“Where is he?!”
“I think it’s more than one!”
“AHHHHHHHH!”
“He got another one!”
“Stop talking and run, damn it!”
“RUN!”
Shaggy was in his element. Truly. He could practically feel the air humming as he stalked his prey. His large wolf body was hidden between the squat metal buildings and upturned debris that dotted Under-Town. His instinct screamed at him to take each one of the Quinica thugs down, as he prowled forward as quickly as possible. But he tamped that down. Mostly.
Shaggy had a mission. He had to hunt down the Quinica Elder and rip their throat out. Mostly because the fool had the audacity to attack their Legion Headquarters. But also because each Elder they dropped was a leader, the Quinica would have to do without. The Elder had dropped their monstrous transformation a while back and shrunken down to the size of a regular human. But Shaggy had their scent. He knew the bastard was still running away. Fleeing back across Under-Town with his cohorts. Cohorts that Shaggy was currently terrorizing with his mere presences.
He had to stamp out the feeling to rip all of them to shreds again. Shaggy felt that he needed to focus as the colored scents whirled in his vision. The Elder’s scent was the only one still lit up, but he could see the others grayed out in his vision. They were fleeing from him and his pack. Shaggy gave the mental command for his pack to hunt the dregs while he followed the scent toward the Elder. There was some push-back from Rita and Ephemara, but Shaggy ignored them as he bolted down the dirt roads.
He was getting closer to the Elder. The scent was stronger, and the streets were littered with the corpses of people who had gotten in the Quinica’s way. Shaggy lumbered through the street on all fours, chasing the trail until he got to a T-junction in the street. The small houses packed both sides of the road on either end. But the scent Shaggy was chasing went up and over the houses, straight down the middle. He growled in his throat as he threw himself upward.
As he sailed over the buildings made of corrugated metal, he twisted inward and shifted. He felt the metal roof sag under his feet as he hit it. Moving quickly, he continued to track the scent in his human form. It was bright blue and lead further along the rooftops. Closer to the center of Under-Town. The Elder was getting closer to Quinica turf. But Shaggy really didn’t care. He was going to take out the bastard one way or another.
Shaggy ran along the packed rooftops, careful to watch his footsteps as much as possible. With his dense bones and dermal armor, he was extremely heavy. In fact, he was lucky that the roof he had landed on didn’t collapse. But Shaggy chocked it up to luck and the fact that he had bolted just as his feet hit the ground. Now he was thudding along, leaving holes and indents in the roofs of whatever buildings he was running on. The blue scent getting larger and larger as it wound through the rooftops. Until eventually, it disappeared over the side of the roof.
Shaggy followed it to the edge and glanced over into a dirt road leading westward straight toward the Arena at the center of Under-Town. The street was full of people rushing in both directions. Either heading home or to the main shopping area of Under-Town. A low growl filled Shaggy’s throat as fresh scents filled his nose and vision with a rainbow of color. He quickly set about graying out the trails he didn’t want. But the blue one was getting thinner as the Elder rushed away.
“Fuck it.” Shaggy muttered as he stopped focusing on the scents and just used his eyes.
He spotted a black-cloaked figure shoving people out of their way as they rushed westward down the street. Shaggy confirmed it with the scent trail and found the hooded person to be the source. He had found his Elder. Grinning, Shaggy back up and then flung himself off the roof. Gasps of alarm and surprise went up from the street, but still Shaggy slammed into a few people as he battered his way through the crowd.
Shouts and curses followed Shaggy as he hurried through the mass of people. He could still make out the back of his target’s head. But it was getting further away. Shaggy grunted as he blindly shoulder his way past a large alien. They squawked in an unknown language, but Shaggy ignored them as he tucked his legs under him. He wasn’t sure if a Pounce would take him the full distance. But he figured it was better to try. Sighting up his target, he gave a loud shout to get their attention.
“HEY!”
The crowd around Shaggy pulled back slightly as multiple people looked his way. His hooded target’s face turned his way, but Shaggy couldn’t get a good look. With another mental shrug, Shaggy activated his pounce skill and sent himself rushing through the air. A few people dove out of the way as Shaggy launched himself. But those who didn’t got run over by Shaggy’s dense form. Faces and colors flashed by Shaggy’s eyes as he flew, aimed right at the Elder’s back.
