Levy wasn’t back when Shaggy and his team made it back to the cave. In fact, he’s patrol team was the first to make it back. He said goodbye to Dragan and the others and let them all go brag about Otto’s recent Awakening. Shaggy stopped by his cabin and grabbed some food to eat. He sat on his incomplete porch and watched Cekrass and Vick put some kids through some conditioning. It was a pleasant break.
The Sybil made it back to the cave and then Rita. Both looking more ragged than they should consider what they had been doing. Rita was out shopping, if Shaggy remembered right. He didn’t know what Sybil had been up to. But by the states of both teams, it looked like they had been put through it. Panting and sweating as they trudged down the main road toward the center of the cave.
Shaggy noticed that Rita’s team were all wearing backpacks. Which made sense. The statuesque werewolf was planning to purchase some necessary items for the cave. Which was probably why all of them looked tired. Having to lug supplies all the way back had to be annoying. Also, none of them seemed to have any battle damage. No holes or blood on their clothing. Shaggy turned his gaze to Sybil’s team and grimaced. If anything, they looked worse.
Sweat was pouring down their faces, and a few looked ready to puke. But unlike Rita’s team, these kids weren’t carrying anything. They were, however, all glaring at the petite blonde woman with a hatred bordering on utter contempt. Shaggy bit into his sandwich and watched as both teams made it to the clearing and were given orders by his pack mates.
“Louis, make sure all that stuff is put away and then you and the others can relax. We’re done for the day.”
“You bunch of whiners can get out of here, too.” Sybil waved her pack of teens away.
Branka had to be held back by Camille and Dee as she lunged for Sybil. There was a brief scuffle as the kids got their friend to calm down and walk off. Shaggy raised an eyebrow as he watched the kids walk off. He tried to get answers via the mental link, but all he got was that Sybil was annoyed and Rita was mildly proud. Finally, he wound up asking what he was thinking.
“What the hell, Sybil?”
Sybil threw up her arms and grunted. “Those damn whiners did nothing but bitch the entire time we were out patrolling. ‘Oh, why don’t we attack them? Why don’t we do this? How come you can’t become a real werewolf? Why aren’t you stronger?’ It was driving me up a damn wall. So once we picked up the van, I made them all run alongside.”
Shaggy chuckled as Rita spun on the shorter woman. “You what?”
“Hey! I didn’t go over fifteen miles an hour! They needed the exerciser. They obviously have too much energy if they can run their mouths that much.”
“That’s not the point! They’re kids, you maniac. How far did you make them run?”
“I don’t know. It was two miles from the used dealer to the junkyard, and then another couple from the junkyard to the deli. So maybe four miles?”
“FOUR MILES? No wonder those kids looked ready to collapse. You damn slave driver.”
“Bah! They were annoying me.”
Shaggy shook his head with quiet mirth. “So you went out and got us a vehicle and then went to a junkyard?”
Sybil turned back to face Shaggy, who was still sitting on the porch. “Yeah, figured we could do with some scrap around here. Don’t know what use it’ll be, but if anything, we can armor up the van with it.”
Judging by the look in the woman’s eyes, Shaggy could guess which one she wanted. Unfortunately, he was going to have to disappoint her.
“Sorry, Sybil. But I’ve got a bunch of sweaty and smelly kids down here. So I’m going to have to take that metal and turn it into a shower system or something. Can’t have a bunch of angry kids running around in sweaty clothes either.”
Rita nodded as Sybil groaned. “Good. We got a few necessities for the kids, but some shower rooms would be great.”
“What all did you get?”
“More clothes, more canned food, some energy crystals to power various electronics, a washbasin, toiletries, etcetera.”
Shaggy nodded as he got up from the porch. But Sybil grinned with a vindictiveness that made him stop.
“How are you going to get water down here? You break into a city pipe and they’ll notice. What? Are you going to have the kids clean themselves with sewer water?”
“I’ll find something. Levy was clearly building a pool or something out back. So there has to be some magical water generator thing we can find. In fact, that’s where we’ll start during our second patrol.”
Both women glared at him. “Second patrol?!”
“Just around our own turf. My group marched straight into enemy territory today and found a few stores that looked pretty run down. We even convinced one to move shop to our territory. I want to see if we can get a few more and what kinds of buildings we are working with.”
