Chapter 7: Two advertisement signs and the fight
Soon, the gang were driving down Crystal Cove County Highway 1 on the Mystery Machine.
"We aren't actually driving home, are we, Freddie?" Velma asked.
"Of course not, gang." Fred said. "I was just using the explanations for us to get out of there without getting into trouble with Stone and Mr. Gnales."
"Oh, okay." Shaggy nodded. "Anyways, like, where do we go from here?"
As Shaggy made the remark, they drove past a large advertising sign.
The sign in question featured a couple of muscular men dressed in suits with one of them giving a thumbs up and the other making a strongman's pose, together with the following caption:
"MINNER'S INSURANCE CO.
All you can trust for home and business protection
Compensation guaranteed"
"Say, those two men on the Minner's Insurance Co. advertisement sign looks familiar." Daphne remarked when they drove past the sign in question.
"You've seen them before, Daph?" Velma asked. "That is, other than the fact that we drove by the advertisement sign almost on a daily basis."
"Yes." Daphne nodded. "I remember the time the Cervone Circus was in town a couple years ago, where the main attractions were Max and Jax Minner, aka the Strongman Minners, as with their stupendous strength, they can pretty much lift anything 30 times their weight."
"The same way ants can lift items at least 50 times their weight, eh?" Velma asked.
"Pretty much." Daphne nodded. "Anyways, my family and I went to see the circus while it was performing in town and I particularly remember those Minner brothers lifting a tractor trailer with ease."
"Wow." Shaggy whistled. "Sounds like you gotta work out on a daily basis in order to be able to lift such an enormous weight."
"Indeed, Shag." Fred nodded in agreement. "I can probably lift twice my weight but lifting a van is too much."
At the remark, everyone on the Mystery Machine gave Fred a weird look on their faces.
"Either way, sounds like the Minner brothers have left the circus." Shaggy said.
"And that green Humungonaut that attacked the head office of Gnales Construction was able to lift the trucks and other construction equipment with ease." Velma pointed out. "Do you think one of the brothers is involved in the attack?"
"If so, then why attack their own head office and the Mystery Museum that they insured?" Fred asked.
"Perhaps the red one is someone from their competitor." Velma offered.
It was then that they drove by another advertisement sign, only that this one is for Harper Insurance Inc. and came with the following caption:
"HARPER INSURANCE INC.
A trusted partner in insurance coverage in Crystal Cove since 1987"
Like the Minner Insurance Co. advertisement sign, the Harper Insurance Inc. sign featured a strongman dressed in a suit and doing a strongman's pose.
"And there's the advertisement sign for Harper Insurance." Shaggy said.
"Say, there's something familiar about that strongman in the ad." Daphne said.
"Was he also a circus strongman with the Cervone Circus, Daphne?" Velma asked.
"Yes." Daphne nodded. "He frequently performed comedy acts with the Strongmen Minners in the circus under the stage name 'The Third Man'."
"I thought they mainly perform acts involving their strengths." Fred said.
"Not quite." Daphne said. "The brothers and him are also known for their comedy acts and during my time seeing the circus, they performed a number of gags in their comedy acts."
"Like, sounds interesting." Shaggy remarked.
"Say, you said that they performed circus acts together, Daphne?" Velma asked as she reached for her laptop.
"Yes, I did." Daphne raised an eyebrow when she saw Velma pulling out her laptop. "Why?"
"If they performed acts together, what resulted in them going their separate ways after they left the circus?" Velma asked. "After all, Harper Insurance is a rival of Minner Insurance."
"Good point." Daphne nodded as Velma opened her laptop and started typing.
With Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne leaning over to watch her, Velma typed in "Harper Insurance Strongman".
The first thing she saw was the name Maxime Archambault accommodating a photo of the strongman on the Harper Insurance poster.
Doing some further typing, Velma came upon several articles detailing his career, including acts with the Strongmen Minners.
As it turns out, the Strongmen Minners have been estranged with Archambault for years.
The three strongmen were close during their circus days with the Minners considering Archambault as a "third brother" to them. They continued to work together after the Cervone Circus closed down, forming the Maxime-Minner Insurance Partnership and running the company together.
However, things went bad for the three strongmen after they had a massive fallout over management of the business and Archambault left the company.
Maxime-Minner Partnership was eventually renamed as Minner Insurance Co. as Archambault started working for its chief rival Harper Insurance.
"Jinkies!" Velma remarked after reading the article. "I guess they're not as close as they used to be."
