The room went quiet as everyone processed Commander Klevin’s words. The slow-breathing of his two unconscious guards the only noise in the room. Shaggy glared between the heavily armored Klevin and his two guards. Trying to parse what the man had done to them. Vlad, however, was more concerned with what the man had said.

“Care to explain that?” Vlad said eyeing Klevin’s guards as well.

Klevin sat back in his chair and exhaled a long breath. “It’s just like I said. The Raks and Phreaks have gone radio silent with us. Any overtures into their territory are either rebuffed or they vanish.”

“Vanish?” Slink questioned.

“Yep. The Raks appear to be concentrating on their interest topside. So that explains them. But the Phreaks are an even bigger can of worms. We have reports of new faces showing up all over their turf. Given how fractured the Phreaks were before…”

“The influx of people in Under-Town just made it worse.” Ren finished, nodding along. “I was wondering why we weren’t fighting for more turf as more players came down. They must be focused on the western part of the city.”

“How are we just hearing about this now?” Shaggy wondered.

Slink and Ephemara had been keeping up with their scouting reports. Mostly with the Raks, but they had people digging their way into the Phreaks and even the UGB. But so far, Slink hadn’t reported anything like this. Neither had Ephemara. Shaggy checked his Mental Link with his second in command. He found her off to the west near the large arena at the center of Under-Town. It was a good place to gather intel. At least that’s what Ephe said.

She sent him back an inquisitive feeling. But Shaggy brushed it off and just sent back orders to remain alert. Klevin was staring at them all, clearly trying to read their faces. But Slink’s face was a mask of calm, Vlad looked thoughtful, and Ren just looked annoyed. Shaggy was sure, Levy was also maintaining a calm visage. But the news was huge. If the players were finally pushing the NPC gangs out of Under-Town, things were about to get way more exciting.

“It seems your spies aren’t all they are cracked up to be.” Klevin said simply shrugging.

Slink went red-faced and Shaggy could see that the kid was about to spout off something stupid. But Ren covered for the kid by nodding good-naturedly.

“Perhaps. But you realize this news changes everything, right? The council is a group united for the stability of Under-Town. If two members have pulled back from that agreement. It might mean we are in a state of war.”

Klevin nodded slowly. “Yes. Stability is a large part of the agreement. But an even bigger aspect is the agreement that if we did go to war, we’d kill each other.”

“Mutual stability or mutually assured destruction. Got to love the classics.” Vlad scowled.

“Indeed. But for now, the UGB hopes that by bringing your group in it will spur the others to action. The Raks seem poised to pull out of Under-Town. But if they do so without a proper replacement in place it will be anarchy. The lesser gangs will pile into the area and it will be pandemonium. Same thing with the Phreaks turf.”

Shaggy shrugged. “So why don’t we snap up the territory real quick? Before the small gangs can grab it. Y’all take the Phreaks and we’ll get the Raks.”

Klevin snorted this time and the noise made one of his guards snore roughly before settling again. Slink was the one that answered Shaggy question, eyes still trained on Klevin.

“We don’t have the people. Sure, we’ve grown. But we can’t take and hold that territory on our own. We need to either shore up our defenses or make contact with the Raks and Phreaks. There has to be something behind all this. The Raks are still making a profit down here, I don’t think they’d leave that.”

Klevin smacked the table and this time one of his guards did wake up sputtering. But Klevin ignored them. “We’ve tried to make contact. But our people were, none-too-gently, ejected from the territory. At least with the Raks they sent a “please leave us alone” message. The Phreaks were just as happy to send back body parts. We need to find gangs to replace them before they leave and ruin the stability the Governor has fought to maintain.”

“Why the fuck do you care?” Shaggy couldn’t help but ask. “I mean, seriously, this is a small city run by a bunch of criminals. Who the hell expects it to be stable. In fact I figured this place would be the wild west. But instead it’s all weird ordinances and rule-based warfare.”

