There was something wrong about the road upon which Velma was walking. Though everything seemed normal at first, the buildings and houses started to lose their color and further down others did not have windows or doors or were just flat surfaces which were little more than the outline or impression of homes. Carefully grown lawns became empty lots of dust, until even the dust blowing in the wind seemed to stand motionless in the air.
Everything seemed real, but before long it was clear that this was a dream. The inconsistencies in the facts of the world around her were starting to add up, which meant that her rational and detail-oriented mind was trying to apply logic to what she was seeing. Soon her subconscious would be unable to keep up with her cogent mind and she would open her eyes and be awake once again. It was something she had experienced many times, she would hit her limit for weirdness and the dream would end.
As the road continued, the only things which remained around her were the outlines and impressions of the city streets she had been walking past. Even the cracks of the sidewalk beneath her feet faded into a surrounding darkness until there was nothing around her at all. But she could still feel something hard beneath her feet, and so she walked on.
Before her lay a clear surface on the ground, like a lake but getting closer she realized it was not water at all but glass. If this were a lucid dream, she might have had a choice, but her momentum carried her onward to walk out into the very center, where she realized she was in the center of a large circle, which was rimmed by black metal with a walkway which lead back the way she had came.
"Really? A giant magnifying lens? This dream isn't exactly being subtle." Said Velma, tapping her foot on the glass beneath her. It was the sound of the glass tapping back which made the hairs on the back of her neck raise in panic.
Looking down, Velma tilted her head and saw a figure standing upside down on the bottom of the glass. Was it a reflection of some sort, or was it really standing beneath her? Motioning with her arm, it copied her movements perfectly. The world shimmered, and with it she felt her vision shift and move, and she realized she was now in her own reflection, looking up at herself. Only her arms were not flesh but seemed transparent as glass. A profound feeling of disorientation and dizziness overtook her as she felt herself falling away from the glass, and above her she saw the magnifying lens shatter sending thousands of shards falling all around her, along with her twin, which extended its arm down to grab her. Reaching up, she struggled to take its hand as she woke up.
There is nothing so disorienting as waking up in a hospital room, the pressure of a needle in your and, the firm bed, the bright room, a large man sleeping in a chair, the unfamiliar surroundings… as alert as she was, Velma took a moment as she squinted at the sight of the man sleeping in a chair beside her bed. Unable to make out all of his details against the light coming in from the window, she saw that he was wearing what looked like a sports jacket over his bare chest as his head rested against the wall.
Feeling around, she found her bed's remote and guessed correctly which button made it sit upright. The sound and movement immediately caught the attention of Fred and Daphne, who turned their attention her way.
"Velma, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Asked Fred.
Breathing in to answer, Velma felt her throat was parched. The needle in her arm from her IV was giving her body the fluids she needed, but it did little for her dry mouth. Seeing her dilemma, Fred found a pitcher and poured her a cup.
"Oh, while I'm at it. You might want these too." Said Fred, handing Velma her glasses.
After a long and slow drink, Velma felt her forehead to check her own temperature to see if she felt normal before putting on her glasses.
"How long were we out Fred?" Asked Velma, feeling her eyes adjust to her prescription lenses.
"Counting today? Three. Yesterday was rather eventful, but we'll talk about that later." Said Fred.
"Did the doctors find out anything in particular? Any ideas about what caused us to all take ill at the same time?" Asked Velma as she looked around the room.
"Not exactly." Said Fred.
Finally able to take full stock of her surroundings, Velma scanned the room. Daphne was sitting upright, and somehow her hospital gown seemed like it was made of a different fabric as though it were made by some high-end designer. On the other side of the large room were two empty beds, most likely where Shaggy and Fred had stayed. Then there was a table with books and papers scattered atop it, and finally she saw the man next to her bed come into focus.
"What's Johnny doing here?" Asked Velma.
"He told me you sent him a text." Said Fred, to his side Daphne's face lit up with a wide smile.
"I did? I don't recall." Said Velma. To her side, Johnny's head slipped on his pillow, causing him to let out a slight snore just as a nurse walked into the room.
"Good, you're all awake now. We kept track of your conditions. Each of your fevers broke during the night, though your friend with the dog was the first one to wake up." Said the Nurse.
"Shaggy wanted to help out in the kitchens, but because the doctors weren't certain about contamination, so that was struck down. That hasn't stopped him and Scooby from taking over one of the dining halls to have a jello eating competition." Said Fred.
After checking Velma's temperature, pulse, and pupils, the Nurse unhooked the IV before going out to fetch a doctor. Unable to sit up on her own, Velma raised her bed until she was fully upright, hoping to get her body used to the idea that it was time to get to work. Still feeling groggy, she slowly clenched and opened her fists to wake her muscles and circulate her blood.
"Were you able to do any research while we were out?" Velma looked at Fred, but his hesitant nod said that things were complicated.
"I wanted to wait until everyone was awake before talking about this." Said Fred.
"Talk about what?" Asked Shaggy, as he and Scooby-Doo came walking in, each looking like they had done their best to make up for lost time and lost meals.
