Shaggy’s claws swiped through the air as the swirling blue rings disappeared. “GOD DAMN IT!”

“All your fault.” Rita said, sheathing her sword.

Nearby, Sybil’s green flame spread out in a cone across the narrow alley they had been fighting in. But it was all pointless. The white armored soldiers were gone. They even took their dead with them this time. From above, Ephemara’s groan of consternation mirrored Shaggy’s own.

“Fuck! That was too quick.”

Shaggy and the others glanced up as Sybil stopped spraying her green fire. Ephemara’s sweat-slicked face looked over the edge of the nearby roof. She blew out a puff of air before she jumped over the side. She crashed into a nearby dumpster, sending trash and paper flying into the air. Shaggy grunted and moved closer to help her get out, but the slim woman merely jumped over the side.

She brushed herself off as she explained. “I almost had a sniper when they transported out. I don’t think they are wearing a belt or anything like that. The teleportation has to be magical. Otherwise, the corpses wouldn’t be an afterthought.”

“That’s true.” Sybil agreed. “If the tech was equipment-based, then all the goons would vanish at the same time. Instead, they take the live ones first and then the dead.”

“Or whatever tech is in the armor doesn’t recognize them when they are dead. So they have to activate the teleport on the other side,” Rita said, playing devil’s advocate.

Shaggy shrugged and groaned loudly. “It doesn’t matter! These fucks are everywhere all of a sudden, and no matter how many we kill, they keep popping up.”

They had been traveling the neighborhood for a few hours now. At almost every block, they ran into a group of the white armored troops. Between them, they took out the bastard fairly quickly. But at the end of every fight, the sons of bitches would teleport away. Dead or alive.

“I thought you said this place was crawling with gangs?!” Shaggy shouted.

Sybil grimaced. “A few hours ago, it was. These bastards must have started moving in after you had your little chat with the man in white.”

“That has some disturbing implications.” Rita said.

“Yes, but none of them matter right now. The streets are crawling with an enemy we can’t loot. But at least we can still kill them. What’s the play, boss?”

Shaggy looked at Ephemara and then at the other members of his pack. Sybil and Rita both looked fine compared to the smaller black-haired woman. She was clearly sweating and was trying hard to show it. Shaggy bit the inside of his cheek as he looked around.

“First item of business is making you a full Were. I should’ve done it when the pack size increased, but I just didn’t get around to it.”

“You sure about that, boss? Doesn’t it take a while? I thought that was why you were waiting.”

“Not really.” Sybil answered for him. “It just hurts like hell and you scream your head off. Then when it’s over, you come out of it a Werewolf.”

“But she’s only been Marked for a short time. Doesn’t that have something to do with it?”

“Not really. Mostly, it’s so people get used to the power they are about to wield. Also to see how they fit in with the pack. But with Ephemara, we don’t really need that.”

Ephemara grinned as she clenched her fist. “Oh, I am used to the power by now. I could use an upgrade.”

Shaggy nodded as he waved to an abandoned grocery store on the other side of the street. The small store was sandwiched between a defunct electronics store and a boarded up building. The others followed as Sybil asked.

“Hey, Boss? Will Ephe get any bonuses powers? I mean, I got my flames, Rita got younger, Cekrass got stronger, and Vick got super eyes. I don’t know what Tom got.”

“Tom got the ability to be forgotten, and I didn’t get the super power of growing younger!” Rita snapped.

Shaggy slowed as they got to the grocery’s front door. “Wait. Tom got the power of forgetfulness?”

“No. He got the ability to make people forget him if they aren’t looking directly at him. It’s pretty weak right now, though. That’s why you can find him again if you look.”

“Is that why I keep losing the little bugger?”

“He has to practice it somehow.”

Sybil moved to the grocery’s door and gave it a tug. It rattle without opening and she forcefully put her shoulder into the door’s metal frame. It screeched open with the sound of bending metal and they all froze. Looking up and down the streets, Shaggy sighed as he saw bits of garbage drifting down the empty road.

“So if getting younger wasn’t your power, what is it?”

“I can see the weak points in things.” Rita answered as they all ducked into the store.

“Things?” Ephemara asked.

Rita nodded. “Yeah. Armor, people, buildings, I can just kind of tell where I need to hit something to do the most damage.”

Shaggy grunted as the smell of the grocery store hit them. Luckily, it didn’t smell like any food was left in the store. Even so, the scent of stale air and dust permeated the long squat building. Pushing their way deeper inside, Shaggy wondered why he hadn’t heard about these abilities before.

