A/N: Just a very brief note to say the UK is now in lockdown again, although I am still working, I am working less and when I'm not working, writing is very much a go to. I plan to spend that extra free time getting this story finished once and for all. We're looking at around five or six chapters left so I very much want to get it over the line for you all :)
It was fair to say that the mood in the room following Ethan's phone call was desolate. His discovery of the empty and ransacked Dinkley home seemed to confirm beyond any doubt what they had all feared; Devon had taken Madelyn.
Fred had made the rallying cry that they wouldn't be defeated but that was exactly how they all felt right now. Defeated. Daphne had sat back down on the bed, her arms wrapped around her knees and she was rocking gently backwards and forwards. lost in a world of her own. Shaggy had very reluctantly left Velma's side to go feed and exercise Scooby. Fred and Velma were sat down at the table together, both furiously scribbling things down.
Fred had wrote "Will, Stella, 'Ethan', Shaggy's warehouse, My dad, Daphne's brother, Velma's sister (and father?)"
As he wrote 'Velma's sister' he suddenly jolted in surprise as a memory resurfaced. "Oh my god," he said quietly, looking straight at Velma who was seated across from him. "You were telling the truth all along!"
Velma quirked an eyebrow at him before smiling slightly as she realised what he was referring to.
"Yes, I was."
"You told me you had a sick sister! On that very first night we first bumped into you. I can't believe you were telling the truth! I just thought it was a carefully rehearsed sob story, another part of your act...I'm sorry we had to find out like this...I hope to god she's going to be alright, Velma."
Velma nodded appreciatively at Freddy's support. She felt completely emotionally drained by what had happened. Her first reaction had understandably been one of frantic panic and anger but since Ethan had confirmed she really was gone, she didn't feel angry, just absolutely spent and helpless. There was nothing they could do to save her in that moment. Literally nothing. It also didn't help that she was beginning to feel a tiny sliver of guilt herself. One of the very first things she should have done once arriving back in Coolsville should have been to check on Maddy and her father. She had hoped that them living a fair way from the madness that was going on in Coolsville would have spared them. Even a phone call to say she was home might have helped. Instead, true to form, she and Shaggy had thrown themselves straight into work, chasing down a lead. Stupid. Maybe if she had phoned, she might have had the good sense to warn her, to tell her to get out because some psycho with a grudge was hell-bent on revenge, maybe she could...
"We are all that is left now!" Fred suddenly said angrily, startling Velma and breaking her away from her self-loathing internal despair. "We are all that is standing in his way! He took your sister solely as a way to draw us out to him, you must realise that Velma."
"Oh, don't you worry, I'm well aware of that," Velma replied with a defeated sigh. "She is the bait. We are all very well aware that this is a trap for us. At some point, he's going to send us a message that tells us where they are, and he's going to make some outrageous demand or Madelyn will die. We all know where this is headed now." She sounded so completely downhearted and accepting of their fate that she had lost all her previous vigour and fight. "And I know that we can't go to him," she added sadly. Daphne's head snapped up in surprise, she hadn't expected Velma to give up so easily, not when her sister's life was at stake.
"Vel?"
"I'm not stupid guys. I know he will want us to go in all guns blazing but we all know how fucking idiotic that would be. I just have to hope that he at least keeps her alive."
"Stop it Velma!" Fred suddenly shouted, slamming his hands down hard on the table, and catching the girls off-guard with his ever growing fury now. "Stop being so damn defeatist! Imagine how Madelyn would feel if she could hear you just writing her off like this!"
"I am not writing her off!" Velma hit back angrily, feeling her own temper rise immediately. "The very last thing I want to do is leave her in the hands of that psychopath any moment longer than I have to do but let's be realistic here! Even if we knew where they were - which we absolutely do not by the way...It would be absolute SUICIDE to go in, as much as I want to. Of course I do! There's also a very real prospect he has my sister, AND my father let's not forget. As hard as this is for me right now, I really do think we just need to sit and wait for Devon to make contact again and see what Ethan suggests when he gets back..."
