Shaggy sat crouched in yet another abandoned shack. He and a few of the Lackeys were waiting for the Rakgu gangsters to come up this alleyway. Vlad and Shaggy figured that between the two of them and the five Lackeys, they could run through the enemy with the element of surprise. He hoped that would be the case.
Shaggy looked at the two Alien NPCs who were sitting on the dirt floor with him. Both were holding the Professor’s weapons. One had a sword and the other a club. Both looked extremely nervous. So Shaggy gave them a feral grin.
“Don’t worry so much. We have the element of surprise. Also, Vlad and I will handle all the heavy hitters. You guys just got to take care of the grunts.”
The red Alien with the sword, Arklot, snorted. “Hate to tell ya, boss, but in the Rakgu, they are all heavy hitters.”
“Yeah,” said the pale Alien, Monrew. “Plus, Vlad said they had fifteen guys. We only got seven.”
Shaggy nodded as he stood up. “Ok, so they have more than double our number. But we have the element of surprise. Which means that if everyone of you kills a Rak in the first few seconds of the fight. Then we are dealing with ten on seven. But with me and Vlad there, we’re going to at least kill two a piece, so that means we’ll take out nine guys right off the bat. Leaving…?”
Shaggy waited for one of the two Lackeys to do the math. Arklot got there first.
“Four guys. If the ambush goes perfectly, it means we only have to deal with four guys.”
“Yeah, four guys with guns.” Monrew complained.
“Sure, but all that means is that you have to not get in front of them.” Shaggy chuckled. “Also, that’s if the ambush goes ‘well’, but if it goes ‘perfectly’ we won’t have to worry about anyone.”
“Why’s that?”
Shaggy sighed dramatically. “What are you going to kill one guy and call it good? No. You’re going to get the drop on a guy, kill him, and then move on to the next. Depending on how surprised they are and how fast we are, we might be able to kill all of them.”
Arklot and Monrew nodded in understanding and gripped their weapons tighter. Shaggy smiled. Working on the bar with these guys had been fun. The game’s AI was so advanced it was almost like working with real people. They had dreams and fears the same as anyone. They also had pasts and childhoods. No NPC was earmarked to be a criminal by the games code. They literally ‘grew’ into it. It was all amazing.
Shaggy’s musings were interrupted by the loud sounds of talking coming from the alley. Shaggy found a hole in the metal sheet wall and peered out. He saw a mass of black and grey suited bodies moving down the alley. As they approached, he could make out the lead guy casually carrying a machine gun and yelling back at one of the others in their two-by-two marching column.
He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. But Shaggy made sure to mentally mark all their scent trails. They couldn’t have one of these guys running away. As they got closer, Shaggy saw several had guns, but only a few carried the larger-looking machine guns. He and Vlad had talked about it and decided that the higher caliber weapons were going to be their first targets. Hopefully, the Rak’s would be too afraid to fire in such close quarters, but you could never tell.
As the column of people in suits drew even with them, Shaggy raised his hand and held it up. He could hear some of the Raks complaining about coming out here to deal with a bunch of small timers. Shaggy grinned as he grew his claws. He smiled at his two NPC followers and then threw himself into the thin sheet wall.
He felt it cut into his arms and shoulders. But he ignored it as he aimed both claws into the belly of a nearest machine gun-wielding Rak. Shaggy didn’t even take the time to register the look of terror in his victims’ eyes. He simply sliced his claws into the next nearest person. He smiled grimly as he felt his claws rip through cloth and into skin. Although he briefly wondered how far these claws would get him.
A loud bang went off in the alley as it turned into pure mayhem. Shaggy heard someone yell in pain, but it was drowned out by the screaming of battle. He saw Arklot drive his metal sword into a Rak’s forehead as nearby Monrew brained someone with his metal club. But suddenly he felt his shoulder being ripped around. He spun in place to come face to face with a woman with a metal body and one missing eye.
“You!” she shouted angrily.
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“Me?” Shaggy questioned dumbly.
The woman lifted him into the air and flung him into a nearby shack. Shaggy tried to collect his memories as he felt his body slam into a house. He heard the screaming increase as he landed on the dirt floor of the shack. Looking up, he saw the home’s occupants staring at him, terrified. He ignored them as the metal woman reappeared and charged again. Her slim metal arms were raised, ready to bludgeon him to death.
Shaggy dodged and reverted his claws back to his human hands. As her wild haymaker went wide, Shaggy ducked forward and delivered an uppercut to her metal jaw and felt the fingers on his hand break. The metal woman chuckled darkly as Shaggy dashed back out of the shack and into the alley. Gunshots and screams were still resounding off the metal walls.
“Whats a matter? Too afraid to chip a claw again?” The metal woman asked.
Shaggy flexed his fingers as they healed, numb to the pain. “Well, giving how well they worked last time. I figured I’d try something different. Also, didn’t you used to have two eyes?”
