"Hello, Coolsville! This is Velma Dinkley of Mystery Inc. coming at you live from the Hex Girls concert in New York!" Velma announced excitedly toward her camera. She pointed her camera at and zoomed in on the band on stage as they played "It's A Mystery" passionately alongside each other. "I love these girls and so do my friends here!"
Velma pointed the camera at Gwen, her newest groupie, nearby as she headbanged to music alongside MJ. "Woohoo! Rock on, Hex Girls!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"We're so passionate we put all other superfans to shame!" Velma boasted, believing her the Hex Girls shirt she wore over her sweater to be a symbol of pride and fangirlism. From there on she hardly cared about what she was filming and let it play while she bounced with absolute joy in her system. For that matter, her team didn't care about her hanging out with somebody else.
Neither party really did for any reason.
After the previous night's discussion, Velma had received approval to hang out with MJ and Gwen during the concert. Despite the latter two being Peter Parker's friends, she got no backlash from her own team or the friends of her new friends. Well, except from Harry maybe. Little did Velma know of the jealousy that had been plaguing Peter's best friend, Harry. For good reason, MJ chose to leave this detail out for the sake of keeping secrets safe amongst her friend group. Neither party would have wanted the other's secrets getting out so easily.
While the three nerd girls partied about in the mosh pit, setting themselves up for potential broken bones, Peter and Harry stood aside from the action. Harry tried not to let his grudge against Mystery Inc. get in the way of enjoying this day. In order to prevent anything nasty from occurring, he chose not to even say "hi" to Velma the moment she joined up with the girls. Look at them having fun, Harry thought lividly. First my best friend, now my gal pals?! What is this world coming to?
Despite his internal feelings, Harry knew to keep it light on the outside as he turned to his best friend. "Hey, Pete! You hungry?" he shouted over the music, generously offering to feed him as if out of remorse for the day before.
Peter looked down to read his stomach, which growled a bit with a hollow noise. "All systems ready to eat, Harr!" Peter joked as if taking influence from the snack eaters of Mystery Inc. "Maybe a corn dog?"
"Sure thing! I'll pay," Harry offered, playing into his rich allowance his dad gave him recently. With a thanks from Peter, Harry turned to walk away toward the concessions, confident that Scooby and Shaggy wouldn't already be there pigging out and holding up the line. Believing this, he remained hopeful that nothing would change in the few minutes it took for him to buy.
Backstage was hopefully the best spot for the rest of Mystery Inc. to keep a watchful eye on Prezette's remote until the end of the show. Since they had control of it, the special effects team resorted to a traditional way of producing the visuals from the sound booth. With security tightened around the newly designated concert area, the team in charge remained optimistic that Mysterio wouldn't find his way back in to wreck the place.
For Fred, however, his biggest concern was the idea that Peter Parker may not have wanted to be on the team.
"You know considering we never saw Peter Parker the other day, I'm starting to think maybe he just bailed on us for some reason," he told Daphne, shouting over the music as he held the remote.
"And what makes you think so?" Daphne questioned for some reason.
"I mean he seemed fine when we first met him, but to be under the weather just like that? That's a bit unusual if I say so."
"Fred, colds come up unexpectedly all the time," Daphne reassured him somewhat scoldingly. "I think you're reading too much into this."
"It's at the heart of every mystery solver to figure out what's really going on."
"I know, but even so, we still don't know what's with Mysterio yet," Daphne reminded him. At that point something had caught Fred's eye, confusing Daphne somewhat. "Hello? Earth to Fred!" She looked out to notice he wasn't staring at who she thought he was, but rather Peter Parker standing near the front row. To him, this was an opportunity to discuss whether he was still interested in joining their team.
"There's Peter Parker right now," he pointed out to everyone. "I think I'll go ask him what's up. You guys can take care of the remote, okay?"
And just like that, Fred took off, leaving the remote in a concerned Daphne's hands while Scooby and Shaggy continued to dance energetically to the music.
As Peter Parker stood in front of the stage, book bag containing his costume in hand, he had slowly, but surely begun to appreciate the Hex Girls a little more. Ever since Gwen and the others played him their album on their way to the signing, their music had grown on him to the point where it was actually kind of catchy to him. He was tapping his foot to the rhythm as if beginning to finally learn the song by heart. Just when he really started to get into it, though, he had his groove broken up by a familiar voice.
"Hey, Peter. It's me, Fred, from Mystery Inc." the voice of Fred Jones rang to him nearby. His buff figure slid into his view, exciting him yet somewhat putting him on edge.
"Of course, I remember you, Fred. Who could forget the leader of Mystery Inc.?" Peter complimented.