“Because you never asked, boss. I mean, Sybil’s power was obvious. But did you not think the rest of us would be blessed with other gifts?”

“It never really occurred to me. I mean, being a damn Werewolf is already pretty huge. I didn’t think you’d get little mini-gifts to go along with it.”

“Stanley thinks it’s to help fill out the pack more. Y’know, Vick can scout out enemies, Rita and Cekrass can hit them hard, and I can fry the bastards.”

“Leaving Tom to… What? Hide?”

“Don’t knock it, boss. It’s helped me be a fantastic spy, remember? So we doing this?” Ephemara asked as they arrived at the back of the store.

Shaggy shrugged and waved a hand. “I guess so. You ready? I just need to nip your arm and the change should happen.”

“I’d say brace yourself. But that might make it worse.” Rita added.

“Great.” Ephemara said sarcastically. She rolled up her arm and grimaced as Shaggy approached. “Just get it over with, boss.”

“Look on the bright side,” Sybil said. “You can tell Levy that Boss put his lips on you.”

Ephemara barked out a laugh as Shaggy nipped her forearm with his enlarged canines. Just like with the others, he quickly jammed his teeth in and out of the flesh. Doing his best not to draw too much blood. He straightened up and glared at Sybil as Ephemara twitched. Soon the pale woman was on the broken tiled floor of the grocery store, screaming in pain.

Rita and Sybil winced in sympathy as they watched over Ephe. But Shaggy was busy gazing out the front of the store. He didn’t think anyone else was out there. But he wanted to be sure. Then again, who in their right mind would hear screaming and run toward it?

“Heroes would.” Rita answered his thoughts.

“Shit. Didn’t think of that.” Shaggy grumbled.

“Don’t sweat it, boss. There haven’t been any heroes around here all day. Even with us fighting across the streets and rooftops. No cops either.”

Shaggy quirked an eyebrow. “Isn’t that weird? Shouldn’t we have gotten at least one Supe or cop car by now? I mean, we’ve been fighting like crazy all day.”

Sybil shrugged. “Maybe people just know not to bother with the cops anymore.”

“Or there are not enough people around to care.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Ephemara was calming down as they finished their conversation. Shaggy returned his gaze to the inside of the store. Empty white shelves and steel racks littered the store. Some were turned over, while others stood proud, caked in a thick dust. Shaggy could only guess how long the store had sat empty. A sudden crashing from the far side of the store snapped Shaggy’s attention in that direction.

From where they were standing, the far left wall was crumbling down. But thanks to the shelves and random junk in the store, Shaggy couldn’t see what it was. But he could sure hear and smell them.

“See! Ain’t no one here, Selras. We need to go ‘fore them white soldiers come back.”

“Fuck you, Rich. Someone’s here. I know it. They were torturing someone, and I want to know why.”

“Sel, we just lost half our crew to a bunch of them soldiers. We need to get out of this neighborhood. NOW!”

“Lupe, if you and Rich want to bitch out. Go ahead. But the rest of us are going to stake our claim to this place and rule over this entire hood.”

“Yippee, you’ll be the king of the trash pile.”

The gangsters continued arguing as Shaggy glanced at his pack mates. Ephemara looked a little punch drunk. But Rita and Sybil helped her to her feet. Putting a finger to his lips, Shaggy crouched low and moved closer. He felt Rita draw her sword and follow as Sybil steadied Ephemara. Once the pale woman was lucid again, they followed along.

Shaggy crouch-walked around a set of stacked shopping carts and tried to get a better vantage point. It sounded like there were at least three of them. But Shaggy’s sense of smell was swirling with color. Trying to count the strands, Shaggy figured there were at least twelve of the thugs in the store. All ready and willing to fight. Although Shaggy thought he smelled fear on at least three of them.

With a sudden jolt that made Shaggy stifle a gasp, his vision tunnel. He momentarily thought he was under attack, but a familiar feeling brush up against his mind. With a tugging sensation, Shaggy felt his point of view shift and he was suddenly across the store, looking straight at the band of goons. The air around his view shifted and moved as whatever was controlling his vision moved. A smug feeling came down his pack link and Shaggy realized Ephemara was sharing her sight with him.

Turning, Shaggy pulled his attention from the connection and looked back. Rita and Sybil had their eyes closed and apparently were viewing the same thing. When they pulled out of it, Shaggy grinned and waved them across the store. They would spread out and then hit the bastards hard. Affirmative feelings came from his pack, and Shaggy swung wide along the south of the store. Thankfully, the yahoos stayed near the hole they had made in the wall, arguing. Shaggy was about to pounce when the one named Selras spoke.