"No, fuck Ethan!" Fred said venomously, surprising both the girls, and Shaggy and Scooby who had just re-entered the room. " I know I said we needed him but that was before Devon turned this personal again! Why should we wait to hear what Ethan has to say? He screwed me and Daphne over time and time again in Hong Kong. Why should I listen to a man who is supposed to be my friend but instead did this to me?!" He stood abruptly now and yanked up his sleeve, showing his scarred wrists to Velma for the first time, whose eyes widened in alarm at the sight of them. "Yeah, and I don't need to remind you that's not all. He happily went along with smashing a rock at my head and then shoved me out of a moving car so please forgive me for not being desperate to hear whatever his plan might be!"
All of Fred's simmering anger over Ethan's betrayal came to the fore again now, Daphne's mouth opened to defend her brother, but found she could not. She could, however, recognise when Fred was getting dangerously reckless and she knew she had to step in to calm the situation.
"That all might be true Fred and yes, it's absolutely awful what he did to us, but as I said, we do still need Ethan. He's older than us and considerably more experienced; he's been tracking Devon and his operation for years, we need to wait until he and Justin get back and take it from there."
"No," Fred replied petulantly, stunning Daphne, he rarely opposed her so defiantly and now here he was, doing it for the second time in a matter of days!
"No?" she repeated incredulously. "What do you mean 'no' Freddy!?"
"We don't need to wait for Ethan to get back," he insisted firmly, holding her incredulous stare. "We haven't had Ethan holding our hand for the last two years have we?" he added bitterly. "Where was Ethan when you were kidnapped in Venice?" he challenged Daphne directly before turning to Velma. "Where was Ethan when you were nearly drowning in Turkey? For that matter, where was Stella or Will?! It's just been us for so long now and look how much stronger we have all become. Think of all the dangers we have faced, the crazy mysteries we have solved together! Just us. Five of us. We came through it all. I've been thinking about this a lot since we found out the terrible news about Madelyn. We don't need anyone else."
"Fred, you can't be serious!" Daphne gasped in horror. "You think just because we got through some absolutely shit situations in Europe that we can now go up against my uncle alone?! Some of those things you mentioned, we barely survived!" Her mind instantly flashed back to a memory from Venice and she furiously pushed it away. Not now, I can't think about that now... "Look what happened to us in Hong Kong! It's a miracle we got back alive and that's not even considering the things Ethan did to us, but Devon from afar! You got shot. You actually got shot and I was seconds away from going under a train! That we came through all that wasn't anything but pure luck! Yes we are much stronger than we were on that night in 2009 but SO. IS. HE."
Daphne's eyes were blazing now and Fred had assumed a defensive stance in retaliation as Velma, Shaggy and Scooby watched them verbally spar with silent awe. Daphne and Fred were such a strong couple but that was because there was real passion and fire within both of them. They didn't clash heads often but when they did...pure fireworks. They glared at each other heatedly now, sure enough Daphne's hands were planted on her hips, signalling her animosity in this moment.
"Don't treat me like an idiot Daphne," Fred glowered at his girlfriend clearly frustrated by her fierce opposition to his argument. "I know how strong Devon is and realise everything he has taken away from us, it absolutely kills me inside!" He looked stricken before blurting something he knew he was instantly going to regret. "You never should have saved me."
Daphne stared at him feeling like he just had punched her in the face. Of course they had already had this argument in China but she was left reeling as he suddenly brought it up in front of their friends so scornfully.
"What?" her voice cracked as she stared at his face. The handsome face that she loved, the eyes that usually danced and sparkled with intense fervour, the adorable smile that lit up his features. None of that was there right now. His mouth was instead set in a grim line, his eyes cold and unsmiling.
"You know exactly what I mean Daph," he said coldly. "But I suppose Shaggy and Velma don't. Why don't you tell them?"
