Stanley jolted in surprise at the question as his silver armor closed around his mouth. Shaggy shook the boy’s arm, trying to get a response before the parasite prevented it.
“Ye-” was all Stanley got out before his silver skin closed around his face again.
Clearly, his Quinica parasite didn’t want the young NPC to join Shaggy’s pack. But apparently, the choice was made. As Stanley’s lanky, sliver-covered body started to jerk and spasm. Shaggy looked around at the others in the Deli. Their entire crew was arranged to repel the Quinica. But the space bastards were just standing there. Waiting.
“Was that a good idea, boss?”
“Hell if I know. I wanted to see what would happen. If it takes, we got a pack member who is enhanced by both the Quinica and the Pack Bond. I kinda want to see what that’ll look like.”
Shaggy shrugged as he started walking toward the front of the abandoned store. He spotted and grabbed another sandwich from a nearby table. He needed to be as topped up as possible for what was coming. A whole gaggle of the space vamps were waiting outside. While his pack hadn’t had trouble with the asshats before, they had brought the numbers to be annoying. He joined Rita at the front door and peered out into the street.
The sun was setting, and the cluster of Quinica at their doorstep were loitering around, waiting. Shaggy raised an eyebrow at Rita, who shrugged.
“No idea why they haven’t rushed us yet. They have some decent numbers and more keep showing. Maybe they are waiting for some sort of leadership before they attack.”
Shaggy nodded. That made sense. It was also not what they wanted. He sighed as he adjusted his pants and for the first time realized he was, again, without a shirt. He needed to either give up on shirts altogether or find some tougher material. Something else for the pile. Shaggy grumbled to himself as he sent a mental signal to his pack. He was going to poke the bee hive and everyone needed to be ready.
Shaggy walked out of the deli into the setting sun. As he stepped onto the sidewalk, he noticed that the street crossing in front of the deli was clear. Except for the bunch of goth wannabes loitering around in their dark clothes. He thought he even saw a top-hat on one or two of the pale bastards. Shaggy sighed and stepped into the street. He had already drawn plenty of attention walking out of the deli they were watching. Not to mention his shirtless body. He raised a hand.
“Normally I would say you kids need to get off my lawn, but…” Shaggy tapped the road with his foot before glancing back up at the Quinica.
The mass of bodies stood eerily still until he finished talking, and then a roar of noise filled his ears. The Quinica seemed to surge forward at him, surrounding him in a tide of black suits and leather pants. Shaggy watched as several older looking Quinica seemed to hold the tide back from assaulting him. Which was weird. He figured they would just try to kill him and the others and be done with it. But it seemed a few wanted to talk.
“Could be good to gather information. But I also want to punch something.”
Shaggy felt his inner wolf growl as the oncoming mass of bodies finally got themselves under control. There were a few hurried conversations, and Shaggy took the chance to look back at the deli. His pack was still watching the entrances, but it seemed a few of the braver teens were now at the windows. K-Tech rifles ready.
“Lowly dog! You are being offered the chance to surrender before our leader arrives. I suggest you take it.” Said a male voice in a bad accent.
Shaggy turned back to the assembled Quinica and snorted. “I was just about to ask for your surrender. But apparently your leader hasn’t even shown up yet? What a pity. Guess we’ll have to deal with the riff-raff first.”
Shaggy heard the hum of energy rifles coming to life. At least his crew were backing his play. The lanky brown-haired Quinica that had spoken before sneered and looked around at the assembled horde of his brethren. Seeing his derision mirrored in his kin, the Quinica turned back to Shaggy.
“You are out-numbered and out-classed. Surrender and your death shall be swift.”
Shaggy was annoyed. Normally cocky bastards would get up in his face to deliver threats. But this Quinica was annoyingly out of claw range. Which meant he’d have to jump. Shaggy shifted his hands into claws and smiled as the assembled Quinica seemed to tense. He pointed a long claw at the brown-haired alien.
“So it’s clear you don’t know who you’re fucking with. So I am going to give you one warning. Fuck off and you survive.”
