Shaggy was still lying in the street when a body went sailing by. It nearly hit Ogre and Vlad as the vampire still drained the Super of his blood. The sound of metal crunching filled the air as the body hit something. Shaggy sat up to see that the body was another mentor from the hotel. The one with the glowing eyes. Ren rushed after the body as it crumpled against the side of a convoy truck. The big Rhino-Alien charged and smashed his horned nose into the Super's chest.

The Super screamed in fury and pain and his glowing eyes flared. Red beams of energy shot point-blank into Ren. But the Shaggy's friend had tough skin and the beams barely seemed to burn him. Ren ripped his horn sideways, leaving a large gash in the Super's chest. The two started punching each other as Shaggy tiredly got to his feet.

"You good, Ren?" Shaggy called.

"Fine! Help Dave!"

Shaggy blinked. That was confusing. Dave, silly as he was, was a competent fighter. What the hell were the other Supes made of if they were giving Dave a hard time? Shaggy spun around, ignoring the still-drinking Vlad. There were five rookies still standing. But Maya, Rita, and Cekrass were handling those. Which meant that Slink and Dave were on the human mentor in spandex. Shaggy had to rush up the street a bit, but when he got in front of the convoy, he found the problem.

The final HLO mentor was flying above Slink and Dave, dive-bombing the two of them. The slim humanoid would dash in, punch at Slink or Dave, then dash out. It wasn't a brilliant strategy, but it stymied Dave pretty well. The mutant was fully kitted out in his armor, but lacked any real ranged ability. Slink had a pistol, but the flying mentor was a too fast for Slink to hit.

Shaggy paused at the edge of the fight. Trying to think of the best way to help. He would be spotted soon, and then he'd probably be as helpless as Dave. So instead, Shaggy crouched low to the ground and circled the fight. Thankfully, the mentor didn't seem to do much damage. He tried to swoop down on Slink a few times, but Dave did a good job running defense. Dave's armor was sturdy enough to take the Super's blows and didn't seem that damaged yet.

Shaggy stepped off the road and into the dirt slightly as he circled. He was waiting for some kind of sign or moment. The Mentor was airborne, which made the timing important. But Shaggy trusted his inner wolf to know when to strike. The beast within told him to wait for the next dive. So he mentally held a finger to his Pounce ability again and waited. As he did, he searched for the other members of their little heist.

Levy was standing before the second convoy truck, her staff out and her head bowed. She was seeming muttering a spell as her staff glowed. Seth and the Bug Brothers were still unloading the first truck with the help of some of Ren's crew. They were carrying armfuls of books and boxes to one of the trucks they'd brought along. Seth was speeding along as a blur, but Rin and Vud were hauling stacks of boxes like they were nothing. Shaggy grinned at the newest members of his pack before his inner wolf pulled his attention.

The wolf had noticed a twitch in the flying Supe's chest muscle. He was about to dive again and he looked to be aiming for Dave. Shaggy readied his Pounce and waited. The Supe in the air pointed a fist down and dove as Slink fired on him. Activating his pounce, Shaggy aimed for where the Supe was supposedly intersect with Dave. His blue-armored friend was moving out of the way already as they Mentor dove. The world slowed to a crawl as Shaggy jumped through the air on a direct collision course. But then the hero pulled a fast one.

Instead of diving fully at Dave, the Supe pivoted in the air at the last moment. The mentor spun sideways and flew toward Slink. Dave had jumped away from the diving Super, placing him too far to help. Shaggy's pounce completed its journey and went on cooldown as Shaggy skidded to a halt, swearing loudly. The Supe was almost on Slink and if the boy went down, they'd lose their ranged attacks. Shaggy started running to help, but found that Dave was simply smiling as he watched.

"Block, spit, and kick, dude!" Dave called, his blue helmet modulating his voice.

Shaggy was even more confused now. Until he saw Slink step back and raise his arms. The diving Super punched out as he went by Slink, but merely hit the boy's forearms. Slink pivoted away from the blow and pulled his head back before shoving it forward again. As if to headbutt the flyer. But instead a jet of green liquid flew out of Slink's mouth, hitting the Mentor and stopping his flight cold. The humanoid mentor screamed and clawed at his face as green smoke rose into the air. But Slink wasn't done. Still rotating out of his pivot, the boy raised his left leg and smacked his shin against the Super's head, right at the temple. The screaming Super spun around completely, falling out of his flight and hitting the ground.

