Shaggy grunted as he pushed yet another broken-down wall out of his way. The broken sheet metal walls of the old houses of Under-Town littered the narrow pathways toward Rak territory. He and his small group of attackers marching toward Rak turf were slowed by the bits of junk and demolished houses in their way. Kicking a round bit of metal out of his path, Shaggy watched as the metal orb slammed into a nearby shack and practically knocked it over. It’s flimsy sheet-metal walls slanting sideways. No shouts came from inside, though. So Shaggy assumed the house was empty.

  “That’s good. Why don’t you just start blowing down all the houses in our way, Shaggy.” said a feminine voice from behind him.

  Shaggy turned in time to see Leslie shushing Chromia. The tall biker woman gave Shaggy an apologetic look, but he waved it off. Instead, he sniped make at the skinny metal woman picking her way through the junk in her way.

  “I’m not the one who's a human-wrecking ball, Chromia. Maybe you should be up front. I can strap a belt to your waist and use you to knock down anything in our way.”

  “Just try it, tiny. I’ll crack you in half and then let you heal before doing it again.”

  “Pfft!” Shaggy snorted. “Missed you too, Chromia.”

  The metal-covered woman continued to grumble as their party cut their way south. Shaggy had taken seven Lackeys and was halfway out of the bar when Chromia and Leslie glomped on to him. They had both asked and demanded to be included in Shaggy’s war party. Their party of ten was now approaching the invisible line between Legion and Rak territory. The area had clearly been the site of lots of battles. The civilians were gone and the roads and buildings were trashed.

  “Why hasn’t Slink gotten some people to clear this area of materials? All this metal has to be good for something?” Shaggy asked out loud.

  “He does send a few collectors occasionally. But it’s still a contested area, so trying to drag out a cartful of metal is pretty tricky.” Leslie answered.

  “Even with Flora helping.” Chromia muttered.

  “Where is your sister, by the way? I’m surprised she’s not glued to one of your sides or something.”

  “She’s a teleporter. She can be here in an instant if she wants to.” Chromia snapped.

  “Slink assigned her to Ren’s transportation team. She’s great at getting cargo to and from places since…”

  Leslie trailed off before brushing a strand of blue-black hair out of her eyes. Shaggy didn’t press and instead made more noise as he marched forward to cover up the silence. Leslie, Chromia, and Flora’s sisters had stolen from the Legion. Vlad and Shaggy managed to grab a super serum from the UGB and foolishly gave it to their older sister, Rashi. But instead of studying it, the woman injected her sisters with the serum. It enhanced all six sisters’ powers and tore their family apart. Rashi, April, and Vera were banned from Legion territory while the other three stayed.

  Shaggy shoved another piece of sheet metal out of his path and let it fall noisily to the ground. Behind him, Chromia growled again.

  “Can you not make so much damn noise!?”

  Shaggy was turning his head to quip back when something flashed in his peripheral vision. He snapped his head back in time to see a black-suited man become visible. The Rak grunt raised a knife in the air and lunged toward Shaggy. Caught off-guard, Shaggy let the knife hit his chest and felt it glance off his dermal plating. The thug had just enough time to recognize his own doom before Shaggy’s fist crunched into the man’s face.

  “INCOMING!” Shaggy shouted as he whirled around.

  The metal buildings around them exploded with noise and gunfire. Shaggy felt multiple bullets hit his body as his team took cover. Chromia charged into the nearest building, acting like the wrecking ball she was and stomping everyone. Behind her, Leslie was using her sister as cover and throwing bolts of electricity like spears. Shaggy’s own Lackeys returned fire with their laser weapons, but they were missing more than they hit.

  Growling to himself, Shaggy kicked a shoddy shack and sent into tumbling to the ground. As it collapsed, the few Raks on its roof fell to the dirt and were picked off by his shooters. He wandered the narrow street, wrecking the Rak’s cover and assisting his team in getting kills. A few times, he was charged at with a sword or a rusty dagger. But he would bat the idiot aside and keep moving. His team was slowly getting better and their weapons and armor gave them a slight edge, but clearly the Raks were more experienced. Chromia and Leslie were a wicked team, though. The two women crashed through buildings and Raks like they had been doing it for ages. Finally, the small skirmish died down and the remaining Raks started to run away.