The Quinica sneered down at Shaggy’s claws and his own nails grew to sharp points. Shaggy blinked, and suddenly the brown-haired Quinica was right in front of him, fingers jabbed into his naked abdomen. Shaggy grunted but felt the Quinica’s nails hit his dermal plating. The Quinica was staring, horrified, at how ineffective his nails were. So he missed Shaggy’s grin.
“That was a stupid thing to try.”
Shaggy jammed his own claws into the stunned Quinica chest and ripped sideways. The lanky, pale body split apart like paper and Shaggy charged forward. Laser fire and shouting came from the deli as his crew joined in. Shaggy let his wolf out, just a bit, as he charged into the bodies. He saw lines of black blurring in the air as the faster Quinica rushed around. They were going to be a pain, but the younger, slower Quinica? They were all just meat in a grinder.
Shaggy felt blood and viscera cover his body as he dove into the Quinica. Tearing into bodies with his claws. Pinpricks of blood appeared on his own body as the space-vamps used their enlarged fingernails to stab at him. But mostly, they were ineffectual. Occasionally a blue beam of laser fire would zoom past and burn a Quinica to the bone. Shaggy was happy to see their weapons were effective, but the speedsters were a genuine issue.
Shaggy had just bisected another pale woman when a blur of air flew by. His face stung as the fast Quinica skidded to a stop. The blonde man was holding his fist and looking at Shaggy, aghast. Shaggy smiled as he saw that his hard head had broken the guy’s fist.
“What the fuck are you made of?” The Quinica screamed.
Shaggy shrugged and charged forward with his arms raised. But the Quinica blurred again, disappearing. Probably running away to get someone stronger. But a flash of silver at Shaggy’s shoulder brought him around to find Rita standing with her sword pointed next to his shoulder. The blonde Quinica’s body fell to the ground as his head stayed perched on Rita’s sword. All she had to do was hold out her sword and the dumb bastard decapitated himself. Shaggy smiled, but Rita shook her head.
“Stop dealing with the grunts boss. We need you to take the silver bastards. We can handle the grunts.”
Rita kicked at an oncoming woman, sending her into the legs of her compatriots. Nearby Cekrass was power bombing a particularly large Quinica. Shaggy even saw a few teens in the mix and he grimaced. He didn’t know how he felt about the kids fighting the Quinica. But Rita hit him in the head with the flat of her sword.
“They are doing fine. Deal with the big ones. Cee and I can watch the kids.”
Shaggy grunted, but nodded. He slashed at a man who had gotten too close before dashing off to find a target. Rita was right. It was his job to deal with the bigger threats. One swipe of his claws was enough to deal with the riff-raff, which was hardly a challenge. He dashed his way around a few teens as he moved. Slicing their opponent’s legs out from under them. Most were thankful, but a few balked at his help. Shaggy ignored them. They didn’t have enough members to waste them on the Quinica. Not to mention, they were kids. Digital kids, but still kids.
Shaggy glanced around, trying to find a worthy target. A few Quinica tried their luck as he stood still. But his claws or a nearby teen would stop them. Shaggy was surprised to see a lot of their kids using their powers. Nearby, a teen was spraying a clear liquid from his hands onto the pavement. Any speedster that tried to zoom through it wound up losing their legs or feet. Another teen was wielding some weird, red, hard-light constructs. He would shift them from one weapon to the next. They even had a speedster of their own. Although judging by the way the boy was panting, he would not last long.
Shaggy was about to move to help the boy when a flash of silver caught his eye. One of the Quinica had gone silver and was charging someone Shaggy couldn’t see. But it didn’t matter. Shaggy charged, retracting his claws. He still wasn’t sure how well they would get through the armor. Better to just pummel the bastard than experiment in this setting. He slammed a fist into the middle of the silver humanoid’s back and watched him stagger. The faceless silver Quinica turned to regard him before trying to backhand him. Shaggy ducked and delivered a quick uppercut to the thing’s chin, feeling a finger break. But it was enough to rock the Quinica backward. Letting his hand heal, Shaggy decided to try brute force and slipped behind the silver Quinica and wrapped his arms around the alien waist. He gripped his hands together and lifted, carrying the silver bastard up and over his shoulder in a suplex. The sound of the silver-armored humanoid reverberated through the street, and Shaggy grinned as the armor receded.
