Shaggy quietly shuffled along the eastern wall of the room. Maven and her gang were talking to the head researcher of the Wild Bunch’s underground lab. Probably grabbing some help the little people quest or something. But he wanted nothing to do with this. He was surrounded by a bunch of Bunch thugs and he really didn’t feel like fighting his way out. So instead he was trying to sneak around to one of the entrances the Bunch had used to get the drop on them.

Although he didn’t think he was that successful. Every now and again, some thug would glance his way and glare at him. Shaggy would stare down the jackass and then keep moving. It might have been his shirtless and shoeless state, though. The man-beast form still would take odd bits of clothes with it when it came and went. At this point, Shaggy was sure it was his inner wolf fucking with him.

As he approached the side door on the western wall, Shaggy glanced back at the kids. They were in an animated discussion with the haggard-looking gorgon doctor. For the first time in a while, Maven was smiling as she spoke to the obvious quest-giver. The kids were probably getting some fetch-quest for supplies. Which was no skin off Shaggy’s nose. Hell, he’d be willing to sell them some medical supplies.

Shaggy bounced off something furry as he tried to slide further along the wall. A massive black-furred hand slapped onto his shoulder and Shaggy turned to see its owner. It was an angry-looking ape-man with bared teeth. Shaggy sighed as he brushed off the man’s hand and slinked back along the wall the other way. He’d have to reset and try another exit.

But before he could get real far, the hand was back and a rumbling voice hissed in his ear.

“You killed George.”

Shaggy rolled his eyes and turned back to the talking ape. “No. The dumbass got himself killed.”

“And Lenny.” The ape said, seemingly not hearing Shaggy.

Shaggy scrunched up his face as he tried to remember a person named Lenny. But nothing occurred to him. He had a vague memory of a fight during the stampede. Before he could recall any details, though, a massive fist slammed into the side of his head and sent him reeling into the wall. Shaggy reacted on instinct and pushed off the wall with his hands and spun, fist raised. The ape was rearing back for another punch when Shaggy spun on him and slammed his smaller hand into the ape’s flat face.

A loud crack resounded in the lab and the ape’s head twisted sideways at an unnatural angle. Shaggy winced as he watched the ape-man’s body go limp and fall into a heap. Eyes and heads were turning his way as Shaggy sighed loudly. Wringing out his fist, he glanced around to see everyone looking at him.

“Little disagreement. Nothing to see here.” Shaggy tried.

No one turned away as the doctor seemed to sense the tension in the room. She addressed Shaggy while looking around worriedly.

“I told you if you want to fight, you’ll have to take it outside.”

“Sorry. But he didn’t give me a choice. I was just leaving, though.”

Shaggy turned toward the western door and quickly rushed through. The rush of guards had left the door open when they entered the lab. So Shaggy quickly passed through even as thugs and the doctor shouted at him to stop. He came to a halt just inside the door and swore.

It wasn’t an exit. It was a bunk room… with cages? A slim hand grabbed his shoulder and tried to yank him back out the door. But Shaggy wrenched his shoulder back and moved closer to the far back corner. Three cages sat on either side of the room, cast in dark shadows. The sound of breathing was all Shaggy heard as he got closer. But it was quickly overshadowed by the sound of rushing, stomping feet.

Turning toward the door, Shaggy saw several Bunch thugs pushing their way toward him as the doctor gave him an exhausted look. Shaggy indicated the cages with his head as he eyed the doctor.

“What’s in there, Doc?”

But the gorgon woman remained quiet as two hybrid thugs came at him. Shaggy dodged the snake-lady’s grab as he grabbed the dog-human's wrist. With a jerk, he brought the dog to his knees and glared at the snake while growing out his claws. The room became tense as more Bunch thugs pushed their way in beside the doctor. Shaggy kept his eyes on the doctor until he spotted Maven and her team just behind her.

“ARGHHHHHH!”

An ungodly screech filled the room from behind Shaggy. Whirling around, Shaggy was in time to see something large and slimy slam into the cage walls. It dripped along the bars for a few seconds until it solidified and struck the cage again. Shaggy dropped the dog-man’s wrist as the creature’s wails awoke others within the cages. More and more hybrid creatures yowled as they came awake and attacked the bars of their cages.

Shaggy thought they looked like the normal hybrids that filled the Wild Bunch’s ranks. But they were far more feral. Once he was sure the things weren’t getting out of the cages, Shaggy turned back to the doctor, eyebrow raised.

“Failed subjects.” The gorgon said grimly. “Sometimes the cure isn’t calibrated right or there’s something in the patient we missed. Then the subject goes feral and we have to cage them.”

Shaggy looked back at the cages. “But only two have people in them. What’s the third cage for, Doc?”

The gorgon woman straightened her back as the snakes on her head hissed at Shaggy. “The Wild Bunch has taken to selling the… failed experiments. As watchdogs and guards. It isn’t pretty, but it helps fund my lab. So I facilitate the sells from here.”

Shaggy smirked as he saw the disgruntled looks on everyone’s faces. Trying not to chuckle at the Bunch’s misfortune, he pushed his way toward the door. Once he was standing next to the doctor, Shaggy simply nodded and apologized.

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“Well, sorry. I thought this was an exit.”

