“Broken building, ruined building, trashed building, and a building that is on fire. Man, this really is a real estate wonderland.”

“Yes, your sarcasm is hilarious.” Shaggy grumbled as they passed the on fire building.

Fire-suppression drones flew overhead, dumping water or foam over the blazing building. Judging by the people holding their meager possessions on the curb. Shaggy guessed it was a small apartment building. Or maybe those people were all squatting. Shaggy and his crew kept their heads down as they walked across the street to the opposite sidewalk. It wasn’t the first time they had to avoid being spotted by drones or even flying supers.

Shaggy was surprised to find that his neighborhood had a few supers around. Mostly the odd player here and there, helping old ladies, and rescuing kittens. It was nowhere near the number of Players in the downtown area and Shaggy figured his crew could deal with any that tried to stop them. Of course, the kids would have a rougher time.

Overhead, a blue-suited Supe with blue hair flew over the burning building. He hovered over the building for a few seconds before he opened his mouth and disgorged a veritable waterfall of water onto the building. Shaggy winced as the structural integrity of the building failed and the whole thing started to collapse. The water-based super looked shocked as he came in for a landing while the buildings’ tenets raised a fuss.

“What was the time on that one?” Shaggy asked as they turned the corner around the block.

Stanley’s voice spoke up before the others. “We didn’t see when the fire started, but everyone had enough time to get outside and it looked like the entire building was on fire, so… maybe five-ten minutes.”

“It’s actually faster than usual,” Petri said in his nasally voice. “This new infusion of Supers has dramatically increased response times.”

“Yet we still only get like eight of them patrolling the hood a day.” Nate groused. “If the HLO actually gave a shit, we’d see more of them out here. Instead, they are all in downtown, saving their precious corporate buildings. Those of us on the outskirts have to help ourselves.”

Shaggy kept one ear on the talking teens as he glanced at the upcoming buildings. They had barely gone a block before Shaggy realized the streets were almost identical with their layout. A few tenement buildings, a laundry mat, a food place, and then some kind of entertainment. Rinse, repeat. Aside from the odd specialty shop, there wasn’t a lot of variety going on. He noted an absence of a bar. Maybe they could franchise out the Viper’s Den.

Although Shaggy was surprised to see a Holocade was still in working condition. Even if the games were outdated and some machines were sparking. There were a few in the block around their deli, but only one was operating. A nice Cthulhu-faced alien ran the place, although he seemed a little bored with it. Shaggy made a mental note of the place and then dragged all five kids out of there before they hurt themselves.

Shaggy’s initial assessment that the block would need a cash infusion had proven correct. But he had grossly underestimated how much work needed to be done. The scene was shocking - deserted buildings, closed businesses, and people with empty expressions. Of course, the odd Super would rush in and save a few of them from the rotten gangsters running around, but they wouldn’t stay. They’d look at their wrist computer do a little dance and then rush off again.

“Seriously, how did things get like this? I mean, I know Cog went nuts on Austin, but this seems almost intentional.” Shaggy asked, turning back to the kids.

They all stared at him blankly until Mari shrugged her shoulders and said. “Everyone who could move to the south of Austin to be closer to the HLO. It’s safer around the big companies and the government buildings.”

“Not to mention that the HLO prioritizes patrols and missions and that are close to their own interest.” Nate added.

“There’s no proof of that.”

“Look around, Stan! We’re standing in the proof! We get the low-tier Supes at best and at worst we get the vigilantes that are almost as bad as the gangs! Ain’t no one doing a fucking thing out here!”

“Not even the gangs?” Shaggy asked, ignoring Nate’s yelling and looking around the streets.

“Why would the gangs do anything?!” Nate screamed.

Shaggy pointed across the street at an automated laundry. Several people were standing outside the building, looking to drop off their clothes. Shaggy moved his finger down the block a short way until he pointed at an empty restaurant. He did again and again, pointing at more defunct or barely operational businesses.

“There’s a lot of money just lying around. I mean, it’ll take some work, but it’s a good investment if we can get the money and people together.”

“I can understand the restaurant and other businesses. But a laundry? It’s entirely automated. That’s part of the reason people left. Automation took a lot of jobs before they set limits on how much a job can be automated.” Mari said.

“Is there a law saying we can’t take out the automation?”

