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Chapter 5
Thursday, 9:10 a.m. While Scooby and the gang were continuing to figure out how the ghosts of Kayne and Gurdetha were coming back to life, the Gunsquad went down to HQ of the armored car company where we found the two guys all tied up inside. We talked to everybody, from the CEO and President, all the way down to other employees who were simultaneously disgruntled from being unhappy about the higher-ups and the way they were treated. Both the President and CEO, who shall remain nameless to you, the public, to protect the innocent, had complaints about their armored cars being stolen, but they denied any knowledge of the counterfeit money. Their accounts made it sound like the ghosts of Kayne and Gurdetha were the ones doing the counterfeiting. Another guy's account claimed it was somebody from a rival company trying to put them out of business. Still another guy's account said Bendraqi's robots were doing it, but we knew that wasn't possible because there were no EP-2900s left in the United States.
The President and CEO had plenty of anger management issues evidently, which may have been why the employees at the lower level were complaining about it. We later met the two guys that were all tied up and asked them once more if they knew anything about the counterfeiting. "I am tempted to blame it on the President, but that's just me making a value judgement," said the first guy. "If not, then he's just a rude man."
"Why would he want to put his own company out of business?" I asked.
"I don't know, but it's possible. I remember him groaning about not wanting to be in his family's business."
"So he has the job because his parents pressured him into doing it?"
"Yes."
"Have you lived here long?"
"No; we just moved here last week. Job transfer. Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering. Also, Wildcat City has a history of people getting jobs for that very reason."
"I don't see why a parent should want that on their kids. Just because your dad does it doesn't mean that is your destiny."
"What would he have wanted to do instead?"
"I think he wanted to be a window cleaner."
"So he's the wrong person for the job?"
"I guess."
10:04 a.m. When we got back to HQ, we reported what the people told us to Scooby and the gang, and Velma had every reason to be suspicious. "And you're saying he kept saying the ghosts were the ones switching out the real money for counterfeit money?" she asked to confirm. (The other G-52s had arrived as well, and we asked Bendraqi to drop by.)
"That's what they said," I replied.
"He did seem to want you out of there in a hurry," Bendraqi put in. "But he can't be right about my robots, the USA has none left. That one your dog uncovered was the last one. Shame you don't know who buried it."
"But we did find a few other things out," Super C put in. "These communicators we use have a special trick that allows you to do a 'past camera' feature, but you can only do it 2 to 3 times per day." He demonstrated to Mystery, Inc. how the trick worked. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to give us the vital piece of evidence we wanted, but it did at least show us what we were hoping to see.
"There's something that just doesn't seem right about this," Andrew thought aloud.
"I can't figure it out either," Fred put in. "Why would two ghosts bury a stolen armored car with fake money in it?"
"I don't know," I said.
Velma then had a thought. "Did this William Gurdetha you speak of want Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation reversed?"
"Nobody knows for certain," I replied, "but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. He hated humans. Why do you suggest it?"
"My first instinct was that if there really is a ghost, and I am certain that there isn't, if he's flooding the city with phony cash, it would be a way to get revenge because he'd be forcing everybody to use their credit cards."
"And if my memory is correct," Daphne added, "I seem to recall the ghosts telling each other something about getting everybody into a credit card debt they couldn't pay, and then once everybody gets into a financial disaster, they'll take over and enslave them."
"But, like, that's against the law!" Shaggy exclaimed.
"Yeah; law!" Scooby echoed.
"Of course it is, but these ghosts don't know what year it is." Velma paused to clear her throat.
"So how do you think you're going to put a stop to this?" I asked.
"Don't worry; I have an idea," Fred smirked, leading Shaggy and Scooby to gulp. "Like, why does it always have to be us?"
8:31 p.m. Mystery, Inc. had gone back to the Forbidden Zone in order to attempt to trap the two ghosts, while the rest of us hid out of sight and filmed it, on orders from the police. Everybody's hunch was that the criminals were using some sort of trick to make themselves ghostly, and it didn't help our cause that they were also choosing to use a smokescreen trick on all of us.
As before, the ghost of Gurdetha had been shouting, "REVENGE! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! WAR ON THE HUMANS! WAR ON THE HUMANS!"
"He's not drumming?" Scooby wondered aloud.
"I don't think he always had an instrument on him, Scooby," Shaggy replied. "But now we've got to lead them to the spot."