“Gah!”
“Uff!”
With a grunt and shout, Shaggy hit his target and they rolled slightly forward in the dirt street. They got tangled in more people’s legs as they rolled. But Shaggy focused on maintaining his hold on the struggling Elder. Once they stopped rolling and people were shouting expletives and crying for help. Shaggy pulled himself and his hooded captive to their feet. Spinning the person around in his hands, Shaggy threw back their hood and grinned.
An old, pale man with sharp fangs glared at him as they both panted. It hadn’t been a long run, but Shaggy was a little winded from the exercise. He smiled as he lifted the old man into the air.
“You gave me a run, gramps. But that just means you’re going to die tired.”
The Elder hissed at Shaggy, showing his full set of fangs. “Go on kill me, Mutt. The Quinica shall still rise! The Ancient One has arrived and your futile flailing will amount to naught. Soon, this entire bastion of decadence will be a new haven for our brothers and sisters. We shall rise from the ashes of our fallen to…gagk!”
Shaggy ripped his claws through the old man’s chest and let the old man hang off his claws as he smiled. “I’m sorry. Were you saying something? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you dying.”
Shaggy shrugged and pulled both his claws out, letting the old man fall to the dirt road, gasping. “I’m sure it wasn’t important. Welp! Time to die now.”
Shaggy jammed both his claws into the old man’s face and body. Gasps and shocked cries went up from the surrounding people as Shaggy eviscerated the old man’s skull. He ignored his spectators as he finally finished and took a few steps back to check his work. The Quinica had some decent healing abilities too. So Shaggy wanted to make sure that the old man would not get up. Although he doubted anyone could survive, a skull split into multiple parts. But better safe than sorry.
“Halt, citizen!” a mechanically distorted voice called from behind Shaggy.
Shaggy gave a start at the voice and spun on his heel. Slightly further down the westward end of the road was a large figure in black, full-body armor. Complete with metal helmet, knee and elbow pads, and some other pretty nasty looking hardware. Glancing around the large armored person, Shaggy saw other people in bulletproof vests and riot gear.
Shaggy wracked his brain for the name of these jokers. They were another one of the other forces in Under-Town. A big one, if he remembered correctly. He was trying to remember their name as the individual that had called out to him stomped forward. The armor the person wore whirred as they got closer and Shaggy was sure he could smell oil or lubricant. Were they a robot?
“This conflict has not been authorized in this area. Please refrain from anymore criminal activity while we take you into custody.”
Shaggy rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Definitely a robot.”
The approaching mechanical person stopped and tilted its helmeted head. Its gloved hands reached up to its face and unlatched things. Shaggy heard a pneumatic hiss as the sealed helmet was pulled up and off. Underneath was a tan-skinned human man. He had short-cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. The man's sharp eyes seemed to glare at Shaggy as he said in a hurt-sounding voice.
“Well, that’s uncalled for. I am not a robot. I’m merely stating that you are in clear violation of the UGB’s code 4587-b. No unauthorized attacks on any of the current members of the Big Four or their subsidiary gangs.”
Shaggy startled at the robotic timber in the dude’s voice and he sputtered. “Unauthorized?! What the hell does an authorized attack look like?”
The armored man gave a nod, as if ready to explain this part. “An Authorized Assault is one sanctioned by any two of the Big Four. The Quinica, as a legacy member of the Big Four, are entitled to certain protections, as are their subsidiaries. I am aware of only one group sanctioned to go after the Quinica.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Shaggy shook his head at how official the guy was making everything sound. But really, what he was talking about was that the Big Four had an agreement to defend one another. In case any smaller gang tried to muscle in on Big Four turf. It was pretty much what Dave and Ephemara had explained to him. But if he remembered right, Vlad was in talks about something like this, wasn’t he?
Shaggy took a stab in the dark as he noticed the other member of the UGB had moved closer. “I am a part of that sanctioned group.”
“A likely story.” A guy in a bullet-proof vest from nearby.
Shaggy could see the letter UGB emblazoned on all of their gear. Most of them had blue or green letters. But the armored guy had his UGB tag colored red.
“Ranks?” Shaggy thought as he gave a shrug.
