Chapter 7: The Secret War

Shaggy and Scooby waited for Daphne as they exited Division 4. By now their shift at the zoo was over. They had might as well return home. Daphne walked up and met them leaning against the car.

"You never told us you were doing this. You never told us any of what you were doing that whole year you were in Massachusetts… with the military."

"Like Daphne, I never told my parents or the rest of my family. I never even told Mads."

"What about your sister?"

"Trust me, Maggie's been dealing with this too, but she's NYPD and I'm not. They picked me and Scoob because we didn't have jobs, because we could devote our time to it. They briefed you; my uncle was into some really weird stuff with the government. I don't understand most of it. It was safer for you not to know." Daphne nodded her head, anger placated and replaced with understanding. "You know for a while, they considered approaching Fred to have him put bits of it into his books."

"Yeah, he would have loved that..." Daphne laughed. "… A spinoff staring Ricky and Pericles versus Professor Moriarty. Seriously though, Collins gave me numbers and untranslatable tech reports. What happened, what was this Phibes person after?"

Shaggy took a deep breath. He pulled two Scooby snacks from his pocket, handed one to Scooby and offered the other one to Daphne. She held out her hand in polite refusal and he popped the Scooby Snack into his own mouth.

"You know that Iron Man comic, Extremis, where they develop the little nanobots that connect to the human brain and give people superpowers, let them interface with computers and stuff.

Daphne gave him an indignant look.

"No Shaggy, I'm not you and Fred. I don't read Iron Man… I read Batgirl and Catwoman."

"Like anyway…" Shaggy shrugged. "My Uncle Albert was working on something… roughly… like that. This guy Phibes was a rival scientist, he wanted to use the tech to become immortal…"

"Kinda backfired didn't it?"

"Ruh hum" Scooby nodded.

"Would that have even been possible?" Daphne asked.

"Hey, I'm no Velma, but he was dedicated to the notion I'll give him that." Shaggy shrugged "Anyway, long and rather bizarrely out of place story short, Phibes disappeared. Division Four took whatever bits of the tech my uncle had, and Scoob and I…"

"Kept the fortune" Daphne smirked. "I may not be Doctor Dinkley but I do have masters in business statistics and a good eye; the new car, the influx of new cooking equipment being moved into your house, the fact that Madelyn got a necklace for her birthday that cost more than your first car."

Scooby gave Shaggy a look that seemed to say something to the effect of 'what do you think about that' or perhaps 'Why did your girlfriend get the expensive necklace and the Scooby Snack room is half empty?'

"Daphne, like, I hate to ask but…"

"Don't worry, I know, sworn to secrecy." Shaggy nodded in appreciation. "Least I could do for my fellow rich person" She laughed.

Daphne stepped off the elevator platform and Shaggy motioned for the technician to send him back up to the surface. The platform rose a little and then stopped, falling the three feet it had managed.

"Rhut roh" Scooby barked as the lights in the hanger blacked out.