“Seriously, these hoodies are unnecessary.” Shaggy groused as they walked down the hot sidewalk.
His and Slink’s attire drew several stares as they both pulled at their collars. It was a hot Texas morning and wearing the bulky clothes they had ‘borrowed’ from Ralph’s home wasn’t helping things. Shaggy felt like he was stewing in the bigger man’s over-sized hoodie.
“Yea, dude. They are. We don’t want our faces showing for some random drone to pick up.”
Shaggy scratched his head. “We haven’t seen a damn drone since we left the apartment this morning.”
They had set out early, both to avoid dealing with an irate Ralph and to start the long walk to Barton Creek. It was going to be a two hour-long walk and Shaggy wanted to get going as soon as possible. Of course, then they got lost. M.A.O was supposed to be a decent replication of modern day Austin, but with some changes here and there. So Shaggy’s normal knowledge of the Rollingwood area was thrown out the window when he noticed the odd building out of place.
“Doesn’t matter. We still need to be careful. We’ve already wasted a lot of time.” Slink said side-stepping an alien woman.
Shaggy growled under his breath. “I didn’t know that the game had changed road names. I thought the recreation was supposed to be one to one.”
Slink merely shrugged and ducked his head. Shaggy had gotten them back on track, or at least headed in the right direction. But Slink was right. The longer they were in the open, the more likely it would be that they’d be spotted. The main concentration of drones seemed to still be in downtown Austin. But, knowing their luck, Shaggy wouldn’t have been surprised if they found a straggler somewhere.
He sidestepped another alien walking down their crowded sidewalk and sighed. Many shops and restaurants dotted the street they were on and they seemed to be busy, despite the early hour. Not only were cars zooming down the streets and sky-lanes, but pedestrians filled the sidewalks, all going about their business. Shaggy hoped they would provide suitable cover if they were spotted, but not for the first time. He thought about stealing a car. Multiple vehicles of both the hover and rolling variety filled the streets as people went to work or stopped at the shops.
Shaggy was just turning to Slink to plead his case again, when he spotted a group of leather-clad mean and woman. They were moving with purpose toward the man loading his truck outside a hardware store. Shaggy grit his teeth as he saw the lead thug pull a metal pipe and deck the poor man. He felt Slink stop beside him, along with several other onlookers, as the thugs began to hoot and holler. Shaggy couldn’t make out what the lead thug was saying, but the man was gesticulating with his pipe as his victim cradled his head.
“Do we help?” Slink hissed through his teeth.
“Hell no,” Shaggy whispered back. “Some hero will come deal with it. But maybe we can grab a car while people are playing lookie-loo.”
Slink sighed. “Again. Do you know how to hot-wire or hack a car? Cause otherwise you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Oh, HA HA.”
THUD
Another dull sound rang out as the lead punk slammed his weapon into the prone man. His buddies still shouting and egging him on. Shaggy figured they had mere seconds before some Supe showed up. So he set about enacting his plan. First, he needed a target, but finding one in the throng of onlookers was pretty easy. As he spotted a lanky purple alien in a gray business suit, Shaggy heard the whirring of a nearby drone.
Everyone else in the street heard it as well and several people gave audible sighs of relief. A few even started walking again, assured that someone would come and stop the thugs. Shaggy saw that the thugs heard it as well, so he made his move. He pushed past several bystanders and made his way to the side of the purple alien. The suited man was holding a hot cup of coffee, which smelled of milk and some kind of nut to Shaggy’s nose.
Shaggy gave a quick check of his surroundings before he gave a theatrical trip and slammed his shoulder into the lanky alien. Hot coffee spilled on both of them and Shaggy heard Slink gasp behind him as his target double over coughing. Shaggy immediately apologized.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Jake!” He said. “I totally didn’t mean to do that.”
“Ugh!… cough cough name’s… cough not…” the purple man sputtered.
“Come on, Jake. Let’s get your replacement suit from your car.” Shaggy lifted the alien by his collar and frog-marched him further out of the crowd.
They drew a few stares, but the sounds of running feet and what sounded like gunfire drew everyone’s attention back to the street. Once they were clear, Shaggy gave another glance to the sky to check for drones before he slammed a fist into ‘Jake’s’ face. The lanky alien went limp and Shaggy instantly started going through the man’s pockets.
“You can’t be serious.” Slink said from over his shoulder. “There’s a drone overhead and a speedster in the street.”