Shaggy took a moment to admire the maneuver before movement at his side startled him. Dave was rushing the downed Super, so Shaggy rushed to do the same. Between the two of them, they kicked and slashed at the downed hero until he stopped screaming. It wasn't a glorious battle, but it was quick. When they finished, Shaggy shifted his hands back to normal and looked up at Slink.

The pale teen was rubbing his forearms and wincing. But something was off about where he'd been hit. It took Shaggy a second to realize what it was, though. Slink's arms were slightly bulbous and wriggling. Which meant his snakes were in his forearms. Noting Shaggy's look, Slink shook his arms out and smiled.

"Larry and Curly. I can shift them to different parts of my body and they'll reinforce the punch or block."

"Yeah," Dave chuckled. "Little dude hits harder than he looks and those snake things can take a beating too."

"So long as they're inside me." Slink added.

Shaggy nodded before looking around again. There were two more trucks that needed unloading and a few fights still ongoing. But things were winding down. His pack was making quick work of the HLO rookies. Maya was helping as best she could, but Shaggy noted that she was only shooting intermittently now. Dave hopped around excitedly as Slink seemed to be assessing things like Shaggy. When the pale boy's eyes met Shaggy's, they nodded at each other.

"We'll go help Levy. You can talk to the other Player."

Shaggy nodded at the boy's words and jogged over to the gunslinger. Her twin six-shooters were out, but she wasn't firing at the moment. At Shaggy's approach, the woman spun around, gun up defensively. He snorted as he looked down at the smoking gun.

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"We both know that doesn't work."

"No shit. Do you know how many Evo Points I got just from that fucking 'fight' in the bar? What the hell have you been doing in-game?"

"Bargaining with Gods and killing Super-Villains." Shaggy said nonchalantly.

Maya smiled, clearly thinking he was bullshitting her. She shook her head at him before pointing at the ongoing fights. Rita, Stanley, and Cekrass were fighting the remaining two rookies. One was a wizard, who was clearly on his last legs, and the other had limbs made out of ice or something. Whenever Cekrass or Stanley got too close, the Supe with ice limbs would punch them. Her fists caused a mild, freezing effect that slowed both of Shaggy's heavy hitters. Meanwhile, Rita was harrying the wizard, stopping him from helping his friend. The older man was doing surprisingly well in close-quarters combat.

"I think your people need help."

"Pfft! If I got involved, that would only piss them off. They don't like me being a helicopter-werewolf."

Maya raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else. She holstered her pistols and looked around. Thankfully, the bodies of her former Player friends were gone now. But the rest of the NPCs were still strewn across the road. They both caught sight of Vlad finishing his meal and dropping the dead Ogre to the road. Shaggy caught Maya wincing out of the corner of his eye and turned toward her.

"Everything alright?"

"Huh? Yeah! Yeah. It's just a rough way to go, isn't it?"

"Not necessarily. Vlad's bite injects a bit of venom with it. Kind of equal parts paralytic and soporific. He says it's euphoric for the victim."

"Your vampire's name is Vlad? Really?"

"Yes! Really!" Vlad said, racing over in a blur and giving the woman the stink-eye. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Other than it being completely trite, no. There's no problem."

"It is not trite! It's an homage! To honor the first vampire ever created."

"No. That would be Lilith."

"Lilith?! Please, she was a demon. Not really a vampire, per se," Vlad argued.

Maya put her hands on her hips and scowled. "Okay, then what about Ambrogio?"

"Bah! A thrice-cursed mortal who the God Artemis took pity on. Not a true Vampire."

"Carmilla." Maya said, arching an eyebrow.

Vlad went silent, his face turning into a massive scowl as he apparently had no retort. He sputtered for a few seconds before throwing up his hands and replying.

"First MALE vampire! There! Are you happy?"

"A little bit, yes."

"If you two are done? We have three trucks to unload." Shaggy said.

Vlad scanned the surroundings, while a frown still marred his face. "We don't have the car space for all of it. Not if that first truck is anything to go by."

Shaggy turned to see Seth and the others still unloading things. Levy had moved on to the third truck while Dave and Slink worked on the second. A cry of pain came from the fight and Shaggy turned to see the wizard going down in a shower of blood. Rita's sword was sticking out through the old man's chest. His cry distracted his compatriot, leading to her own downfall at the heads of Stanley and Cekrass. The three werewolves finished their prey and howled in triumph as Shaggy felt his chest swell with pride.

"Damn mutts…" Vlad grumbled.

