“So that’s what it looks like when you don’t heal.” Mari snarked.

Shaggy leaned against the noodle restaurant’s counter. Trying to hold himself up from a stab wound in his gut. The three hybrids had been an easy fight, even without his healing and his own team shooting him in the back. Of course, now he was down to just a shirt and he was pretty sure the owner of the place was calling the cops. Shaggy hauled himself over the counter and started rummaging for food.

Yelena, Nate, and Petri looted the bodies while Stanley watched the door. Thankfully, the place hadn’t been that full. So, within seconds of the fight starting, the place was empty. Now they were in the middle of a wrecked noodle place with minutes before the cops arrived.

Shaggy found a pot of broth and gave it an experimental taste. It was kind of bland, but it would do. He groaned as lifted the large pot off the old-fashioned stove and tipped it back. As soon as the food hit his mouth, he felt his healing kick in. The scorch marks on his back healed and the knife in his stomach was pushed out. Shaggy ignored his healing wounds and gulped down the bland broth, occasionally finding a noodle. It was still hot and burned on the way down, but at least his wounds were healed.

“That’s so weird.” Mari’s voice said.

Shaggy polished off the pot and turned. The girl was propped up against the counter, smiling at him. Shaggy sighed.

“Shouldn’t you be working? Or do you get some weird kick out of giving me shit?”

Mari looked around. “What work? Bodies are looted and we seem to be in the clear. For now, at least.”

“We got minutes until the police arrive. We need to get out,” Shaggy said.

Once everyone was ready, Shaggy threw a few credits on the counter and ran out into the streets. Mari stopped in the street, but Shaggy overtook the small girl and started running for the Deli. Their patrol was over, even if it hadn’t been that productive. Except for meeting Kek’zar. He also now had a better idea of what their neighborhood was like. But night had fallen, and it was time to get off the streets.

It was a quick run, with little of note. Except maybe that Shaggy noticed that Petri was the slowest of his current crew. The slim boy was huffing and puffing after a few yards. Shaggy made a mental note to make the kids exercise more. It didn’t help anyone if they didn’t have the stamina to hang in a fight. He was mentally working through an exercise routine when he saw someone outside their deli.

It was a six-foot man in a blue leather-jacket and jeans. As Shaggy slowed to a stop, the man turned toward Shaggy and grinned.

“DUUUUUUUUDE! Sup! How ya been, Shag-man?”

“Dave? What the fuck?”

“Dude, do you, like, know how hard it was for us to find you? I mean, vanishing girl said she could, but it took a bunch of minutes.”

Shaggy grinned. Dave’s laid-back way of speaking always made him smile. But the sociable player’s words hit him and Shaggy felt his smile grow even more widely.

“Ephemara! He pretty much said you were here! Come out!”

Dave rubbed the back of his head as the teens looked at Shaggy worriedly. “Uhhh, dude. She went to scope out the deli. We noticed the armed guards, so we figured… you know?”

Shaggy coughed away his awkwardness “Ahem Well, let’s head inside then. You two are going to be helpful as hell.”

Dave nodded as he allowed himself to be led into the diner. “That’s cool, dude. But we, like, came here to get you. The Quinica are being real bitches down in Under-Town.”

“Yeah, we’ve had to deal with an Elder and a couple groups of the pale bastards.”

“DUDE!” Dave shouted excitedly. Nisha and Gabe, who were on guard at the deli, snapped their weapons up at Dave, but he didn’t notice. “Those elder dudes are a wicked fight, aren’t they? We’ve taken out two of them and each time they come up with a new trick. It’s wild!”

Shaggy nodded as he waved off the guards and led the excitably man down into the tunnels. It was interesting to learn that his friends were still wrestling with the Quinica though. If the elders weren’t that much of a challenge. Then what was hindering them?

“So, why do you need my help? It sounds like you guys have it handled.”

Dave nodded. “Oh, we do. But, you know, Vlad was all ‘it’s time that lazy dog finished his honeymoon and came back.’ So they sent me to come get you cause they figured you weren’t doing anything important, anyway.”

“But you said the Quinica were being bitches.” Shaggy said.

“Tooootal bitches, dude. It’s like they don’t care that we’re trouncing them on every street corner. More and more people are signing on and we even started pushing into their territory. That’s when the head Elder dude was all like, ‘We request a Parcheesi with the Big Four to meditate on this fight.’”

