Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)
Chapter 59: What a Night For a Fright
January 30th, Year 2
Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America
5:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time)
Pyrrha had to admit that walking through the halls of the Lovecraft Museum with none of the lights working was somewhat creepy. It didn't help matters that each footstep made the wooden boards under their feet creak and moan, and the intense storm raging outside blocked any of the sunlight from getting in as the sun set. The only sources of light for the group of four were their handheld flashlights and the occasional flash of lightning through the windows.
'Now that I think about it, Penny probably can see just fine,' Pyrrha thought to herself as she quickly glanced towards the gynoid. With her built in night vision, she could see better than everyone else. Not that it stopped her from lending her own flashlight to the cause, which she was idly aiming across the walls and floors to guide their way. Doing so was both genuinely helpful and it also helped to disguise her true nature, which were equally important.
Assuming, of course, it wasn't already for naught. Given the many odd glances Velma had sent their way, Pyrrha was starting to sense that the brunette was onto them regarding their true identities. The rest of Mystery Incorporated had openly bragged numerous times about how Velma Dinkley was the brains behind their entire operation, able to take all of the disparate clues they found during their investigations and fitting them together like a jigsaw puzzle to solve the mystery. Not just the culprit, but the motive behind it as well. Clearly they were telling the truth, which could pose a problem.
But that was something she could worry about later. Right now, Pyrrha's primary concern was simply solving this mystery. They'd been scouring the museum for hours, keeping constant communication with the others as they went room to room looking for clues. So far, they hadn't found much. Jaune and Fred did manage to uncover a secret room holding financial records indicating that the museum was in the red and they were potentially trying to sell the place. But that didn't tell her much.
"Velma, about what Jaune and Freddy found," Daphne asked as she led the way down the next dark hallway. "What do you think it means?"
"Hmm," Velma hummed for a moment, then shook her head and admitted, "by itself, it could mean anything. But, if I had to guess…I think this place has become a money pit, and someone wants out."
"Or in," Penny pointed out. "One of my friends, Weiss, her father would often buy out competing businesses when their value was at its lowest in order to gain more of a monopoly. Given how much wealth and power he had, he was often directly responsible for their value lowering in the first place."
"Weiss' dad doesn't sound like a nice man," Daphne commented, and Pyrrha nodded.
"She and the rest of her family would be the first to tell you that. His unethical business ethos is but one of many reasons why they utterly despise him," Pyrrha confirmed, and Daphne winced.
"Yeesh. Based off everything you've told us, it makes me happy my parents are good people, if a little detached at times."
"Those with wealth and means tend to do whatever they can to get more of it. I can only think of a handful that genuinely try to do as much good with their wealth as possible," Velma added. "In any case, Penny is right. It is entirely possible that some outside party is attempting to lower the property values to buy the land."
"Any reason why someone might want it?" Pyrrha asked, and Velma couldn't help but chuckle.
"If I had to list them all, we'd be here all day," she answered. "Someone could be after the mineral rights to the land, hoping to strike untapped ore veins or drill for oil. Someone could just want to develop the land and build homes or shopping centers. The possibilities are endless."
"Assuming, of course, that it isn't Mr. Blackman who's responsible," Daphne added. "But if he is, it makes me wonder why he'd be pretending to be a Deep One while trying to sell it."
"A place like this has to have investors," Velma replied. "Given how much work he's put into this place, it could be that the investors are the ones who are wanting to sell and he's trying to prevent that. To sell would be a repudiation of his life's work."
"Or, it could be that no one is buying and he's trying to lower the price so that someone would actually buy the place," Pyrrha suggested, to which Velma shook her head.
"If that was the case, he could simply just lower the price on his own. There'd be no reason to go through all this trouble," Velma pointed. "On the other hand, it's not the most outlandish motivation we've seen. We'll need to find more clues before we can come to a conclusion, though."
"Speaking of clues," Penny spoke up as they approached a thick double door, "I watched some of your streams earlier, and I noticed that you typically only find around three clues before solving a mystery. I would've thought it takes more than that."
"Oh, it does," Daphne clarified with a wave of her hand. "We just show the biggest ones on our videos. Helps the audience follow what's going on."
"Ah. That makes sense," Penny replied after a moment as Velma briefly narrowed her eyes, likely wondering when Penny got the chance to watch the videos since they'd met in the first place. Pyrrha mentally made a note to herself to help Penny maintain her cover. The poor girl was not very good at pretending she was just a normal teenager.
Then Pyrrha thought back to her own attempt at going undercover, shuddered briefly from embarrassment, and decided to have Yang and Weiss be the ones to do it. Or maybe Blake, given how long she was able to pretend to be an unimportant human back at Beacon. Something she still did now anytime they left their apartment.
Shaking her head, Pyrrha moved to the front of the group as they reached the doors. Reaching for the handle, she started to say, "Well, hopefully we'll find something in—AH!"
Pyrrha involuntarily yelped as she opened the door just as a bright flash of lightning and subsequent boom of thunder illuminated the room on the other side, revealing the monstrous visage of an inhuman monster. The veteran Huntress nearly lashed out with a punch, but soon realized that the creature wasn't moving. Its pose made it seem as though it was roaring, but it was as still as a statue.
Not just it, but an entire row of creatures assembled along a wall beside the first, each one on a small podium specifically built for it.
"Wow, would you look at all these," Daphne said as she gently moved past Pyrrha and towards the first creature, which had a plaque on the podium which read 'Shoggoth.' She poked it gently a few times with her finger, then added, "They're statues."
"Mannequins, actually," Velma corrected as she moved the arms of another creature, its plaque describing it as a 'Mi-Go'. Pyrrha found it hard to describe it as anything other than an unholy combination of a bat and a crab.
"Mannequins? So that would mean these are costumes," Pyrrha noted as she, now recovered from her earlier start, began moving down the row, studying each depiction intently. One was missing, showing just the blank wooden mannequin underneath, and its plaque notably read as 'Deep One.'
As she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, she asked "Why make costumes and put them on mannequins instead of making statues?"
"Maybe it is cheaper?" Penny suggested. "Or maybe the idea was to switch out the costumes every so often and keep the experience fresh."
"Solid possibility," Velma admitted as she pulled out a blueprint of the museum that they had found earlier during their investigation and were now using as a map. Laying it out on a desk and shining her flashlight onto it, she declared, "Hmm, looks like there's a storage room nearby. Let's check it out."
"I got it," Penny announced as she moved towards the door in question, which was hidden behind a bookshelf. After searching through it for a minute, she pulled a lever which caused the shelf to slide away, revealing the hidden room inside. The gynoid proudly smiled as she stood to the side, happy to have been of assistance.
Only for her smile to falter when Velma pointed out, "I didn't even say where it was yet."
