Shaggy shifted the piece of sheet metal out of place and threw it to the ground. Nearby the Lackeys were moving more pieces of the metal toward the outside alley. They had been replacing the deteriorated pieces of wall for an hour now. Ever since they had finished cleaning up inside.

The interior hadn’t been that difficult to get cleaned up. But throwing away all the broken or slightly damaged tables and chairs had been a pain in the ass. There wasn’t exactly a junk yard nearby. So he and the Lackeys had taken to throwing all the trash right out in front of the bar, at least for now. Shaggy really wanted to do something about the dirt floor of the bar, but the only material they had to work with was sheet metal.

He had made a mental note to find a source of wood or brick. But he quickly put it aside as they started replacing walls. Vlad had knocked down empty buildings around the front of the bar, creating an extensive square area. If someone lived in the house, Vlad gave them a few hundred credits and politely asked them to move. If they didn’t, well, that’s when Vlad got a little bitey.

But with the vampire providing a big selection of metal sheets, Shaggy and the others could quickly get to work. As they did, Shaggy noted how flimsy the walls were without studs or any sort of brace to them, so he started using anything he could to brace the walls. It was still a giant metal rectangle, but at least now it wasn’t as slanted. After he finished attaching two metal wall sheets to his makeshift stud with some nails they had found. Shaggy looked over his work.

It was still a mess, but they had at least finished what they were doing. Shaggy was kind of proud of all of them. He was basking in the glow of his hard work when Vlad appeared next to him. The vampire looked a little bemused as he scanned over the building.

“You know, I just had a thought.” Vlad started.

Shaggy raised an eyebrow in question, making Vlad scratch the back of his head, embarrassed.

“You know, once Blobby gets back with a builder, we might have to redo everything.”

Shaggy looked back and forth between Vlad, the bar, and the Lackeys who were nearby and had also overheard the vampire. Their fatigued, cheerful faces quickly soured, and Shaggy sighed loudly. He dropped his head and raised a finger. Waving the finger in a circle, he shouted.

“Okay, boys, wrap it up. Everyone back inside.”

Vlad tried to apologize as all of them slowly trudged back into the bar. Blue was setting a jug of water on one of the few good tables they had. They only had a few good mugs, so the Lackeys had to share. Nearby Petra went over something on her Data-tablet. The NPC gave Shaggy a curt nod as he sat down and drank some water. Vlad came in right behind them and sat with Shaggy.

“So now what?” Shaggy asked, annoyed.

Vlad shrugged. “Dude, it’s guard duty. You stay here and guard.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve been working the block. There are not too many gangsters around anymore and the civilians are too skittish to talk to me right now. But the ones I could get to talk to me at least seem receptive. I think they were just surprised I didn’t outright attack them for their stuff.”

Shaggy nodded and sighed.

Vlad looked around the bar and smiled before he stood. “You guys did good work. Once Blobby comes back with that builder, you can really fix up the place. But for right now, why don’t you go through that crate we got from the Professor? With all the bar stuff, I forgot all about it.”

Shaggy’s eyebrows climbed up his face as he remembered the large plastic crate they had carried back from the Brute Clan’s mansion. A smile appeared on his face as he thought about everything that could be in there. He was already up and looking for it when Vlad had made it to the door.

“Just save something for me, Shags.”

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe.” Shaggy said as he looked high and low for the crate.

Eventually, he found it. Petra was using it as a seat. Shaggy walked over and gave the NPC an awkward hello. Petra glanced up at him over the rim of her Data-Tablet. Giving a quick nod, he gestured at the crate she was seated on.

“I think you are seated on our weapons shipment.”

The scaly woman’s eyes grew large as she jumped up, shouting. “What the hell?! Why was that just lying around?!”

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Shaggy shrugged. “We forgot about it with all the bar stuff going on.”

Petra sniffed indignantly. “Well, we should take an inventory of it all and pass it out to everyone.”

“Well…” Shaggy started with a grimace. “I don’t know what’s in it and we need to save some for the others.”

Petra gave him a serious look and nodded as they moved to open the crate. The plastic lid popped open with an awkward shake. Shaggy laid the lid to the side and glanced over the contents. An enormous grin spread across his face. Right on top, alongside a paper note, were the two energy-ball rifles they had stolen from K-Tech security in the Junkyard.

K-Tech was the largest provider of all things technological in Austin. They made everything from Superhero equipment to kitchen appliances. Shaggy and the others had helped the Professor rob one of their junkyards and beaten up a slew of K-Tech guards. Shaggy and Ren had taken the weapons as spoils.

Shaggy even got the chance to use the weapon in a fight with the Quinica. The large rifles shot green electric energy balls that decimated anything they touched. Petra gasped and rubbed a hand down the matte black finish of the topmost rifle. Shaggy nodded at her and put himself between the open crate and the other Lackeys. They had been helpful, but he wasn’t sure how loyal they were at the moment.

He grabbed the note on top and quickly scanned it. It was from the Professor saying that he had altered the rifles a bit to shoot beams instead of balls. Increasing the penetrating power, but lowering the overall destruction they could do. Shaggy was a little disappointed, but he kept reading. The rest of the note was a list of the weapons in the crate and who they were made for. The crate even had a few extras that Shaggy and the guys could sell if they wanted to.

