Shaggy wasn’t even halfway across the bar when it started to transform around him. Frank and his builders blurred like they were in fast forward and rushed everywhere around the bar at once. The NPCs all around ignored everything as they were lifted by the system and the dirt floor of the bar was replaced with wood slats. Metal walls formed all around as pieces of wood and robots soared around. NPCs were moved as needed while the system implemented whatever changes Vlad was inputting.

Shaggy even saw the Omega Obadiah was studying copy itself and then form into a nearby wall. Apparently, if the NPC was interacting with a resource, the system would duplicate it. Shaggy briefly wondered if that could be exploited. But he shook off the notion. They really didn’t have time to explore that. He walked across the ever changing bar, trying not get in the systems way. He didn’t think anything would go wrong, but he also didn’t want to risk it.

He cleared the entrance to the bar just as a large bronze-metal door was swooping in to place itself in the doorway. Shaggy glanced around as he tried not to look at the bar. He wanted to see what it looked like when it was completed. Although he had warned Vlad, he was sure they were in for some Gothic style architecture. He found Ren leading a few lackeys into the reshaping bar, a pensive look on his face. Nearby Slink, Ephemara and Blobby were dragging a few bits of metal and Omegas into the bar.

Standing at the center of the square in front of their bar was Vance. The old werewolf stood with his arms crossed over his chest, slowly spinning, watching and listening to the surrounding mayhem. Although the Omegas had stopped dropping, a few were still wandering around. Not to mention the cat and rabbit bots. As Shaggy walked over to his Werewolf mentor, he wondered if the Supes had different names for the smaller robots.

It made sense that every group would call them something different. The game had a tagging feature that would allow players to see the names of various things. But like most in-game stuff, Shaggy had it turned off. It completely ruined his immersion, and it didn’t even help with identifying other Players. You had to know their names before you could see their tag. So what was the point?

“You smell all that?” Vance asked as Shaggy stopped next to him.

Shaggy took a big sniff of the air. He had turned off the scent trails after his ‘fight’ with Tillani. There were just too many people in the enclosed space of the bar. The colors were getting to be too much. But he could still almost taste the distinct scents in the air. Dirt, sweat, and blood were the most prevalent. But oil, metal, and smoke were also growing in strength. Shaggy was sure a lot of Under-Town was on fire or there were more fire-based powers being thrown around. But there was also something else, beneath the more mundane scents, something that tugged at Shaggy’s inner Wolf.

“Lot of noise in the air. Blood and robots make sense. Even the dirt. But, there’s something else.” Shaggy said as he scratched his head and took another big whiff of the air.

Vance nodded. “Noise is a good way to think about it. Part of the trick is to distinguish the different ‘sounds.’”

“But it’s what you smell underneath. That’s what I was talking about.” Vance adjusted the sleeve on his leather jacket as he spun. Still watching the slowly descending Bladelings. “It’s a smell you’ll get acquainted with quickly. It’s fear.”

Shaggy rubbed his nose to try to clear the scents before he sniffed again. “How does that work? It doesn’t smell like anything, really. Shouldn’t it smell like sweat and piss or something?”

“HAHAHAHA. Yeah, you’d think so. But no, fear is more nebulous than that. It’s one of the first non-standard scents we Weres can pick up on. If you focus, you can kinda section out the different smells within the scent, but that takes time and is ultimately meaningless. It’s the fear that is important. Scared prey can get really stupid and scared prey with limited ethics in a confined space can get even more stupid.”

“Still think we should get out of here?”

“Of course I do. This place is a powder-keg and these robots are the match.” Vance growled.

Shaggy shrugged. “Under-Town’s handled itself well so far.”

“Sure, but how long before one of the bigger gangs down here tries something stupid because of all this?”

Shaggy thought about Tillani and his plans to reshape Under-Town during this debacle. The gangster had even said he had his boys making waves all over the place. Shaggy wondered how true that was. But he shook it off. They were shoring up their defenses, and the Bladelings were far easier to deal with compared to their larger brothers. They could handle it.

“Sure,” Shaggy admitted. “But we got it. We’re going to hole ourselves up and wait it all out. My crew got this.”

Vance grunted and turned to look at the still reshaping bar. The AI governing the NPC must have calculated its response based on Vlad’s final plans. Because Vance looked impressed, even though the thing was still building itself with the help of Frank and the others. But Vance still shook his head.

“It’s impressive, but your pack is going to have to fight tooth and claw when the next wave comes down.”

“They’re a gang, not a pack, Vance.” Shaggy chuckled as he watched the first of the Bladelings reach the edge of Under-Town’s east side.

Shaggy’s head bent forward as Vance slapped the back of his head. The blow had come on fast and hard. Shaggy was sure his digital brain was rattling around in its skull as he turned indignantly to Vance.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Damn it, cub. I told ya to make a pack! What the hell have you been doing?”

Shaggy rubbed the back of his head as he glared up at the taller werewolf. “Sure, you told me. But you didn’t exactly explain the particulars. What? Am I supposed to wander around and ask if people want to be in my pack?”

Vance struck the back of Shaggy’s head again. The old wolf was way too fast for Shaggy as he felt the blow connect. “YES! Ya damn idiot. A pack bond is a fairly simple thing, but it can prove incredibly useful. However, both individuals have to agree to it and all the members have to agree on a leader.”

Shaggy was sure there was a dent in his head as he screamed back at Vance. “Well, how was I supposed to know that!? My so-called mentor bailed on me before he explained things fully.”

Vance raised his hand again, but Shaggy jumped back. The older werewolf didn’t chase after him and scoffed as he simply batted the air angrily. Vance adjusted his leather jacket again before he turned back to the bar. Grumbling, he shook his head and waved Shaggy toward the bar.