“Under-Town needs to be stable because it functions as a drainage system for all of Austin’s criminal elements!” Klevin almost shouted. “Almost every criminal in Austin finds their way here. Once they are down here, they are a known quantity. Something we can keep an eye on and take care of as we see fit! If they are down here, then they are not topside ruining things for the honest hard-working people of Austin. Under-Town is a necessary evil that the City of Austin tolerates. Once they stop tolerating us, we are all fucked! Stability keeps us alive Mr. Robertson.”

Shaggy quirked an eyebrow and looked down the table at his friends. Klevin had blurted out a lot of interesting details in that little tirade. Shaggy could see he wasn’t the only one at the table that had caught that. Ren and Vlad were smiling wickedly, and Slink looked smug as all hell. Levy chortled to herself at Shaggy’s shoulder and the noise seemed to rock Klevin out of his angry moment.

The commander jumped to his feet. Banging his armored legs against the table and waking his second guard. He held his large black helmet under his arm and nodded to all of them.

“It seems the situation has gotten the better of me. I think it best that we depart and we continue these talks at a later date.”

Shaggy saw Slink smirk as the UGB troopers collected themselves and hurried around the table. “What about our spot on the Council? Is that offer still on the table?”

Klevin turned to Slink as he marched toward the door. The older man said nothing as he slowly put his helmet on and walked out. Shaggy sent a mental order for Cekrass and Stanley to watch the armored troopers leave. They both sent back acknowledgments and he could feel them move to follow. Once done, he turned back to the room in time to see Dave glancing at everyone.

“What was that about dudes? I mean I could almost taste that tension in the air.”

Shaggy snorted as Slink idly tapped at the table. Levy hummed in thought before she explained. “Klevin just let slip that the UGB are the watchmen of Under-Town. Probably setup by the government of Austin, by the way he explained things.”

“We always assumed that was the case. But so what? Does that change anything?” Ren asked.

Slink shook his head slowly. “Not really. But now we know what happens if Under-Town falls to shit. The city is ready and willing to wipe us all out if we get to rowdy.”

“I can tell you right now, Players aren’t going to give a shit.” Vlad said, taking a sip form his blood-flask. “If they come down here, they are going to want a slice of the pie. No matter how they get it.”

“It seems they are already down here.” Levy said.

“So, like, what do we do?”

All the heads in the room turned to Slink. The pale teen was chewing his lip and tapping the table. Obviously lost in thought he jolted in his seat when he realized everyone was watching him. He looked confused for a few moments before he sighed and groaned.

“Why is this on me? Can’t any of you ADULTS handle this shit?”

“I mean, we could. But we don’t have your flair.”

“Besides your ideas are better most of the time.”

“I just know any of my ideas will probably be shot down.”

Slink snorted as he rubbed the back of his neck. A pale green snake popped out from his shirt collar and licked Slink’s cheek a few times. Slink patted the snake idly as he thought. Shaggy put his own mind to the issue. But really, to him, they could just hole up and bolster their defense. Let the other players wreck shit in Phreak and Rak turf. It was nothing to them.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Okay.” Slink sighed after thinking for a bit. “First step is verifying the information we’ve been getting from our spies. Ephe said the Rak’s have been busy, but nothing about a mass exodus topside. We also need info on the Phreaks. Last we heard their splintered forces had finally congealed under one leader.”

“So any players fighting for Phreak turf are going against the whole Phreak gang?”

Slink nodded. “Yep. But Ephemara herself said that all gangs out that way were small time. So I don’t think it’s a guild.”

“Thank the gaming gods for that.” Levy said, smiling. “But do we really need to do anything? I mean, it will probably stabilize itself. I mean sure, one of the big gangs pulling away would create a vacuum. But gangs will show up to fill that space, right? So why get involved? We can just turtle up and weather the storm. So long as Under-Town itself stays standing I sure Topside will leave us alone.”

Shaggy nodded along. Happy that his wife agreed with his own thoughts on the matter. But Slink’s face scrunched up and he shook his head again. His mess of hair flopping everywhere as he stated.