"Oh, uh…," Penny stumbled, then said, "I saw this room earlier on the blueprints and remembered where it was. Hic!"
Velma narrowed her eyes at Penny's obvious lie, while Pyrrha had to fight back the urge to facepalm. Daphne, however, simply said, "Thanks, Penny! You're a lifesaver."
With that, Daphne Blake led the way into the room, briefly pausing to pull out a metal water bottle and take a swig from it. The other three girls followed her inside, and they were immediately struck by a strong, oil smell that reminded Pyrrha of fish.
"Look at all these supplies," Pyrrha noted as she wandered around the small room, taking stock of all the buckets filled with latex, leather, and all the other crafting supplies one could hope for. She quickly found the source of the fishy smell emanating from a pile of paint cans. Most were empty, but one still had some sickly green paint left over.
"Someone was building something in here, and recently," Pyrrha pointed out, her eyes quickly glancing towards the empty mannequin. It wasn't hard to figure out what.
That was when Velma handed her a spare camera and told her, "Help me take pictures, if you don't mind."
"Of course," Pyrrha said as she immediately began cataloging the evidence.
While it wouldn't help to prove a motive or even a culprit, it definitely helped to confirm that the Deep One menacing the people of Providence, Rhode Island, was nothing more than a guy running around in a costume. A well-made costume, admittedly, but still just a costume. It actually came as a massive relief to the girl. Up until this point, she was worried that the Grimm were involved, which would've posed a legitimate danger to them. Now she didn't have to be concerned about that.
As she and Velma continued taking pictures, Penny and Daphne did the same with their own cameras. Penny was really getting into it, coming as close as possible to the evidence so that she could catch every scrap of detail in the frame. The sight honestly amused Daphne, who couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Daphne then pulled out her water bottle to get another drink and, rather than put it back in her backpack, decided to keep it out in case she wanted another. Looking around the room, she spotted a small single shelf at the back of the room. Walking over to it, Daphne placed her bottle on top of it, fully intending to turn back and help the others.
But when she did, she heard an ominous clicking noise, and she muttered, "What the…?"
Then the ground beneath her feet lurched downward, causing everyone's attention to shoot towards her. Daphne, meanwhile, simply stared ahead with a resigned look on her face, not saying a word. She reached as fast as she could towards her water bottle and, just as she grabbed it, the floor underneath her feet slid away, revealing a flight of stairs that she tumbled down.
"Daphne!" Velma cried out as she dropped what she was doing and ran over to the newly revealed opening, Daphne let out small grunts of pain as she fell.
"Daphne, are you alright?!" Pyrrha called out as well while she, Velma, and Penny leaned over the opening, shining their flashlights down the hole, which was so deep that they couldn't even see the bottom.
Daphne didn't say anything at first, nor could they see her, then they heard her low voice echo through the tunnel as she said, "…ow."
Velma released a resigned sigh and told the others, "She's fine. I swear, Daphne…."
"Oh, don't you start!" Daphne said to her friend in an irritated tone of voice as she started crawling up the stairs, allowing the others to see her face. Aside from some dirt smudges, she looked perfectly fine.
"Danger-Prone Daphne, everybody. Always finding a way to get herself into trouble," Velma continued, a slight smirk on her face as she began walking down to join her, the others right after her.
"…You know I don't like it when you guys call me that," Daphne muttered as Velma helped her to her feet.
"We only call you that because it's accurate," Velma teased, then her face hardened as she looked down the seemingly endless stairwell. After a moment, she pointed out, "These aren't on the plans."
Pyrrha shook off her relief at Daphne's miraculous lack of injury and narrowed her eyes in suspicion, asking, "Where do you think it leads?"
"Only one way to find out," Velma declared, then aimed her flashlight down the stairs and led the way down. After a moment of brief hesitation, the others followed right behind her, only for the entryway above them to slide shut, sealing them inside.
"…Well, in for a penny, I guess," Daphne muttered, and the others nodded before continuing their search. As they walked, the foreboding feeling that Pyrrha had just dismissed not even a few minutes before returned, stronger than ever, and she hoped that whatever they found at the end of this tunnel wouldn't pose a danger to her and her friends.
[~]
"Okay. Stay safe, Pyrrha," Ren spoke into his radio as he, Nora and Shaggy continued following Scooby's nose.
"What was that about, Ren?" Nora asked while he put the radio back into his pocket.
"Apparently, Daphne found and fell into a hole, which revealed a tunnel network under the manor. Thankfully, she didn't get hurt," Ren explained, which caused Shaggy to chuckle slightly.
"Heh, that sounds like her," Shaggy admitted.
"Ranger-Rone Raphne," Scooby added, sniggering alongside his owner and best friend.
While Ren frowned at what he perceived as carelessness, Nora simply tilted her head and asked, "Does that happen a lot?"
"Oh, like, you have no idea," Shaggy confirmed as Scooby led them down another hallway. Turning a corner, he continued, "It was really bad when we were, like, kids and just starting out. But even now, Daphne will often get herself trapped, lost, kidnapped. The list goes on, man."
"Kidnapped?" Nora repeated, only Shaggy's nonchalant and amused tone keeping her from reacting more harshly.
"Yeah, but only for, like, a few minutes. And she always made them regret it, so it's fine."
Nora stared silently at them for a moment as Ren's frown deepened, then she cracked a smile herself and chuckled. Before she could say anything, though, Ren pushed his way to the front and said, "We need to focus on finding clues, not making light of our friends potentially being in danger."
"Ren, they're not in danger," Nora tried to tell him, but Ren didn't care as he instead just kept walking with heavy, frustrated footsteps.
Nora frowned as she watched him go, and both Shaggy and Scooby looked at them. An awkward silence filled the air between them, with no one quite sure how to break it. For Nora, this was but another instance of Ren closing himself off to her, pushing her away to "focus on the mission," whatever that meant. She understood where he was coming from, certainly, but the way he was going about it wasn't healthy at all. To her, all he was doing was needlessly stressing himself out. The longer he kept doing this, the more likely that something was going to break.
After a few more minutes of silence, Scooby's eyes widened as he picked up something. His sniffing increased tremendously, as did his pace, forcing the others to practically run after him. As they did, Shaggy called out, "Scoob, what did you find?"
Scooby didn't answer, instead continuing to follow his nose to whatever destination laid in wait for them. Despite herself, Nora couldn't help but feel a hint of excitement building up in her. The others had already found clues of their own, so now it was their turn. If she was lucky, their lead would be better than what the others found.
"Raggy, rook!" Scooby announced as he reached a large door and pushed it open with his right paw. For a moment, Nora's eyes widened in anticipation, only to find that it was just a kitchen. Ren's disappointment was much more palpable, but Shaggy's eyes practically glowed.