“It’s true. I work with Vlad, Ren, Slink, and Dave out of the Viper’s Den. Name’s Shaggy.”
“Uh-huh,” the armored man said as he snapped his fingers at a nearby UGB troop.
A literal clipboard was passed over and Shaggy marveled that anyone was still using paper for notes. The armored man must've seen or heard Shaggy’s noise of surprise. He was shifting through pages on the clipboard as he explained.
“Hard copies are always the best way to go. Easier to see if they’ve been tampered with and, with proper filing, you can tell when they go missing.”
“Yeah, but how up to date are they?” Shaggy asked.
“Oh, they are updated all at once, daily, and then handed out to patrol leaders. It’s a lot of work, but worth it.” The man said, still shifting through pieces of paper.
“Kyler, you’re not believing this joker, are you? We just watched him assault a Quinica Elder. Even if he is a part of that group, leadership was taken off the target board at the last meeting.”
“Recruit Raphael, you are correct. However, as of this morning, the Quinica stated that they’d had planned an assault on the Viper’s Den. Normally such things should be delivered days in advance, but the Quinica forgot apparently and only filed it this morning. Which means, if this Elder was a part of that assault, he no longer comes under the Big Four’s protection as stated in ordinance #317a-5.”
Shaggy groaned as the flow of people picked up around them. He felt his pack hurrying to his location. But he really wanted to be through this before all that.
“Why the hell is there so much paperwork for a damn Gang War? They hit us, so we defended ourselves. Simple as that.”
Kyler glanced up at him from the sheets of paper he was shifting through. “Because that is how we maintain order down here. Otherwise we would have anarchy. So while the Gang War between the Quinica and your unnamed group has been sanctioned, we need limits on it. Otherwise, everyone would take a shot at the Big Four.”
“Didn’t it used to be the Big Five?” Shaggy asked blithely. “Did someone file the paperwork to take out one of the Five?”
Kyler’s ears reddened as he glared at Shaggy. “The paperwork for that incident included an assault on The Faceless’ base by the Phreaks. Unfortunately, a third party was in the way. A Hero, who ended up killing the Phreak’s leader, Leo. But only after Leo and his Phreaks killed most of the Faceless. It was a shitty situation that should’ve been a coup for the Phreaks. But the UGB does not interfere in the affairs of Heroes.”
“Good to know,” Shaggy muttered as Kyler went back to searching his papers.
Meanwhile, the UGB troops closed ranks around both of them. Shaggy smiled inanely at the cop-wannabes as he felt Rita and the others get closer. Vick circled around to get a better over-watch position as Stanley and Cekrass shoved their way through the crowd. Shaggy could see the big lizard trudging closer and closer. Fortunately, all the of UGB thugs were focused on him. Their hands twitched toward their pistols are slick silver stun batons at their hips. Shaggy sighed and gave the mental order for his pack to wait. They were already at war with the Quinica; they didn’t need the UGB in the mix, too.
“Boss, let’s just take him in and check the paperwork back at headquarters.” Said one officer.
Kyler looked up again and bit his lip. There was still a stack of papers for the man to go through, and Shaggy felt Kyler was about to agree. So he spoke up.
“I am afraid I will have to disagree harshly with that course of action.”
Kyler’s sharp eyes snapped around to him. “You’d resist arrest?”
Shaggy shrugged. “I AM a criminal. Also, I doubt you have any real authority to arrest anyone. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure you can enforce such a ruling with most people. But that probably comes from your might more than any real authority. However, I am not most people.”
Shaggy felt Vick take position as Cekrass and Stanley barreled forward. Sybil and the others moved in as well. Pushing their way through the crowd. Kyler was still glaring at Shaggy, processing what was said and looking between the papers in his hand and Shaggy. Finally, the big armored man seemed to come to a decision and dropped the clipboard.
“It seems we will have to do it the hard way, then. I apologize. If you surrender now, I will argue for leniency for you in court.”
Shaggy shrugged as he watched Cekrass and Stanley make it to the ring of officers. They were still watching Shaggy. So Kyler and some others missed most of what happened next. Stanley and Cekrass grabbed and batted two of the officers to the ground as Rita and Sybil stepped out of the crowd. Rita placed her sword at a trooper’s throat as Sybil held a fireball threateningly on another’s face. Tom and Ephemara appeared next. Both with daggers held to the faces of their own targets. Kyler was focused on Shaggy until a shot from Vick’s energy rifle buried itself into the dirt between them.
