HEARTS OF STEEL
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, Scooby Doo, or their characters.
Summary: While searching for a kidnapped heiress, Velma Dinkely encounters Piotr Rasputin.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 13
Velma Dinkley
The cute glasses-wearing brunette in the orange sweater, short reddish skirt, knee-high orange socks and brown shoes scowled at herself.
Once again she was walking through a large, spooky, haunted house, looking for clues to her groups latest mystery.
What's more is that she was alone. Again.
Fred Jones and Daphne Blake were probably off in one of the rooms having sex, while Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo had no doubt found the kitchen and were filling their stomachs.
And if they were unlucky, as per usual, they had found the 'monster'.
Sometimes Velma wondered why and how she ever came to work with these people. Solving a mystery was fun, especially if she had reliable people to work with. But their quirks got on her nerves at times.
Daphne was always worried about fashion and her hair. Fred was more interested in Daphne and with building his traps. Shaggy and Scooby would rather fill their stomachs than catch bad guys. Of course, they did tend to burn a lot of calories running away from the bad guys they encountered. They had to keep themselves well fed in order to keep up their energy to run away.
That left Velma Dinkley to solve the mystery. Especially on their last few cases.
In the past Velma had been able to count on Fred and the others to solve crimes and catch bad guys, but over the last year the team's 'teamwork' had fallen off a bit.
Their latest case involved a missing heiress, Samantha Jonnes, kidnapped by a hulking monster from a New York society dinner, that Mystery Inc. had been invited to, according to the local authorities. Velma had managed to track the monster here to this abandoned mansion in Upstate New York, and the 'team' had decided to split up. Actually, the 'mansion' looked more like an extravagant hotel.
Shaggy and Scooby had taken to looking in the kitchen, and Fred and Daphne were upstairs in one of the bedrooms. That left Velma to look around in the basement.
She was searching hard, when she suddenly ran into a wall. Or a wall-like figure.
"Ompf!" Velma cried out as she turned the corner and collided with something. Or rather some one.
"Oh! Are you alright?" a deep masculine voice said.
"I'm... I'm fine." Velma said as she started searching for her glasses. "My glasses!"
"Here. Allow me." the voice said as someone handed her her glasses back. The accent sounded Russian.
"Thank you." she said, placing her glasses back on her face, and then looked up, and up, and up, until she saw the tallest and most muscular man she had ever met. He had short black hair, dressed in a pair of boots, blue jeans, and a white tank top. "Jinkies!" she gasped.
Holding out his hand, Velma took it and he pulled her up, displaying an impressive amount of strength.
"Whoa! Thanks!" Velma gasped at being pulled up so easily. "Who are you?"
"Piotr Rasputin." he introduced himself. "And you are?"
"Velma Dinkley. Mystery Inc. What are you doing here?"
"I was sent here by my leader, Charles Xavier, to search for a missing... person... in trouble." he said.
There was something about the way he said that which made Velma suspicious. But she was looking for the kidnapped young woman as well.
"I'm looking for a missing heiress, named Samantha Jonnes, who was kidnapped by some huge brute from her family's social dinner. My investigation lead me here to this house." she said.
"By yourself?" Piotr asked, confused.
"Well... I had help, but they're otherwise... engaged." she said.
"Oh. Perhaps I can help you." he said.
Velma looked up at the muscular and handsome Russian man before her.
It would be nice to solve this mystery with some help. And he does want to find her as much as I do. She thought. "Alright. Let's go."
Velma lead Piotr to a section of the large house, underneath it, where she was stopped by a wall.
"Why are we stopping here?" Piotr asked.
"Faint footprints and something being dragged up to this wall, and then it just stops. Which means, this wall opens up here. But I don't see a switch or lever to open it." Velma said.
"Perhaps it's a manual means of opening it." Piotr said as he placed his hands against the wall and pushed. Hard.
"Uh, Piotr, maybe we should..."
CREEEEEEK!
The wall suddenly moved, slowly being pushed backwards by the large, muscular Russian.