"Nice find, Scoob! I'm, like, starving!" Shaggy declared as he followed his friend inside.
Ren and Nora looked at each other for a moment, then Nora shrugged and admitted, "Eh, I'm kinda hungry, too. Save some for me, guys!"
As Nora followed Shaggy and Scooby inside, Ren incredulously looked on as the three began rummaging through the shelves and cabinets, pulling out loaves of bread alongside sauces, vegetables, and various meats to make sandwiches. Before they could get too much further along, however, Ren vigorously shook his head then stomped into the kitchen as well.
"No, no, no! Stop this, now!" Ren ordered, catching the others off-guard as he snatched a plate with a half-finished sandwich tower out of Shaggy's hands. "This food isn't even ours!"
"Ren, calm down," Nora tried to tell him, but Ren refused to listen.
"No, not when none of you are taking this seriously," Ren shot back. "There is a man running around dressed as a monster. People are missing. Some of our friends are in tunnels that aren't on the plans, and you guys are making sandwiches!"
Nora, Shaggy, and Scooby were quiet for a moment, then Shaggy tried to say, "Well, like…can't solve a mystery on an empty stomach."
"Do not give me that. I saw how much you ate for lunch. You cannot possibly be hungry right now," Ren rebuked. "Given everything else I've seen about you two, the fact that you would rather waste your time doing this instead of doing your job says a lot. And I can't believe you, of all people, Nora, would go along with this! I expected better!"
The kitchen fell silent as everyone stared at Ren. All three adopted hurt looks on their faces, but Ren remained stewing in his anger until he finally looked upon Nora's stricken expression. Only then did he finally realize what he did, and he gently tried to say, "Nora, I…."
"You know what. I'm done," Nora cut him off. "I have tried to help you relax. To help you calm down and stop putting everything on your shoulders. But if you are going to yell at me and our friends…then you can just do this yourself."
With that, Nora turned around and stormed off, refusing to look back at Ren as he called out after her, "Nora, wait! I'm sorry!"
She didn't answer, and the only response he got was her slamming the door behind her, leaving him, Shaggy, and Scooby alone in the kitchen. Ren stared at the door for what felt like an eternity, rubbing his hands through his hair while muttering to himself, "I'm such an idiot…."
Shaggy and Scooby remained in uncomfortable silence for a moment, until Ren morosely glanced at them and muttered, "Sorry about that."
Shaggy sighed while scratching his scruffy chin and admitted, "No worries, man. Like, I get it. Scoob and I aren't…the best at this. Fred, Daphne, and Velma are usually the ones who actually solve the mysteries. Most of the time, Scooby and I are running around like scared, headless chickens. Especially when the monster shows up."
"If this scares you so much, then why do you stay?" Ren asked as he properly turned to face them.
"Because what scares me more than any monster is the thought of my friends actually getting hurt while I was too scared to be there for them," Shaggy answered.
"Ralso, rhey're our ride," Scooby added, causing Shaggy to give him a half-lidded stare.
"Scoob, buddy? Not helping," Shaggy lightly chastised, then shook his head as the Great Dane gave an apologetic wince before continuing, "Anyway. Ren, I get it. You have every right to be mad at us. But Nora was just trying to help you out. We haven't known for you very long but, like, you're the most stressed out guy I've ever seen. This isn't healthy, man. Staying focused on the case and all is good, but if you do it too much, all that's going to happen is that you're gonna burn yourself out. You're gonna snap, and push away your best friends."
"Rike you rust rid," Scooby added, nodding vigorously. This time, Shaggy didn't bother scolding his friend, as everyone knew he was absolutely correct.
"Take it from me. Whether it comes to solving mysteries or doing anything that's actually important, nothing is worth breaking a friendship over. So do yourself a favor and don't take everything so seriously, man. After all, this is just, like, a property scam, not the end of the world. It's not worth destroying yourself over it."
Ren wasn't quite ready to dismiss this as a harmless hoax, but he did know that they had a point. Especially with how he'd been treating Nora lately. Ever since she was almost killed by Black Adam, he'd been so focused on doing everything perfectly that he'd been shutting her out. That was the last thing he wanted. He needed to fix this, and the sooner the better.
Nodding to himself, Ren followed where Nora went, with Shaggy and Scooby supportively following him. As he approached the door, he was able to sense that Nora was just on the other side, and so he softly began to say, "Nora, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that. It's just…."
The words died in his throat when he opened the door, revealing Nora's back to him. More importantly, though, he, Shaggy, and Scooby immediately saw what had frozen Nora in her tracks. At the opposite end of the hallway, illuminated only by a flickering overhead light, was a tall, lanky, humanoid creature. Its skin, covered by dull fish-like scales, was a sickly green, and its arms and legs looked unnaturally thin. Along its spine was a fin, and its eyes were bulbous and unblinking while staring right at them.
"…Ren? I think I found the Deep One," Nora all-too-calmly reported just as the Deep One let out a monstrous roar that somehow seemed to echo all around them.
Before either Ren or Nora could respond, or even prepare to go on the attack, Shaggy and Scooby screamed at the top of their lungs before grabbing the pair of undercover Huntsmen, turning around, and running for their lives.
"Let me at 'em! I'll rock 'em and sock 'em!" Nora protested, but Shaggy's grip was surprisingly strong despite being just a normal human.
"Like, now's not the time to pull a Scrappy, Nora!" Shaggy countered, with Scooby running alongside them. At first, the Great Dane had practically been pulling Ren back by his shirt, but the Mistralian boy was quickly able to free himself and join the others in running on his own. He of course knew perfectly well that he and Nora could easily put the "monster" down since it was just a guy wearing a suit, but they didn't want to hurt him. Nora seemed to understand this as well, given how she wasn't trying as hard to break free from Shaggy's grip as she probably could.
When they reached the other end of the kitchen, Shaggy finally released his grip, allowing Nora to stand on her own two feet. A moment later, the Deep One broke down the other door, releasing an eldritch roar that reverberated down into their bones. Nora looked tempted to fight the creature herself, but instead all she did was start picking up pieces of food that they had gathered earlier and start chucking them towards it. Shaggy and Scooby quickly joined her, with Ren not too far behind as they pelted the Deep One from head to toe with lettuce, tomato, deli meat and bread.
The Deep One attempted to protect itself by folding its arms in front of its head, but to little avail. Before long, its scales were covered in ketchup, mustard, and relish, but soon the barrage ceased. It wiped the condiments from its eyes and as much of the thrown food from its body as it could, then prepared to roar once again towards the mystery solvers, only to find that they had already fled through the other door.
