Shaggy adjusted the guard helmet on his head. The thing was bulky and didn’t fit his head well. Not to mention the smell. It was like old sweat and wet hair and it stung his nose something awful. But as he made his way out of the laundry, it was indispensable. Even more so when he found the radio function.

“D-block has been pacified. All suppression troops move to C and B blocks,” said a voice in Shaggy’s ear.

The prison’s central command was back up and working. But they weren’t a hundred percent yet. They had lost contact with several guard teams and an entire platoon of guards were currently moving Wally Wondrous to magical containment. So the guards were stretched thin. With D-block taken care of, though, that meant a whole slew of guards were coming his way.

He had exited the laundry after killing the Stoat player and rushed up the nearest staircase to the main floor. Once there, he used the handy colored lines on the floor to direct him to B-Block. But getting there was proving tricky. Everywhere he looked, squads of guards were either running for their lives or toward something dangerous. The prisoners were out, and that was not a good thing for Shaggy.

“DIE!”

An alien prisoner in a beige jumpsuit swung his arms at Shaggy. The alien’s arms whipped around like vines as the alien tried to take his head off. Shaggy ducked and rolled in his clunky guard armor as all around him, other fights were going on. He came out of his roll and stabbed the prisoner in the side with his shock baton. The prisoner went rigid and tumbled to the floor. Before the C-block prisoner was fully prone, he was tackled by two other guards. They wrestled his long vine-like arms around and started cuffing him.

“We’ve got this. Move on to the next hall.”

Shaggy merely waved his hand in acknowledgment and hurried along. It wasn’t the first time he’d helped the guards, and it wouldn’t be the last. But each time, his heart leapt into his throat. If anyone cared to take a deeper look, they’d see that his armor didn’t fit him quite right, and he wasn’t using any powers or abilities like some of the other guards. It was a running melee all throughout the halls and the closer he got to B-block, the harder the fighting got.

C-block had its bad-asses, but the B-block crowd was made of sterner stuff. Even without their powers, they could toss a squad of guards to the ground easily. But, surprisingly, the denizens of B-block were also using the riot to settle old scores. So they were taking each other out just as much as they were beating guards.

Shaggy spotted another beige-suited prisoner go down in a sea of guards. Tackled, cuffed, and shoved to the side of the hall. He gave the group a quick nod and continued down the hall. He took the next turn, still following the lines leading to B-block. But he could hear the sounds of fighting growing louder as he approached the first entrapment area. At least he was back in recognizable territory.

As he charged the first door to the area, he could already see a swarm of guards trying to push prisoners back down the hall. Punches were being thrown, shock batons were used, and Shaggy even saw one guard toss a ball of swirling air at the crowd. As the swirling ball hit the mass of people, both prisoners and guards hit the ground. A high-pitched wail filled the halls and everyone clenched their teeth against the noise.

Shaggy bit his own cheek against the pain of the noise as he continued to run. With all the guards and prisoners down, he had an opening to charge through. Multiple voices screamed at him to not be a hero as he jumped over prone guards and prisoners before hitting the entrapment door. Some of the prisoners were already pushing back toward him, and Shaggy swiped his baton at them.

It took multiple shocks to send some of the B-block inmates down, but Shaggy managed to shove his way through the first door. However, that meant now he was in an enclosed space with a bunch of prisoners that wanted to kill him. The door behind him slammed shut as Shaggy jabbed his baton into every torso that got close. A huge b-block alien shrugged off the electricity and reached for him, but Shaggy crouched low and slid passed.

With the baton’s stun function useless on a lot of them, Shaggy took to beating people with the metal baton. He smacked a blue-skinned alien in the teeth with the baton and stepped over them as a loud buzz filled the entrapment room. Suddenly the prisoners seemed to swell up as the opposite door opened and more prisoners from B-block came through. Shaggy growled angrily as the press of bodies now pummeling him. But between his natural armor and the stuff he was wearing, he could take a lot of punishment.

Shaggy pressed on through the crowd, even as hands and claws tried to grab him. He continually had to beat back prisoners with the baton. But that only lasted until a large human in a blue prison jumpsuit finally grabbed Shaggy. The prisoner lifted Shaggy into the air, his arms clamped to his side as the other prisoners roared in triumph. Shaggy wriggled and kicked as others tried to close in on him. The huge prisoner holding him was squeezing his arms tight, trying to break Shaggy’s arms.

“Close the door! This one won’t open while that one is closed.”

“Fuck that, break it down!”

