Bang Goes the Theory  

Velma decided it was time to try out her theory that she could be heard.  She needed to pick a time when the store was occupied but quiet, that gave her a window of just a couple before and after it closed.  From the yawning and general sluggishness of her captors as they prepared themselves, and her, for the day ahead she guessed it was very early in the morning, her best estimate was 6am.  From various snippets of conversation she deduced they were going elsewhere for much of the day which was ideal from her point of view as it reduced the chance of them interrupting her.  Finally she was alone, she waited and listened for any signs they were still around.  Satisfied that they had gone she began to slowly count to 3600.

Rudi yawned as he swiped into the FlatterPack store.  He had some work to do on the stall before Sonia came to get things ready for the day.  He shook his head sadly at the sight of the empty CoolBall stall; it was too bad what had happened there but there was nothing he could do about it and set to work on his own stall.

3598... 3599... 3600 Velma began banging on the pipe with her handcuffs as hard as she could and yelled as loud as possible.  Her already muffled cries didn't get much beyond the room she was in but the banging noise sounded faintly throughout an empty dimly-lit store, empty all bar one person.

Rudi stopped what he was doing and looked up convinced he'd just heard a tapping noise.  He was just about resume work when... there was a faint tapping noise.  He closed his eyes and focused on the noise, regular metallic with a hollow ring to it, distant and muffled.  The store was quiet but someone was making that noise; perhaps it was that Dinkley girl who had gone missing.  He sent a message to his sister then set off to follow the noise.

Velma could feel her arms becoming tired.  She changed tactics to using one hand at a time, determined to keep going for as long as possible.

Rudi quickly made his way into the basement as most of the piping and ducting was down there.  He was sure that the sound was louder.  The sound occasionally became irregular with the odd short pause, an sign that the source was not artificial rather it was human and getting tired.  He hunted around the basement but couldn't locate where it was coming from.  He was able to locate something else, in an otherwise disused room there was a very organised set of crates in one corner behind which was an old door lying on the floor, so far so junk room.  He tapped on the door, solid… solid… solid… hollow.  He pulled the door along the floor and there in the corner was a stairwell heading down to a lower level.  He carefully went down the stairs into a dark corridor, dark but with a faint glow of light coming from where it turned a corner.

By the way the door burst open Velma knew that her plan had failed.  As she was dragged to her feet she was shouted at in a language she didn't understand.  She was handled roughly as she was moved to a different location, this time they didn't free her ankles and she was simply dragged down several flights to an even lower level to where, she was informed, she wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble.  There wouldn't be a mattress anymore, she had lost that 'privilege', it would be a cold, hard floor from now on.  She was backed against a pipe.  Her hands were yanked behind it, she bit into gag and shook her head as the cuffs were secured as tightly as they could be without slicing her wrists open.

The hood was lifted up giving a glimpse of the world around her.  Mercifully she caught a brief glimpse of her glasses as they were tossed onto a nearby crate.  Velma moaned as the gag was tightened by a couple of notches then the hood dropped down.
“Hurry up, move!  Someone is coming.” the call distracted the person dealing with Velma and they didn’t pull the drawn string closed around her neck just pushed her to the ground.
“Coming Mr Rusa,” the person muttered under their breath as they stood up and walked away.
“Mmn-meees!” She didn’t mean to but another piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place and she’d let out an involuntary jinkies.  This earned her a hard kick on sole of her shoe and a further instruction to be quiet.  Velma now knew where she was and who was behind her abduction, the why could wait.  That kick proved that her captors had just crossed a line, violence would now become easier; the next video might not need make-up.  It was time to leave by any means possible.

The Mystery Machine screeched to a halt in the car-park just as Mr Parker arrived.  There was no piling out of the van this time as they needed to set up Daphne's wheelchair.  That done Fred sat in the chair then Daphne sat on his lap as, she claimed, it was more comfortable.  That done Shaggy revved himself up and gripped handles of the wheelchair.