“We can’t go around buying buildings, boss. We don’t have the capital.” Rita opined.
“Yet.” Shaggy stated, smiling. “But we’ll get it one day. But for now, I just want to see what we are working with. Besides, we don’t have to buy a building to own it.”
“What?” Sybil asked, twisting her head in confusion.
Shaggy simply smiled and walked over to where the kids were all sitting and talking. Cekrass and Vick seemed to finish with today’s training. So Shaggy gave them all a wave as he moved closer. A few looked over at him. He saw mixed expressions of happiness and exhaustion. It seemed that all the kids today had been put through it. Although Mari looked a little pissed at being left behind.
Shaggy waited until the three patrol teams joined the mass of teens before he raised a hand for attention. There was some mild chatter going on. Mostly from Sybil’s patrol team. Who were all loudly chastising their leader. Shaggy waiting until he had everyone’s attention, including his pack before speaking.
“So it seems we all had a productive day. Which is great, but it’s not over yet. I still want lookouts posted in the diner. I also want to get another group together for a local patrol. We don’t have much in our ‘territory’, but I still want to make sure we keep it. We need to see if there are any locals and see how amenable they are to our… protection.”
Shaggy saw a few of the kids back away from his grin, but he ignored it. “Also, I want to check the neighborhood buildings and see if there’s anything we can use. So this is where your local expertise is going to come in handy. I want to figure out who’s coming with me on the second patrol.”
Several hands went up and Shaggy had to stifle a chuckle as Mari practically jumped in place. He looked around and noted that even some kids from the previous patrols were eager to head back out. But he didn’t want to tire them out too much. Not to mention bringing exhausted teens on an evening patrol was just poor planning. Instead, he mentally selected a few of the teens before looking around. Stanley was nowhere to be found. He wanted to take the newest member of his pack out with the new group to show his placement in the new hierarchy. He knew some teens were a little peeved at the slim boy’s rise to pack member. But he needed to show solidarity with his pack.
Vick caught his attention with a wave and pointed toward the teens dorm-style building. Shaggy raised an eyebrow, but Vick said nothing. All he got from the link was that Cekrass was a little embarrassed and Vick was bemused. He grimaced as he returned to looking at the kids. He had made his choices, but he waited for a few beats before he quickly pointed.
“Mari, Yelena, Nate, and Petri. You’re with me tonight. To the rest, get some food, get some rest and set up rotations for the lookouts. We also need to find a way to generate water down here, so… um… think about that.”
Shaggy turned to walk away as his chosen teens joined him excitedly. But a brusk voice stopped him. It was somehow both intimidating and politely curious. Shaggy found it such an odd mix that he had to turn as the young woman asked her question.
“About the patrol teams. Are they set in stone?” Branka asked.
Shaggy grinned, which turned into a wide smile as Branka didn’t back away from his sharp teeth.
“No. Patrols will be on a rotation. So we don’t know what you’ll get until the day.”
Shaggy turned back around as he heard a smattering of loud cheers and gratitude towards god. Probably all from Sybil’s patrol. He grinned as he noted Sybil's red cheeks. The woman huffed and turned back toward the entrance tunnel. Shaggy was sure she was going to work on her new van or something.
Shaggy turned, ready to go grab Stanley. But he stepped right into Mari as the young girl was practically glued to his back. He took a few steps back as he glanced at her excited expression. He was surprised at how excited she was. But figured it was better than the alternative. The other three were all milling around him as well, looking lost. Shaggy had purposely chosen three of the unawakened mutants. He wasn’t going to throw them into the deep end and see if they could swim. But he wanted to get them out and about.
“Umm, you lot go grab some weapons from Seth. Just whatever you are comfortable using and something you can easily hide. Drone patrols are scarce, but if they catch you with a K-Tech weapon, they’ll be all over us.”
The three nodded as they rushed off toward where Seth had a small tent set up. He had most of their weapons arranged around it. The speedster was practicing his infant engineering skills. Something Shaggy hoped bored fruit. Stepping around Mari, Shaggy went to go grab Stanley. With three unawakened, he would like the extra firepower. Also, the way Vick and Cekrass were acting made him think the boy needed a win.
Mari rushed alongside him, happily jumping around. “So, what are we really doing?”
“Exactly what I said. We need to patrol our neighborhood. And I want to look at the various buildings around us.”
