“You’re serious? You’re planning a raid into enemy territory while we are still defending our home base?” Vlad asked, clearly indignant.
Shaggy heard himself and Chromia sigh at the same time. The two of them glanced at each other but returned their attention to the pale vampire player that was firing one of the K-tech rifles into the sky. They were on the newly made second-floor of their bar, and Vlad was helping watch for fliers and the occasional Cat-bot.
“Yes. Ammo is going to be an issue after all of this. So we need a plan.” Chromia said.
“Also, we aren’t really doing horribly. These things are more of a nuisance than anything else. Hell, Ren and Tinsel are out there moving more bodies than they are wrecking bots.”
Shaggy glanced around for his other player friends, but only found Slink. The pale youth was firing two pistols out a first-floor window. Although the boy finally looked like he was at least aiming. But there was no sign of Dave anywhere. He turned and asked his vampire friend where the excitable mutant player was.
“Dave had to log out. Something about getting a bite and talking to some friends.” Vlad explained as he waited for the high-tech rifle’s cool-down to finish.
“We are not saying that we should go now.” Chromia brought the conversation back around to where it had started. “But once things calm down some more, we need to lead a team and go get some more ammo.”
Vlad sneered at the brown-haired woman. “Okay, hold up a damn second. You aren’t a boss in this outfit, one-eye.”
He waved a hand between himself and Shaggy. “WE decide here. Not you.”
“Well, us and Ren, Slink, probably Dave too…” Shaggy muttered as Vlad shot a glare at him. Shaggy shrugged. “Hey, it just so happens I agree with her assessment. Plus, these damn robots are more annoying than dangerous now. Shit is calming down and we need to be in a position of power when it does. A lot of groups are forming out there and we need to be able to defend ourselves.”
Vlad sighed and looked out the window. Shaggy could see fires blazing in the distance as flashes of gunfire lit up the dirt streets. The Bladeling army was everywhere, roaming around in packs, destroying whatever they came across. But they were now joined by roving gangs of pissed off Under-Town citizens. Groups carrying whatever weapons they could find, taking it to the invaders that had marched on their home.
Shaggy couldn’t keep the smile from his face. The people of Under-Town were a bunch of crazies and it was fantastic. Chromia crossed her arms over her chest and looked between them angrily. Vlad ignored her, but Shaggy waved a hand placatingly. He knew the right compromise for this moment.
“Why don’t you go to the meeting and we’ll take a few of the crew out and see what we can find out about this ammo guy?”
“So you do wanna go now?” Vlad asked accusingly.
“Hey, I would be comfortable going alone, honestly. But with Chrom here, and a couple a Lackeys, we’ll be fine. These things are nothing.”
Vlad grunted and took another shot out the window. Shaggy was sure he saw a screeching cat fall out of the sky as Vlad turned back to them. “Fine, go ahead and do your thing. You’re right about these bots. They are a piece of cake. I imagine they are going to be the new normal enemy type down here for a while.”
“Unless we end up killing them all. The way they wander around everywhere, we are bound to get them all at some point.”
Vlad just nodded as he turned back to his window and aim his large black rifle at something in the sky. Shaggy grabbed Chromia’s elbow and walked her back toward the stairs. She jerked her arm out of his grip before they descended the stairs, and he chose to ignore her foul mood. He needed to find some helpers. A flash of blue in his vision brought him around to a rolling blue blob that was delivering ammo to the dance floor.
“Blobby!” Shaggy shouted happily. The amorphous alien would come in real handy when carrying stuff. “You doing anything important?”
Blobby extended a head-like appendage out of the top of its ball-like form and shook it from side to side. “~No, boss. Just running stuff around for people~”
“Good. Grab Ephemara and a few others and meet me outside.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“OH FUCK NO!” a voice shouted before Blobby could take off. Shaggy spun around again until he was face to face with a red-faced Yuki. “You are not running off without me again, boss! You’re doing that pack thing and I ain’t leaving your side till I’m a werewolf!”
Shaggy grimaced at the loud young man’s voice and waved Blobby off to do what he had instructed. He placed a steadying hand on the dark-haired man’s shoulder and sighed. “Sorry, Yuki. You missed out. There’s no more room in the pack for now.”
Yuki’s face looked like it was about to explode as Shaggy finished speaking. Yuki ripped his shoulder out of Shaggy’s grip and stalked off, grumbling angrily. Shaggy chuckled as he thought about finding his pack. Cekrass could probably carry a lot and they needed practice with the pack bond, anyway.
“No more spots, huh?” Chromia’s voice asked from behind him.
Shaggy nodded his head as he looked at her. “Yeah, why? You interested in a spot on the shock squad?”
Chromia snorted. “It’s Shock Troop, and you know they are known for taking the heaviest casualties, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m tougher than most.”
“But what about the rest of your pack?”
