The Ghost and the Machine
This is a Mystery Inc fan-fiction around Ed Machine, CEO of Destroido Corp., when he gets a visitor after his cicada attack. Disclaimer – I do not own any of the characters of the Scooby-Doo series, either old or new.
Chapter 1
"Wake up, Mr. Machine," said a voice. "Do not try to get up just yet. You were attacked by cicadas and have been in a coma for several days."
Ed Machine tried anyway, and found he couldn't. Neither could he see because something was around his eyes.
"What is this? Who are you?" Ed asked.
"For now you may call me Mr. E," said the voice. "You have caused me some difficulties recently and we need to talk. I have taken the liberty of chaining you to your bed and blindfolding you."
"What! No! Help anybody, a crazy person's got me!"
"That will do no good. You aren't in the hospital any more where a friendly doctor or nurse might hear you," said Mr. E.
Ed thrashed, trying to get loose, until he heard a soft fluttering noise. "What was that?"
"I have a jar of cicadas with me. Co-operate or I will let them crawl and buzz all over you."
"No! Anything but that. I'll talk."
"You've been taking my name in vain recently, haven't you? Those notes hidden inside a sealed bag of Nature Slivers were supposedly from me, but they weren't."
"All right, I admit it. There was a monster interfering with Destroido employees. It had to be stopped, and I know the reputation of those kids. I couldn't just ask them – that would be too suspicious. But I knew they would investigate anything if they thought it was from you," said Ed.
"They solved it, by the way," said Mr. E.
"Too late for me. I didn't think they would dare attack me; I'm the CEO for crying out loud. Who did it?"
"Grandma Moonbeam," said Mr. E.
"What? That little old lady? How? How could she control swarms of cicadas?"
"She says she learned how to use sound to do it by watching a nature channel show on penguins. Not the whole story, I think. But let that go for now."
"Did she say why?" Ed asked.
"She said you were putting landfill in her Nature Slivers."
"That's a lie. She's crazy. She must be to go around attacking people with bugs. Besides, she's a hypocrite. 'All natural fish oil, flax, and wheat.' You can't eat flax fiber, either. It's just filler," said Ed.
"So you decided to use something cheaper and make more profit. I see," said Mr. E.
"We couldn't do it if we wanted to now, after all the publicity. So there's no proof. Just a crazy woman's word against ours."
"Why did you choose the bag of chips to send a message to Shaggy Rogers?"
"I know you like to use all sorts of sneaky ways to send messages and I can't duplicate your voice or your 'E' seal. So I did something a little tricky. I put the messages into an open bag of chips before it was sealed on the assembly line. Then I gave it to one of our vending machine men. When Shaggy came by at his usual time, he found the vending machine being filled. The employee apologized for making him wait and handed him a bag of Nature Slivers on the house," said Ed. "One for his dog, too."
"Foolish. That left an obvious trail back to the company for me to follow," said Mr. E.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time. And it did get the culprit caught."
"That wasn't the first time you sent messages in my name, is it?"
"What do you mean? It was," said Ed.
"You're lying. I want you to tell me about the magazine, and the girl," said Mr. E.
"The girl?" asked Ed.
"Stacy Gwen. Or, as you had her call herself, Alice May."
Ed shuddered as he realized how much Mr. E knew.
"Talk, or face the cicadas," said Mr. E.