Shaggy squinted his eyes against the bright light of the sun. After talking things over with Dave and waiting for Slink and Ephemara to show up, Shaggy had to log out. His wife was going to be home, and they had agreed to split their time in the VR pod. But the next day, he logged back in and explained things to the two of them. Slink and Ephemara seemed more than happy to help.

Of course, that was before the long ass walk to topside. They even had to pay a damn toll to the Quinica guarding their tunnel. Shaggy almost wanted to grow his claws and slaughter the jackasses. But he let it go. They were already in a scuffle with the Raks and Phreaks. They didn’t need anymore trouble.

Also, the walk down the tunnel exit was tiring enough. Shaggy thought it was weird that the gangs were policing the exits, but not the entrances. But Ephemara explained it was more to check for people who were pissing off the gangs. That had made Shaggy thankful that they hadn’t gone down a Phreak or Rak tunnel. After almost an hour of walking in the dark, they finally emerged into the bright sunlight... and immediately regretted it.

“Oh, Sweet Christ!” Shaggy groaned as his eyes screamed at him.

Slink groaned as Ephemara gave a chuckle. “Yep, rough every time. But damn if that sun doesn’t feel good.”

Shaggy rubbed his fingers into his eyes until the stinging stopped. He briefly wondered how long they had been down there. But he shook it off and looked around. Judging by the sun, it was probably around noon and people were rushing back and forth on the street nearby. They had used Dave’s entrance, which was in an alley somewhere in Downtown Austin. Shaggy could see dozens upon dozens of scent trails obscuring his vision.

He quickly set about grey out most of the mundane ones as Slink and Ephemara gathered themselves. Slink swore a few more times before he collected himself enough to ask.

“So we’re up here. Now, can you tell us your plan?”

Shaggy idly greyed out scent markers as he answered. “We’re going to have you two break into a Police Station.”

Slink glared at him with watery eyes as Ephemara shook her head and turned back toward the tunnel. “Nope. Nope. Ain’t gonna happen. Stupidest idea you’ve ever had.”

“Whoa. Come back here! You can go intangible and invisible. It’ll be a cakewalk.”

Ephemara turned and glared at him. “Do you think the SPPD doesn’t have scanners for my kind of abilities? All they have to do is scan for particles or do some weird magic shit then my ass is grass.”

“And my snakes aren’t exactly inconspicuous.” Slink added.

Shaggy nodded, but put a hand on Ephemara’s shoulder. “Okay, I get that. But the information we need is in a police station. So how about we get some food up here and talk it over?”

Slink sighed and nodded as Ephemara continued to give Shaggy a hard stare. Finally, the pale woman nodded and shoved past him and out into the street. Shaggy followed and the three of them turned northward further into the city. The streets were alive with business people running this way and that. Speedster couriers carried packages up and around buildings. Flying cars weaved around flying Supers.

A few streets up, Shaggy saw a man running eastward with an ATM on his shoulder. There was a flying green man following him and shooting red beams of energy out of his hands. Most people ignored the goings on as others stood and watched. A low buzzing noise brought his attention upward, and he spotted several silver oblongs zooming around the sky.

“What the hell are those?” Slink asked.

“HLO drones. They capture as much of the action as they can, so there’s a record of their activities.” Ephemara grunted.

“But they can’t be everywhere, can they?” As Slink asked as five more drones whizzed overhead.

Ephemara shrugged, but Shaggy shook his head. “I don’t think they can kid, but they record enough.”

The three of them continued down the street until Ephemara turned into a parking lot. Looking around, Shaggy realized it was the parking lot of an old-fashioned train car diner. It was a long, rectangular red and beige building with an actual broken neon sign. The sign read Vill’ Nix’s Diner. But one L, the second I, and the X were broken.

“Vil’ N’s Diner?” Shaggy asked incredulously. “You can’t be serious.”

Ephemara smirked and kept walking inside the diner. Shaggy turned to share his incredulity with Slink. But the boy was already at the door, looking excited. He sighed and went inside the squat building. Ephemara made a beeline for a corner booth at the end of the diner, followed closely by Slink. Shaggy glanced around as he followed.