You bastard! Daphne thought with indignation. How dare you put me in this position! She purposely turned her back on Fred to find Shaggy and Velma looking at her with some confusion. She quickly found she couldn't look them in the eye and stared at the floor as she spoke. "That night," she recalled shakily. "Before you guys even got there, before I even knew that you were on the way...I confronted Devon and I had him at gunpoint inside the factory."
They both reacted with visible surprise, Shaggy flinched and Velma's mouth dropped open slightly. "But I don't understand," she quickly replied. "When I found you outside, he had YOU at gunpoint. What happened inside?"
"Me," Fred said quietly from behind them all. "She found out then that I was trapped at his mercy. She could have killed him right there but she gave up her advantage to try and save me."
"Oh wow," Shaggy murmured after a painful silence before Daphne turned around determinedly to face Fred and say her piece to him, properly this time.
"You can't make me feel guilty about it again Freddy," she stated resolutely. "You absolutely can't. I have never regretted what I did, not for a single second. I can never regret choosing to save you. And you can stop beating yourself up about not DESERVING to be saved!"
She saw him flinch sharply but he said nothing in reply, instead Velma spoke again.
"You really think that, Freddy?" Velma asked him softly. "You thought your life was so worthless that you didn't deserve to be saved?"
"Yes!" he suddenly dramatically burst out, looking incredibly strained now as he faced his friends. "Yes, if it was a choice between just my life and saving countless others, absolutely!"
Daphne bristled in frustration, automatically stepping closer to Fred.
"But that's not fair Fred! It was never a straight choice between letting him go to save you, or killing him to protect others! It was that in that moment, killing him could have also killed YOU, and I couldn't allow that to happen. Never in my worst nightmares could I have seen him returning to claim vengeance in such a devastating way, nor him taking the number of lives he has!
Don't you think I feel guilty enough about all that already?" she pleaded to him, her voice rising as she became more emotional. "He's MY uncle! Every single horrific thing he does cuts me to the bone. That man actually raised me. Every atrocious thing he's ever done and I have to try and forget the fact that he used to sing me to sleep. That he used to comfort me when I was sick and hurt. That I used to call him 'dad'. Believe me when I say it hurts. It tears at my heart Freddy. Every. Single. Day."
She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes as she spoke about Devon like that and she could see Fred now looked stricken at her pain but she didn't give him time to respond. "I did used to feel guilty that my action gave him a chance to survive, but I will never apologise for saving your life, you cannot link that one action to every horrible thing that has happened since!"
Fred for once was lost for words in the wake of Daphne's powerful and passionate speech as she continued to stare him down, just inches from his face now.
"God Daph, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make YOU feel guilty. I carry enough guilt with me every single day. If I hadn't stumbled on our escape attempt and managed to get away WITH Ethan too. If I hadn't been stupid enough to fall for Greg's pathetic "breakdown" charade. I would never have even been there. Hell, if I hadn't felt so sorry about my life that I ever concocted the whole silly little plot with you in the first place. Maybe things would have been so different..."
Daphne reached across the remaining tiny threshold between them and slapped Fred hard across the cheek, the sound reverberating in the now stunned room, even Scooby yelped in surprise. Nobody was expecting that, not least Fred.
Daphne's eyes were truly blazing now. "DON'T! Don't you dare become that self-loathing creature again that I thought we had finally got rid of in rehab, Fred Jones! You and I are not responsible for any of this. This is all on him. No-one else. Don't you ever think that you don't matter, because you do. More than even you realise."
Fred's cheek instantly stung from the shock and intensity of the slap and he cradled a hand to his face automatically. She was furious with him. He opened his mouth to speak but Shaggy beat him to it.
"When you guys have politely stopped beating yourselves up for who's responsible for some fucking psychopath going on a rampage because... spoiler alert – it's none of us - could we PLEASE get back to talking about how we're going to get Madelyn out of this mess please?!"
Fred and Daphne tore their gaze from each other to acknowledge Shaggy. Fred was still reeling that she had actually hit him. She didn't seem in the slightest bit remorseful but they both knew now wasn't the time for this, there was still clearly underlying tension between them after such a fraught time in China but now wasn't the time to indulge in stoking those tensions further.
