They ran. Shaggy and the Lackeys ran through the still shaking streets of Under-Town. Even as more Omega robots and bits and pieces of dirt fell from the sky. Even as random civilians panicked around them, screaming incoherently at the surrounding madness. They ran.
Shaggy saw a few of the Omega robots pull themselves free of the wreckage of their landings and start attacking people. But he ignored them. Only stopping a few times to deal with the robots who got close to their group. Blobby had formed themselves into a ball and was rolling ahead of them, keeping the path clear. Tom and Rita tried to argue for them to stop and help, but ultimately, this wasn’t their neighborhood.
To Shaggy’s mind, they had to get back to the bar and help defend it. Not only could they consolidate their power that way. But they could also be seen by their own neighborhood as protectors while all this madness was going on. So Shaggy ordered his Lackeys to keep their head’s down and keep running. They had a long couple of blocks to go before they were home.
Shaggy dragged his claws through an Omega that had gotten close and turned a corner to see even more of the things destroying someone’s metal home. The occupants were nowhere to be seen. Probably smashed to bits under the wrecking-ball like hands of the Omegas. Shaggy charged forward and sliced with his claws, and bullets from his crew slammed home into the robot’s armor plating. Shaggy ducked a wild swing and took the right leg off a robot as Blobby shouted from nearby.
“~Fliers incoming!~”
They pointed a tentacle upward as a loud buzzing filled the air. Shaggy let his crew deal with the flailing Omegas as he glanced up. In the sky, pouring out of the holes in the cavern walls, were bronze robots with rapidly fluttering metal wings on their backs. Each was around the size of a medium-sized dog and looked like giant feral cats with wings. They were diving, bombing the squat buildings of Under-Town. Slashing at them with their teeth and claws.
The sound of gunfire and spells filled the air as people of the streets fired upward. All doing their best to hit the surprisingly nimble targets. Even his guys were randomly shooting into the air, trying to hit something. Shaggy grunted and waved a hand at his crew.
“If you don’t hit three in five shots, save your ammo. We need to keep moving.”
The firing died down as most of his crew stopped shooting, except Sybil and Vick. They both reloaded and continued firing into the air. Sybil looked at Shaggy and nodded, which he took to mean they were ready to run again. Shaggy nodded back and waved Blobby forward, following the Alien blue ball. Gunfire went off behind Shaggy as he heard the faint footsteps of his Lackeys following him.
They barely gone a block when they hit another group of robots. But this time they were completely foreign to Shaggy. The small rabbit-sized robots were using their large metal teeth to chomp into the flesh of a few dead bodies. The bodies were laying next to a pair of rifles and nearby the form of one of the flying cats was on the ground broken. Shaggy’s run took him directly in their path and they immediately stopped their meal to jump at him and Blobby.
The robots sank into Blobby’s body and started to melt as Shaggy swung his claws wildly at the rabbit-bots. He felt his claws rip through the hopping bastards, but one slammed into his stomach and started kicking and biting with its metal feet and teeth. Shaggy ripped the little bastard off and stomped on it as his crew caught up once again. He groaned as gunfire once again filled the air as they open fired on the small rabbit-bots.
“Uhhhh, Boss?” Yuki said worriedly.
He was standing next to the broken Flying Cat-bot. The stocky Lackey was staring down at the broken robot wide-eyed. Shaggy moved over next to the cat-bot and swore. There was a small box shaped carrying cage next to the bot. It lay open and broken on the ground next to the cat-bot. The flying cat had multiple holes in it from gunfire and was obviously not working anymore, but its mission was done. Now there were multiple rabbit-bots loose on the street.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Gorje asked.
Shaggy nodded as Relsh answered. “Yep. Some of these damn things are carrying payloads. So even if we shoot them down, we have to deal with the rats.”
“They look like rabbits to me.” Cekrass said as he picked up a broken rabbit-bot and studied it.
“Rabbit! Rat! It doesn’t matter. These things are going to be everywhere!” Yuki screamed.
Shaggy snorted and pointed upward at the robots still crawling the upper walls of Under-Town. “They are already everywhere. All we have to do is get to the bar and muster a defense.”
“I really don’t see how a half-built bar is going to help us, boss.” Tom said fearfully.
“Maybe it won’t, but at least we’ll all be back in familiar territory with allies. Dave had the rest of the Lackeys there training and we have our little energy rifle insurance policy.”
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The Lackeys stared at him uncomprehendingly. But Shaggy glanced around again and, seeing that the rabbit-bots were dealt with, started running again. There were a few shouts behind him as the Lackeys started running after him, but Shaggy waved over his shoulder at them to follow. Blobby rolled up next to him, and the two of them kept pace as they moved further south. Random pot-shots from his crew still going off.
“Damn it, Vick! You’re just dropping more problems down on people. Stop!” Rita panted as she ran.
Vick’s calm voice was interspersed with gun fire. “We have to deal with the flying cats, anyway.”
“Plus, if we don’t do it, someone else will.” Sybil called.
“So let them! Save our ammo.” Xelieran argued.
“And let one of those damn things drop on us? At least this way we can stop them dumping a load of rabbit-rats on us.” Vick shouted back.
The arguing died down after that and Shaggy smiled as more shooting picked up. Around them, more and more Omega robots fell from the sky. Shaggy questioned Cog’s intelligence for a little while until he saw the smaller sword robots climbing the walls down toward the edges of Under-Town. The Omegas were just the shock force. The sword-bots were the actual force meant to sweep through them.