"Hurry, this way!" Shaggy yelled as he led the quartet through the corridor. Behind them, they heard the Deep One roar in anger, and soon they could see it following them down the hall.
Turning a corner, they quickly found themselves at a dead end. On either side of the hallway were a series of doors, each one entering into a different room. They considered turning around and running the other way, but then realized that the Deep One would be on them by the time they managed to do so. With no other option, the quartet raced down the hall and entered into one of the adjacent rooms, with the Deep One right behind them. Soon after, they exited through one of the other doors, still chased by the eldritch fishman. As the door closed behind them, several of the others opened simultaneously, each one spitting out a different member of the team and the Deep One as they ran across the hall to the door on the side. Immediately after, it happened again, only this time they were bouncing on pogo sticks or riding unicycles while Nora dueled the Deep One with pirate sabers they had somehow acquired, complete with matching costumes.
"THOSE WERE SOME WEIRD DOORS!" Nora shouted as they finally escaped the maze, which only happened when they each ran out from different doors and collided into each other and the Deep One.
"Who cares?! Just keep running!" Shaggy insisted, leading them through the manor away from the Deep One as fast as they could. But the Deep One was relentless in its pursuit, hissing, snarling, and roaring at them each step of the way. No matter how hard they tried to shake it, it would just come right back like a twisted boomerang.
"Raggy, rin rere!" Scooby told him as they neared a big door that led into a closet. As Nora and Ren kept going, Shaggy followed his friend into the room, slamming the door shut behind them.
A moment later, the Deep One caught up to them, throwing open the closest door and ready to roar right in their faces. Only, much to its surprise, they weren't there. Instead, they had somehow managed to get themselves into the closet right beside the one they had entered, and they used the momentary confusion to break away and rejoin Ren and Nora, quickly surpassing them, much to their surprise. Deciding it didn't matter, the quartet continued to run through the halls of the manor, the Deep One still hot on their heels. Soon they passed through a large double door into a parlor. Once the Deep One caught up, it too entered the parlor with every intention of continuing the pursuit, only for a spotlight to suddenly shine down onto its face.
"There you are! Do you have any idea how long we have been waiting?" Shaggy asked in an annoyed tone of voice as he wore a beatnik director's outfit. He was seated at a folding chair right in front of a small stage, with Nora wearing a matching outfit and having the same expression on her face. Ren was just wearing a normal suit, but he was numbly looking at everyone as he had lost track of what was going on.
The Deep One was confused as well for a moment, then prepared to roar again only for Shaggy to interrupt and say, "No, no! Not there! What do you think this is, Times Square? Come up on stage for your audition. Scooby, show him the way, please."
"Right this ray," Scooby, wearing a blonde wig, lip stick, and a pink dress gently told the increasingly confused Deep One as he took it by the hand and escorted the creature up to the stage. Once he was put in position, he encouraged, "You'll ro rate!"
"Okay, okay. Since you clearly didn't read the material, let's start over," Shaggy dramatically announced as he spoke into his director's megaphone. "You are auditioning for the role of our in-house Deep One entertainer. You need to make people believe you are a Deep One."
"Whether you can, remains to be seen," Nora sarcastically remarked before raising her own megaphone. "Now then, show us what you got. Action!"
Scooby immediately shined the spotlight onto the Deep One, who was temporarily blinded by it. After a moment, it was able to blink back its vision, then it angrily roared as loud as it could.
"Cut, cut!" Shaggy angrily interrupted, causing the Deep One to sheepishly stop and take a step back as Shaggy got up out of his director's chair. "What was that? You call that a roar? That was like a lion or a bear, not a nightmarish monster from the dark abyss."
"When a Deep One roars, I should feel it in my soul, not just my bones," Nora added as she glared towards the monster. She then turned towards Ren and asked, "What do you think, Ren? You are the producer, after all. Any thoughts to share?"
"…Uh," was all Ren could say, and Nora immediately shot her hand towards him in emphasis.
"See, your efforts were so lackluster, my partner can't even find the words," Nora said, causing the Deep One to whimper.
"Look, kid. I know you must've thought that this was gonna be your big break into stardom, but it's time to face facts," Shaggy continued. "You're just not scary enough, and in this cutthroat business, that's a killer. You want my advice? Take the bus outside, go home, and start rethinking your career choices. This clearly isn't meant for you."
The Deep One stared at them for a moment, then hung its head dejectedly and started sulking away. Shaggy and Nora refused to give it another glance, acting as though even looking in its direction was beneath their notice. Scooby was offering to escort it out, but the Deep One was so depressed it didn't even notice. Ren was still too confused at what was going on to actually move from his seat.
Leaving the parlor, the Deep One slowly walked through the halls towards the front entryway, passing through it into the heavy rain without even caring. Walking down the path, he stopped at the nearest bus stop, and a few moments later a Greyhound bus pulled up to let him inside. He sat at the back seat, not saying a word and ignoring the side glances he was getting from everyone as he stared out the window dejectedly, wondering where everything had gone wrong. Eventually, it got out at its stop, entered a small, barely kept home, locked the door behind it, and pulled itself under the covers of its bed, intending to sleep away its depression.
At least until it realized it had been played, and it shot up while angrily roaring.
[~]
"That should not have worked," Ren muttered to himself, his eyes wide and incredulous while he, Shaggy, Scooby and Nora watched through the window as the Deep One got into the bus which was taking it far away from the manor.
Nora, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically as she declared, "That was the greatest thing I have ever done!"
"Rand raught it on ramera," Scooby added, pointing to the various hidden cameras that Shaggy had been discretely placing throughout the hallways they'd been traversing, which only caused Nora's laughter to deepen.
"This day just keeps getting better!" Nora cheered, ignoring her boyfriend's current plight as he continued to mutter to himself about how their impromptu disguises shouldn't have worked, and he wasn't even trying to figure out where Shaggy and Scooby managed to find them in the first place. Nora immediately going along with it had been the only thing that made sense.
A few moments later, they heard hurried footsteps as Fred and Jaune came down the flight of stairs, with Jaune calling out, "Guys, we heard screaming! Is everyone okay?"
"Jaune, we weaponized rejection! And made it leave!" Nora happily answered while pointing towards the departing Greyhound bus.
While Jaune just looked confused, Fred smiled and said, "Nice work, guys. Been a long time since you managed to get one to just give up."
That caused Nora's eyes to widen, and she turned towards Shaggy and Scooby while asking, "Wait, do you mean to tell me that you guys pull this kind of stunt all the time?"
"There is a reason why Shaggy and Scooby's segments are among our most popular," Fred answered while smiling and crossing his arms over his chest.
Nora's eyes widened even more, then she said, "You guys are amazing. Teach me your ways."
