“I mean, those animal-guys were fun and all, but totally weaksauce. I mean, besides their normal animal powers, they weren’t as tough as the Quinica,” Dave said.

Shaggy and the teens had to wait several hours, but they had finally made it back to the cave. The deli guards were still keeping a lookout, but the store itself was even more trashed than before. Shaggy had everyone pull back into the maintenance tunnels again. It was a suitable spot and they could defend it.

Once they made it back down to the cave, they found a bunch of harried-looking teens and the ever-excitable Dave. Dave wasted no time in explaining how the Wild Bunch thugs had tried assaulting the deli. The Bunch hadn’t considered their defenses, though. The K-Tech rifles were probably an unwelcome surprise. Which held them off long enough for Dave and the others to get the word. From there it was mostly the Mutant Player running amok as Rita pulled the teen’s back. Of course, the way Dave told it, he stood against the hordes of hybrids and tore them to pieces. Although, by the way, all the teens were listening and watching the guy, Shaggy wasn’t sure how much was exaggerated.

They were standing just outside the teen’s dorm and Shaggy had waved off his morning patrol. Cekrass and Vick weren’t back yet, neither was Ephemara. But he wasn’t worried about any of them. The only way the wild Bunch was getting the drop on them was by sheer force of numbers. But as Dave explained it, they had sent a lot of their people to the deli. Which left Shaggy’s patrols clear to clean up the scraps.

“Sure, those rhino-turtle dudes were a bit of a pain. But nowhere near as tough as Ren or a Quinica Elder. It was overall extremely lame, dude. I mean, why haven’t you just run over them at this point?”

Dave’s eyes stared at Shaggy with a complete bewilderment that made Shaggy shrug. He had figured the Wild Bunch would smother them under the weight of their numbers. But if what Dave was saying was true. Maybe he and his pack could wipe them all out and be done before daybreak. Of course, there was still a chance the Bunch were hiding something, and he still hadn’t met this elusive George character that led them. Not to mention there was the Quinica and Phreak connection they hadn’t explored.

Dave pointed a finger at Shaggy and chuckled. “Haha! Dude! You got the same look on your face that Vlad gets sometimes.”

“You mean a thinking face?” Shaggy quipped.

“A thinking TOO HARD face, dude. You know the solution, but you’re too busy thinking up problems to do anything. Just fix the problem and deal with problems as they come.”

“It’s easier to deal with problems as they come if you know what they are.”

Dave leaned back in his borrowed metal chair. He seemed to ponder Shaggy’s words as he looked over at the teens sitting near them. Most were watching the exchange with looks of odd fascination. Which were mostly directed at Dave. Shaggy sighed at the affable guy’s magnetism and changed the subject.

“You still up for an evening patrol? I doubt the Bunch are going to be out in force. Not with the way you beat them.”

The front two legs of Dave’s metal chair slammed back into the dirt as he nodded excitedly. “Oh hell yeah, dude. I haven’t, like, seen what a patrol is like topside. I bet it’s killer. Dodging drones and Supes. Trying to figure out if there’s a dagger in the darkness just waiting to come down at you? I bet it’s wild.”

Shaggy waved a hand. “It’s not that exciting. Just grab a few of the teens and walk around the neighborhood. You're mostly looking out for other gangs or business opportunities.”

Dave’s head tilted like a confused puppy and Shaggy explained. “The neighborhood is pretty decrepit. But with a sufficient credit infusion, I think we can turn things around.”

“I thought we were bad guys, dude? Gentrification can be pretty evil, but not what I had in mind when I signed on to be a bad dude.”

“It’s not gentrification, it’s revitalization. We’re just getting in on the ground floor of a new neighborhood. One where we can bury ourselves in the foundations of the neighborhood and grow.”

Dave nodded slowly, seeming to understand. But Shaggy wasn’t sure. The sounds of thudding feet brought him back around toward the cave’s central walkway. Sybil and Tom were stomping back down the path. They looked fine physically, but Shaggy could tell Sybil was ready to light something on fire.

