"I still don't have a good feeling about leaving Johnny behind like that." said Daphne, still mulling as the Mystery Machine made the exit to Aaron City.
"Seems to have become a running gag with us at this point." said Shaggy. "Like, besides, he asked us to leave him behind."
"I'm sure he'll be fine." said Fred, biting his tongue as he held back from saying anything further.
"Where to then? Back to his mother's place, so we can tell her we abandoned her son again?" said Velma.
"Ruh, ruys. Rye rhink re're reeing rollowed." said Scooby-Doo, pressing his paw against the tinted back window of the Mystery Machine.
Two black SUVs with government plates had been following them since they had exited the highway, and within three blocks from the Bravo house, two more came in from the front leading a convoy to the festively decorated house. Parked neatly in the driveway was the Bravo's pink Cadillac and a fifth government vehicle.
Gulping loudly, Shaggy started shaking. "Like guys, I know we've been through a lot together, but this time I'm genuinely scared out of my mind."
"Relax Shaggy, we're in California." said Fred, trying his best to lighten the mood.
A dozen agents with black suits and earpieces got out of the cars and checked the surroundings before practically blending into the early evening light. Exiting the van, Velma led the march to the front door, unimpressed with the theatrics of whatever alphabet agency they were dealing with. Opening the door, Velma saw Bunny going over a folder at the kitchen table with an agent with all the ferocity of a tiger.
"How many people do I have to tell that my piano keys are made from Jarina seeds, not Ivory. Unless you're here about the Nevada properties, I know my gaming license is expired but I only have a stake in those hotels, I don't own or operate any of them anymore." said Bunny, going through a mental list of things she might be in trouble for.
Looking past the agents sweeping the rooms, Velma saw a woman looking over family photos by the far wall. Running her dark fingers over everything, she seemed disappointed at the lack of dust. Turning her head, Velma recognized her immediately.
"Calm down Mrs. Bravo. She's not here for you." said Velma. "This seems a little excessive, even for you Ms. Waller."
Motioning to the cough, Amanda Waller took a seat in the living room as the rest of Mystery Incorporated entered the house as an agent closed the door behind them. Over a walkie-talkie, a voice called out, "Area secure" with a sharp electronic beep.
"Why did you turn down the position at STAR Labs?" asked Amanda, looking over a folder in her hands.
"You came all this way to ask me that?" asked Velma.
"Over five hundred credit hours in advanced college courses, some professors bent over backwards just to include you in their classes through online means, yet you haven't finished a single degree, you've done experimental work out of your home on everything from chemistry to particle physics that would make you a doctor at any research laboratory in the country. Yet, you spend your time in a van with your friends, chasing minor criminals in masks." said Amanda.
"What are you? My career counselor?" asked Velma.
"Of course, considering the company you keep, it's no surprise you waste your energies on low talent thugs and gangsters." said Amanda.
Fred, Daphne, and Shaggy shifted uncomfortably on the couch.
"She means our little adventures with Batman and Wonder Woman." said Velma, reassuring her friends.
"I'm not sure if reminding us of that makes us feel better or worse." said Fred.
"It just means we're on a watchlist and this is a courtesy visit." said Velma.
"Actually, running into you was a coincidence this time." said Amanda, stretching her legs.
"Beg your pardon?" asked Velma.
"We do keep tabs on you, yes. You are on one of our low-risk watch lists. But this visit was actually about our mutual friend." Pulling out a picture of Johnny, she laid it on the coffee table with a light tap.
"Johnny's on a watchlist too?" asked Daphne.
"Johnny's on a higher priority watchlist than we are?" deduced Fred.
"How about we rewind and take this one subject at a time." said Amanda, giving a nod to one of her men, who disappeared into the kitchen. "Velma, Star Labs."
"I don't want to be tied down to a single location. Our work on the road has been a positive experience for all of us, not to mention our extended families." said Velma.
"Which is why you turned down Mr. Bravo when he proposed to you." said Amanda.
"Yeah…" said Velma.
"Is that the reason why you stayed out in California for a few months four years ago?" asked Fred. "You were dating Johnny and things were getting serious?"
"I figured it was something like that," said Shaggy.
Daphne, who knew the whole story already, placed her hand on Velma's knee and gave Amanda Waller a dirty look.
"We'll shelve that talk for another time." said Amanda, putting a second photograph on the table. A photo of a middle-aged man with brown hair covered with dozens of small skunk spots. "Any of you recognize this man?"
"Never seen him before." said Fred, examining the picture.
"Are you quite sure? How about you Norville?" asked Amanda, using Shaggy's given name.
"Doesn't ring any bells." said Shaggy.