"Rour rates rare rexpensive," Scooby answered, but before she could respond and Ren was able to snap out of his confusion, Daphne's voice suddenly cut through the air.
"Freddy, guys," she called out, her voice quiet and nervous, catching everyone's attention.
"Daphne, we hear you. What's going on?" Fred asked, bringing his radio up to his face as the others crowded around him.
"It's…," Daphne started to answer, only to sigh and say, "You guys need to come see this. Now. We found something down here. It's…pretty bad."
The others all looked at each other, the earlier jubilation completely gone. Then, with an utmost serious expression, Fred replied, "We're on our way, Daphne."
[~]
When Daphne called them down to the underground tunnels to see what she and the other girls had found, Jaune didn't quite know what to expect. They didn't exactly give any details to go off of, only that it was bad, which could mean a lot of things. Until he actually saw what they were talking about, it would be impossible to know whether bad meant they found an embarrassing bunch of old photos to literal skeletons in a closet. The ambiguity didn't help calm his nerves in the slightest, and as he and the others continued making their way down the dark, dry tunnels, illuminated only by their flashlights and without saying a word, his trepidation only grew.
Not for himself, though. After all, while they may be pretending to just be normal civilians trying to solve a mystery, he and his team were anything but. They were trained huntsmen turned superheroes, and Penny had the power of a Maiden at her fingertips. If it truly came down to it, Jaune doubted there was much they couldn't handle. Rather, Jaune was more nervous for the actual civilians they were working with. While he knew for a fact that, when it came to detective work, Mystery Incorporated had him and his friends beat, in an actual fight he doubted they'd be able to do much other than run. Shaggy and Scooby already looked like they wanted to turn tail and do just that. Granted, that seemed to be their default state, so this added pressure wasn't anything new. Fred, however, was surprisingly calm, almost as though he wasn't feeling the added pressure at all. Jaune supposed that was because Fred was the leader who had to keep his cool at all times for the sake of his team. He could respect that.
Eventually, they started seeing a dull, flickering orange light at the end of the tunnel. As they got closer, Jaune was able to see that it was a torch sconce built into the wall. It reminded him of something you'd see in an old medieval ruin, elaborately decorated with a figure he couldn't quite describe. It creeped him out though, and made Scooby-Doo whimper even more. Moving further down the tunnel, they saw more torches lighting the way, allowing them to turn off their flashlights and move unimpeded. Before long, they found Daphne waiting for them, a disturbed look on her face.
"Guys, in here," Daphne told them, pointing down the tunnel to her side.
Jaune's frown deepened, but he complied regardless. Turning down the tunnel, he was immediately stricken by the sight of a large, hexagonal stone chamber. Carved into the rock were several columns, each one having a lit torch sconce between them. In the center of the chamber was a stone altar with an inhuman statue standing above it, holding its arms above its warped head. The altar itself was stained a deep, dark red, and Velma was taking samples with a cotton swab before inserting it into a small device for analysis.
"Oh…," Jaune muttered as he took it all in. "This is bad."
"It's a sacrificial chamber," Ren declared, to which Jaune and the rest of Team JNPR nodded in agreement. After all, they had seen one before when they had to clear out the remains of Brother Blood's cult with the Titans in Jump City. While there were many differences between the two, this chamber reminded them of the Church of Blood's in many ways.
"Correct. And it's been used, recently," Velma confirmed as she got results back from her DNA analyzer. "According to this, the blood has been here for a day, but it's too contaminated for me to get an ID."
"Velma, are you telling me that people have been killed in here?" Fred asked, his normal jovial tone completely gone and replaced with utmost seriousness.
"What I'm saying is that I don't believe we can dismiss the correlation between the monster sightings and the disappearances anymore," Velma replied.
"Like, zoinks….," Shaggy whimpered as Scooby whined beside him.
"Freddy, what are we going to do?" Daphne asked with worry in her voice.
Fred was silent at first, then he answered, "We're going to do what we came here to do. We're gonna lay a trap, catch this monster, unmask him, then hand him over to the police."
"Sounds good to me," Nora replied as she rubbed her fist into her palm, her face warped into a grimace.
"My only question is what these people were being sacrificed to," Ren added.
Jaune adopted a thoughtful look on his face, then he held up a finger and answered, "When Fred and I found those financial records upstairs, we also found old newspaper articles talking about a cult in the 70s. They believed that what Lovecraft wrote about was actually real. I dismissed them at first, but now…."
"Oh, perfect. Just what we need, an actual Lovecraftian cult," Pyrrha complained.
"At least this one's just a bunch of crazies and not worshipping the literal devil," Velma added, likely referring to Brother Blood like they'd been thinking. For a moment, Jaune was worried that Pyrrha had unintentionally blown more of their cover, but then Jaune remembered that when they and the Titans took him down, the Church of Blood's crimes were international news for weeks. Velma would've had to have been living under a rock to not notice what was going on.
"Like that makes it any better!" Shaggy pointed out. "For all we know, these people are worshiping an actual demon, and I'd rather not be here when that thing comes out!"
"Shaggy, like it or not, we need to stop this," Fred rebuked his terrified friend. "All of us are in too deep to just walk away, especially if the monster knows we're on his trail. If we leave now, he could just run away and escape justice. I refuse to let that happen."
Shaggy was still clearly terrified, same as Scooby-Doo. But after a moment, they steeled themselves and nodded in agreement along with the rest of Mystery Incorporated. Jaune, the rest of Team JNPR, and Penny nodded as well. At the same time, Jaune sent covert glances to his fellow Remnantians. Without needing to say a word, they understood his intent and quickly nodded back. Up until this point, they'd been restraining themselves out of a desire to both keep their cover and avoid harming the man wearing the Deep One costume. But now that there was credible evidence that people were actually dying, there was no need to do that anymore. Especially if it meant continuing to restrain themselves risked letting the guy escape.
Turning towards Fred, Jaune then asked, "Fred, you're the trap expert here. What did you have in mind?"
Fred was quiet for a moment, then he smirked before beginning to explain his plan.
[~]
In retrospect, they were lucky that Shaggy, Scooby, Ren and Nora were able to convince the Deep One to leave the museum. Properly setting up Fred's trap took a lot of time and effort from everyone. Had the monster been prowling the halls, they likely would've been interrupted. By the time they were done putting all the elaborate pieces together, it was nearly midnight, and the Deep One still hadn't returned. Jaune wondered if it had to walk all the way back, or if he was waiting for the bus this entire time. Either way, it was a humorous thought.