“Some of you damn brats need to go grab the furniture!” Sybil yelled, summoning a ball of green flame.

Rita placed herself between the irate blonde and the kids. The teens scrabbled away as Rita and Sybil eyed each other. Tom stuck his thumbs in his belt and huffed loudly as the teens scattered.

“THAT was a pain in the ass, boss. I mean, I’ve met loan sharks that were less greedy than that rotten furniture store salesman. We could barely buy one full set of furniture before Sybil threatened to burn the whole place down.”

“It wasn’t my fault! The racist alien was overcharging us! He’s lucky I didn’t set fire to that whole warehouse full of mattresses.”

“Yeah, well, now we don’t have beds and we’ll have to find another store.”

Shaggy shrugged. “Not necessarily.”

Sybil’s face brightened. “Please, tell me we can hit them? Please!”

“Sure. Take a team and the van and load up. Are you aware of the store’s defenses?”

Tom nodded as Sybil nearly vibrated with happiness. “Yeah. Mostly mechanical. Fucking bastard threatened us with a pair of assault turrets built on his ceiling.”

Shaggy shared a smile with Rita. “Really?”

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“Are we going to take those?!”

“Do you have room for them in the van?”

“Fuck. I’ll steal a truck. Shit, I’ll steal two if I have to. I want to rob that little shit for everything he’s worth.”

“Later.” Rita interrupted. Sybil looked aghast, and Tom deflated. Shaggy could feel Rita’s hesitation and he knew the others could as well. But before they said anything, Rita elaborated.

“You left his store pretty hot and bothered by the sounds of it. So if anything happens, they are going to be coming right for you. That wouldn’t matter normally, but this store is local. Which means we need to be even more careful. So why don’t we wait a few days and then hit them? We can steal more cars and get the kids ready and make a whole night of it. Really put the bastard out of business.”

Sybil harrumphed and paced back and forth. She was clearly thinking it over, but Shaggy could feel how annoyed she was. A thought occurred to him as her anger echoed through the pack link.

“Hey! Why don’t you join the evening patrol? You can work off some of that energy by attacking Wild Bunch turf.”

“Hey, I thought you said evening patrol wasn’t exciting. It was just looking after the neighborhood and scouting stores.” Dave argued.

Shaggy nodded. “Yeah, fuck that. You know what? The Wild Bunch hit us, so we’re going to hit back. We’ll leave some people here to defend the tunnels. But the rest of us are going to march into their turf and go to town.”

Shaggy felt the members of his pack start to rile themselves up. Sybil’s anger was gone, replaced by a burning need to hunt. The same feeling was present in Rita and even Tom. A fourth feeling came from the space behind Shaggy and he grinned as Ephemara appeared out of thin air. He could feel her annoyance at being spotted. But she smiled as she spoke.

“I know just the place to hit first, boss.”

Shaggy smiled, and they all gathered around to listen to Ephemara’s report.

“So, these guys aren’t exactly hiding what they’re doing. They got drug labs set up in various abandoned buildings, weapon caches in apartments full of civilians, and few gambling dens here and there.”

“Okay. We’ll go over all of that later. But, for now, what’s our first target?”

Ephemara grinned. “There’s a drug lab right around the corner. It’s in the basement of an abandoned clothing store or something. Few guards and I don’t know what they are producing. But it should make for an easy first target.”

Shaggy turned to Sybil, who was shifting from foot to foot. “Tonight, take some kids and burn it down.”

“Oh fuck yeah, Boss! Imma light that sucker up!” Sybil shouted as she moved toward the dorm.

Shaggy didn’t want to think about who the petite woman was going to press-gang into helping her. Instead, he turned back to Ephemara and waved a hand for her to continue.

“Next closest is another drug lab. This one is set-up in an old warehouse. It is more densely guarded, and I saw vats of blue liquid the grunts were calling Glow. Now these guys were armed to the teeth, so anyone who goes should be careful.”