"I know it's not like us to back out of a case. Even, and maybe especially, when things get dangerous. While you were unconscious, the hospital was attacked, and we were the targets. If it were just me, I'd want to get to the bottom of this. But I didn't want to speak for the rest of you, so now that you're awake I want to know what each of you think." Fred took a seat and looked over everyone's faces.
"Heh, like I posted on social media about taking over the hospital dining room. We've already got five thousand views. Scoobs was in rare form to boot." Said Shaggy, prompting Daphne to laugh at the two.
"I'll translate for Shaggy. There's no question we're going to stay, so don't bother asking. The only reason we've made it this far is our commitment to our cases and to each other." Said Daphne.
Velma approved of her friend's sentiments, but she wasn't quite as sure. Ever the skeptic, always seeing the things they overlooked was what she did. Daphne and Shaggy didn't seem to mind the idea that they had been attacked, but the idea was frightening.
"It's one thing to be in the middle of a mystery. Mysteries have clues, suspects, things we can investigate, problems to solve… we can apply ourselves to unravel mysteries, that's what we do. Do you think this is a mystery Fred? Or are we in the middle of something else, something we don't have the experience dealing with?" Velma folded her arms, already knowing what her thoughts were, she merely wanted to provide the counter-point to her friend's optimism.
The quiet tension in the room was broken by Johnny waking up with a loud yawn, stretching his broad shoulders, his hand instinctively went for the comb in his pants pocket as he straightened his hair before standing up.
"Like, welcome to the waking world Johnny." Said Shaggy, going into a calming cycle of breathing.
"Howdy Scruffy." Said Johnny.
"That's Shaggy." Reminded Shaggy.
"Yeah whatever." Teased Johnny as he stretched his legs before looking down at the nearby bed.
"Hi Johnny." Said Velma, realizing her throat had gone dry again.
"Hi darlin'." Said Johnny, running his hand along the back of his head realizing that the term of endearment was a bit awkward, though Daphne didn't even try to hide the grin on her face.
"We were just talking about whether we wanted to stay in town or whether we should leave. What do you think Johnny?" Asked Daphne, fearlessly breaking the silence.
"Well now, that's one thing I was curious about. I got Velma's text the other day saying that you were in town on a case, I had a friend find out what hospital you were in and I came as soon as I could. Not sure what case you're working on though, so I don't know if I can be of any help." Said Johnny.
"Like, Zoinks! You're not going to believe this Johnny but we're kind of investigating you." Said Shaggy without thinking.
"Say what now?" Said Johnny.
"We were hired by your Aunt before she passed away to do some investigating for her." Said Fred.
Standing up again, Johnny walked to their evidence table and started going through their papers. Tossing aside books on ancient languages and horse racing, he picked up a printout of the Bravo family tree and traced his hand along the page.
"What kind of mystery are you folks working on that has you looking into my kinfolk?" Asked Johnny, his voice wavering as he said 'kinfolk'.
"Is that a problem?" Asked Daphne.
"I'm… I'm not rightly sure how I feel. See, this family tree you've got here doesn't even have me on it, barely has my mother. I never grew up with that usual family experience, like I knew about them but the only one I ever saw growing up was my Aunt. I hadn't seen the faces of most of my family members until the Will reading the other day. They cut my mama and I adrift, treated us like we didn't exist, like we didn't matter none." Taking off his sunglasses, Johnny wiped away his tears before putting his shades back on.
"We're not really investigating your family. Your Aunt asked us to investigate this." Said Fred, reaching into the box, he opened a dictionary at the bottom and pulled out the small, metallic gear that was hidden in its pages and handed it to Johnny.
"Do you know what that is?" Asked Daphne.
"It looks a lot like the do-hickey that Mama got from Aunt Jebedissa." Said Johnny, carefully handing it back to Fred.
"You mean that this might be part of a larger piece?" Asked Fred, looking to Velma for her answer to his earlier question.
"A single gear is pointless on its own, of course it would be part of something larger. I guess that is what Jebedissa wanted us to find out, and she left the gear to her sister thinking that we'd eventually come together to work on this." Said Velma, giving Fred a nod.
"So, you think the guy the other day was really sent to get this?" Johnny asked.
Grabbing the back of his neck nervously, Fred gave a hesitant nod.
"Magenta went through our boxes right before he left, but he didn't have enough time to find the gear. All he took was a bone we found in your family's crypt." Said Fred.
"My family treated me like dirt all my life, and now they're sending people after others. I'm not going to Stand for this any longer." Said Johnny, clenching his fists, he stood upright with all the manly firmness in his being.
A flicker of light crossed Velma's eyes, like the sun had come out from behind a cloud, and a golden aura surrounded Johnny. For a split second, she thought there was another person standing there, right beside Johnny. Rubbing her eyes for a moment, everything seemed back to normal, like the moment had passed, and the room was quiet and dim once again.
"Like, am I tripping right now, or did anyone else just see that?" Asked Shaggy.
"Reah, reah." Said Scooby-Doo.
"Jeepers." Said Daphne.