“I’m serious. If we had more people that could magic the damn guards like she did, we could take over the whole damn tunnel.” Tom was saying as they exited said tunnel.
Shaggy sighed. “It’s not a matter of taking it over. We’d have to hold it. For now, we can keep sneaking our people out and the Quinica will be none the wiser. But if we start magically wiping the brains of every guard, I think someone will notice.”
“Not what I am doing, by the way.” Levy interjected, putting a hand up to cover her eyes. “Man, the shift between Under-Town and the city is pretty jarring, huh?”
Shaggy nodded as the other members of his pack groaned at the sight of the sun. It was early morning in Austin. After all the preparations and a slight argument about their new van, Shaggy and his crew had finally gotten topside. However, it looked like the sun was just raising over the city and the early morning cool was in the air. Even with the small amount of sunlight visible between the buildings, though, it was still a lot brighter than Under-Town.
“First stop is an APD safe house. We’ll check it over, see if it’s a good fit, and if it is, we’ll hang around and get to business.”
“Actually…” Levy said, sounding apologetic. “I’m going to meet up with some of my girls. My phone doesn’t work in Korrigan’s dimension and I want to tell them what’s going on. Maybe see if any want to move to Under-Town.”
Shaggy sighed, but gave his wife a hug. “I get it. You go do that and we can all meet for lunch. There’s a diner not that far from here called Vil’N’s. Maybe we can meet there?”
“Oh, you know Vil’N’s? Love that place. Let’s do that and I can get you a damn phone while I’m at it.”
Shaggy was about to wave off the suggestion, but then he remembered that his wife’s phone worked both above and underground. So he nodded excitedly. Levy smiled and patted his cheek before turning toward the opposite end of the alleyway. Shaggy watched her go with a kind of melancholy. They had just started playing together and now she was running off to see her friends? It was annoying, but he got it. They couldn’t be stuck at the hip the entire time they were playing. They’d drive each other crazy.
A large hand came down on Shaggy’s shoulder. He almost spun and clawed at the bastard, but he realized it was Cekrass trying to comfort him. The big green hand slapped his shoulder a few times as Cekrass’ long snout-like mouth flapped open a few times. Trying to find something to say. Shaggy chuckled at how comical the big lizard looked.
“It’s fine, Cekrass. She has her own thing that she needs to be doing. For now, let’s move out.”
The members of his pack nodded, and they all exited the alleyway. Shaggy led the way as he tried to remember the address on the safe house Xelthub had given him. It was somewhere in the northwest of downtown Austin. A hotel or apartment complex that had a room assigned to the APD. Shaggy wasn’t sure how big the room was, but he figured they would manage, even with Cekrass’ bulk.
As they traveled down the early morning sidewalk, Shaggy had to suppress a chuckle. They looked like a bunch of hitchhikers arriving in the city. None of his pack were wearing their armor, and they were all dressed in civilian clothes. Even Cekrass had found a shirt that would fit his bulk. They also had gathered a few backpacks and thrown their weapons and armor into them, along with a few clothes. So they all moved down the streets, dirty from the tunnels, and carrying large backpacks. Shaggy was sure they looked like a bunch of outdoor people coming in from the wilderness.
Tom’s link spiked with annoyance suddenly, and Shaggy turned to see the guy messing with his pack strap. When he felt Shaggy’s gaze, he looked up and grinned sheepishly.
“Sorry, boss. Damn things, just uncomfortable as hell.”
Shaggy nodded as he adjusted his own pack. All he had really needed was clothes, but the crew made him pack the food. He had told them they had food topside, but apparently his pack loved the burgers the Minotaur chefs at the Den made. So they insisted he pack a few dozen. Shaggy was honestly surprised he hadn’t attracted every dog in Austin, the way his pack smelled. His shirts were probably going to smell like barbecue the entire time they were up here, too.
“I get it. But we don’t have that far to go.”
“Why don’t we commandeer a car?” Sybil asked.
“We can’t do that. We’re working for the police now. They catch us in a stolen car and they’ll pitch a fit.”
Shaggy waved a hand at Vick and corrected. “We don’t work FOR the police. We are just working with them to eliminate a few dealers and some distributors.”
“Explain to me, again, why you thought this was a good idea, boss.” Rita grunted.
“Because we can operate topside with impunity while also hitting our competition. Also, nothing says we can’t skim some off the top. Criminals have money too, you know.”
Cekrass nodded. “Probably more money.”
Shaggy snapped his fingers. “Exactly,” He tapped his backpack. “We also have the old man’s assignments to go through as well.”
Vick lit a cigarette as they walked and said. “About that, while I don’t mind clandestine work. We need to be careful about that, old man. He looks familiar.”
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Sybil jumped excitedly. “Oh! You thought so too? I feel like I’ve seen his face before somewhere.”
“Not a good look for a spook, is it? Being recognizable?” Tom added.
“Not like we can remember where we’ve seen him, though. So it probably doesn’t matter. But I mean, the old man operates like an old hand at all this stuff. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a few contingencies in place. Maybe even a few plans that involve getting rid of us loose ends?”
Shaggy nodded at Vick’s words. “I get that, but we’re tougher than we look and he doesn’t strike me as someone to burn bridges that quickly. If we do good work and we keep our heads down, we should be fine.”
Vick nodded, but Cekrass gave a hacking cough. “Ack ack, I’m no good a stealth, boss.”
“I get that, big man. Which is why you’ll be on the drug team. I figure there is where we’ll need a shock and awe approach. Something you and Rita do very well.”