“They’ll fight and win, same as me. We might lose some eventually, but that’s the way of the wolf.” Shaggy said as he crossed his arms and looked around for his pack mates.
“I bet that sounded cooler in your head, didn’t it?”
“Shut your face.”
Shaggy spotted Vick back upstairs. The lean sniper was shooting what looked like a bolt-action rifle out an eastern window. Sybil was beside him with an alien assault rifle of some kind. Lord knew where they had grabbed one of them from. He would bet that Tom was probably awake somewhere now, but he couldn’t find the annoying man. But Blobby’s return caught his attention before he could fully scan the bar. The jelly alien was back in his humanoid shape and leading Ephemara, Rita and Cekrass.
Rita blew a lock of curly red hair out of her face as she smiled. “Sup, boss? We heading out again?”
“Cekrass is ready!”
The large lizard man slapped his pale yellow chest ritualistically and smiled. Ephemara merely grinned at them both before she looked questioningly at Shaggy. Shaggy smiled at them all and thanked the Gods of Gaming for his good luck. Ephemara was on the cusp of becoming his Henchman, and with two of his pack members, it would probably be easier to manage the emotional link they shared.
“We have a scouting mission. Maybe a little B&E at the end of it.”
Rita arched an eyebrow as Ephemara cackled. “Really? We’re going to rob somebody with all this going on?”
Chromia nodded. “It’s a risk, but this is also the best time to shore up our ammo shortage. The big gangs are going to be heading for the meeting, so all we’ll have to deal with is the shop’s defenses and maybe the owner.”
“We know what those defenses are?” Ephemara asked, still smiling happily.
“Last I remember, the shop had a weapons scanner and a few automated turrets for defense. But the shop’s owner rarely used them. He didn’t enjoy getting them repaired.” Chromia explained.
“He didn’t to work on his own stuff?” Shaggy asked, confused.
“No, he didn’t build them. The Raks hired a technopath for that, but they were extremely expensive and difficult to work with.”
Shaggy filed that bit of information away for later and was about to lead everyone out of the bar when Rita asked another question.
“So we are going into The Raks turf, while they are leaving to be a part of some meeting. While we are there, we’re going to rob an ammo store guarded by automated turrets. All during a robot invasion. Is that right?”
Shaggy nodded and sighed as he looked at Rita. “Rita, if you wanna stay behind, I get it. But we need ammo.”
Rita snorted and tapped her sword that was belted to her hip. “Shit, boss. You aren’t leaving me behind. This sounds fun as hell.”
Ephemara cackled again as she put her arm over the older woman’s shoulders. “I knew I was going to like you! Let’s get to it, boss-man.”
Shaggy smiled at his assembled team and headed out the door. Gun fire still sounded all around as they stepped out into the square and Shaggy was surprised to see Ren using his new hammer to swat a row of robots into oblivion. The north side was mostly calm, but it seemed a few more Bladelings were getting through. The large grey alien smiled at Shaggy until he saw his small crew and then Ren raised an eyebrow.
Shaggy told his crew to wait for him as he ran over to explain things to Ren. Nearby Tinsel was ripping a Bladeling in half with his bare hands as a few Lackeys hacked and stabbed a few more with their weapons. Shaggy picked up a Bladeling’s sword and threw it like a spear at an oncoming droid as he shouted up at his friend.
“We got to do an ammo run. The bar is getting low.”
Ren snorted as he back-handed a leaping robot. “We hardly need it. These things are good practice for the Lackeys. In fact, we should get more out here. The waves are getting further and further apart, anyway.”
Shaggy shrugged. “Take it up with Vlad. Maybe he can send a few more out. But I was thinking more about after all this is over. We are going to need supplies anyway and with the Raks off at their big meeting…”
Shaggy trailed off as Ren grinned. “You’re crazy, Shags. We are halfway through this mess and you want to go poke the bear again? The same bear you have been poking since we got down here?”
Shaggy chuckled, but said nothing. Ren shook his head as he kicked another robot into several others. “Fine. Get out of here. I’ll talk to Vlad about that meeting thing. We have to at least send a representative.”
Shaggy started walking back toward his crew. “Yeah, I figured the vamp could do all that. He is the one that likes all that crap. I am more of a doer than a talker.”
Ren snorted and waved him off as he moved closer to Tinsel. The two Perinadons started punching and kicked the nearest bots into scrap. Shaggy listened to the sound of crunching metal as he joined the others. The steady beat of bullets firing kept up as they circled the building and headed south.
A surprising number of shacks were still standing on their south and west side. Shaggy was surprised, but it showed how well the Rakgu and the other crime syndicates were fighting off the robots. He picked up speed as Blobby turned into its ball-form and started rolling. Chromia shifted into her metal form as well, and they all took off into the darkening streets of Rakgu territory.