Mell’s blue lightning streaked across multiple merchant stalls. Their metal frames arcing the lighting around like a net. Occasionally, it would slam into a rock alien or ogre. But more often it would smack into a NPC merchant running away. Shaggy winced as he saw a little old lady get blasted off her feet as the lightning hit her in the back.
But Shaggy didn’t have time to take in the sights. Kek’zar’s men weren’t stymied by the weapon dealer’s death. In fact, they seemed further embolden as the last of their leaders’ ashes drifted away. Exhaling slowly, Shaggy focused on his Perception Manipulation ability and looked around.
The scene slowed to a crawl as his mind took in every bit of information his senses were sending him. Sense and Xiv were at the front of the stage, fighting thugs. Shaggy was surprised to see SenSor punching his entire arm through the stomach of a large greenish ogre. The guy probably had some form of super-strength too, then. Xiv, meanwhile, was firing away with her large pistol. Its comically large barrel was disgorging fire and enormous metal slugs into oncoming aliens.
Mell, on the other hand, was charging into the crowd. Fists alight with electric powers. Each time she swung her fist, a large arc of lightning would travel through the crowd. The metal merchant stalls would take that charge and spread it further. Sometimes, the electricity would rebound and slam back into Mell. But the electric mutant would simply absorb it and throw it back out again.
It was when Shaggy spotted Cutie that he winced painfully. The flying player was floating above the mayhem. But she was nowhere close to safe. Snipers lined the rooftops on either side of Kek’zar’s little bazaar and the butterfly-themed villain was dodging green laser fire. Thankfully, the large disintegration rifles took a long time to recharge. Shaggy looked around for a way to help the lone flyer.
The three on the market floor were doing more than fine. It was then that Xiv’s power slammed into Shaggy’s nose. The red-heads pheromones drifted to him on a light breeze and from his first inhale, Shaggy felt invincible. It was like his entire nervous system was on fire. He felt like he could take on the world. Running to the edge of the stage, Shaggy leaped toward the far building.
Both of the buildings on either side of the market were brick apartment about twenty stories high. But Shaggy ignored the size as he jammed his claws into the build and started climbing his way up. Xiv’s pheromones burned through his body, and Shaggy focused on the feeling of being unstoppable as he used his arms to launch his body higher up the wall. With each impact, Shaggy sent bits of dust and brick into the air as he climbed.
Below him, the fight was still ongoing and a few people even shot red and blue lasers up at him. The energy fire from the parking lot caught the attention of whoever was on the roof. Someone topside glanced over the edge at Shaggy and he caught his first glimpse of the bastards.
Unlike Kek’zar’s normal Lackey’s, the person on the roof wasn’t an ogre or a rock-type alien. Instead, it was just a humanoid in white and blue armor. Shaggy couldn’t see past the visor covering the person’s face, but judging by the chin that was visible. Shaggy guessed that the person was a male human. One with a large silver rifle aimed right at Shaggy. The rifle’s barrel glowed green for a few seconds before it blasted a long line of energy straight at Shaggy.
Bracing himself, Shaggy tanked the hit and felt his nerves start to fry themselves. He howled as the pain seared Xiv’s pheromones right out of his body. Shaggy felt his shoulder and arm rebuilding themselves as he glared back up at the shooter. The face-shield covered the man’s eyes, but he’s jaw was wide open as he watched Shaggy heal himself.
The shooter ducked back over the rim of the roof as Shaggy got ready to launch himself upward again. Xiv’s power had helped, but Shaggy was sure he could toss himself the rest of the way. With a mighty one-armed heave, Shaggy got himself to the rim of the roof just in time to for Dingus to come back… with friends.
“I’m telling you, Mark, he took the blast and his still coming. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever…”
Whatever the guy was going to say was lost as Shaggy jammed his left claw into the guy’s jaw and lifted him off the roof. Kicking off the lip of the roof, Shaggy rolled over the ledge and landed, crouched and ready. Thankfully ‘Mark’ was too slow in getting his own rifle up and Shaggy was able to jab both his claws into the man’s armored chest. Only for his claws to skitter across the bright white and blue armor. Shaggy swore as his claws made Mark stumble back a few steps.
