our scouts haven't reported anything like that from them."

Shaggy scratched a finger down the side of his face as a certain scaly Player sprung to his mind. But he shook the thought off as the swarm of red seemed to pulse angrily along the Holo-map.

"Remind me to talk to the lizard after this," Shaggy said as he moved next to Slink.

The boy looked confused for a few seconds before realization dawned. "Of course! He has been visiting them more often! Where the-"

"It's not important, Slink. You need to get out there," Shaggy said, scanning the table and trying to process all the information.

"Me?!"

"Yes, you! Levy and I need to stay here. Which means we can run things. You take your people out and see about leveling up."

Petra gave Slink a look, and they both nodded. "Okay, Dave is running Evac while Ren is defending our turf. I've got them here and here. We'll set up here and run defense and evac. The mages are almost off their cooldown and will need a new job. I was going to-"

"Come on, boss. They can handle it." Petra said, practically dragging the kid away.

Levy watched the two of them disappear out the door as the Command Center Lackeys continued buzzing around. She gave Shaggy a saucy look. He waved her off, but his wife's couple radar wouldn't be denied.

"So do you think they…" She asked as she took up a post next to him.

"Not the time, Levy. We can tease the teen later about his relationships."

Shaggy's head was already calculating defense strategies. The robots were pushing in from all sides. But they hadn't broken into the square around the Viper's Den. That was mostly down to Ren and Dave's people though. Although they had a few repurposed Cog Bots that were doing a good job clogging up the streets. Slink or Petra had drawn a line through the square showing the civilian evac route. It was being covered by Dave's people… and Rita?

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Shaggy immediately connected to his Pack link and checked in on his people. Vick was in the bar firing his laser rifle at any K-Tech bot stupid enough to get close. Ephemara and Tom were scouting the edges of their turf and killing. The Bug Brothers and Seth were moving the equipment through the portal, and Sybil was… disconnected.

Fear flared in Shaggy's brain for a hot second before Vick spoke over the Link.

"She's fine. Just otherwise indisposed at the moment."

"Was she injured?"

"Nope. But she might be."

Shaggy rolled his eyes at Vick's vagueness and focused his will on the mental Link. He found he could follow each connection to his pack like a tether. Sybil's was grayed out, but he could still take a peek if he wanted to. One of the benefits of leadership. Although what he dropped in on wasn't what he expected.

"-ly, listen. You both knew that I wasn't looking for anything serious." Sybil was saying as Shaggy quickly dove into her Link.

The short blonde werewolf was pressed between two other women. One brunette, the other a redhead. Neither looked happy as they towered over the shorter woman. But Sybil wasn't scared, just annoyed at having to deal with this right now. Shaggy immediately dipped back out of the connection to a raucous round of laughter coming from his pack.

"Hahaha! I told her what playing around would get her." Vick said as he aimed down his rifle's scope.

"They knew what they were getting into with Sybil," Rita defended.

"No one else is disturbed that the boss can just peek in on us at will?"

"Disturbed, Tom? I'm wondering why he hasn't done it more. Afraid of what you'll catch me doing, boss?"

"Ephe, you've got a robot on your right, and I'm not falling for that. Cekrass, Stanley, once you're ready, head out and join Rita. In fact, have Sybil join… if she survives."

"She'll wake up with both of them tomorrow, Boss. The woman is Teflon." Vick chuckled. "You mind if I join?"

"You never have to ask, Vick. You're Pack. Is there someone to cover your position?"

Vick simple chuckled again and sent an image of a row of snipers sitting in the bar's hallway. Some of them were waiting for open windows while others were reloading energy cells into their weapons. Shaggy had to bite back a smile at how all of them seemed to be dressed like Vick. Cowboy hats and boots, cigarettes in their mouths, and surly expressions on their faces. Vick sent a few disgruntled feelings about Shaggy's observations over the Link.

"I didn't set a dress code, Boss."

"No, you just selected the most Texas Texans you could find to be your sniper teams."

Shaggy rolled his eyes at the sight and finally pulled back out of his Link. He was in time to see Levy shouting orders and moving different groups of green dots across the Holo-map. She looked up at him as he moved closer to the table's interface and scowled.

"Back with us?"

"Sorry, was looking in on the Pack. They're moving to reinforce the evacuation."

"Well, pull them off that. Slink's people are on it!" Levy said, waving at the map.

Shaggy shrugged and went to pull up his mental link again. But Levy slapped his shoulder.

"Not that way! Use the table, love. That's what it's for."

Shaggy grimaced but reached across the table to where Rita's green orb was. She was standing in the northeast section of the square, fighting off bots as they tried to swarm in. As he pressed her small green dot, Shaggy found that he could bring up her Captain Page. It gave him a detailed breakdown of her stats and how many she commanded. In fact, the Lackeys under her were lit up when he selected her.

Two more green dots moved toward Rita, and Shaggy could feel that they were Cekrass and Stanley. Cekrass brought his crew of bruisers along as well, which swelled the corner of the map with more green. Levy was right; he was stacking too many in the corner like that. He spread out Rita and Cekrass' people along the northern line while pulling back the wolves themselves. He grouped his pack on the Holo-map and labeled them 'Pack.' Looking across the square, he decided to put them toward the south for now. The fighting was less intense there, and they could quickly react to the other sections if they needed help.

"Set them up on a patrol route." Levy advised. "That way they can move and help instead of just sitting back."

"Good idea, thanks." Shaggy said as he did just that.

Once he finished, he looked over to see what his wife was doing. Levy had taken control of the Mages of the Legion, and she was positioning them along the eastern and southern sides of the square. He wanted to ask what she was doing, but she was ready with a response.

"I figured I could run the mages since I know what they can do. They came off their cooldown, so I'm going to have them build a wall."

"Seriously? The bots will just jump it."

"Dear, most of our Mages are Earth specialists and then have been boosted by Xang's Artifact. The same as a lot of our forces. They can build an enormous wall along our eastern and southern edges by the time the next wave kicks off."

Shaggy shrugged. "You know best. But I'm placing some of Vick's snipers on overwatch in those directions."

"Surge coming in from the arena," said a Lackey from behind Shaggy's shoulder.

Shaggy spun the Holo-map out and saw a mass of red spreading out from the center of Under-Town. He reinforced their western defenses with his pack as he watched the bots move. They weren't fast, but there were shitloads of them. Thankfully, Vick's snipers had a decent line of sight in that direction. He set them to fire at will as he checked in on Ephe and Tom.

Tom was moving away from the western front and toward the north as Ephe was still deep in Rak turf. Shaggy was getting ready to call her back when she sent in some information. But it wasn't through the Link; it was through the War Table somehow.

"The Rak's consigliere is down here fighting the Governor! They've obliterated half a block, and they're not fucking stopping!"

Shaggy blinked as the image of an orc in a black suit hit him over the link. He was fighting a person encased in heavy armor and wielding a massive stun baton. He marveled at the fight for a few seconds before he ordered Ephe back. That wasn't a fight they needed to get involved in. With luck, Angelo would stomp the Governor into the ground and leave. Shaggy moved a small section of their troops to help with Ephe's fall back. As swept the table back to the square, though a spike of rage hit him over the Link. It disappeared quickly and was replaced by shock and jealousy from the rest of his Pack.

"Since when can Cekrass do that?!"

"Ho~ly shit, he's huge!"

"Fuck! I was so close!"

"Sorry, Ephe. Looks like the big guy wins this one."

"Dibs on next!"

"That's not how Dibs works, Stanley!"

ROAR!!