“Sure, but what if whoever steps up doesn’t want to listen to the rules? What if they take the territory and try to come at us? Sure, if we play defense we could probably fight them off. But that’s a fight that can be avoided. So instead why don’t we pick an area and be Kingmakers?”

Shaggy grinned. “Well, at least I like the way that sounds. Is that what it sounds like, though?”

Dave nodded. “Yeah. Kingmakers were, like, religious or political people with great influence. They would pick a person with a legitimate claim to the throne and back them. Once that person was on the throne, they held an unnatural amount of sway over what got passed in the kingdom. It’s a truly gnarly position dudes.”

Everyone blinked at Dave as he drummed out a tune on the wooden table. His previous words forgotten in favor of his new drum solo. Shaggy shook off the familiar feeling of confusion when it came to Dave and turned to Slink.

“So who do we back? I mean I think I have an in with the Raks.”

“No.” Slink shook his head. “It’s got to be the Phreaks. The Raks are already too hierarchical. If we play around in that pool, someone will notice. But the Phreaks are way more loose in comparison. Vlad, think you can take some of your Coven and scope us out a Phreak target?”

Vlad glanced at Shaggy and then back to Slink. The question clear on his face. Shaggy would’ve been the obvious choice to make overtures to the Phreaks. As a werewolf he had kind of a leg up in that regard. Even with him taking out one of their crews topside. But Slink gave a small shake of his head a kept staring at the vampire.

Vlad sighed. “Yeah, I can do it. My children are getting a little restless. They’ve taken to sparring with Shaggy’s damn mutts at all hours of the day.”

Shaggy grinned as he recalled a sparring session where Cekrass had taken five of Vlad’s vampires. Vlad had the numbers for sure, but Shaggy’s pack were powerhouses. Each and every one. Vlad stood and turned into a black mist. The mist seeped through the floor and diseappered as Slink turned to Ren.

“Can you get Randa and Roald on the new armor? They need more materials for it, but we already have the quests down for that. Afterward, look over our turf and see what needs shoring up.”

Ren nodded as he stroked his leathery gray chin. His rhino-like white horn bobbed as he spoke. “I’m on defense?”

“If you would, please.”

“No problem, kid.”

Ren stood and stepped away from the table. His new short-hammer nearly cracked the underside of the table. It jostled on it’s hip strap as Ren steady the small heavy hammer and wave goodbye to them. Shaggy almost spoke up, but Dave beat him too it as he excitedly got in Slink’s face.

“What about me, little dude? What you got for your old pal Dave?”

Slink smiled and raised his hands palms up. The teenage boy shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Ha! I got nothing for ya, Dave. You just being you is already a massive boon to everyone’s morale. Why don’t you help out where you can? We have another supply exchange with the Brute Clan coming up. Maybe you could jump in on that.”

“Sweet! Hanging with the big lizard dudes? Love it! I’m off little dude. Hope the bad news you got for Shaggy goes well.”

Shaggy felt his head snap up as what Dave said, registered. He immediately felt his hackles rise as he realized why he and Levy were left for last. The kid was going to say something they weren’t going to like. He just knew it and judging from the pensive look on Levy’s face, she did too. Slink gave them both a chagrined look as he opened his mouth to say something. He quickly closed it again and rethought his words.

Shaggy rubbed his eyes and growled. “Just say it, Slink. We’re both adults. What are we doing that we won’t like.”

Slink winced. “I need you to open your cavern to more of our people.”

“Oh come on!” Levy shouted. “That was supposed to be our little space. Then the teens came along and we had to accommodate them. Then we joined up with Under-Town and you lot have been using it as a damn warehouse. We’re even building housing for some of the damn Lackeys, Slink. What more do you want?”

Levy had stood from the table and was wagging a finger down at the slim boy. He looked both embarrassed and annoyed as one of his snakes popped from his collar and hissed at Levy. Her finger glowed purple for a few seconds as she faced off against the small creature. But Slink quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

“We are going to need a fallout shelter. If shit doesn’t work out in Under-Town we are going to need a space to fall back to. Also it’s a space that the UGB and their masters don’t know about. You don’t have to house anyone there right now. But we need to get more people through so they can start building out a place for the whole Legion. Which means I need Levy to take off the restrictions she placed on the portal.”