Shaggy rubbed his forehead as he tried to parse Dave’s words. They entered the old kobold tunnels as it came to him. “Oh! You mean the leader of the Quinica requested a parley with the other big gangs of Under-Town? So they could what? Complain?”

“That’s what I said, dude! Bitches! Supposedly, there’s some kind of rule where the smaller gangs aren’t supposed to threaten any of the Big Four. But, like, it’s never been revoked before. So now Vlad has to go to various meetings and chat with the head honchos of Under-Town. At first he was all ‘this is cool.’ But lately he’s been all ‘this is lame.’ It’s been a rollercoaster, dude.”

Shaggy stifled a chuckle. “Yeah, it sounds like it. But like I told Vlad in the Out-Of-Game messenger. We’re not just dicking around up here, we’re…”

“Oh Shit, dude! Trees! Underground! That’s so cool!”

Shaggy tried to explain what they were attempting above ground. But the sight of trees in their underground cave sent Dave running around like an excited puppy. Shaggy heard Yelena, Mari, and Nate giggling at the excited man’s antics. But Shaggy could only sigh.

“What did you expect, boss?” came a familiar voice. “You know how excitable he gets. He’ll run himself tired in forty-five minutes.”

Shaggy had to concentrate to keep his cool as Ephemara’s slim form phased into existence next to him. Stanley went silver as the others all readied their weapons. But Ephemara just grinned as she studied Shaggy’s posture.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Almost had you, boss.”

“Shudup. Can you decipher what he was saying? It sounds like the Quinica got the Big Four involved in our little turf war.”

Ephemara shrugged. “He pretty much has it correct. The Quinica invoked some weird Pact the Big Five used to have. Supposedly, it was designed so that the Big Five would join forces against any outside force that threatened its rule of Under-Town. But it’s never been invoked. Vlad’s been going to meetings trying to convince the Under-Town leaders that we aren’t a threat to them.”

“So he’s lying?”

“Not really? I mean, we only got involved with the Quinica cause we set up shop in their backyard. At first we were just a minor nuisance, but now we are becoming a pain in the Quinica’s wallet. So they tried to put us down. But we didn’t go easy. In fact, we started pushing back. Once we took some of their turf, they went crying to the Big Four. Which doesn’t look good for them.”

Shaggy nodded as they walked down the tree-lined path. “So y’all don’t need me back?”

“Naw, we were just told to check up on you. See what you were building and how long it would take to get Levy’s portal up and running.”

“I did also request that you stay with us, you know.”

“I know.” Ephemara grinned at him.

Mari behind them coughed a word that sounded like ‘cheater’, but Shaggy ignored it. They had made it to the center of the cave and Shaggy saw multiple fires lit. Teens were broken off into little groups, eating and chatting amiably. His own pack was closer to their own building, and that’s where Shaggy was headed as he order his patrol to disperse.

“Good job everyone. You’re all fantastic. Yada yada. Kudos all around and be ready to go tomorrow. If you're not on a morning patrol, you’ll be on the evening one after training. So be ready.”

The kids all voiced their acknowledgment of his words and broke off to be with their friends. Stanley walked off too until he remembered he was part of Shaggy’s pack. Confusion filled the pack link as Stanley tried to walk in multiple directions at once. Shaggy mentally calmed the poor boy before ordering him to go where he wanted. Stanley gave him a nod of thanks before darting off toward another pack of kids.

“You start a daycare, boss?”

Shaggy shook his head at his Number One Henchmen and walked to his pack. Vick and Cekrass were discussing the day’s training while Sybil was complaining about her patrol. Tom was doing push-ups under Rita’s watchful eye and Shaggy could only raise an eyebrow at the scene.

“Little shit avoided work all day. So we got him on a workout routine until he is just as tired as the rest of us.”

“This is bullshit! None of y’all are tired!” Tom bellowed.

“I don’t know.” Shaggy groaned as he sat in the dirt. “I’m pretty beat. Two patrols today with a lot of fighting. Not to mention I had my hand disintegrated.”

