Bartle immediately tossed a knife and disappeared. But Shaggy ignored the other player as he dove into the casino guards. He and the others were well aware of how easy the large-armed guards were to defeat. Shaggy spun with his claws, severing any limb that got close. Stanley and Cekrass dove in beside him as Vick’s gun shot energy into the large bodies of the guards. Shaggy could feel that Ephemara was hovering at the periphery of the fight. Waiting for her moment. But then she sent a signal of alarm to the pack. Shaggy didn’t have enough time to decipher it before several bullets cut into the melee.

Screams rose from the surrounding patrons as they fled downstairs. Shaggy saw multiple men and women go down as bullets and energy beams cut through them. He ducked a wild swing from a gorilla and jabbed his knife-like fingers into his attacker as he deciphered Ephemara’s mental warning. More thugs had appeared at the bottom of the stairs with an array of energy and standard guns. They were firing indiscriminately into the fight. He and Stanley were okay, but Cekrass had to fall back. The lizard’s hide was tough enough for bullets, but the energy beams were causing decent cuts on his skin. Ephemara was moving to flank as Vick was returning fire as best he could.

Shaggy sliced the ankles off an elephantine guard and pushed the screaming body to the ground. He cast a glance around for Bartle, but found nothing. The player was staying way too quiet for Shaggy’s liking. A haymaker to Shaggy’s skull made him forget about the other player as he cut the offending arm and its owner to chunks. Nearby, he saw Stanley swinging his own metal-covered fist into another large gorilla guard. The poor NPC didn’t even have time to scream as the slim fist caved in his face. Shaggy grinned at the newest addition to his team and continued tearing the guards to shreds. Bartle would try something soon and when he did, Shaggy would pounce.

Between Stanley and Shaggy, they managed to cut the number of guards down to size. The occasional gunshot and energy blast would slam into Shaggy or Stanley, and they’d both ignore it. Both of them ignored the bullets entirely, and the energy blasts would scorch Shaggy’s flesh. But for Stanley, the damn beams of light would ricochet off his silver body at odd angles, hitting anyone close to the lanky mutant. Ephemara was causing havoc in the line of shooters, but even she could only do so much. For as well as they were doing, Shaggy could feel Stanley's stamina flag. The boy was getting tired, and that was causing some mistakes in his fighting. He was taking more hits than he should’ve. His Quinica parasite took the brunt of those mistakes right on its silver shell and Shaggy wondered how long it would hold.

“Crikey!”

A horrible accent broke the monotony of the battle, as a loud metallic crunch soon followed. Shaggy glanced to his right and saw Bartle laying on top of several turned over slot machines. The player had clearly been tossed through a few rows of the machines and was now slowly pulling himself upward. Vick gave a mental snort over the pack link and Shaggy chuckled.

“Tried to gank the ranged fighter?” He called as he dodged under a quick jab.

The goons had learned that taking a big swing at Shaggy was a good way to lose an arm. Now they were peppering him with quick jabs and trying to surround him. Shaggy let them get around him before he focused on transforming and spun. His arms lengthened slightly and his claws clipped anyone who got too close. Bartle coughed up some blood before he gave Shaggy a red grin.

“It seemed like a good idea. Silver boy and the big lizard fuck are scary. Not to mention I can’t find the woman who was with you. So I figured I’d take out the guy with the ranged weapon and the fancy hat.”

Shaggy pulled his claws in and jumped on to a gorilla-armed guard’s shoulder. He gripped the man’s chin and wrenched as hard as he could, listening for the crack. As the sound echoed in his ears and the body beneath him tumbled, he grinned at Bartle.

“Didn’t work out for ya, did it?”

Bartle spit and drew another dagger. “Nope. Fucker threw me like a rag doll. What the hell are you feeding your NPCs?”

Shaggy regrew his claws and pounced on another thug as several bullets hit his back. He wished they’d stop trying. As he stabbed his newest target to death, he turned to answer Bartle. But the man was gone, replaced with the glint of a dagger aimed right at Shaggy’s chest. Shaggy snorted and dodged to the side. When he popped back up, Bartle was nowhere to be seen. Shaggy shrugged and started carving into the last of the guards. Cekrass had been helping where he could as Ephemara took out the ranged fighters. But now the big lizard made his presence known as he charged toward the back of the floor. The bullets and energy fire reduced to nothing as Cekrass and Ephemara wiped out the ranged fighters. Vick’s own shots slowed and eventually stopped as Stanley and Shaggy finished their fight.

Thugs and goons were nothing for his pack, and Shaggy was happy to see that even a player was having a rough time with them. Shaggy kept everyone alert as Stanley bludgeoned the last guard to death with his bare hands. Bartle was still somewhere on the floor. But the turned over tables and rows of slot machines made it hard to spot the bastard. Shaggy guessed that the Teleporter was a decent assassin build. Sneak around, find your target, and throw a knife. If the knife misses, you teleport to the knife and surprise your target. It was a good plan. But one that only worked if your targets weren’t aware of it. Shaggy was sure they could take the guy in a straight up fight.

Shaggy’s musings were interrupted as Ephemara called out to him.

“Boss? More magic shit over here!”

Shaggy glanced toward the pale woman and saw that she was standing next to the stairs across the room. These stairs lead further up into the building and stood exactly opposite of the ones Shaggy and his crew had climbed. But now there was a shimmering golden barrier between the floor and the stairs upward. Shaggy growled as he watched Ephemara and Cekrass smack the barrier with their fists. But the magic wall stood firm.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Shit!”