The woman’s snake-hair pulled down close to her skull as he got near. But the doctor cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Ahem. Well, the only way out of this facility is through the door you came in. So if you wish to leave, then you ju-”

RING… RING… RING…

A terminal from within the large square lab rang and all the eyes finally left Shaggy. The doctor rushed for the comm as Shaggy joined Maven’s group under the watchful eye of over twenty Bunch thugs. Maven smacked his shoulder with her large metal hand.

“What the hell are you doing? We almost had a mission for these people.”

Shaggy glared up at the large robotic power armor. “I have been at war with these people for a while now. So excuse me if I want to get out while you make nice.”

“War seems a little heavy.” Trevor snorted.

A Perinadon slammed into Shaggy’s shoulder as it went past and Shaggy stuck his leg out. As the large rhino alien went tumbling, Shaggy turned to Trevor.

“Yeah, well, a while back, these guys filled the streets. Rampaging across the neighborhood trying to find me and my guys. We beat them back and killed one of the Wild Bunch’s lieutenants. So you can imagine these people aren’t happy with me.”

Forn nodded as the Perinadon picked itself off the ground and glared at Shaggy. “I can see that. Should we all go then?”

“Naw. Y’all are heroes, and these thugs don’t seem interested in fighting in this room. So grab what quests you can and I’ll just mosey on out of here. But I wouldn’t use the tunnels to get back home.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I am going to be running through them as soon as I leave here.”

“So?” Maven asked.

“So, he’s going to collapse the tunnel when he gets back to his turf.” Trevor nodded.

“Can’t have a tunnel system connecting to warring factions, can I? At least not when the other gang knows about it. Besides, I got bigger fish to fry in my hood.”

Maven sputtered in surprise as Trevor and Forn nodded understandingly. A couple of sharp-eared thugs turned his way. But Shaggy didn’t pay attention to them. Everyone in the room knew that the second he stepped out of it, they would be on him. Although he suspected not, many knew why. Most probably assumed he was from a rival gang or something.

Shaggy and the others pushed their way toward the center of their room, where the doctor was holding a heated conversation with someone. The terminal screen wasn’t on, so they couldn’t see who it was. But by the rough and gravely voice, Shaggy assumed it was an alien.

“Damon, I’ve told you before. We don’t do rush orders. We can’t deliver the Ferals in broad daylight either. So you are just going to have to wait.”

“Damn it, woman! Do you know who you’re fucking with? I need those Ferals for my reinforcements. Whoever is attacking us has already killed five of them!”

“Not my fucking problem, Orc! If you survive, we can talk about purchasing more. If not, I hope your replacement is smarter than you and knows when to double down on an order.” The Gorgon doctor snarled.

With that, the doctor switched off the terminal angrily and spun around. Looking around at all the faces gazing at her, the doctor’s hair hissed.

“Get back to work, you lazy assholes! Nothing to see here now. You can chase the wolf out later.”

Shaggy smirked. “Actually, I’m going to go now.”

The room tensed up at Shaggy’s words and a low snarling was heard beneath the murmuring gang members. Trevor summoned and gripped his bat. But Shaggy shook his head and waved the kid down.

“Naw, Ya’ll relax with your new friend. I’ll meet you back at the deli.”

Forn snapped her eyes at Shaggy and looked worried. But he snorted.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure the Wild Bunch knows exactly where my people are. We beat the shit out of them on our doorstep last time. AND WE’LL DO IT AGAIN!”

Shaggy spun as he shouted at the room. The various hybrids growled and howled at him as he started for the door. Maven and her friends watched him go like they were watching a condemned man walk off to the gallows. But Shaggy merely blew out a breath and grew out his claws. Two aliens were by the front door. One was holding a poleaxe, while the other was rubbing the knuckles on his massive hand.

“We’ll give you a three-second head start, pipsqueak.” Poleaxe said.

It was a large red alien with pointed teeth and slit pupils. His partner was a blue-skinned alien with hands the size of beach balls. Shaggy snorted as he took in the red and blue pair.

“Sure. Thank you so much for that!” Shaggy shouted as he launched himself at the red alien.

Caught off guard, the alien didn’t get his poleaxe up in time, and Shaggy sailed past him. His claws raked across the red guy’s throat, and Shaggy pulled them through the skin as he sailed through the exit. Without looking back, Shaggy rolled down the hall and popped up to his feet at a run. Shouts and screams came from behind him as the Bunch gave chase.

Shaggy ran to the first turn in the maintenance tunnel and spun around. The tunnel behind him was full of hybrids and aliens, all screaming for his head. But thankfully, there was only enough room for them to come at him two at a time. With the corner, Shaggy was hoping to bunch them up. Giving him enough time to slice into a few before he ran again.

The blue alien was the first one on him. His enormous fists were raised and Shaggy had to back step to get around them. The alien did a weird double-punch forward thing as Shaggy dodged back and then jumped. Shaggy brought his claws down on the large blue fists and yanked them out. Several of the blue alien’s fingers hit the ground as he fell away screaming.

A hyena hybrid jumped around the screaming alien and tried to claw Shaggy’s face. But Shaggy let the hit land and kicked out, sending both the blue alien and the hyena into their friends. Bodies piled onto the ground as more Phreaks fell over each other. Shaggy blindly swiped at the few bodies he could reach and then turned to run off again.

Swearing and shouts filled the tunnels. But all Shaggy could do was laugh. He was running for his digital life in some underground tunnels. All the while, his enemies were nipping at his heels. Shaggy could not help himself. He was having the time of his life.