Shaggy nodded as Slink rattled off the reason they need his and Levy’s cave. It had already been a hell of a lucky find. When levy had said she wanted to kept it just for themselves, Shaggy had agreed with her reason. Now, however, he also agreed with Slink. Sharing a look with his Drow wife, Shaggy smiled as he saw her unable to argue with the young teen.

“Fine!” Levy snapped, clearly still peeved. “But I want them across the cave. Dig yourselves a little hole out that way. I’ll even have some of the mages help excavate.”

Slink raised a hand and sighed. “Thank you. But remember this is just a precaution. We might not even need it. But it will be very good to have a fallback position.”

“Agreed.” Shaggy said smiling and rising to his feet.

He gave Levy a quick hug before they started walking out of the room. But Slink coughed awkwardly as they reached the door. Shaggy spun on his heel and stared at the young boy. Slink was playing with his sleeves as he stood at the table. He barely made eye contact with Shaggy as he asked.

“Also, Shaggy. I’m gonna need you to stay out of all this for a bit.”

“WHAT?!” Shaggy shouted, aggrieved.

“Look, dude, your a great friend and a hell of a Gamer. But you have history with both factions at play here. You’ve pissed off the Phreaks to no end and the Raks are no different. To top it off, you’ve also killed lieutenants in both gangs! Don’t get me wrong, that’s ultimately great and it’s helped us a lot. But if you get involved I feel like you are...going to make things worse.”

“Dude…” Shaggy tried to keep the hurt from his tone.

“I know. If we need someone to crater in and set the law down, it’s you. But this is politics. We both know you want no part in that, right? So while were handling shit in Under-Town why don’t you go stir up shit topside?”

Shaggy grunted. “You know, you make kicking me out of Under-Town sound reasonable.”

“No ones kicking you out, Hun.” Levy said as Slink nodded furiously.

“Yeah, if you want to stay and help. Go ahead. But it’s going to be all back alley deals and stealth missions. Do you really want that? You’re a wolf, Shaggy. You gotta run free.”

“You’ve been thinking of that one for a while, haven’t you.” Shaggy rolled his eyes.

“Just since Klevin left.”

Shaggy snorted. “Fine. But if this wolf is running, he’s taking his pack.”

Shaggy glared at Slink, daring him to disagree. The pale teen looked annoyed, but finally he relented. “Fine. But let Ephemara stay for a bit to get her replacement up to speed.”

“She has a replacement?” Levy and Shaggy asked together.

“Yeah, she’s been working with her for a while. Apparently she’s been worried your going to take the pack out without her. So she’s got a little protege. A Lunacian or Lunian? Something like that, she can go invisible too.”

“Great!” Shaggy said clapping his hand together. “Levy and I can focus on our side of the portal while you and the others play politics.”

Slink rolled his eyes as he wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. Shaggy grinned wolfishly at the kids as he wrapped an arm around his wife and strode out of the room. As he did he sent a general call to all of his pack. It felt like a while since they all went out together and Shaggy was already planning the mayhem he wanted to get up to.

Levy placed a kiss on his temple and whispered in his ear. “You have that creepy little smile again, dear.”

Shaggy snorted. “It’s not creepy. It’s sinister.”

“No, love. You look like your about to start taking candy from children. Seriously it’s like a Saturday morning cartoon villain is about to ruin the main characters day.”

“Bah! What kind of wife are you? Can’t even see the evil within her own husband. This is a look of a master criminal I tell you.”

“It’s really not. You look like…”

They continued to argue as they traveled back down to the basement. Shaggy’s pack mates were eagerly collecting their things and hurrying around. Shaggy grinned as he bantered with Levy. He had already been planning on getting the Legion set up topside. Now, though, with his pack behind him. They weren’t just going to get set up. They were going to carve out a piece of Austin for themselves.