"I am pretty hard to forget," Fred said, swooshing his blond hair. "More importantly, I was wondering if you forgot about our planned mystery solving steakout."
"Forgot? No way!" Peter responded jokingly. "Didn't my aunt tell you I was sick?"
"Well, she did and I must say it made us all very concerned. We were just wondering if you weren't interested in joining us all of the sudden. Our offer still stands you know."
Peter stood there, feeling in a tight spot to think of how to respond in a way that didn't expose his secret identity. With the recent steakout he performed as Spider-Man, he couldn't just tell him he was there in secret. They might play into their mystery solving ways and figure out it was him the whole time. "Well, I… was really looking forward to it, but I had a lot of other homework to take care of so I had to skip."
"You had to skip out? You could've just told us that and we'd have understood," Fred suggested.
"I know, I know. I told my aunt to tell you that, but she must've changed the excuse on me. Wasn't she holding soup or something?"
"Well, she was holding soup then," Fred gestured into a reminiscing position when his eyes darted down toward Peter's bag. Right there, before his eyes, he spotted red and blue fabric poking out of his bag similar to that of Spider-Man's suit. Panicked, Peter seemed to realize where he was looking and quickly shoved it under the bag's flap.
"Right, soup-soup…" he trailed off hastily trying to avoid a potential confrontation. "Um, what were we talking about?"
"You guys take care of the remote, I'm gonna go… take a look at… what's going on out there," Daphne told the guys, trying to come up with an excuse as to what she was doing. She then handed Scooby the remote.
"Like, we won't let you down, Daphne!" Shaggy saluted her, not caring about what she was doing.
"Watchman, Scooby-Doo, reporting for duty!" Scooby joked, saluting with his owner.
"Good work, boys," Daphne encouraged them, giving them a thumbs up as she strode out of the area. She was more curious as to what Fred was telling Peter since she couldn't really decipher what they were saying from backstage. Plus, she had to make sure he wasn't slacking off trying to solve the mystery for a change. It wasn't like Fred to take his eyes off the prize so she hoped he wasn't starting now. Before she could take two steps, however, she was met with an electric shock that stunned her almost instantly. With the drop of her eyelids, she slumped toward the floor her unconscious body falling with a bone-cracking thud. Suddenly, a green gloved hand reached out from the shadows dragging her into the darkness while no one was looking.
Meanwhile, Scooby and Shaggy were too distracted to notice what happened to Daphne and were already bickering about who got to hold the remote.
"Like, Scoob, it's hard to hold the remote when you have dog paws. Here, let me hold it!" Shaggy complained. He reached for the remote in Scooby's paws only for Scooby to whisk it away.
"What would you know about paws? We don't need your greasy hands all over this… fine piece of art," Scooby said caressed the remote. Before he could react, Shaggy planted his hands on the edge and grabbed it, nearly yanking it away.
"What we need is for someone to hold her steady and not get their dog slobber all over it!" Shaggy forcefully uttered all while trying to pull it away.
"Slobber, blobber, Shaggy!" Scooby remarked sassily. The two struggled to take the remote away from one another, commencing an impromptu tug of war between man and man's best friend that could have easily split the remote in two. In doing so, the remote actually slipped their grip, tumbling through the air and landing in the shadowy corner near the red curtain. Exchanging shocked glances, they both dove for the remote simultaneously, both of them determined not to let it slip their grip again. Unfortunately, just as they both hit the ground clasping their hands together, the remote did slip their grip again as if being dragged into the darkness by an invisible string.
"Like, what?!" Shaggy squeaked, knowing that in some way, the place was being haunted.
From where they sat on the floor, a green lightning bolt lit up the area with a flash, revealing the dome-like silhouette of Mysterio standing authoritatively over them. Seeing this, the two of them exchanged frightened glances and shrieked in fear when all of the sudden a grey cloud electrified by green lightning bolts appeared over Mysterio completely lighting up the shadowy place. The area was now illuminated bright enough to where a pair of twin dragons surrounding him became visible, bearing the same color scheme and furiousness as their master.
"You think you are so clever as to keep this remote away from me?" Mysterio taunted. "Well, now I shall demonstrate what more it can do! Dracones impetum!" Listening to his Latin command, the dragons began to swarm Scooby and Shaggy nearly petrifying them with all their beastliness.
"Like, zoinks! It's Mysterio!" Shaggy screamed his usual frightened catchphrase.
"Run!" Scooby wailed, feeling the adrenaline kick into his doggish nervous system.