"Jinkies!" she gasped as she saw the stone wall move. She walked up to it after Piotr was done opening it enough to walk through, and pushed against it. "This wall must be a thousand pounds heavy, or more." she said.
"Did not feel like a thousand." Piotr stated.
The pair continued down the long passageway that was before them. After a few minutes, they paused when they heard a pair of voices.
"Come on, girl!" a cultured mans voice said.
"Who is that?" Velma gasped as the pair looked around the corner of the passageway.
"It's... it's Calvin Zabo! And he's got the young heiress!" Piotr said.
"You know him?" Velma asked.
"Fought him once before." he said.
"He doesn't look very tough." Velma stated.
"He gets stronger when he uses his strength-enhancement formula." he said.
"His what?" she asked.
"Have you ever heard of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?" he asked her.
"The novel? Of course." she said.
"Well, Zabo created a formula based on that book, which makes him bigger and stronger than normal." he explained.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Unfortunately. Now I understand why Professor Xavier sent me to rescue the woman." he said.
The pair watched as Zabo clung to the young woman with dark blond hair in a blue party dress by the arm, before tying her to a chair.
"What do you want?" Samantha asked him.
"I want you to make me rich." Zabo said.
"God, you sound like my parents!" she hissed and rolled her eyes.
"Do it, or I'll be forced to do something you will regret." Zabo said.
"What do you mean?" she asked, wondering if he was going to rape her.
Zabo pulled out a vial of chemical serum from his coat. It was a sickly green color.
"In case you didn't know, I am a biochemist. This little concoction of mine, will mutate your DNA into something truly horrible. It's a painful experience. Trust me, I invented it." he said.
"I've got to stop him." Piotr said.
"Good idea." Velma said.
Piotr saw a piece of wood on the floor, and grabbed it, hurling it at Zabo. The wood spun and twisted in the air, striking Zabo's arm and causing him to drop the vial of bio-chem on the ground.
"What?" Zabo gasped.
"Zabo!" Piotr shouted as he made himself known.
"What? You!" Zabo cried out in shock as he saw Piotr.
Zabo quickly pulled out a small beaker from his coat, popped the top, and swallowed the strange liquid inside. Within seconds he began to transform into a giant hulking brute, his muscles straining and breaking his clothes in several places, especially his shirt.
"Jinkies!" Velma gasped as she saw his transformation. "It's for real!"
"I'll handle this." Piotr said.
"You'll handle this? I know you're strong, but how..."
Velma gasped as Piotr's body suddenly transformed from flesh and bone, into living steel. His height increased by about a foot, his body took on slightly more mass than he originally had.
"Jinkies Again!" she gasped. "Who, or what, are you?"
"I'm a mutant." he said to her as Zabo, now Mr Hyde, growled and stretched his muscles.
"A mutant?" she gasped.
"A person born with superhuman abilities." he replied.
"You should have stayed out of this, Colossus!" Zabo growled as he charged the metal man.
"Not while you have a mutant hostage, Mr Hyde." Colossus said as he charged as well.
"The heiress is a mutant?" Velma gasped.
Colossus and Mr Hyde collided with each other, the impact shaking the foundations of the mansion. Velma covered her ears as their blows sent mini-shockwaves throughout the inner chamber.
Seeing her chance, Velma made it over to where the heiress was still tied up.
"Huh? Who are you?" Samantha asked as the cute nerd untied her.
"I'm Velma. I'm here to help you." she said.
"Uh... you're not a mutant, are you?"
"Not that I know of." Velma said.
Colossus punched Hyde, knocking him back into the far wall. He looked over and saw that his kidnap victim was being set free.
My hostage is getting away! he thought as he looked around for something to use.
Seeing a large piece of debris, from the wall he was knocked in to, Hyde grabbed the large stone and hurled it at Velma and the escaping heiress. Colossus quickly lunged in front of the debris as it smashed into him.
"Jinkies!" Velma gasped as Colossus looked unharmed.
"Thanks for the save." Samantha said.
"You're welcome." Colossus said.
"We're not done, steel boy!" Hyde shouted as he charged once again.