He quickly dispatched the Quinica with his claws and sent a message to his pack to use brute force on the silver jackasses. Sybil’s cackling voice called from somewhere on the battlefield.
“Fire works too!”
She laughed again as a surge of green light lit up the street. Shaggy was happy she was having fun, but he really didn’t want to be near that green flame for a while. He turned back to the speedster and saw hard-light boy and Mari’s friend from the grocery store guarding the kid. The speedster was taking a break as his two friends played defense. Shaggy almost chuckled as he noticed Rita hovering near the trio like a mother-hen. Rita sent Shaggy a glare that made him check on the rest of the battlefield. They were doing far better than he had expected. It looked like the kids could handle themselves and the sustained ranged fire from the deli made it even safer. Although a few wild shots narrowly missed Shaggy. They really needed to get the kids some better training.
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Shaggy moved through the fight, slashing whoever got too close. The Silver Quinica were few and far between, but he had developed a decent strategy for them at this point. Bludgeon them until they were unconscious and then slit their throats. He was doing just that to another one when an angry shout rose over the tumult of battle.
“TRAITOR!”
Shaggy spun around, bodies of Quinica lay everywhere. His own teens were still fighting the leather-clad wannabe vampires. But up the road from Shaggy was another silver armored person. Except this one was fighting the Quinica. Shaggy grinned as he watched the lanky Stanley toss a pale space-vamp into a pile of his buddies. But the angry shout had come from a small elderly man who was glaring at Stanley like he hated everything about him. Shaggy groaned. If this old man was anything like the last old Quinica he had fought, this would not be fun. First thing to do though, was get Stanley out of the way.
Shaggy charged as he monitored the older Quinica. He had come with a retinue of silver-skinned guards. All of whom were aiming right for Stanley. Shaggy tried to send a message to the boy through the pack link, but all that did was make him freeze in surprise. Shaggy grit his teeth as two sliver Quinica gripped the boy’s arms and pulled. But to both Shaggy’s and the Quinica’s surprise, Stanley gripped the pair of them by the arms and spun around before tossing them. Shaggy whistled as they sailed over the battle and skidded to a halt before the old man. Stanley raised both his hands in triumph before making a rude gesture.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Shaggy couldn’t help himself. He laughed. He laughed so hard that he drew the ire and glares of the Quinica surrounding him. But he ignored them, even as they charged him with their black nails at the ready. He laughed. His little experiment had worked. He now had a pack member that was doubly enhanced.
“Wait… you didn’t know that would work?” Stanley’s voice called from beyond the Quinica that were currently trying to stab Shaggy to death.
Shaggy ended a few of his attackers with a swipe of his claws as he called back. “Nope. I didn’t know what was going to happen. But I figured if you survived, you’d be a hell of a friend to have.”
“You’re an asshole!”
“Yep! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Shaggy cackled as he tore through the Quinica. There were still some silver bastards to deal with. So he didn’t have time for the fodder. He pushed through and ran to Stanley's side even as the kid smashed another Silver Quinica over the head with his metal fist. The Quinica fell to the street, silver armor receding so fast it appeared to vanish. Shaggy jammed his claws into the Quinica’s neck and kept an eye on the old man. The elder Quinica was glaring at both of them now. Shaggy raised a middle claw at the man and helped Stanley dispatch the Silver Quinica. The kid was a powerhouse, capable of knocking out the Silver-skinned bastards with a single well placed punch. Although he seemed a little hesitant to finish the job. But that’s what Shaggy was for.