Shaggy wondered if the damn mad-scientist had anything else up his sleeve. The cat and rabbit bots had been a surprise. He also thought about what Cog was hoping to accomplish. Did he want to move into Under-Town and take it over? Was he looking for Shaggy to get revenge? Maybe Cog wanted to test out some new robots. Shaggy sliced the head off a crippled Omega as he ran past a collapsed building. He shook off the errant thoughts and picked up speed. They were almost home.
The last couple of blocks were pretty much the same. More and More Omegas fell from the sky as Cat and Rabbit bots roamed the street and skies. Although Shaggy noticed that there were fewer civilians out and about. That just meant the Omegas went unimpeded as they knocked down buildings everywhere they went. Shaggy and the others waged a running battle as some Omegas zeroed in on their little group.
They had just made it to the square in front of their bar when the shaking finally stopped. The rumbling and quaking of the earth was replaced with mechanical whirring and clanking of metal. Screams sounded from all around as Shaggy let his Focus Skill take in everything. Dave’s group of Lackeys were in the half-built bar firing their guns at the encroaching robots. Ren and Tinsel were in the square with a few more Lackeys, duking it out with some Omegas. His group had entered from the north side of the square, dragging even more Omegas into the fight.
Shaggy spun and charged the few Omegas, following them as he screamed. “Get to the bar and play defense. I’ll help clear the square. Blobby, see what’s going on with the-”
He was cut off as a green beam of energy slammed home into a nearby Omega and melted its chest plate. Shaggy grinned and waved the others toward the bar. That answered the question about the energy rifles. As he danced around the larger Omega robots and sliced away at them with his claws, the occasional beam of energy would hit an Omega.
Shaggy heard Ren and Tinsel beating the Omegas with their bare hands and Ren’s new hammer. The thing left huge dents on the sides of the Omegas, but they kept coming. Shaggy thought he saw a few lackeys in the square, using the Professors weapons the large robots. But he had to focus on his own fights. The things weren’t fast, but he was willing to bet they hit like runaway cars.
He dodged back away from a large, round fist as he heard his name being called. Shaggy ignored it as he leapt on top of the wrecking-ball shaped hand and dove at an Omega’s squat rectangular face. His claws hit the red glass eye of the omega and shredded through what he considered the thing’s head. He took stock of himself before he turned to the still screaming voice.
“Shags!”
He turned and saw Ephemara and Slink yelling at him from the front door area of the bar. Shaggy shrugged and waved a clawed hand at the Omega robots that were still fighting in the square. Gun shots came from the bar, pinging off the robot’s bronze armor. Ephemara and Slink were adamant, though, waving at him to come to them. Shaggy sighed and ran over, taking a few swipes at whatever he could.
“We have a problem.” Slink said as Shaggy skidded to a halt in front of them.
Both Shaggy and Ephemara glared at the young kid. But Slink corrected himself. “Another big problem. Our ammo is getting low.”
Shaggy glanced into the bar and saw that not only were their Lackeys firing away at the oncoming robots. But there were even a few civilians in their bar shooting. Nearby Frank and his builders were rapidly putting up metal walls into the framework of the building for defense as some Lackeys and civilians helped. Shaggy saw that there were even a few injured laying on the ground in the bar.
“We have a solution, but we’re going to have to go south.” Ephemara said.
Shaggy raised an eyebrow as Slink drew a pistol and started shooting at an approaching Omega. Another green beam melted the thing before it got too close, but Slink kept shooting. Ephemara jerked the gun out of the kid’s hand and continued explaining.
“The Needle sisters are on their way here with some ammo and supplies.”
Shaggy grunted. “Gee, that’s nice of them.”
“When all this started, the Rakgu went after the sisters. They want Rashi for her healing powers, but the sisters escaped, and they are headed this way. But the Rakgu are chasing them.”
“Don’t they have anything better to do?!” Shaggy asked, waving at the robots in the sky and in the streets.
Ephemara shrugged. “She’s a healer. I think you know how valuable they can be in a situation like this.”
“Still, it’s a fucking war out here!”
Slink closed his eyes and put a finger to his temple. “Actually, the Rakgu are doing pretty well for themselves. They’ve got the numbers and the guns. The Phreaks and the UGB have joined forces and are fighting in the west. But Larry hasn’t seen the Quinica anywhere. I have Curly watching the Needle Sisters. They are staying ahead of the Raks, but they need help.”
Shaggy shook his head in amazement. “Geez, kid. When did you get the range?”
Slink smiled. “Practice.”
Shaggy glanced around. His own people were doing okay, but gunshots were getting fewer and fewer. He was surprised to see a few Lackeys drop their empty guns and run out into the square to fight with whatever weapons he could grab. Then again, what else were they going to do? Even if they ran away, they’d still be in a war zone. Shaggy reached into his pocket for another candy bar but came away empty-handed.
He groaned as he wiped his face. “Fine, let’s get going before I wise up. Let me grab some food first, though.”
“Bar’s tapped except for beer.” Ephemara grinned.
Shaggy had to suppress the urge to howl in anger. Slink looked apologetic as he started moving toward the south. Shaggy pointed at Ren and nodded at Ephemara.
“Let him know where we are going.”
She returned the nod and patted his bare shoulder. “You be careful out there. The Raks may be doing okay for themselves, but that doesn’t mean robots aren’t still falling from the sky.”
Shaggy just grunted and ran after Slink. All around them, bullets flew and people screamed. Above them, Omegas fell from the sky as the sword-bots climbed their way closer downward toward the town. Cat-bots buzzed around on their metal wings and smashed their bodies into buildings, setting loose their rabbit-bot payloads. Shaggy felt the grin start on his face and he laughed as he ran.
“I fucking love this game!”