Chapter 9: In the office and the drive

It took no time for the gang and Vic to find Dr. Wyatt, and as the technician predicted, Dr. Wyatt was not pleased at all by the news.

"Just what I needed while the Robot Hound is running loose in the streets." Dr. Wyatt slammed her hands on her desk in her office. "The schematics to the Robot Hound stolen!"

"No doubt that this is gonna be the final nail in the coffin regarding the Robot Hound, Dr. Wyatt." Fred said. "I mean, with the missing schematics and the tampered robot running loose in the streets, you've got your plate full."

"No need to remind me." Dr. Wyatt sighed. "At this point, I am seriously wondering if Dr. Staples was right that our development of the Robot Hound was rushed and that it was premature to have the robot submitted to the competition in the Robot Expo."

"Sounds like you might be planning to press the restart button on the project once this is all over, Dr. Wyatt." Velma remarked.

"At this point, there's no way we're gonna keep a lid on this for long, so the best course of action would be for us to cut our losses and press the reset button." Dr. Wyatt nodded.

"But Dr. Wyatt, we've poured millions of dollars worth of research into this project." Vic urged. "Surely, we've had hit plenty of speed bumps along the way, but the project has its promises that could reduce casualties the battlefield, so wouldn't it be premature for us to pull the plug now?"

"While you make some good points, Mr. Phillips, at this point, our potential clients are not gonna be pleased when they learn about the snags we've hit along the way." Dr. Wyatt shook her head. "Especially with the schematics being stolen, that's going to be the waterloo of the Robot Hound project."

"But we've already come this far, Dr. Wyatt." Vic said. "I thought you said that you're the type who would never back down from a fight."

"I'm not, but that doesn't mean I don't know when's a good time to cut our losses while we still can and not make this a bigger fiasco." Dr. Wyatt shot back.

Before Vic could retort, Daphne interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt, but by any chance, where's the women's washroom? With what we've been doing lately, I haven't had the chance to relieve myself so would it be okay if..."

"Down the hallway, turn left at the second intersection, and the women's washroom is on your right." Dr. Wyatt quickly said as they turned to Daphne. "You shouldn't miss it."

"Perfect." Daphne smiled before she grabbed Velma's hand and added, "Thanks."

She then made her way out of the office, forcing Velma to catch up as she tugged her by the hand, all as Shaggy and Fred shared looks with each other and arched their eyebrows.

No sooner did Velma and Daphne were out of the room did the former finally asked, "What was that for, Daphne?"

"I'm sure you're gonna appreciate the opportunity to look around while I use the washroom." Daphne winked.

"But you usually take almost an hour to finish using the washroom." Velma exclaimed.

"Exactly." Daphne nodded.

Eventually, the two girls arrived at the ladies washroom, and although Velma remained uncomfortable with the way Daphne excused them, she nonetheless looked around as the redhead entered the washroom.

The first thing Velma noticed was technician office across the hallway with the door unlocked, and looking around to make sure no one was around observing her, she instinctively sneaked into the office.

Walking over to the desk, Velma noticed that the computer was unlocked and glancing around to make sure she wasn't being observed by someone, she then sat in front of the desk and started typing away.

Within minutes, she was scrolling through several spreadsheets and schematics and her eyes were widening at what she was seeing.

Without missing a beat, she quickly grabbed her USB stick, plugged it onto the computer, and then started downloading the files she was seeing.

It was then that she heard footsteps coming from the hallway, and she turned towards the doorway and peeked outside.

Seeing Vic walking down the hallway, she pounded on the ladies washroom door and said, "Daphne, are you almost done in there?"

Without waiting for a response, she rushed back into the office to check the progress of the download.

79 % downloaded. She noted. No doubt that the files she was downloading is taking up a lot of space.

Hearing Vic's footsteps inching closer, she swiftly opened up her laptop and placed it on the desk and started typing.

Good thing I carry my laptop around with me at all times. Velma thought to herself just as Vic arrived at the doorway and stopped in his tracks.

"What are you doing in there?" He asked when he saw Velma seated at his desk.

"Uh, sorry, Mr. Phillips." Velma quickly said as she stood up. "Daphne was taking her sweet time in the washroom and I got bored, so I decided to find a room to sit down and...uh...use my laptop to catch up on some studies to pass the time."

Then, noting the bewildered look on Vic's face, she added, "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude in your office space here, it's just that the this was the first place I saw that was unlocked, and I'm not the type who would sit down on the floor and use my laptop, and..."

"No need to apologize, I understand." Vic nodded before gesturing towards the hallway as he added. "Just...maybe go to the cafeteria to wait next time, since its just down the hallway that way."