"Thanks a lot!" The duo waited for the right moment, and then suddenly jumped out in front of the ghosts. "KILL THE HUMAN!" the ghost of Gurdetha shouted.
What came next was your typical Scooby chase as seen on TV, because the pair were running around all over the place, and it didn't help that Fred, Velma, and Daphne were also discovered. The ghost of Gurdetha was still preaching, "KILL THE HUMANS!" Kayne's ghost, however, didn't want to kill the humans; he just wanted them enslaved to work for his cause.
Fred had laid a trap involving the spot where we had originally found the buried armored car, and the city's regular police had arrived to watch, coming at the prompting of my signal (I fired a shot from my six-shooter into the air). His traps didn't seem to have any merit, though, even if he did always witness the crook get what he deserved in the end. "I'm not giving up," he told me, "even though some of my traps have gone awry in the past."
"I'm sorry history had to repeat itself," I replied. Why did I say that? Shaggy and Scooby got distracted by the ghosts and their strategy of getting the two to split up. Scooby ran over the trap, a series of bamboo sticks (provided by Cripto), and managed to fall right in!
"No, Scooby; not here!" Velma exclaimed.
"Scooby! You weren't supposed to fall into the trap!" Fred snapped.
"HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Shaggy suddenly screamed. Both ghosts had him in their clutches.
"Shaggy!" Velma called.
"Shaggy!" Scooby called, suddenly jumping out of the hole and running towards the ghosts, both of whom had difficulty getting him off. Cripto's powers subsequently bleeped all any and all swear words both ghosts were uttering at that point, leading Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne to cover their ears.
"Please make it stop!" both Daphne and Velma exclaimed in unison.
"I'll make it stop!" Scooby announced, proceeding to whack one of the ghosts. Originally, he thought about biting their arms, but he felt that was too gross for his taste. Naturally, the ghost of Kayne yelled, "OUCH!", and began running around again. The ghost of Gurdetha continued to chase him until both of them fell into the hole again.
"GET OFF ME, YOU MUTT!" the ghost yelled, but Scooby kept on barking. Then the dog suddenly sneezed, leading to what looked like a huge mushroom cloud. Everybody covered their eyes and ears to protect themselves.
After getting the ghost out, the cops brought both of them together. Nick and I then had instructions to pour buckets of water all over the two, revealing all that needed to be revealed. It was the President and CEO of the armored car company!
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Like, it's just a flour trick!"
"IDIOTS!" the President yelled at Shaggy and the kids. "I HOPE YOUR PARENTS GROUND YOU FOR LIFE, FOR YOU CLEARLY DISOBEYED THEM, YOU {BLEEP} {BLEEP}! THAT'S ALL YOU ARE!"
"How did we disobey them?" Fred asked.
"DIDN'T THEY TEACH YOU TO MIND YOUR OWN {BLEEP} BUSINESS?"
"First of all," I interjected, "that's no way to speak to these kids, so stop swearing And second, they were minding their own business, because their business was putting an end to your deception!"
Friday, 8:38 a.m. The kids and Scooby needed a long rest from all the excitement, but they met us back at HQ to help us officially wrap up the case. They had questions to ask the criminals as well; heck, even Scooby had a few things he wanted to ask the crooks. Soon we got the answers we needed, even though some things still didn't seem to make any sense:
1. Both gentlemen had used a combination of flour and glow-in-the-dark paint on specific lion and bear costumes in order to make themselves look like the ghosts of Kayne and Gurdetha.
2. The buried armored car we originally found was buried because it was a genuine accident, but it had genuine money in it. The crooks had their secret counterfeiting machines underground in the HQ of their own company, and since they only had the jobs because their parents said so, they wanted to get themselves fired by getting the company out of business, and getting the lower-level employees blamed for it.
3. The genuine $100 bill amongst all the counterfeits was intentionally planted to throw us off.
4. The crooks had stolen the last EP-2900 robot in America and used it to make that buzzing sound. The sound would distract us from finding the armored car.
5. The crooks had been keeping all the real money they switched out for the fakes for themselves in their respective expensive mansions. Those mansions were now the property of the city, and with a little remodeling, they'd be up for sale for the honest people of Wildcat City who had the money to buy them.