The clientele of the diner was an odd mix of blue-collar workers and obvious gangsters. A few people even had spiked bats and guns laying out on their tables. Shaggy caught eyes with a few people, but they just gave him the stink eye until he moved on. The civilians just looked apathetic to the obvious criminals in their midst. Shaggy shook his head and sat next to Slink as Ephemara glared down at a plastic menu.

Shaggy checked the credits in his pocket before he glanced over at the diner’s selection. A sudden presence caught him off guard as a large, muscular body appeared next to their table. He heard Slink suck in a breath as a large... Minatuaress…? Stood next to their table. She was wearing the standard waitress uniform. Blue blouse and skirt with a tiny apron hanging over her knees.

Her furry bull-like face was set in a permanent scowl which depend as she saw Ephemara. Ephemara ignored the waitress until she set the menu down and ordered.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Bacon burger, fries and a strawberry shake. Oh, and tell Vinny not to burn the damn thing.”

Their waitress snorted and stared hard at all of them before she wrote down the order. Then she turned her glare on Shaggy and Slink. Shaggy heard Slink gulp loudly, so he glanced down before saying.

“Same. But a chocolate shake, please.”

She nodded before she turned to Slink, who still seemed frozen. Shaggy jammed his elbow into the boy’s side. Slink jumped before he finally looked down and the menu and shouted.

“SALAD! I mean… uh… a Chicken Caesar salad. Please. Ma’am. Thanks.”

Their waitress gave a snort as she wrote Slink’s order. But she soon returned her hard gaze back to the boy.

“Drink?”

Slink jumped in his seat again. “Water. Ma’am.”

Their waitress nodded and gave another hard look at Ephemara before she wandered back toward the kitchen. Shaggy gave the skinny, pale woman a questioning look. But she either ignored it or didn’t see it as she asked about their plans.

“So… why in the hell are we trying to break into a police station?”

Shaggy glanced around, but no one seemed interested in their conversation. At least not overtly. “Because we need information on a handler for one of their undercover agents.”

Ephemara’s eyes grew wide before she asked another question. “And your best idea was to raid SPPD headquarters?”

“It was until you mentioned their scanners. I figured with your abilities and the kid on lookout, it would be easy. Now I think this entire trip was a bust.”

“Not necessarily.” She stated cryptically.

Before Shaggy could ask what she meant, their waitress appeared at their table with their drinks. After another glare at Ephemara, she walked off again. Shaggy gave Ephemara another questioning gaze, but she stirred her shake as she looked anywhere but at him. Slink bounced his gaze between the two of them as he sipped his water.

Finally, Shaggy sighed. “Fine. What’s your idea?”

Ephemara nodded and returned her gaze to him. “The police aren’t the only people that would have that information.”

“The other people who have it would be…?” Shaggy asked, waving a hand for her to continue.

“The DA’s office.”

Shaggy blew out a breath and threw up his hands. “Oh please, that’s got to be even harder to get into than the police station.”

“Not really.” Said Slink, drawing both of their gazes. “I mean, most DAs work out of courthouses and those are at least somewhat public. Security will be tight, but not as bad as the police station.”

Ephemara waggled her hand. “Maybe. I was just throwing out another option, really. We could walk into a police station just as easily. But I doubt I could do my invisible thing.”

“I doubt walking in would be easy. We escaped from prison a few days ago. They got to have us on some sort of list.” Shaggy explained, and Ephemara hissed in displeasure.

“Yeah. The facial recognition cameras are going to ping like crazy if you get anywhere near a police station. In fact, you're lucky the HLO cameras didn’t spot you or you’d have Heroes so far in your business they’d owe you rent.”

Slink deflated in his seat. “So we’re screwed no matter what we do.”

“What about proxies?” Shaggy asked. At their questioning looks, he explained. “We get a couple of people to do the job for us.”

“Then we have to tell them what we are looking for. Do you want to do that?”

Shaggy winced and shook his head. They didn't need this to spread any further than their group. He was trying to think about the problem when their waitress came back with their food. She set down Slink and Shaggy’s food, but then held onto Ephemara’s and stared at her. Ephemara stared back at her and something passed between them. But soon the waitress reached over and dropped the plate and left in a huff.

“Okay, seriously, what the hell is up with you and our waitress?” Shaggy asked as he grabbed a fry.

