“Hey! Time to wake up.” Shaggy said, shaking the woman on his shoulder.

She had done a good job getting them within spitting distance of the Needle Sister’s clinic. But she had a bad habit of passing in and out of consciousness. Probably something to do with the hole in her stomach. But now they were near enough that they would need her to talk to the door guard. When it became apparent that the metal lady would not wake up, Shaggy sighed.

“Hope she ain’t dead.” He muttered as he started walking toward the clinic.

Vlad and the others nearby followed along, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. They hadn’t seen any other Rak’s, but they were still technically in their territory. Shaggy had found it weird that there weren’t more Raks roaming the streets. But Metal Lady had said that they don’t bother the Needle Sisters until Collection Day.

Shaggy hurriedly rushed toward the door of the large square building. This one was another ruined brick building. But the Needle Sisters had obviously done some work to fix it up. Large sections of wood and metal covered up holes in the wall. But they were apparently painting the patchwork sections to give it an overall better look.

As Shaggy approached, the slim woman at the door stood from her chair and crossed her arms. Her electric blue eyes scanned their large group, and she sneered. Before Shaggy could say anything, she raised one palm in a halting gesture.

“Only one at a time, and you gotta pay up front.”

Shaggy glared at the six-foot women in biker leathers. He spun halfway around so he could show off Metal Lady’s face.

“You know her? She said we should come here.”

Biker lady’s face softened a bit and Shaggy heard her sigh. “Chromia.”

She snapped herself out of whatever mood she had fallen into and waved Shaggy in. “She goes first. The rest wait out here.”

Shaggy turned to Vlad, who shrugged. Their guys had a few cuts, bruises and one gunshot. But none of them were in as bad a shape as this Chromia. Shaggy was almost forcibly pulled through the door as the biker lady stayed outside and stared daggers at his crew. Inside was a small waiting room and a front desk.

Behind the front desk was a short woman with bubblegum pink hair. She was staring down at something and didn’t even glance up at him as she asked.

“What do ya want? If it ain’t life threatin’, you can wait in one of the chairs.”

Shaggy grinned. “Well, I’m fine, but this Chromia chick has a hole in her gut.”

Pink hair snapped her head up as Shaggy turned to try to show Chromia’s face again. Shaggy saw worry and annoyance pass over the young woman’s face before she yelled toward the back.

“Rashi! It’s a Chromy.”

Three more women rushed into the waiting room. All of them were just as tall as the one outside. Which meant they towered over Shaggy as they grabbed Chromia off his shoulder and inspected her. A blonde-headed woman, after assessing the damage, quickly drew a needle from her lab coat and stuck it into Chromia’s skin. Meanwhile, a brunette stared at Shaggy and started asking questions.

“What happened?”

Shaggy grimaced as he tried to decide whether or not to be truthful. He almost lied, but then he saw Chromia stir like she was going to wake up.

“Well. Honestly. We shot her.”

The four women’s heads all turned to glare at him at once. Shaggy was momentarily reminded of several family reunions. But he quickly shook it off and waved his hands placatingly.

“Hey, her and a bunch of Rak’s marched onto our turf. So we defended ourselves. But after the fight, some of ours were injured. She said she knew a clinic and lead us here.”

“How long has she been unconscious?” The blonde asked, still kneeling next to Chromia.

“I don’t know. Maybe a few minutes. We had just got across the street when she went quiet.”

If the glares of the three other women in the room could kill, Shaggy would’ve been dead already. Even with his rapid healing. The brunette and green-haired women were staring daggers at him. But the pink-hair woman was holding a knife and looked more than ready to use it. The blonde inserted another needle and glanced up.

“No fighting in here, Flora. You know our rules.”

“But Rashi. They shot Chromia!” The pink-haired one argued.

“If it wasn’t them it was going to be someone else.” said the brunette.

“Maybe. But you know we don’t have to do it here, April. Flora can port us somewhere else and I can fry the bastard.”