6. The two employees we saw tied up had caught the crooks on camera, and upon discovering the camera footage, the crooks tied their employees up and gagged, them, threw them in the back of an armored car, and took them to the burial spot. The crooks had also intended for the employees to install counterfeit money in the ATM, but a different employee had secretly switched the bags back, and so real money was in the ATM at Wildcat National Bank. The police then came to pick up the money out of sight, but weren't able to find the two employees because we found them first.
Later that day, we celebrated by having lunch at the G-52 Diner, and Shaggy and Scooby kept their promises not to overeat, although they did have extra things they ordered. It was within reason, though, and so Gopher gladly worked his magic for the quintet of detectives. The news also revealed that all three of the employees involved in helping reveal the truth were now (albeit abruptly) taking the positions the crooks once had; the two tied and gagged were now President and Vice-President, respectively, and the third man was now working as the CEO. The company was to remain in business after being cleared of any wrongdoings, and the employees all got their salaries doubled at the least. (It was an hourly job at this company, but they had benefits and bonuses, so they were now earning at least $30 an hour; I'm not making it up. That's what it paid.)
"Some plan they had, huh, gang?" Shaggy concluded the discussion about the case.
"Yeah, but we did it!" Fred replied. "Mainly thanks to Scooby-Doo!"
"Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" Scooby smiled, giving a big grin while listening to an imaginary crowd in his head give him applause and a standing ovation.
The Gunsquad also took the honors to make Mystery, Inc. honorary members of the Gunsquad. "If ever any more paranormal elements are involved," I said, "we're coming to you!"
"We'll be there to help!" Shaggy agreed.
"And you can bet on that," Daphne added.
The President and CEO of the armored car company in question were charged with a 921, counterfeiting money; a 1940, installing the fake money in an ATM, a 16.492, treating their employees like crap; a 783.03, pretending to be the spirits of dead animals, and a 65894, shouting abusive profanities at the members of Mystery, Inc. The judge added an addition charge of a 101010101010, violations of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and attempting to force everybody to bankrupt themselves with unpayable credit card debt. They were locked up in solitary, separated from one another, for the rest of their lives.
CASE CLOSED
-----------------------------------------
Chapter 5
Thursday, 9:10 a.m. While Scooby and the gang were continuing to figure out how the ghosts of Kayne and Gurdetha were coming back to life, the Gunsquad went down to HQ of the armored car company where we found the two guys all tied up inside. We talked to everybody, from the CEO and President, all the way down to other employees who were simultaneously disgruntled from being unhappy about the higher-ups and the way they were treated. Both the President and CEO, who shall remain nameless to you, the public, to protect the innocent, had complaints about their armored cars being stolen, but they denied any knowledge of the counterfeit money. Their accounts made it sound like the ghosts of Kayne and Gurdetha were the ones doing the counterfeiting. Another guy's account claimed it was somebody from a rival company trying to put them out of business. Still another guy's account said Bendraqi's robots were doing it, but we knew that wasn't possible because there were no EP-2900s left in the United States.
The President and CEO had plenty of anger management issues evidently, which may have been why the employees at the lower level were complaining about it. We later met the two guys that were all tied up and asked them once more if they knew anything about the counterfeiting. "I am tempted to blame it on the President, but that's just me making a value judgement," said the first guy. "If not, then he's just a rude man."
"Why would he want to put his own company out of business?" I asked.
"I don't know, but it's possible. I remember him groaning about not wanting to be in his family's business."
"So he has the job because his parents pressured him into doing it?"
"Yes."
"Have you lived here long?"
"No; we just moved here last week. Job transfer. Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering. Also, Wildcat City has a history of people getting jobs for that very reason."
"I don't see why a parent should want that on their kids. Just because your dad does it doesn't mean that is your destiny."
"What would he have wanted to do instead?"
"I think he wanted to be a window cleaner."
"So he's the wrong person for the job?"
"I guess."
10:04 a.m. When we got back to HQ, we reported what the people told us to Scooby and the gang, and Velma had every reason to be suspicious. "And you're saying he kept saying the ghosts were the ones switching out the real money for counterfeit money?" she asked to confirm. (The other G-52s had arrived as well, and we asked Bendraqi to drop by.)
"That's what they said," I replied.
"He did seem to want you out of there in a hurry," Bendraqi put in. "But he can't be right about my robots, the USA has none left. That one your dog uncovered was the last one. Shame you don't know who buried it."