"Time to end this." Colossus said as he ducked low and let Hyde charge him. He got underneath him and then jerked his body up, knocking Hyde into the air and dropping him on his face. He turned around as Colossus attacked him, sending a combo of punches into his face, over and over again, until Hyde slowly began losing consciousness. "Good night!" Colossus said, landing a well-placed punch to Hyde's face, sending him down and out for the count.
"I guess I should have taken Professor Xavier's offer to join the X-Men." the heiress said as she looked over the unconscious form of Mr. Hyde.
"The decision was yours to begin with." Colossus said as his skin changed from steel to flesh and bone once again.
"Yeah. My family objected, but I would have been safer." she said.
"Wait! I'm confused. If you're a mutant, why didn't you use your powers to escape from Zabo earlier?" Velma asked.
"I'm an alchemist." she said.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"My powers are the ability to alter the chemical composition of the elements." she said.
"You mean, you could change a bar of lead into gold, for example?" Velma asked.
"Exactly. That's why Zabo wanted me. It's also how my family made their money." Samantha said.
"Figures. So... what are you going to do now?" Velma asked.
"I need some time away from my family. They're too greedy." Samantha said.
"You're not the only one who needs time away." Velma groaned.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
LATER...
The Mystery Inc. gang watched as human-sized Calvin Zabo was led away by police. The missing heiress was talking to a tall and muscular man, with Velma standing next to the man.
"Velma? What happened?" Fred asked.
"Case solved. I'm leaving." Velma said.
"Okay, where are we gonna..."
"Not 'we', me! I'm done with this group!" Velma declared.
"Done?" Daphne asked, confused.
"But after we just solved the case and rescued the heiress..." Fred started to say.
"What's this 'we' business?" Velma interrupted. "What did you do? You and Daphne were off having sex while Shaggy and Scooby were stuffing their faces! Again! I was almost killed by some Jekyll and Hyde wannabe, and the only person who helped me was a really hot guy with the strength of an army. He dealt with Zabo while I freed the heiress. That's what's called teamwork."
"What hot guy?" Daphne asked.
"Velma, are you ready to go?" Piotr asked as he approached the group.
Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby gasped when they met Piotr Rasputin, who towered over them.
"Whoa! What a hunk!" Daphne gasped with lust in her eyes.
"Bet I could bench more than him." Fred arrogantly sneered.
"He can bench over 90 tons, Fred." Velma said.
"Wha-wha...?" Fred gasped in horror.
Just then, then X-Jet arrived.
"Zoinks! What's that?" Shaggy gasped as the black-colored stealth jet hovered over their heads and landed just a few meters away.
"Our ride." Piotr said.
Mystery Inc. looked on as Piotr, Samantha and Velma made for the jet.
"But... but Velma!" Fred started to say.
"Sorry, Fred. But I need some time away from you guys. Like a couple of years. I'll see you around." Velma said as she boarded the stealth plane.
"Zoinks. What are we gonna do now?" Shaggy asked.
"Food?" Scooby asked.
"Good idea!" Shaggy agreed.
"No wonder Velma left." Daphne said as the jet took off.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Epilogue:
Piotr and Velma continue to grow closer to each other with each passing day. Velma helped out at the School, becoming an assistant teacher and then a regular teacher at the Xavier Academy. They started dating and eventually made love to each other. Piotr's love of art and history and Velma's love of science and math proved to be a stable balance in their lives.
Two years after Velma had left Mystery Inc. she and Piotr eventually got married and had two kids.
Daphne went back to school and got her degree in journalism, and became an investigative reporter, with Fred as her crew and manager.
Scooby and Shaggy hired themselves out as a food tasters for various food companies.
Mystery Inc. never got back together, but kept in touch with each other over the years.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Authors Notes:
This chapter is a little shorter than intended, but I wanted to upload something, and I haven't worked on this in a while. Hope everyone enjoys it.
Please tell me what you think, and if I do a sequel to this character, please tell me what you wanna see.
Suggestions are welcome. Please read and review.