The Den was packed. People were seated all throughout the first and second floor. Shaggy was surprised to see that not only had the second floor been expanded, but it also had a few tables and chairs. They had only been gone a few days, but Petra and Ephemara had put in a lot of work. The green-scaled woman was behind the bar rapidly taking orders and managing a few fresh faces, like she was a field general. Ephemara had been downstairs doing the same with the criminal aspects.

They had taken the employee entrance to the basement level and had, again, been surprised. While there were still plenty of faces Shaggy recognized, there were a bunch he didn’t. Word of mouth, or maybe just their popular location, made their ranks swell. Ephemara was at the command console giving out orders and looking extremely harried. So much so that Slink took over for the beleaguered woman. Ren took the opportunity to log out while in a safe place, and Shaggy and Levy went upstairs to look over the bar.

They were seated a table just beside the dance floor. Although not too many people were dancing. The stage was still being built, and most of their clientele seemed more inclined to drink and eat, anyway. But a more than a few people were using the space to just mill about talk. Levy smiled at everything and everybody as they sat in silence while waiting for their food.

Shaggy was impressed by the selection the bar had got a hold of. It wasn’t much past the standard Bar and Grill fare, but it seemed to be doing very well. The various Minotaur staff members had propelled the Viper’s Den into practical legitimacy. It even looked like they had regular staff now and weren’t reliant on Lackeys and thugs to do their grunt work.

“It’s impressive.” Levy said.

Shaggy nodded. “Yeah. We put a lot of work into it and we have good people working with us.”

“This whole Under-City seems so...post-apocalyptic. Y’know? Like that one game.”

“HA!” Shaggy laughed. “Right? I kinda thought the same thing when I first came down here. But Under-Town is a great place for us small-time crooks to get away from the big Super Villain’s topside.”

Levy grinned. “True. But don’t you think it would be easier to just join a Villain?”

“Sure, but if you do that, then you're little more than a lackey in that Villain’s organization. Expendable and you have to work your way up their ranks. Which is fine if you want to go that route. But if you want to build something yourself, Under-Town’s the place to do it.”

“I think you just called me a lackey.” Levy narrowed her purple eyes.

Shaggy recognized the faux-angry look in his wife’s eyes. He smiled, showing off his sharp teeth.

“If the magical slipper fits.”

“Your lucky we don’t have any fries or onion rings for me to throw at you.”

“I can get you some,” Petra’s voice said as the green-scaled woman walked up to their table.

She had a large wooden tray with two ceramic plates on it. Shaggy could smell his own burger and the soup his wife had ordered. Petra set the tray down and distributed the food. As she did, she eyed Levy suspiciously. The first server had also given his wife the side-eye, along with a few others.

“Petra. This is my wife, Levy. Levy, this is the individual in charge of The Den. Our business manager, as it were.”

Petra’s reptilian features relaxed, if only a little. “Charmed.”

Levy gave the stern-looking woman her best smile. “Likewise. But shouldn’t you be doing more office work? Do we need more staff? I can call some people.”

Shaggy grinned at his wife’s use of the word ‘we’ and Petra groaned loudly.

“Argh! I know, but paperwork is so boring and during these late night rushes, I can get away with jumping behind the bar and taking a few orders. Besides, the new staff are still a little jumpy around the more… wild members of our clientele.”

“How’s Blue?” Shaggy asked around a mouthful of food. He kicked a chair out from their table, indicating that Petra should sit.

Petra glanced at Levy and waited for an okay before she sat down.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full, love.” Levy chided.

“Mr. Blue has been fantastic at our more community-centric task. He was instrumental in getting some of our regular staff and he brokered the deal with the Brute Clan for some food.”

“That explains the cow,” Shaggy said, waving his burger. “Anything business-wise I should be made aware of? Ren and the others are indisposed and Slink has gone back to handling the other side of the business.”

Petra glanced around before sighing. There was no actual way for them not to be heard in such a crowded room. Shaggy shrugged, but Levy waved her hand as purple sparks emitted from her fingertips. When she was done, there was a slight pop and Shaggy immediately noticed the surrounding chatter become muffled.

Petra grinned at Levy. “You useful.”

“It’s why he keeps me around.”

“That and the se... OW!”

There was a loud thump as his wife slammed her pointed shoe into his shin. Petra looked at him and sighed loudly. His wife merely glared. But Shaggy took another bite of his burger and grinned happily.

“Well, we’ve had a few overtures from the Quinica. Standard ‘obey or die’ stuff. Although they’ve gone quiet for the past few days. We have the guards on alert. The Brute clan has asked for some help with patrolling their western border. Ephe sends them a few of the newbies. We’ve also had a few civilians asking about expanding the square. Maybe setting up some shops and things.”

