Shaggy watched as another business man hurriedly rushed out of the door. The fast-food joint had been decently full when they had first walked in. Maybe it was their weapons, armor, or even the fact that they rolled in and ordered nothing. Obadiah had led Shaggy to a booth and sat down in silence. Rita and the others moved toward the counter and ordered food before sitting apart, but close enough to Shaggy and Obadiah. It was when his pack had sat themselves that the first of the patrons hurriedly rushed out the door. They were quickly followed by the others until the final business man was out the door.
Shaggy raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “So…?”
Obadiah grunted as he looked around the room. Behind the counter, pimpled teens were watching them with undisguised suspicion. An older man in a white dress shirt and tie walked from the back kitchen to the counter. He whispered something to both cashiers, whose eyes seemed to pop with surprise. With more suspicious looks, the two boys hurried toward the back. Obadiah gave the older man a wave and turned back to Shaggy.
“You know, if you try to kill me in a fast food place, I’m gonna be pissed off. Especially if you don’t feed me.”
Obadiah’s mask of professionalism cracked slightly before he got a handle on it. “No one’s going to attack you. Just making sure we’re clear. Besides, the way I hear it, it would take some high-grade poisons or acids to get through your healing.”
Shaggy felt his eyebrows draw down as he frowned. Immediately he thought of the Professor. Had the lizard player told the NPC about his powers? But Obadiah was already shaking his head.
“I’ve been monitoring you ever since our mutual friend introduced us. I don’t have the full picture, but the people I work for have you listed as a C-Tier threat.”
Shaggy grunted. Slightly affronted. “What’s an A-Tier?”
“Pray you never find out.” Obadiah twisted his head, as though listening for something. After a few seconds, he faced Shaggy again.
“That is all besides the point. It seems we are now free to converse.”
“About the last… Job?”
“Yes. Something you sent us alarmed my superiors a great deal. I have been sent to verify that the items you procured were, in fact, from the target’s house.”
Shaggy’s face scrunched in confusion. “How does that work? The Tab... Uhh… The items were encrypted. Way beyond what my team is capable of.”
“I know that. But the people above me just want to make sure.”
“Okay? So, are we waiting for them?”
Obadiah shook his head. “No. I just need you to answer my questions. Clear?”
Shaggy shrugged. Which Obadiah seemed to take as an affirmative because placed both of his hands on the table and stared Shaggy in the eye. Shaggy maintained eye contact and tiredly stared into the old man’s blue eyes. He felt the other members of his pack tense slightly, as though wanting to rise to a perceived challenge. But he mentally ordered them to focus on their food.
“Question one, your group assaulted the target’s house a few nights ago. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“Question two, you searched the premises for any and all data storage devices. Correct?”
“Yep.”
“Question three, you found one K-Tech brand Pluroculus computer and a generic K-Tech Auxili-tablet. Correct?”
Shaggy rolled his eyes. He wasn’t aware of the brands that Rita had grabbed. She had just snatched what was in the office. For all he knew, those brands were way off. But he nodded anyway.
“I need verbal confirmation.” Obadiah stated harshly. “Also, maintain eye contact at all times.”
Shaggy heard chairs scrape the linoleum floor of the fast food place. Rita and Vick had stood quickly and Shaggy could feel them wanting to go for their weapons. He calmed them as best he could as he stared back into Obadiah’s eyes. For the first time, he noticed that the blue of the old man’s eyes was swirling slightly and he thought he caught a red glow somewhere behind the right one. Shaggy felt his eyes widen as he remembered that the old spook was a cyborg. Whoever was in charge was probably watching his reactions right now. Obadiah inclined his head slightly as Shaggy’s thoughts must have appeared on his face.
“Yes. Though I’m not sure if those brands are correct. We didn’t check.”
Obadiah’s eyes swirled, and he nodded. “Understandable. Question four. You then engaged with some kind of home security device which resulted in the building being set on fire.”
Shaggy thought of a way to frame his answer. Truthfully, they hadn’t needed to set the house on fire. But Levy was so angry about the abduction and torture of the Pixy family that it had seemed fine. Honestly, Shaggy was pretty miffed about it too. Fuck that lady.
“Yes. We engaged with two robots which we destroyed and then the house caught fire.”
Obadiah’s head twitched. Like someone yelled in his ears. After collecting himself, Obadiah asked another question.
“The house caught fire because of the robots?”
Shaggy grimaced. “Nope.”