At the moment the duo immediately reconciled from their previous quarrel, got up from their downed positions, and darted away from the dragons breathing green fire toward them. Seeing their would be victims sprinting away, the dragons roared as Mysterio began to levitate with them, carrying his storm cloud he had summoned. With furious pursuit, the dragons followed Mysterio's command of pointing his finger and following Shaggy and Scooby out onto front and center stage where they seemed to be heading. For Mysterio, this seemed to be the perfect time to strike.
"Right, so about that red and blue wall-crawler-" Fred attempted to ask Peter before he interrupted.
"Wh-what? Wait! What wall-crawler? I don't know what you're talking about," Peter commented nervously.
It was at this point that Peter felt the need to look around for a way out of the conversation in a way that wouldn't come off as rude or impolite. Suddenly, the crowd in front of him began to jostle by a figure in dark red baggy pants and a green shirt with his brown great dane. Undoubtedly, this was Shaggy and Scooby, the two of them hyperventilating while effectively saving Peter from Fred's interrogation. "Fred… Peter… like… Mysterio!" Shaggy managed to get out in between breaths.
"What?!" Peter exclaimed.
"It sounded like he said 'Mysterio'!" Fred deduced.
Just then, a pair of deafening roars took the audience by surprise, turning them in the direction of the curtains backstage. Soon as Peter, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby turned in the direction from which the sounds were emanating, a pair of twin dragons appeared hovering toward the back of the stage, flapping their wings, which subsequently stirred up the air surrounding the crowd standing toward the front. Determined to keep the concert going, the Hex Girls ignored the noticeable change in scenery gusts of wind around and continued to play their song, "Good Bad Girls", blissfully unaware of what stood behind them. Everyone, save for Scooby and Shaggy, stood in amazement and started cheering thinking it was part of the show's special effects.
"Some special effects they have," Peter noted, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject. "These girls rock!"
"I don't think those are special effects," Fred suspected, playing into his sleuth side. The special effects weren't even supposed to be that good because Prezette's remote was being watched over. But then Scooby and Shaggy were present and hyperventilating claiming that Mysterio was nearby. And, if so, what happened to Daphne? Fred kept wondering, worried for what could have become of her.
The dragons turned toward one another, crossing streams of green fire up into the air before turning their heads down toward the stage, setting part of it up in flames. Seeing this, the crowd began to scream and scatter for fear of getting roasted at their favorite band's concert. It was at that moment that the crackling of flames got the band's attention, forcing Thorn to mess up her guitar notes and stop playing to look back at the sight unfolding behind her. Dusk and Luna followed her, taking their hands off their instruments and turning around to witness everything go up in flames around them. Each of them bearing a terrified expression, the three of them immediately threw down their instruments and accessories without second thoughts, and hopped off stage for their own safety into the scattering crowd.
Appalled, Peter noticed the color scheme of the dragons as well as the fact that he felt no real heat aura given off by the flames. I knew it! This is the work of Mysterio! Peter thought as he ran off away from Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby. With no other choice, he ignored their pleas to come back and darted for cover, determined to change into his alter-ego and put a stop to what was happening.
Just as Peter ran out of sight, Fred and the others witnessed the domed figure responsible predictably appear in full, walking through the flames with his cape wrapped around him: Mysterio. "I warned you that your music would bring the world to misery, Hex Girls!" Mysterio announced throwing his cape open to reveal his green jumpsuit. "Now you all shall face judgment!"
From within the crowd, the Hex Girls stared at their attacker, startled that the same wizard was at it again even after they moved locations from the NYC Arena. The three of them banded together to escape through the crowd, each of them sprinting away in high heels hoping that the freak wouldn't catch them. Before they could make it to the exit, however, a wall of green fire appeared surrounding them in the center of the arena, engulfing their surroundings and effectively trapping them amidst the chaos. Ever so predictably, Mysterio and his dragons hovered overhead in the most impending position possible.
"Only now in the midst of this chaos do you realize just how worthless you all are," Mysterio taunted. "Smite them, brethren!"
Around them, the flames began to mold and take shape into a series of look-alikes, their domed heads masking their determination and their capes trailing behind them. The closer they got, the more apparent it became that their surroundings were turning into an army of Mysterio clones, each donning the same look as the original. Believing themselves to be defenseless, the Hex Girls held each other's hands tightly as if accepting their fate.
"Just get behind me, girls," Thorn proclaimed in their defense. She held their hands tightly bracing for impact. Still, she had no idea what she was doing as she had no experience in martial arts like Dusk did. What she wouldn't give to learn a thing or two from her in the next few seconds before they got slaughtered or whatever it was they were about to do to them.
