Seeing Fred stroll out almost arm in arm with their former hostage was slightly surprising to Shaggy but then like Velma, he had already sussed that something was going on, he knew his best friend well, he had that same goofy look on his face he always got when he fell hook line and sinker for someone. The fact that for her part she hadn't run screaming away the first chance she got suggested to Shaggy that the feeling must be at least, partially mutual.
"She's gone," he said indicating Velma's obvious absence, "I don't know where she's gone, once she was done throwing things, she just left."
"Can't say I blame her," Daphne exclaimed, "I'm guessing this isn't exactly what she expected to happen."
"Fred, what's going on?" Shaggy implored.
Fred quickly filled Shaggy in with all what Daphne had told him.
"Holy shit!" Shaggy said in horror, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea," he apologised to the redhead.
"I'm sorry I broke your nose," she told him.
"No sweat, I deserved that," Shaggy replied
"Shaggy, we have to help her," Fred declared.
"Of course, of course, whatever it takes" Shaggy agreed, like Fred having been jolted back to reality with that phone call and needing to make amends.
"Now we just need Velma," Fred said, knowing she would be a crucial asset but also knowing she would be incredibly hard to get on board after everything's that happened.
"So what now?" Shaggy asked
"Now I get a hot shower!" Daphne announced. "But I can't go back to my own apartment, dad will be wanting to ensure I don't return."
"What about the guards by your door?" Fred asked.
Daphne looked slightly troubled for a moment before remembering the young man had done thorough research on her life. "They're hired by dad to make him look protective, the reality is if he orders them to turn on me, they will."
"Ouch," Fred offered. "Well you can come and stay with me and Shaggy, you'll be safe there as your dad still doesn't know who we are."
"Oh he'll be looking though, you can be sure he'll be tracing that phone."
"He won't find it though," Shaggy said confidently.
"No?"
"No," Shaggy confirmed, "Velma's a bit of a genius when it comes to gadgets and will have the signal pinging all over the place, it won't be traced." He said, a tinge of pride in his voice at his absent friend.
"Impressive," Daphne commented. "So my car, I see you took it," she said indicating it under the tarpaulin in the corner. "I'll have to leave that here too as he'll be looking for it, you got any other wheels?"
"Oh yes," Shaggy grinned, "follow me!"
Shaggy led them to another part of the warehouse, where a large green van stood. Opening the doors he revealed it was all kitted out.
"Wow dude you've been hiding this from me?" Fred said, "I thought you said it was an old beat up van?"
"It was" Shaggy said proudly, "I've been working on it a while"
"That's really good going" Fred said genuinely, "it's looking good"
Suddenly, something emerged from under one of the shag pile blankets and jumped out, causing Daphne to start.
"Relax," Shaggy soothed. "This is just my dog Scooby Doo" he said indicating the huge ball of energy that was his Great Dane.
Scooby sniffed at Daphne's hand and then wagged his tail happily.
"He likes you," Shaggy explained, "he remembers your scent from before, when he was sat outside your door" he added embarrassed.
Daphne looked surprised "Oh," she said "this is the guard dog?"
"Ha! Yeh I know he's not much of a good one, scared of his own shadow this one" Shaggy said affectionately.
"Ah if only I'd known!" Daphne said ruefully, stroking the dog's head.
"We should probably get going" Fred said eyeing his watch, "we need to find Velma, there's no telling what she might do."
A noticeable cloud crossed Shaggy's face and it was obvious to Daphne that he cared deeply for this girl.
Scooby jumped back into the van and Fred and Daphne followed into the back, Shaggy took the wheel, and drove out into the brightening morning, anxiously looking for signs of his friend. The warehouse, one previously owned by Shaggy's parents was in a pretty isolated area, there wasn't too many places she could have gone.
Sure enough, after just fifteen minutes driving around the district, Shaggy caught sight of her and stopped the van, leaping out the driver's seat. Velma spotted him immediately and broke into a run, she was no match for the quick Shaggy though and he quickly caught up to the brunette, grabbing her around her waist and swinging her onto his shoulders.
"Shaggy!" She shrieked, "Put me down!"
"Nope."
"So now you're resorting to kidnapping me" she said miserably "Great."
"You need to see sense Velma" Shaggy told her, carrying her back to the van. Opening the door, he eased her down gently and into the van, swiftly locking the door before she had chance to protest.
Velma scowled before realising she wasn't alone and noticed Fred and Daphne sitting side by side on the opposite side of the van.
"Oh well isn't this cosy!" She drawled sarcastically "I knew it!" she added for good measure. "Have you been in on this all along, was this all just a game to humiliate me?!" She demanded of the redhead.
"No," Daphne shook her head emphatically, "I'm still a victim."
"You're awfully close to the man who kidnapped you," Velma observed dryly.
Both Fred and Daphne squirmed uncomfortably. "She needs our help Velma."
Velma snorted "You're going to help her? After kidnapping her and holding her hostage? Is this your way of making it up to her?"
"Something like that," Fred said defiantly. "Look Velma she really does need our help, you heard that conversation, you heard what her father said, he wants her dead."
Velma started to soften a little, "that's some crazy shit you're in girl," she told Daphne.
Sensing the other girl mellowing, Daphne told her her story, as usual Velma listened without interruption until she was finished.
"Wow, I messed up" she muttered, "I couldn't have had your situation any further wrong if I tried," She said to Daphne.