  Shaggy gave his inner wolf a little nudge and shifted into his man-beast form. After getting back to the bar, Shaggy had made sure to feed the hungry bastard. So now he was ready and able to go wild when necessary. Sure, the Rak grunts weren’t really worth the trouble, but they could report back to the rest of their gang and Shaggy’s group would have a rougher time. He let the transformation finish before launching himself at the retreating Raks. Their screams and shouts echoed in the narrows streets and Shaggy dashed from one to another, slaughtering them like lambs.

  When he was done, Shaggy sniffed the air for any more. The invisible one who had started the fight hadn’t had a scent, though. Which annoyed Shaggy. Even now, all he could smell was blood and fear. He angrily huffed as he let the transformation go and shrank down in size again. His bones were cracking into place when Chromia’s stomping footsteps filled his ears.

  “Why the hell didn’t you do that before?!”

  “Because it’s not my job to fight for you. I’m here to keep our losses at a minimum and to mop up what you and the others don’t finish.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “I thought this was an assault.”

  “It is! But it’s also a training exercise. Did you see how the others were shooting?” Shaggy glanced around and addressed the other members of his little party. “Y’all couldn’t hit water if you fell out of a boat! I had to push the Raks out of cover and into your damn shots sometimes. What the hell have all of you been doing here?”

  Silence met his tirade and Shaggy rolled his eyes before looking back at Leslie and Chromia. “You two did fine. You know how to operate together and you did great work.”

  Shaggy grinned as he looked around at the knocked over shacks and scorched ground. He opened his mouth to snipe at Chromia, but she was glaring at him.

  “Don’t you say it.”

  “Aw, is the deadly little wrecking ball embarrassed at how well she can knock down buildings?”

  A slim metal fist hit Shaggy in the chest, but he barely felt it. Chromia grimaced at the lack of a response her punch had and was pulling back for another when Leslie grabbed her wrist. The blue-haired woman shook her head at her sister and addressed Shaggy.

  “Thanks for the compliment, boss. But maybe next time you can get involved sooner? My jacket can only take so many bullets.”

  Shaggy eyed the taller woman’s leather jacket and noted that it had a few bullet holes in it. But nothing went all the way through. Examining it further, Shaggy saw that the jacket had some type of flexible metal under the leather. He raised an eyebrow at the sight.

  “It’s armor.”

  “Custom-made by the workshop, boys. Cost me a lot of Legion Credits, but I like it a lot and I don’t want to buy another.”

  Shaggy raised his hands in surrender. “Fine. I’ll help out more next time. But I’m not doing everything for y’all. Everyone! We’re pushing forward. Grab your shit and keep your eyes open.”

  There was some minor grumbling, mostly from Chromia, but their group set out again. They pushed further into Rak turf and then turned west to travel along the border. There was no clear sign that someone had stepped between Rak and Legion turf. But Shaggy could almost sense it. It was like crossing over a threshold into a new world. The smells were different; the air felt heavier, and Shaggy was sure they were being watched.

  He couldn’t see anyone on top of the short buildings around them, but he knew that there was someone out there with their eyes on them. They had been traveling westward for a few minutes when Chromia spoke up again.

  “When are we going to hit them, boss? This waiting around shit is killing me.”

  Shaggy harrumphed. “I was hoping for some kind of target of opportunity to present itself. But it looks like all we got is more empty shacks and buildings.”

  “It’s the border between two rival gangs, boss. No one is going to be stupid enough to build anything here. Hell, the only reason the buildings here already are left standing is to hide spies.”

  Shaggy stopped walking and spun to Chromia, a smile on his face. “Now there’s an idea.”

  “What? And don’t smile at me like that, it’s creepy.”

  “Why don’t we do our wrecking ball thing again? Clear some space on the Rak side of the line.”

  “You mean Chromia should just start knocking shit over?”

  “Chromia and I should start knocking shit over. You and the rest of the team take up positions and get ready to attack anyone who comes. Can you snipe with your electrical powers?”

  “I can now.” Leslie said, a little quiet.

  Shaggy nodded. “Okay then, we clear a space and when the Raks show up, we trounce them and run.”