Shaggy raised an eyebrow. “We have the workforce for that?”

Petra shrugged. “I don’t really know, boss. I haven’t looked in on that side of the business much. Getting this place up to standard has taken a lot of my time.”

“Need a break? We can have someone else pick up some slack for ya.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Petra looked aghast. “I didn’t say I was overworked!”

Shaggy took a long draw from his beer. “I never said you were. But Ephemara looked like she’d been through the ringer. I was just wondering if you needed some help.”

“Pfft. I’ve got this side of things down. Ephe’s the one managing a bunch of rowdy thugs. She had to put down two insurrections while you were gone. Of course, that pack of yours helped.”

Shaggy noticed his wife mouth the word ‘pack’ at him and realized he still hadn’t properly told her about his power set. He smiled at her and continued to question Petra.

“Anything we should be worried about?” Shaggy asked.

Petra shook her head. “Naw. They were dealt with. Permanently.”

Shaggy nodded. He would’ve been more surprised if there hadn’t been some kind of revolt while they were gone. All the heads leaving at the same time? Probably not a good look. But hey, maybe it flushed out some riffraff. Levy waved a hand at him, annoyed, and he and Petra turned.

“I don’t mean to sound rude, but could you hurry the hell up? Holding a barrier spell in place is a mana drain. Not a huge one, but it is getting uncomfortable.”

Petra nodded apologetically and rushed out. “Last, there was an older gentleman looking for all of you. He even hired a few of our guys for something.”

Shaggy raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Older gentleman? Vance?”

“No. I think his name was Obadiah.”

Shaggy had to rack his brain for a few seconds before the image of the lanky old man came to him. He and Vlad had met the guy at the Brute Clan mansion. Shaggy vaguely remembered him offering them work. Once he nodded, Petra continued.

“He seems to hang out with the Brute Clan, but we can’t get a read on him. Ephemara wanted to check him out herself, but clerical work stopped her.”

Shaggy shook his head. Something told him that Obadiah was a high-level NPC. He would probably sniff her out in a second. Even with her phasing ability. The sudden onrush of sound and his wife letting out a breath like she had been holding it for a while signaled that the noise-canceling spell was over. He gave his wife a grateful look as Petra stood.

“That’s all for now, boss. I recommend you check in with your pack. They are getting antsy.”

“Oh, don’t worry. They are going to be very busy in the future.”

Petra merely nodded as she walked back toward the bar. Shaggy raised his empty beer glass and a nearby server nodded. Levy set about eating her own food. Holding the barrier had apparently not allowed her to do much else but sit there. Shaggy grinned at his wife, who was eating her soup in a rush.

“You know, it’s not going to run away from you.”

Levy just glared at him over her spoon, and he shut up. Better to let her get some food in her stomach. As she did, he checked his pack bond and searched around. Rita was somewhere in the bar, while Cekrass and Tom were downstairs. Vick and Sybil were... somewhere else. He couldn’t get a fix on them. Which was a little concerning, but he figured that just meant they were further away. He sent a mental ‘tug’ to the members of his pack that were close enough as Levy finished her soup.

“So… Pack?”

Shaggy grinned as he raised his right hand and shifted it. Levy grinned as she watched the black claws of his werewolf form glisten in the lantern light of the bar. He was still getting used to the new black and red sheen of his claws. But he had to admit, they looked kinda badass. Levy sipped her water as he did the same with his left hand.

“Animal-morphing abilities?”

Shaggy snorted. “Mutant werewolf, babe.”

Levy cocked an eyebrow. “How does that work?”

“It didn’t at first.” Shaggy groused before explaining his whole early-game debacle.

Levy listened as her annoyance showed on her face. Once he was finished, she growled. “That’s such bullshit! How can they not expect the rush on animal-like abilities? That’s like the most basic of abilities that players could choose.”

“Thanks love.” Shaggy deadpanned, drawing an annoyed look from his wife.

“You know what I meant.”

“Yes, and you know I am trying to distract you.” Shaggy smiled until Levy blew out a breath and relaxed back in her seat.

“Fine, but it’s still bullshit. You were basically hobbled at the start.”

“Excuse me, but which of us has a bar Lair and built a Legion with a bunch of players? Hell, we got over seventy Lackey’s working for us. Meanwhile, you’ve been stuck in some witch’s pocket studying magic like some kind of nerd.”