Shaggy sighed and grew his claws. He casually scratched the side of his face with his claws. Careful to only leave shallow cuts. As they healed, he said.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You are more than welcome to try.”

April and Flora looked aghast, but the green-haired sister just looked annoyed. But before she could do or say anything, Rashi spoke up from beside Chromia.

“Leave it, Vera. We don’t break our rules. Also, you drop the claws or I won’t heal the others.”

Shaggy quickly transformed his hands back to normal and stood back. Rashi quickly took charge of the situation.

“Vera, take Chromy into the back. April go tell Leslie she can send in the rest of dog-man’s crew. Flora, you know what to do.”

The three women quickly moved to follow the blonde woman’s instructions. Shaggy kept an eye on the pink-hair one to see what she would do. But Flora quickly vanished from his eyes, it was like she just popped out of existence. As he stood there, stunned, Rashi’s words struck him.

“Dog-man?”

The tall blonde regarded him before she nodded. “Yeah, that’s what those at the arena were calling you that day. It’s also how Chromia referred to you.”

Shaggy nodded. “Well, it’s always good to be remembered.”

“You are aware that it’s not complimentary.”

Shaggy shrugged as April came marching back into the waiting room, followed by several of the Lackeys. As several of them fell into waiting room chairs, Shaggy noticed that one of them was Monrew. The pale Alien had a lone gash on his left arm. Monrew saw Shaggy staring and grinned.

“Arklot cut me by accident.”

Shaggy chuckled through his nose as he shook his head. Monrew sat and Shaggy looked at the four Lackeys who had been injured. Several had stab wounds and only one, V’kro, was shot in the leg. But the Alien woman seemed in pretty good shape otherwise. Rashi brought Shaggy’s attention back to her with a wave.

“You know you have to wait outside, right?”

Shaggy laughed. “Hahaha. No offense, but I’m really not going to leave my people alone with you women.”

Rashi nodded in understanding, but April shot him another angry glare. She kept the glare up as she none to gently threw towels at the Lackeys. Shaggy stared back until the brunette woman ran out of towels and angrily stomped into the backroom. Rashi sighed.

“You don’t make fast friends, do you?”

“I shot your friend. Well, I didn’t. But you get my meaning. At least from here we can have an honest dialogue about moving forward.”

Rashi raised an eyebrow. “About what? I’m a Healer. I heal your people, you pay me, and then you leave us alone.”

“I get that. But what if…”

“Nope,” Rashi cut him off. “No ‘what if’s’ and no ‘next times.’ If there is a next time, we will deal with it then. Got it?”

Shaggy put up both his hands in surrender and went to sit in a chair next to Monrew. Rashi watched him for a bit before she pointed to V’kro. The Alien woman tried to stand, but couldn’t on her own. Shaggy and a few of the Lackeys moved to help, but Rashi waved them off and lifted the injured woman up. As they walked toward the back, Shaggy kept his eyes on the door to try to see what was back there. But the door swung closed too fast.

The next forty-five minutes were a slow march of time as more Lackeys were brought into the back. As one went to the back, another would come into the waiting room. Shaggy would wave the healed Lackeys toward the front door. When Monrew was heading into the back, the pink-hair Flora popped back into existence behind her desk. She shot a glare at Shaggy before she went back to her magazine.

“So are the Rak’s waiting to ambush us outside?”

Flora dropped her magazine and stared at him, confused. Soon she realized what he was saying and responded angrily.

“I wasn’t informing on you. We aren’t rats. I was doing something else for the Sisters.”

Shaggy nodded in understanding. “Oh, something important I gather?”

Flora snorted as she picked up her magazine. “Way above your pay-grade, Dog-man.”

“It’s Shaggy and you’re Flora, right?” She still had her head buried in her magazine, but Shaggy thought he saw her nod. “Well, Flora, did that important task have anything to do with my crew? Cause that would be something I would like to know.”

Flora slapped her magazine down on her desk again and delivered a vicious smile. “Wouldn’t you just?”