Shaggy spun on the vampire angrily, only to see the man grinning. He was clearly happy with the outcome, too. Just good-naturedly ribbing them. Shaggy put his wolf back in its cage and blew out a breath. He was still highly protective of his pups. They were good people. Vlad sighed and waved a hand at the third truck.

"Why don't we just take the trucks?"

"Trackers." Maya said. "Both magical and electronic."

"Levy might get a few, but probably not all. Especially with the magic she is using to remove the truck's protections." Shaggy added.

"Then we're leaving shit behind." Vlad shrugged. "But overall, I'd say this is a successful heist."

"Not till we get home."

"And you're not going home until you help me investigate that town." Maya said sternly.

But Shaggy saw a hint of pleading in the gunslinger's eyes. Shaggy gave the woman a nod. He had given his word, and he wasn't in the habit of going back on it. Vlad glanced between the two of them for a bit before nodding to himself.

"Then I'll come along as well."

"Vlad, we can't move as a group after this. We'll have to split up and make our way back to Austin."

"Yes, but the four of us won't be that large of a group, right?"

"Four? It was going to be me, Levy, and the pack. The pups would ride along, though. No sense taking all of them."

"Eight people?!" Vlad said in mock outrage. "Shaggy, that is far too large a group. Isn't it?"

"Fine, Vlad! We'll work it out later. Right now, we need to offload as many books as possible while looting the bodies."

"Don't touch the HLO communicators!" Maya warned. "They'll explode if you try to remove them."

"Yeah, Slink found that one out the hard way." Shaggy nodded.

Vlad and Shaggy looked over at the slim boy, who was helping Dave unload the second truck. Sharing a grin, the two of them hurried over to help. Maya stayed in the street for a few seconds before rushing to help as well. Behind them, Shaggy pack were hurriedly stripping the heroes of any credits or gadgets they had. The fighting had come to a close. Now it was time to loot and leave. As fast as possible.

Their people went to work on the trucks and started loading as much as they could into the cars. They picked up speed as they worked. Which was a good thing because soon enough, Shaggy started hearing buzzing on the wind. Vlad and the other werewolves picked up too, and soon everyone had stopped working. Shaggy grit his teeth and tried to find the source. He found just to the north of them. A fleet of drones was buzzing their way, fast.

"Okay people! That's it. Grab what you can and spread out to the south. We'll meet back up in Austin. Don't get caught!" Ren shouted as he lumbered over to his car.

The rhino-alien threw his armful of books into the front seat as he got behind the wheel. He was joined by several others of his crew before he took off. Slink and Dave did the same, followed by most of Shaggy's pack. Rita gave Shaggy a stern look before hopping into a car with Seth, Tom, and the others and driving away. Maya spun on the spot, looking for a free car. Only to find there weren't any.

"Um… they took all the cars."

"Yep!" Vlad said happily, shooting Shaggy and a fang-filled smile.

The vampire had moved slowly for once. Hoping to be left behind with the wolves. Shaggy rolled his eyes before nodding at Stanley and Cekrass. The two had been volun-told by Rita that they were staying with Shaggy to 'look after him.' Both werewolves grinned before their bodies became to shift and contort. Shaggy joined in and soon all three were in their large wolf forms. His dark fur contrasted sharply with Cekrass' green and Stanley's silver.

Levy rubbed Shaggy's side before hopping up and sitting on his back.

"I'd hurry and pick a wolf. Those drones are getting closer."

Vlad flashed up to Stanley's back and grinned evilly at Maya. "You can take the thorny-looking one, newbie."

Maya smirked as Cekrass laid down and let her get on. She was careful to move around Cekrass' spiky fur. But once she was seated, she looked at Vlad.

"Good luck finding anything to hang on to."

Vlad balked as he glanced down at Stanley's smooth, silvery shape. His pale fingers rubbed at the armor plating before Shaggy gave a howl and rushed off. Cekrass and Stanley close behind.

"Try not to knock the vampire off, Stanley." Shaggy sent over the link

"I'll do my best, boss. But if he stabs me with those nails of his, I'm leaving him in the dirt."

"Fair." Shaggy said as they tore off into the desert.

Maya's village was just to the east of Abilene. Which meant they could circle around the highway and hit it from the side. They'd have to stop and eventually steal another car. But for now, it was faster to move as wolves. Levy was humming happily from Shaggy's back. Secure in a job well done. Shaggy only hoped that their next stop would go as smoothly. It was just an abandoned village that had been raided by something the military had to handle. How bad could it be?

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