Mari stopped prancing. “You were serious? But there’s nothing around us! Most of it is abandoned tenements and sleazy hotels. I think there’s a laundry somewhere. A few defunct Holocades, maybe a restaurant or two. But no one runs the things. They were all run off by the bunch, the giant robots, or even the damn government. If the city wasn’t still cleaning up the Cog mess, I’d wager they’d have set their sights on demolishing this entire area. Maybe rebuild it as a shopping center or something.”
Shaggy digested her words as he entered the teen’s dormitory. The first floor was a large common room area. There wasn’t much in the way of entertainment or seating. But a few of the teens were lounging around, commiserating or telling stories about their patrols. Shaggy gave Ulf a wave as he walked toward the hallway. Mari was hot on his heels.
Her assessment of the neighborhood was about what he expected. Although he really wanted an estimate of how many people were still around. Those people could be the start of his plans if they were skilled enough. As for city hall and the government, they’d leave the area alone if it started making money. Right now it was just a few blocks of empty buildings wasting space. But if Shaggy could get a few businesses up and running, that would be a start. But it was going to take credits. Credits that other people had. They were going to have to pull jobs in the surrounding blocks. Luckily, the Bunch seemed ripe for the picking.
Shaggy walked down the hallway. Passed a few closed doors and realized he did not know where he was going. He turned back to Mari. The girl was still waiting for his explanation about their patrol. But he stayed mum as he asked.
“Where’s Stanley’s room?”
Mari pointed over her shoulder. Back the way they came. “He was the first door on the right. But why? What do you need him for?”
“He’s coming with us. We might need his strength, and I would like a trump card if we get into the shit.”
“Pfft. He’s not that strong. Cekrass tossed his scrawny ass around most of the day.”
Shaggy felt his eyebrow crawl up his forehead. “Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, sure, Stan’s got power now. But against a trained fighter? Cekrass took him apart.”
“He did fine against the Quinica.”
“Did you see him? He mostly threw haymakers and relied on his armor to save him. I mean, what kind of fighting style calls for you to take overwhelming damage in order for you to land one punch?”
“Yeah… that’s... ahem… That’s weird.” Shaggy swallowed his embarrassment and went back toward Stanley’s room.
Shaggy gave the door a knock and tested the handle. Locked. “Stanley! Get up! I need to ask you something.”
Shaggy’s shout drew a couple of eyes from the common room, but he ignored it. Beyond the door, he heard the sounds of shuffling and maybe some grumbling. With a quiet clack, the door creaked open and Stanley’s face peered around a crack in the door. Shaggy winced as he saw a large bruise forming under the kid’s eye.
“What happened with the armor?” Shaggy blurted.
Stanley rolled his eyes as he sighed. He widened the door as he responded. “Kev got annoyed at how Cekrass was taking us apart. So instead of helping, he turned off the armor.”
“I didn’t know he could do that.”
“Yeah. Me either.” Stanley winced as he shifted on his feet. His eyes went glassy before an annoyed look came to his face. “Maybe I would’ve hit him if you made me faster and not just tougher, you damn outer-space chewing gum.”
Shaggy snorted and almost wanted to watch Stanley argue with himself. But instead, he put a hand up to get the boy’s attention. As fun as it was to watch a character argue with himself. He needed to know if the kid could fight.
“I’m going out on an evening patrol. Was wondering if you wanted to come?”
Stanley’s eyes widened in surprise. “Uh sure. Is the…uhhh... entire pack going?”
“No, just you, me, and a couple of others. I want eyes on the neighborhood.”
Stanley nodded as his eyes shifted to Mari. “You going?”
“Yeah? Why? You got a problem?”
Stanley glared at her for a few seconds before turning back to Shaggy. “Let be grab a change of clothes.”
Mari huffed, but said nothing else as Stanley’s door shut. She and Shaggy went back to the common area. Dragan was explaining how he had single-handedly taken out a bear hybrid with one spray. Shaggy had to check his memory, but the kid wasn’t wrong. He had done well for himself. Shaggy’s entire crew had. It was a good first patrol.
Stanley joined them a short while later. He had thrown on a blue hoodie and a pair of slacks. Shaggy gave the slim boy a once over before he headed for the door. Mari fell into step with Stanley and muttered.
