Shaggy rubbed his face and groaned as the sounds of Lackeys came and went. He leaned up against the deli counter and put his head down. Trying not to imagine the shitstorm that was coming their way. Fighting off a cabal of unknown soldiers was one thing, but going against the HLO was a headache Shaggy didn’t want.
He was too familiar with their practices in-game. But Shaggy knew enough to realize how big the Hero bureaucracy was. The giant corpo-government entity spanned the entire world in the game and they managed all Supers. Whenever players logged in, they had a few choices: join the HLO as a registered Super, go dark and become a villain, or become an unregistered vigilante. Shaggy wasn’t aware of anyone that had gone the Vigilante route. Word was that the HLO stomped them out just as hard as they did Villains.
But the genuine power within the HLO was their close ties to the government. Not only did they have their backing. But they had their money, their resources and their people at times. The two entities were so entwined at this point that taking on one would soon bring the eye of the other. Shaggy was sure he did not want to screw with the world government. At least not yet.
“Boss...it’s… not that bad.” Cekrass tried and failed to cheer him up.
Shaggy could feel the big lizard’s earnestness, so he didn’t snap at him. Instead, he slammed his head on the counter and tried to think of a way around this. He heard the sounds of footsteps all around as the Lackeys moved crates of weapons down to the cave. It wouldn’t be enough. Nothing they did would be enough, not against the HLO. Sure, the troops in white were a pain in the ass. But that was just the appetizer. If the HLO couldn’t excise them with those forces, then they’d probably send something else.
“Vick,” Shaggy asked, sighing. “Could you go and get my wife, please? I think this is a conversation for a smarter brain than mine.”
Vick said nothing as he took another drag on his cigarette. He gave Shaggy a slow nod before he followed the latest batch of Lackeys down. Cekrass gave him a few pats on the back and tried to take his mind off what he had just discovered.
“Come on, boss. Why don’t you take a look around? We’ve fixed the place up pretty well. I mean, we still need to fix the broken tiles and the windows. But we cleaned the place up, right?”
Shaggy gave the big scaly oaf a grin as he let himself be led around. Cekrass wasn’t wrong. Aside from the obvious broken bits of furniture, the deli was coming along. He headed to the back kitchen to check the meat locker and the preparation table. But he spotted something in the deli’s main office that made him freeze. A sleek silver terminal was sticking up from the ground, on the opposite side of the room from the office’s broken desk.
Cekrass noticed he stopped and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Yeah, sorry. We haven’t gotten that desk out yet. Vick said we might be able to fix it. So we didn’t want to just throw it out.”
Shaggy nodded dumbly as he kept his eyes locked on the terminal. With an almost reverence, he slid his hands over the things holographic keyboard. The things blue-screen interface came alive and Shaggy was inundated with windows.
Business Acquired
Business Type: Deli
Power Supply: City
Product: Meat
Income: 0 credits
Expenses: 400 credits (Business License)
300 credits (Occupancy Certificate)
100 credits (Food Handling)
1000 credits (Utilities)
Employees: 0
Current Operation status: Illegal
Click here to start paperwork for legal status.
Notification
You’re currently in possession of an illegal business. You can continue to operate as you see fit. However, the government will eventually be notified of your illegal operation. If you wish to continue operation, you need to file all the required paperwork with the city. If you have any outstanding warrants or are otherwise engaged in criminal activity, this will be held against you when applying for a permit. Please refer to the Players Guide to fully understand Player owned businesses in Modern Age Online.
Shaggy grimaced as he swiped the two screens away and tried to dive into the terminal’s menus. But much of the menus were blocked off from him. Unlike in Under-Town, businesses topside apparently had a whole host of rules they had to jump through. Shaggy had every intention of operating the deli business illegally. But with the news about the HLO and their plans, he wasn’t even sure if they were going to stay, much less keep a business.
He rubbed a hand down his face. Suddenly exhausted. Part of him wanted to say ‘fuck it’ and book it back to Under-Town. But another part of him was screaming at him to stick it out and see where things went. The HLO was being extremely heavy-handed now, but how long could they keep that up? They didn’t want vids of armored troops marching down the streets. Who was to say they would even pick this area, anyway? Shaggy mused.
But he soon shook that hopeful thought away. Knowing his luck, the bastards were coming, and they were more than willing to play dirty while smiling at the cameras. Again, Shaggy felt the urge to just bail. But an even stronger urge was growing in the pit of his stomach. He had already smacked a well-known villain to the curb. How would it feel to give the HLO a cut lip? Sure, they were this monolithic organization in the game. But so what? Wasn’t challenging such forces the point in not only playing games. But being a villain was well.
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Shaggy rubbed his hands together as he tried again to think of ways to fuck with the HLO.
“Dear. You have that creepy look on your face again.” Levy said from the doorway.
Shaggy snorted. “You married that creepy face. So what does that say about you?”
Levy shrugged. “I’m a freak. What can I say? So what did you find?”
She walked over to look at the terminal. She silently read the notifications on the screen and let out a low whistle. Rubbing Shaggy’s shoulders, she asked.
“So, are we operating illegally, then?”
“That was the plan. But some new information has come to light that is going to make that tricky.”
“Those new soldiers being more trouble than we thought?”
“Bigger than that.” Shaggy said, switching the terminal to in-game mode.
He brought up the recent newscast and played it for Levy. She watched in silence as the HLO leader and the mayor of Austin traipsed about their new neighborhood. When Mr. White appeared on-screen, whispering in Ozarious’ ear, Shaggy paused and pointed the alien out.
“That’s the Mr. White that threatened us.”