The woman roared as she started swinging at him again. Shaggy dodged her wild swings again, came up behind her and went for the chokehold again. But she was prepared, and she kicked out at him. Shaggy lost his breath as he went sailing again. He felt himself hit a few bodies until he landed in the dirt.
Shaggy quickly rolled to his feet and kept his eye on the metal woman marching toward him. But as he did, he realized that the screaming and shouting had begun to die down. The fight was dying down and soon Vlad or someone was bound to come and help. He smiled as the woman caught up to him and aimed another wild hook at his head.
“This is all your fault!” She screamed as he dodged away again. “Tillani took my eye because I failed in the arena.”
Shaggy moved back again and asked, confused. “How is that my fault? Sounds like your boss is an asshole.”
“It’s because you didn’t have the balls to kill me!” she screamed, punches becoming even wilder.
Shaggy ducked the punch and then ran around the metal woman. But instead of going for a chokehold, he kicked the back of her knee as hard as he could. She tripped and fell on one knee as he grabbed the back of her throat with both hands.
“So you want to die?” Shaggy asked, straining.
The metal woman reached up with her hands and grabbed his wrists, trying to pull them off her neck. Shaggy felt a few fingers pop, and he quickly tried to let go, but she held him firm. Squeezing his wrists until he screamed in pain.
“It’s you or me, bitch dog!” she screamed.
Shaggy finally shook his hands free and dove to the side, shouting. “So be it! Now Vlad!”
As Shaggy dodged to the side, he saw a green flash appear next to him. Even with his Enhanced Focus, the beam of energy moved way too quick and had already slammed into the metal woman. He quickly rolled to his feet in time to see the end of the energy rifles beam bore through the woman’s abdomen. It wasn’t as big as the original balls the gun had shot, but Shaggy bet it was far more powerful.
“See, aren’t you happy you gave me the gun?” Vlad asked as he walked up.
“I thought we were saving those for any big guns that showed up?” Shaggy asked as he felt his fingers heal.
Vlad shrugged. “What can I say? The rest of us were done, and I was getting bored. I had already seen this fight before. You really should’ve killed her in the arena.”
“What can I say? I liked her spirit. Reminds me of my little sister.” Shaggy returned the shrug.
Vlad raised an eyebrow before he shook his head and waved up the alley. “We have some injured people. We got to find a doctor or something for them.”
“Where the hell are we going to find-” Shaggy was cut off by a low groan.
His eyes widened as he realized it was coming from the metal woman. Vlad raised the gun back to his shoulder. Barrel still steaming from the last shot.
“No fucking way. That blast went right through her.” Vlad said, as the rifle beeped in his arms. Vlad turned the gun over looking at it as it failed to fire.
Shaggy waved him off as he rolled the injured woman over. Her silver metal skin was vanishing, and she was breathing erratically. She glared up at him before looking down at the hole in her torso. Shaggy could smell cooked skin and blood as he peered down at her. He put his feral grin back on his face.
“Do your worst dog!” she spat up at him.
“Well, I was going to ask if you knew where a doctor would be. But I guess you can lay there and die.”
“Shaggy…” Vlad’s voice said cautiously from over his shoulder.
“Why the fuck would I tell you anything?” The metal woman spat again.
“Because maybe if you tell us where we can get our men healed, we might drag you along. Although I will bet Tillani will kill you for you failure. So, hey, you can either die here or at Tillani’s feet.”
“This isn’t a good idea, Shaggy.” Vlad said warningly.
“Nope.” Shaggy agreed. “But I’m going with my gut on this one.”
The metal woman grimaced in pain a few times as she held her hands to the gaping wound in her torso. She glared at them before she turned her head and whispered something. Shaggy leaned closer.
“I’m sorry. What was that?”
“The Needle Sisters!” she spat. “Take us to the Needle Sisters.”
Vlad joined Shaggy, standing over the injured woman. Gun still at the ready. “No way. They are in Rakgu territory. That’s a no go. Can I kill her now?”
“Wait! I can lead you there quietly, and the sisters owe me a favor. So I can get you a discount.”
“Then when they heal you up, you can try to waste us again? No thanks. I’m just gonna fry you here.”
“Can you calm down, oh dark prince of the night?” Shaggy sighed. “If that happens, you can shoot her again and we can leave her there.”
The woman on the ground shook her head. Staring at the barrel of Vlad’s gun. “Can’t. Needle Sisters is neutral territory. No one wants to anger the only doctors in the Rak’s turf.”
Vlad looked up at Shaggy, who just shrugged his shoulders. Vlad sighed angrily, before he lowered his gun. “If she fucks us, I am going to shoot both of you.”
Shaggy watched Vlad walk over to their men before he glanced down at the woman. She was still staring daggers at him. He smiled as he remembered his own sister glaring up at him from the gym mat. She always gave him that glare after he won a match. He quickly shook off the memory as he reached down for the injured woman.
“You are a confusing and stupid mutt.” She groaned as he lifted her over his shoulder.
Shaggy chuckled. “So I’ve heard.”