Just then, out of the corner of their eyes, a red and blue blur swung in heroically on a webline, web-shooting a majority of the Mysterio clones in the face. Without a doubt, Spider-Man had come to their rescue once more, the Web-head himself winking at them through his closeable white eye. Blind and confused, most of the clones began to blindly shoot a series of fireballs barraging through the air at Spider-Man, hoping to make him crumble at any moment. Making use of his Spider Sense, Spidey managed to outmaneuver any and all firepower heading his way whilst the Hex Girls ducked to avoid potentially getting shot. With the yanking of a webline, Spidey then landed in front of the girls as the clones had already begun to fully close in on them.
"Quick, one of you grab hold and I'll come back for the rest!" Spidey suggested hastily, barely knowing what he could do to save them in this instance.
Suddenly, a spark of an idea appeared to fall upon Dusk. "Not so. These guys won't be able to see this coming!" she proclaimed as she assumed a karate fighting position.
"No, Dusk, wait!" Spidey tried to warn her, but it was too late. She had already proceeded to kick one of the Mysterio copies in the chest, but her heels only put a small dent in it. Provoked, the Mysterio clone took her leg and twisted it, dropping her to the ground as the rest of them began to charge more closely to their potential captures. To avoid getting trampled, Dusk rolled aside to avoid their oncoming feet and turned around to witness Spidey brawling with several of them at once. In a series of spectacular maneuvers, he punched, kicked, and twisted each and every robot in sight, effectively taking off their arms, legs, and heads in piles of what appeared to be prosthetic limbs. From their severed parts also emerged sparks and traces of technology he hadn't quite seen yet, which he somehow managed to notice in the midst of the commotion.
"Robots?" Spidey assumed. "To think I used to like them as a kid!"
Spidey grabbed one of the Mysterio bots and tossed it into another, throwing it to the ground. Rapidly, he searched the chaos for Dusk lying on the ground, yet she seemed to be nowhere from what he could tell. The Mysterio clones just kept coming, surrounding Spidey and the remaining Hex Girls on all fronts until the Hex Girls were obscured from his visible sight. The remaining robot bodies began warmly enclosing him in walls of green and purple on all fronts, completely obscuring any and all views of the outside world. If this was how Spidey was going out, he didn't want to be mangled at the seams. Thinking smart, he shot out several webs shots on all sides, engrossing himself up in a wall of webs until he wrapped himself in an entire cocoon. For a moment, he was concealed in a tiny web igloo stopping all the Mysterio bots dead in their tracks confused as to where their foe went. In an instant, the web cocoon went off like a bomb, wiping out the remaining Mysterio bots within the vicinity and freeing Spider-Man.
"Spider powers, I love you!" Spidey complimented himself, staring at his web shooters on his wrist.
"Rejoice not, Spider-Man," Mysterio announced from overhead. "For your Hex Girl friends are no longer anywhere within our sight!"
"What did you do?!" an enraged Spidey fired back at his foe.
"A magician - much more an Arcane wizard - never reveals his secrets!" Mysterio remarked cleverly. "Dracones impetum!"
Spidey webbed his way up toward Mysterio, only to be met with the freak wizard vanishing in a cloud of green smoke. Clumsily, this caused his pulled punch to become connected with nothing more than the air where he once stayed afloat.
"What the-" Spidey exclaimed, stopping himself in mid sentence and midair.
Almost immediately, the dragons began to breathe fire, crossing streams and forcing him to create a webline to zip himself toward the ground. After tumbling to catch his footing, he then shot a web up to the domed stage - which mysteriously hadn't burned down despite the flames - evading the emerald flames in hopes to get a jump on the dragons. In the midst of all this, he wondered where on Earth the Hex Girls had been taken or where Mysterio went. Because of the loose ends this fight created, Spidey was rather disheartened by the fact that Mysterio managed to outsmart him so much, especially now that the crowd's favorite band was being hauled off to who knows where. Without a doubt, Gwen and MJ were probably sobbing over what may as well be the Hex Girls' funeral. Even so, he wouldn't give up no matter what. With a pair of twin dragons on the loose, there was no telling what damage they would do to the city, much less the vicinity, if he ignored them and moved on.
He had to stop the crime in progress.
Circling around, he connected a webline to one of the dragons, latching onto it as he zoomed toward it. Kicking out his legs, he delivered a kick causing it to roar in pain. For a split second he noticed he had put a dent in its side through which there shown a mechanical wiring system. Just my luck, Spidey thought cleverly to himself.