Levy’s eyes took in the man’s features and then moved to Ozarious. Her mind clearly working out the problem.
“We’re screwed.” She said simply.
“Yeah, that was my thought.” Shaggy nodded.
“But you don’t seem that worried.”
Shaggy waggled his head noncommittally. “Yes, and no. If I’ve read the situation right. Mr. White is strong-arming people out of this neighborhood to make way for the HLO’s new Academy. Now if that was public knowledge, the bastards would be in hot water. Regardless of their connections. The court of public opinion would fry them.”
“So Ozarious has his man doing things on the DL. Which means that they can’t be too overt about what they are doing. They still have the superior force. If we try to outfight them, we’ll get annihilated in a war of attrition.”
Shaggy ran his hands through his messy hair. “I know! But I was thinking maybe if we recorded some of the goings on around the neighborhood. That might get them to back off. You know, post things on the games version of social media? We could start an online campaign to save the neighborhood?”
“That’s going to bring a lot of attention to us, Shaggy. We’re criminals. We absolutely don’t want that.”
“Argh! I know. But I can’t think of anything else. Unless we pick up and move. But then we’d be starting from square one again. We’d have to pack our shit and move out of the cave, or maybe seal up some tunnels. But then we’d be operating under a damn Hero Academy. Whatever the fuck this is.”
He and Levy fell into silence as they consider the problem. Shaggy was getting a headache at the thought of moving all their people and shit to another venue. It was going to be a pain in the ass, and the feeling in his stomach was still roiling. His inner wolf was damn near rebelling at the thought of backing down. It also left a sour taste in Shaggy’s mouth, but he didn’t know how to come at the problem.
“What if…” Levy started. “What if we went legit?”
Shaggy raised an eyebrow and Levy put up a hand to stall any complaints. “I mean, just on paper. Why don’t we do everything above board while we are topside? The business, the people, the paperwork. Everything! If the HLO is going to be underhanded, why don’t we try to keep things on the up and up?”
“I am literally a recognized criminal, babe. They’d throw me in jail the first chance they got.”
Levy put her chin in her hand as she thought through the problem out loud. “True. But what do they have on you? Really? A few counts of vigilantism? Maybe evading arrest?”
“Murder, Grand theft auto, endangering minors, unlawful transformation, assault. The list goes on, Levy.” Shaggy sighed happily.
Levy rolled her eyes at him. “How much of that can they prove, though?”
Shaggy racked his brain as he thought about all the villainous shit he had done. A lot of it had been behind the scenes. There was the riot when the Wild Bunch stampeded through the area. Also, he had escaped police custody that one time. Not to mention his little jaunt through the city as a werewolf. When he brought these instances up to Levy, though, his wife smiled.
“That’s nothing, love. I mean vigilantism and escaping custody? We can argue those away, I’d bet. I mean, we tell them that the police convoy was hit by some random gang and you went into hiding.”
“And my escape from prison? I mean, that one is pretty hard to argue. Not to mention my brief run through the city way back when.”
“That was before your upgrades, though. You were still a brown wolf at that point. But you’re not anymore. A good lawyer could get that dismissed, I bet. Besides, this is only if the police come calling. Until then, we operate everything by the books. We can even use the Lackeys as the front people for the businesses. We can keep ourselves behind the scenes as silent partners.”
Shaggy chewed on the thought as his inner wolf hummed happily. Both he and it were somewhat satiated by the thought of not running away. He wasn’t as sure as Levy about him being able to beat his criminal wrap. He had been fairly prolific in his villainous activities. In fact, he wagered he was at least a B-Tier threat now. They weren’t just going to ignore a B-Tier threat out in their neighborhood. But her plan to use the Lackeys was a good one.
As he fully considered the plan, Levy moved to the terminal and hit a few keys. After a bit, she pointed at the holo-screen.
“Dear, what is this A-Class meat we apparently have in the store?”
Shaggy blinked. “What?”
“We have something classified as A-Class Chimera meat in our store right now.”
Shaggy blinked for a few seconds before he hurried out of the office. Sprinting through the small kitchen, Shaggy leapt the front counter and raised his hands.
“Everyone freeze!”
All the Lackeys in the store froze, arms weighed down by the crates they were carrying. Shaggy scanned them all before he spotted the crate he was looking for. The black-metal spatial crate was held between two large alien Lackeys. Pointing a finger at the pair, Shaggy waved them over.
“You two, I want that crate in the freezer asap. Where’s the other one?”
“Uhh, I think it’s down in the cave, boss.” Said another Lackey.
“Well, get it and bring it back up. That’s some high-grade meat. We’re going to need it for the store.”
After getting a few affirmatives, Shaggy turned back to the deli counter. Levy and Cekrass were standing there, staring as the Lackeys got back to work. With a sigh, Shaggy propped his arm on the countertop and looked around. The place still needed a bunch of work. But with the terminal now up and running, they might be able to get a lot of done with the judicious use of credits. Smiling up at his wife, Shaggy said.
“You know, love. I think we might just be able to do this. We are going to have to keep our proverbial noses clean. But I think we should take a run at it.”
“Indeed. So who do we want to use to run this little shop? None of your pack either. We want to keep our businesses away from your known associates.”
Shaggy sighed as he looked around the shop. Lackeys were still moving crates around, even as the sky grew darker outside. They were going to have to grab someone and input their information into the terminal. But it was a good smokescreen for their actual dealings. He was still a little apprehensive about going against the HLO. But Shaggy couldn’t deny the thrill it gave both his Gamer senses and his inner wolf. Toppling giants is want Gamers did or, at the very least, they’d give the damn bastards a black eye.