Shaggy sighed as Vick got him into a chair. The deli’s front room had looked like a battlefield before the Quinica showed up. Now it was full of broken glass and groaning teens. But besides a few cuts and bruises, Shaggy didn’t see anyone overly hurt. Still, as Vick turned away to help someone else, Shaggy grabbed his arm.

“Get a headcount and check the wounded.”

Vick nodded silently before rushing off. Shaggy groaned as he shifted sideways in his chair and looked across the deli. Several kids were sitting on the broken linoleum floor panting, but overall looking fine. He could see and practically smell the adrenaline draining out of them. Nearby, Louis was hugging Mari as the young woman tried to look around the room. Probably searching for friends.

As he watched, Shaggy noticed that several kids were still holding K-Tech weaponry and watching the street. Keeping an eye on their friends, who were still looting. Shaggy grimaced as hungry pangs swept through him. He was about to stand and find something when Sybil appeared with a sandwich. He mentally blessed the little hellion as he devoured the sandwich.

“Slow down, boss. The new kid is coming with a few more plates. We need to keep our people fed, right?”

Shaggy simply nodded as he swallowed a mouthful of ham and cheese. What they needed was a better class of food, really. But it could wait. They had enough to feed themselves and, with the haul from the Quinica, they were going to have enough for several other amenities. Sybil watched Shaggy for a few seconds before she wandered off and started talking to several teens. He raised an eyebrow. It made sense that his pack was more familiar with the kids than he was. He hadn’t really spent a lot of time with them. But he would need to in the long run. He hadn’t been aware of how many powered individuals they had.

It made sense though, most Alien species had some kind of ability that made them stand out from the average citizen. Normal Mundanes like Stanley used to be, were pretty rare. He swept his eyes over the assembled teenagers. Most looked humanoid in form, but a few had the random coloration common to aliens. He watched a couple, trying to see if any had healing powers. But it didn’t look like it. Most were just nursing their wounds or wrapping them in dirty bits of t-shirt. Shaggy grimaced. They needed a first aid kit.

A dinner plate smacked into the table in front of him, and Stanley gave him a wry smile. The boy was holding another two plates and had two first aid kits under each armpit. Shaggy smiled. His pack was on things. All he needed to do was heal. He grabbed another two sandwiches as poor Stanley was mobbed for the other plates. Mari even snatched one of the first kits and rushed off to help her red-haired friend.

“Dee,” Shaggy thought. “And that other girl next to him is Mari’s other friend, Rue. Electrical powers. What was Dee’s power?”

“Super Strength, Boss.” Stanley said, still standing next to Shaggy’s table.

Shaggy looked for another chair, but most were broken and scattered across the floor. Stanley found a sizeable chunk of debris and sat on that. Shaggy sighed again at the thought of getting the deli back into shape. It was supposed to be a good front business, but it was going to take a hell of a cash injection. He shook off that train of thought as he stared up at his new Pack Mate.

“How’s your passenger?”

Stanley stared down at the plate of sandwiches in front of Shaggy. He seemed to mull things over. Shaggy grabbed another sandwich and shoved it into his mouth. Better to let the boy get his thoughts together.

“He’s confused. But elated.”

Shaggy said nothing as he had a mouthful of what he hoped was ham. But could’ve very well been some alien substitute. Stanley sighed and placed both hands on the table. Looking Shaggy in the eye.

“Would you have offered me a spot in your pack if I didn’t have Kev?”

Shaggy shook his head immediately. “Nope. No offense, Stanley. But I hardly knew you. The plan was to kill that sucker and move on to the next pain in my ass.”

Stanley nodded slowly. He seemed to understand where Shaggy was coming from, but that didn’t mean it was pleasant to hear. But Shaggy had something else to ask.

“Kev?”

Stanley grinned as he pointed at his chest. “He’s a genetically altered Quinica called a Kevrashaq. Figured I’d just call him Kev.”

Stanley went quiet suddenly and his skin seemed to ripple. Went it finished, the boy looked annoyed. “Well, I don’t know how to pronounce that! Besides, you said you were fine with Kev.”

Shaggy swallowed another sandwich whole and looked around. Several teens were staring at Stanley. Some with amusement, but others with barely contained anger. Shaggy raised an eyebrow and Stanley ducked his head, trying to make his lanky frame smaller. Shaggy kicked the kid under the table.

Stanley almost jumped out of his seat. “OW! That hurt! Wait… That hurt?”

“Of course it did. You ain’t invulnerable, kid. Just as tough as the average Supe. Although with both my mark and the Quinica strengthening you. You’re probably a level above that.”