After that, the woman went quiet and Shaggy didn’t want to aggravate her anymore than she was. He waited in silence as the last of his crew went into the back and was healed. As the final Lackey went through the front door, Rashi appeared from the back and approached. Shaggy dug through his pockets for some credits, but Rashi put up a hand.

“Chromia says it’s on her.”

Shaggy felt his eyebrows raise in surprise. “Oh. Well, thank her for me. Is she doing okay?”

“Yeah, she will be fine.” Rashi answered as she regarded him.

“That’s good. Well, I’ll head out then. Tell Chromia if she wants a rematch, she knows where to find me.” Shaggy grinned as he moved toward the door.

“Do you love her?” Rashi asked from behind him.

Shaggy quickly turned around, shaking his head vehemently. “Whoa! No way. I am happily married. She just reminds me of someone.”

“Who?”

“My younger sister. I haven’t seen her in a few years. But she used to be just like Chromia. Angry at the world and tough enough to do some damage if she wanted. But she also lets her anger blind her to the people around her sometimes.”

Rashi nodded in understanding. “That does sound like Chromy.”

Shaggy was lost in his own memories as he felt Rashi staring at him. Taking a deep breath, he shook off his thoughts and turned again to the door. But Rashi’s voice stopped him again.

“My abilities can heal her eventually. But if you wanted to help…” Her voice trailed off as she waited for Shaggy’s response.

Shaggy paused again and sighed. He knew she was playing on the memory of his sister now. He should’ve kept his damn mouth shut. Damn tricky AI. He glanced over his shoulder, silently asking the question she wanted to hear. He could hear the smile in her voice as she said.

“The Phreaks sometime deal in pharmaceuticals. Most of their drugs are recreational, but some can be medicinal.”

Shaggy scratched behind his ear as he thought about it. It was mostly a net positive, although it would put him in opposition to the Phreaks again. But he had already attacked them a few times, anyway. He sighed as he turned forward again.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He marched out the front door before Rashi could say anything more. Outside, the five Lackeys were milling about as Vlad was in quiet conversation with the door guard, Leslie. The tall biker-looking woman laughed at something Vlad had said as Shaggy approached. Leslie took a long drag on a cigarette as Vlad turned to Shaggy happily.

“Hey, Shags, did you know that Leslie here has had to fry no less than ten Raks since you went in?”

Shaggy raised an eyebrow at the woman. She grinned and stuck a hand out, palm up. Blue electricity shot out of her palm and up into the sky. Shaggy nodded in understanding as Leslie chuckled.

“Your friend here also helped with a few.” Leslie said, patting Vlad’s shoulder. “He scratched them up pretty good with those nails of his. Also, threw one clear over that building over there.”

“Glad to see you’re making friends, Vamps.”

Vlad shrugged and waved a hand at the Lackeys. “So, we are good to go?”

Shaggy nodded, and Vlad stuck his hand out to Leslie. “Well, madam, it was a pleasure getting to know you and while I hope we don’t need your sister’s services again. I also hope it won’t be the last time we meet.”

Leslie grinned as she took another puff from her cigarette. “Don’t worry, Vlad. You keep cracking Rak skulls and we’ll meet up eventually.”

As Shaggy and Vlad gathered up their crew to leave, Shaggy snorted at his friend. “Really, dude? Hitting on an NPC?”

Vlad gave a world-weary sigh. “First, there’s nothing wrong with people dating NPCs so long as they can still distinguish between game and reality. Second, Leslie is already dating someone that works a stall just outside the arena.”

“So, what? You get shot down?” Shaggy grinned as they marched out of the Rak's turf.

“No. I was making friends with our neighbors. You know? The neighbors who can heal us and our men back up if we get into another scrape.”

Shaggy grinned as he kept an eye on their surroundings. But Vlad wasn’t done.

“We don’t all have rapid healing like you. We are going to need to rely on the sisters until we can find us some health potions or something.”

Shaggy nodded in agreement, thinking about Rashi’s request. “Yeah, about that…”