“Well, get in there and start making a pack. You’re young still so you can’t have many members. But the bond will help with what’s coming your way.”

Shaggy nodded before his brain parsed Vance’s words. “You’re not sticking around?”

Vance shook his head. “Nope. You're not my only charge down here. As much as you would like me to hold your hand, that’s not how I do things. I just stopped by cause your scent was the strongest here. Something you might want to fix if you piss off any other Weres, by the way.”

“Well, fine.” Shaggy grumbled as he turned back to the bar. The fact that there were other Weres down here was interesting, especially other wolfs. If Vance was to be believed.

Vance started walking northward, but stopped as something occurred to him. “Oh yeah, watch out for that old cyborg. He smells like government.”

“Obadiah?” Shaggy asked, confused.

Vance raised an eyebrow but nodded. “That’s the one. Work with him if ya want, but keep your nose up AND MAKE A DAMN PACK!”

With that, Vance transformed into his werewolf shape and ran off. Shaggy watched the enormous wolf cross the square and disappear down one of the north streets. Several Lackeys nearby stopped and stared as the werewolf ran out of the square. Some even turned worried eyes to Shaggy, but he just waved them off. They still needed as much metal as they could get into the bar.

Shaggy turned and took in the still reforming building. The first floor was done and the speeding builders and floating materials were now working on the second story. He studied the first floor, and he wasn’t disappointed. The entire structure was a mix of wood and metal, with large sections of the building being made of the Omegas bronze metal.

Shaggy thought about the corpses encased within and shuddered slightly as he stared at the brown walls. But he shook it off. What better material for a Lair of evil than corpses? Of course, only he and the other leaders knew that bit. As he moved closer, he saw the walls were actually quite thick and there were plenty of window spaces. Except they apparently didn’t have any glass, so the windows were left empty. Shaggy wondered why Vlad hadn’t used the system to buy any glass as the front of the bar’s second story spun and whirled rapidly before it settled.

Shaggy smiled as he stared up at the slowly coalescing sign. ‘The Viper’s Den’ was emblazoned on a large bronze sign just above the door. The dark brown color didn’t really stick out much, but Shaggy couldn’t help but grin at what they had built in such a short time. Sure, it was with the system’s help. But hey, they paid for it with perfectly good ill-gotten gains. His grinned turned into a full on smile as the thudding of robotic feet resounded through the air.

The bar’s name seemed pretty apt under the circumstances, now that he thought about it. Shaggy wasn’t sure the robots could feel fear. But if they knew what they were rushing into, he was sure that they would. It was going to be a fun time defending the new bronze metal Lair against the oncoming horde.

“What are you smiling at?” A woman’s voice asked as he passed through the large bronze door of the bar.

Shaggy glanced over and saw Chromia leaning against a brand-new table. She still had a sullen look on her face, but Shaggy’s gaze was on the wooden table. Apparently, Vlad had bought or built them some amenities. He glanced back up at Chromia’s dark eyes and widened his smile.

“Nothing much, just excited about what’s coming. We got a lot of bots headed this way.”

Chromia snorted. “That excites you, does it?”

“I’m always up for a good fight.” Shaggy shrugged, moving into the bar proper and looking for some Lackeys.

He wanted to try out this pack thing as soon as possible and Lackeys would fit the bill nicely. Chromia fell in step with him as she asked.

“Speaking of that, what happened with Tillani?”

Shaggy shrugged again. “No idea. The dude melted into a pile of goo and I buried him.”

“You buried him?”

Shaggy waggled a palm up and down. “Kind of?”

“So you forced him into using enough of his power that he lost cohesion, but you didn’t finish the job?!” Chromia asked indignantly.

“What was I supposed to do? He turned into a pile of lava?! I didn’t exactly have my water gun with me. So I threw some dirt on him and it crusted over. I figure that will slow him down somewhat. Won’t it?” Shaggy asked, turning pensive.

The fight with Tillani had been a weird one. But Shaggy wasn’t sure he wanted to redo it. Not without the proper weapons in place. Like a fire hose.

Chromia looked thoughtful. “I mean, most of the Rakgu under Tillani know about his powers. Not to mention his limited ability to hold himself together when he gets too angry. But I don’t know how long he takes to get his shit back together. But sure, burying him would probably slow down the process. Especially if it was deep.”

Shaggy coughed and looked everywhere but at the one-eyed, tan-skinned woman. He didn’t want to mention the thin layer of dirt he had covered Tillani in. It had been enough to crust over the lava, but Tillani wasn’t exactly buried deep. Chromia seemed to pick up on his unspoken admission as she snorted.

“Great. So he could be on his way here right now.”

Shaggy shook his head. “No way. Even with his boys looking, it’ll take them a bit to find him. Besides, he has bigger things to think about now. Between Cog’s message and the next wave of robots.”

Chromia nodded, but still looked angry. Although that was normal when she was around Shaggy. They made their way around a few more tables and across a new dance floor made of some shiny red material Shaggy didn’t want to think about. Lackey’s and Civilians were now seated at tables and chairs, talking animatedly as a few kept watch near the various windows that surrounded the bottom floor.

Vlad had kept the wooden bar along the building’s eastern side. But had improved and expanded it slightly with newer wood. Shaggy figured they were going to have to purchase some paint later to make sure the entire building matched. But that was another idea for later. For all he knew, Vlad was buying paint from the terminal right now, anyway. He briefly wondered if they could restock food through the terminal as well.

Shaggy spun in place looking for any familiar Lackey. He really wanted his first pack member to be someone he had worked with before. As he came around, he caught eyes with a still frowning Chromia. He thought about asking the surly woman, but he quickly brushed it off. That was just asking for trouble. Finally, he spotted someone he knew. It wasn’t exactly his first choice, but he would make do.

“Hey! Yuki! I got a question for you!”