In any case, Jaune had to admit that the trap Fred had devised was spectacular, and by far the most elaborate and complicated he had ever seen. He hardly understood exactly how it worked, and he helped make the thing. A complicated series of pulleys, ropes, weights, nets and more all came together in a seamless way to trap the monster in its tracks, allowing them to bring the man under the mask to justice. All they had to do was lure the Deep One into position, which was where Shaggy and Scooby came in. They almost refused to do it, especially since now they had credible evidence to believe that the man may be an actual murderer, but another bribe of Scooby Snacks was enough to convince them.
Speaking of which, Jaune's team and Penny were also fully prepared to jump in and take the guy down themselves if it came to it. Ren almost brought Stormflower out of his duffle bag, but Pyrrha dissuaded him from it. As she put it, they wanted to bring the guy to justice, not kill him. When Ren pointed out he was going to load Ruby's shock rounds, she added that they didn't want to freak out Mystery Incorporated by whipping out guns. That finally made Ren back down.
"Motion detectors just went off," Velma announced through the walkie-talkies as she looked through the cameras on her tablet. "It's here."
"Places, people. We only get one shot at this," Fred calmly replied, standing next to Jaune and Pyrrha on a balcony overlooking the library containing a collection of all of H.P. Lovecraft's works and the many derivatives inspired by them. On the other side of the room were Daphne, Velma, and Penny, with Ren and Nora on the ground to assist Shaggy and Scooby should the need arise.
From his vantage point, Jaune was able to get a perfect view of the entire room, his attention focused on the single double-door entrance at the far end. He was also able to see Ren and Nora, and he was immediately able to tell that something had happened between the two of them. There was an uncharacteristic silence between them, namely from Nora who ignored each and every one of Ren's attempts to start up a conversation.
All he knew was that, according to Shaggy and Scooby, the two of them got into an argument and, even if they tried to frame it nicely, it was mostly Ren's fault. Part of Jaune felt that, given Ren's behavior the past month, their relationship blowing up like this was inevitable, but that didn't mean he liked to see it. Once this was over, he was gonna have to do something to at least try and fix this, but for the life of him he didn't know how. He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to romance.
"Fred, how will we know when to spring the trap?" Pyrrha whispered, her eyes focused on the open doors that Ren and Nora were hiding behind, ready to slam them shut at a moment's notice.
"Once Shaggy and Scooby get the monster's attention and lure him in here," Fred answered.
"Yeah, I know that. But when will—"
Before Pyrrha could finish her sentence, they heard a pair of screams echoing through the museum. There was no question as to whom they belonged to, and a moment later they heard frantic footsteps coming straight towards them.
"Right about now. Get ready!" Fred declared, gripping the rope tightly as Jaune and Pyrrha did the same. On the other side of the room, Daphne, Velma and Penny got into position, while Ren and Nora placed their hands on the thick wooden doors.
It wasn't long before the footsteps grew louder and louder, along with monstrous and angry snarls as the Deep One chased after Shaggy and Scooby. Rather than grow nervous, Jaune narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the rope, his muscles tensed and ready to pull at a moment's notice. A few seconds later, he could clearly hear Shaggy, Scooby, and the Deep One entering the hall, and soon he saw the young man and the Great Dane running as fast as they could, the Deep One hot on their heels.
"Now!" Fred suddenly yelled as soon as the trio entered the library.
The others acted immediately, with Ren and Nora slamming the doors shut and trapping the monster inside the room with them. At the same time, Daphne, Velma, and Penny pulled on their ropes, which caused a rain of ketchup, mustard, and other condiments taken from the kitchen to fall onto the wooden floor, making it extra slippery. The Deep One's momentum prevented him from stopping in time, causing him to lose control and start sliding across the ground. Unfortunately, Shaggy and Scooby were in the same boat, and all three were spinning uncontrollably as Shaggy held Scooby-Doo in his arms.
Having anticipated this, Pyrrha pulled out her own rope which she had fashioned into a lasso. Tapping into her training with Wonder Woman, she looped it overhead then threw it towards her fellow mystery solvers. She managed to pull them to safety, but accidentally made them collide with a small tower of hardcover books that temporarily buried them and caused Pyrrha to call out apologetically.
With their friends out of harm's way, Jaune and Fred pulled on their rope, which caused a massive net attached to two arms on both ends to swing down from the ceiling. The Deep One barely had time to react before he was caught in the net, which was launched from the arms with heavy weights tied to the ends. He was soon tangled in the thick ropes, and his efforts to free himself only further entrapped him. Only when he collided with the back wall did he finally stop, causing a bookshelf to collapse and fall on top of him, leaving only his head exposed.
"Yes! The trap worked!" Fred cheered as he pumped his fist victoriously. Jaune couldn't help but smile, particularly as he remembered the conversation he had with Fred hours before about how his traps didn't always pan out. For multiple reasons, he was happy this one did.
"Now, let's see who you really are," Velma said as she and the others climbed down from the balconies onto the floor, converging around the dazed and trapped Deep One. Reaching towards his head, she began to feel around the neck for a seam of any kind to help pull off the mask. After a few moments, she found one and slinked her fingers into the gap, then began to pull. The rubbery material resisted a bit, but before long it completely ripped away and exposed the man underneath the mask.
"Mr. Blackman!" everyone shouted at the sight.
"I knew it!" Nora added, causing the museum owner to sigh in defeat.
"Yes, it was me," the man said, his voice dripping with regret. "I'm the Deep One."
"But why?" Ren demanded to know, his voice hostile towards the apparent murderer.
"We already have the answer to that," Velma began to explain. "You see, Ren, the H.P. Lovecraft Museum has a major problem. An estate of this size and an attraction this complicated requires a lot of money to keep it running, and despite Mr. Blackman's efforts, they simply weren't getting enough visitors to pay the bills. The financial records Jaune and Fred found told us that, and that the investors were trying to sell. Which you didn't like, did you, Mr. Blackman?"
Victor Blackman was silent for a moment, then he sadly nodded and confirmed, "You're right. This place was my life's work, and I wanted to share my love of Lovecraft's writings and his influence on our culture, our understanding of the horror genre, with the world. But those damn investors just wanted to make money, and didn't care about the time, passion, and effort I sunk into this place. I couldn't just let it die."
"So you dressed up as a Deep One to scare away potential buyers," Penny added, her voice low and grim.
"I did," Mr. Blackman admitted. "Part of me was also hoping that sightings of a Deep One would drum up interest and draw people to the museum, but that didn't work. All it did was drive everyone away and lower the property value. After a while, I was hoping I could just buy it from those investors and keep the museum running myself."
"You were also hoping to distract people from the disappearances," Ren accused, but unlike the rest of the accusations this one caused Mr. Blackman to shoot them a confused look.
"Disappearances?" he asked, seemingly perplexed.
"We found the secret tunnels under the museum, Mr. Blackman," Daphne revealed, making the man's eyes widen in surprise. "And the sacrificial chamber it led to. One that was used, recently."