Growling, Shaggy followed and started aiming for the weak points in the armor. He jammed a slim claw into the man’s unarmored armpit. Wrenching it upward, he ignored the guy’s screaming as he spun and slammed his opponent’s head into the ledge of the roof. With a satisfying crunch, Shaggy quickly checked his kill. Mark’s face-plate was smashed in and blood was flowing across the gray stone of the ledge.
The whine of an energy rifle made Shaggy dodge to the side. Flashes of green appeared in his periphery as he rolled to his feet and looked around. There were five more similarly dressed soldiers on the rooftop. All with disintegration rifles. However, it seemed that most of them had already shot their shot and were waiting for the gun to recharge. Shaggy smiled as he picked his target, the only person with a charged rifle.
“A tertiary target has made contact with us. I repeat: One of our targets has confronted us. Be advised he seems more powerful than reported.”
Shaggy paused as one of the helmeted troops started speaking into a radio. It must have been embedded in the man’s helmet, cause Shaggy didn’t hear the response. But he heard the cocky tone as the soldier reported back to whoever he was talking to.
“No. We won’t need help. We can take this Mutt.”
Shaggy immediately switched targets and launched himself. Using his pounce ability, Shaggy felt the game take control of his body and use his powerful legs to jump. Shaggy got his claws into position. Not aiming to clash with the claw-proof armor. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the man’s torso and spun out of the Pounce. As his feet hit the floor, Shaggy went for a modified hip-toss. But instead of throwing the man to the ground, Shaggy flung the arrogant bastard off the roof.
Not wasting anymore time, Shaggy retracted his claws and rolled toward his original target. She screamed as she recoiled backward, bringing the rifle up again. Not wanting to take another hit, Shaggy rolled to the side again and tried to come up. But a slim metal rod slapped him in the face and he bounced back.
One soldier had gotten his melee weapon out and had cracked Shaggy in the face with it. Surprisingly, it was a slim white baton. Shaggy let his nose shift itself back into position as he checked his Regeneration Power. He was getting hungry. Two blasts from the disintegration rifle were his new limit now. But the coil-whine of the female trooper’s rifle reminded him that there was still another of the damn things in play.
Thinking quickly, Shaggy lunged at the baton-wielding trooper. To his side, he could see the other troops bringing out their own weapons and moving in. So Shaggy quickly got the baton guy in front of him and grabbed for his waist. Baton-guy backed away and Shaggy gave chase, hoping the woman with the rifle was still where she had been. He spotted her over baton-guy’s shoulder, but before he could pounce, a large white mace came swinging across Shaggy’s vision.
Shaggy dropped and let the blow graze his head. But that wasn’t all. Before Shaggy could get to his feet, a giant-ass sword came crashing down toward him. Shaggy summoned his claws and crossed them. Using them to catch the gigantic white sword. Shaggy batted it away and rolled to his feet.
The whine of the energy rifle still hummed in the air, and Shaggy made sure that the three remaining troops were between him and the shooter. They all had apparently abandoned their own rifles in favor of their weirdly colored melee weapons. Shaggy crouched low and held up his claws, waiting for someone to make the first move. He needed to get to the woman with the gun. That was the one thing he was sure could kill him outright.
“Although….” Shaggy thought as he watched the hesitant troops.
Slowly, Shaggy shifted his left hand back to normal and reached into a pocket. Grabbing a chocolate bar, Shaggy quickly jammed the thing into his mouth. Watching the soldiers watch him. They froze as he ate, one even tilting their head in confusion. A mic squeaked to life as one soldier spoke.
“Command? The subject has begun eating a candy bar. Please advise.”