Though the noise had stopped a while ago Rudi had decided to follow the direction it had come from for a while longer as there were now signs of the corridor being recently travelled down.  The signs eventually led to set of rooms with connecting doors.  In the last he found a floor to ceiling pipe.  On one side was a mattress with bedding strewn about, the opposite side if the pipe showed fresh chip and scratch marks.  On the floor were several empty rolls of tape.  He knelt down and felt the mattress, it was still warm with traces of orange wool on it.  He remembered his previous encounters with that Dinkley girl; she wore a lot of orange.  He stood up and looked around.  There were clear signs of the place having been occupied for a while, then hurriedly vacated.
What was her name now, Volvo? Vemma?
“Velma! Velma can you hear me?"

Daphne closed her eyes in terror and clung onto Fred as Shaggy ran for the door as fast as he could, with the wheelchair bouncing in front of him.  Scooby got to the door moments before Shaggy and swiped his entry card through the reader and opened the door moments before Shaggy got there.  They rushed on in, skidding round on one wheel the chicane that was the cutlery and other sharp pointy object isle causing Fred and Daphne to cry out in alarm.  Finally Shaggy deposited them onto a couch in the staff common room and went to get the coffee going leaving Scooby and Mr Parker to deal with the shell-shocked Fred and Daphne.  

Rudi paused; there was a soft shuffling noise nearby.
"Velma?  It's me Rudi, from the herring stall, are you there?"
The shuffling grew louder, he closed his eyes to focus on the sound; something was wrong, the sound was coming from multiple directions.  He opened his eyes, something was definitely wrong, just then the lights went out; he took out his phone and turned on the torch.  There were shapes in the room, large shapes.  There was the sound of small objects hitting the floor about his feet followed by a hissing noise. Smoke swirled around him; he could hear movement and voices around him.  He decided to make a run for it and turned from the exit; before he could take a step he was hit hard over head from behind and fell to the floor.  Before he passed out he looked up to see Icktharians emerge from the smoke from all sides and standing over him.

A Call To Arms

The gang were in the staff common room drinking coffee as Shaggy outlined his plan.
“Guys, remember the film Mission:Implausible 3 – Mirror of Mercy?” said Shaggy.
“What has this got to do with Velma?” said Fred.
“Well in that film they used the reflection from the baddies glasses to find the location of their hideout.”  
“So?” said Daphne draining her coffee mug, Fred leant forward, Shaggy was on to something.
“We’ve been thinking all wrong, food, bedding and a mattress have all been stolen from the store, they never left the store, Velma never left the store, she’s still here down there somewhere,” Shaggy pointed to the ground “There was stuff reflected in Velma’s glasses if we can work out what it’ll give us a clue as to where down there she is, I can get a copy of the DVD…”
“Velma could use her computer to do that, we don’t have the skills,” interrupted Fred.
“I know someone who does, Eric Staufer from the school cyber club,” Shaggy took out his phone and called Eric, Daphne leant over and snatched the phone before Shaggy could speak.
“Eric, this is Daphne Blake whatever you are doing now is seriously not important, Velma’s been kidnapped and we need you to help find out where she’s being held.”

A short while later Eric had joined them.  They had moved to the security office so they could use the video equipment. Eric picked up a security camera that was lying around in the room as Shaggy described what he wanted Eric to do.
“Not my area of speciality, I’ll call in some help.  Do we know what type of camera this was taken on?” Eric peered through the lens of the security cameras “We can do some reverse optics to improve the image; I don’t suppose any of you would have a laser on you?”
The gang turned out their pockets; Scooby dropped a couple of Scooby Snacks in Eric’s lap and looked expectantly at him.
“We’ll borrow one from college,” said Eric patting Scooby on the head.  He then wrote down a list of people to call and the gang hit the phones.

A couple of hours later and the phones were still buzzing as the reverse engineering of the reflected image got underway.  Eric was glued to the phones, constantly taking and receiving call at the same time as trying to direct the image processing efforts.  Shaggy had given Eric a new list of names to call; these people were needed for the second part of his plan.  Shaggy and Scooby were outside dealing with the increasing numbers of people arriving to help.  Soon people from every science, technology and workshop club in the city were there.  