"There was a Lovecraft cult in the 70s near here. Tell me, does your self-admitted love of Lovecraft's works extend to obsession? Did you bring it back?" Jaune hissed, his fists clenched tightly.
At first, Victor Blackman didn't say anything, then he asked, "What secret tunnels? What sacrificial chamber? Lovecraft cult? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with us," Ren started to say, looking half-ready to throttle the man before them. "People are dead, and if you don't start giving us answers-!"
"Ren," Penny suddenly interrupted, her voice quiet and her eyes wide. "He's telling the truth."
"What?" Jaune asked as he whipped his head around to look at the gynoid, as did everyone else.
"I legitimately have no idea what you are talking about," Blackman added. The others gave him disbelieving looks, but when Penny nodded to confirm that he wasn't lying, Jaune and the rest of team JNPR simply looked at her in confusion.
"Penny, how do you know he isn't lying?" Daphne asked.
"I just do," Penny succinctly answered, refusing to elaborate further.
While Shaggy and Scooby just looked confused, Fred and Daphne seemed prepared to challenge her on that assertion. Had it been anyone else, Jaune would've joined them. But one of the many benefits of having Penny around was that, as a gynoid, she had access to a wide array of sensors that she could use to analyze a person on a level unmatched by anyone else. With these sensors, she could look at a person's heart rate, micro expressions, vocal patterns and more to determine if they were lying. It wasn't foolproof, Batman in particular always managed to fool her sensors (but, then again, he was the Batman so he didn't really count), but it was a good metric to go off of regardless.
"If Penny says he's telling the truth, he's telling the truth," Nora confirmed, staring at the confused man still trapped in the net and underneath the collapsed bookshelf.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Velma spoke up and said, "Well, I suppose there's only one way to figure that out for sure. Let's bring him down there."
[~]
Thankfully, it didn't take long to remove Mr. Blackman from the net and bookshelf. Taking off the suit was a more complicated affair, especially since he kept insisting that they don't damage it. But after a while, Ren lost patience and just ripped it off, ignoring his protests. They then led him to the storage room where the girls found the entrance to the secret tunnel, and right away they could tell just from the expression on the man's face that he had no idea what he was seeing. That look of confusion and surprise only grew the further they went into the tunnels, finally erupting when they entered the sacrificial chamber.
"What the hell is this?" Mr. Blackman muttered to himself as he looked around in astonishment.
"That's what we're wanting to know," Fred said, but the museum owner ignored him as he continued to inspect the chamber.
"I never approved this! The tunnels, this chamber, none of it!" Mr. Blackman wailed. "These aren't even on the plans!"
"You're the owner. Like, how could you not know this was here?" Shaggy asked.
"I don't know anything about engineering or architecture!" Mr. Blackman pointed out. "I was spending all my time trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on, not…this! I hired people to worry about this for me!"
Slowly but surely, the conviction that Jaune had about this man's guilt was ebbing away, and a look towards the others told him they were in the same boat. Velma looked the most torn about it, likely because it meant she interpreted the evidence incorrectly. But as far as Jaune was concerned, it now seemed that the only crime the man was guilty of was scaring people and maybe a bit of real estate fraud, not actual murder. On the one hand, that was a relief. But on the other hand, it left open the question as to who the culprit actually was.
"Mr. Blackman, who was responsible for handling the renovations of the museum?" Velma asked.
"Mr. Pickman, the curator of course," Blackman answered. "Why? You don't think…?"
"Right now, I'm open to anything," Velma declared. "We need to find your curator and bring him down here. I have some questions I'd like to ask him."
"There will be no need for that, Ms. Dinkley," a voice suddenly cut through, drawing everyone's attention towards the entrance to the secret tunnel. There, much to everyone's surprise, was the ever calm and placid Stanley Pickman, standing ramrod straight with his arms neatly folded behind his back.
"Stanley? What is the meaning of this?" Victor Blackman angrily demanded. "Why is this here? Were people killed here?!"
"I'd answer the question. Otherwise, this gets ugly," Pyrrha warned, only to involuntarily flinch as the man merely chuckled in mild amusement.
Pickman ignored his employer and the mystery solvers as he calmly walked past everyone, not bothered in the slightest at the angry glares and tense bodies surrounding him. Even Scooby was growling. Walking up to the altar, he finally answered, "To answer your first question, children, this structure was built in the early twentieth century by those you would call 'cultists.' Up until recently, it was sealed off, buried under tons of rock and soil underneath this very mansion, until I had this tunnel built to reopen it. As for the second, yes. Over a dozen by this point."
Jaune's eyes widened, and he prepared to charge the murderer before Pickman turned around to face them, his face warped in a wide, wicked grin that felt unnatural. For a reason Jaune couldn't quite explain, it stopped him in his tracks for a moment, and it felt as though the darkness around them was growing heavy.
"You're not human," Penny suddenly declared as she stepped in front of everyone protectively, and Pickman merely chuckled some more.
"My, aren't you quite observant," Pickman said, keeping his arms folded behind his back. "Then again, you are a gynoid. Frankly, I'm disappointed you didn't notice it earlier, Puppet of Pietro Polendina."
That caused all of the Remnantians' eyes to widen in surprise, to which Pickman merely laughed and continued, "Yes, I know exactly who all of you are. Your lives, your fates. Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl who couldn't even manage to die like she was supposed to. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, last survivors of Kuroyuri who cowered while everyone else was slaughtered. Jaune Arc, a Rusted Knight who's so weak and pathetic he couldn't even protect a village of paper."
Jaune had absolutely no idea what Pickman was talking about, but the insult was clear regardless. He was fully ready to simply charge the man, as were the rest of his teammates, but then several stone doors that they hadn't noticed before opened up to reveal dozens of men and women all wearing black robes and hoods that completely covered their bodies from head to toe, surrounding everyone.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy whimpered as he recognized the predicament they were in, followed by the rest of Mystery Incorporated one by one.
"Ruh-ro!"
"Jinkies…."
"Jeepers!"
"Son of a bitch," Fred finished, which only caused Pickman to chuckle once again.
"And let's not forget about you, the famous Mystery Incorporated," Pickman began. "Lost children from a reset universe merged into this one, much like your friends in a way. Of course, yours was far more directly your fault after you killed one of my brethren. I suppose it pays to have a canine descended from an Anunnaki."
Team JNPR, Penny, and Mystery Incorporated all stared at each other in surprise, then Velma narrowed her eyes. Seeing this, Pickman laughed again, then said, "Figured it out, have you? I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise, given who you are. How about you explain it to the rest of your friends? It is your role after all."