Mari looked confused as she looked at the others. Yelena was the one that seemed to grasp what Shaggy was saying.

“You want to hire people to work in a laundry?”

“Yeah. I mean, it builds goodwill with the community and it is also another source of income for us.”

“You know, for a criminal, you seem way more interested in business than actually committing crimes.”

Shaggy raised an eyebrow at Nate. “We robbed a supermarket and had an all-out brawl in the streets. Does that seem like a typical businessman? Don’t get me wrong, we’re going to be running rackets out of the backrooms. But out the front? We want everything to look nice and clean. How do you think Donnie Raks hides his illicit dealings?”

Nate looked thoughtful as Stanley answered his question. “Donnie Raks uses his parent’s political power and connections to hide his dirty secrets. It’s an open secret, but no one touches him.”

“Maybe it’s a poor example. But y’all see what I’m trying to do here, right? We need capital, we’ll we steal it and put it into the community and build up some businesses. Businesses we take a cut from, and use to hide our more illegal trades.”

“What illegal trades, though? You don’t seem to like drugs? So what are we doing?”

Shaggy shrugged again. “Gambling houses, gun-running, protection, maybe some loan-sharking. I don’t know. We’d have to decide. But I’m thinking gambling would be the easiest.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Mari shook her head. “Would have to find a psychic blocker or have a stringent entrance policy. Mind-readers are hell on the gambling industry.”

“So we’ll get bots to do it. That’s all for the future. First, we need to build up capital.”

“How do we do that?”

“We take it from the Bunch. They seem to have a surplus of cash and you lot could use the experience.”

“Hey! We did pretty good against those vampire guys.”

“With the Quinica, you lot just fired your weapons into a mass of bodies. You didn’t do too bad, but you did almost hit me a few times. But what if one of those fucks got too close? Could you handle that?”

The others fell silent as Mari conjured a fist of fire. Shaggy rolled his eyes at the young girl and turned back to the street. He was just in time to see two burly humans lumbering down the opposite sidewalk. Something about the pair rankled Shaggy’s senses. He took a sniff of the air and checked his scent trails. Sure enough, both men smelled like animals, but they didn’t have the standard hybrid features. Shaggy waited until the two men passed them before he cross the street. The kid’s right on his tail.

Shaggy grimaced at how empty the sidewalk was. He was about twenty feet behind the two men, but if they turned, he would be right in their eyeline. He stopped for a second, causing Mari and Stan to crash into his back. Shaggy spun and glared at the teens as they caught themselves. Shaggy sighed.

“Are they looking this way?” Shaggy whispered.

Stanley looked confused, but Mari shook her head. “No. But we can’t risk following them on an open street.”

“Ideas?”

Mari and the others started to think as Shaggy slowly turned to check over his shoulder. They had a good chunk of sidewalk where they could watch the two men. So they could stay there and watch, but if they turned a corner, Shaggy and his crew would have to hurry to catch up. Once again, quiet Yelena spoke up.

“What about up?”

She pointed a slim finger at the fourteen foot tall building they were standing in front of. Shaggy grinned as he readied himself to jump. But a pair of arms around his neck stopped him. Mari had jumped on his back and was holding on for dear life. Shaggy groaned as he realized he was going to have to carry all the damn kids up the building.

“Uhh, I can take some,” Stanley said shakily.

Shaggy grunted as he grabbed Yelena by the waist and leapt. Even with the added weight, Shaggy reached the lip of the roof. He gripped the edge with his right hand and lifted them enough for Yelena to pull herself over. He was just setting Mari down on the roof when Stanley crashed into the side of the building and went tumbling across the rooftop. Nate and Petri sprawling across with him. Shaggy groaned and pointed at the far edge.

“Mari, check to see what the two targets are doing. Nate, Petri, y’all alive?”

“Yeah…” Petri groaned.

“Despite captain dingus’ attempts to kill us!” Nate growled.

Stanley was already standing looking physically fine, but extremely embarrassed. “Sorry. I misjudged the distance.”

“WE NOTICED!” Petri and Nate screamed.

Shaggy shushed them all before he glanced at Mari at the edge of the roof. She gave him a thumbs up. Shaggy exhaled and moved toward the eastern side of the building. The two men were still heading that way, so they need to cross over to the next building. Luckily, most of the buildings on the street were connected, with a few exceptions. So Shaggy went running across as the kids hurried to keep up. It was on the first jump that they had problems.

