“That’s impossible.”

“Clearly it isn’t.”

“At least now we know what that sound was.”

“Sylus, how did you miss… this?”

“I was reading my book!”

Shaggy groaned and pointed. “Dude! There’s a piece of the second floor missing! How could you not notice that?”

They were standing in the foyer staring at the place the front wall used to be. The front area of the house had fully collapsed. The large wooden doors were crushed and a light breeze blew bits of the debris across the tiled floor. Shaggy thought he could see the culprit off in the distance, but the skies around Austin were darkening to orange with the setting sun. All he could make out was a large humanoid shape throwing punches at random things.

“This can’t have happened!” Roald yelled, still not accepting the obvious.

“But it did! Now show us the way to the kitchen, damn it!” Chromia shouted back.

“Yeah, we need to go! There’s no way your brother missed this,” Ephemara said, checking a nearby door for the entrance to the kitchen.

“He noticed!” Another voice came from the top of the stairs.

Shaggy and the others spun and looked up the stairs at the newcomer. A green-skinned man in a nicely tailored suit was descending the staircase. He drew a handkerchief from his breast pocket and cleaned his glasses while he continued speaking. His voice was deep and refined, but still somewhat menacing.

“Master Roald, I must say, your brother will be incredibly disappointed in your chosen companions. Even if you are attempting to escape, you could do better than this brand of ne’er-do-wells.”

Shaggy grew his claws and snorted at the pompous ass. But Roald seemed incredibly worried as his chair whirred toward the staircase.

“Angelo, they were kidnapping me! I swear! I wasn’t trying to escape!”

“Hey!”

“Fuck you, kid!”

Angelo merely finished cleaning his glasses and put them back on his face. “I have no doubt that is the story that your brother will want propagated. But please, Master Roald, we both know what has occurred here. You hired these street toughs to break-in and ‘rescue’ you from the evil Rakgu crime family.”

Shaggy gave a mental sigh as he heard Angelo’s assessment of events. So long as the Raks didn’t think they were from Under-Town, they could make a break for it and be fine. However, the guy had also seen their faces, so he was going to have to go at some point. Shaggy crouched low and waited for the right time to strike. Chromia had gone full metal, Rita had her sword in hand, Ephemara was gone, and Cekrass was setting down his bags.

Angelo stepped off the stairs and glanced at all of them before snorting derisively. Ignoring them all, he approached Roald and leaned over the chubby teen’s chair. Shaggy thought he could see small tusks jutting from the man’s lower jaw.

“Master Roald, these attempts grow beyond tiresome. We will have to re-evaluate your living arrangements once your brother has returned.”

Roald glared up at the orc-man and sneered. But before he could say anything, Shaggy launched himself. He had heard enough, and they were wasting time. They needed to get out as quickly as possible. Shaggy flew through the air, arms extended, claws aimed right at Angelo’s midsection. But before he could make contact, Angelo pivoted on a leg and kicked out. The kick caught Shaggy mid flight and sent him careening toward the stairs. Shaggy had just enough time to grunt in pain before he felt himself smash into and then through the staircase.

He felt his spine crack and shouted in pain again as he took in what had just happened. He felt his bones snap back into place and heard the sounds of shouting as everyone followed his lead. Growling, he dug himself out of the ruined staircase and back into the main room. Rita was unconscious on the ground near the north wall. Roald was searching for something in his chair again. Cekrass was picking himself up as Chromia and Blobby harassed Angelo. Shaggy saw parts of the Orc’s suit light up with runes as he blocked Chromia’s metal fists. Blobby’s blue tentacles seemed useless as they batted against Angelo’s arms and legs.

Shaggy leapt from the debris and aimed another swipe at Angelo’s face. But he failed again as the Orc spun away and grabbed Shaggy’s arm. Shaggy was lifted from the ground and felt his legs break as they smacked into something metal. Probably Chromia. Shaggy was then tossed unceremoniously again. As he waited for his legs to heal, Shaggy watched as Chromia was throwing a few haymakers at Angelo, but her opponent dodge and ducked around her swings. Blobby had given up swatting at the green gangster and was slowly approaching to swallow the guy.