Stanley nodded and clenched a fist. The silver armor seeped out of his skin and covered his pale skin. Shaggy watched as the kid did it to one hand and then the other. He smiled. The kid looked like a child playing with a new toy. Stanley snapped his head up.

“I’m not that young!” He snapped

Shaggy smiled around a mouthful of sandwich. He swallowed before he gave a polite nod. “I hear ya. It was just an observation.”

“Also, hearing you in my head all the time is disconcerting. You're not as clear as Kev, but I can still get intention and little bursts of emotion. It is wild. You know I was Mundane before all of this happened?”

Shaggy nodded.

“Part of the reason I followed Louis around for so long was because I thought it would help me awaken.”

A nearby kid with a rifle snorted in derision and Stanley went pink in the ears. Shaggy ignored the byplay and asked.

“Awaken?”

“There’s this unsubstantiated rumor that if you have a latent mutant gene, you can trigger it by hanging around other mutants. A few of the others won’t admit it, but I’d bet that’s why they are here, too. Most of us come from Mutant parents, most of whom are long dead or serving time in prison.”

“Not all of us are as desperate as you were, Stanley,” said the boy near the window.

Shaggy stared at the two boys. Stanley was staring daggers in the back of the other boy’s head. While the black-hair youth at the window stared out into the side street. Shaggy reached down and searched for another chunk of debris to use as a chair. He pushed it at the boy and waved.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Sit, kid. Tell me why you’re here then.”

“Gabe,” the boy said as he kept an eye out the window. “And I don’t think I should take my eyes off the street. The Bunch could hit us at any moment.”

Shaggy growled as he stood and griped the kid by the collar. The sounds of gasps and mild outrage filled the deli as Shaggy threw him onto the impromptu chair. He ignored the stares he was getting, even the heated ones from Louis and Mari.

“Sit. Gabe. My crew and the others can keep an eye. If you want to be a part of the conversation. Then you are going to look me in the eye.”

Gabe stared angrily back at Shaggy. Glaring at him with eyes that were as dark as his hair, but seemed to have tiny silver flecks in them. Shaggy maintained eye contact until Gabe huffed and looked away. Shaggy waited and sent a message to Stan not to say anything, either. He devoured the last sandwich on the plate before Gabe decided to speak up.

“I… wanted to follow someone strong.” Gabe said finally. “Louis may not have a handle on his powers. But for a Mundane like me, he was the perfect boss. He didn’t belittle us cause we didn’t have powers, and he trusted us.”

Gabe tried to maintain eye contact with Shaggy. But again, he was forced to look away. Shaggy found it odd that the boy with the freaky eyes would fear HIS freaky eyes. But he shook it off and spoke to both Stanley and Gabe.

“So you both followed Louis because he treated you well and there’s strength in numbers. How about now?”

Gabe shrugged, but Stanley grinned. “Now I got powers of my own. Sure, my new roommate is a power-hungry pain in the ass. But it’s not so bad.”

“Is that why he helped us?” Shaggy asked, as Gabe glared at Stanley again.

“Yeah. That Mark you gave me enhanced me like crazy. On top of Kev’s enhancements, it was almost intoxicating. Kev said if this is the type of power you’re offering, we need to stick around. He says we can be the strongest Quinica in Texas if you hit us again.”

Shaggy shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that. You became part of my pack. So your body is priming itself to be turned into a werewolf. Once you become a Were, you’ll get another boost. It doesn’t work that way for Quinica?”

Stanley tilted his head as he conversed with Kev. Soon he came back. “Nope. Quinica get stronger the longer they join with a host. But that can take years. Your mark essentially sped up the process. Now we are a lot stronger than your average warrior.”

“The Kevra-whatever you were talking about. Where did they come from? They weren’t in Under-Town last I checked.”

“Yeah, they came with an Ancient Elder to help sweep Under-Town. Kev says they brought along a bunch of them. But they were having trouble with the gangs. So they sent an Elder topside to parley for alliances. That’s when Kev’s group found out about you.”

Stanley waved a hand at the nearby destruction. Gabe slapped the table and stood up angrily.

“Then we need to find more of these Kev things and hand them out to everyone. Shaggy can power us up and well be unstoppable!”

Shaggy glared at Gabe until he sat back down. “Okay, that will not work. I can’t Mark everyone. It takes experience and training to do it, and I don’t have the slots left.”

Well, he had one left, but that was Ephemara. “Also, we can’t be sure that other Quinica parasites will react like Kev did. They could just eject and kill their host.”

Gabe deflated. “But… that’s not fair.”