"Is that so?" Placing a third picture on the table showed a dining room where a man matching the picture was dressed in a golfing uniform while Shaggy and Scooby gorged towers of sandwiches off to the side. "Does the name, Chancellor Keenan sound familiar at all?"
"Chancellor? I thought that name sounded funny." said Shaggy, remembering the lunch at the country club. "He's with that Birdman here. Yeah, I remember this… but we didn't talk with the guy and I couldn't tell you anything that they said."
"I've made people disappear over less involvement in less important things than this." said Amanda, brutally serious as a muscular man came in to hand her a teacup.
Examining the photos with her magnifying glass, Velma blinked twice as the photos seemed to have writing on them. Pulling away her magnifying glass, she thought she must have been mistaken as there was nothing there but the image. Bringing the magnifier over the photo again, however, revealed the text once more.
"Chancellor Carey Keenan, Director of Operations for NWP Development, graduated Yale Law summa cum laude, Law Partner of Rai Shankar…" said Velma.
"That's right." said Amanda, taking another sip of her tea, she must have assumed that this was just naturally Velma's know-it-all brain at work, not realizing that Velma knew nothing about the man other than what she had just read. "Strange that you crossed paths with the head of the Bravo family business right before going up to Jebedissa's funeral."
"It's a small world. You have to account for coincidences." said Velma.
"I suppose I must. You're right. This has all just been a misunderstanding." said Amanda, as she reached down to pick up her vibrating cell phone.
"Can we ask why Johnny is on a watchlist, or do we have to wait two years for a freedom of information act request to be processed?" asked Fred.
"That's a story for another time." said Amanda. "Right now, let's talk about your story. Tonight you and Johnny were at Red Dust Imports. Our agents contacted Johnny and he's agreed to help our investigation into the bald man you saw." Setting a fourth picture down, everyone saw it was a low-resolution photo of that Zanastar man.
"We've got a better picture of this guy." said Shaggy, placing the polaroid photo taken by the cats on the table. Shockingly, Waller was taken aback by this as she examined the picture before snapping her fingers and holding out her hand until Shaggy complied and handed over the rest of the pictures.
"Vogel Zanastar. He's one of my 'back burner' projects, someone I've been keeping an eye on, tried sending some agents to contact him with no luck. The man does not exist. But, I don't want you to concern yourselves with him."
"If this is your way of getting us to cooperate with one of your investigations, I can't say you're going about it the best way." said Daphne.
"Sweetheart, when I want someone to cooperate with me, believe me, I'm not this gentle." said Amanda. Dropping a packet of tickets on the table, Amanda finished her tea and handed it off to her assistant.
"West Edge Race Club?" said Fred, examining the tickets.
"You've stumbled onto the Bravo family business. As far as we can tell there were three sides to it. Jebedissa owned land, lots of land. Her cousin, Joyce, managed overseas trade and shipping. Her uncle, Joshua, is the owner of NWP Development, which secretly bought up tons of farmland during the depression. Now, we're having people look into Joyce's dealing, but we'd like you to make some headway into NWP. Joshua rarely makes public appearances at his age, seeing as how he's pushing ninety, but he still makes it out to the race track he owns which also holds one of his main offices. We want you to peek around and see if you can find anything." said Amanda.
"Is this some backdoor recruitment? Because if it is, I don't like it. I don't trust you one bit." said Velma.
"Reah, rhat roes rouble roar ree." said Scooby-Doo.
"Kids, I do things three ways. The first way is I politely ask. The second way is I blackmail you into doing what I want, or I ruin your families and your lives. The third way is I imprison you, plant bombs in your necks, and you work for me until you die. If you weren't clear, this is me asking politely." said Amanda, with all the menace of a cobra.
Clearly defeated by the situation, Daphne asked, "What exactly is it you want us to do then?"
"Don't be so down kids, I'm sure you're going to love this. See, we're not exactly sure Joshua is who he says he is. All I want is some proof to back up this suspicion. Find evidence to support this, and I'll be out of your hair for good. No strings, respectful distance, back to the way things were. Deal?"
Velma looked around at her friends and could tell that none of them were thinking that this must be what it's like to make a deal with the devil. The only worse thing she could imagine is if she had taken the job offer from LexCorp she had gotten a year ago.
"Alright, gang. I say we do it." said Fred.
"I mean, we were already sticking our noses into this family business. Now it's like we have the government's permission to do it." said Shaggy, but a disapproving eye from Waller communicated 'this is not a sanctioned operation' without a word.
"Before we say yes," said Velma, turning her magnifying glass over in her hands again, Velma thought about the strange dreams she had, and the bizarre experience with the writing on the photographs, "would you mind giving us back those photographs?"