Angelo slammed a fist into Chromia’s metal belly and Shaggy saw the runes on the man’s sleeve light up again. Chromia collapsed to all fours as Angelo retracted the punch. She was coughing and retching as Blobby crawled closer. Angelo glanced at the blob and reached down. Picking up Chromia, Angelo spun and threw the woman into Blobby’s amorphous form. Blobby had to stop to disgorge the woman, but before he could, Angelo tapped something on his sleeves. Shaggy stood as the Orc made some weird hand gestures.

Suddenly, Angelo was spouting fire from his hands straight at Blobby. Blobby sizzled and popped as it gave an otherworldly scream.

“~AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~”

Blobby tried to roll away, but Angelo kept the stream of magical fire up. Shaggy didn’t launch himself this time. He came in with a straight right to the side of Angelo’s head. The orc slipped the punch but also stopped the fire attack. Angelo kicked out again, but Shaggy backpedaled and swiped a claw at the man’s leg. The white runes on the man’s black suit lit up again and Shaggy felt his claws slide along the man’s leg.

“Haaaaaa.” Angelo sighed as he stepped in and punched at Shaggy’s head.

Shaggy ducked the punch and grabbed the arm. Going for a hip-toss, Shaggy stepped in and tried to get his thigh under Angelo’s hip. But the orc backed up and dragged Shaggy with him. Shaggy tried to fight it, but Angelo was much too strong. Shaggy let go of the arm and spun with both claws out, aiming for Angelo’s face. But again, the orc seemed way too fast as he dodged backward toward the stairs.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

A blur of yellow slammed into Angelo’s side as he was glaring at Shaggy and Cekrass lifted the orc bodily from the floor. Shaggy nearly cheered as Cekrass slammed Angelo to the floor. Not missing his chance, Shaggy ran in and delivered a kick straight to Angelo’s prone face. The Orc’s head snapped back violently and his glasses went flying. Shaggy and Cekrass stomped on the downed Angelo. But the man’s suit was still flashing with those runes. Shaggy felt that whatever damage they were doing was being mitigated by that suit. He reached down to see if he could rip it off, but Angelo’s hands reached out and gripped both his and Cekrass’ ankles.

Shaggy felt the pressure on his ankle increase until there was a surge of pain and a loud pop. He heard Cekrass shout in pain as well. Angelo jerked his arms and sent both of them to the floor. Raising to his feet, Angelo adjusted his suit and glared down at the pair of them. He looked at Shaggy for a few seconds, but eventually turned his ire on Cekrass. The orc raised his foot and stomped down on the lizard-man. Then he did it again, again. Shaggy was sure he heard something crack as he launched himself from the floor and grabbed Angelo’s leg.

Shaggy heard the orc tsk as he was dragged around the floor. Once he felt his ankle heal, Shaggy got to his knees and spun around to Angelo’s back. Putting his shoulders into the orc’s knees, Shaggy lifted with a grunt of effort. Angelo tried to jerk away, but as his feet left the ground, he couldn’t get the leverage. Shaggy got Angelo up onto his shoulder and leaned back. Angelo delivered several strikes to Shaggy’s head, but Shaggy ignored them and slammed the orc down onto the tiled floor.

“Oof!”

Shaggy heard the air leave the orc as he clambered to his feet. As he did, he checked on the nearby Cekrass. The big lizard was down for the count. A shout got his attention, and he looked toward the northern wall. Ephemara had her head poking out of a door. Roald and Sylus were standing around her. She was waving at him. Shaggy nodded and gestured at the others. Blobby had gotten Chromia out of his body. She was getting to her feet, but still looked pretty rough. Rita was on her knees, clearly just returning to consciousness. Blobby looked the worse, his blue form was blackened in places and Shaggy thought bits of the alien were falling off.

Shaggy growled and moved to Cekrass. With a mighty heave, he slid Cekrass across the floor and toward Ephemara. Waving a hand at Rita and the others, he shouted.

“Go! I’m the last one out. Get the stuff and I’ll follow.”

Ephemara gave him the stink eye, but moved to help Rita and then Chromia stand. Shaggy turned to watch Angelo, but the orc was already on his feet again. Angelo watched as Chromia and the others rushed to the door. The orc smirked as he pulled another pair of glasses from his suit.

“Where do you think you can run? Even if you get out on the streets, Cog’s machines are everywhere. Where are you going to go? Under-Town? The Raks are down there as well, and we’ll find you and make you pay for all of this.”

Shaggy snorted as he thought up a lie. “Bah! I got people down there. They’ll hide us just fine.”