Shaggy swore as he tried to calculate how long it would take them to brute force their way through. He wasn’t an expert in magic, but the wall appeared solid. Even as it shifted with pulses of golden energy. Shaggy rubbed his eyes and looked around. The second floor didn’t have any cages or vaults, and most of the floor was full of slot machines. The machines appeared to dispense tokens that the gambling hall would honor as money. Which meant they weren’t actual credits. He swore again.

“Damn it! We don’t have ti- URK!”

Bartle appeared again. This time with a knife in his hand. The green-hair annoyance used both of his hands to slam his small knife into Shaggy’s stomach. Shaggy felt his plates trying to shift toward the impact point, but they were too slow. The knife broke the skin before hitting the plates that were already positioned at his abs. Bartle’s face got ugly as he realized the knife wouldn't dig any deeper. Shaggy gripped the man’s wrists and growled.

“Dumb move, asshat.”

“I realize that. What the fuck are you made of?”

“Hundreds of Evo points worth of badassness.”

Bartle's eyes grew wide. “No way.”

“Yes way.” Shaggy chuckled as he held on to the player. “You need to get out more if you want to roll with the big dogs.”

“Apparently.” Bartle muttered as he tried to wrench his arms free.

Shaggy held on tighter as a thought occurred to him. “Hey. You wouldn’t know a way through that magical door, would ya?”

Bartle sighed. “I can’t tell you. They’d skin me alive if I did. Do you know what I had to do to get an in with these guys? Then who I had to bribe to get a cushy casino job? No way, dude. It may have cost me in Evo points, but this is such a cushy spot. No way I’m risking that.”

“You know that’s the only reason you're alive, right?”

“So what? Kill me and I’ll just be back in a bit, anyway. They’ll say I was put in the hospital from the attack. Then I’ll be back with the Bunch and looking for another cushy job. Although maybe I should look at getting some Evo points.”

Shaggy sighed as he felt his flesh push out Bartle’s knife. His plates shifted to help push. “The Bunch aren’t going to be a thing for long, Bartle. My group is moving in and we are going to tear through these lab experiments like a tornado through a zoo.”

Bartle snorted. “Please. The silent alarm went off. The big boys of the Wild Bunch are coming for ya now. You’ll be lucky to get away.”

Shaggy tensed up as he looked around. Trying to find any sign that they had tripped an alarm. They still had an entire floor to clear, but if the people up top had already called in the cavalry, maybe it was a good idea to leave. Stanley was already tired. Shaggy’s stash of pocket snacks were getting low and if the third floor was just more goons. Then they would spend time fighting and give the Bunch’s ‘Big Boys’ more time to arrive. He sighed.

“How long do we have?”

Bartle shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know when the third floor seals up, that means they’ve called in to HQ. Orders are to stall until one of the heavies can show up and deal with the threat.”

“Which is why you're so talkative.” Shaggy stated.

“Yep.”

“Thanks for your help.”

“So you going to kill me now?”

Shaggy just grinned as he tightened his hold on the player’s wrists. He gave Stanley the go ahead and the slim boy slammed the bottom of his fist against the back of Bartle’s head. The player looked surprised before his eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped against Shaggy. There were strict out of game rules about player on player imprisonment. But that didn’t mean Shaggy couldn’t squeeze Bartle for a little more information. He looked around at his pack as they all understood what he wanted to do. Ephemara looked a little miffed, but that was understandable.

“You can set the place on fire as we leave, Ephe.”

The pale woman smirked as she started looking for something to help with her fire. Meanwhile, Shaggy threw Bartle over his shoulder and started for the staircase to the first floor. Thankfully, there wasn’t a barrier around this one. Stanley and Cekrass fell in behind him, and Vick joined them. The sharpshooter was glaring at Bartle and Shaggy saw a cut slowly healing on the man’s face.

“You sure about this, boss?”

Shaggy shrugged. “He can be a wealth of information, and as long as he’s knocked out, we’ll be fine. We just need to get him home, then we’ll question and kill him.”

Vick nodded as he lit a cigarette. Behind them, Ephemara whooped in delight, and the sounds of flames crackled to life. Shaggy turned to see a small fire growing near a few of the turned over and broken slot machines. He looked at the rest of his crew before descending the stairs.

“Wreck whatever you can on the way out. We want this place to lose as much money as possible.”

They all nodded as Cekrass and Stanley started breaking whatever was closest. Vick took a few potshots here and there. Shaggy continued down the stairs and onto the ground floor. He noticed the busted open cage door to the cashier area and briefly wondered how much money they’d made from this endeavor. It probably wasn’t a small amount, even if they only got into the first floor cages. He shifted Bartle’s body on his shoulder and shrugged to himself. They could count the loot back home.

Behind him, Shaggy could feel and hear his pack going wild on various bits of furniture. Ephemara recreated her fire on the first floor as Shaggy met with Ulf and Dee. The two boys were leaning against the doorframe of the brewery, looking bored. A few bodies of well-dressed patrons were scattered around. Shaggy raised an eyebrow.

“They attacked us.” Ulf shrugged.

“But some of them were loaded.” Dee added.

Shaggy grunted. “Just make sure the gang gets its cut. Everything else is yours.”

“Got ya, boss!” Both boys said eagerly.

Shaggy sighed as he started up the stairs. His pack close behind even as they continued to wreck what they could. The brewery was still dark, and so were the streets outside. He gave a mental groan at the long walk home. But overall, the night had been fairly lucrative. Ephemara slinked up to his side, her face sweaty and sooty from the fires she set. But the woman was grinning as she joined him.

“What about the reinforcements, boss? They called for help, right?”

“Pfft. We won’t have to worry about them. Remember? We hit multiple places, and we were fairly quick. I doubt we’ll have to deal with any trouble on the way back home.”