“Kill the pig first!”

“Shoot him!”

“Slit his throat!”

“Open the door!”

The prisoner’s screams echoed in Shaggy’s ears and he could see a few closing the entrapment door. If that one shut, he’d be stuck in the entrapment area with the prisoners again. But he couldn’t get an angle on his attacker. He was being lifted into the air by his arms and he had no way of attacking the big prisoner. In fact, keeping the other prisoners away was taking all of his energy. Also, being squeezed to death wasn’t making things easier.

Shaggy had resigned himself to being squished and then stomped to death when an alert came over his helmet’s headset.

“ALERT! ALERT! Wally Wondrous has broken containment. Prepare for reality-bending. All mages proceed to magical containment! I repeat! Wally Wondrous has broken containment!”

Everyone in the entrapment area froze. Apparently, the alert had been loud enough for even the prisoners to hear. Because they were now all staring at Shaggy. He continued to try to wrestle free of the hands holding him, but the grip around him remained firm even as the prisoners started to panic.

“What the fuck does that mean!?”

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“Get us the fuck out of here!”

“Kill that damn guard!”

“Am I going to be a gnome again?!”

The air rippled all around and Shaggy felt his stomach lurch as something hit him. The shouts and cries in the room grew into screeches and growls as the hands holding him grew furry. Shaggy felt his body become thin and wiry again as his skin turned green. His sudden change in physique allowed him to slip from his hold, and before he knew what he was doing, Shaggy was running.

All around him, goblins, orcs, and fairies flitted about. They bumped into each other and growled and roared. Some seemed to be looking around for him. But he figured he looked like every other goblin in the small room. Until a giant pink orc smacked him in the head. Shaggy felt his body smack into the ground and he slid into the legs of the other fantastical creatures. Shaggy shook off the hit and looked around, trying to figure out how he was spotted. Then he realized he was wearing armor.

It wasn’t the same as the guard’s armor he had been wearing. Instead, it was the more typical fantasy armor one would association with goblins and orcs. Shaggy started to rip the armor off, even as others noticed the discrepancy. Claws and hands grabbed at him, but he threw them off as he got rid of the armor. Shaggy could still see the door, too. It was wide open, and a mass of goblins, gnomes, and orcs were just beyond it.

A claw to his face drew blood, and Shaggy bit at the offending finger. It was gone as quick as it came and Shaggy focused on the door. His window into freedom and safety back in his cell. As he went, he vindictively slashed at every limb that came his way with his goblin claws. They were nowhere near as good as his regular ones, but they did the job just fine. Green and blue blood flew everywhere as Shaggy cut and was cut in return. He even took a few more smacks about the face and shoulders before he finally made it to the door.

He kicked the few goblins out of the way of the door and rushed through, slamming it shut behind him. There was still a sea of orcs, goblins, gnomes, and fairies glaring at him. But he was one step closer to his cell. He had another long hallway and one more gate to fight his way through. That’s when the world abruptly shifted again.

Some goblins had thrown themselves at Shaggy and he was defending himself when the claws raking through his flesh became hands. They swiped ineffectually across his jumpsuit, and Shaggy instinctively struck out. Slamming his fist into the prisoner’s face and crunching his nose. Gasps of alarm went out across the prisoners and Shaggy slumped back against the door as a wave of tiredness hit him. He saw several other prisoners do the same, but they rallied back to their feet and charged.

Shaggy lifted his fists and waited, but all the prisoners passed him. Heading instead for the entrapment door. He sighed. He had taken off the guard armor. They could see he was a prisoner now. Shaggy rolled his eyes and started toward his cell block. But a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to spin him around.

“What the fuck, dude?! Why’d you hit me?”

“Cause you tried to claw my face off, asshole!” Shaggy snapped back tiredly.

“Everyone else was attacking you!”

Shaggy spun around toward the prisoner, grabbing him and raised a fist. The bloody-nosed prisoner quickly let go and hurried to follow the others through the entrapment door. He could already hear the mass of prisoners complaining about the door being opened. So shaggy slammed it shut and staggered off down the hall. As he went, he spotted several dead guards lying about the place. As well as a few prisoners.

The riot was still in full swing, and Wally’s escape probably hadn’t helped things along. All around, prisoners were settling scores and setting fires. Shaggy even spotted a few trying to scale the walls toward the windows. He ignored those that ignored him. But there were a few that were so hopped up on adrenaline and feeling fight-y which tried him. He broke a few more noses and one leg as he made his way down the cell block.