“Look, I don’t give a shit if you want to leave. You know the rules. You want out of the gang, you hand over your shit and go through the gauntlet. If you want to do that shit now, I got no problem running you through.”

“Fuck you, Selras. I’m keeping my shit.” The shorter human man said. Shaggy figured that was Rich.

Selras, enormous frame almost covered the hole they had made in the store. His red face and bushy black beard were glaring down at the shorter Rich. Next to the human man was an alien woman with large bug eyes. She glared defiantly back at Selras. But the remaining thugs were all tacitly looking away. Not trying to draw the ire of their leader.

“If you’re not going to obey the rules of the gang, then you know the consequences. For you and your alien bitch.”

“Boss…” One of the alien thugs said, as it scanned the store. “We’ve still got enemies in here.”

“Fuck you, Tone. I need to handle this insubordination!”

Shaggy didn’t let the conversation go on further. Giving the mental order, Shaggy felt his whole pack move as one. Rita leapt over a shelving unit as Ephemara appeared next to Selras. Sybil was just behind Rita as Shaggy pounced. His target was the thin alien Selras had called Tone. But the alien was apparently waiting for something to happen.

As soon as Shaggy was airborne, the alien spun and opened its mouth wide. Shaggy had enough time to see Ephemara rip Selras’ throat out before a wave of sound slammed into him. Shaggy was flung bodily through the air. Thankfully, the force of the blow didn’t send him spinning, but he felt blood trailing down his neck from his ears. A high-pitched ringing had replaced all sound as Shaggy crashed into the freezer cabinets at the back of the store.

Shaggy growled as he grew his claws and charged back in. His hearing healing and the sounds battle coming in clear now. Screams and shouts went up as Shaggy crashed through the random junk in his way. As he got back to the fight, he saw Tone was unconscious on the ground, Sybil and Rita were fighting their own battles, and Ephemara was gone again.

Shaggy dove back in, claws ready. He slammed into the side of a Perinadon, his claws easily scything through the rhino-alien’s tough flesh. They both went down in a pile as Shaggy wrenched his claws free and looked around. A flash of red momentarily blinded him as a hot feeling started in his chest. Looking down, Shaggy saw that his white t-shirt now had a hole in it. He found the source of the attack a short distance away. A tan alien with glowing red eyes was sweeping his vision across the store, a red laser shooting from his eyes and cutting through everything.

Shaggy charged the guy and brought his claws up and through the man’s thigh. As the man screamed, Shaggy saw surprise in the alien’s eyes. Shaggy raised his left claw and sliced through the man’s chest as he fell to the floor. Toward the front of the store, Shaggy saw Rich and Lupe cowering, trying to make a run for the door.

Shaggy sent a mental order to his pack to not let them escape. He got confirmation from Ephe and Rita, but Sybil just set the front of the store on fire. The couple froze as green flame engulfed the front door. Shaggy grimaced as he ducked around a troll-looking alien’s lanky arms. Sybil sent him unapologetic feelings as he sliced his claws into the blue-alien’s thin chest.

Shaggy felt a notification, trying to push its way into his vision. But he ignored it and pulled his claws through the thin alien’s body. Bisected, the troll-thing screams petered out, and it fell to the floor. Nearby, Rita was slamming her sword into the rock body of another gang member. With every swing, she cut sheets of rock off the mutant. The guy underneath all the rock armor was hurriedly trying to get his defenses back up. But Rita’s sword found a crack in the rock and she stabbed her sword through, cutting the guy’s neck.

Rocks tumbled through the store as everyone else stopped fighting. At this point, there were only two of Selras’ crew left. Not counting Rich and Lupe. The last two thugs, a pair of insectoid aliens, had their arms raised in surrender. Shaggy looked at his pack. They were all glaring at the two insectoid aliens. Waiting for the word.

Shaggy wasn’t sure what to do. Part of him wanted to slice all of them up and move on. But something at the back of his mind was telling him to make use of these people. They’d been in the neighborhood. Maybe they had seen things. Groaning from the floor made Shaggy look down, and he saw Tone start to get up. Shaggy realized that the thin, furry alien was some kind of wingless bat. Tone rolled onto his back, revealing a short snout of a nose and beady, black eyes.

Shaggy leaned over the groaning Tone. “Hey. Want to chat?”

