Shaggy itched at his shoulder as the wound there started closing. He suspected the criminal’s knife had some kind of enchantment on it or something. But the knife’s former owner was in no condition to explain to him what had been on the knife. Not to mention the guy’s victim was huddled by the dumpster, staring in shock at Shaggy. The women looked haggard and a little dirty, but overall okay. Judging from the way she was dressed, she had clearly just gotten off work at some diner and had been on her way home.
Shaggy kicked the armless and headless body of the woman’s assailant as he coughed awkwardly.
“Your free to go, ma-”
The blonde-haired woman was off like a shot before Shaggy finished speaking. She headed for the street, barely slowing as Rin, Vud, and Seth moved out of her way. Shaggy rolled his eyes and looked around for the dude’s knife. As he did, he grumbled to himself.
“A ‘thank you’ wouldn’t have cost you anything. I mean, I’m not a hero, but I’d like the credit for a good deed done.”
“Boss? Everything okay?” Seth called from the mouth of the alley.
“Yeah! Guy had some kind of special knife. It cut me and even went pretty deep. It didn’t register while I was tearing him apart. But I don’t want something like that out and about.”
“Naw, I found it,” Shaggy called back, bending down and getting a solid look at the dead guy’s knife.
Its handle was exaggeratedly ornate, and it even had a long curved blade that widened at the hilt. It was an ornamental dagger of some kind. The type of which Shaggy had seen in a myriad of different games. It was something zealots would wield in service to their dark masters. He figured he could hold on to it for Levy. She’d get a kick out of the thing.
His hand reached out to pick it up, and suddenly there was a tenseness in the air. All sound disappeared and Shaggy felt the hairs on his neck stand up. Shaggy thought he could see the damn dagger vibrate as his hand got closer. Then, just as quickly, the scene was back to normal. Sound popped in Shaggy’s ears and the tense feeling was gone. In its place was an almost disappointed feeling that Shaggy could’ve sworn was coming from the dagger. Shaggy squinted at the thing as his hand grabbed its handle.
“How come I get the sense you were judging me, knife? And apparently I didn’t pass the test.”
The dagger stayed quiet and no other odd feelings occurred. Instead, a calm wind blew through the alley, kicking up trash and debris. Shaggy stood there studying the thing some more until Seth coughed from the alley entrance again.
“Ahem! Boss? Are you talking to a knife?”
“Son, my wife kept a talking alien skull on her staff that housed a demon. Talking inanimate objects should not be a new thing for you.”
“Well, they are. In fact, I prefer it if my equipment doesn’t talk or feel at all, really.”
Shaggy snorted and walked to the other members of his pack. Rin's and Vud's antennae were moving around and Shaggy could feel them having a quiet conversation through the pack link. He left them to it as he tossed the knife at Seth. The boy caught it easily and then his eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. He quickly dropped the dagger and glared at Shaggy.
“What the fuck, boss? I don’t need a maniac’s voice in my head!”
“What happened?” Shaggy asked, a little bemused.
Seth waved a hand at the dagger on the sidewalk. “Fucking talking dagger! That’s what happened? Didn’t you hear that weird-ass voice telling you to kill people?”
“Nope. Thing wouldn’t talk to me. What did it sound like?”
“Like a fucking garbage disposal full of flies!”
“Hmph.”
Shaggy bent back down and grabbed the knife again. But no voice entered his mind. He waved the dagger around a bit as Seth glared at him warily. Once it was clear nothing was going to happen, Shaggy shrugged his shoulders and stopped waving the knife around.
“Guess it doesn’t like me. I still want to take it back to Levy and get it examined.”
“That’s fine, boss. But I’m not touching that again.”
“Fair.”
Shaggy said as he searched around for a place on his body to holster the knife. His instincts said to tuck the thing into his pants. But with no sheath, that was an unpleasant prospect. So instead he just held it and looked around at the dark street. The scent of blood had led him here, but that was because the lady’s attacker reeked of it. Now the sent was slowly vanishing, and all Shaggy got was the cool night air and the normal smells of the night. Soil, sweaty humans, cars, and the various other stenches of the night.
Even his ears were telling him that the night was a quiet one. Shrugging to himself again, Shaggy pointed them eastward, and they started walking again. The streets were empty and their territory looked fairly safe now. If a little run-down, so many buildings had been abandoned when the HLO tried to move in. He wondered what the HLO was going to do with all the real estate they had secured from the locals.
