Shaggy adjusted his hoodie for the umpteenth time since coming topside. It was hot as hell in the noon sun. His body already ran hot due to being a werewolf, but the added layer of a dark black winter hoodie made it worse. Vlad gave him a nudge as they got closer to their destination.
“Would you stop squirming? You’re making us look shifty.”
Shaggy balked. “I’M making us looking shifty? We’re both dressed in all black, at noon, walking our dumbasses down an empty-ass road, toward a fortified position. We both look shifty. Not just me.”
“Fortified? I thought you said it was an abandoned airport?”
“It was when I was last here, but judging from the people and the gear he had last time, they visited the Brute clan. We can safely assume they’ve upgraded the place.”
“How can you be sure?” Vlad wondered.
“How long did it take us to fortify the bar?”
Vlad said nothing, but nodded. Conceding the point. Shaggy adjusted the hoodie again, trying to get cool air to his body. But it was all for naught. It was a hot day and their journey had been a long one. They had exited off the main road tunnel from Under-Town and Shaggy had directed them here. It was outside of downtown Austin, out in the sticks. No buildings for miles and the surrounding landscape was all sparse dessert that just reflected the sun right at them. Shaggy was really regretting this idea. But he liked the Professor. He was a good guy, almost literally.
Of course, ducking the random drones and keeping their faces hidden was probably drawing more attention. But Shaggy and Vlad just ignored everything as they rushed ahead. They could spot the airstrip from a long way away. Which seemed to make the trip last longer as they trudge down the road. Vlad had wanted to steal a car, but since neither of them knew anything about hot-wiring, they opted out of that. They could’ve probably stolen a car, but that would’ve drawn more drones to them. Leading a bunch of drones to the doorstep of a Hero was probably not a good idea. Even one not affiliated with HLO.
“We’re almost there.” Vlad groaned.
Not for the first time, Shaggy wondered why the damn speedy Vamp just didn’t run. But he figured it was a stamina issue again. They were a long way from home, and they wanted to conserve whatever energy they could. Shaggy was ninety percent sure the Professor would not attack the outright. But it paid to be prepared.
Shaggy clutched the small black case in the hoodie’s one large pocket. The last vial of Super Serum was nestled securely inside. By the time they left, both Chromia and Leslie were showing signs of changes taking place with their powers. But with no one to examine them, Shaggy and the others had no clue what was going on. To Shaggy, it seemed that their powers were slightly expanding. Leslie had better control of her lightning and Chromia was showing signs of being able to control her metal skin. But Ren wanted a proper examination done. Which is where he and Dave went.
Slink was back to playing middle-manager. Despite everyone else’s objections. The boy seemed determined to sequester himself away in the bowels of their base. Much of Shaggy and Vlad’s journey to the airstrip had been about getting the boy to come out of his proverbial shell. Vlad was for a ‘throw him in the deep end’ approach. While Shaggy figured the kid would stick his head up when he wanted to. Trying to get a teen to listen to you would be like trying to pull teeth from a hen.
Another nudge brought Shaggy back to his senses, and he spotted a small white shack on the outskirts of the strip’s fence. Shaggy vaguely remembered the shack as the airstrip’s one entry point. Or at least, the one the Professor had used. The pair seated inside the shack, just visible through the window, was a surprise. A large alien lizard, obviously a member of the brute clan, was expected. But the teenager, in the weirdly colored armor, was new.
Shaggy tried to share a look with Vlad. But the vampire was already rushing ahead of him. Shaggy hurried to follow, tracing the chain-link fence toward the small guard shack. Both guards inside stood in alarm at the two darkly dressed figures rushing toward them. But thankfully, Vlad slowed as he got closer and dropped his cloak’s hood. Shaggy did the same after looking around surreptitiously. It didn’t look like anyone was around, but you never knew.
“State your intentions!” called the gruff voice of the lizard.
Vlad gave a theatrical wave and bow. “We seek an audience with the Professor, oh brave guardsman. We are known as Shaggy and Vlad.”
Shaggy slapped his face and groaned. “Seriously dude. Save that shit for your weird RP bar.”