“I don’t need you to look after me, y’know.”
“You’re Louis’ family.” Stanley said simply. “If something happened to you, Louis would freak. I may be shit at fighting, but I can throw my armored ass in front of some bullets.”
Mari humphed but said nothing as she pointedly stared away from the tall boy. Shaggy kept an ear on the byplay, but said nothing as they left the building. Outside, Shaggy quickly found the rest of his evening team. They were arranged around Rita, who was doting on them and checking their weapons. Once the older woman gave the okay, she patted the kid on the shoulder and moved on to the next. As Shaggy watched, he realized, again, how hard up they were for armor. Sure, mutants and some aliens were tougher than normal, but still the added protection wouldn’t go amiss.
Rita picked up on his thoughts as he walked over. Because once she was finished with Yelena, she spun toward him and nodded.
“Yeah, I was thinking of finding someone good with armor and weapons. Seth is a fine start, but his knowledge is limited. We need an expert.”
Shaggy sighed. “Another thing for the list.”
“Like I said, I was going to head out and see what I can find.” Rita reiterated.
“Take someone with you. We are technically at war with two gangs. I don’t want you getting jumped.”
Rita snorted. “I can look after myself.”
“Good, then with one or two more people, you’ll be unstoppable. I’m serious, Rita. I’m not losing any of my pack.”
“Oh really? Do you know where Tom is?”
“Not what I meant, and you know it.”
A quick ping through the pack link made Shaggy realize that the lazy bastard was asleep in the Pack’s dorm. Shaggy rubbed a hand down his face as he shook his head.
“Take the sumbitch with you and one more. Either from the pack or not. Your choice.”
“Oh, I get a choice? How novel.” Rita quipped, but her grin took the sting out of it.
Shaggy rolled his eyes as he waved a hand at his patrol crew. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Make sure everyone is cared for here, will you? Mama Wolf?”
Shaggy heard Rita unsheathing her blade and sped-walked away. He was pretty sure the blade wouldn’t get too deep into his skin. But he was sure Rita was going to do her damnedest to draw blood. He cackled to himself as Mari and the other jogged along with him. Back out to the surface, back out onto the streets, back to more adventures.
Levy wasn’t back when Shaggy and his team made it back to the cave. In fact, he’s patrol team was the first to make it back. He said goodbye to Dragan and the others and let them all go brag about Otto’s recent Awakening. Shaggy stopped by his cabin and grabbed some food to eat. He sat on his incomplete porch and watched Cekrass and Vick put some kids through some conditioning. It was a pleasant break.
The Sybil made it back to the cave and then Rita. Both looking more ragged than they should consider what they had been doing. Rita was out shopping, if Shaggy remembered right. He didn’t know what Sybil had been up to. But by the states of both teams, it looked like they had been put through it. Panting and sweating as they trudged down the main road toward the center of the cave.
Shaggy noticed that Rita’s team were all wearing backpacks. Which made sense. The statuesque werewolf was planning to purchase some necessary items for the cave. Which was probably why all of them looked tired. Having to lug supplies all the way back had to be annoying. Also, none of them seemed to have any battle damage. No holes or blood on their clothing. Shaggy turned his gaze to Sybil’s team and grimaced. If anything, they looked worse.
Sweat was pouring down their faces, and a few looked ready to puke. But unlike Rita’s team, these kids weren’t carrying anything. They were, however, all glaring at the petite blonde woman with a hatred bordering on utter contempt. Shaggy bit into his sandwich and watched as both teams made it to the clearing and were given orders by his pack mates.
“Louis, make sure all that stuff is put away and then you and the others can relax. We’re done for the day.”
“You bunch of whiners can get out of here, too.” Sybil waved her pack of teens away.
Branka had to be held back by Camille and Dee as she lunged for Sybil. There was a brief scuffle as the kids got their friend to calm down and walk off. Shaggy raised an eyebrow as he watched the kids walk off. He tried to get answers via the mental link, but all he got was that Sybil was annoyed and Rita was mildly proud. Finally, he wound up asking what he was thinking.
“What the hell, Sybil?”
Sybil threw up her arms and grunted. “Those damn whiners did nothing but bitch the entire time we were out patrolling. ‘Oh, why don’t we attack them? Why don’t we do this? How come you can’t become a real werewolf? Why aren’t you stronger?’ It was driving me up a damn wall. So once we picked up the van, I made them all run alongside.”
