“Another day, another stolen car.” Shaggy thought as he looked out the window at the blurry buildings.
Sybil swerved their stolen car around another slow-moving hover-car. The petite woman shouted expletives out of her open window as she sped up their stolen sedan. Shaggy sighed as he tried to send the woman calming emotions through the pack link. But everyone of his pack seemed extremely temperamental since the shift. They couldn’t fully transform yet, but Shaggy had given them the rundown that Vance had given him. The Rita and the rest of the pack had been eager to try out various emotions to shift into their new lupine forms. But Shaggy had stopped that. No sense having six werewolves wandering around downtown Austin.
He figured they needed to get used to their new bodies first before they attempted their first real shift. Of course, the pack took the news perfectly fine, and no one complained…not. In fact, Shaggy was surprised he hadn’t lost Loyalty Points after explaining why his pack couldn’t try to shift immediately. Even the normally stoic Cekrass and Sybil seemed highly annoyed at the news. He placated them by explaining the grocery shopping trip they would do later that night. When Sybil destroyed the door of their first car theft attempt, they realized they should practice walking on two legs before using all fours..
As he watched the buildings flash by and listened to Sybil shout at another car, Shaggy brought up his Pack information again. He had checked it after they had left the deli, but he still didn’t believe it.
1. Cekrass Sslrisses (Henchman)
* Varanoid – Level 8
* Personality – Dimwitted
* Class: Bruiser
* Loyalty – 54/100
* Pack Bond Increase 5%
2. Rita Crawford (Henchman)
* Human – Level 7
* Personality – Motherly
* Class: Swords-Woman
* Loyalty 50/100
* Pack Bond Increase 5%
3. Tom Fash
* Human – Level 6
* Personality – Jabberjaw
* Loyalty – 99/100
* Pack Bond Increase 5%
4. Sybil D (Henchman)
* Deighen – Level 6
* Personality – Stoic
* Class: Fire Starter
* Loyalty – 50/100
* Pack Bond Increase 5%
5. Vick Nash (Henchman)
* Human – Level 6
* Personality – Combative
* Class: Sharpshooter
* Loyalty – 50/100
* Pack Bond Increase 5%
Four Henchmen. He had four Henchmen now. Tom, being at ninety-nine out of a hundred, had irked him to no end. But it was still close enough. Soon he would be rolling with a full squad of Henchman. Each with a different class that boosted their base stats and helped them fill a role in their pack. He glanced over at Sybil, who now had her head out of the car as she kept one hand on the wheel. The litany of curses spewing from the woman’s mouth made Shaggy grin. But he also couldn’t help but wonder if her class had something to do with her new temper.
Class: Fire Starter
Touched by demon fire, Fire Starters can call upon the inner reserves of demonic magic and summon flame from their hands. This green glowing flame can scorch even the mightiest of defenses and can even cut through some magic. Bonuses to Intelligence and Charisma. Wanna see your enemies burned alive? Can't go wrong with a Fire Starter.
Note: As this Henchman is part of a pack, with the added enhancements. She would be considered a Lesser-Tier Super.
Apparently, his stoic pack member had received a heavier dose of demon than the others. Shaggy wasn’t sure why. Maybe Sybil had the right temperament for it, or maybe it was just the luck of the draw. But he now had a fire-spewing werewolf in his pack. He could barely contain his excitement. Rita and Vick’s classes hadn’t been anything groundbreaking in comparison, but Shaggy was still happy to see them. It all made his pack that much tougher and gave them an edge in battle. A low hum in the back of his mind brought Shaggy’s attention back to the link they all shared.
Feelings of contentment and excitement whirled around in his mind and he peeked into at the link. It was a weird feeling. Almost telepathy or emphatic link, but not as heavy. If he focused, he could get more information and even converse with his pack. They could even push thoughts toward him. Right now he was getting a sarcastic thanking from Rita. Turning, he saw that both the newly young woman and Vick were glaring at him.
“What?”
Rita just tapped her temple as Vick answered. “We can feel how proud you are of Sybil, boss. We’re just wondering where’s the love for us?”
Shaggy shrugged and turned back around in his seat. He clamped down on his emotions as best he could as he responded.
“Hey, I’m proud of all of you. I just didn’t know that sweet Sybil had such an impressive vocabulary.”
“Fuck you, boss.” Sybil grumbled, dragging her head back into the car. “I fucking hate downtown traffic. Every jackass with a license is out here NOT TURNING ON THEIR TURN SIGNAL!”
Sybil's voice echoed in the car as she shouted out the window. Tom, who sat in the middle in the back between Rita and Vick, harrumphed as readjusted in his seat.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Well, we don’t need to be downtown. In fact, we shouldn’t. If a drone spots a stolen vehicle, we’re going to get tagged and the cops will be on us like spandex on a Supe.”