"Gosh you're right Shaggy," Daphne said, her face turning a nice shade of scarlet as she squirmed a little in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry Velma, we shouldn't be squabbling like this when your sister's life is at stake!"
"Yeah sorry Velma," Fred added, though he still couldn't look Daphne in the eye. "I still stick by what I said though, we need to do this alone."
He dared Daphne to protest again but instead of voicing her own disapproval again, she turned to Velma. "What do you want to do, Velma?"
Four pairs of eyes were scrutinised on her and Velma began to vocalise her conflicting thoughts on a terrible situation. "I get it Daph, I totally get it. There is no doubt that Ethan is an advantage for us, particularly as it will be a huge shock to Devon. He's skilled and experienced, of course it makes sense to wait for him but..."
Fred smiled in satisfaction to himself, he could see Velma wavering already in her belief.
"But...he betrayed us. All of us really but especially you two, his own sister and his closest friend. How can you ever get over what he did to you? I'm absolutely seething on your behalf still, I don't see how I can ever work with him again, not like before."
"Not even to save your sister?" Daphne asked desperately. "You can't put aside those feelings?"
"I can't help how I feel Daphne," Velma said almost apologetically as Fred looked incredibly smug. "I'm not sure our best shot will be with Ethan at all."
"I respect your opinion Velma, but I can't help feeling to go this alone would be a terrible, terrible mistake and could really cost us everything, not least Madelyn..."
"Stop the guilt trip Daphne!" Fred declared. "That's a real low tactic and you know it."
Daphne ignored Fred and tried a different tact. "Okay, let's forget about Ethan completely. We're sat in a base with a healthy smattering of police officers including one we trust implicitly in Rory. We know the FBI are on the way, why not just sit tight and go with the professionals here? They are surely our best chance of getting Madelyn back. At some point they're going to go in big on Devon, we just have to wait."
"Would these be the same professionals who got killed in huge number the last time they 'went big' on Devon?" Shaggy commented dryly without any humour. "Are we really sure that sitting pretty here while they fail again is the best way to ensure Velma's sister's safety?"
"So you're in favour of a 'hail Mary' approach too Shaggy?" Daphne questioned bitterly. "I thought you would be the first to say going it alone is a terrible idea!"
"Oh it IS a terrible idea. No question of that," Shaggy replied. "But we are in a DIRE situation here. He's already wiped out a good chunk of the police, driven everyone out of the town. He's pretty much done. There's only one thing left he craves and that is us. The police have already failed, let's face it."
"Exactly Shaggy," Fred nodded. "He has already taken too many innocent lives and I won't let Velma's sister be another. This is our final stand now. It has to be us. Although that broadcast was widespread, it only had one intended audience – us. I'm absolutely confident that the next time he makes contact will be far more direct and personal. He only wants us now, so I suggest we give him exactly what he wants."
"You're insane Fred! What on earth makes you think that we can succeed where the police failed?" Daphne cried.
"I don't know for sure," Fred admitted. "But I do have faith in us. There's been many times where we've succeeded where the professionals failed, it's how we've become so successful and the way I see it is we can give this our damn best shot...or die trying." He ignored Daphne's look of pure despair to unveil his riskiest shot. "I actually believe we could end this. We are the final piece of the puzzle, his revenge would be complete, I'm thinking we could be the final sacrifice to save the town."
They were all agape at him now. "Jesus Fred, you've truly lost it," Daphne said in pure disbelief, not even recognising the boy in front of her any more. "You want us to give ourselves up to him? What happened about not letting him win?"
"I'm not saying we go in with that attitude, we should do everything in our power to save Madelyn above everything else but if we fail...I'm suggesting we make one final bargain to him – we give ourselves up and he agrees to stop so at least we know the town is safe and can recover."
"We sacrifice ourselves and have to just hope he sticks to the bargain?"