Everyone’s eyes, including Ephemara’s, tracked to Shaggy hands. Noting that he still had both hands, his whole pack stared at him. Shaggy shrugged and told the story. Meanwhile, Sybil and Cekrass got everyone some food, and they cooked it on a small green fire. Ephemara raised an eyebrow at Sybil’s new ability but said nothing.

Shaggy discussed Kek’zar and reiterated about Nuc moving into their neighborhood while they ate. The others had little more to add, but they described their own days and how the kids fared. Mostly, aside from Sybil’s patrol, the kids seemed happy to get out and about. Although once back, they remembered they had a furniture problem.

“Sybil, you and the van are on that tomorrow. Take Tom.”

“Awww!”

“Why do I get stuck with him?”

“Cause none of the kids will want to go with you and you’ll need the muscle. Just grab some beds and stuff from somewhere. Buy or steal it, then hurry back here to get it all set up. Cekrass and I will do another patrol in the morning while Rita and Vick train the kids.”

“No offense, boss. But I would like to get out of here. The kids are great, but I ain’t exactly a teacher.” Vick said.

Shaggy shrugged and looked at Rita. “That’s fine. You got the kids?”

Before Rita could answer, Dave’s voice broke through the treeline. “DUDES! This place is so cool. Big shiny light thing in the sky, tons of trees, a pit in the backyard. Cabins a little funky looking, but, y’know, people’s decisions are their own.”

“It’s not done yet, Dave.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“We need to finish the walls and get some furniture for the insides.” Shaggy explained. “But I’ve been waiting for Levy to get back before I do any of that.”

Ephemara tilted her head. “Where is she?”

“In the Fae Realm, helping a pixie.” Shaggy answered and then shook his head at the absurdity of that truth.

“So, how can we help?”

Shaggy grinned. “Actually, Ephemara, I need you to do some scouting. We need big targets and, hopefully, the Wild Bunch’s main hideout.”

Ephemara nodded as Dave stuck his hand up. “Oh! Oh! What about me? I can stick around for a bit.”

“Mind training up the kids? We were just talking about getting tomorrow’s training situated.”

Dave crossed his arms and pouted. “Awww! That’s exactly what I’m doing in Under-Town. It’s fun, but come on! Let me punch stuff.”

“If you do the morning training, then I’ll let you come along on the evening patrol. Vick’s been going over ranged combat. But we need someone with hand-to-hand training to help. Cekrass is good, but we could always use another perspective.”

“Fine! So long as I can have fun.”

“Ain’t no one ever going to stop that, Dave.” Shaggy grinned.

Rita spoke up as she looked around the fire. Its green glow casting all of them in an eerie glow. “So Vick and Cekrass and yourself are taking a patrol out, Sybil and Tom are on furniture duty, Ephemara is scouting and Dave and I are hanging with the kids?”

“That about sums it up. Unless anyone has any problems?”

Shaggy looked around at his pack and smiled. Stanley was still an outlier, but they’d work him in tomorrow. Maybe make him part of the evening patrol again. Or he could lead one. Shaggy turned that thought over. A few of the teens still looked a little miffed that the skinny boy had pulled the golden ticket. But if he was stern, Shaggy was sure that Stanley could get them to listen. Shaggy leaned back as he thought it over. As he did, Ephemara poked him in the shoulder. Shaggy turned to see the pale, dark-haired woman looking at him.

“So where am I patrolling?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry. We are technically on Wild Bunch turf now, but they’ve backed off a few blocks to the north and west. So I need you to do some solo scouting and find high-value targets. You find them, then the next day we hit them. We do that enough times we destabilize the Bunch and force them to submit or force them into open conflict with us.”

“So the gang is already in a war, and you want to start another one?”

Shaggy shrugged. “Hey, the Bunch are not the Quinica. I mean, they have some decent weapons, but we can still clear them out quickly if we can nail them down.”

“And the faster we deal with them, the easier it will be to cement our power-base up here.” Rita added, smiling at Ephemara.

The pale woman grinned at all of them before she stood up and brushed off her pants. “I guess I better get started then. I’ll find out what I can and then report back in the morning.”

Shaggy nodded before he shared a look with his pack. It was time. “Before that, I have a question for you, Ephemara.”

“What’s that, boss?”

Shaggy stuck his hand out and smiled. “Do you want to be a part of my pack?”