"They're now bitter rivals." Daphne said. "That certainly explains a lot about why the two humungonauts were targetting places insured by the rival."
"Which would speak a lot to the motive behind the attacks." Fred said. "And also a perfect opportunity for us to set the trap."
"Trap?" Shaggy and Scooby both asked. "How's the trap gonna work if we're going to have to deal with at least one giant beast who can lift heavy machinery with ease?"
A short while later, at the harbour near the beach, Shaggy and Scooby found themselves at a dock with a damaged house boat.
"Wait...so what are Scoob and I supposed to do again, Freddie?" Shaggy asked as he and Scooby turned to Fred and the girls, who were setting up the trap.
"For the tenth time, Shag." Fred sighed as he paused from his trap-setting. "You and Scooby just pose as a new home buyer and his dog and are talking about getting insurance for your new houseboat, which will no doubt attract the attention of our two human-go-thingys."
"Humungonauts, Freddie." Velma said.
"Whatever." Fred raised his arms in defeat in his inability to pronounce the word correctly. "Anyways, once those two beings see each other, no doubt they'll start fighting and then when they do, they'll certainly be too busy to notice their surroundings and then fall into the flooded dry dock, which is where we have the trap ready."
"But before you and Scooby do this, Shag." Daphne said as she arrived with a suit. "You ought to change your clothes to make yourself look more like a homebuyer."
Soon, Shaggy and Scooby were examining the new houseboat they've "bought" with the former dressed in a tan green suit with a brown bowtie and wearing a beard.
"Home Sweet Home, Scoob old buddy." Shaggy said to Scooby as he gestured to their new houseboat.
"Reah." Scooby nodded. "Rit's got a kitchen, redroom, rathroom, living room rand everything for rus to live re good life."
"Indeed, man." Shaggy nodded. "But we also have to get insurance for the houseboat."
"Rinsurance?" Scooby asked as he arched an eyebrow. "Rhy?"
"You never know what might happen, Scoob." Shaggy said. "Like, what if a hurricane decides to show up and cause heavy damage to the houseboat? With my current salary, I can't afford to have this place fixed up completely."
"Rood point, Raggy." Scooby nodded. "Rafterall, rif an earthquake were ro strike and cause re tsunami, re houseboat rill re rin danger and may get reavily damaged."
"Which is also why I've contacted Minner Insurance Co. and signed a contract with them to have the place covered, Scoob." Shaggy said as he pulled out a document and showed it to Scooby. "The company's really brilliant. It even has a clause stating that it will cover damages caused by 'monster attacks' and 'supernatural or paranormal phenomenon'."
Scooby leaned over to take a closer look at the fine print of the contract.
"Ronster attacks includes attacks rom humungonauts." He said.
As soon as he made the remark, the familiar-sounding growl can be heard and the duo turned towards the source.
Standing a few blocks away from where they were at, the duo can see the red humungonaut growling.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "The Red Humungonaut!"
The red humungonaut growled viciously and leaped into the air, intending to smash its way into the houseboat.
Before Shaggy and Scooby could react, a green figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and as quick as a fox, it slammed into the red humungonaut and knocked it to the pier several blocks away.
"Maybe they should have that green humungonaut as a company mascot, Scoob." Shaggy remarked as they watched the two humungonauts starting to fight.
"Reah." Scooby nodded in agreement. "Ret's get out of re way."
Scooby was right on them needing to get out of the way, because just a split second after running off onto the mainland, the red humungonaut managed to shove the green humungonaut past where they were standing at earlier.
With the two humungonauts absorbed in fighting each other, they were unaware that they were moving their way to the nearby dry dock where the trap was set.
The gang looked on before the red humungonaut suddenly lost its balance and fell backwards into the dry dock.
Just as the green humungonaut looked on triumphantly, the red humungonaut, not finished, grabbed onto the green humungonaut's left leg and pulled him into the water.
As the two humungonauts fought each other underwater, Fred turned to the gang.
"Show time!" He said.
Daphne and Velma both nodded before pulling a nearby lever. Soon, a giant net swooped out of the dry dock with the two humungonauts caught inside like loads of fish caught in a fishing net.
The two humungonauts struggled in vain to break free from the net, only to find that with the net made of carbon fiber with extra-grade steel, their efforts was like chewing on a hockey puck.
"Yes!" Fred pumped his fist in victory as the girls and Shaggy and Scooby high-fived each other.
One more chapter to go, folks!
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