Ignoring Shaggy’s mutterings, Vlad pushed closer. Making Shaggy chase him and the teenager inside to unsheathe a purple sword. Shaggy started at the weapons’ weird color, but when he looked closer, he realized the weapon was dripping something. Like it had been dunked in a liquid and was now dripping on the shack floor.
The lizard guard saw this and swore before pushing the kid outside the shack. He growled something Shaggy missed and picked up a phone inside the guard shack. The boy looked affronted at being tossed out, but he quickly mastered himself and returned to glaring at Vlad and Shaggy. Vlad attempted to make conversation. But the boy wasn’t having any of it. Something about them must have upset the kid. Because he was looking at them like a hunter dropped into a den of wolves. Shaggy grinned at the mental image, but that made the boy suck in a breath and grip his sword harder. Shaggy was sure the kid was going to do something stupid. But the big lizard guard gave a grunt and hung up the phone.
“Their clear, kid. Put away the sword and get back in here. You need to clean up the poison that dropped.”
“They ain’t right, chief.” The boy said, still glaring at them.
“Maybe not. But they got a pass. Let them through. The bosses can handle two upstarts if they need to.”
The kid gave them the stink eye as the slim gate was lifted out of the way. Vlad gave a jaunty wave while Shaggy just nodded as they rushed through. The two guards watched them walk away as they started down the long stretch of asphalt. Shaggy gave up and unzipped his hoodie, panting like a dog. Vlad threw his own cloak off his shoulders and let it hang around his neck.
“So, where are we going?” Vlad asked.
Shaggy shrugged. “I don’t know. All I knew was that he was out here. I figure he’s in that one air hangar or in the traffic control tower down the way.”
Vlad glanced at the distance to both locations and winced. “We NEED a damn car.”
“What happened to the Monster Mobile?” Shaggy asked.
“Huh?”
“The fed’s van we stole and brought back to the Den? What did you guys do with it?”
Vlad slowly nodded as he caught on to what Shaggy was asking about. “Oh, we passed that off to the north tunnel team. They’ve been using it to move supplies down the tunnel. We need personal vehicles. The streets of Under-Town are too crooked and narrow, but when we come topside, we need them. This walking around shit needs to stop.”
“Dude, you have super-speed.”
“It doesn’t work very well in the light.”
“Excuses.” Shaggy muttered.
Whatever Vlad was going to say got caught in his mouth as they both spotted a shimmering blue dome. It was surrounding the hangar and had been invisible until they got closer. Now that they were close, Shaggy could see that the blue dome was pulsing slightly and just opaque enough to not see anything through it. He shared a look with Vlad, and they both moved closer.
The dome pulsed menacingly as they approached, and Shaggy was sure a wave of energy was going to hit them. Instead, the dome kept pulsing, almost signaling their approach. Shaggy stuck a hand out to touch the dome wall, but Vlad smacked his hand down. Shaggy glared at the vampire, but he was shouting at the dome.
“HELLO! Anybody in there! It’s Vlad and Shaggy. Everyone’s favorite monster duo.”
“Not a duo,” Shaggy muttered as he reached for the dome again.
He pressed his finger against the dome and a sharp snap of energy arc across his hand. Shaggy winced and watched as the energy traveled up his arm. It made it just past his wrist before it died, leaving a long black scar of dead skin on Shaggy’s arm. Shaggy pulled his finger away and looked at the injury. He snorted as the skin was quickly replaced by his healing. The shit had hurt, but it wasn’t the worst he’d ever felt.
“Well, that’s interesting.” A rough voice said as the dome disappeared. “The dome’s energy field was set to stun last I saw. But I think you maintained contact, so the stunning effect was amplified.”
Shaggy smiled as the six-foot lizard man addressed them. His white lab coat reflected the sun and almost blinded Shaggy for a minute. But he quickly shook it out as the Professor waved. His robot arm whirred at the gesture. Vlad returned the gesture as Shaggy took in the Professor’s equipment.
A large-bore black pistol was on his hip under the lab coat. While the other hip sported a larger gun that Shaggy couldn’t really see. He knew that the Professor’s robotic arm housed a few surprises, but he wondered if the player had upgraded from spikes to something less lethal. Shaggy couldn’t see any other weapons, but the armor the Professor was wearing looked familiar.
“Is that…?” Shaggy asked, pointing at the black laminate armor.