"Well, you wasn't to know," Daphne shrugged, "I don't think anyone could have guessed what went on behind closed doors. After what dad did to Ryan, I was very careful to toe the line so nobody would suspect anything was amiss so it's quite natural you assumed we had a loving relationship," she explained.
"Ryan?" Velma queried
"An ex boyfriend dad had hurt when I wouldn't do as he said" Daphne quickly clarified. "I know you want to help Fred, but he is an incredibly dangerous man, I'm not sure you realise what you'd be getting yourself into." Daphne exclaimed.
"Danger doesn't phase us," Fred grinned, speaking for all of them. "We have a lot of experience in dangerous situations don't we guys?"
Velma and Shaggy nodded sagely, they certainly had had some close calls.
"Well okay then," Daphne agreed reluctantly, she preferred to work alone but then again it was perhaps working alone that had put her in so much danger in the first place, perhaps teaming up with someone would do some good, although it was hardly ideal that those she was aligning herself with had been her captors until not very long ago but what was Daphne Blake's life if it wasn't complicated?
"I'll need some stuff from my apartment," she continued "my papers, photographs, all the evidence I have so far against my father...my gun" she added quietly.
"Gun?" Fred asked, eyebrows raised.
"For protection," Daphne shrugged, "I only ever kept it in my apartment though otherwise things might have turned out very differently last night" She said with a wink. "It's going to be difficult to get back in though, dad will have it watched like a hawk."
"No problem," Fred said confidently "right Shaggy?" He said looking to confirmation from his friend.
"No problem at all" The taller teen affirmed, "I'm yet to find an apartment that has troubled me yet."
"Wait.."Daphne said quickly catching on to what Shaggy was implying, "You're the infamous 'Cat- burglar of Coolsville?'" the incredulity was obvious in her tone of voice.
"The one and the same," Shaggy said, proudly at first, before realising it really wasn't something to be proud of.
"Wow, at the Chronicle, we always thought it HAD to be a woman," she mused aloud before dismissing it. "Well that's great but regardless you still have to be incredibly careful, you may be used to avoiding CCTV, cheap alarm systems and rubbish guard dogs but my dad's men won't be easy to fool."
"I'm sure we'll come up with something." Velma said clearly getting into the spirit now. She wouldn't admit it in front of them but this turn of events now was actually exciting to her. If there was one thing she loved more than anything, more than crime that while although satisfying didn't give her much of a buzz, was a mystery. Boy did she love a mystery, there wasn't much going on in Coolsville that satisfied this lust but she had a huge collection of mystery novels, she LOVED playing detective and this fascinating, intriguing girl was promising something incredibly exciting and epic, a scandal that would turn the little town of Coolsville on it's head. The kidnap plot had seemed exciting to plan but just seemed like a game, when it became a terrifying reality, it was beyond what any of them could handle, that phone call, she had never heard something so callous in her life, she had to admit she was ultimately relieved at how everything had turned out. This could give her a new sense of purpose in her life.
The four teens knew they were alone now, three of them had long since burned their bridges with the authorities and unless Daphne had watertight proof that would stand up beyond any doubt in court then she couldn't go to the police either, he was Coolsville's most powerful man by far, even then there was no telling what lengths he would go to to ensure his crimes remained hidden, disposing of his daughter didn't seem to infringe on his morals.
There was nobody Daphne could trust at the newspaper with her suspicions, her boss would have laughed her right out. There was only ever one person until now she had ever shared anything with, the only person who would ever slightly understand and that was Ethan. Ethan knew her suspicions but she had never shared the actual stuff she had found out, she trusted Ethan with her life though and knew if she needed him in the next few hours she could rely on him.
"I'll need to speak to Ethan," she said suddenly, "he's the only one that will understand."
"Ethan?" Fred said, desperately trying to undermine the sudden panicking jealousy he felt as she mentioned another guy's name so fondly.
"Yes, he's my older cousin" she replied, "his father died in the same accident that killed my mother, so we've had a strong bond."
Fred and the others nodded solemnly even though inside he couldn't deny the relief he felt that this guy she had spoken of with such warmth was only a relation. The way his feelings had developed for this girl frankly terrified him, he was utterly horrified at the ordeal he had put her through and felt a burning desire to put things right, all he wanted to do to this girl was to hold her and never let her go, not in a sinister way, he just wanted to protect her, the depth of his feelings confused him, but something had happened the moment he set his eyes on her, he knew he wanted to explore his feelings with her but not now, all that was right now was to help her, to help her seek justice for the terrible things her own father was responsible for.
"I know what that feels like" Shaggy spoke quietly, "losing a parent, for me it was only a few years ago, I can't imagine how difficult that must be at such a young age"
"Thanks" she said, "I can't remember much about my mother now in all honesty, it's just been me and my father for so long, he took mom's death hard, took down all her photos, I just have a small box of memories" She added sadly.
Shaggy gently put his hand on her shoulder in a silent show of support.
It was Fred who broke the uneasy silence, clearing his throat to speak. "I think we need to lay low for the rest of the day and plan our next move, we can't do anything until we're under the cover of darkness again so I suggest we crash at my apartment for the day and think about what we're going to do next."
He didn't get any opposition from the others and soon he was introducing the girls to his and Shaggy's comfortable abode. Daphne got showered as the three thought about the crazy past 24 hours and what was to come later. It was safe to say that the drama for these four teens and their dog was only just beginning though.