Shaggy turned his head to look and, sure enough, the thugs were now engaged with a Supe dressed in purple and black. The speedy little super was dashing all around the thugs as they opened fire with various generic weapons. The speedster seemed to play it up for the drones, posing and making rude hand gestures at the criminals. Shaggy grinned.
“Looks like an attention-hog to me. That’s good for us.”
His hand finally hit on something that felt like a key-fob in his victim’s pocket and he pulled it out. It was a slick silver and black Key-fob with a button on it. Shaggy pressed the button and a blue sedan nearby chirped. Shaggy felt the grin spread on his face as he dragged the purple alien to his car. Over Slink’s protesting, Shaggy threw open the door to the backseat and stuffed his unconscious victim in.
“Time to go, kid,” Shaggy said as the speedster down the street was literally running circles around the thugs.
Slink sighed loudly before he dove into the backseat with their new friend. Shaggy quickly got in the driver's seat and started the car. Luckily, the key fob just had to be in the car for the button-start to work. As the engine purred to life, Shaggy spun the wheel and put the action behind them as he sped away. The sounds of gunfire and whirring drones faded away as they drove. Shaggy dropped his hood and howled in triumph as he turned up the A/C.
“That was a stupid risk.” Slink grumbled.
“But did it pay off?”
“That doesn’t matter. Who knows what those drones picked up?”
Shaggy sighed. “Don’t worry. By the time anybody goes through that drone footage, we’ll be long gone and this car will be back with its rightful owner.”
“We’re not going to kill him?” Slink asked, gazing down at their unconscious passenger.
“No need really. He didn’t see our faces and we can just leave him in the car when we get to where we are going.”
“What about fingerprints and evidence?” Slink huffed.
Shaggy shrugged as he turned on to a new street toward Barton Creek. “What’s that going to tell them? Wanted criminals stole a car and left it in an upscale neighborhood? Big whoop.”
“What if they have a Psychometric cop or even a Telepath?”
“A what?” Shaggy turned to stare at his young friend.
“A Psychometric. Y’know, someone who can glean bits of information by touching objects.” Slink explained.
“That’s a thing?” Shaggy asked.
“Ahhhh, of course it’s a thing! This is a game about super-powered people. There are all kinds of bullshit powers. One of the major complaints coming from Villain players has been the multitude of powers the police have. Psychometrics are the biggest pain.”
Shaggy turned their new vehicle northward and glanced back again. “So what if we dump the owner and vehicle in two different spots? That should buy us some time, right?”
Slink nodded slowly and glanced down. The purple alien was still unconscious and Shaggy had to double check if the alien was still breathing. Coming to a decision, Shaggy nodded grimly and slowed the car. They were just coming up on where the Barton Creek river would cross with the road.
“Okay, get ready. I’ll slow down, then we dump him near the river.” Shaggy said.
Slink looked up and down the street, checking for cars. Luckily, the road was pretty sparse. Only a few vehicles were making their way toward downtown Austin. They just had to watch out for any flying cars overhead. Shaggy slowed them to a stop, and they both jumped out. Shaggy glanced around before he helped Slink drag the purple man out and then rolled him down the small hill toward the river.
“Did he go into the water?” Slink asked.
“No idea, let’s go!” Shaggy barked as he made his way back toward the car.
Slink hesitated for a few seconds before he seemed to scoff and joined Shaggy in the car. With a quick push of a button and a hard step on the pedal, they were away again. Shaggy heard his young friend sigh and chuckled.
“See scot-free and we got a new ride out of the deal. Once we’re done, we can take the car and dump it into the river, too. Then those Pyscho-whatevers will have to look for it.”
Slink rubbed his face. “It was a needless risk for the sake of comfort. But we seem to be okay. For now.”
Shaggy shrugged and continued down the rode enjoying the cool breeze from the car’s A/C. Slink, however, wasn’t done.
“Just don’t mention anything about what we do. Supposedly, PSYCHOMETRICS, which is what they are called, can see some past events. So better to stay hush about any details.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Got it boss-man. Short car ride in relative silence to avoid incriminating ourselves further.” Shaggy chuckled.
Slink snorted, and they spent the short remainder of their ride in peaceful silence. Shaggy couldn’t keep the grin off his face. He was probably doing the most mundane thing a player could do in a video game. But the simple fact that he didn’t have to walk anymore was a hell of a thing. They really needed to see about getting some better transport in Under-Town. Granted, it was nowhere as big as Austin, but still nothing beat fast-travel.