“K-Tech armor from the junkyard? Yeah. We couldn’t upgrade it much. But we had enough to outfit the team. It’s actually pretty sweet. I mean, for energy weapons. Melee is still dodgy.”
“Doc. They didn’t come for a demonstration. Let them in so we can put the dome back up.” Said a sandy-haired blonde boy.
Shaggy wasn’t sure if he had seen the boy before. But the red-hatted little bastard on the kid’s shoulder was familiar. Shaggy gave a nod and a wave to the little pipe-smoking gnome and moved past the Professor. Vlad huffed but hurried to follow, as did the Professor. The low hum of the dome going back up made Shaggy spin around, but the Professor just grinned at him.
“Sorry. Super-Group’s rules right now. We gotta keep the shield up at all times. We had a bit of a thing with people just wandering in here whenever the hell they felt like it.”
Shaggy gave the player a slow nod. But he stayed on his toes. A rapid yanking on his hoodie brought Shaggy around to Vlad, who was staring at the inside of the aircraft hangar in wonder. Shaggy looked around as well, suitably impressed.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
On the right-hand side was one large walled-off room with a door close to them. It ran the entire length of the large hangar, going from beside them all the way to the back wall. Over on the left was a large blue mat for working out. An area currently being used by a giant green lady who was lifting massive dumbbells above her head. Just beyond that area was another small enclosed room. But the door was open and Shaggy swore he saw an enormous library just beyond the door. At the far back center of the hangar was a wall of monitors, both Holo and physical. Teens and lizards rushed back and forth between stations as various images flickered on-screen.
Shaggy turned to ask the Professor what he had been up to when a large alarm echoed through the hangar. Shaggy gripped his ears and put his head down as the sound echoed through his skull. Beside him, Vlad knocked into him and they both leaned on each other as the noise continued. It seemed to go on and on and Shaggy was about to turn and run when the noise suddenly died. Shaggy blinked and tried to right himself. Beside him, Vlad was swearing up a storm.
Once Shaggy had blinked the spots from his eyes, he spun, looking for the source of the trouble. But judging by the weaponry pointing in his and Vlad’s direction, Shaggy guessed it was them. Several teens in weirdly colored animal hide and holding grotesque-looking weapons were slowly inching closer. The green lady was stomping closer, dumbbells raised to hit someone. An old man in a cowboy, young girl in black, and the world’s most well-muscled Mage were quickly rushing over.
“Shit!” Shaggy swore involuntarily as he spotted the drone hovering over their heads.
Vlad hissed and showed off his fangs as the heroes pushed in closer. Beyond the teens, a brown-haired woman with large rabbit ears typed on a tablet. She spoke loudly as Shaggy shifted his hands into claws.
“Shaggy Robertson and Vlad Kopish. Both D-Tier threats as rated by the Liaison Offices. Wanted for questioning and a myriad of crimes in Northwest Austin. Including escaping arrest. Bounty posted to the HLO board is five thousand and three thousand credits…”
“Wait, who’s the five thousand bounty for?” Shaggy asked, curious.
“What does that matter?” Vlad hissed.
“I just want to know.”
“We both know it’s you. You’re the one gallivanting your ass across downtown Austin. I stay in the dark. Like the creature of the night I am.”
“Never once in my life have I ever gallivanted anywhere. Also, why am I still listed as a D-Tier threat?! That’s bullshit! I fought off an army of hybrid aliens and killed their boss while the damn streets burned around us.”
“Dave killed the boss.”
“Irrelevant!”
“So do we take them?” A woman’s voice asked.
Shaggy and Vlad twisted to look back at the group arrayed against them. The small woman in black was the one who had spoken. A shadowy mass was collecting over her arms and Shaggy grimaced as the shadows seemed to solidify. Next to her, the old man was pointing two six-shooters at Shaggy that glowed an eerie blue. Combine that with the massive fireball the mage was holding and Shaggy didn’t like their odds. Super-healing or not.
“Hey, I vouch for these guys. They’re alright. They are helping the Brute clan, remember?” The Professor rasped from behind them.
“They also got Bounties, Doc. We can use that money. We don’t get paid for the whole Demon fiasco until the beginning of next month.” Said the cowboy.
