Shaggy and Vlad were apparently here, trying to get a vial analyzed. After some back and forth between the two sides, Kaleb was able to take the solution back to his workshop to look over. Unfortunately, they still lacked the equipment to break down the contents of the vial. But Daivor could at least get a vague sense of what the potion did. The Super Serum was eerily similar to the TekNik stuff they had discovered in their territory. Except this version seemed way more refined, according to Daivor.

  “Are you really going to give this stuff to a pair of Villains?” Marie asked as all of Kaleb’s workshop hovered around his bench.

  “Yeah, they seem like alright people. But they are still Villains.” Terrance agreed.

  Kaleb shrugged as he twisted the vial of serum in his fingers carefully. “I doubt they have the capabilities to produce it themselves. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here. Really, all we have to do is get them the formula and leave the rest to them.”

  “All for what, though?”

  “A chance to take down Cog.” Kaleb explained to his three NPC helpers. “The villains are planning a raid against the mad machinist soon. Vlad and Shaggy just invited us to the party.”

  “Uhhh, Doc? You realize that counts against the ‘other planes of existence’ part of our punishment, right?” said Roy.

  Kaleb waved away the concern. “By the time the raid is ready to go down, all that shit will be over.”

  “So you’re going to trade a super serum to a pair of Villains for the opportunity to take down one of Austin’s premier Supers?”

  Kaleb glanced up at Marie’s skeptical tone. She didn’t look angry or disgusted, merely curious. Again, Kaleb shrugged his shoulders. “And we get to keep the formula for ourselves.”

  “That’s great… if it does what they say, it does.”

  “It does.” Daivor rumbled from his place on the workbench. “I can’t break down the serum with my magic. But I can get a sense of its application. This stuff enhances Mundane or Low-Tiered individuals.”

  “What’s considered Low-Tiered?”

  “Anyone within the Enhanced bracket of the government’s Standard Super Outline.”

  Kaleb nodded as his brain supplied the chart the government used to standardize Super Powers. Enhanced sat between Mundane and Super Tier E. They were moderately stronger, faster, or smarter than normal Mundane, but had no powers per se. Tier E’s at least had some form of power taking them into the realm of Super. The example given was that an Enhanced could rip a parking meter out of the ground, but a Super could do the same to a lamppost.

  “So this turns Enhanced people into Supers?”

  “Or Mundanes into Enhanced. It might even take E and D Tier powers up a step. But that would depend on the potency and anyone higher isn’t going to get squat.”

  “So, how are you going to get the formula? Your scanner is still under construction and I don’t think these guys are going to wait.” Roy asked.

  “I’ll have to find another lab. Could you ask Farrah to find other schools or colleges around here?”

  “Doc. We are already being punished by the HLO. We really can’t have you busting into a school and using their equipment. Why not just use your own classroom?”

  Kaleb chewed on his lip for a few seconds before answering. “Because I don’t trust the HLO to not follow or track me. Forget about the schools around here. Ask Farrah to find the biggest school she can find that’s the furthest away. If we are lucky, the HLO will think the SG is shipping me off so that I stay out of trouble.”

  Daivor and Roy shared a look before his young Sidekick hurried away to carry out his instructions. The tiny gnome standing on the table looked up at Kaleb, smoke billowing from his pipe again.

  “You know, that might not be a bad idea.”

  “Bah! You people would be bored without me.” Kaleb grumped.

  “I bet the Hunters and Clan would be interested in getting their hands on such a formula.” Terrance stated, Marie nodding along.

  Kaleb spun the vial in his fingers as he nodded. “That makes sense. After we get the formula, we’ll have to talk to Inora and…”

  “Yo! Prof! Anything to report, or do we have to look elsewhere?”

  Kaleb blinked as Shaggy’s voice interrupted their conversation. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw both players still waiting in his shop by the door. Vlad looked pissed, but Shaggy had the same half-smile he always had on his face. The smile that made you think he was constantly up to something. For some reason, Kaleb had assumed they had left.

  “Oh... You’re both still here. I didn’t realize. How long have you been standing there?”

  Vlad’s angry look deepened as Shaggy’s smile grew. “Since you took the damn vial, Prof. What the hell? Of course, we are still here. We need to take the vial back with us.”

  Kaleb, his two apprentices, and even Daivor, took a step closer to the vial Kaleb had set on the table. It wasn’t that they weren’t done examining the thing. But so much more could be gleaned from the solution in the vial if they held onto it. Vlad looked ready to explode as Shaggy sighed audibly. Kaleb tried to find a reason to keep the vial in the hangar and came up with what he thought was a convincing lie.

