Is was a lazy afternoon, in the Mystery Inc. household. Boring, dull and nothing of interest. Just a simple day, with nothing out of the ordinary going on. Daphne, as usual, was out shopping. She had left early, to beat the morning rush and fight for the right sales. Sure, she could afford buying the whole store if she really wanted to, but there was a joy with competing with the other ladies for the right sized shirt that she could save a few extra few bucks on. Enjoying the thrill of the chase, as she hunted down just the right thing she was looking for and would come out victorious!

And poor Shaggy and Scooby had been at the wrong place, wrong time and got swept up to assist in her quest for the best deal. The duo had nothing planned, so they eventually went along with her to face the crowds. But what really sealed the deal, was the promise of the Food Court at the end of their journey with her. So with most of the residents gone, the house had grown quiet.

Bent over her current project, Velma was neck deep in her work. With a goofy look on her face, a tongue hung out slightly to one side as she was engrossed with her flashlight. Her friend and companion on countless mysteries, she had over the years upgraded the little device from an early fluorescent bulb type to the LED wonder she had modified to fit into the older, beloved outer housing. And with the conversion to LED, she had more than enough room to add other little bits of electronics in the space where two C sized batteries once sat. Her current idea was to alter some of the mechanics she had already created in place, so that she could socket in other parts if she would need to. Like a cellphone jammer, and other more tech savvy devices. Bad guys always took advantage of whatever technology they could get; to scare, spook and otherwise be a pain in the gangs' side. So giving herself a leg up against whatever she might come across, was always nice. Though hindsight was 20-20, as most of the time it took her wanting something during a chase sequence to come up with a useful idea for countering something she had already faced.

"Oh well..."

Talking to herself, Velma leaned back and gave unto a stretch. Pulling all her joints into a more humanoid position, she yawned as her limbs worked the kinks out of her previous position. As her stretch ended, her thoughts got distracted by a sound coming from behind her. The squeal was familiar, telling her ears that someone was standing on step fourteen, and rocking back and forth to get her attention. Making the little stair call out, and beg for her to notice it and the person who was making such a noise. And with her mind recalling the earlier events, she was pretty sure she knew who it was.

"Hiya Freddy. Come on down."

Calling out to the man without looking, she guessed who it might be. Leaning her head back, she looked at the man grinning, upside down as the low backing on her current chair let her lean back and tilt her head enough to see him from behind.

"How long have you been waiting there?" She mused, curious on how long she had kept him waiting. When she got into some of her projects, it was hard to catch her attention. So he could have been there for hours for all she knew.

"Oh, not long. But I didn't want to disturb you in case whatever you were working on was flammable, combustible, or otherwise would be bad to interrupt."

Fred said with a smile, finally trotting down the final step to reach the bottom. Shifting something he was holding from one hand to the next. Shaggy and Scooby were more known for setting off the fire alarm in general, but it was Velma who had installed them in the first place. Wanting to make sure that there were extra ones in the house, more than a normal family might have... Just in case.

"What you working on over there?" Fred asked from where he stood, trying to get a look at it before he moved closer.

Velma's work table had been tucked across the space of the basement, snuggled into almost the back corner of the room. Next to it tended to be the piles of bean bags that she used for reading when the gang didn't steal them for other ideas. Also in the middle of the room was their gaming table, still set up from the last Maidens and Monsters game. Her little desk had been used for many occasions, from letters to reading, and 'saving the world'... But at the moment it was cleared off save for the parts she had currently been soldering. Little bits and bobs of circuit electronics sat around her in piles, with corresponding little shelves and storage spaces that housed even more parts she wasn't using. (Courtesy of Daphne, who had once discovered 'The Container Store' and decided to buy her at matching set to house her electronics.) Fred wandered across the room to stand beside her, taking a look at all the parts. While he wasn't as skilled as Velma was with electronics, he was proficient enough to gather from a glance what she was working on.

"Oh, out fitting 'Old Betsy'?" He affectionately named Velma's old flashlight. Having saved him a time or two in the past, the handheld was familiar staple on their Mysteries and a welcoming sight whenever she got pulled out. He himself had his own light he packed for their outings, but his didn't have the history that hers did. Plus, his tended to be cobbled together with some great plan of his, ending up in pieces more times than he could recall... so it was better that he didn't have one he cared about to end up at the bottom of the sea or some other crazy location they ended up in.

"Yep. I was tweaking the inner workings to allow for further integration of multi-situational components for fast conversion and easy of transport and installation. And I plan to pack a kit into my section of the Mystery Machine so I could tweak this on car rides and on the go if needed."

Velma explained, holding up the housing and showing how it inserted back into the flashlight handle and where some of the spare parts could sit and the little case for the extra bits. Similar to a USB connector, it allowed her pre-made components to slide in and out of the case to do various things. And the buttons on the base of the light allowed her to trigger the electronics. Thankfully it was all numbered, so all she would have to do was to recall which was socked where and she would be able to use it with a touch of a button.

Fred smiled and nodded, decoding the Velma-speak in his own head. 'Thingy one goes in to slot one, and thingy two goes in slot two. Press the right button, to use one of electronic thingies on a mystery... And foil the bad guy. Easy to assemble on the go.'

"Got it. So, you going to be working on this for a while?" Fred wondered.

"I was thinking about it, why you need my help for something?" She didn't have to finish it today, but she wanted to work on it at some point. At least hopefully before another mystery fell into their laps.

"Nah, I was working on the van earlier. But right now I didn't have anything so I was bored and came down to see if you needed any help."

"I'm good, though you can hang out here if you want." Velma gestured to the basement, not wanting to hog it all to herself. It was a bit stuffy and muggy outside, and the basement made for a cool retreat when the weather started to get hot. "You are welcome to keep me company."

"Sounds like a Plan!" He said with a nod.