Landing on the other dragon's side, Spidey ran across it before it could notice and webbed the wounded one in the eyes, blinding it from its vision. The mechanical beast bellowed trying to shake it off before Spidey Web Struck its side once more and attached himself to its torso. Digging into the wires he found, he pulled out the first piece of tech that looked important from its residing spot. "Bingo!" he exclaimed. The dragon's holographic appearance faded out into a literal mechanical beast that, due to the malfunctioning appliance, caused it to collapse toward the ground. In the split second it took for him to use Spider Sense on the surrounding area, Spidey realized there were still scattering civilians beneath him. Knowing that if they died, he would never forgive himself for this tragedy. Quickly analyzing the walls in the area around him, Spidey thought quickly to utilize a series of web nets around the area surrounding the stage - thankfully, they were there or else he would have almost no support to attach his webs to. With a bounce, the webs kept the crumbling dragon-like robot from falling to the ground and crushing whoever could have been underneath it.
Having held her eyes shut bracing for impact, Velma opened her eyes the moment she saw the technological beast loom overhead covered by a series of web-like nets. Upon getting up from her crouched position, she examined the net of webs knowing it was caused by none other than Spider-Man, whom she already noticed flying overhead to try and stop the monstrosities. Were it not for him, she could have easily been crushed by the falling debris.
The one thing she wondered about the robot dragon, though, was how it was flying in the first place. Now that this dragon had been revealed to be fake, she wondered curiously who could have put together an impressive contraption.
Before she could ponder any questions she had, though, her thoughts were broken up by the screams of what sounded like her new besties standing near the entrance. Instantly, she turned her head to find that they, too, were enclosed in a ring of fire along with a load of civilians, the one remaining robotic dragon blocking them from exiting the enclosed arena. "Mary Jane! Gwen!" she shouted for them. Knowing this dragon was dangerous, though, she remained in place not wanting to rush toward them and put herself in danger.
A sense of mounting panic filled the girls as they shook alongside the few other civilians struggling for life, each of them staring up at the dragon flapping its wings overhead. Seeing this as their potential fate, Gwen and MJ reached for the other's shoulders, embracing each other as they shivered together for fear of this being their last moments.
"Gwen, just so you know, I used your makeup to prep myself for today!" MJ confessed out of fear of taking this secret to the grave with her.
"That's funny 'cause this is actually your Hex Girls shirt, not mine!" admitted Gwen, knowing that this could be the only time they had to share each other's secrets before they got fried to death.
In the few seconds it took for the dragon to huff a huge breath of fire, burst of white frost hit its eyes, blinding it and causing its fire breath to die down in an instant. From the edge of the fire circle - half of which had been burned away by the foam - Scooby-Doo and his owner, Shaggy, came rushing in with a pair of fire extinguishers they found near the exit. Despite his traditional cowardice, Scooby had this surprising tendency to man up to defend his friends - even his friends' friends - and encourage Shaggy to do the same.
And so they continued to spray enough foam at the circle of fire surrounding them until it began to disappear. Seeing them as their heroes in this situation, the crowd including Gwen and MJ cheered and rooted them on keep putting out the fire as long as the dragon was distracted. Before they knew it, their surroundings were clear and the crowd was now free to exit the arena without getting themselves burned. Waving their hands and cheering, Gwen and MJ followed the crowd out of the arena knowing that they were safe. Despite this, they stood behind and turned around to witness the fight ensuing overhead.
Believing this to be their most proud moment, Scooby and Shaggy nodded toward each other.
"Now what do you say we teach that dragon a lesson?" asked Shaggy excitedly.
"Right!" Scooby affirmed turning around.
Just as he turned around, however, he noticed that, in the midst of their heroics Spider-Man had arrived to wrestle with the dragon in midair. Noticing the foam gone from its eyes, Scooby was scared yet excited that his hero was fighting the dragon for him.
"Reah, Rider-Man!" Scooby cheered, hoping for the best outcome possible.
After putting his knee and fist into the dragon's chest, Spidey ultimately managed to slice right through the dragon's center with all his super strength, causing its fake exterior to vanish. The remaining tech fell to the ground away from the crowds, which had stayed behind to witness the fight. Knowing that the area was clear this time around, Spidey simply allowed the robotic dragon to fall in a pile of machines toward the ground, crashing with an Earth-shaking thud that jolted everyone watching awake. Looking away from the machine bursting into sparks behind him, Spidey turned toward Scooby, Shaggy, Gwen, and MJ to face them and let out a signature quip.
"And that, my friends, is how the princes win over the princesses," Spidey quipped to his fanboys.
The crowd surrounding him cheered as Spidey bowed, proud to have received some recognition for his heroics despite failing to capture bad guy and rescue the band from imminent danger.