Shaggy couldn’t help but grin as the trooper that had asked the question paused as the answer came. His jaw dropped in shock before an angry scowl appeared on his face. Pointing his mace in Shaggy’s direction, the man shouted.
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“Stop him! That’s how he heals!”
Shaggy swallowed as he scowled. “These people have far too much information on me.”
Shaggy felt his Regeneration power filled slightly back up. But he wasn’t sure if it was enough to survive a rifle blast. He didn’t have time, though. Sword and baton were charging and Shaggy had to move. The soldier with the large sword swung it horizontal, letting its enormous weight carry it through a wide arc. Shaggy spotted baton-guy waiting for him to duck under the sword so he could crack Shaggy in the face. So instead Shaggy jumped over the sword and brought down his clawed hands onto baton guy’s skull.
The helmet protected the guy from Shaggy’s claws. But the weight of the blow made the trooper collapse, and Shaggy used that to his advantage as he lifted the guy back up and spun with him. Aiming for the guy with the mace, Shaggy tossed baton-guy into mace-guy. Not looking to see how that all wrung out, Shaggy dashed past his throw, looking for the woman with the rifle.
She was waiting behind mace-guy and when he toppled under the weight of his friend; she hesitated. Shaggy didn’t. He rushed her and slice both his claws up into her exposed jaw. She didn’t have time to scream as Shaggy’s long claws dug into her jaw and traveled all the way to her skull. He extracted his claws and turned to face the remaining three soldiers. Baton-guy was on his feet and from Shaggy could see of his bottom jaw, the guy was red with rage.
“SHERYL! YOU BASTARD!”
Baton-guy charged, fist raised, baton forgotten. Shaggy grimaced as he reached down and grabbed Sheryl’s rifle. With a quick back-step, Shaggy avoided baton-guy’s wild lunge and fired. The green laser blast caught the guy in the chest and immediately his armor went black. Shaggy watched as the energy traveled over the armor and came into contact with baton-guy’s skin. Once it did, that was all she wrote. Baton-guy became dust, still scowling at Shaggy.
“KEVIN!” Sword-guy shouted.
“Command. Sheryl and Kevin are down. So is our leader. We evac for two right now!”
Shaggy chuckled as he threw the rifle to the rooftop. “Hehehe! Oh, you fucks aren’t getting away. I want answers and I want them now.”
Both troopers ignored him as he prowled closer. They didn’t seem worried even as he picked up the pace. Shaggy spotted a weird blue circle appear under both soldiers and he swore as he activated his pounce ability. His feet crunch into the rooftop as he launched himself. He had enough time to see sword-guy shoot him the bird before both remaining troopers vanished into a swirling orb of blue magic.
Shaggy soared past where the two guys had been and slid to a stop.
“Fucking sonofabitch! God damn Magic!” Shaggy swore at the sky as he looked around.
But it was a futile effort. Both of the remaining troopers were gone. Remembering the opposite roof. Shaggy moved to the edge and looked across. But to his astonishment, all he saw was Cutie, sitting on the edge of the roof and kicking her feet. She waved to him when she spotted him and Shaggy automatically waved back.
“What the fuck did she do to the soldiers on that roof?” Shaggy muttered to himself.
“HEY, BOSS-MAN! Are we coming up there?” Xiv shouted from below.
Her voice made him look down and Shaggy could see that his fellow players had wiped the floor with Kek’zar’s people. A sudden thought hit him and Shaggy grabbed another candy bar from his pocket and flung himself off the roof. He landed with a loud, solid thump and cracked the asphalt of the old parking lot.
With a side glance at the dead soldiers he had thrown off the roof, Shaggy moved toward Xiv and the others.
“Jeez, boss.” SenSor said. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Huh?” Shaggy asked, still chewing. When he caught on to what the big guy was asking, Shaggy shook his head. “Oh, naw. My bones are dense as hell and my defense is stacked. Even with my healing.”
“You’re the world’s tiniest tank.” Mell smirked.