  “Well…” He started. “Uhhh. Would it be possible to leave the vial with me? I mean, I’ve had it for only a few minutes and my chemistry skill has jumped up like crazy.”

  Vlad’s pale skin grew red as he shouted angrily. “It’s been an hour!”

  Kaleb felt himself wince as he checked the game’s internal clock. Once again, he got lost in his work. Granted, he and the kids weren’t doing much. But watching the master gnome work his magic had been fascinating in its own right. Kaleb slipped out of his menus and gave Shaggy and Vlad and chagrined smiled. For some reason, Shaggy winced as Vlad practically bared his fangs. A familiar craving gave Kaleb an idea, and he waved both of them to the door.

  “Wow! Would you look at that? Umm, let’s go get some coffee and I’ll explain what I’ve found so far. Sound good?”

  Vlad deflated as he gave Shaggy a weary look. The two of them shared a nod, but then Shaggy pointed to the vial on the workbench.

  “Let’s bring the vial with us. No offense, Prof. But I don’t trust your kids to not hide while we are outside the room.”

  Kaleb wobbled his head in understanding as he heard Marie tsk in annoyance. No doubt the young woman was thinking about doing just that. The sound of Daivor swinging up to Kaleb’s shoulder echoed in the workshop and a solid weight hit his shoulder. Kaleb turned to see Daivor holding up the vial. He thanked the gnome and took it before passing it off to Shaggy. The Werewolf player placed the vial back in the box it came in and then looked around the workshop. Kaleb was sure the wolf was getting some nasty looks, but he ignored all that as he left the shop and hurried toward the office. Shaggy and Vlad right on his heels.

  D34d-I was working away on a stack of papers as they entered the office. Kaleb immediately went for the coffee machine on the right side wall as Vlad shut the door behind them. D34d-I barely spared them a glance before going back to work. But he did share a bit of information.

  *Quack*

  “I see you’ve finally poked your head up. We’ve got reports of gang activity out near Hornsby. Abby and Jar are out investigating. Shouldn’t be anything big, but I thought you should know.”

  Kaleb nodded at the words as he got himself a mug of coffee. He turned around in time to see D34d-I’s upper right hand pointing a pistol at Vlad. It was one of the newer variants with that Kaleb had just created too. Kaleb sipped his coffee as he watched the duck address the two villain players in the room.

  *Quack*

  “I’ll thank you to keep your smart-ass opinions to yourself.”

  Kaleb raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what had gone down behind his back. But before he could ask, Shaggy moved to restrain his friend before he did something stupid. Clearly, the werewolf had identified the pistol from his own brief interaction with Two Gun’s own super-charged weapons. Kaleb thought back to their little ‘test fire’ of Two Gun’s weapons. Shaggy regeneration ability was astounding, but so was what Kaleb and the others had observed. Apparently, the new Kersait Battery attacked the very veins and blood vessels of the target. The dermal layer of Shaggy’s body glowed an unearthly blue as Two Gun’s weapons blasted into him. Likely stopped by the dermal plating the werewolf mutant bragged about. Now normally Kaleb’s weapons would’ve burned through that layer of armor and penetrated the skin beneath. But instead Shaggy regrew the damage as it was happening. It was all very fascinating.

  Kaleb snapped out of his pondering when it looked like Vlad might actually try something. Trying to be tactful, Kaleb addressed D34d-I.

  “Calm down, D34d-I. They ain’t here to cause trouble.”

  “We shouldn’t be here at all. We should’ve left when you said you couldn’t help us.” Vlad huffed.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Not what I said. I said, my chemistry skill sucked, and it does. Even now, I can’t identify most of what is in that vial.”

  “Then why are we still here?!” Vlad barked.

  Shaggy waved his friend down, but nodded. “Calm down, Vlad. Your undead heart can only take so much. Although I agree, Prof. What have you been doing for an entire hour if you can’t even work with the stuff?”

  Kaleb grinned before taking a sip of his coffee. “I never said I couldn’t work with it. I said I can’t identify what is in the mixture. However, thanks to Daivor, we know exactly what the stuff does.”

  “Hoo-fucking-ray. We know what it does. It makes people stronger, right? That’s what a Super Serum is. What we need from you is more.”