The trip toward Barton Creek was a short one and soon they were driving just outside the large gated community that made up the Barton Creek Estates. A large, pristine white brick wall topped with gaudy iron spikes surrounded the entire community. Shaggy sucked in a breath as he noticed large cameras at various intervals on the wall. Slink must have seen them too, as the young man wiped a hand down his face in aggravation.
“Let’s dump the car first.” Shaggy said as they coasted past the main gate of the property.
Multiple large mansion behind its massive iron gate. Shaggy even clocked three guards monitoring the area in front of the gate. He couldn’t see what they were carrying, but judging by the area they were guarding, Shaggy was willing to bet whoever they worked for spared no expense.
Slink maintained his silence all the way to the edge of Barton Creek river and even when he and Shaggy got out of the car, the boy was quiet. Shaggy put the car in neutral and threw the key into the river. As he got behind the car to push, he saw that Slink was staring back toward the gated community. Shaggy kept his mouth shut and pushed the sedan toward the river until gravity took hold and the thing rolled into the water with a splash. It didn’t sink all the way, but Shaggy figured they were far enough for the road that few people would notice. He put his hood back up as he joined his friend.
“Any ideas?” Shaggy asked as he gave Slink’s shoulder a pat.
The younger man sighed. “Not really. I was thinking about having Larry and Curly get around that fence, and then we can see. But we need a decent vantage point. Somewhere out of the way, so won’t draw a lot of eyes.”
“Sounds good. But won’t the cameras see a pair of snakes sneaking into their little safe-haven?”
Slink snorted. “Pfft! So what? Snakes maybe pest, but they will not call the cops for a pair of snakes.”
“What about animal control?” Shaggy asked.
“Please. My boys can get away from a couple of dog catchers. But if it really bothers you, I can have them dig. Their Fossorial snakes.”
“Fossil-what?” Shaggy raised an eyebrow as they made their way back toward the main road.
“Fossorial. It means they can dig or burrow holes. So once they are in, all we have to do is wait.” Slink looked up and down the road for a suitable spot to set up.
Shaggy joined him in looking, but the area around the community seemed intentionally flat. With little to no cover. The grass was even cut short, so anyone walking through the fields south of the community would be immediately visible. Shaggy sucked on his teeth in annoyance. They really had made the estates like a damn fortress.
They walked away from the community to get a better view and when that proved pointless, Slink had them circle the entire six-block community. The white brick wall really went around the entire community, it seemed. It was when they had were near the northeastern side that they spotted it. A man-made hiking trail went up a small hill and Shaggy could even see a small look-out cliff built just over the gated community. Probably so the rich people that owned those homes could look over their kingdom.
Shaggy and Slink walked over and ignored the ‘For Barton Estate Owners’ only’ sign and rushed up the hiking path. It was just wide enough for a golf cart and Shaggy kept his ears open and his nose up for any signs of people. But the trail seemed unused. There were barely any signs of trash or the regular detritus that came with the normal passage of people. Shaggy would wager that hardly anyone from the Estates even used the trail.
Thankfully, the small collection of trees on the steep hill kept the sun off of them. But their clothes still made the hike upward a sweaty affair. Shaggy was seriously debating taking off the damn hoodie when the smell of rubber hit his nose and he stopped. They were almost to the lookout cliff and Shaggy was getting a myriad of smells. His sudden stop caught Slink off-guard, but the boy seemed to catch on and started looking around worriedly.
“Someone else is up here.” Shaggy said, pulling his hood back up and slowly moving forward.
“Whoa! Hold up! Shouldn’t we sneak or something? Let me send my snakes.”
Shaggy halted and thought about for a few seconds before he nodded. “Okay. Let’s get into the trees and you can… do what you do.”
Slink gave Shaggy a smug look, and they both dashed into the sparse tree cover on the man-made hill. Shaggy kept his nose up and tried to parse the smells as he waited for Slink’s normal moaning and groaning. But nothing came and soon, Shaggy heard the telltale thumps of Slink’s snakes dropping to the dirt. He turned to see Slink smugly smiling at him as his two little green snakes slithered up the hill.
“Got used to it, did ya?” Shaggy asked.
“Ohhh yeah.”
“Please don’t say it that way. It’s already creepy enough.”
Slink just continued to smile as he closed his eyes and focused on his mental connection with his snakes. Shaggy leaned up against a nearby tree and waited. He noted, idly, that all the trees at least seemed somewhat cared for. The ground was rough dirt with limited grass in places, but overall, the small hiking hill seemed pretty nice. Shaggy stopped his train of thought as Slink’s body shivered a bit.