"But we did find a few other things out," Super C put in. "These communicators we use have a special trick that allows you to do a 'past camera' feature, but you can only do it 2 to 3 times per day." He demonstrated to Mystery, Inc. how the trick worked. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to give us the vital piece of evidence we wanted, but it did at least show us what we were hoping to see.
"There's something that just doesn't seem right about this," Andrew thought aloud.
"I can't figure it out either," Fred put in. "Why would two ghosts bury a stolen armored car with fake money in it?"
"I don't know," I said.
Velma then had a thought. "Did this William Gurdetha you speak of want Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation reversed?"
"Nobody knows for certain," I replied, "but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. He hated humans. Why do you suggest it?"
"My first instinct was that if there really is a ghost, and I am certain that there isn't, if he's flooding the city with phony cash, it would be a way to get revenge because he'd be forcing everybody to use their credit cards."
"And if my memory is correct," Daphne added, "I seem to recall the ghosts telling each other something about getting everybody into a credit card debt they couldn't pay, and then once everybody gets into a financial disaster, they'll take over and enslave them."
"But, like, that's against the law!" Shaggy exclaimed.
"Yeah; law!" Scooby echoed.
"Of course it is, but these ghosts don't know what year it is." Velma paused to clear her throat.
"So how do you think you're going to put a stop to this?" I asked.
"Don't worry; I have an idea," Fred smirked, leading Shaggy and Scooby to gulp. "Like, why does it always have to be us?"
8:31 p.m. Mystery, Inc. had gone back to the Forbidden Zone in order to attempt to trap the two ghosts, while the rest of us hid out of sight and filmed it, on orders from the police. Everybody's hunch was that the criminals were using some sort of trick to make themselves ghostly, and it didn't help our cause that they were also choosing to use a smokescreen trick on all of us.
As before, the ghost of Gurdetha had been shouting, "REVENGE! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! WAR ON THE HUMANS! WAR ON THE HUMANS!"
"He's not drumming?" Scooby wondered aloud.
"I don't think he always had an instrument on him, Scooby," Shaggy replied. "But now we've got to lead them to the spot."
"Thanks a lot!" The duo waited for the right moment, and then suddenly jumped out in front of the ghosts. "KILL THE HUMAN!" the ghost of Gurdetha shouted.
What came next was your typical Scooby chase as seen on TV, because the pair were running around all over the place, and it didn't help that Fred, Velma, and Daphne were also discovered. The ghost of Gurdetha was still preaching, "KILL THE HUMANS!" Kayne's ghost, however, didn't want to kill the humans; he just wanted them enslaved to work for his cause.
Fred had laid a trap involving the spot where we had originally found the buried armored car, and the city's regular police had arrived to watch, coming at the prompting of my signal (I fired a shot from my six-shooter into the air). His traps didn't seem to have any merit, though, even if he did always witness the crook get what he deserved in the end. "I'm not giving up," he told me, "even though some of my traps have gone awry in the past."
"I'm sorry history had to repeat itself," I replied. Why did I say that? Shaggy and Scooby got distracted by the ghosts and their strategy of getting the two to split up. Scooby ran over the trap, a series of bamboo sticks (provided by Cripto), and managed to fall right in!
"No, Scooby; not here!" Velma exclaimed.
"Scooby! You weren't supposed to fall into the trap!" Fred snapped.
"HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Shaggy suddenly screamed. Both ghosts had him in their clutches.
"Shaggy!" Velma called.
"Shaggy!" Scooby called, suddenly jumping out of the hole and running towards the ghosts, both of whom had difficulty getting him off. Cripto's powers subsequently bleeped all any and all swear words both ghosts were uttering at that point, leading Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne to cover their ears.
"Please make it stop!" both Daphne and Velma exclaimed in unison.
"I'll make it stop!" Scooby announced, proceeding to whack one of the ghosts. Originally, he thought about biting their arms, but he felt that was too gross for his taste. Naturally, the ghost of Kayne yelled, "OUCH!", and began running around again. The ghost of Gurdetha continued to chase him until both of them fell into the hole again.
"GET OFF ME, YOU MUTT!" the ghost yelled, but Scooby kept on barking. Then the dog suddenly sneezed, leading to what looked like a huge mushroom cloud. Everybody covered their eyes and ears to protect themselves.
After getting the ghost out, the cops brought both of them together. Nick and I then had instructions to pour buckets of water all over the two, revealing all that needed to be revealed. It was the President and CEO of the armored car company!