What followed was a long silence where Shaggy assumed Obadiah was speaking with his minders. Meanwhile, Shaggy felt his pack finished their food and move closer to his table. The booth he and Obadiah sat in wasn’t large, but one of his pack could’ve joined them if they wanted to. Instead, Sybil and Vick took a table parallel to Shaggy while Rita and Cekrass each sat in a booth bracketing Obadiah and Shaggy. Tom was yet again gone. Sneaky bastard was probably back in the kitchen getting more food.
Once the cyberspook was done with his silent conversation, he came back to himself. He spared Shaggy’s pack a glance before he continued.
“Skipping the house fire. Question five. Of the other items you may or may not have taken from the house, was anything related to the Fae?”
Shaggy again focused on telling a half-truth. “Yes, we found several books on portals to and from the Fae and a power crystal. The crystal has since been repurposed as an energy source for our home. Although I think we have the books.”
“Levy had them, boss. Don’t think she took them with her, though.” Rita supplied.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The jerking of Obadiah’s neck told Shaggy that he wasn’t getting away with half-truths. Clearly, whatever was watching them had some pretty decent lie-detectors. Obadiah sat in silence for a short time again before he came back to the conversation.
“There was nothing else?”
Shaggy blew out a breath. In truth, he didn’t want to tell the cyborg’s government handlers about the Pixy. They clearly didn’t care enough to protect them the first time. But hopefully by now, Levy and her friends were on their way to the Fae Realm. So what could the government do? If anything, they needed to know about the magical shitstorm that the K-Tech corporation had kicked off. Sitting forward, Shaggy glared into the old man’s eyes. Peering beyond them to whatever entities were watching.
“We also found a family. A family of tiny pink Pixies. They had been yanked from their home and anchored here. Once that was done, the bitch tortured and starved the creatures until they died. We don’t know what experiments were done to them, but there was only one survivor.”
Obadiah’s eyes grew wide as the camera, or whatever it was, behind them whirled. The man’s face was stone, but Shaggy was pleased to see shock and revulsion in his bearing. Even a scent wafted on the air, one that raised Shaggy’s hackles slightly. It was another indescribable scent, much like fear. But Shaggy guessed it was anger.
“That why you burned the house down?” Obadiah asked and Shaggy assumed that the question was from the old man himself, so he simply nodded.
Obadiah muttered under his breath and Shaggy didn’t focus enough to listen. Instead, a small clamor from the back of the restaurant brought his eyes toward the counter. Tom was there, leaping over the counter with a brown bag. Shaggy rolled his eyes at the lanky man, but Tom raised the bag in triumph as he rushed over. When he got to Shaggy’s table, he placed the bag in front of Shaggy and smiled. Pleasantly surprised, Shaggy grinned back at Tom and opened the bag. The smell of burgers and fries hit his nose, and he immediately started in. From behind, he heard Rita mutter something that sounded like ‘kiss ass.’ But he ignored it.
“Where’s the Pixy now?” Obadiah’s voice said from behind the large brown paper bag.
Shaggy grunted and looked up. “On her way back home. At her requests.”
“She went alone?!”
“Hell no! My wife and a few of her friends went with her.”
Obadiah sat back in his chair again and seemed to confer with his compatriots again. Shaggy took the break and dove into his meal with gusto. The way his body burned through calories made every meal a necessity. Not to mention it powered his healing. So it paid to be topped-up. As he shoved a handful of fries into his mouth, he saw Obadiah slump in his seat. His pack tensed as they watched, clearly cautious of the old man. But Obadiah merely grunted before swearing.
“Shit, son. This is not how I saw my day going.”
Shaggy glanced up and studied the old man’s face. “Your passengers gone?”
Obadiah snorted. “Pfft! Hell of a way to put it. But not far off. Yes, they are gone. Off to handle the fucking catastrophe that is about to hit this city and K-Tech.”
“Catastrophe?” Sybil asked. Shaggy noticed that she and Vick had their pistols out and on the slim table that sat between them.
Obadiah didn’t bat an eye at the weaponry. “Yeah. Although that might be too light of a word. Talks with the other realms were already dodgy at best. The Fae didn’t trust us to begin with and with this shit come to light…”
Shaggy simply nodded as the old man trailed off. It was a nightmare for somebody. But that was way above his head. For now he just wanted to get back to their burgeoning home and maybe punch a few gangsters. Obadiah glanced around at all of them before returning his gaze to Shaggy.