“No. No, it isn’t. I would think you lot would be used to that,” Shaggy said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t find other ways to strengthen ourselves. I mean, you lot did well with those K-Tech rifles. I also saw a few of you out there throwing down with the best of them.”

Gabe sat back down and groaned. “Yeah, but this sucks! There’s no reliable way to awaken a mutant gene. So the rest of us are stuck here feeling helpless as you guys go out and kick ass with cool powers.”

“What about learning magic?” Shaggy asked.

Both Gabe and Stanley gave Shaggy a strange look. Stanley, who was linked to Shaggy, picked up on his meaning first. “Uhh… boss? You can’t just learn magic. You have to have your magical channels burned-in. Which cost a lot and can be painful.”

“Not to mention, if you don’t have any magical talent, it can burn your entire nervous system.” Gabe added.

Shaggy glanced between the two boys. “Could Levy do it?”

Both of them shrugged, unsure. Shaggy sighed and tried to think out the problem. They had a slew of possibly mutant teens. Most of whom had not awakened to any mutation. It was a goldmine or a time-bomb, depending on how you looked at it. Anyone of the teens could awaken to some impressive powers. But they wouldn’t know how to use it, the fact that most of them were in their late teens struck Shaggy as odd though. Across the table, Stanley nodded.

“Yeah. Most Mutants awaken at puberty. The ones here are the ones that didn’t. Late-bloomers, some call them.”

Gabe snorted. “Why do you keep doing that? It’s like you're talking to nobody.”

Shaggy tapped his head. “My pack members get a watered-down version of telepathy. They can tell what I’m thinking. Stanley was answering a question I had.”

Gabe gaped at Stanley before throwing up his hands in annoyance. He started muttering about how unfair everything was and Shaggy let him drift into the background. Most of the teens were wading in from the street and Shaggy caught eyes with most of his pack. It was time to head back down. But first they should get the injured treated. No sense in getting dirt in a bunch of open wounds.

Shaggy watched most of his pack move to help the injured and smiled. They were going to be fine. They were going to have to discuss retaliation against The Bunch. But that could wait for later. He also wanted to figure out what triggered an awaken besides puberty. If they could trigger a few mutations, they would be that much stronger in the future. He glanced up at Stanley with another question in his mind.

“Stress is said to be another trigger.”

Gabe snorted and Shaggy had to agree. Most of the teens were runaways and orphans from broken homes. If that wasn’t stressful enough, they lived on the streets where random Super-villains could kidnap or kill them at any moment. Shaggy was having a tough time thinking of a more stressful environment. Stanley nodded, but shrugged his shoulders. Shaggy found it odd that in a world where Mutants and Aliens were a thing, something like Awakening procedures were not more standardized. But then again, maybe they were, and he didn’t know where to look.

A shout of alarm came from the floor and several teens were shoved backward toward Shaggy’s table. He stood to get a better look and on the far side of the room was a young woman inside a blue globe.

“Akie!?” another girl shouted in confusion.

She tried to approach, but once she touched the blue sphere, it pushed her back again. The long-haired woman in the globe was still laying on the floor looking around, clearly confused. Behind him, he heard Gabe click his teeth.

“Another one?! That is so not fair!”

“Whoa!” another kid shouted. “Akie got bubble powers!”

“It’s not a bubble, idiot! Bubbles pop. This is like a dome thing. A shield?” Akie’s friend said, sounding unsure.

Shaggy thought the young girl had the right to it. Rita knelt down next to the blue bubble and started talking to the girl slowly. Shaggy had the other members of his pack round everyone up. They needed to get below ground. He’d leave a guard in the tunnels in case the Bunch showed up. But for now, they need to rest and celebrate their win.

Shaggy waved a hand back at Stanley and Gabe. Both boys stood and walked over, and Shaggy sighed at the fact that both teens were taller than him. Grumbling under his breath, he looked around at all the teens.

“I’m going to need both of you to introduce me to everyone. I should’ve done it a long time ago. But it is what it is. So, for now, we are all going to go down to the cave and celebrate. Y’hear?”

Stanley nodded happily as Gabe still stared sullenly at Akie. Shaggy put a hand on the taller boy’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. If you are a Mundane, don’t worry, we’ll compensate. I got a friend with no powers. He does fine for himself.”

Shaggy ignored how the Professor had some minor enchanting ability and steered both boys toward the maintenance tunnel. They had their first big dust-up with a gang and came out on top. That was reason enough to celebrate. But if they had a few teens awaken Mutant abilities too, that would really be something. He passed on his orders to everyone else and stepped into the dark. It had been a long day, and he was just getting started.