"Right, I will keep that in mind." Velma nodded as she closed her laptop. "Anyways, I think I heard the sink running in the ladies washroom, so I should...get going now."

"Of course." Vic smiled. "Take your time."

Velma nodded back, and seeing Vic checking his watch, she swiftly unplugged her USB stick from Vic's computer before rushing out of the office.

"There you are, Daphne." Velma said as Daphne emerged from the washroom. "Thought you had decided to turn the washroom into your makeup room."

"Oh, stop it." Daphne said playfully as the two girls made their way back to the others, all while Vic turned towards them with a weird look forming on his face.


A short while later, the gang were back on the Mystery Machine and driving through downtown Crystal Cove.

There was some awkward silence between the gang before Fred finally asked, "So do you mind asking us what was that about, Daph?"

"Or more to the point, what did you girls found." Shaggy said. "Hopefully, it's something that could help get Scooby out of Karmah."

"Don't worry, Shaggy." Velma said. "I did. While Daphne was taking her sweet time in the ladies washroom, I happened upon Vic's office with the door and computer unlocked, someone better tell that guy to get into the habit of locking his computer before exiting his office."

"And you found something." Fred said.

"I did." Velma nodded as she held up a USB drive and added, "Now, I didn't have the time to go through an in-depth examination of the files relevant to the Robot Hound, but I was able to download them onto my USB stick. And I have to say, there's plenty of worrying information that I caught sight of."

"What sort of information?" Daphne asked.

"Let's just say that someone in Wyatt Technologies has been under the payroll of a rival corporate shark, which isn't Staples Technologies, by the way, who has not been successful in its plans to acquire Wyatt Technologies." Velma said. "The corporate shark, whose efforts in acquiring Staples Technologies has similarly hit dead ends, decides to buy put options on Wyatt Technologies."

"As in betting the money on Wyatt Technologies tanking as a result of the failure of its Robot Hound?" Fred asked.

"That's right." Velma nodded. "For that to happen, the Robot Hound had to be tampered with so that it would cost Wyatt Technologies potential clients in the demand for the robot dog."

"And where does Staples Technologies fit into all of this?" Daphne asked.

"The corporate shark's plan doesn't stop at Wyatt Technologies." Velma continued. "The next phase involves tampering with the Mecha Mutt and resulting in Staples Technologies similarly losing its potential clients. With the shares of their competitors tanking, that corporate shark then moves in to acquire both companies at a cheap price, establishes a firm footing in the robot technology sector and profits from the new clients it managed to lure away from Wyatt Technologies and Staples Technologies."

"And let me guess." Fred said. "That rival corporate shark in question is none other than our old friend Destroido Corp."

"Exactly." Velma nodded.

There was some silence as Fred stopped the Mystery Machine at a red light, during which Shaggy and the girls shared looks with each other.

"I honestly don't like the sound of this." Shaggy finally broke the silence.

"Me neither." Fred agreed.

"Could all of this be what Professor Pericles was talking about earlier?" Daphne asked worriedly.

"Maybe, but is there any reason why we should trust the word of someone who's officially criminally insane?" Velma pointed out.

"Well, why exactly was the parrot locked up there in the first place?" Daphne countered. "Maybe he found out a secret about Destroido Corp and they have to silence him by buying out our courts and have him ruled to be criminally insane."

"Which could also explain why his friends disappeared in '87." Shaggy added.

"Either way, gang." Fred said. "We may have just found Scooby's ticket out of Karmah, which means that we're heading straight to the sheriff's place so we can try to convince Stone that Scooby's innocent."

While dealing with the sheriff is the last thing the gang wanted to do, in this case, the sheriff holds the key to Scooby's release from a mental institution that doesn't exactly have a good reputation as a mental treatment facility.

In fact, come to think of it, the name Karmah bares an eerie resemblance to the name of an asylum featured prominently in Batman comics and other media adaptations.

It was a thought that clearly made Shaggy feel deeply uncomfortable, which is also why in spite of his disdain towards the sheriff, he knew that it's better to not get onto the sheriff's nerves and hopefully get on with securing Scooby's release.

"In that case, step on it, Freddie." Velma urged as the light turned green. "We don't have a lot of time."

Fred nodded as he stepped on the gas and the van quickly took off, speeding its way towards the headquarters of the Crystal Cove County Sheriff's Office.

However, unbeknownst to anyone on the van, the sheet cover in the back slowly gave way as the Robot Hound, with its eyes glowing red, peeks up.

The scene then shifts closer to the Robot Hound itself, where one can see the red eyes radiating with the coldness associated with the looks on a killer machine one normally see in movies like The Terminator.


To all of my readers out there, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!