Chapter 1

Archie Andrews was sitting in a cubicle-like table in Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe with his friends. Archie was a hormone-filled teen with red hair and freckles and was really into strange occurances. Opposite him was one of the girls that he liked, Betty Cooper. Betty was pretty much the most handy in his group of friends. She knew how to fix cars and was a great cook. She had blonde hair, which almost always was tied up in a ponytail. Next to her was Archie's best friend, and food-lover, Jughead Jones. Jughead was a skinny man, who never packed on any weight yet he ate like an elephant. He had short black hair, which was slicked out to the front and wore a grey crown-like hat. Jughead was chomping down into one of his four burgers that he'd ordered. Archie was holding open the Riverdale newspaper, searching for something he could write about for his Weird Mysteries column in the school newspaper.

"There's nothing in here that could be classified as a weird mystery! I can't believe it!" Archie exclaimed.

"What about those black men?" Betty queried.

"Chuck Clayton isn't a weird mystery, Betty" Jughead said, in between mouthfuls of his burger.

"Not to you, he isn't" Reggie Mantle said as he approached the table.

Reggie was the jock of the school and the mean one in Archie's group of friends. He had slicked-back black hair.

"Nothing in the paper, Carrot Top? Why don't you write about Chuck?" Reggie asked Archie, with a smug grin.

"I'm not writing about a good friend of mine, Reggie" Archie stated.

"I was talking about the men in black that have been recently seen walking around Riverdale" Betty extrapolated her point.

"There's nothing about them in here" Archie stated, scanning the newspaper.

"That's because it's only been on the news on the radio. Dad's been hearing about lots of sightings about these people whenever he listens to the news. No-one knows why they're here, or even how they got here," Betty explained, "That's pretty strange"

"They're probably here to investigate why a redhead gets dates. Or they're here for Hunger Boy over here" Reggie joked, pointing at Jughead.

"If all you can do is make jokes, Reggie, we don't need you here!" Archie scolded him.

"Fine! Sorry for being fun once in awhile. Better hope I don't get caught by those 'black dudes'" Reggie said, laughing hysterically as he left the Chocklit Shoppe.

"So, I've got my Weird Mystery," Archie said, closing the newspaper, "Where do we start?"

"Dad said he saw one outside our neighbor's house two days ago but he hasn't seen them since" Betty stated.

"I saw a woman dressed in black outside of the mansion. I told Smithers to keep a lookout for her" Veronica Lodge stated as she handed Archie a shake.

Veronica Lodge was the daughter of Riverdale's high-end businessman, Hiram Lodge. She had long black hair that swayed whenever she moved her head. Every boy in Riverdale wanted to date her.

Betty noticed her best friend didn't sit down.

"You're not staying, Ronnie?" Betty asked her.

"No, Betty, dear, I can't. Daddy wants me home before I get tempted to max out his credit card again. I swear, that man can't trust me with a Premium Gold Credit Card. What kind of a father is he?" Veronica said as she walked out of the shop.

Outside, on the streets of Riverdale, Conan Edogawa was walking along with Rachel Moore, her father, Richard and her mother, Ava Kaiden.

"It's such a nice quiet little town" Rachel stated.

"Exactly the reason why I wanted to bring you here, dear" Ava said to her daughter.

Conan noticed Richard was sulking as he was walking. He wondered why. Then he remembered how this whole trip to Riverdale started. He thought back to that day when Richard was having a quiet day. He was sitting on the couch, where Rachel was in the kitchen and Richard as always, was at his desk, waiting for a call. Then there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was a case, Richard had run to open it to find his ex-wife staring back at him.

"What are you doing here?" Richard had yelled.

"It's nice to see you, too" Ava had said coldly.

Rachel had heard her mother's voice and came running out of the kitchen, she ran up to Ava and gave her a hug.

"Mum!" she said, letting go of the hug, "What are you doing here?"

"I took leave from my work for a bit and with the money I've saved up, I have enough for a nice quiet vacation for the two of us," Ava noticed the look on Rachel's face, "You can bring Conan along, of course"

Ava had looked to Richard.