  “You think wrecking a few shitty buildings is going to make them come running?”

  Shaggy shrugged. “If it doesn’t, we’ll just keep doing it.”

  Chromia looked at Leslie, and the tall woman mirrored Shaggy’s shrug. Chromia sighed and stepped into Rak territory. She stretched out her metal arms and Shaggy joined her.

  “You head east and I’ll head west. Just knock down anything that gets in your way and then come back here.”

  “That’s fine by me, but are you going to be okay? It looks like you have a few brick buildings in your way.”

  Shaggy grinned as he let his wolf out to play again. This time he went with the full wolf form. Chromia’s eyes grew round as she stared at Shaggy’s fur. Her metal hand reached up to touch Shaggy, but she quickly slapped it back down and turned toward her side. Shaggy gave a chuffing laugh and faced west. Once he was aimed at the group of shacks and buildings, Shaggy gave a howl and dashed off.

  His enormous paws and body made quick work of the sheet-metal shacks that stood in his way. The one or two brick buildings also collapsed under his dense weight as he crashed into them. The sounds of crashing buildings and a barking wolf traveled all over Under-Town as Shaggy went wild. His four legs carried him far as he put his furry shoulder into another brick building. He was so far that he barely heard when the sounds of laser fire came from behind him.

  Turning, Shaggy saw the signs of battle in the sky as lasers and electricity lit up the dark town. He turned back and started crashing through more buildings on the way back. He had flattened almost two blocks of shacks and ruined buildings before reaching his people again. They were exchanging fire with the Raks across the giant open area he and Chromia had created. The Raks were trying to push forward as Leslie and the Lackeys peppered them with laser fire and lightning.

  Leslie was hopping from shack to shack, tossing electric spikes at the oncoming group of Raks. Shaggy counted at least twenty Raks trying to charge his people and grinned. Then a loud crack of a rifle broke through the air and one of the shacks on the legion side collapsed. The laser fire slowed as his Lackeys scrambled, but soon they had their line of fire back up. Shaggy searched for the source of the loud rifle and found a Rak soldier standing in the ruins of a brick building lining up another shot.

  Shaggy rushed the man, pouncing at the last second. His leap sent him into the air and alerted his target of his impeding doom. The Rak swung the large rifle toward Shaggy and got a shot off before Shaggy’s front claws smashed him through the brick wall. The large caliber bullet hit Shaggy in the belly and he yelped as it felt like he was pinched. But the pain quickly faded as his claws tore the Rak to shreds. Turning to watch the battle again, Shaggy spotted Chromia rushing back into the fight as she was peppered with gunfire. Her metal body deflected the bullets as she brutally bludgeoned anyone stupid enough to get close.

  With Shaggy at their back and Chromia pushing in from the side, the Legion Lackeys pushed forward. They abandoned the cover of the shacks and houses to charge into the fight, forcing the Raks to respond in kind. The following fight was quick, but not without some sacrifice on the Legion side. Some Lackeys got a little too confident when going toe-to-toe with the Raks. Leslie and Chromia made it through just fine and Shaggy could already tell some of the Lackeys had leveled up from their encounters.

  He momentarily played with the idea of scouting deeper into Rak turf. But they had done enough, and he missed his pack. It was past time to go home. With a grunt of effort, he dropped his werewolf form and ran over to his people. A few nodded at him as he approached and gave his orders to move back toward the bar. Chromia and Leslie nodded in acknowledgment before joining the rest of the group.

  Shaggy kept his eyes on the Rak turf as his people moved out. It had been a short skirmish, and he hadn’t really done much, but the Rak’s attack had been answered. Now the rest was up to Dave and the others. In the distance, on Rak turf, Shaggy could see more scouts watching as their group followed the winding paths back home. He flipped them the bird and hurried to catch up with his men.

  Chromia and Leslie were waiting for him at the back of the group. Chromia looked surly, but Leslie was grinning as she brushed a patch of sweaty hair off her forehead.

  “So… Chromia and I were wondering… What do you get up to in that ‘forward base’ of yours?” The tall woman in biker leathers asked as she smiled at Shaggy.

  Shaggy rolled his eyes as he felt of shiver of something shoot down his spine.