Levy stuck her tongue at him, but conceded the point. Shaggy grinned at her as he felt Rita and Cekrass drawing closer. Tom was still underground, and he really hoped the asshat was just asleep and not ignoring him. He turned to say hi to his two pack members and froze as he saw them both.

They were both kitted out with new armor and weapons. Gone was the standard fantasy-game leather armor. It had been replaced with some slim silvery metal armor of some kind. But while Cekrass now resembled a more standard heavily armored knight, Rita was in a more slim-fitting and piecemeal number. Shaggy also raised an eyebrow at their weapons. Rita was still carrying a sword, but it was clearly much newer and seemed to be made of the same silvery metal as their armor. Cekrass had an almost comical giant club made of silver metal.

“Whoa.” Shaggy said involuntarily.

Rita grinned as she approached and even did a little twirl. Showing off her armor. “The kid does good work, right? I mean, he’s a pain in the ass to work for, but you can’t deny the results.”

Cekrass nodded silently as Shaggy asked. “Kid? You mean Roald?!”

Rita nodded, but didn’t answer as her eyes went to Levy. His drow wife was also looking over the metal armor with interest. Shaggy could almost hear the gears in his wife’s head turning and he gave a little internal shudder and the possible mayhem she was cooking up in that brain of hers.

“Rita, Cekrass, this is my wife, Levy. She’s an accomplished Sorceress and mischief-maker.”

“Oh, I like her already.” Rita grinned as Cekrass bowed at the waist.

“I am honored to meet the Mistress.”

“Mistress? Ohhhh, I like that, love.”

Shaggy groaned and shook his head as he tried to keep the conversation moving. “So what’s with the gear? We seriously weren’t gone that long.”

“No, you weren’t. But with you gone, we’ve had a lot of… excess energy. So we ran it off by taking it to the Phreaks and Quinica. Which, with Ephemara’s new tribute system, has made the pack a tidy sum. Which we all spent at Sylus and Roald’s new shop.”

“That little prick really got himself set up down here that quick?”

“Well… yeah, about that…” Rita trailed off.

“He set up in Quinica territory.” Cekrass stated boldly.

“What!” Shaggy yelled. That meant the little prick was paying tithe to the space-vamps and was probably making them gear too.

Rita shrugged. “It made the most sense for the kid. We’re a relatively small group and we can’t get him the tech or materials he needs. He still deals with us, although I bet the Quinica don’t know about it.”

“But I bet he’s still outfitting their guys.” Shaggy grumbled as Rita nodded.

“Yeah, but with swords and claws. He’s not making guns or anything yet. So our boys have been pretty happy with it. If you don’t want to pay Sylus and Roald’s prices, you can hit a Quinica patrol and get some new gear.”

“Sounds like the kid is outfitting our group while still working for the enemy.” Levy said. “That has to be dangerous.”

Rita nodded. “That’s why Ephe sent two of our pack to watch his shop. If the Quinica try anything, Vick and Sybil can provide cover. They also watch over our people when they go to buy stuff.”

“That has to be boring for those two.”

“It is. Please tell me you have something for us. Beating up Quinica and the occasionally pack of Phreaks is fun and all, but we need a challenge.”

“Oh, I got something alright. Don’t know how challenging you’ll find it, though. But it’ll get us out in the sun.”

Cekrass and Rita grinned. The older woman sat down in the chair and scooted it closer as Cekrass took up position by Shaggy’s chair. Shaggy chuckled at the looks on their faces, and he could feel their excitement through the bond. But he shook his head and stood.

“Not here. I wanted everyone present. Mostly, I just wanted everyone to meet my wife. But if we are going to plan world domination, we should go downstairs.”

Rita jumped up. “Well shit, boss. Let’s go! I’ll have a runner go fetch Vick and Sybil. Cekrass you go wake up sulky McGee.”

The big lizard man walked off as Shaggy and Levy got up. “Sulky?”

Rita shook her head. “He kept hitting on one of the Needle Sisters. She finally got fed up and loudly and angrily proclaimed she would never be interested.”

Shaggy shook his head as Levy grimaced. “Poor guy.”

“He’s an idiot who can’t take a hint.” Rita scoffed. “So she had to hit him over the head with it instead. Now that he knows, he can move on to his next victim. But let’s get downstairs! Come on, come on, let’s go!”

Shaggy smiled as he was herded toward the stairs behind the stage. Levy held his hand as Rita sheep-dogged them through the crowd. He felt like between his wife and his pack; they were going to take the city of Austin by storm. Of course, there was still Cog to contend with, and whatever Obadiah wanted. But they were going to stock up on missions and jump back out there. Ready to conquer the virtual world.