"I suppose Richard can come, too" she stated, coldly.

Richard blew steam at this.

"What? You expect me to shut down my agency while I take a vacation with my daughter, my ex-wife and some little brat! What kind of woman are you? What kind of man do you think I am?" Richard had started yelling at Ava.

"Dad! Dad! Stop! Mum said quiet, think of it as a nice relaxing family vacation, okay? This could be what all of us need. Especially you, Dad, with all the cases you've had recently. Please?" Rachel begged her father.

As always, Rachel had convinced her father and they'd found themselves walking down a street in Riverdale.

Rachel was right; this town was quiet and it was fairly small. Conan heard his stomach rumble.

"I'm a bit hungry" He said, rubbing his stomach.

"Yeah, me, too. I'm famished!" Richard said, breaking his silence.

"I think I see a shop up ahead!" Rachel exclaimed, pointing to a tiny building not far from them.

Each of them paced their footsteps faster. This was usually the time when Richard ran but Conan figured since he was in the presence of his ex-wife in another country, he wanted to show some maturity. They arrived outside the shop.

"'Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe'" Richard read the sign.

"Can we get something to eat here?" Conan asked.

"Only one way to find out" Rachel said, smiling at Conan as they walked in.

The shop was small but fairly open-spaced. They had tables inside little cubicle-like couches. They walked up to the counter, where there were stools, Richard and Conan took a seat. A fat man wearing an apron walked up to them. He had a half-bald head and a moustache.

"Welcome to Pop Tate's, I'm Pop, what can I get you?" Pop asked Richard.

"I'll take a burger and fries and..." Richard started, noticing Conan wasn't paying attention, he was focusing on a redhead, a blonde and a guy with a crown at the cubicle-table opposite them. They were engrossed in conversation. Conan felt Richard's fist hit his head.

"Oww!" Conan said, turning around.

"What do you want, you little brat?" Richard asked him.

"I'll just have some fries, please, Mister!" Conan said, looking up at Pop, then out of the corner of his eye, watching those kids at that table.

A little kid with slicked-back black hair came running in and ran up to the table he was watching.

"Arch, it's some kid playing a trick" Conan overheard the skinny one with the crown say.

"No, Jug, no-one can look as much like Reggie as this kid does" the blonde girl was saying.

"Okay, kid, so say you are Reggie Mantle, what happened?" the redhead questioned the little boy.

"Well, well, well," the kid stuttered, Conan eyed him, "I left here and as I was walking to meet up with Moose, I saw one of those men in black, I cracked a few jokes about him but he was just silent. Then he stuck his fist in my mouth and fed me something. Next thing I knew, I was a little kid"

Conan's eyes widened at hearing this. Could Gin and Vodka be in America? At such a quiet town like this? Maybe it was some other men in black. But only Gin and Vodka knew about the Apotoxin drug. He wanted to contact Vy, but being in another country, the Detective League badge wouldn't work. Even if it did, Amy, George and Mitch would hear aswell. He had to do the only thing he could and find out if that little boy was telling the truth. He heard plates being set down and noticed Pop placing their drinks down.

"Excuse me," Conan said to Pop, "Isn't that boy famous?"

He pointed to the redhead at the table.

"Oh? Archie?" Pop asked, "To people who read his column, he is. Which isn't very many"

"Column?" Rachel asked.

Conan noticed she and her mother had decided to sit down.

"Yes, Archie writes columns on weird mysteries for his school newspaper" Pop explained.

"I want his autograph!" Conan said, jumping off the stool and running to the table.

"Conan!" Rachel said, getting off her chair and running in that direction.

Conan jumped onto the empty seat next to Archie.

"I'm a big fan of yours, Archie," he said, "Can I have your autograph?"

"Looks like Archie has a little admirer" Betty giggled.

"I'm so sorry" Rachel apologised as she walked up to the table.

"Nah, it's okay," Archie said, signing a napkin and then handing it to Conan, "Just a fan of my columns. Glad to see I have some little ones"

Archie smiled at Rachel.

"I love all your mysteries! What mystery are you writing about next?" Conan asked Archie.