Angelo looked at him like he was an idiot. “You think anyone will protect you after the Raks put a bounty on you so high your own family would turn you in?”

“The Phreaks ain’t going to do the Raks any favors.” Shaggy said, trying to sound convincing.

Judging by the way Angelo smiled, Shaggy thought he had been successful.

“Please,” Angelo said, “We will march through that bunch of lab experiments just to show them what happens to people who cross us.”

Shaggy gave a mental sigh. “You are more than welcome to try, Angie. Now I’m going to run away from you now.”

The orc grunted angrily and moved, but a giant silver fist crashed down at him. Shaggy blinked, momentarily stunned. The fist had come from the hole in the wall and was attached to a giant robot that was peering inside the house. Shaggy backed up a few steps until he heard Roald’s voice cheer.

“It worked! It fucking worked!”

Shaggy spun and saw the teenager staring at the robot in wonder. Roald had something in his hand and was waving it around triumphantly. Shaggy couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“Shit kid. Nice work. Call off the bot and let me get at the body. That suit would be useful.”

Roald’s face quickly became one of confusion, but it quickly changed to shock. “Uh, I don’t have control of the robot. I just summoned it.”

He waved the small device in his hands as if it answered all of Shaggy’s questions. But he didn’t get an opportunity to ask anything as another silver fist crashed into the house, aiming right at Shaggy.

“Shit!” Shaggy swore as he leapt backwards and away from the robot’s second hand. Shaggy glared at Roald, but the young man just shrugged. He sighed and moved around the second fist as it withdrew from the house. At least they had gotten rid of-

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rubble shifting. His eyes were drawn to the spot where Angelo was pounded into the ground. To his horror, the green man was dragging himself from the rubble. Luckily, the giant robot also noticed the movement and went for another strike at the orc. Shaggy decided that it was time to get the fuck out.

“Okay, kid. Time to go!”

Roald nodded as Shaggy approached him. Angelo roared angrily behind them. Shaggy ignored him as he ran through the north door and almost slammed into Blobby and the others. They were waiting just inside the doorway. Rita and Chromia were holding up an unconscious Cekrass, as Sylus was carrying several bags. All the guns Blobby had collected were gone, but Shaggy didn’t blame the poor, burnt alien. Ephemara shot him a grin as she pointed down the hallway.

“Kitchen is this way.”

The sound of Roald’s chair stopped Shaggy from saying anything. Once the boy was through the door, he looked around and smiled.

“Almost home free.”

Shaggy grimaced as the sounds of destruction came from the foyer. Ignoring it, he waved everyone forward. He took Rita’s side of Cekrass and signalled for her to help Sylus. Once everyone was situated, Ephemara lead the way down the hallway. The trip was a short one, but it was punctuated by the sounds of what had to be an epic fight. Once in the kitchen, Roald moved to a door on the western wall and pulled it open. Once it was open, the teen pulled himself from his chair and waved a hand at the stairs leading down. Everyone just glared at him until he got the message. He was going first.

Footsteps in the hallway quickened everyone's steps and Shaggy couldn’t help but feel amazed Angelo had taken the giant robot by himself. Shaggy made sure he was the last one through the door, following a slow moving Blobby. Quietly closing the door, he descended the stairs just as Roald was pulling a wine bottle from a rack. Once the bottle was free from its home, the wall shifted and behind it stood one of Roald’s teleporters. Shaggy felt them all give a sigh of relief as Roald moved toward the terminal and started pressing buttons.

“He won’t be able to follow us, right?” Shaggy asked.

Roald snorted. “Please. I’m going to set it to self destruct as soon as we’re through.”

Shaggy nodded and felt the tension leave his shoulders. The portal whirred to life, and Sylus was the first one through. No one stopped the old man as he nearly pushed everyone else away. Shaggy ushered Blobby through first, then Chromia and Cekrass. Next were Rita and then Ephemara, who gave Shaggy a jaunty salute before she stepped into the inky darkness.

Shaggy glanced at Roald before he stepped up to the portal. Thinking better of it, Shaggy gripped the boy’s shirt and tossed him through the inky blackness. Better he was the last one through the portal. He gave the terminal a quick check, making sure Roald had done what he had said. He found everything in order. There was even a helpful count of people to go before destruction. Shaggy stepped up to the black swirling portal and sighed.

“This has been a hell of a trip.” He said as his vision went dark.