Shaggy climbed into the back of the Mystery Machine, it was the only place where they could get a bit of peace and quiet as the common room had been turned into a small server-farm.   A lot of people were milling around doing a lot of things Shaggy didn’t fully understand but Eric seemed to have it all under some kind of control.  It felt like this was taking on a life of it's own which was what Shaggy had hoped.
“Any news?” said Fred when Shaggy had settled himself down.
“A deep basement, from what they could see and what we know of the place it was the level below the official basement."
"Anything else?"
"While it was a fishy hand that pulled the hood off, the people in the reflection were human.  People in masks, I knew it."
"Sure you did Shag," smiled Daphne, "how long do we have to wait here?" "Eric will come and get us when the command tent is up and running."
"A command tent, sweet," said Fred.
"Honestly when will you two grow up..."
They were interrupted by a knock on the  door.
"It's open!" said Fred.
The door opened, a hooded figure leant in.
“Excuse me have you seen my brother?” the voice was that of a young woman, a very worried young woman.
“Your brother?” said Fred.
“Yes he helps run the herring stall, I turned up as normal but he wasn’t there, I thought he’d gone to get the stock for the day but he hasn’t arrived.  He’s not at home and his phone is off.”
“And you are?” said Fred, the figure pulled back their hood.
“Wait I recognise you…” said Shaggy
“Yes, I’m Sonia, Sonia Nordskov.  The last message I had from Rudi was that he was following a tapping noise he could hear in the store.  Believe me we have nothing to do with what ever happened to Velma,  I fear whoever has taken her and tried to blame me and my brother for it have now taken him."
The gang looked at each other.
“We are now,” said Daphne.
Eric appeared from behind Sonia.
“Tent's ready guys.  I called those people you said Shag, and they brought along some friends and they brought some friends and... well I hope you don’t mind.”
He stood aside; the car park was full of people.

We few, we happy few, we band of nerds

Fred sat in Daphne's wheelchair and she sat on his lap while Shaggy pushed them along as Eric gave them a guided tour of what was going on.  Daphne filmed, photographed and blogged as they went.  Daphne wasn't the only one doing this and soon Coolsville was trending on every social media site on the planet.

The local Caverns & Creatures players had turned out en-masse to help search, others players had driven in from neighbouring towns as word had spread; none would miss a chance to play ‘the level’ for real.  On arrival they were being organised into groups, each was given a set route to follow.  These routes had been worked out by the mathematicians to provide the most efficient search of the space.  As the word had spread through the wider gaming community players of other games and general fans of the genre had arrived.  They came because of Shaggy's map, because their campaigns had been enriched by Velma's input, because it was something special to do.  And they all had come in costume.

The entrance to the car park was where people signed up.  Next to that was a holding area where people waited to be assigned to a team.  At the front of the store the equivalent of drill sergeants were putting groups of newly enlisted Dwarves, Elves and Klingons through their paces.  In a quiet corner were the mathematicians with their white-boards, studying the maps and working out the best routes of entry and exit as well as providing support to the other technical groups.

Next to them were the communications people setting up remote camera and comms gear to be deployed as the teams went in.  They were also busy in the command tent making the last minute adjustments to the data feeds which would flow into it when the operation started.  By the shopping trolley park the twin brothers of Chip and Dale were beavering away assembling some ‘rescue robots’ to go into the deeper levels ahead of the search teams.  These were made almost entirely out of plastic building blocks, they were fast, light, could climb stairs and fit into all kind of tight spaces.  They would use sent into the deeper levels, using their on-board cameras to perform reconnaissance ahead of the human search teams.  They also carried a large LED display to communicate with Velma if they found her.

In yet another part of the camp freshly drilled groups of Klingons and Dwarves were squaring up to each other, when they weren’t shouting insults at the Elves that is.  The Elves ignored them and focused on archery practice while fighters and Rangers sparred with each other.  The clash of steel on steel sounded through the car park.  Fred stared in disbelief; somehow they had acquired a blacksmith who was currently beating out some plate armour.  It was like being in a strange fantasy/sci-fi fusion convention, tents and flags denoting the various activities were everywhere.  Daphne’s mouth twitched slightly as a platoon of Imperial Stormtroopers marched past.
“Never in the field of mystery solving has so much nerd been use by so many to rescue just one,” said Fred as he observed the crowd working.
“At least none of them are wearing tights,” whispered Daphne.

