The Post office was wrecked. Its door was bent off its hinges, and the interior had clearly been the scene of several fights. The bloody stains from past losers were sprawled about the floor and walls. Some of the counter-tops were broken and the PO boxes were all smashed in as well. Shaggy had to kick some debris out of their way as he followed his nose.

Behind the stench of stale blood and sweat was a smell that was a lot more fresh. It was the smell of energy weapons, and armor. Of fresh sweat and blood. Someone had recently died in here and judging by the scent of ozone in the air, they were heavily armed. But it didn’t seem to help them.

Shaggy lead Slink and Dave further into the post office. They remained silent, the tense air and scenery setting them all on edge. After the entry foyer and the front counter, they pushed through to the back rooms. Which is where Shaggy’s senses were flooded with the stench of blood. The back of the post office had been completely gutted out. There were no desks or auto-sorting machines. The mail boxes and hand carts had been broken and trashed long ago. Now, in their place, was a pile of bodies.

“Welcome!” Duke said from his position atop the pile of broken and torn corpses. “Excuse the mess. My handlers thought they knew better than me.”

Shaggy looked over the mound of bodies. They were all in white armor that was smeared with blood. Arms and legs were torn off and tossed onto the pile on which Duke sat. The giant of a man grinned easily as he stared down at them. His jeans and shirt were stained red with blood and Shaggy could see burn marks where energy rifles had hit Duke. Even Duke’s short cropped dark hair had viscera and blood in it. Clearly, there had been a disagreement between Mr. Duke and the HLO.

“Well,” Shaggy said slowly. “It seems that you sorted that mess out. But it begs the question: what do you want with me? I assume the HLO wasn’t aware of your reaching out to us?”

“Not US, Mr. Robertson. I reached out to YOU. But I can understand why you’d want to bring your fellows. I imagine your own handlers have told you many tales about me.”

“Handlers?”

“DON’T LIE! The HLO has plenty of files on your little gang. Plenty of which is outdated, of course, but that’s the name of the game lately. Supes are progressing so fast nowadays. The HLO Info-minders have been having issues keeping up. But we know all about your ties to a certain shadowy figure operating in Austin.”

Shaggy merely shrugged. He wasn’t going to spill anything about Obadiah. Even if the HLO had evidence. Not that he was one hundred percent on the old man’s side, but he sure as hell wasn’t on the HLOs. His face must’ve shown his emotions cause Duke snorted and stood up. His enormous boots crunched over the dead troops as he climbed down the short hill.

“That loyalty is going to cost you.” Duke rumbled, clearly angry.

“It’s not loyalty. I just don’t know what to tell you. I do not know what you're talking about.”

Shaggy felt Slink pull back a step as Dave stepped closer. His friends were getting ready for a fight. But Shaggy still wasn’t sure if that was the direction things were going. Duke was testing him with the knowledge that he had, trying to suss out something. At least, that’s how Shaggy thought things were going.

“Right. Well, then you aren’t any use to me at all then, are you?”

“Depends what you want. I told you it was good to have friends. Although it seems you treat yours a little rough.” Shaggy glanced around the taller man to the pile of dead bodies.

“They were not friends!” Duke shouted, pulling Shaggy’s attention back to him. “They were a leash. A leash I have grown tired of. I had hoped that you could be my link to a way out. But apparently not.”

Shaggy snorted. “It doesn’t look like you need any help ‘getting out.’”

Duke’s face suddenly fell, and he glanced down at his massive hands. “Yes, this power could see me through a lot. But the HLO… You don’t know the power they wield. If they wanted, they could push their agenda for Austin through by sheer force rather than political power. But for now, they are content to lie low. Waiting like a damn spider. For what? I don’t know. But I want no part in it. My hope was that your non-existent friends could undo what the HLO did to me.”

“THEY did this to you?” Slink asked from behind Shaggy.

“Yes!” Duke said with a sadness in his voice that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “They kidnapped me off the streets. Subjected me to terrible experiments. Turned me… into this… this beast!”

The giant of a man sniffed loudly and wiped a massive hand across his eyes. Shaggy glanced back at Dave and saw his laid-back friend glaring at Duke. Clearly, he didn’t believe the performance anymore than Shaggy did. The big man was trying to play on their emotions for something. But for what?

“And you don’t enjoy it at all?” Slink asked quietly, barely audible over Duke’s sniffling. “The power? The feeling of absolute control? Like all it would take to shape the world is a wave of your hand? None of that appeals to you?”

Duke’s sniffling stopped, and he removed his hand from his face. His face and eyes were dry and a dark look had fallen over his face. He was glaring at Slink, but the boy was glaring right back. Clearly something unsaid was passing between them, but Shaggy didn’t need the boy getting squashed. So he interposed himself between Slink and the big man. Duke’s arms were flexing dangerously as every muscle in them seemed to tense.

“Smart kid.”

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“Not really.” Shaggy smirked. “It was just a poor performance. So how about you tell us what you actually want?”

Duke grinned, revealing his slightly crooked teeth. “I want… more.”

“More? More what?”

“This gift they’ve given me. They tell me it’s the peak of what they can accomplish. But I know that’s bullshit! They have something even more powerful. Locked away, behind walls of clearance and ranks. I just need to work my way to the top to get it.”

“By finding this so-called shadowy figure?”

“STOP PLAYING DUMB! We both know the government sent some… oversight committee to look into the HLO. They know he’s operating out of various locations in Austin. Once I bring him to them, I’ll be able to move to the next step.”

“Uh-huh. And what do you think that looks like? More muscles on top of your already bloated body? Or are they going to graft cybernetics into that thick head of yours?”

Duke sneered. “Whatever it is, I’ll take it! Anything is better than being a hapless, weak music teacher for a bunch of snot-nosed brats. Fucking kids wouldn’t know classical music if it reached out and slapped them.”