The sounds of fighting fell to the background as Stanley and Shaggy dispatched the Elder Quinica’s silver guards. Every time they did, Shaggy would glance at the old man, waiting for him to attack. But he didn’t. Instead, he watched them, growing angrier and angrier. When Shaggy’s claws ripped the throat out of the last guard, he was surprised to hear a cheer erupt from the surrounding crowd. It was then that he realized the battle was over. Blood covered the street and bodies littered the ground. Shaggy noted that they weren’t without their own injured, but it didn’t seem like they had lost anyone.
Shaggy turned back toward the elder Quinica, but found the old man was right next to him. Energy rifles whirred, and Shaggy felt his crew close in around them. The old man gave them all a side-glance before returning to glare at Shaggy. Shaggy smiled down at the older man, daring him to do something. He could see the mental math going on in the old guy’s head. Did he have enough power to run through all of them? Shaggy wasn’t going to let him find out.
“Yo-” The old man started.
But Shaggy’s claws were already in motion. Hoping on the element of surprise to take the old man in the chin with his claws. But it was not to be. The old Quinica was too fast. He glided backward in a blur of motion before hissing like a deranged cat. Shaggy charged. They couldn’t let the old man take on his giant silver form. Behind him he felt Rita, Cekrass, Stanley, and even Tom charging with him. Sybil was handling the kids, and Shaggy sent a belated message to clear the streets. Vick was already firing everything he had into the old man’s face and body.
The elder’s wrinkly flesh charred and slumped off even as his body bulged. Silver bits of muscle tore through the old man’s clothes. Suddenly, where there was once a five-foot tall old man, there was now a ten-foot tall monster of bulging silver muscle. Red eyes glared now at them all as a mouth full of sharp silver teeth grated together menacingly. Shaggy felt his pack stop in shock but he pulled them along mentally as he scanned for the things weakness. The last one he and the Professor had fought had a glaring weak spot, and he hoped that was standard on these big bastards.
“ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!”
Shaggy had finished scanning the front of the boss monster, When it went nuts and shouted into the sky. The monster’s silver skin rippled as it recoiled in pain. Shaggy felt a mental fist pump coming from Vick and smiled. His pack knew what to look for as well, and the sharpshooter had shot the damn thing. Now they had to wait for a couple invulnerability-frames before they could attack again. The monster roared and thrashed in anger and Shaggy and his pack got ready. Once the elder stopped thrashing around, Shaggy spotted the reddish-yellow weak point on the Quinica’s stomach. The sac of nerves sat above the skin and pulsed menacingly.
Vick went for another shot, but the elder guarded its belly with his massive silver arms. Shaggy shot forward and leapt onto the thing’s silver chest. He grinned as his sharp claws got some grip. Although he didn’t think he was breaking skin. He climbed up to the Elder’s face even as the beast tried to swat him off. Below he heard and felt his pack attacking the thing’s legs. Shaggy dodged a large silver fist the size of a boulder and swung around the Elder’s neck. He started clawing as fast and as much as he could, not trying to do any actual damage, just trying to annoy. He was successful too as the Quinica reached up with both arms and grabbed Shaggy. But Rita was waiting with her sword and slashed the thing’s glowing weak spot again.
The elder spasmed, which was not a good thing for Shaggy. The beast’s hands tensed and crushed him. He felt several bones break and pop and he was sure he was dead, but the spasms also made the large Quinica drop him. Shaggy hit the pavement and rolled even as his chest and arms screamed in protest. His healing had slowed significantly throughout the fight, so for now he had to sit on the sidelines as his pack rushed the thing. Both of his arms were slowly knitting themselves back together as his ribcage snapped back into place.
The monster was roaring in defiance as Rita and Sybil harried the thing with fire and sword. Cekrass and Stanley had grabbed a leg each and were trying to keep the thrashing down to a minimum. Tom was sitting on the thing’s shoulder, holding on for dear life and swearing like a sailor. The spasm slowed to a stop, but Shaggy’s healing wasn’t finished. He sent a mental order to both Stanley and Cekrass to have both of them attack one leg and trip the thing up. Both pack members moved to follow orders and gripped the large silver leg and pulled. Tom back-flipped off the thing’s shoulder, narrowly dodging its grasping hands. Sybil was darting between the thing’s legs as she held onto her fists of fire. Rita and Vick seemed to be in a holding pattern as they all waited for the sac of nerves to appear again.
