Shaggy burst into the alley and slid to a stop. The sounds of police sirens, drones, and screaming grew louder as he got outside. But as he looked both left and right in the alley, a new sound started. It was a low rumble at first that grew into a cacophony of crashing breaks. A green conical drill pushed its way out of the department store wall to his right. It was followed closed by Aqua and Cone-head. Shaggy had just enough time to see the magical drill tether itself and then merge with Cone-head’s similarly shaped skull. He pondering the uses of such a power; he turned left and ran.

Drones were in the air and probably circling the entire block. Shaggy only hoped that the cops would be more focused on the civilians. As he got to the end of the alleyway, Shaggy glanced around for drones. Several were coming over the top of the department store roof, so Shaggy kept his head down and dashed across the road heading westward. But a loud yell behind him made him groan.

“Hey. Fuck-face! This is all your fault!”

Shaggy didn’t even take the time to respond. Instead, he crossed the street and came to another alley. Cars and people scurried out of his way as the drones buzzed louder. Shaggy was sure at this point that at least his features had been captured by the drone’s cameras. Probably not his face. Which meant the data was going to be shared with the nearest police station, and an APB with his description was going to go out. Although a five-foot, six-inch, brown-haired man was probably common. Least, Shaggy hoped.

As he ran through the second alley, he kept his eye down. Looking for a sewer entrance. He had said for his pack to make it a last resort. But with the way things were going, he needed a last resort right now. A glance over his shoulder told him a few drones had broken off from the herd were chasing him. Or, more accurately, them. Shaggy gave a growl as he saw Aqua, Cone-head and, and now Red all following him. He gave a mental roll of his eyes before he put on another burst of speed.

He skidded out of the second alleyway. Surprising a few pedestrians as he caught himself and turned south. Shaggy’s eyes were trained on the street waiting for the obligatory sewer hatch and soon he found it. But traffic was still moving and if he charged in now, a car was likely to stop on it. Suddenly, Shaggy felt a solid force slam into his back and he went skidding forward. He groaned as the three stooges had now begun throwing attacks at him.

He turned in time to see Cone-head’s green magic retreat into the player’s triangular cranium. Aqua had a fist full of lightning and looked ready to throw it. Red was huffing and puffing behind the two, which Shaggy took as a good sign. He could handle these two and then duck into the sewers. But a loud droning signaled three drones swinging out of the alley.

“Shit!” Shaggy swore as he turned back toward the street.

Cone-head’s attacked had got the attention of several drivers. Now there was a large sedan parked on top of the sewer entrance. Shaggy howled in fury and charged the car. He put all of his considerable strength into his shoulder and rammed the metal car. Even with his tough bones and dermal plating, it hurt. But he was rewarded with the sounds of squealing tires and the crunch of metal. He had cleared enough of a space to squeeze his body through, but he still had to deal with the manhole. But instead of lifting the thing out of his way, Shaggy grew his claws and stabbed them into the metal covering. It gave way and Shaggy dove through the opening as more of Cone-head’s magic and Aqua’s lightning went off above him.

Shaggy braced himself as he landed face first in the sewer water. He closed his mouth and ignored the pain as he felt several bones break. His vision went dark for a few seconds and when it came back he saw that Cone-head was sliding down the ladder. He groaned as he lifted his wet body from the sewer water and charged. Cone-Head had enough time to spin around before Shaggy had him pinned to the wall.

“ARGH!”

Shaggy flexed his claws, which were currently embedded in Cone-head’s shoulder. They tensed and Shaggy could feel the cement wall behind the other player. He snarled, revealing all of his sharp teeth even as the player’s friends were coming down the ladder.

“Quit following me!” Shaggy shouted as he ripped his claws out.

Cone-head stayed standing, but his look of agony turned to one of rage. Shaggy was sure he was going to have to slit the other player’s throat. But Red’s voice joined the conversation as the lithe red-headed woman followed Aqua down the ladder. Both ladies had slid the entire length of the entrance, and Aqua seemed ready to fling more lightning.

“Stop! Everyone! We have bigger issues. The drones are right behind us!”

Cone-head shot Shaggy a dirty look and his sharp skull glowed. Shaggy crouched low and got ready to pounce. Sure the other player was going to fling a weird spell from his head again. But instead, another green drill appeared and shot up the ladder. The loud crunching of the drill biting it the sewer entrance’s walls was interspersed with the sounds of crunching metal. Shaggy noted that Aqua kept her ball of lightning ready, so he kept his claws out.