  “See, that’s an oversimplification. It doesn’t just make people stronger. It enhances all of their abilities. But only to a certain point. If you are stronger than what the serum does, then it’s useless. Great for non-powered or the less enhanced individuals, but Supers will not get much from it.”

  Shaggy tapped his chin. “That probably explains why it was where it was. It was probably there to strengthen the lowest-rung guys. Under-Town is a rough place and we could all use a leg up.”

  “How powerful does it make somebody?” Vlad asked.

  Kaleb took another sip of his coffee while he thought about his response. He wanted to be as vague as possible. Yes, Shaggy was kind of a friend, but he was also literally playing for the other team. If they thought the serum was Uber powerful, they might want to try to keep it for themselves. Kaleb didn’t think they’d get very far. But the duo could do some damage if they were properly motivated. So instead, Kaleb just went with.

  “I don’t know. I’d have to see whoever took it and probably get a sample of their blood. Trouble is, I need better equipment if I want to examine the chemical makeup of something.”

  *Quack*

  “Put in a request form and wait. You know the drill by now.” D34d-I added.

  Kaleb felt annoyed as the duck was prolonging this part of the conversation. But he rolled with it. Shaggy seemed to catch the look on his face, and the werewolf began rubbing his hands together.

  “Why don’t we... retrieve any equipment you might need? We can probably get it faster and cheaper than you would.”

  Kaleb stopped a shocked expression from appearing on his face. He hadn’t expected Shaggy to offer to help. That would make his plans for the night that much better. Kaleb would still have to go to work the equipment, but with Shaggy along, it would most likely look like a standard B&E.

  *Quack*

  “Please refrain from having any stolen equipment in your workshop. You know we have that investigator coming. They are supposed to come at the end of the month. But for all we know, they could pop in at any moment. The last thing we need is stolen shit.”

  Kaleb finished his coffee and blew out a breath. While D34d-I was right, that didn’t mean they couldn’t use the equipment and then run. But he needed Shaggy to go along with things. Meeting eyes with the werewolf, Kaleb offered up an alternative he knew would be turned down.

  “If you could leave that vial here. My people and I can work on it in our off hours. We think we have a suitable workaround for some chemicals. But we need to see how everything comes together.”

  Vlad snorted. “No! Nope. Not happening. We can’t trust you lot. Don’t get me wrong. You seem like nice people. But I don’t think I’m leaving our Legion’s trump card with you.”

  “It’s hardly a trump card. If anything, it’ll maybe boost one or two of you guys. But for people like Shaggy? It’s useless. We need a stronger variant. One I bet we can make, but it’ll take study.”

  “And time.” Shaggy added. “Time that I doubt you have. Unless you are less busy than we are in Under-Town. Shit, the whole reason Vlad is all pissy is cause his worried about our crew getting attacked at any moment.”

  “I’m not pissy.”

  Kaleb wanted to snort at that, but instead, he got more coffee. When he turned around, he locked eyes with Shaggy again and tried to mentally send the other player a message. He even cut his eyes to the door a few times. But Shaggy seemed wrapped up in his own thoughts. Kaleb wanted them all to leave so they could discuss things without D34d-I around. But he needed Shaggy to be the one who prompted the exit. But the damn werewolf stayed oblivious and eventually Kaleb had to bite the bullet. He pretended to get an idea and set his coffee down.

  “I think we should have this conversation back in the workshop. I might have a workaround for us.”

  Shaggy nodded, but Vlad huffed again. Kaleb hoped he had successfully avoided a sticky conversation with D34d-I, but…

  *Quack*

  “Whatever you’re planning, Professor. Don’t get caught. The ant and demon incident have afforded us some leeway, but not enough.”

  Kaleb hid a wince as he turned to the door and opened it. “No idea what you mean.”

  He quickly lead the two Villains to the hangar’s side door and out into the sun. Evening in Texas was still warm and Kaleb hummed as his scales reflected the light slightly. Once all three of them were outside, Kaleb turned to Shaggy and Vlad and stated his plan plainly.

  “What if, instead of stealing the equipment we need, we break in and use it? That way, we all get the formula.”

  “What the hell does that do for us?” Vlad asked, sounding surprised.

  “It means we can probably make our own if we find a chemist and the ingredients. Meanwhile, the Professor and his group get to keep their own copy of the formula and probably improve on it.” Shaggy said, seemingly studying Kaleb’s face for something.