“Um… can you please not kill us?” Rich said, from his place near the wall. “I mean, we didn’t want to do this, anyway.”

Lupe nodded as Rich spoke. Shaggy glanced and Rita and Sybil. Getting his orders, both women sighed and moved to guard the couple. Sybil absorbed her flames back into her hands as Ephemara moved to confer with Shaggy. She kept an eye on the two chittering aliens by the hole in the wall. Each insectoid alien was glaring at them, but they didn’t seem to want to make a break for it. Shaggy noticed little similarities between each alien when Tone grunted.

“Fucking get it over with already. I got nothing to say to you, Supe.”

Shaggy chortled. “Do I look like a registered Supe to you? I mean, how many people are going to make that mistake?”

“To be fair, boss, you don’t have the bearing of a villain.” Sybil remarked.

“What the hell does that mean?”

Rita gripped Rich’s arm and brought him closer as Lupe followed. “Well, for one, a remark like Sybil just made usually gets you beaten. But that’s not your style.”

Shaggy scrunched up his nose. “How the fuck does that make sense? That just breeds aggression and strife within the group. I need you people on my side.”

“We know how you work, boss. We’re just telling ya how it is.” Ephemara said, waving a hand for the insectoids to approach.

Soon Shaggy had the remains of Selras’ crew arrayed before him. Tone was still on the ground, looking confused. Rich and Lupe looked scared as they huddled together. But the two insectoids had lowered their arms and crossed them across their large chests. Their red and green exoskeletons reminded Shaggy of Dave’s armor. Except for the alien’s obvious pincer jaws and ant-like eyes.

“So, who the hell are you?”

Shaggy returned his glance down to Tone. “Glad you asked. My name is Shaggy, one of the leaders of the Legion. We’ve been looking to expand into this territory. But between you small-timers and the yahoos in white, things have gotten kind of tricky.”

Tone gave him a weary look as he sat up. His little bat fangs trembled as he glanced around at the destruction. “Well, you’ve certainly fucked our crew to hell. So what do you want now? We ain’t got much money.”

The mention of credits reminded Shaggy about loot. His thoughts sparked Sybil into movement as the short blonde woman started checking corpses. Shaggy nodded idly as he thought about what he wanted to ask.

“Well, I was hoping you could give me some information about the area. We got a foothold in a week or so back. But now we show up and the place is a damn wasteland. Is this all from the Bunch moving out?”

The two insectoid aliens chittered angrily at the mention of the Wild Bunch. But they didn’t make any other moves. Tone glanced at them before he answered Shaggy.

“Until a few hours ago, this ‘wasteland’ was a crew’s paradise. Kek’zar was throwing weapons at anyone that wanted them. The civilians stupid enough to still be here would kick up credits to whoever was currently ruling the block. Now though? It’s a fucking shitshow. These fools in white are teleporting in everywhere. Crews are dropping like flies.”

“It was Kek’zar market.” Rich added. “Someone crashed the joint. Now Kek’zar’s backers are moving in. I told Selras we needed to leave. There are better credits to be made in other neighborhoods.”

“Yeah.” Lupe said, speaking up. “With those white troops hoarding all of Kek’zar’s weapons, the rest of us don’t stand a chance.”

Shaggy snapped his eyes up to the bugged-eyed woman. She shrunk inward under Shaggy’s gaze before she straightened up and glared back. He felt a smile tug at his lips as a thought occurred to him. Rich seemed to read his mind as he got in front of Lupe.

“I wouldn’t think about it. The place is a damn fortress, and they looked like they were moving everything out of the place.”

“When was this?” Shaggy asked, the smile not leaving his face.

Lupe and Rich shared a look with Tone. The bat-faced alien scratched his chin. “About twenty minutes ago. The place isn’t far. But Rich is right. The warehouse is a fortress that you can only get to through a narrow alleyway. They got it trapped and guarded like crazy as they move Kek’Zar’s weapons. It’s suicide.”

“Uh-oh.” Rita joked. “You just said the secret word.”

“Yeah, no stopping him now.” Ephemara agreed.

Shaggy gave both women a mock glare before he turned his best smile on Tone, Rich and Lupe. For some reason, each one of them winced as his smile swept over each of them.

“Don’t worry about us. Please tell me everything you know about this dangerous warehouse full of energy weapons.”

Shaggy saw Tone gulp in fear as Rich and Lupe huddled closer together. He didn’t know why, but his inner-wolf howled at the prey cowering before him. But Shaggy figured that a happy wolf was a good thing, right?