Mr. White had successfully pushed out a good number of tenants in the area. Now the HLO was just holding all that property. Would they sell it back or attempt to do something with it? Shaggy hoped it was more the former than the latter. The last thing they needed was more HLO moving into the area. But he guessed it was all in how they spun Mr. White’s actions. If they stuck to the story that he was going rogue, they might sell back the property. But if they wait out the bad press and renew their plans for a Hero Academy, then the Legion was going to be in trouble. The whole thing would start over again and this time, the HLO would hit harder and faster.
Shaggy’s feet sped up as he thought about having to fight off another HLO incursion. His wolf was excited at the prospect and the idea of pitting their newly minted Henchmen against the HLO’s goons was a pleasant one. Already their patrols were proving profitable. Just today, multiple Lackeys had ranked up into Henchmen. They also lost a few grunts with today’s patrols. But that was bound to happen. At the very least, Shaggy was happy that Branka managed to make it through the day. At least the last time he checked. Nighttime patrols were ongoing, but the tall red-head had gone out with the morning shift. So she was probably back at base.
Shaggy and his three pack mates were running now as Shaggy felt the need to work off some energy. He and Levy had some territory now, and it was exciting. The thought of protecting that turf and growing it, nurturing it? Was exhilarating. Those thoughts sustained him as they turned southward and along the eastern edge of their border. Shaggy’s instincts almost screamed at him as they approached the edge of the territory. Like his wolf had an instinctual map of their borders.
It wasn’t like an alarm or a do not enter sign. More like a tenseness in his chest. If he went just slightly more to the east, then he’d be on someone else’s turf. Which meant he’d have to fight his way through it. His wolf almost purred at the thought of conquering more territory. But Shaggy reined it in. That wasn’t the goal. Tonight was all about protection and making sure other people knew about the borders.
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The smell of sweaty bodies was joined by the stench of ozone as Shaggy’s pack approached Loop Blvd. The smell reminded Shaggy of expended energy packs for laser rifles, which made him step up his speed. At the same time, Seth blurred ahead, eager to investigate what Shaggy had picked up. Rin and Vud caught up to Shaggy and started to run beside him, almost protectively. Shaggy sent them a confused feeling and Rin spoke up as they ran.
“The crowd ahead is bigger than the… crews? From before. We must protect the Patriarch.”
“You are aware that the patriarch can protect himself, right?”
“Yes, Patriarch. But it is our instinct.”
Shaggy couldn’t fault them that so instead he just ran harder as the sound of shouting and clamoring came from ahead of them. Loop was one of the bigger streets running through their turf, so the bugs were probably right. This group would be bigger. Which made sense. Send the grunts to soften things up and then march in with the main force. He sent a mental command for the others of his pack to stand by. He doubted they would need them, but it was always nice when back-up was close.
The rest of his pack sent a confirmation that they had received the command and Shaggy focused back on the street. Ahead, their street was about to cross into Loop and already Shaggy could hear the sound of laser fire and hollering. Whoever they were, they were kicking up a lot of noise. Seth pulled to a stop at the corner and waited for Shaggy. Shaggy slowed his run and let the kid take the lead as they piled up at the corner.
Seth ducked his head out and quickly drew it back in, an uneasy look on his face. His worry permeated the Link and Shaggy sent calming waves back. The boy was still not used to fighting like a werewolf. Shaggy raised an eyebrow in question as Seth gulped audibly.
“There’s got to be forty of them, boss. Some are armed with cheap-looking laser rifles, others with some mean-looking swords and maces.”
Shaggy rubbed his chin. “Oh! That means they have a supplier somewhere. So let’s not kill all of them. We’ll need to know who that is.”
Rin and Vud nodded together as Seth looked worried. “Boss!? We’re not going out there, right?”
“Seth. You’re a werewolf, remember? We’ve got this.”
“I know that! I just think we should wait for the others.”
Shaggy merely grinned as he sauntered around the corner. The small army of forty thugs didn’t spot him right away. So Shaggy, Rin and Vud managed to get into the middle of the street before anyone said anything. A murmur went through the crowd of criminals as Seth hurriedly tried to find a position behind Shaggy. The boy was still nervous, but Shaggy thought he could sense a little excitement over the link too. Or maybe that was his own.
“Definitely you, boss,” Seth answered.
Shaggy rolled his eyes as the crowd of gangsters finally got their shit together enough to pull to a stop. He could see a few alien races he recognized in the group, but they weren’t identifiable as a whole. A grayish-black alien with sharp teeth and a red mohawk stepped up from the crowd. He snorted at Shaggy’s small pack and then looked at his own assembled horde. The alien was wielding a giant claymore one-handed, and he pointed down the street at Shaggy.