Shaggy chuckled as Rita spun on the shorter woman. “You what?”
“Hey! I didn’t go over fifteen miles an hour! They needed the exerciser. They obviously have too much energy if they can run their mouths that much.”
“That’s not the point! They’re kids, you maniac. How far did you make them run?”
“I don’t know. It was two miles from the used dealer to the junkyard, and then another couple from the junkyard to the deli. So maybe four miles?”
“FOUR MILES? No wonder those kids looked ready to collapse. You damn slave driver.”
“Bah! They were annoying me.”
Shaggy shook his head with quiet mirth. “So you went out and got us a vehicle and then went to a junkyard?”
Sybil turned back to face Shaggy, who was still sitting on the porch. “Yeah, figured we could do with some scrap around here. Don’t know what use it’ll be, but if anything, we can armor up the van with it.”
Judging by the look in the woman’s eyes, Shaggy could guess which one she wanted. Unfortunately, he was going to have to disappoint her.
“Sorry, Sybil. But I’ve got a bunch of sweaty and smelly kids down here. So I’m going to have to take that metal and turn it into a shower system or something. Can’t have a bunch of angry kids running around in sweaty clothes either.”
Rita nodded as Sybil groaned. “Good. We got a few necessities for the kids, but some shower rooms would be great.”
“What all did you get?”
“More clothes, more canned food, some energy crystals to power various electronics, a washbasin, toiletries, etcetera.”
Shaggy nodded as he got up from the porch. But Sybil grinned with a vindictiveness that made him stop.
“How are you going to get water down here? You break into a city pipe and they’ll notice. What? Are you going to have the kids clean themselves with sewer water?”
“I’ll find something. Levy was clearly building a pool or something out back. So there has to be some magical water generator thing we can find. In fact, that’s where we’ll start during our second patrol.”
Both women glared at him. “Second patrol?!”
“Just around our own turf. My group marched straight into enemy territory today and found a few stores that looked pretty run down. We even convinced one to move shop to our territory. I want to see if we can get a few more and what kinds of buildings we are working with.”
“We can’t go around buying buildings, boss. We don’t have the capital.” Rita opined.
“Yet.” Shaggy stated, smiling. “But we’ll get it one day. But for now, I just want to see what we are working with. Besides, we don’t have to buy a building to own it.”
“What?” Sybil asked, twisting her head in confusion.
Shaggy simply smiled and walked over to where the kids were all sitting and talking. Cekrass and Vick seemed to finish with today’s training. So Shaggy gave them all a wave as he moved closer. A few looked over at him. He saw mixed expressions of happiness and exhaustion. It seemed that all the kids today had been put through it. Although Mari looked a little pissed at being left behind.
Shaggy waited until the three patrol teams joined the mass of teens before he raised a hand for attention. There was some mild chatter going on. Mostly from Sybil’s patrol team. Who were all loudly chastising their leader. Shaggy waiting until he had everyone’s attention, including his pack before speaking.
“So it seems we all had a productive day. Which is great, but it’s not over yet. I still want lookouts posted in the diner. I also want to get another group together for a local patrol. We don’t have much in our ‘territory’, but I still want to make sure we keep it. We need to see if there are any locals and see how amenable they are to our… protection.”
Shaggy saw a few of the kids back away from his grin, but he ignored it. “Also, I want to check the neighborhood buildings and see if there’s anything we can use. So this is where your local expertise is going to come in handy. I want to figure out who’s coming with me on the second patrol.”
Several hands went up and Shaggy had to stifle a chuckle as Mari practically jumped in place. He looked around and noted that even some kids from the previous patrols were eager to head back out. But he didn’t want to tire them out too much. Not to mention bringing exhausted teens on an evening patrol was just poor planning. Instead, he mentally selected a few of the teens before looking around. Stanley was nowhere to be found. He wanted to take the newest member of his pack out with the new group to show his placement in the new hierarchy. He knew some teens were a little peeved at the slim boy’s rise to pack member. But he needed to show solidarity with his pack.
Vick caught his attention with a wave and pointed toward the teens dorm-style building. Shaggy raised an eyebrow, but Vick said nothing. All he got from the link was that Cekrass was a little embarrassed and Vick was bemused. He grimaced as he returned to looking at the kids. He had made his choices, but he waited for a few beats before he quickly pointed.