Cone-head’s green magic snapped back to his head and the remains of a couple of drones crashed to the sewer floor. Cone-head smirked like he had done a good job. But Shaggy snorted and turned to walk away. Lightning sparked across his path and Shaggy batted the ball back toward Aqua. His flesh blackened and he could feel a jolt shoot through him, but he shook it off. The electric ball of lightning flew back toward Aqua and struck her in the chest, but the blue lady absorbed it and looked annoyed. Shaggy returned the look and growled again.

“Last. Fucking. Warning.” He spat through his teeth.

He was tired and soaking wet with sewer water. Every gaming instinct in his body was telling him to gank these three, check their bodies for credits, and move on. But he understood. He’d waltzed his way into their hostage/heist thing. His fault, but still he had shit to do. Red stepped between them as noise filtered in from the streets above. She held out a hand to Aqua and Cone-head, trying to calm them.

“Okay, look. Shit went bad up there. Things got a little crazy. We lost SenSor and Cutie_Tootie, but we got out, right? So let’s just take a moment to calm down.”

A scent filled the tunnel, and it filled Shaggy’s nose. It conjured images of Levy and his favorite chili. It smelled like he was at home and his favorite kinds of cookies were in the oven. Shaggy basked in the feeling for a few seconds before he shifted his vision and saw the massive wall of scents coming off of Red. The woman was putting out some kind of pheromone. Shaggy locked onto the scent trail and cut it off, but that did nothing. So instead he plugged his nose and glared at the red-head.

He saw Red’s eyes grow large, and she momentarily reached for something on her hip. Shaggy growled, and she stopped. The two stared at each other for a few seconds until Cone-head and Aqua pulled themselves from Red’s pheromone attack. Neither of them pleased.

“Damn it, Xiv! Not cool. You said you wouldn’t do that anymore!” Aqua complained.

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Cone-head was still shaking the fuzz from his head. Seeing an opportunity, Shaggy started walking away again. They all seemed like fine players. But he had places to be. Splashing behind him told him that Xiv and her two friends were following along. Which made him groan in annoyance again.

“Hey! Wait up, what the fuck are you?” Xiv asked.

Shaggy grumbled as he picked up the pace. “Long story. But let’s just say I’m a tough bastard.”

“I’ll say.” Said Xiv. “You deflected a bullet with your head, can push cars around, and have claws. Not to mention you can ignore my pheromones.”

Shaggy took the first turn westward he found and ignored the others. He had gotten lucky with the pheromones. He had gotten so used to checking unfamiliar scents in with his scent vision, that it was habit. Honestly, he had no defense against it, save for shoving fingers in his nose. Maybe his Mental Defense helped a little, but he wasn’t sure.

“Not to mention he played ping-pong with my electricity.” Aqua’s voice joined the conversation.

That one had hurt. Shaggy checked his hand and saw the charred skin was gone and his skin was slowly growing back. He tried to keep it away from the other players as best he could. He didn’t know why, but his gaming senses were screaming ‘trouble’ when it came to this group. Cone-head’s next words reinforced that assumption.

“So what? He’s a tough bastard with some kitty claws. His dumb ass still cost us two of our party. It’ll take days until they get out of prison. Meanwhile, we failed and this jag-off wants to just walk off into the sunset? Fuck that!”

Shaggy snorted. “I asked nicely if I could leave. Plus, that cockamamie plan was doomed to fail. What were you going to do? Negotiate with the police for a helicopter and make a daring escape? You lot should’ve just grabbed the jewels and gotten out.”

“Jewels weren’t the goal, smart-ass.”

Shaggy twisted that little tidbit around in his brain as Xiv and the others started arguing. If it wasn’t a robbery, then were they trying to kidnap someone? Were they looking for something in the throng of people? But why do that in a store? They’d still be caught in a standoff with police and waste time negotiating. Unless the stand-off was the goal.

“It doesn’t matter what he knows, Pin-head. The quest has already failed.” Xiv argued.

“But it failed because of that short fucker opened his damn mouth.”

“No, Pin. It failed cause Cootie fired on him and that set the police off. That’s when things went to shit,” Aqua countered.

“Why are you defending him, Mell? It was all his fault! We should wreck this fool, not follow him through a god damn sewer.”

“I agree.” Shaggy snapped. “You three need to stop following me. But if triangle head wants to try his luck, I will happily send him to Deathville.”

“Fuck you, Cockbag! You got the drop on me before, but let’s see how you like getting drilled!”

Shaggy readied his claws, but Xiv place herself between them again.

“STOP!”