Sybil jerked around in her seat and Shaggy had to grab the wheel as their car swerved sharply.
“First off, we don’t have to worry about drones. This car wasn’t tagged. That’s why I choose this old rolling model. Second, we have to go through downtown to get to the warehouse district shit-nose!”
Tom growled low in his throat. A sound Sybil returned and Shaggy could feel heat coming off the pack bond in his mind. He doused it in his mind and sent them both a command to cool it. The growling stopped and Sybil returned to the wheel and lanky Tom went back to trying to get comfortable. But his shifting started to get on Vick’s nerves, who smacked the other man on the knee.
“Stop moving. We are all uncomfortable.”
Cekrass squished his newly transformed bulk closer to the door he was already leaning into. The large lizard man looked apologetic.
“Sorry.” He said.
“It’s not your fault, dear.” Rita said good-naturedly as she, too, hugged the opposite door.
“It sure as hell is somebody’s fault.” Tom grumbled.
Shaggy shook his head and reached for the car’s radio. But all he got was static and white noise. He flipped through a few more channels before he gave it up and went back to staring out the window. As he watched a moving van change lanes ahead of them, a thought occurred to him and he voiced it to the pack’s resident car thief.
“Once we get a construction truck, will they be able to track us?”
Sybil nodded as she flipped off a passing cyclist. “Yeah, we are going to have to disable the trackers and try to avoid any drones on the way back. They’ll still report the trucks as stolen, but hopefully by that point, we’ll have dumped or destroyed them somewhere.”
“Bunch turf?” Vick asked.
Shaggy nodded. It wasn’t a bad idea. They could blame the thefts on their new rivals and get the stuff they needed sorted out. He let his thoughts drift into the bond as he returned to Sybil.
“So, can you walk us through that? Is there a button or switch we have to push or are we ripping out innards?”
Sybil sighed and rolled up her window. “Yeah, it could go either way, boss. Depending on the truck, they might have a switch for it. But if they don’t, you gotta find the transponder that’s blasting the car code. It could be between the seats or even under the car. Hopefully, if we hit a few trucks from the same place, they’ll all have the thing in the same place.”
Shaggy felt his eyebrows rise. “A few trucks?”
He had been planning to only grab one. But that sentiment was shot down over the pack link. Rita snorted, and he heard the clink of her sword against her side-door. He didn’t need to turn around to see the look on the sword-woman’s face.
“Boss, don’t be stupid. There’s six of us. We could all grab a truck and be done with this by nighttime. Then we can get to the really important stuff. Like food.”
“Right?!” Tom almost shouted. “I am freaking starving! It’s like the change took a lot of calories or something.”
“Probably exactly what it did.”
The others all nodded in agreement and Shaggy checked his pockets. He had snagged a few credit sticks here and there from the Bunch. A pack of hungry wolves was all well and scary. But if their regeneration worked like his own, they needed food. His urgency whizzed down the pack link and he felt everyone in the car tense. He felt them parsing his thoughts as he dug out a few credits and started looking for a drive-thru.
“Wow, foods really that important, huh?” Vick said as he understood Shaggy’s thoughts first.
Shaggy nodded as he pointed toward a nearby fast food place. “It’s our fuel. You are going to want to be topped up as much as possible. I should’ve thought of this.”
He felt a hand on his shoulder and Rita’s voice echoed in his ear. “Calm down, boss. We’ll grab a bite, then get back to business.”
Shaggy felt the others give mental nods as Sybil jerked the car into the drive-thru. One quick conversation and amazed teen later, they had their food. Their stolen car smelled of burger and fries and Shaggy was sure Sybil was driving with her knees. But he couldn’t see, since the massive amount of bags they had bought filled the space between the driver and passenger seats. Chewing and growling replaced Sybil’s swearing as their car swerved back onto the road. Shaggy just shook his head as he grabbed a burger.
“That poor kid looked so confused.” Tom chuckled around a mouthful of fries.
“Probably didn’t expect a car full of werewolves with the amount we ordered.”
“No kidding. We got enough for a small army.”
“He could’ve thought we were ordering for a party or something.”
“I think he was more surprised by our freaking eyes.” Shaggy suggested.
“Or the giant were-lizard in the back seat.” Rita said.
They all nodded as everyone but Sybil looked at Cekrass. The lizard alien had a burger at the end of each one of his newly grown claws. The mutation had changed the alien’s appearance the most out of all of them. Cekrass glanced at them before he shoved a full hamburger into his massive jaws and chewed. He shrugged and the others all chuckled as they ate. Even with the massive amounts of food they had ordered his pack devoured everything quickly. Soon, they were all sated and happy. Sybil had even stopped swearing so much.