"As a matter of fact, I'm just starting to research one" Archie beamed, excited to at least have one fan.

"Really? What on?" Conan asked.

"The mysterious men in black that have been seen wandering around Riverdale" Archie stated.

Rachel was about to ask Conan how he knew about Archie's column when Richard and Ava walked up to the table.

"I'm sorry, is Conan annoying you?" Ava asked Archie.

"Not at all, ma'am," Archie said, "He was just interested in what my next mystery was"

"Mystery, eh?" Richard asked, "I'm pretty good at solving mysteries myself. I am a Detective, after all"

"Dad!" Rachel scolded her father, reminding him that this was supposed to be a relaxing family vacation.

"A Detective? Wow!" Archie exclaimed.

"Mr. Detective, wold you mind solving the mystery of where my last hamburger went?" Jughead asked Richard.

"Ahehe...I...I don't do food mysteries" Richard said, with his hand firmly in his pocket.

"Would you mind working with me on this mystery, sir?" Archie asked Richard.

"Richard Moore, at your service" Richard stated, bowing.

"Dad!" Rachel scolded him again.

"It's alright, honey, let him," Ava told Rachel, then turning to Richard, said, "Conan seems to be a big fan, take him with you. Rachel and I will do a little girl shopping"

"I have a friend who knows the best shopping places in Riverdale," Betty told Ava as she, Archie and Jughead got up, "We're going to her place in a little while, I'll call you when we get there so you can talk to her"

Betty handed Ava her phone number.

"Thank you, you're very kind" Ava replied, walking out the door with Rachel.

"Be good, Conan!" Rachel called out as the door closed.

"Did you hear her? Be good." Richard told Conan, turning to Archie, "So, where are we off to?"

"Betty's dad was the first one in our group to see one of the men in black, so we'll talk to him then we'll go to Ronnie's" Archie stated.

"Archie, what about Reggie?" Betty asked, pointing to the little boy who looked exactly like Reggie.

"Bring him with us, we'll deal with him later" Archie said as the six of them walked out of the shop, Betty holding Little Reggie's hand.

Veronica Lodge arrived inside the Lodge mansion. Her father was sitting on his usual chair, reading the paper in front of the fireplace.

"Is that you, Veronica? My card better be alright" Mr. Lodge said from his chair.

"Don't worry, Daddy, it's all in one piece" Veronica said, throwing the credit card down onto the hallway table.

She started walking upstairs when she saw Smithers.

"Ms. Lodge" Smithers stopped her, out of range of her father's hearing.

"What is it, Smithers?" Veronica asked.

"I saw that woman again while you were out" Smithers stated.

"The one in black? What does she want? I bet she's after Daddy's money. Thank you for alerting me, Smithers" Veronica said as she coontinued upstairs.

She entered her room and looked into the mirror, she wondered what this mysterious woman in black wanted. Could she be after her father's billions? Could she be some secret admirer her father hadn't told her about. This was the fifth time today that someone had seen her lurking about outside the mansion. She figured it was to do with her father, so it was none of her business anyway. She heard the doorbell ring and heard Smithers call her name. It was probably Archie, to query about this strange looking lady for his stupid column. She walked downstairs and headed for the door.

It wasn't Archie. It was a woman with long light-blonde hair. She wore a black dress, similar to that of what the strange lady with the hat was wearing. But Veronica didn't notice that. She noticed the lady's face.

"Are you Veronica Lodge?" the lady asked her.

"Yes, that's me. And you're...You're the famous actress, Chris Vineyard!" Veronica exclaimed.

"Indeed I am" Chris stated, nodding.

"What do you want with me?" Veronica asked, in shock.

"I've seen a few of your modelling works, I was hoping I could cast you in a part of a model for my new film" Chris stated.

"Yes, of course!" Veronica said with excitement, "Let me just ring Arch-"

"No time, my dear, it's a very quick casting!" Chris said, pulling Veronica out of the house and leading her into her car.

"So I'm really going to star in a movie?" Veronica asked as she closed the car door.

"Yes, you are" Chris said with a sneer, pressing a button on the car dashboard and driving out of the mansion.