Shaggy was waiting for the others when Nate and Petri charged him. Shaggy was confused as Petri leapt onto his chest and Nate grabbed him around the waist.

“Your taking us across this time!” Nate ordered.

Shaggy sighed as he wrenched both boys off of his body. “It’s a four-foot jump. Y’all can handle that.”

“Yeah, but why risk it?” Petri asked, trying to grab Shaggy’s shirt.

Shaggy rolled his eyes and took a strong hop backward. He easily cleared the gap and then waited for the teens. Nate and Petri were glaring at him, but Mari was already running. The petite mutant cleared the gap and came to a running stop next to Shaggy. Stanley went next, clearing the gap, followed by Nate. Yelena and Petri glanced at each other before the green-haired girl took a running start and tried to jump. Shaggy swore as he saw the girl’s foot catch the rim of the roof. He moved, but he knew he was going to be too late.

Yelena went over the side of the roof in the slim space between the two buildings. Mari and the others all gasped in alarm and started ran to the edge. Shaggy listened for the sound of a body hitting the pavement, but instead all he heard was a grunt of annoyance. Looking down into the four-foot space, Shaggy saw Yelena’s five-foot two frame laying flat with her arms and legs against the walls. The young girl was holding herself between the two buildings. Nate whistled.

“That’s impressive.”

“Can someone help me!?” Yelena screamed.

“Mari, follow the targets.” Shaggy said as he threw himself over the edge.

He grew his claws and raked them down the brickwork, slowing his fall. He heard the teens rushing to follow his orders as he slid to a stop next to Yelena. Without a word, he grabbed her around the waist again and kicked off the wall. They were both topside in a matter of minutes and Shaggy was pleased to see that Petri had jumped as well. But Nate was also still there.

“What are you doing?” Shaggy asked, wondering why the angry boy was still there.

“I just wanted to check if y’all were okay.”

“We’re fine. Go! We need to keep up.”

“Why are we even following them?” Petri asked, as they started moving again.

“My gut smells something fishy.”

“Does your gut often smell things?”

“Shut up, Petri.”

“Yes, Boss.”

They caught up with Stanley and Mari a short while later, and the five of them continued across the rooftops. Every now and again Mari would peek over the edge of the roof and give them a direction. But the two men weren’t changing course. They got to the end of the block and Shaggy hoped the two men would turn northward, but a glance over the side dashed his hopes.

Both men were moving toward the next block eastward, and Shaggy swore. They would need to jump down and cross the street. He was about to do just that when Mari pointed.

“Look, they're going toward that building.”

She was right both men had angled southward and were walking toward an apartment building. By the lights and sounds coming from the building, Shaggy guessed it was still in use. But he didn’t know what the men would want from such a building. Maybe they were picking something or someone up. Probably another drug building or maybe the home of another of the Bunch.

Shaggy crouched down and settled in to watch. Stanley and the others joined him as the two men circled away from the main entrance to the apartment and walked around to the western side. Shaggy noticed a small set of stairs heading downward alongside the apartment building. He quirked an eyebrow and turned to his crew.

“So we can either wait for them out here or follow them inside. Thoughts?”

Mari’s fist was engulfed in flames. Shaggy was beginning to think she had a problem. Stanley looked and felt ready to follow Shaggy’s orders. Nate seemed to wrestle with the decision while Petri looked sick. Finally, Yelena was glaring at the building the two men had entered. Shaggy snapped his fingers until the green-haired girl snapped out of her stare.

“Ya okay?”

Yelena nodded. “Yeah, it’s just… that’s the building where my folks abandoned me. I was eight years old. Left me sitting on the stoop like luggage.”

Shaggy grimaced but pressed on. “So you know what’s in the basement?”

Yelena nodded as she sighed. “Yeah… if he’s still in charge, that is. Kek’zar is an arms dealer working out of the basement. He sells shitty weaponry to random gang members while offering the apartment building his ‘protection.’”

“Really. Now that’s interesting.” Shaggy grinned as he looked across the street again.

Something slammed into his waist again as a weight hit his back. Shaggy sighed as he felt Petri’s hot breath on his neck. He glanced down to see Nate with both arms around his waist. He winced a little as both boys yelled at the same time.

“DIBS!”