Shaggy frowned. “And you're the world’s biggest bug-zapper.”
Mell stuck her tongue out at him, but smiled as she started looting the bodies. When she did, Shaggy remembered his idea.
“Oh, did you guys leave any alive? I have some questions.”
Xiv and SenSor frowned as Mell ignored him.
“No, boss. Were we supposed to?”
“Yeah, my gun doesn’t have a stun setting. It’s mostly just a body perforator. Oh Shit! That’s what I’m going to call it!”
“Xiv you can’t call your gun a Perforator.” Mell deadpanned.
“Not A Perforator. THE Perforator.” Xiv corrected. “And I can call it whatever I want. It’s mine.”
Shaggy saw both Mell and SenSor shake their heads in defeat. Cutie dove in suddenly, her two butterfly wings fluttering as she landed softly on the ground.
“HI! So, did anyone else’s bad guys disappear?” She asked happily.
Xiv, SenSor and Mell all looked at her, but Shaggy shook his head.
“Just two of mine. They called in for extraction and got magically teleported away.”
Cutie nodded. “Yeah. I did a flyover and dusted those nasty soldier-looking guys. But once my dust had a hold of them, they teleported, or whatever, away.”
“Uhh, someone want to fill us in?” Xiv asked, raising a hand.
Shaggy turned and walked back toward the two people he had thrown off the roof. He waved for the others to follow.
“There were two groups at play here. Kek’zar’s people and then this second group. The second group came prepared with disintegration weapons and fantastic armor…”
“Oh, I’m taking that,” Mell said as she dropped to the ground and started taking said armor.
“Why would they come so strapped? Were they Kek’zar’s backup protection?”
Shaggy shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think they were his leash-holders. Apparently, his loyalty only went so far. You can only scare people so loyal, I suppose.”
“So, this was an ambush?”
“I think so. But I don’t think they were expecting me. Apparently, I am a ‘tertiary target.’ But since I popped up here, they took their shot. I think Kek’zar was planning the ambush, and then these guys joined in to help. Not realizing who we were.”
“Well, the dumbasses sure know who we are now.” Mell said, clutching a stack of armor in her arms.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Xiv asked, smiling.
“We collect the loot and we make our way back to Nuc’s.”
“Why not the cave?”
“Because I don’t trust that armor,” Shaggy said, pointed at the white bit of metal in Mell’s arms. “It could be bugged. Magically or mechanically. We don’t want to give our new friends anymore hints about what we’re doing.”
Mell and Xiv nodded in understanding. SenSor was standing with his fingers to his temples. Deep in thought. Shaggy thought the big guy was listening for something. But the way his eyes moved under his eyelids made Shaggy think he was looking for something.
“You okay, Sense?”
“Huh? Yeah. Just going through my memories, trying to find anything useful.”
Shaggy quirked an eyebrow, prompting the big guy to explain further. “I have perfect sensory recall. If I focus, I can go back and try to see if I heard anything. You and Cutie were both on the roofs, fighting. Which is well within my range. Did the soldiers say anything?”
Cutie shook her head as Shaggy nodded. “They spoke to someone at their command. But I couldn’t hear the entire conversation.”
SenSor nodded. “Okay, I’ll focus there.”
“Hey! How about first you help us loot? There’s like twenty of those damn ogre thugs alone. Not to mention all the collateral civilians that got in the way.” Mell complained.
Shaggy nodded. “She ain’t wrong. Let’s wait till we get to Nuc’s. Prioritize Credits. Although, Mell, there’s another set of armor over there.”
“Ohhhh!”
Mell rushed off as Cutie rushed to help. Shaggy and the other started going through pockets. Ears peeled for any signs of cops or supers showing up. But the streets were silent. Even as they finished up and headed back to the Hybrid’s crowded shop. Shaggy tried not to focus on the nagging sense in his brain that was telling him he had found another exciting adventure. His prodigious luck wasn’t that good, was it?