“Mari, Yelena, Nate, and Petri. You’re with me tonight. To the rest, get some food, get some rest and set up rotations for the lookouts. We also need to find a way to generate water down here, so… um… think about that.”
Shaggy turned to walk away as his chosen teens joined him excitedly. But a brusk voice stopped him. It was somehow both intimidating and politely curious. Shaggy found it such an odd mix that he had to turn as the young woman asked her question.
“About the patrol teams. Are they set in stone?” Branka asked.
Shaggy grinned, which turned into a wide smile as Branka didn’t back away from his sharp teeth.
“No. Patrols will be on a rotation. So we don’t know what you’ll get until the day.”
Shaggy turned back around as he heard a smattering of loud cheers and gratitude towards god. Probably all from Sybil’s patrol. He grinned as he noted Sybil's red cheeks. The woman huffed and turned back toward the entrance tunnel. Shaggy was sure she was going to work on her new van or something.
Shaggy turned, ready to go grab Stanley. But he stepped right into Mari as the young girl was practically glued to his back. He took a few steps back as he glanced at her excited expression. He was surprised at how excited she was. But figured it was better than the alternative. The other three were all milling around him as well, looking lost. Shaggy had purposely chosen three of the unawakened mutants. He wasn’t going to throw them into the deep end and see if they could swim. But he wanted to get them out and about.
“Umm, you lot go grab some weapons from Seth. Just whatever you are comfortable using and something you can easily hide. Drone patrols are scarce, but if they catch you with a K-Tech weapon, they’ll be all over us.”
The three nodded as they rushed off toward where Seth had a small tent set up. He had most of their weapons arranged around it. The speedster was practicing his infant engineering skills. Something Shaggy hoped bored fruit. Stepping around Mari, Shaggy went to go grab Stanley. With three unawakened, he would like the extra firepower. Also, the way Vick and Cekrass were acting made him think the boy needed a win.
Mari rushed alongside him, happily jumping around. “So, what are we really doing?”
“Exactly what I said. We need to patrol our neighborhood. And I want to look at the various buildings around us.”
Mari stopped prancing. “You were serious? But there’s nothing around us! Most of it is abandoned tenements and sleazy hotels. I think there’s a laundry somewhere. A few defunct Holocades, maybe a restaurant or two. But no one runs the things. They were all run off by the bunch, the giant robots, or even the damn government. If the city wasn’t still cleaning up the Cog mess, I’d wager they’d have set their sights on demolishing this entire area. Maybe rebuild it as a shopping center or something.”
Shaggy digested her words as he entered the teen’s dormitory. The first floor was a large common room area. There wasn’t much in the way of entertainment or seating. But a few of the teens were lounging around, commiserating or telling stories about their patrols. Shaggy gave Ulf a wave as he walked toward the hallway. Mari was hot on his heels.
Her assessment of the neighborhood was about what he expected. Although he really wanted an estimate of how many people were still around. Those people could be the start of his plans if they were skilled enough. As for city hall and the government, they’d leave the area alone if it started making money. Right now it was just a few blocks of empty buildings wasting space. But if Shaggy could get a few businesses up and running, that would be a start. But it was going to take credits. Credits that other people had. They were going to have to pull jobs in the surrounding blocks. Luckily, the Bunch seemed ripe for the picking.
Shaggy walked down the hallway. Passed a few closed doors and realized he did not know where he was going. He turned back to Mari. The girl was still waiting for his explanation about their patrol. But he stayed mum as he asked.
“Where’s Stanley’s room?”
Mari pointed over her shoulder. Back the way they came. “He was the first door on the right. But why? What do you need him for?”
“He’s coming with us. We might need his strength, and I would like a trump card if we get into the shit.”
“Pfft. He’s not that strong. Cekrass tossed his scrawny ass around most of the day.”
Shaggy felt his eyebrow crawl up his forehead. “Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, sure, Stan’s got power now. But against a trained fighter? Cekrass took him apart.”
“He did fine against the Quinica.”
“Did you see him? He mostly threw haymakers and relied on his armor to save him. I mean, what kind of fighting style calls for you to take overwhelming damage in order for you to land one punch?”