Shaggy set the note aside and looked up to see Petra holding one of the rifles. He froze and stared at the woman as she held the weapon almost reverently. Her eyes glanced up and saw Shaggy watching her. For a few seconds, they stared at each other as Shaggy wondered if he could get the gun away from her before she blasted a hole in him. Eventually Petra snorted and handed the weapon over. Shaggy thought she looked insulted.

“I know who the bosses are.” Petra said, simply.

Shaggy nodded as he took the weapon and looked it over. It was still the same long-barreled rifle with no magazine and green circuitry running along it. Shaggy wasn’t sure exactly what the Professor had done but he couldn’t wait to see. He set it back in the crate and looked for what the note had said was the armor for him and Vlad.

The Professor had said that he didn’t know what weapons to make the pair of them. Which made sense because they used their claws and nails, respectively. So instead the Prof had just made them some Ifirt Armor. Shaggy found the two pairs of reddish-brown armor and gave it a look over. It appeared to be a thin leather armor with some weird, shiny, greenish-black looking material as lining. He thought about bringing up the armor’s stats, and a window appeared in front of him.

Ifrit Armor Mk. I

Defense: 15

Magical Resistance: 15%

Upgrades: 1/3

Durability: 90/90

Grade: D

Notes:

Armor created from the flesh of an Ifrit and lined with Kevlar. The armor has taken on some of the Ifrit’s natural resistance to magic.

The Kevlar has increased the overall durability and made the armor slightly heavier.

Shaggy grinned. He hadn’t seen much armor in the game yet, but he thought the Ifrit armor looked pretty damn good. He wriggled into it as Petra dug through the crate. She pulled out a small square of folded fabric which Shaggy thought were Slink’s Ifrit robes. As she set the robes aside, Shaggy reached in for Ren’s weapon. The note had said the Professor had made Ren a short warhammer. With only a little digging, he found it and place it with Slink’s robes and Vlad’s armor.

“There, the rest is for you and the boys. Don’t forget to leave some for Tinsel, Blobby, Ephemara.”

Petra glanced in the crate at the remaining weapons. There wasn’t much and what was there was almost the same as what the Professor gave to the Brute Clan. A few spears, a couple of clubs, and even a few short swords. Although the work on the short swords looked different. Like they were made by someone else. Shaggy gave Petra an apologetic shrug, but she waved him off.

“I would’ve preferred a gun, but until we can start making contacts topside, they are going to be hard to get.” She said as she grabbed a short-sword and waved a few of the others over.

Shaggy thought about the Phreaks and their weapons. “How do the other gangs get them?”

“Illegal contacts topside or sometimes they’ll trade with someone else down here who gets their hands on one or two. You might seriously consider hiding the ones you have, or some of the bigger gangs might come for you.”

“Well, that ship’s already sailed.” Shaggy sighed, but Petra shook her head.

“No, I mean really come for you. Full-power, nonstop, till you’re dead. You angered a captain, as far as I can tell. Which means he and everyone working for him will be gunning for you. But if you showed off those rifles, then the whole Rakgu family would come at us.”

Shaggy thought about for a few minutes before he nodded. “Best used for home protection, then.”

He saw Petra grin as the lackeys were looking over the rest of the weapons. Some happily, others with disdain. Shaggy was sure some Loyalty Ratings were dropping, but he didn’t have the menus to see who. So he tried to memorize faces as much as he could. Once the Lackeys had been armed, Shaggy was about to get back to his “guarding” duties when Vlad came flitting back into the bar.

“We got fun heading this way.” He said as his fangs elongated.

Shaggy threw Vlad’s armor at him and picked up a rifle. “Oh, good. I was getting bored and we have new toys to test out.”

“Who is it?” Petra asked as she eyed the other rifle.

“Take a guess.”

“Our friends from down south?” Shaggy asked, shaking his head.

Vlad nodded. “Yep. Around fifteen Rakgu gangsters all geared up and headed this way.”

Shaggy grinned, but he saw the rest of the Lackeys looking over their clubs and swords. He handed the rifle to Petra, who grinned evilly as he grabbed the second one. Moving toward the door, he addressed the group of Lackeys.

“Hey, we can’t spend all day lounging around in here, can we? Now some nice people have come to hand over their lovely weapons and credits to us. Are we just going to disappoint them? We know where they are, how many they are, and where the best place is to greet our guest. So… Let’s go say hi.”

Vlad flitted over to the front to stand with Shaggy, both now wearing the reddish-brown armor. Vlad was in full-vampire mode as he raised a fist and shouted.

“Let’s go make us some money!”

The Lackeys didn’t give a loud roar of support, but they seemed emboldened enough to follow them. Petra was the first one out the door, carrying the new laser rifle. Vlad shot Shaggy a questioning look, but Shaggy waved him off as the other Lackeys marched their way out of the bar. Turning to Mr. Blue, who was standing behind the bar, Shaggy said.

“Hold down the fort for us. We’ll be right back.”

Mr. Blue didn’t look like he believed Shaggy as he dejectedly nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

Shaggy just shrugged as he followed Vlad out into the bright lights of Under-Town.