The scents hit Shaggy’s nose harder now, and he barely had enough time to get his hand up. He felt his legs turn to jelly, and he fell on his ass into the sewer water. He wanted to swear, but his tongue felt fuzzy. As he pinched his nostrils closed and glared at Xiv, he found her watching him curiously. Shaggy started walking away as Pin-head and Mell slumped in their pheromone induced stupor.

“Come on! Can’t you just help us get out of here? We don’t really know they way around down here.” Xiv pleaded.

Shaggy shook his head, still covering his nose. “It’s not that hard. Just orient yourself to the city above and head in the general direction you want to go. Your biggest problem is going to be the drones. Once they flood this place, it’s going to be a shitty game of cat and mouse. That’s when you can either crawl into a hole and wait, or try to wreck them all.”

“Come on! You owe us. You fucked up our quest back there! The least you can do is lead us out of here.”

“No!” Shaggy shouted over his shoulder. “The least I can do is nothing. Which is exactly what I am doing. I have my own people to get back to. Like I said at the store, I was already trying to hide from the cops when you brought them right to me.”

“It was a job. One we won’t even get paid for and one that’ll put us on the wrong side of THE biggest gangster in Austin.”

Shaggy froze as his mind processed that sentence. Behind him, he heard Pin-head and Mell coming out of their haze. Shaggy glanced back at Xiv, trying to see any hint of a lie in her face. But the player was fairly stone-faced. Pin-head swore as he and Mell gathered themselves. Shaggy had to make sure they were thinking of the same person.

“You don’t mean Donnie Raks, do you?”

Xiv grinned wickedly. “The one and the same. He hired us to hold up that joint. We were supposed to keep the cops occupied for hours. Then you come charging in and setting everything off.”

“Good lord, Xiv. Why don’t you just tell him everything!” Pin-head moaned.

Mell slapped the red-head on the shoulder. “Stop fucking dosing us! That shit sucks, and it clearly doesn’t work on him.”

Shaggy swore to put more points into Mental Defense as soon as possible. He wasn’t sure, but he guessed that was how he had time to get his hand over his nose. He was just lucky that Xiv’s pheromones didn’t absorb through the skin. Then she would really be scary. He also wondered what the Raks were up to. Why did they need a team to distract the police?

He tossed the info around in his mind for a while. But eventually he figured it didn’t matter. All he could do was hope that whatever the gang of mobsters was up to would distract the drones. Maybe keep them away from his side of town. He had enough trouble with the Wild bunch, Quinica, and Phreaks. He didn’t need to add another of the Big Four into things. Shaggy growled under his breath and spun around to face his fellow players. Of course, getting more information was never a bad thing.

“Fine. I will help you out. But I also want to know everything about your dealings with the Raks. Who you met, where, and the other job that was going on.”

“Other job?” Pin-head asked, confused.

“Duh, Pin. We were clearly a distraction for the Raks. He wants to know what that other job was. What I can’t figure out is why?”

Shaggy shrugged. In truth, he didn’t have a good reason. He just wanted as much information on the Raks as possible. Knowing what Donnie Raks and his people were up to could only help him. Especially if his focus was above ground. That meant that Under-Town was free of Donnie’s leadership for the time being. With Tillani’s failed coup, the Raks’ grip in the underground city was probably already tenuous.

Xiv nodded slowly. “Fair. But I don’t know much. We weren’t even part of his organization. This was our foot in the door.”

“A door you just slammed shut.” Grumbled Pin-head.

Shaggy ignored the triangular-headed dumbass and studied Xiv’s face. She was still a mask of stoicism that Shaggy couldn’t get through. When he glanced at Mell, he saw her looking hopeful. When it looked like he was ready to accept, though, Mell spoke up excitedly.

“Okay! Since we are all agreed. How about you lead us toward 23rd and Manor? SenSor says that’s the station they are taking him and Cutie to.”

Shaggy stared at her, confused for a few seconds. She seemed to get his unspoken question because she smiled.

“Out-of-game chat. I’ve had them up since him and Cutie got nabbed.”

“Immersion breaking…” Shaggy muttered under his breath, but loud enough for everyone in the tunnel to hear.

“Maybe, but it saves on phones and it makes it easy when things like this happen. Maybe if we hurry, we can bust them out before they get tossed into the Powered wing in the nearest prison.”

Shaggy sighed and nodded acceptance. Xiv and Mell looked excited, but Pin-head still looked like he wanted to cause a problem. It was completely in the opposite direction he wanted to go. But maybe that was a good thing. If he got caught by drone footage, it would have him in a different part of the city than the rest of his pack. Done rationalizing, Shaggy started looking for a right turn. Trying to ignore the squelching of his clothes and shoes as he trudged through the sewer water again.