“Ah!” shouted the rabbit-woman. “Looks like the bounty is only for HLO-registered Supes. Vigilantes and separate hero leagues get nothing. Although there is a precinct that is looking for information about Shaggy’s whereabouts. No finder’s fee, though.”
“Lame!” the shadow woman grumbled, dismissing her shadowy arms.
The mage collapsed his fireball and a loud clang told Shaggy that the strong-woman had dropped her dumbbell. However, the cowboy seemed reluctant to lower his pistols. The large green woman walked over and put a calming hand on the old man’s shoulder. Shaggy grinned at the glowing pistols. Behind him, the Professor hummed.
“Two Gun?”
“I don’t trust them.” The old man grumbled. “They’re criminals.”
“We were too until we registered. But that’s not what I was going to ask.”
“What then?”
“Can you shoot Shaggy here?”
Shaggy and Vlad turned to look at the Professor. Equal looks of confusion on their faces. Judging by Two Gun's confused voice, Shaggy guessed that the old man was equally in the dark. Shaggy gave the professor his best ‘what the fuck’ face. But the Lizard player only smiled and spun Shaggy back around. Shaggy was startled at how strong the Professor was, but he quickly spun back toward the cowboy as the Professor said.
“Shaggy has increased healing and regeneration. I want to see how the new battery stacks up.”
Shaggy growled in his throat. “I’m not a guinea pig!”
The Professor chuckled. “If you do it, I’ll help with whatever you're here about.”
“You’d help us, anyway. I guarantee it.” Vlad said. “But I want to see what the old man’s packing. I’ve seen Shaggy shrug off a lot of hits.”
“Is this a game to you people?!” Shaggy shouted.
“YES!” came the loud reply.
Shaggy nodded. “Yeah. My fault should’ve seen that coming.”
He looked back toward the old man, who now looked more confused than anything. Shaggy figured, what the hell. Taking off his shirt, Shaggy stretched his neck and tensed his muscles. The old man raised an eyebrow and everyone moved back a few steps. Even Vlad flitted to the hero side of the room. The Professor moved as well and Shaggy could see a slightly invisible recording drone over the lizard’s shoulder. He sighed and gave the old man a nod.
“Just get it over with. I got shit to do, old man.”
The old man’s mustache quivered and Two Gun’s hands snapped up faster than Shaggy could follow. Two beams of blue light struck Shaggy in the chest and he felt himself get knocked back all the way to the dome wall. The wall scorched his back, but the actual pain came from the two pinpoints on his chest where the blue energy pushed its way into him. Shaggy howled.
“HOLEEEE-FUCK! ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! FUCK!” Shaggy dropped to the floor and screamed.
Disintegration had hurt. But this was fucking nuts. He felt like his veins were on fire and his skin was replaced with glass. Even with his Pain Suppression, the little fucking guns had hurt. Shaggy crouched over, placing his forehead on the floor as he slowly stopped screaming. Air no longer making it into his body. He wheezed and moaned as the pain lessened and slowly disappeared. For a few seconds, Shaggy thought he had been sent to respawn. But the feeling of the hangar’s cool floor on his forehead told him he was still alive.
Shaggy sat back on his heels and gulped in a massive amount of air. Glancing down, he saw the two pinpricks where the energy had pierced his skin. The flesh was red and angry looking and he could feel a bunch of his dermal plates rebuilding themselves beneath his skin. He blinked his watery eyes as he tried to stand back up, his legs only barely listening.
“Sonofabitch is still standing.” Two Gun’s voice filled Shaggy’s ears, and he looked up.
Shaggy saw a sea of shocked faces staring at him. Except for Vlad and the Professor, everyone had written him off. Score another one for broken Super-healing. Shaggy stretched and groaned, trying to play it off as nothing special. Though he doubted anyone bought it. It was the Professor’s question that snapped Shaggy out of his facade.
“So, how did it feel?”
Shaggy felt his eyes go wide and he couldn’t help himself. “How the fuck do you think it felt, dude?! That shit hurt! I’ve had a hole blasted out of my hand by a disintegration gun and that shit hurt way worse.”
The Professor nodded idly as Two Gun glared down at his pistols.