“Yeah… that’s... ahem… That’s weird.” Shaggy swallowed his embarrassment and went back toward Stanley’s room.
Shaggy gave the door a knock and tested the handle. Locked. “Stanley! Get up! I need to ask you something.”
Shaggy’s shout drew a couple of eyes from the common room, but he ignored it. Beyond the door, he heard the sounds of shuffling and maybe some grumbling. With a quiet clack, the door creaked open and Stanley’s face peered around a crack in the door. Shaggy winced as he saw a large bruise forming under the kid’s eye.
“What happened with the armor?” Shaggy blurted.
Stanley rolled his eyes as he sighed. He widened the door as he responded. “Kev got annoyed at how Cekrass was taking us apart. So instead of helping, he turned off the armor.”
“I didn’t know he could do that.”
“Yeah. Me either.” Stanley winced as he shifted on his feet. His eyes went glassy before an annoyed look came to his face. “Maybe I would’ve hit him if you made me faster and not just tougher, you damn outer-space chewing gum.”
Shaggy snorted and almost wanted to watch Stanley argue with himself. But instead, he put a hand up to get the boy’s attention. As fun as it was to watch a character argue with himself. He needed to know if the kid could fight.
“I’m going out on an evening patrol. Was wondering if you wanted to come?”
Stanley’s eyes widened in surprise. “Uh sure. Is the…uhhh... entire pack going?”
“No, just you, me, and a couple of others. I want eyes on the neighborhood.”
Stanley nodded as his eyes shifted to Mari. “You going?”
“Yeah? Why? You got a problem?”
Stanley glared at her for a few seconds before turning back to Shaggy. “Let be grab a change of clothes.”
Mari huffed, but said nothing else as Stanley’s door shut. She and Shaggy went back to the common area. Dragan was explaining how he had single-handedly taken out a bear hybrid with one spray. Shaggy had to check his memory, but the kid wasn’t wrong. He had done well for himself. Shaggy’s entire crew had. It was a good first patrol.
Stanley joined them a short while later. He had thrown on a blue hoodie and a pair of slacks. Shaggy gave the slim boy a once over before he headed for the door. Mari fell into step with Stanley and muttered.
“I don’t need you to look after me, y’know.”
“You’re Louis’ family.” Stanley said simply. “If something happened to you, Louis would freak. I may be shit at fighting, but I can throw my armored ass in front of some bullets.”
Mari humphed but said nothing as she pointedly stared away from the tall boy. Shaggy kept an ear on the byplay, but said nothing as they left the building. Outside, Shaggy quickly found the rest of his evening team. They were arranged around Rita, who was doting on them and checking their weapons. Once the older woman gave the okay, she patted the kid on the shoulder and moved on to the next. As Shaggy watched, he realized, again, how hard up they were for armor. Sure, mutants and some aliens were tougher than normal, but still the added protection wouldn’t go amiss.
Rita picked up on his thoughts as he walked over. Because once she was finished with Yelena, she spun toward him and nodded.
“Yeah, I was thinking of finding someone good with armor and weapons. Seth is a fine start, but his knowledge is limited. We need an expert.”
Shaggy sighed. “Another thing for the list.”
“Like I said, I was going to head out and see what I can find.” Rita reiterated.
“Take someone with you. We are technically at war with two gangs. I don’t want you getting jumped.”
Rita snorted. “I can look after myself.”
“Good, then with one or two more people, you’ll be unstoppable. I’m serious, Rita. I’m not losing any of my pack.”
“Oh really? Do you know where Tom is?”
“Not what I meant, and you know it.”
A quick ping through the pack link made Shaggy realize that the lazy bastard was asleep in the Pack’s dorm. Shaggy rubbed a hand down his face as he shook his head.
“Take the sumbitch with you and one more. Either from the pack or not. Your choice.”
“Oh, I get a choice? How novel.” Rita quipped, but her grin took the sting out of it.
Shaggy rolled his eyes as he waved a hand at his patrol crew. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Make sure everyone is cared for here, will you? Mama Wolf?”
Shaggy heard Rita unsheathing her blade and sped-walked away. He was pretty sure the blade wouldn’t get too deep into his skin. But he was sure Rita was going to do her damnedest to draw blood. He cackled to himself as Mari and the other jogged along with him. Back out to the surface, back out onto the streets, back to more adventures.