“Everything okay?”
Slink nodded, but kept his eyes closed. “Just sensed something, I think. But it’s gone now. We’ve got a large black hover van with ‘park restoration’ written on it. Seems empty.”
“Think they’re out here on the trail somewhere?”
“Don’t know. The van looks empty.”
Shaggy grinned. “Great, maybe we can get out of this heat.”
Shaggy lifted his back from the tree, but Slink’s body froze up again. This time, he didn’t snap out of it for a good ten seconds. When he did, he opened his eyes and rocked his head. Shaggy quickly moved to his friend and looked him over. Slink was sweating and trying to say speak.
“Te… tel… Tele… TELEPATH!” Slink got out just as Shaggy’s world became pain.
He was vaguely aware of falling to his knees as the worst pain he had ever felt spiked through his brain. His Regeneration was useless as the pain tore into his ever mind and Shaggy couldn’t tell left from right. He was also somewhat aware of screaming, but he wasn’t sure if it was him or someone else. The pain went on and on and Shaggy was starting to think about trying to log out, but he couldn’t even find his menus. Suddenly, just as soon as it started, it stopped and Shaggy had to shake the tears from his eyes.
“DUDE!” Slink’s voice echoed from nearby.
Shaggy shook his head and tried to look around. There were two gray and black blobs pushing up against each other just to his left. A little ahead of him was a black blob dancing in place. Shaggy stumbled as he tried to refocus his vision. Slink shouting brought his head around to the two wrestling blobs.
“DUDE! HELP!” Slink’s voice said.
Shaggy vaguely remembered that Slink’s hoodie had been gray. So he grew his claws and aimed for the black blob. He crouched low and pounced as he thrust his claws forward, aiming for the blob’s head area. He felt his claws hit something and then the slow tear of skin as he rushed past. Expecting to hear a death gurgle, Shaggy was surprised when all he got was a loud yelp.
“YEOW!!”
Shaggy noted how deep the voice sounded and spun around for another attack. Blinking rapidly, he saw that the blobs now had shape, and they were both humanoids. The smaller one was obviously his friend, so he rushed toward the bigger one and leapt onto its chest. Large hands tried to grab him from the air and stop his arms, but Shaggy got one arm free and thrust it downward at his assailant. He felt his claws rake down the person’s face and another gurgling scream resounded through the woods.
The large body collapsed under their combined weight and Shaggy finally got a look at the blonde human man that was trying to wrench him off. Shaggy had both his knees on the chest of a black-suited human man. The man was obviously a Supe, as his strength was on par with Shaggy’s. In fact, the guy seemed a little more powerful as he finally wrench Shaggy off his chest. Shaggy noted that he had clawed the guy’s face up pretty good as the guy reversed the mount and went to slam his fist down on Shaggy’s face. Shaggy got his arms up and felt the blonde man’s large fist crash into his forearms. He could feel the bones on his arms give, even with their armor plating, and Shaggy quickly tried to think of a way out. But suddenly Slink was there again.
The young man slung an orange rope around the Super-Strong Supe’s neck and choked him out. Slink was too weak to drag the larger man off Shaggy, but the momentary pause was enough for Shaggy to get his claws back up and digging into the man’s face. He jammed his claws upward, aiming for the eyes. This time the Supe’s tough skin didn’t help as Shaggy claws shot straight through the man’s eyes. The blonde Supe jolted in surprise and then crashed to the ground. Slink whipped his rope around and let the man fall as Shaggy sighed.
The big man remained unmoving as Shaggy wrung his arms out. The bastard was really strong, but luckily, his new armor held. Shaggy suddenly remembered there was another black blob and looked around. But Slink held up a hand. The orange snake, Moe, resting on the slim kid’s shoulders.
“She’s down. Damn Telepath whammied us both.”
Shaggy nodded, but didn’t calm down until he saw the gray-haired woman collapsed on her face a short distance away. Her skin was an ugly green color and Shaggy thought he saw Larry and Curly slithering around near her body. He vaguely realized the two people were both dressed in black suits, but Slink’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.
“I felt the Telepath rub up against my bond with the snakes. She must have realized something was up, cause she hit us hard. Luckily, I was prepared for it and ordered Larry and Curly to stop her. But it took a bit and then that big fucker came crashing through the trees. He was trying to subdue me when you came out of it.”
