The face of the man was so close to being revealed…

Velma's eyes widened, and she gasped in disbelief as the balaclava slid off fully, showing her a face she had never thought she'd see again. Dark, brush-like hair covered his scalp, and his eyes were almost black, underneath charcoal eyebrows and thin eyelashes. His large nose set off his pointed face, and his thin lips gave him a sense of being older than his years inside.

"Gibby Norton!"

Gibby smiled, clocking her astonishment.

"Velma. Oh, how long have I waited for this day… I thought it would be a couple of years ago, when you were talking about finishing with the mysteries. One of your members went through rather a dark patch, am I right?"

Velma nodded wordlessly, not wanting to elaborate.

"Your leader, young Fred… paranoia, I'm told. It almost ended your Mystery Inc. days… How I prayed it would."

"Nothing can split up Mystery Inc.," Velma replied rebelliously, glaring at the man stood in front of her. He was Gibby, and yet… he wasn't. He had changed so much since Velma had last seen him. He was taller, stronger, older. Something had made him seem more assertive, but at the same time, more weasel-like. His pointed face, pale complexion and dark hair gave him a slightly closed look, as though the secrets he harboured were hidden deep within and were not to be accessed by any outsider. He was eyeing Velma with obvious hatred.

"Do you really hate me this much?" Velma asked softly, shocked by the change in Gibby. He nodded silently.

"Why, Gibby? What did I do to make you become… like this?"

"Plenty," Gibby hissed, his eyes narrowing. "And for your information, my name is Gibson now. I gave up the name of Gibby months ago, when I met Verona here."

Verona bared her teeth wolfishly.

"I persuaded him that it wasn't such a good name for him. Gibby is a child's name; Gibson is a man's name."

As she said this, she sidled up to him and put her hand on his neck, smiling up at him. Gibby looked down at her with a smile on his own face, his eyes delving into hers and lost in the moment. Velma took the opportunity to do some fake retching.

"Shut up!" Gibby hissed, turning on her, his eyes flashing with lava-hot anger and loathing. Velma stopped abruptly.

"You were never that abrupt before."

"I was a fool before," Gibby replied, putting his arm round Verona's shoulders. She pressed her cheek against his chest and glared at Velma, an evil glint in her steely grey eyes. For the first time, Velma noticed that she no longer wore glasses; it was a blow, it meant that the knocking-the-glasses-off attack was no longer available.

"You remember when I loved you, Velma. I was devoted to you, I couldn't help myself. You were a goddess to me, but you loved that- that scruffy, mangy little beatnik-"

"Don't talk about Shaggy like that!" Velma lashed, feeling indignation and hate rise in her chest like bile. She had thought she had used up her hatred, but there was more still to come, it seemed.

"Even his name is Shaggy," Gibby sneered, putting his arm round Verona and holding her near, feeling her cuddling up to him and once again baring her pearly white incisors at Velma.

"Well, I knew that pursuing you was useless, and after being released from prison after you caught me, I decided that I no longer wanted you. But I wasted away from desire, driven mad until I met a new woman."

"Me," Verona hissed, still in Gibby's arms and leering at Velma. Velma glared at her.

"You're welcome to him. I never wanted him."

"Your downfall, Dinkley," Gibby growled. "Anyway, Verona and I both hated you and your silly little friends, as you proved both of our downfalls. We decided to get our revenge just as we decided to get together, having discovered that we loved each other. It was meant to be, I think."

"Fascinating," Velma murmured. Verona sniggered.

"You're the one I could Taser at any moment, Dinkley."

"We decided what we were going to do, and we plotted as to our moment," Gibby continued, his eyes still narrowed with intense distaste. "We thought it would be when Fred was diagnosed with paranoia and you were so intent with helping him that you were barely giving your own safety a care. I thought it would be easy to get back at him at the same time; you are never more vulnerable than when you're… mad."

"Freddy is not mad and he never was!"

"Then what was he?" Gibby jeered, enjoying seeing Velma het up.

"He was… he was just ill, that's all."

Verona cackled.

"He was mad. Carry on, Gibson darling."

Velma stuck her tongue out in disgust, and Gibby kicked her in the side, grinning as she yelped in pain and curled round the area of impact.

"How I waited to hurt you, Velma… how I waited. To injure you, attack you, leave you bleeding as you left me. Revenge truly is the sweetest thing."

Velma spat at him, anger coursing through her along with loathing and shock. She couldn't have imagined how Gibby would turn out, and yet here he was, an evil man with a grudge against her and a girlfriend whom she detested almost as much as him and who had a Taser lodged in her pocket.

"Verona. You want your revenge too. Do the honours, darling."

"Of course, Gibson," Verona said sweetly, pulling the Taser from her pocket and aiming it at the defenceless girl lying on the basement floor, who closed her eyes and waited for the sting to come.

Velma's shrieks of pain travelled through the little house, reverberating through the walls and echoing in the halls of the building, screams of pure pain and torture and fright and agony. The buzzing went on, and the cries grew louder and louder and more desperate, changing to begging, crying, gasping.

Eventually, they stopped, and Gibby and Verona walked upstairs, leaving Velma unconscious on the basement floor and going into the bedroom to sleep.

Gibby didn't bother to lock the door. He knew that there was no way Velma could get out of the basement alone, and he didn't think of the possibility that someone might help her.

Making a mental note to call on the other girl and find out where she was in the morning, Gibby fell asleep next to Verona, the Taser recharging on the bedside table and Verona's snores mingling with his.


"22 West Gardens… nope, that's not someone we know or anyone who might be holding a grudge… Hey."

Fred's sudden halt made the others look over.

"Freddy?" Daphne asked, walking over and looking at the computer screen in front of him. As she saw what it was saying, her own eyes widened and she gave a little gasp.

"Verona Dempsey and Gibby Norton! Cohabiting and definitely people who might have a grudge against Velma."

Shaggy walked over as well, looking confused. Scooby leapt up from his nest of assorted cushions on the floor behind Shaggy's chair and leapt up to put his paws on Fred's shoulders, so as to get a decent view of the computer screen.

"Rerona Remprey rand Ribby Rorton?"

"That's right, Scoob," Daphne said, checking out the property details. They had been given the database information by the police, so that they could check out the area around the kidnapping site and find out if anybody living nearby might hold a grudge against the group or just Velma in particular. "Number 23 West Gardens, Ohio… I wonder why they picked Ohio? Gibby comes from Minnesota, and Verona's from Delaware. They're on our criminal database."

"Naturally," Fred murmured. "I have a feeling they're the ones who took Velma. But I don't get it; why take Velma and ask for the money from the lottery? Gibby's got a good job in mechanics, Verona has enough qualifications to get decent work. Why would they want the cash?"

"I have a feeling it's not the cash that's the motivating factor as much, Freddy. I think this is a revenge attack and they want to draw us in and probably kill Velma. Gibby loved Velma but she never loved him; that's probably the motivation for this. I suspect Verona is the driving force, you know how much she and Velma hate each other."

Fred nodded, and Scooby yelped as the top of Fred's head collided with his jaw.

"Sorry, Scoob…"

Fred reached backwards and rubbed Scooby's jaw, still thinking hard.

"Is it safe to go in? Or are we going to be putting ourselves in even more danger if we try and rescue her?"

"I say we get police back-up and go in," Daphne said. Shaggy nodded.

"Like, yeah, man. Sounds good to me."

Fred nodded and closed the screen, picking up the phone to call the police precinct.