Ephemara sighed. “Long story, but we got in trouble a while back. I did my thing, and she got caught. She kept her mouth shut, but things have been icy since then.”

“You just left her?” Slink asked, incredulous.

“Hey, that’s the life. Okay? You fall behind, you get left behind. You just gotta remember the code of the streets.”

“What’s that?” Slink asked as he stirred his fork around his salad.

Ephemara took a large bite of her burger and said around a mouthful of food. “Keep your mouth shut. No matter what, you don’t rat on your friends.”

Shaggy chuckled. “Yeah, and how long does that last?”

“As long as it has to. Then, if you start having a problem, you handle it. Permanently.”

Shaggy shook his head as Slink asked. “So you just kill people?”

“What business do you think we’re in, kid?” Shaggy asked, turning to Slink.

Slink just shrugged as a voice feminine spoke up from over Shaggy’s shoulder. “What business are you in, wolf Boy?”

Shaggy spun in his seat and came face to face with the frizzy-haired Rita. She was grinning right at him as Shaggy sprouted his claws and almost attacked. But a loud coughing noise came from his left. He glanced over and saw a large orange man in a chef’s apron and he was wielding a shotgun, aimed right at him and Rita. Rita said nothing and looked back at Shaggy, but Shaggy let his claws retract and sat back down.

He blew out a breath before he asked. “You ain’t here for a fight. So what do you want?”

As Rita moved to sit in front of him and Slink, Shaggy realized that Ephemara was gone. Probably doing her invisible and intangible thing again. Which was fine. Now they had an ace in the hole in case things went south. Although she could have just as easily slipped away and said screw everything. Rita looked over the half-eaten meal on her side of the table and raised an eyebrow.

Shaggy smiled and repeated his question. “Well, Rita? What do you want? Or are you gonna make me guess?”

“Oh please, wolf boy. Why don’t you have a guess and I’ll tell you how close you are.”

“Okay then, if I had to guess, you’re here to tell me that my escape was all a well-orchestrated plan. That your boss wanted me to run away from her. Then she sent you up here to help us, help her with her problem. How am I doing?”

Rita looked annoyed. Even with half of Ephemara’s burger in her mouth. She swallowed and glared at him.

“Pretty good."

“Yeah, I’m not buying it. But whatever, you’re here and you were probably given instructions to help us if we were doing what she wanted. So out with it.”

Rita was still glaring at him, but she pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and tossed it at him. Shaggy didn’t look at it and place it in his own pocket. He went back to his meal as Rita stood up and started to leave.

“Do you know?” Shaggy asked as she walked by.

Rita halted and gave him a sideways glance. Shaggy studied her face as best he could, but it was like a stone. He thought he saw the tiniest nod of her head, and then she was gone again. That was interesting. Shaggy turned back to down his shake and finish his fries. But Ephemara had dragged his plate across the table toward her. Shaggy was left with a burger and shake, so he shrugged and let the glaring woman eat his fries.

Next to him, Slink was giving him a weird look. “How the hell did you know all that? Were you expecting it?”

“Hell no. But it didn’t take that much thought. I mean, she came up to us in a public place. So she didn’t want or was ordered not to fight us.”

“And that shit about your escape?”

“Bah! That was probably all bullshit to save her boss’s pride. I mean, think about it. One werewolf escaped from her heavily fortified base. Of course, she would tell her peons it was all planned.”

Ephemara snorted. “You realize you getting away from a Rakgu Captain without help is even more unlikely, right?”

Shaggy waved her away. “Of course not. I’m fucking awesome.”

“Whatever you say, Wolf Boy. I’ll spare your pride. Is that our address?”

Shaggy just nodded as he finished his meal. The thing with Scholer was tricky. For all he knew, she had let him go. But what about Rita? How and why did she know about Scholer? Why was Scholer so trusting of criminals? Eventually, Shaggy shook it off and looked around at Slink and Ephemara.

“Finish up and then we will head out. But keep your eyes open. This could all be a setup for something, and I don’t want us to get caught in the middle of it.”

The others nodded, and they spent the rest of their time talking about inane things. Once they finished, they paid their angry waitress and stepped back outside into the noon sun. Shaggy smiled. At least they got out of the dark cave for a few hours. Time to find a SPPD Handler.