“Is that what I’m doing to things I shoot? I might prefer regular bullets, doc.”
Shaggy found himself shaking his head along with the Professor. “No. My healing fought the damn energy tooth and nail as it went through my body. Most things shot by those pistols probably don’t even realize they’ve been hit. But my dermal armor stopped the energy and then it pulsed through my veins. It was not a pleasant experience.”
“Is that what all those lumps are?” said the green woman in an English accent. That sounded genuine.
Shaggy glanced down at his heavily muscled chest. “No. Those are muscles.”
Shaggy coughed as he tried to laugh. The green woman twisted her face in displeasure as some others held back laughter. Shaggy reached down for his shirt and hoodie and groaned loudly. Most of the teens and lizards in the area were now dispersing after seeing the show. The rabbit-woman was directing everyone back to their stations. But the players all hung around as Shaggy reached into his hoodie.
The professor was whispering something to the small gnome that was now on his robotic shoulder. But Shaggy gave and grunt and called.
“Prof! Time for your side of the deal!” Shaggy held up the black box.
Vlad flitted back over and grabbed it from Shaggy’s weak grip and turned, presenting it to the Professor. The lizard and his friends pulled in close. Even the gnome broke out a pair of glasses as they all stared. Vlad opened the case with a flourish as everyone leaned in.
Looks of disappointment and derision filled a few faces. Shaggy was a little confused until the dark-haired shadow-girl murmured.
“Drugs…”
The other Supes all glared at him and Shaggy. But the vampire quickly explained.
“It’s not drugs! Well, I guess it’s technically A drug. But not that kind. It’s supposedly a Super Serum designed by a faction in Under-Town. We had seven of them, but they were... misused. We were hoping the Professor could tell us what was used to make it and if and how we can make some more.”
“Super Serum?” asked the large mage.
Shaggy nodded. “Yeah. We don’t have all the info. But some of those who took the other vials displayed increased control of their powers. With no side-effects, so far.”
“You really think we’re going to just give you a super serum?” Two Gun asked, genuinely confused.
“Hey, once the Professor does his thing, you’ll have the formula too. We just wanted to strengthen our Lackeys. You lot can use it on your... kids, too.”
“They’re interns.” The Professor said.
“On loan from a Hunter Community nearby.”
Shaggy mouthed the words ‘Hunter Community’ at Vlad in confusion. But the pale player just shrugged his narrow shoulders. Whatever that was, it clearly didn’t matter right now. Shaggy shook the questions from his head and turned to the problem at hand.
“So can you do it? We just need to know what’s in it and how feasible making more would be. You don’t have to do anymore than that.”
“He doesn’t HAVE to do anything, really.” The short shadow-girl said.
Shaggy growled. “I took two shots to the chest with a pair of damn energy guns that I’m pretty sure scarred my soul. The least he can do is science up a formula for us.”
“Actually, the least he can do is nothing.” Said the mage. “But I doubt the Doc’s going to do that to you. Right, doc?”
The Professor was rubbing his narrow lizard chin and glaring down at the box. The gnome was whispering something into his ear. But all Shaggy got was nonsensical babbling. The two put their heads together for a few seconds until Vlad shook the black case. Surprising the pair out of their thoughts.
“Huh, oh. What? Yes! I mean… What were you talking about?”
Shaggy sighed. “The serum? Can you help us with it? We both get the formula and we help each other with production.”
The professor grimaced as he gripped his narrow chin again. Shaggy felt his stomach drop as he guessed that the other player was going to say no. Vlad must have felt the same because he quickly sweetened the pot.
“And we’ll take you with us on the Cog Raid.”
That got the other players’ attention. Although the Professor still seemed unsure.
“Wait. Cog!?”
“You know where he is?”
“You’re planning a Raid?”
“Where is he and who’s a part of the Raid?”
Shaggy ignored the other player’s questions as the Professor finally sighed and turned back to everyone. Shaggy could see a painful look in the other player’s eyes and he was afraid of what he might hear.
“I would love to help, really.” The professor said, before looking away and muttering something.
What he said was so garbled that both Shaggy and Vlad had trouble hearing as they both asked.
“Huh?”
“I suck at Chemistry!” The Professor shouted, his gnome patting his scaly cheek.