“USE YOUR FUCKING EYES GRANDMA!”
Shaggy rolled his eyes and gave another sigh of relief as they left downtown Austin and entered the suburbs. Already he could make out the various warehouses and construction sites in the distance. There were even trucks out on the street.
The city was still rebuilding from Cog’s attack and Shaggy couldn’t help but grin at the thought of his pack going up against Cog. He wondered if the sexist old bastard could handle all of them. He was deep into imagining the scenario when he noticed a white truck speeding up past them. Shaggy grinned again as he read the name.
“Spiegal Brothers.”
“Friends of yours, boss?” Rita asked.
Shaggy shook his head as he tapped Sybil's arm. “Follow them.”
Sybil nodded as she turned on her turn signal and shifted their car over behind the massive white truck. She fell a few lengths back and maintained the distance as Shaggy explained his last dealings with the construction company. In truth, he was surprised the company trucks were still out and about with the bombshell he and the guys had dropped onto the net. But he figured someone else had picked up the reigns as good ole Drew dealt with his extra-marital affair.
“So what do they move, boss? Things we are looking for?”
Shaggy nodded. “Most definitely. Dave was the one driving the trucks, but I remember loading pallets and pallets of crap into those trucks. Everything from cement and wood to house plants and deck chairs. Seriously, they were more like a moving company than a damn construction company. We grab a couple of those and we should be golden.”
“So, do we take this one?”
“Naw. Follow it and once we see where it’s going, we can either follow it back to the warehouse or rob the site it’s delivering to.”
“Why not just go to the warehouse you used to work out of?” Rita asked and Shaggy felt his cheeks flush.
Coughing to cover up his embarrassment, Shaggy answered. “Hmm, it’s because that site is back the way we came. I didn’t think about it until just now.”
He could feel their incredulity through the pack link. But it was Sybil who came to his rescue.
“Actually, this is probably better. Less of a link to you and we don’t want to be stealing things so close to the new base.”
Shaggy nodded. “Very good points and all things I considered, I tell you.”
Vick’s follow up sneeze sounded distinctly like ‘bullshit.’ But Shaggy ignored it as their car followed the truck further west and toward the construction sites in the distance. Shaggy hoped they were headed for a well-stocked sister site. Somewhere without the K-tech guards. Otherwise, this raid was going to have to be done on the move.
After thirty minutes of driving through the back roads. Sybil pulled back behind a few other cars to avoid suspicion. Shaggy and his pack finished the drive-thru food and chatted quietly among themselves. Now that they had been fed, the constant angry hum in his mind had calmed down and Shaggy could sense the others more easily. They were going to have to rob the grocery store blind tonight. Six hungry wolves were going to go through a lot of food.
Sybil tailed the truck for a short while longer before Shaggy tapped her shoulder and had her pull over. Ahead, he could see a construction site with large equipment and dozens of people moving about. It appeared the truck was headed to a work site, and they didn’t need to hit a bunch of people just rebuilding their homes. That thought triggered a mental chuckle from Rita.
“You’re the worst bad guy, boss.”
“Hey! Being a Villain…”
“Doesn’t mean being a dick.” Everyone in the car spoke over him.
Shaggy just grinned and signaled for Sybil to turn the car around. They would wait for the truck to leave and follow it back. From there, they could jump several trucks as they left and see about getting the transponders taken out. As the car spun, Shaggy watched the truck pull into the grass near the work site and the driver and passenger get out. Thoughts of the tracker device in the trucks had him forming a quick plan. A plan that the others quickly picked up on. Rita twisted in her seat and dragged Tom by the collar out the door. Sybil unbuckled herself and followed suit. Shaggy could hear the lanky werewolf complaining.
“Why do I have to go too?”
“You are the sneakiest, and Sybil needs to see the device to figure it out. So you get her close and she’ll figure out what we need to disable them. Boss plan is good for once.”
Shaggy coughed. “Well, that was unnecessarily hurtful.”
Rita tapped on his window and said nothing as she shoved Tom toward Sybil. The petite Were was already in a half crouch and waiting. Tom looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but instead he huffed and crouched low in the tall gross. Shaggy felt the two in his mind as he monitored the rear-view mirror. The work site seemed focused on unloading the truck, so he hoped the pair would locate what Sybil needed quickly. Sitting back in his seat as Rita got back in the car, Shaggy was surprised by the sound of paper crinkling.
Looking around, he found a burger on his seat. Between his hip and the chair. Grinning, he unwrapped the still warm food and quickly devoured the morsel. He could feel the jealousy of his pack through the link and he gave them a meat filled grin. Vick and Rita shot him the finger and cursed him. But Cekrass just chuckled. Shaggy swallowed the remaining bits of food and sank back into his chair, smiling wide and wishing they had ordered more drink.