“So me and Vick get the spook jobs?”
“If required. I think the old man’s jobs are going to take a variety of skill sets. So we’ll read the first one and see what’s required there.”
“Getting tired of working with me, Syb?”
“No, just you're fucking smoking. Could you put that out?”
The pair fell into bantering as Shaggy smiled at them. A tug on his mental link brought his head around to Rita, who was looking at him questioningly. He raised an eyebrow and the older woman sighed.
“A car! The initial question was about a car. So I was wondering, if we are not worried about the cops, why don’t we just steal one and stop lugging these heavy ass packs.”
Shaggy coughed awkwardly. “Well… Um, I don’t know how to hot wire or hack a car. Do any of you?”
Shaggy was surprised when Sybil and Tom raised their hands. His surprise must have shown on his face, cause Sybil scoffed.
“We were all criminals before we met you, boss. Remember? I even had a decent thing going as a car thief.”
Sybil looked smug, but she quickly added. “Although I am much happier now. I’ve got power, some good friends to watch my back, and some pretty sweet gear.”
Shaggy smiled as Tom added. “Yeah, I mean, I wasn’t much of a car thief, but breaking in and stealing stuff? Used to do it all the time. Although newer cars are a pain. What with electronic locks and biometric entry shit. If we’re going to grab something, it should probably be an older car. Probably a roller. Fliers are going to be way too complicated.”
“Good idea, Tom. So I guess everyone keeps an eye out and if you see a vehicle, that’ll fit all of us, shout out. For now, let’s keep moving.”
They had barely gone a few blocks before Cekrass gave a loud grunt. With everyone’s attention, including a few passersby on the street, the large lizard-man pointed at a large SUV parked on the side of the road. It was in front of an office building and looked fairly old. Shaggy couldn’t see any telltale signs of a hover-conversion either. It looked like a standard old-school SUV. Only problem was that it was bright red. Shaggy was about to ask them to find another one, but Sybil and Tom were already rushing toward the vehicle excitedly.
“Fine. Everyone else is on lookout and cover.” Shaggy ordered.
Vick tipped his hat, as Cekrass and Rita moved to cover the two car thief’s work. Shaggy kept his eyes down the other end of the street and waited. Few people were moving about on the sidewalks this early in the morning. But they had already had a few drones zoom overhead in their early morning fly-overs. But the skies and streets all looked clear. Shaggy bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited.
Soon enough, a feeling of elation zipped over the pack link and as one, they all turned toward the SUV. Sybil and Tom were in the front and passenger seats, happily dancing as the engine roared to life. Not wanting them to celebrate too much, Shaggy rushed over and started packing his bag into the trunk.
“Come on, people! Let’s move it. We don’t want to stick around.”
The others all piled in carrying their bags as Sybil closed the driver’s side door. Clearly intent on driving. Shaggy sighed as he dove into the back and joined Rita in the far back seats. The SUV had three rows of seats. Vick and Cekrass had taken the middle seats, and Tom was still in the passenger seat, so Shaggy was stuck in the back.
Sybil threw the car into drive and howled in happiness as the big red SUV roared down the road. Shaggy sighed again and moved to say something when Sybil called back.
“I know, boss. I just wanted to kick things off with a bang. It’ll be super secret driving from here on out, promise.”
“Y’all are getting better at reading my moods through the link.” Shaggy grumbled.
“While you were gone, it was like the link was full of primal instincts. The need to run, hunt, and kill. But once you came back, the link calmed down and now, I can almost… feel you better,” Vick explained.
“You ARE clearer through the link.” Rita admitted.
Shaggy thought to try something and sent a quick message to Sybil in the front seat over the pack link. He saw the woman straighten up slightly. She turned back and glared at him as she answered his question.
“First off, that was freaky as all hell. Second, in answer to your question, we still need to scramble the cars ID code. Otherwise, when the car is reported stolen, the drones will be on the lookout for the car code.”
Shaggy nodded as he ignored the questioning looks from the rest of his pack. “Won’t that make us a bigger target? Uncoded car roaming around that looks exactly like the car that was reported missing?”
“Yeah,” Tom answered. “Which is why we are going to need to find a tablet or something to hack the car’s internals and change the code.”
“Didn’t the spook give ya a tablet, boss?”
Shaggy nodded as he turned around and unzipped his pack. “Yeah, but I don’t think we want to use it. It’s going to be our job board for the old man’s missions.”
“We could steal a tablet.” Rita provided helpfully.
“Are we on a time crunch to scramble the car code?”
“Kind of,” Sybil answered. “If we can get the car into a parking structure or underground, that’ll give us some time, though. Does the hotel we’re going to have a parking garage?”
“I don’t know.” Shaggy turned back around with the tablet and turned it on.
A light blue glow cascaded over his face as the display turned on. There were no OS or apps. Just a black screen with a wall of light blue text.
Target: Grant Yel’nix’int
Operation: Apprehension and Elimination
Time Frame: Two days
Notes: Subject must be taken in clear view of his guards. Once taken, the subject is to be eliminated and disposed of. Subject must not be found at all. Incineration through non-magical means is recommended.
Shaggy whistled. First job out the gate and they were killing somebody. Old man didn’t fuck around. The others in the car went silent as his mood must have pulsed down the pack link. He felt their excitement through the link and smiled. His pack was ready to hunt and their excitement fed back into him, empowering his own feelings of excitement. The mission was going to be challenging, but he knew they could get it done. They’d get paid and maybe he’d learn to navigate this whole pack thing better.