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Like, it's just a flour trick!"
"IDIOTS!" the President yelled at Shaggy and the kids. "I HOPE YOUR PARENTS GROUND YOU FOR LIFE, FOR YOU CLEARLY DISOBEYED THEM, YOU {BLEEP} {BLEEP}! THAT'S ALL YOU ARE!"
"How did we disobey them?" Fred asked.
"DIDN'T THEY TEACH YOU TO MIND YOUR OWN {BLEEP} BUSINESS?"
"First of all," I interjected, "that's no way to speak to these kids, so stop swearing And second, they were minding their own business, because their business was putting an end to your deception!"
Friday, 8:38 a.m. The kids and Scooby needed a long rest from all the excitement, but they met us back at HQ to help us officially wrap up the case. They had questions to ask the criminals as well; heck, even Scooby had a few things he wanted to ask the crooks. Soon we got the answers we needed, even though some things still didn't seem to make any sense:
1. Both gentlemen had used a combination of flour and glow-in-the-dark paint on specific lion and bear costumes in order to make themselves look like the ghosts of Kayne and Gurdetha.
2. The buried armored car we originally found was buried because it was a genuine accident, but it had genuine money in it. The crooks had their secret counterfeiting machines underground in the HQ of their own company, and since they only had the jobs because their parents said so, they wanted to get themselves fired by getting the company out of business, and getting the lower-level employees blamed for it.
3. The genuine $100 bill amongst all the counterfeits was intentionally planted to throw us off.
4. The crooks had stolen the last EP-2900 robot in America and used it to make that buzzing sound. The sound would distract us from finding the armored car.
5. The crooks had been keeping all the real money they switched out for the fakes for themselves in their respective expensive mansions. Those mansions were now the property of the city, and with a little remodeling, they'd be up for sale for the honest people of Wildcat City who had the money to buy them.
6. The two employees we saw tied up had caught the crooks on camera, and upon discovering the camera footage, the crooks tied their employees up and gagged, them, threw them in the back of an armored car, and took them to the burial spot. The crooks had also intended for the employees to install counterfeit money in the ATM, but a different employee had secretly switched the bags back, and so real money was in the ATM at Wildcat National Bank. The police then came to pick up the money out of sight, but weren't able to find the two employees because we found them first.
Later that day, we celebrated by having lunch at the G-52 Diner, and Shaggy and Scooby kept their promises not to overeat, although they did have extra things they ordered. It was within reason, though, and so Gopher gladly worked his magic for the quintet of detectives. The news also revealed that all three of the employees involved in helping reveal the truth were now (albeit abruptly) taking the positions the crooks once had; the two tied and gagged were now President and Vice-President, respectively, and the third man was now working as the CEO. The company was to remain in business after being cleared of any wrongdoings, and the employees all got their salaries doubled at the least. (It was an hourly job at this company, but they had benefits and bonuses, so they were now earning at least $30 an hour; I'm not making it up. That's what it paid.)
"Some plan they had, huh, gang?" Shaggy concluded the discussion about the case.
"Yeah, but we did it!" Fred replied. "Mainly thanks to Scooby-Doo!"
"Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" Scooby smiled, giving a big grin while listening to an imaginary crowd in his head give him applause and a standing ovation.
The Gunsquad also took the honors to make Mystery, Inc. honorary members of the Gunsquad. "If ever any more paranormal elements are involved," I said, "we're coming to you!"
"We'll be there to help!" Shaggy agreed.
"And you can bet on that," Daphne added.
The President and CEO of the armored car company in question were charged with a 921, counterfeiting money; a 1940, installing the fake money in an ATM, a 16.492, treating their employees like crap; a 783.03, pretending to be the spirits of dead animals, and a 65894, shouting abusive profanities at the members of Mystery, Inc. The judge added an addition charge of a 101010101010, violations of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and attempting to force everybody to bankrupt themselves with unpayable credit card debt. They were locked up in solitary, separated from one another, for the rest of their lives.
CASE CLOSED
W.C.'s D.F.'s, #5: Counterfeiters 'R' Us (Chapter 5)
Chapter 5 and the finale.
G-52s and Bendraqi © me and me alone
Scooby-Doo © Warner Bros. and everybody else who owns the rights
G-52s and Bendraqi © me and me alone
Scooby-Doo © Warner Bros. and everybody else who owns the rights
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 64 x 120px
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