Shaggy sighed and started shifting his hands into claws. “So you’re really going to push this?”

“Oh yes, Mr. Robertson. I know your attached to whoever the government sent. So does the HLO. We know all about you and your little League. Once I’m done squeezing the info out of you and your two pals, maybe I’ll stop by your headquarters. Stomp around a bit.”

Shaggy’s response was to stab his clawed hand forward. Duke didn’t even move, instead he let Shaggy’s claws rake across his side. The green glow on Shaggy’s claws seemed to flash and Duke hissed before backhanding Shaggy away. His claws didn’t penetrate the giant’s skin, but they clearly did something.

But Shaggy was in no condition to know what. With that casual flick, his shoulder was caved in and his ribs were broken. He slammed into the western wall and crumbled to the ground as his regeneration went to work. His ears picked up the noise of fighting as Duke roared in rage. He sat up in time to see Duke holding Slink by the neck, ready to snap the slim boy in two. But Slink opened his mouth as a stream of green liquid shot out, catching Duke in the eyes.

“ARGH! Fuck! Wha-ARGH!”

Duke dropped Slink and the boy quickly got out of the way as Dave rushed forward. Shaggy’s ears popped as he noticed Dave wasn’t using his armor yet. He wanted to question the man’s sanity, but his ribs were just popping back into place, making him hiss in pain. Getting to his feet, Shaggy watched as Dave delivered several sharp kicks to Duke’s thin legs. The blows seemed to rebound off without doing any damage. But they sure pissed off Duke.

The blinded giant swung out at Dave and the man whooped in excitement. Duke’s meaty arm swung in a wide arc that almost hit Dave before he shouted.

“KOAN!”

With that, Dave’s armor sprang to life and his transformation sequence started. As it did, Duke’s arm flexed around Dave as if it was pushed away. Dave’s transformation only took a few seconds, but in that time Duke’s swing had been shunted to the side. Dave’s blue armored form danced around happily as his modified voice cackled.

“Hahaha! Slink, it worked! I get I-frames while transforming!”

“Not the time to test that, Dave! Kick his ass!” Slink shouted back as he drew a large energy pistol.

Dave laughed happily as he started kicking and punching Duke’s large body. The blows landed with loud snaps of wind and heavy impacts. But Shaggy wasn’t sure if they were doing anything. Climbing to his feet, Shaggy summoned his inner-wolf and charged. He chose the man-beast form in order to spare the building and better team up with Dave on attacks. As Duke’s large arm lashed out at Dave, Shaggy ducked under it and clawed across the man’s back.

Again, his claws didn’t dig deep, but the soul-burning glow flashed again. Duke roared in annoyance and spun toward Shaggy, revealing his back to Dave. The blue armored mutant leapt up and landed an axe kick on the large man’s head. Duke’s muscles tensed and he waved his hand behind him, catching Dave by the leg and sending him spinning away. Shaggy got a look at Duke’s face and could see that Slink’s poison had eaten away at the flesh around Duke’s eyes. But the giant still seemed able to see.

A fact proven true by him sending a jab at Shaggy. Quickly backpedaling, Shaggy slashed his claws at the knuckles and grinned as Duke hissed. His claws left little red welts wherever they hit Duke’s skin and Shaggy could see the flesh slightly heating up. Slink’s energy pistol fire multiple red laser bolts into Duke’s side as he chased Shaggy around, punching wildly. Clearly the music teacher had never been taught how to fight. He was just a massive, strong bastard.

“We can do this,” Shaggy thought to himself as he darted in and slashed Duke’s stomach again.

Duke hissed and lunged to grab Shaggy with both arms. Shaggy tried to jump backwards, but his back hit the wall. He wasn’t watching where he was going. Now Duke was going to grab and squeeze him to death. Shaggy grit his teeth and planned to dash away at the last second. But Dave’s voice filled the room again.

“DRILL KICK!”

Duke’s sneer of triumph became a rictus of pain as Dave’s spinning heel dug into his back. The giant was tossed forward into Shaggy, who ducked low and tossed the bigger man over his furry shoulder. Duke’s body hit the back wall and crashed through it, sending bricks and wood falling on top of the large man. Shaggy quickly pulled away as Dave joined him. Duke was thrashing against the wall, trying to get back up. But as he did, squeals of pain and squeaks of indignation filled the air. Shaggy peered closer as each move of Duke’s limbs caused a spray of blood to go up and a loud squeak to go silent.

“Are those?” Dave asked.

“Giant rats?” Shaggy finished.

Duke had apparently landed in a rat’s nest of huge, dog-sized rodents. Rodents he was currently smashing with his massive hands and feet. The rats gave shrill cries whenever they died, and the noise was horrifying. But not quite as horrifying as the voice that screamed into their minds next.

“LEAVE. MY. HOME!”

Shaggy fell to his knees, his transformation falling with it as his inner wolf yelped indignantly. He felt Dave collapse as well, but he couldn’t see, as the enormity of the mental attack made his eyes water. He could still hear Duke thrashing against the wall, but that quickly stopped as the voice screamed into their heads again.

“STOP HURTING MY CHILDREN!”

Shaggy was sure he blacked out this time, as the next thing he knew, he heard the walls crashing in around him. He tried to focus on his mental defenses, but he couldn’t. It was like the initial mental attack had opened his skull for further assaults. He felt little feet scrambling over him and he could smell death and matted fur. Duke shouted something, but it was lost amongst a myriad of squeaks and chittering. Shaggy’s eyes drooped, and he felt his head hit the floor. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was a two-foot tall rat. It was surrounded by hundreds of tinier rats and wielding a spear. Then his vision finally went black.