Shaggy nodded blearily before something else donned on him. “Did you use your snake as a garrote?”
Slink grinned. “It was Moe’s idea.”
The large orange snaked hissed loudly and even seemed to nod. Shaggy shook off the implications of that and moved over toward the now-dead blonde Supe. His suit was covered in blood, but was otherwise okay. His face, however, was scratched up to hell and back. Shaggy had seen and done worse, but the fact that he had sliced the dude’s eyes out was a little much.
Shaggy flipped the big man over and began rustling through his pockets.
“Check her.” Shaggy ordered as he found the man’s wallet and threw it to the side.
But other than the man’s wallet and a set of car keys, the Supe wasn’t carrying anything else. A sharp snap-hiss brought Shaggy’s head and claws around. But it was just Slink playing with a gun. The barrel was snapping with electricity and Slink was grinning. Shaggy shook his head and picked up the man’s wallet as he pocketed the keys.
Opening the wallet, Shaggy was surprised at how empty it was. Except for a small, white ID with the man’s face on it, there was nothing else in the wallet. Shaggy read over the ID before he cursed and reread it.
“Fuck!”
“What?” Slink asked as he went through the woman’s pockets. Although it looked like he was also coming up empty.
“They’re feds.” Shaggy said, spinning the ID around for Slink to see.
“Albert Monroe. Super Powered Federal Division.” Slink read.
“We are well and truly fucked now.” Shaggy groaned.
Killing cops was bad enough. But killing a fed? That was some serious shit. Serious shit they were ill-equipped to deal with. Shaggy’s brain raced a mile a minute as he tried to think of a way out of this. But other than burying the bodies and making a run to Under-Town, he couldn’t think of anything. Slink’s calm voice spoke up as Shaggy was spiraling.
“Seriously, you think you can?”
Shaggy turned to see Slink addressing Moe, who was still laying across the boy’s slim shoulders. The snake’s head bobbed again, then it turned slowly to the woman’s body. Slink nodded once before he turned back to Shaggy.
“Moe says he may be able to ‘deal’ with one body. But he is going to be out of commission for a while. That’ll leave us with the other one to deal with. He recommends we deal with the big one while he takes her.”
“He is going to deal with her? How?!”
Slink just shrugged as Moe slid down his shoulders and made he’s way toward the agent’s body. A sick thought occurred to Shaggy, and the snaked confirmed his fears as Moe’s mouth opened wide. Wider than Shaggy ever thought imaginable and swallowed the woman from her head on down. Shaggy turned his head to the other body, but the sounds of bones crunching and Moe…swallowing would probably haunt him for a long while.
Shaggy tried to tune out the noise as he thought of a way to deal with Albert. But nothing came to him besides burying the body. So he dug. The dirt was tough and dry in places, but with the help of his claws, he actually made quick work of the job. He even found it slightly enjoyable. Of course, climbing back out of the hole he had made and finding an almost comatose fat orange snake put a damper on his good mood. Slink was staring in awe at his rotund pet.
“That was outstanding.” Slink muttered.
“Fucking disturbing, is what it was,” Shaggy grumbled.
“You just clawed a man’s eyes out.”
Shaggy shoved Albert’s corpse into the hole he had made and filled it in. “Self-defense. Heat of the moment. Either way, watching a snake eat a whole damn human is disturbing as fuck. How is he even going to move in that condition? You are absolutely not going to be able to… reabsorb him. That’s for sure.”
Slink shook his head. “He will have to stay here for a while. Larry and Curly are digging him a hole, and he’ll stay there while he digests. I’m going to have to pick him up before we head back to Under-Town.”
“Someone is going to notice these agents are missing. We still need to get out of here.” Shaggy said.
“Maybe. But first, don’t you want to know what was in that van of theirs?”
Slink grinned as Shaggy groaned. The kid was right, that was a fed van. There was bound to be something of use in there. But Shaggy really thought they should get as far away from this area as possible. But also Loot. Shaggy finished burying Albert and stood with another groan of indecision.
Finally, he grit his teeth and muttered, “Fine.”
Slink smiled and ran up the hill toward the lookout. Shaggy followed along slowly, giving Moe the snake a wide berth as Larry and Curly rolled the enormous snake into an even bigger hole. Moe seemed almost catatonic as he moved and Shaggy thought he could see the outline of the poor fed being slowly digested in the space-snake’s stomach. Shaggy shuddered as he rushed up the hill, trying to get the idea of being slowly digested out of his head.