“We didn’t plan for any welcome wagon. But me and the boys will happily extract any valuables from you idiots.”
Shaggy winced at the grating, whiny tone of the alien. He was trying to be menacing, but all Shaggy could hear was a small child trying to act tough.
“Yeah, look, if you sent one of yours into our territory today, you should know how this is going to go. This is Legion turf. Turn your asses around and get the fuck out!”
“HAHAHAHA! So it’s true! The fucking wimp did get his ass beat and sent home. Well, we’re sorry, but we ain’t going to be taking no orders from some furry half-pint!”
“Always with the height.” Shaggy grumbled to himself as the crowd of forty burst out laughing. “Last warning! Turn around or die!”
Shaggy wasn’t sure if he was heard over the raucous laughter, but he got an answer, regardless. A flash of blue erupted from the crowd and slammed into Shaggy’s chest. His white shirt caught fire and Shaggy batted it out as his chest hairs started to smoke. But otherwise he was fine and the fact that he was immediately shut up the laughing crowd.
After putting himself out, Shaggy was about to grow his claws and go ham on the army of idiots. But then he thought better of it. Instead, he turned to Rin and Vud and gave the two insectoids a nod. Their ant-like eyes focused on him for a few seconds until his message became clear and the brothers stepped forward.
Another laser went off, catching Vud in the upper chest. But the green exoskeleton shunted the laser bolt aside. Both of Shaggy’s pack members ignored the bolt though as Rin grabbed Vud’s left arm with his right. The two clasped forearms and faced forward as more laser fire came from the crowd. Shaggy crossed his arms and watched as the two bug aliens pulled toward one another. It started slowly, but as they got closer together, the process sped up and soon Rin and Vud were a horrifying collection of red and green limbs. Their colors started to swirl together, and both aliens grew another foot in size.
The lasers stopped as Rin and Vud finished their transformation. Where once there were two seven-foot tall ant-aliens, there was now one eight-foot tall behemoth of an ant alien. Red and green patterns made up the new alien’s carapace. Shaggy couldn’t tell if they were red with green stripes or vice versa. But they looked badass either way.
“What. The. Fuck.” Seth said slowly from behind Shaggy.
Shaggy snorted as he turned toward the kid. “They’re fuse ants, remember?”
“I’ve never seen them do that!”
“Me neither. Which is why I kind of wanted to see. But you're up now, kid, hurry up.”
“What?!”
“I think you and the boys can handle this one.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Shaggy rolled his eyes. “You’ll be fine. I’m right here. Just think of this as the deep-end of the pool.”
Before Seth could say anything, a mighty roar echoed from the other gang. A massive Perinadon charged out of the mass of gangsters and put his horn down. He was aimed right at RinVud as they finished their transformation. Shaggy gave the two the go ahead and the two big aliens crashed in the street. The fight was short and brutal as the Perinadon’s horn was seized and snapped off by RinVud. But the poor gray alien didn’t even have time to yell out in pain as RinVud smashed his enormous head into the pavement.
Silence quickly filled the streets at the brutality of the quick fight, but Shaggy wasn’t going to give the opposing gang a chance to escape. With a running start, he charged past RinVud and felt his body start to shift. At the last moment, he pounced over the heads of the gangsters and landed on all fours in the street. He shook his massive wolf head as transforming fully felt so good to him. His wolf salivated as the back line of thugs tried to get away from him.
“No one gets away!” Shaggy ordered in his mind. “Rin, Vud, tear them apart. Kid, make or break time. Let’s see what you can do!”
“Yes, patriarch!” Was RinVud’s response as their giant body jumped forward into the crowd of gang members.
Seth was a little slower to respond, and Shaggy could hear the hesitancy in the kid’s voice.
“Yeah, b-boss.”
Shaggy felt his wolf roll its eyes at what it perceived as their weakest member. But Shaggy didn’t disagree. The kid needed some blood on his hands if he was going to be a wolf. And tonight he was going to get some. A twinge of annoyance came through the pack link, and Shaggy just knew that Rita was annoyed at him. But this is what being a member of the pack meant.
Sounds of shouting, fighting and laser fire exploded from the street. Shaggy sat back on his haunches as he made sure no one tried to escape. So far, the gang was happy to take their chances with the giant bug monster. But soon someone would try to make a break for it. Shaggy felt his instinct just itching to dive into the fight.
“Soon, buddy. Soon.” Shaggy calmed his wolf as he watched the fight.