"I actually think he would," Fred reflected, thinking of the conversations he had whilst being Devon's captive. "It ends with us. I firmly believe that."
"No Fred," Velma said firmly. "Your plan isn't without merit and if I knew it truly would end I would swap places with Madelyn in a heartbeat if that's all he wants but he's a meglomaniac now. We can't let him win. What an insult to the memory of Will and Stella that would be! I know in your head – sacrificing sounds noble and everything and probably a fitting bookend given what we did to the town but there is no guarantee it would. We could offer our lives and he could carry on forever, taking even more innocent lives. It's truly foolish Fred, I'm sorry to say that. We would have to be on our knees to even consider it."
"Thank you for restoring some sanity Velma," Daphne said snippily.
"I wasn't quite done yet Daphne," Velma replied. "That part of Fred's plan is insane and we can file that firmly under 'only as an absolute dire last resort' but I also won't sit back and wait while we wait for the police to mobilise themselves. As soon as we get word of where Madelyn is...I want to go in...alone. Any chance we have to save her, we have to take, even if that means taking reckless actions. We've already seen him take the lives of Stella and Will, I will not let him take my sister, not if I can do something about it."
"So that's it," Daphne declared flatly.
"Well no," Fred said, "not quite, just like always we need to vote first. To be clear we're voting in favour of not enlisting the help of anyone else as soon as we know where Madelyn is. Those in favour?"
Fred and Velma had little hesitation with raising their hands and Daphne turned imploringly to Shaggy. "Shaggy, come on, you know this isn't right..."
Shaggy gulped, absolutely hating being in this position. He knew his vote would clinch it. He was fully aware of the danger they would face but he was also reluctantly beginning to realise that they had to do this.
"Sorry Daph, it's her sister," he said quietly. "Remember how you wouldn't even let us help you when you thought Devon had Ethan? You have to understand why Velma isn't trusting of anyone else to help here."
He slowly raised his hand and Daphne's head dropped in defeat. She turned to Scooby and nodded. "Go on Scooby, you get a vote too."
She fully expected with Shaggy standing in reckless solidarity with Velma and Fred, that Scooby wouldn't hesitate to back his master but was surprised when the dog shook his head.
"Ro. I rote ro."
"Okay," Fred said grimly, also mildly surprised by Scooby's vote. "That's three to two. Sorry Daph, it looks like you're outvoted."
"So it would seem," Daphne sighed and Scooby flopped resignedly to the floor too. "So what happens next?"
Fred and Velma both looked at Daphne in surprise. "You didn't agree Daphne, I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do. It will be like old times – the original cat burglars of Coolsville reunite for one final time!"
Fred had deliberately been trying for humour and it worked as Daphne's lip curled up into a little smile.
"How you can always find time to be funny in serious moments Fred I don't know but let me clarify something. I may well think this is a bad idea and would much rather we don't do it but I'm 100% still coming with you. I can't believe you think I wouldn't. This is my uncle and most importantly of all, we are a team. We never abandoned each other since we formed Mystery Inc. We have always had each other's backs and I'm not about to break that now. It's like you said, if we go down, we go down swinging... together."
Fred grinned at her, beyond relieved by her stance. "So it's settled then, we're really doing this?" he looked around at every one.
"Yes. As soon as Devon makes contact again, we put together our plan and bring the fight right back to him," Velma stated with some determination. "Just us."
"It started with Mystery Inc versus one man and I guess it could very well end that way," Fred exclaimed. "It somehow feels fitting. I guess all we can do now is wait..."
The others nodded at him, the decision had been made now, throughout the last few years as Mystery Inc had developed and thrived, they had made some incredible audaciously bad calls caught up in the thrill of adrenaline and adventure but with emotions running high and a loved one's life at stake, they had perhaps made the boldest, bravest decision but with the most potentially catastrophic consequences of all.
Meanwhile, somewhere tantalisingly close by, their adversary was putting his final plans into motion, the climax of a revenge plot that was oh so very long in the making...
To be continued.