But, surprisingly, it never did. Instead, the monster jumped backwards. Dislodging Cekrass and Stanley and almost hitting Tom with its leg as it sailed through the air. The enormous beast landed and growled before it threw it’s hands up. Shaggy blinked. He hadn’t expected that. Was the thing giving up? An answer came almost at the same time as the question.
“I give. You rotten dogs have bested me.”
Shaggy shook his head in surprise. Not only at the cultured voice coming from the large silver monster, but also at the surrender. Most of the Quinica he had known had fought to the death. As Shaggy stared confusedly, the Elder shrunk back to his original size and shape. The old man was panting, and his skin was bruised and blackened in several places. He looked like he’d been through the ringer. Although, as Shaggy’s arm popped back into place, he figured they both looked terrible. A head peeked from under his arm as Vick lifted him to his feet. Shaggy was about to argue, but he decided against. He needed the help.
Vick walked him over to the Elder Quinica. Rita and Sybil flanked the old man as Cekrass kept watch. Stanley stood there looking lost in the street and Tom had once again vanished. But a quick mental check-in told Shaggy Tom was ‘scouting.’ Bastard was probably looting anyone who had pockets. Which wasn’t a bad idea. Before he could issue an order, Sybil nodded at him and rushed back to the deli. Soon she would have the kids out and robbing the corpses. Vick stood Shaggy right in front of the Elder and glared down at the old man. Shaggy took a large breath that stung in his chest.
“So… this is new. Usually you lot fight until the death.”
The elder Quinica sneered. “I am far too old for that. Not to mention you’ve slaughtered a good number of my guard. What are your terms?”
“Terms?”
“The terms for my surrender, you pleb.” The elder rolled his eyes.
Shaggy snorted. “I have no idea. Like I said, normally I kill your kind. So I do not know what to do with an alive one. How about you tell me how you found us and get the fuck out of Texas? Are those good enough terms?”
The Quinica pursed his lips, annoyed. “Yes, those terms are acceptable. But know that there are still more Elder’s in your Under-Town. They won’t be as nice as me.”
“Yeah, you’re a charming. Now, how did you find us?”
“Pfft. It was hardly a challenge. Your enemies are more than willing to tell anyone who pays. All it took was a few credits, and here we are.”
“And it worked brilliantly for you.” Shaggy snarked. “Which enemies.”
The elder glared for a second before snarling an answer. “This Wild Bunch. They seem very keen on eliminating you. By whatever means they can muster.”
Shaggy grunted and then waved the elder away. His other arm popping in the process. He winced as he said.
“Fine. Now begone! Never darken our door again.”
The old man kept up his glare as he backed away. He even shot an angry look at Stanley as he did. Shaggy heard the old man mutter ‘traitor’ under his breath. He needed to have a conversation with Stanley’s little passenger whenever he got the chance. But for now, he needed to eat. Shaggy turned and took in the street. Dead bodies were spread through the road as the teens went through pockets and jackets, looking for loot. The distinct lack of drones or a police presence was also worrying. But the pain in Shaggy’s chest and arms was distracting. He started to give orders when Rita put a hand on his shoulder.
“We got it, boss. You get something to eat.”
Shaggy nodded dumbly as Vick carried him back toward the store. Everywhere kids were dealing with the fight in their own ways. But Shaggy was surprised that most seemed to take it in stride. He saw a few faces that looked withdrawn and frightened. But for the most part, a lot of them seemed eager for more.
“They’re a tough bunch, boss.” Vick whispered.
Shaggy nodded as he was dragged into the deli. The first major battle in their gang war against the Quinica won. Now they just had to deal with those animal bastards. His inner-wolf growled happily as it curled into a ball in his chest. They weren’t going to know what hit them.