He felt eyes on him as he got closer to his cell and looked around. A blue alien with scaly skin and a human face was on the third floor of the cell block glaring down at him and Shaggy returned the stare. The man was just sitting there, letting his feet dangle off the edge of the walkway. He had been watching the chaos until, apparently; he spotted Shaggy. The two glared at each other for a short time until Shaggy snorted and looked away.

He wagered he made for an odd figure. He was the lone prisoner heading back to his cell. Everyone else was celebrating the riot, but he just wanted to sleep. The smells of burning mattresses and sweaty prisoners were getting to him. And he still had to hunt down his damn target. He could only hope that Duke hadn’t slipped away in all the chaos.

Finally, Shaggy staggered up to his cell and slowly wrenched the door open. The loud squealing door drew a few eyes. But Shaggy ignored them as he focused on getting inside and getting to bed. When the door was open enough, Shaggy slipped in and closed it hurriedly. He didn’t need any rambunctious bastard in his cell. He collapsed on his bed and rubbed his temples as the sounds from outside became a distant memory.

“Good Job!” Obadiah's voice said.

Shaggy didn’t stop rubbing his eyes. “That was a pain in the ass.”

“But you did it. We’ve got what we were looking for and the prison is none the wiser. In fact, all of tonight’s festivities will be blamed on Wally Wondrous.”

“Whoopee.”

“However, there was one minor hiccup.”

“Obadiah, I just don’t care. Okay? I’ve been beaten, stabbed, scratched, nearly strangled, and my arm is fucking killing me. So, can this shit wait?”

“No, it can’t. Apparently, one of your pack injured Agent Two.”

Shaggy sat up in the bed and spun toward the holo-screen. “And what, pray-tell, was Agent Anime Swords doing near my pack?”

“Your associate, a Mr. Vick I believe, was stationed outside the prison. Once the riot started, he took it upon himself to try and get into the prison. I dispatched Agent Two to stop him.”

“Pfft! How did that work for you?” Shaggy snorted and laid back down.

“He broke Two’s arm and then ran away!”

“And I knocked the dumbass out. You should really think about hiring a better class of agent, Obi.”

Obadiah sputtered angrily for a few seconds before he collected himself. “What was your man doing outside the prison, Shaggy?”

“Watching my back.”

“I have agents watching your back.”

“Well, my own people didn’t trust your people. Say, did Captain Ginsu knives identify himself before trying to stop Vick?”

Obadiah peered off the screen for a second before rolling his eyes. “No.”

“Well, there ya go. It’s your man’s fault.”

“We are not in the habit of shouting our credentials when we meet a threat, Shaggy!”

“Fair enough.” Shaggy said, yawning and getting comfortable on his crappy bed. “But I would expect a few more wolves to show up soon.”

“And you have no interest in stopping them?”

“Not particularly. This job’s a pain in the ass.”

“Well, I got good news on that front.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes, Duke’s transfer has been moved to tomorrow. If the HLO is going to try anything, it’ll be then.”

“How do we know Wally didn’t let him out?”

“A-block is heavily warded with fail-safes in place. Mr. Wondrous did a number on the prisons security system. But the first thing the guards did was lock down A-Block and activate the sedative gas in that part of the prison.”

“Sounds like they could use some of that in B-Block.” Shaggy chuckled.

“The guards had things under control until Mr. Wondrous broke out of his mental inhibitor and escaped.”

“Oh, Wally escaped? That’s nice.”

“He is a magician with reality-warping powers and puckish view of law and order. I wouldn’t call him being loose, nice.”

“Yeah, well, he didn’t save your ass twice tonight. If I ever meet him, I’ll buy the guy a beer.”

“Ohhh! That sounds nice. Let’s call it a date!” A high-pitched voice squealed in Shaggy’s cell.

He jumped up from his bed as Obadiah shut off his screen. But no one was in the cell except Shaggy. He spun in place, looking for the source of the voice, but they said nothing more. Instead, a tiny black business card appeared in the air over Shaggy’s head. It floated down gently as an impossible wind blew through Shaggy’s sealed cell. He reached out and grabbed the card, and a blue tendril of magic caressed his knuckles. He twisted the card to look at its front and Shaggy grinned.

Greetings!

Wally Wondrous accepts your invitation to imbibe libations at your earliest convenience. Please do not hesitant to call and arrange the hour of our meeting. I shall be waiting with bated breath. And I shan’t ever be far.

Yours, Wally Wondrous.