It wasn't all weapons and warriors in the camp, food was being cooked on braziers and open fires and a small inn had opened serving soft drinks, mead and warm flat beer.  As if this wasn't enough noise musicians moved amongst the crowd playing to nobody in particular.  The gang was surprised by the predominance of lute players.  Daphne recognised two of them from her cheerleading squad.
Lutes? Thought Daphne Lutes!  The school can barely put together a horn quartet for half-time but we’ve got lute players by the dozen.
Fred and Shaggy were impressed by a flute player with a big flowing hair and bushy beard.  He wore a frock-coat made out of strips of coloured material and was standing on one leg while balancing on a bollard with his other leg resting in the crook of his knee playing an impossibly fast tune.

They looked at the list of the latest arrivals, Daphne recognised a few of the names, there was Jack Morgan from her history class, he had come as a samurai and the Thompson twins, no surprising who they’d come as.  Only three Spartans, well I suppose there is a recession on.

The place was alive with activity and purpose, it was infectious.  It event got to Fred and Daphne, despite being officially signed off sick from mystery solving Fred and Daphne were compelled to join in.
“I want to help Shag, I need to help, so does Freddie he’s going nuts with both his arms in slings; he’s even tried to make traps with his feet.”
"Fred, like what do you want to do?" Shaggy looked at Fred, he could sense Fred's frustration at things, he could just about scratch his nose let alone build a trap.
"I need to be there Shag, I want to get in there and get Vel out of there, to make those Icky-fishy things pay."
"I think I can help," said Eric, he pulled a 2-way radio out of his pocket and called and called some people over.  One of them Fred knew, he worked at the garage where Fred had the Mystery Machine serviced.  Daphne stood up to allow Fred to get up then sat back down in the wheelchair.
"Guys, I don't want just a trap, I want to be there..." Fred outlined what he wanted as he and the newly formed Team Ascot headed off to work on his plan.
"Any ideas for me?" said Daphne.
Shaggy looked at Daphne, “Daph you can run the comms, you’re ace at keeping people informed and keeping track of all that social network stuff.”
"Well sign me up Shag and plug me in."

Having been duly sworn in Daphne wheeled herself into the command tent and parked next to Shaggy, Scooby and Eric.
"I'm here so now what do I do?"  To Daphne's eyes what was going on in the tent was just as confusing as what was going on outside.
"Let me show you around, like over here is the map area..."
Shaggy took Daphne on a familiarisation tour of the tent while Eric went to deal with things outside. Around the walls were large maps of the store and what was known about the lower levels.  All the maps had been hand drawn on hex paper.  In the centre of the tent was a plotting table with these maps laid out, painted lead figures were being placed on in various locations to mark the start points for the various teams.  One corner was occupied by banks of monitors and computers.  This was the communications centre, Daphne's station.  On the other side were several tables groaning under the weight of monitors, here the data feeds from all the search teams were received.  At the heart of it all was a raised platform where Shaggy sat overseeing all the activities.  Things started to make sense to Daphne now she could see how all the various pieces fitted together.

“And I will help too,” Shaggy and Daphne turned to see Sonia standing at the entrance; She was wearing a long cape which completely covered her.
“OK but how?” said Shaggy.
Sonia threw the cape back, underneath she was wearing soft leather armour with a light chain-mail vest on top, a cross of gold hung from a chain round her neck, the hilt of a broadsword peeked out over her shoulder.
Why am I not surprised thought Daphne.

Behind her a CoolBall refrigerated delivery van and a cryogenics truck carrying liquefied gas arrived under police escort and parked next to the Team Ascot tent.  Nearby the first TV news van arrived, aligned its satellite dish and began to transmit.

Velma sat in the silence and semi-darkness and wept angrily, she’d never felt so alone, the ultimate wallflower.  Not like it’s an uncommon feeling, she pictured her yearbook entry ‘Velma Dinkley voted the least loved or noticed person in school’ that’s if anyone noticed her enough to put it in.  The more upset she got, the angrier she became, she kept thinking thoughts that made her angry, she knew there would be a price to pay later, but for now she needed all the anger she could muster.

Shaggy sat back in his chair; Eric stood next to him and spoke into a microphone.
"All teams give a go no-go on this, comms?"
"Go," said Daphne.
"First wave?"
"Go."
"Second wave?"
"Go."
The butterflies in Daphne's stomach grew as each team reported in, finally all was ready, Eric nodded at Shaggy.  He leant forward; the light from his monitor under lit his face.
"It's Showtime."