“I don’t think you understand. The amount of work that has gone into fostering relations with the Fae has just been nuked by one company. Not just any company, though, fucking K-Tech. That is not how I saw my job going down here.”
Shaggy raised an eyebrow as he spoke around a mouthful of burger. “How was your job supposed to go?”
“I was here investigating the HLO overreaching their station. Instead, I find that the biggest company in Texas is kidnapping extra-planer creatures.”
“Why ask us to hit a K-Tech employee if you weren’t investigating them?” Rita asked.
Obadiah shrugged. “Jerruza had ties to several high-level handlers at the HLO. I was hoping to find evidence of bribery or something. Not something on this level. This was way beyond what I expected.”
“What’s going to happen to K-Tech?” asked Cekrass.
“Nothing.” Shaggy said simply.
He may not have had a handle on how big K-Tech truly was. But Shaggy at least understood that something like this was going to get burned out of K-Tech before the government even moved. A glance at Obadiah showed that the old man agreed. But Cekrass still seemed confused.
“Nothing? How is that possible? They are torturing sentient beings.”
Obadiah sighed. “All of that can be placed squarely on Jerruza's shoulders. None of her notes implicate K-Tech, and I will bet that Pixy survivor doesn’t know if it was done on K-Tech orders either. Sure, it looks bad, but any half-decent lawyer can argue that the company was unaware of what Jerruza was doing. They’ll get slapped with a fine for negligence, but probably nothing else. Meanwhile, talks between our side and the Fae will take a massive hit.”
“What were you trying to get from the Fae?”
“Magic operates differently in the Fae Realms. It permeates everything there and, as such, the sentient beings from that realm are heavyweights with magic. Not to mention the flora and fauna. The trees from the Fae realm alone would make for some hefty building material.”
“Pfft! So you want their resources.” Vick said as he lit up a cigarette. Sybil moved away from the smoker as Shaggy wondered where the sharpshooter had gotten a pack of cigarettes.
“I don’t want anything from them. The government saw an opportunity for shared commerce. But the Fae Courts have been… reticent.”
“If you think that’s the case now. Wait till my wife and that Pixy meet with the court.” Shaggy said, crumbling up the brown paper bag.
“Will they believe her, boss? For all we know, they might just attack Levy.”
“If they have the Pixy with them, they’ll be safe. The courts have a way of discerning truth from lie. If what you’ve told me is true, then those courts are going to be pissed.” Obadiah said.
“Bah! It’s not our problem,” Shaggy said as he stood and found a trash can. “Not to say it’s not important. But we’ve got smaller fish to fry.”
Returning to Obadiah, he asked. “Do you still have work for us?”
Obadiah wobbled his head, noncommittal. “I have to check with my own handlers. We might shift our targets. But if you’re still willing, watch that old tablet I gave you.”
Shaggy nodded and waved a hand at his pack. There was some mild grumbling, but they all made their way toward the door. Shaggy watched them go until it was just him and Obadiah. When he was sure everyone was gone, he leaned over and met eyes with the cyborg.
“Tell me, is my wife really safe? Over there?”
Obadiah shrugged. “It’s not without its dangers. But she seemed capable. Not to mention the Pixy will be a force unto itself when it’s back in its home realm.”
Shaggy nodded before another question came to him. “How much do your people know about… what me and mine are up to?”
“Not to put too fine a point on it. But, really, none of my higher ups care. No offense, but your… organization isn’t exactly in their weight class. Government mandate is to let the locals handle the small fish.”
“Even for a C-Tier?” Shaggy asked, curious.
Obadiah chuckled. “Hahaha! That’s just you, kid. Your organization as a whole barely makes the charts. If at all.”
Shaggy grimaced as he thought about that. It was true, really. His group was still very much small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Maybe that was for the best. He gave the old cyberspook a halfhearted wave before he followed his pack out onto the street. As he did, he was happy to see them all waiting in the parking lot. He shook himself as he remembered what else they needed to accomplish today. They still needed to get back to their territory and start dealing with the Bunch. That was a threat they could manage, and it didn’t come with government nonsense mixed in. He just hoped Levy was careful. Although he did briefly wonder what magic would look like in a magic rich environment like the Fae. He shuddered as Sybil pointed toward a large van on the opposite side of the street.
Shaggy grinned as he felt his packs elation. Another day, another stolen vehicle. Hopefully, this time, they wouldn't be squashed in like sardines. Although he made sure to call shotgun as Sybil started working on the locks.