Velma was quiet for a moment, then she answered, "Stanley Pickman isn't your actual name. I thought I recognized it earlier, but now I remember. The name was an alias used in Lovecraft's works, one used by a member of the Outer Gods. Nyarlathotep."
Jaune's eyes widened once again, and when Pickman laughed he could feel the vibrations reaching into his bones. As he stared at the man, he suddenly saw him turn into a tall, dark figure with pale white eyes and unnaturally black skin. Despite everything he'd experienced thus far, he found himself terrified, and beside him he saw Mr. Blackman getting reduced to a blubbering mess in the Outer God's presence. The entity in front of them just didn't fit the world in an incomprehensible way.
"Nyarlathotep isn't real," Daphne declared, but Nyarlathotep merely smiled and shook his head.
"Oh, I assure you, foolish girl, I am very much real," he rebuked. "All of us are. Dear Howard was tormented by visions of us his entire life through his dreams, inspiring the works this pathetic museum sought to enshrine. Frankly, I am somewhat surprised you're not joining Mr. Blackman in the throes of insanity. Then again, both of you have protections on you. One from the Anunnaki, the other from that wretched half-demon sorceress. Speaking of which, I must thank you, Mr. Blackman. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to restart the cult, and bring about the awakening of Cthulhu and the end of man."
"Why? Why would you do that?" Pyrrha demanded to know as she and the others desperately looked for a way out as the cultists drew ever closer.
Nyarlathotep merely chuckled again, then admitted, "Because even if this doesn't destroy mankind, I very much enjoy watching your species suffer. It gives me pleasure the likes of which you could never imagine."
The Remnantians and Mystery Incorporated were now standing back to back as the black robed cultists drew ever closer, many of which were now pulling out knives and daggers. Seeing this, Nyarlathotep waved his hand and ordered, "Tie them up. More sacrifices won't hurt."
Before any of the cultists could follow their god's command, Penny's eyes shot open, revealing twin green flames flaring out of both of them. She then began to rise into the air, and she coldly declared, "No."
With that, a whirlwind of air shot out from her, blowing away the cultists while leaving her friends completely untouched. Nyarlathotep simply ignored it and smiled at the resistance, likely anticipating this very act but finding it amusing regardless.
"Run!" Fred ordered, sucker punching one of the cultists who were still standing before running down the nearest tunnel with Jaune right on his heels. Following his example, the others did the same, involuntarily splitting into pairs as they ran into different tunnels. Penny, meanwhile, tried to freeze the cultists and the Outer God, but found that somehow she was unable to. Realizing that running was the only option at the moment, she grabbed the still-blubbering Blackman and took off, flying as fast as she could.
"Heh-heh-heh, yes. Run while you can. Makes it more fun and all the sweeter for me," Nyarlathotep spoke, his voice somehow booming despite being far behind them. He then ordered, "After them."
At once, his cultists recovered and gave chase, and as they ran, Shaggy yelled at the top of his lungs, "Scooby-Doo, where are you?!"
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice! Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life! Sadly, it appears that FanFiction is on the fritz again. Hopefully you guys are able to see this without the email notifications.
The final part of the three-part Scooby-Doo Mini Arc has officially begun, and with it comes a change of tone from your typical episode of Scooby-Doo to one of the movies like Zombie Island. What better way to kick that off then by throwing in the Crawling Chaos himself? This is certainly a lot bigger than either party bargained for. But, as this chapter also definitively proved, it isn't something they haven't dealt with before. Lots of really cool Scooby magic is coming next, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy it. I had a blast writing this chapter, especially the chase sequence. Honestly, the disguise part is one of my favorite joke scenes I've done in this story. I'm very proud of it.
Now then, to answer some of your guys' questions:
You'll have to wait and see whether we get any other arrives from Remnant onto Earth. Just know that my team and I have discussed it, and what motivates our decision whether to do it or not is whether we can tell an interesting story with them, it makes sense for the characters to get involved in the main story, or if including them would run into the issue of cast bloat. That is actually an ongoing concern within this story as we have a lot of characters. It's why I try to focus individual chapters and arcs on a select handful of characters while everyone else is doing their own thing.
Do not ask me when the next chapter is coming. I have responsibilities outside of writing fanfiction as do the rest of my team, and those always take precedence. This past month in particular I've been recovering from a minor surgery, so writing obviously hasn't been at the forefront. Combine that with the fact that I am writing four stories concurrently, and the updates will come when they come.
Do not get into shipping arguments or accusations in the reviews. Also, please limit reviews to one per chapter so that it's not clogged up with questions and I can properly respond to everyone.
Weiss and WayneTech made artificial dust by tapping into the elemental forces of nature like the Green. Weiss made the connection following a meeting with Swamp Thing who explained it to her.
Yes, sadly Rooster Teeth is shutting down a month from today. While I didn't want it to happen and told people otherwise, in hindsight it does seem inevitable. They were unable to adapt to a changing internet content creation marketplace and combined with various controversies over the years and the hammer blow that was COVID-19, they were done in. Hopefully, though, someone does pick up their IPs including RWBY and they're able to finish what they started. If not, they had a good run. As for how this'll effect our stories, it shouldn't in a major way. At most I might have to make OCs for characters I was waiting for the show to properly introduce as well as go with what hints were provided to extrapolate how things would've gone and how things would've worked that we hadn't seen yet. Luckily, my stories are crossovers and don't rely on the unfinished RWBY canon to tell the story I want to tell. I'm able to do my own thing, and that won't change.
While that was a funny Peacemaker joke, I don't necessarily want to just carbon-copy a joke from a canon source material. References are fine, yes, but it can go a bit too far at times and that's something I want to avoid.
RWBY is in an original timeline created by myself to better tell the DC/RWBY story I wanted to tell. It takes bits and pieces from other DC canons along with my own interpretations of characters and concepts. Gives me a lot of creative freedom and it's more digestible to you guys.
Please try to avoid asking me hypothetical questions regarding other potential story ideas. Keep any and all reviews strictly related to HoJ.
While I am happy to see reviewers from outside the United States, please be aware that I am only an English speaker with a slight understanding of Spanish (but nowhere near fluent). As such, I will not be able to accurately respond to non-English reviews. I'll try when I can, but Google Translate can only go so far.
I'm glad you guys enjoyed Mystery Inc's inclusion! I grew up with Scooby-Doo as a kid, and given just how many times they've officially crossed over with DC over the years, I felt it was totally natural. Not to mention just really fun. Regarding the Man in Yellow's identity, take Stanley Pickman's true identity and extrapolate from that.
Daphne was Alfred's niece in an episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? where they teamed up with Batman. As this version of Mystery Incorporated is a bit of an amalgation from different canons like the rest of DC, I decided to incorporate it.
That's it for now. Let us know what you guys think! If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the page would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy and see you all next time!