Shaggy nodded before he looked at Dave and Rita. “You both pick a few to go with you. But it’s the same as before. Burn it down.”

Both Rita and Dave nodded excitedly. But they stayed put as Shaggy looked at Ephe expectantly.

“The biggest target is a gambling den beneath a brewery. It was a nice place, actually. Clearly designed to fool the casual observer. But underneath it is a large underground gambling house full of wine, woman, and sin. Boss, if this place was closer to our territory, I’d suggest we take it over. But it’s just over into their turf and guarded better than most of the other places I’ve seen. If I were to guess, the place is a big earner for them.”

“Which means the defenses are going to be top-notch for the Wild Bunch.” Shaggy muttered as he stroked his chin.

Ephemara nodded. “Yeah, two enormous gorilla-hybrid guards at the front door scanning people. Inside there were plenty more with automatic weapons and I’m pretty sure I spotted both magical and mechanical traps around the first floor. I didn’t risk going deeper in.”

“Oh! Oh!” Dave interjected. “Maybe we can do, like, a heist? You know, scope the place out for a while, then hit it in a montage! Y’know where they think we did it one way, but really we did a completely different way!”

Shaggy covered his grin with his hand. “Dave. I don’t know how to montage and I’m pretty sure you don’t either.”

Dave shrugged. “What’s to know? Catchy music, interposed with images of us doing our thing, and then we’re away with the cash.”

Shaggy was sure the man was serious until Dave gave him a wink and a grin. Shaggy shook his head and turned back to Ephemara.

“Anything else?”

“Plenty.” Ephemara snorted. “But I think we’ll have our hands full with just those three. I mean, the drug labs are pretty soft targets. But the gambling den? That’s going to be a beast. I suggest we take the rest of the pack on that one.”

“Minus Tom.” Shaggy said, looking at the thin man.

“Hey! That’s rude. What if I wanted to go?!”

Shaggy just stared at his pack mate. Tom glared back until his face broke into a smile and he nodded good-naturedly.

“Yeah. You’re right. That sure as hell ain’t my scene. I’ll hold down the fort with the remaining munchkins.”

Shaggy slapped Tom on the back and laughed. Turning back to Ephemara, he asked. “How far into their turf did you get?”

The pale woman smiled as she took Dave’s old chair and sat. “Pretty far, actually. Like I said, they don’t really hide what they’re doing. It’s like they’ve gotten so used to acting with impunity that they don’t know how to be subtle anymore. Still couldn’t find their headquarters, though. I’m beginning to think it’s underground, too. The same as this place. But I’ll keep looking.”

“Thanks. Get some rest and then head back out in the morning.” Shaggy said.

But Ephemara grinned at him. “Oh hell no, boss. I ain’t letting you have all the fun without me. Like I said, the rest of the pack is going to hit that gambling den. That includes me.”

Shaggy smiled. “If you’re sure.”

“Damn right, I’m sure. I haven’t had time to see how this power-up you gave me really works. I mean, I feel a hell of a lot stronger. But you have to hit a few fuckers in the face to really know, you know?”

Shaggy saw Rita nod as Dave seemed to ponder what she had said. Shaggy sighed and tried to list out all the kids that they could take. He didn’t want them tired from the morning patrol, but he also wanted to mitigate the risk to the unawakened. Rita and Ephemara must’ve caught his thoughts, because the two women shared a look before Rita walked off. Ephemara stood to follow while grinning at Shaggy.

“We’ll take a look at the kids and see if we can work out the teams, boss. You rest up and grab some snacks. You’re going to need them tonight.”

Shaggy snorted, but gave her a nod. “Sure thing.”

He turned to talk to Dave, but found the other player giving him a strange look. Shaggy shifted uncomfortably under the look until Dave finally spoke.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re an anime protagonist?”

Shaggy slapped his face as he could hear Rita and Ephemara howling with laughter. He shook his head as Dave kept looking at him, ignoring the two retreating women. He did not need this conversation right now. Dave followed along, still questioning Shaggy about his anime vibes.