  Kaleb stayed still as he let Shaggy work through whatever was going on in his head. He still planned to go through with things if Shaggy and Vlad bowed out. But having the werewolf with him would allow Kaleb to hide in the Villain’s infamy if shit went sideways. At least, Kaleb hoped. He momentarily thought about the various crimes he had committed since going freelance. But Kaleb quickly justified those in his mind. He was still doing overall good for the neighborhood and he wasn’t fucking experimenting on some aliens like fucking TekNik.

  “What if you create a better Super Serum? You gonna share?” Shaggy asked, snapping Kaleb out of his thoughts.

  He rubbed his chin as he tried to hedge his bets a little. “I don’t know. We are on opposite sides in this game.”

  “Says the great big lizard, wanting to break into a place.” Shaggy muttered.

  Kaleb snorted as he waved everything off as a joke. “I’m only kidding. Sure, if we find out a better way to make the serum, we’ll hand over the new formula. But you lot have to call us in for the Cog Raid. All signs point to that being huge. We want to be a part of it. It’d be great for our Super-Group.”

  Shaggy nodded, and Vlad shrugged indifferently. “If you can get us a better Serum, how are we supposed to make it? None of us have any crafting skills or know any crafters.”

  “Ease up, Vlad. I’m sure we can find someone down in Under-Town. In fact, why don’t you head back down and look into that? I know you’re itching to get back. The Professor and I can handle some B and E.”

  “Shags. You’re great, but stealth is not your thing.”

  “Why do people keep saying that? It’s not my fault things go to hell and then we have to run. We can handle it, Vlad. Besides, we both know you want to go check on the Den.”

  Vlad sighed loudly before nodding. “Fine. You’re right. I don’t like leaving Slink alone with just the Lackeys. We need to increase our fighting strength and quickly.”

  Shaggy headed back to the hangar with Kaleb, but he was suddenly grabbed by Vlad. The pale vampire tried to whisper in Shaggy ear. But Kaleb was still close enough to hear.

  “Keep an eye on that vial. We don’t want these goody-two-shoes to end up with it.”

  “Oh, calm down. I’ve got it and soon we’ll have a way to create more. YOU just need to find us a chemist… or a mad scientist or something.”

  “Y’all don’t whisper well. Did you know that? I mean, I can hear everything you’re saying.” Kaleb said, sighing to himself.

  “Fine! I don’t trust you or your Super-Friends. Don’t fuck us or we’ll come for you, got it!?” Vlad said, giving up on all pretense.

  Kaleb saw Shaggy shake his head as he smiled down at Vlad. “Relax, dude. We’re the good guys, remember? It’s Shaggy I need to watch out for. He’s the evil half-formed mugger of innocent purses.”

  Shaggy rolled his eyes. “Oh, let that go, asshole. You got lucky.”

  “Sure, sure. Whenever you two are done saying goodbye. You can come in and wait, Shaggy. We probably want to wait until tonight before we do anything nefarious. So you can see how the other half lives.” Kaleb said, heading back into the hangar grinning to himself.

  “Yeah. I already know all I want. Multi-colored spandex and an extra helping of moral indignation are a hell of a way to live,” Shaggy muttered.

  Vlad covered a snort badly and then turned away. Looking into the sun, the vampire quickly dispersed in a cloud of mist and rushed away. Kaleb winced as the villain got near the shield protecting the hangar. But the damn player just passed on through. Kaleb wanted to scream as an obvious flaw in their protection was so grievously pointed out. He would have to fix that later. Maybe it had something to do with Vlad being in mist form?

  Shaggy had obviously been expecting something too as he relaxed his shoulders before coming back into the hangar. Kaleb’s mind whirled with thoughts as he wrapped a metal arm around Shaggy’s shoulders. They had a few hours until nightfall and Shaggy biology made him a prime candidate for some testing. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to test first, but they had a few options.

  “Great. Glad to have you on board, Shaggy. So I was wondering, while we wait. Could you perhaps help me with a few experiments? I have a few things I want to test, and I think your healing would be a tremendous benefit.” Kaleb grinned, trying his best to be friendly.

  “Professor, you know that sounds like you want to use me as a testing dummy.” Responded Shaggy, oddly worried for some reason.

  “Well… yeah. But it’s all for the betterment of in-game science! I mean, come on, you survived Two Gun’s new pistols. So your healing has to be through the roof. Why not use it to advance the sciences?”

  Shaggy groaned as Kaleb led him around toward the workshop. “And what do I get for putting my body through such punishment?”

  “Please. It’s not like it’ll hurt… that much.” Kaleb grinned before throwing his workshop door open wide.