Kyler blinked and then looked around. Shaggy had ordered his pack to be as nonlethal as possible. So most of the UGB were just being held at knifepoint. Although Cekrass and Stanley had knocked their guys unconscious. Shaggy crossed his arms and grinned. His long-clawed fingers tapped on his arms as he took in Kyler’s face.
“This is highly illegal.” Kyler growled.
“Sorry. Just protecting myself from unlawful arrest. You can take it up with my lawyer at my next case hearing.” Shaggy chuckled.
“You have assaulted officers of the law. The Underground Government Body will not take this lightly.”
“That is noted. However, I really don’t care. So will you be leaving?”
Kyler bit his lip and looked around. Shaggy could practically see the wheels turning in the armored NPC’s head. He was trying to decide if it was worth it to try to arrest them all. Shaggy didn’t care, one way or another. But he would really rather not start another damn war. Thankfully, the voice of reason appeared in a puff of black smoke.
“Adjudicator Kyler. Why are you assaulting one of the Legion’s leaders?” Vlad asked, stepping out of the smoke. “Need I remind you that any assault into contested territory can be repelled by either force during this conflict? We agreed to this at the last meeting.”
Shaggy tried to cover his look of surprise as Kyler’s face went red. Either from embarrassment or rage, Shaggy couldn't tell. The Armored UGB officer stood straight as he barked.
“It came to our attention that a highly suspicious assault was occurring in the contested area, so we moved to investigate. That is when we found this…”
“You have no authority to investigate during the conflict. Your Governor agreed to those terms.”
“THEY ARE EVERYONE'S GOVERNOR!” Kyler shouted. “We are the true government of Under-Town! Just because we have to put up with you criminals for now! Does not make us complicit in your dealings!”
Vlad brushed nonexistent dirt from his sleeves. “Save me the rhetoric Adjudicator Kyler. Just get your people out of contested turf. Unless you want to take up a side in this conflict?”
“You don’t want us to do that, Vlad.” Kyler spat. “Your little band of fuckups wouldn’t last a second against the UGB.”
Vlad glanced at the other UGB troops currently being held by Shaggy’s pack. He raised at an eyebrow at Kyler. “Noted. Now, are you going to leave?”
Kyler glared at Vlad for a full twenty seconds before he jammed his helmet back on and started walking away. Shaggy gave his pack a nod, and they all released their prisoners. Cekrass and Stanley tossed their limp hostages at their compatriots. Shaggy kept an eye on Kyler as the man shoved his way through the crowd toward the arena. He moved closer to Vlad just in time to hear the other player release a big breath.
“Whoooooo. That was close. We do not want to get involved with the UGB right now.”
“They didn’t seem so bad,” Shaggy joked. He kept trying to watch Kyler walk away, but the man was quickly lost in the crowd.
“We don’t have the manpower. Plus, our Brute allies have stated that they won’t back us if we start a multi-front war that we could drag them into.”
Shaggy nodded. That was understandable. “Did you get your guy?”
Vlad nodded. “Yeah. Damn fool must’ve gotten turned around. He was headed right for Brute turf. When he noticed and tried to turn around, we were waiting for him. You?”
Shaggy pointed at the mutilated elder nearby. Vlad winced. “You have no tact.”
“What?! He’s dead, isn’t he? I wasn’t sure if the bastard would heal from the chest wounds. So I had to open his head.”
“Next time, just take the head off. It’s much cleaner.”
“But much less fun. Besides, will there be a next time? We just cleared all six elders. How many more can they have?”
Vlad smiled. “Not much more honestly. They threw what they could at us. Probably wanting to end things quickly. They don’t have the people for a drawn out engagement. Also, the parley didn’t go the way they wanted either.”
“Yeah, how did all of that go down?” Shaggy asked eagerly.
Vlad raised a pale hand and looked around. “Later. Let’s get back to the bar and we can exchange stories. I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
“Same. This game is fucking wild.”
Vlad grinned, showing off his fangs. “Tell me about it.”