Editor's note: Yes, the characters are loosely based on a cartoon. Get over it.
Scruffy Rogers and his trusty sidekick mutt Doobie were walking along the road late one night when they came upon an abandoned truck. Scruffy was a tall, lanky fellow who would have fit in well with the hippy culture back in the day. He had a mop of brown, unkept hair and whiskers on his chin that wanted to be a goatee. He weighed all of 150 pounds soaking wet. It was well known that Scruffy and Doobie were both scared of their own shadow.
"Say, Doobie, what do you think this pickup is doing just sitting here like that?" Doobie just looked at him blankly. Upon further inspection, there was a shiny silver suit of armor sitting behind the wheel. Scruffy scratched his chin. "What the heck?" Suddenly, the head fell off the armor. "Holy crap! Let's get outta..." Scruffy turned to find his dog 100 yards away, running like his hair was on fire. "Hey! Wait for me!"
When they got back to town, they gathered at the Whodunit, Inc. headquarters, which was the basement of Ted's parent's house.
Whodunit, Inc. was formed by four high school friends who shared a common interest of solving mysteries. Instead of going to college, the four formed the company after graduating high school and traveled the country looking for cases. The company was comprised of, along with Scruffy, Ted Smith, Debbie Blake, and Vicki Dinky.
Ted was a tall, handsome young man. He wasn't always the sharpest tool in the toolbox, but he was very good with people. Not to mention, his family had money, they could use their basement as a headquarters, and he had a sweet SUV.
Debbie was a tall, beautiful red head with an hourglass figure and wasn't afraid to show it off. She had been a cheerleader in school and was quite athletic. She had a black belt in karate, was adept at picking locks, and was a quick thinker.
Vicki was a buxom young woman with chin-length auburn hair and freckles. She was the nerdy smart one in the group. She always wore square black glasses and incredibly tight orange sweaters that showed off her D-cup breasts matched with short-short skirts that exposed her toned legs.
After Scruffy described the scene with the pickup and suit of armor, the group went to investigate.
Ted scratched his head. "What the heck is a knight's armor be doing sitting in the driver's seat of a pickup truck with the keys in the ignition in the middle of the night?"
Vicki found a note stuck between the armor and the seat. "Deliver to James Black, Professor of Archaeology, London, England."
Debbie found a delivery slip reading, "Deliver to the State Museum."
The gang drove the truck back to their headquarters and, the next morning, drove it and the suit of armor to the museum and its curator, Mr. Dick Johnson.
"Thank you for bringing this to the museum, but I'm not sure it was a good idea," Mr. Johnson said nervously.
Debbie handed him the delivery slip. "But it says to deliver it to the museum."
Mr. Johnson looked at the slip of paper. "Yes, I see that. But Dr. Black has disappeared, you see."
"Really? What happened?" Ted asked.
"Have you heard of the legend of the Silver Knight?" The four shook their heads. "Well, legend has it that the Silver Knight -- this suit of armor -- comes to life on a full moon. Dr. Black was delivering this suit to us all the way from England...and last night was a full moon...I fear the legend may be true."
"That's ridiculous," Vicki replied.
Meanwhile, two museum workers were unloading the suit of armor. When asked what to do with it, Dr. Johnson told them to take it to the medieval room. As the men left, Doobie followed them. Along the way, he found a strange pair of glasses lying on the floor. He took them into his mouth and went back to join the group.
As they drove back to town, Vicki once again said the legend was ridiculous and there was more to the story. Finally, Doobie dropped the glasses next to Scruffy.
Scruffy held up the glasses. "Hey, buddy, cool glasses! Where'd you find these?"
"Did you find them at the museum?" Debbie asked. Doobie nodded his head.
"Those are some weird looking glasses," Ted noted. "I think we should do some research on them."
After a quick google search, they discovered the glasses were mainly used by jewelers, scientists, and archaeologists. It went on to say they were made in England. The gang immediately connected them with Dr. Black. Sensing something was definitely going on at the museum, they planned their return to investigate.
That night, they returned to the museum. Vicki first disabled the alarm system, then Debbie deftly picked the lock on the back door.
Ted took charge. "Okay, let's split up. We can cover more ground that way."
"Wha-wha-what exactly are we, you know, looking for?" Scruffy asked nervously.
"Anything suspicious," Ted replied.
"Thanks! That's very helpful!"
It wasn't long before Vicki, in the classic paintings room, discovered one of the paintings was missing. She stared at the area all around the missing painting with her magnifying lens.
"That's strange. Very strange," she muttered. She heard a faint, quick swish through the air. She raised her hand to the sudden sting in her neck. "Ow!" Then the room went black.
Debbie was in the rare Roman statues section of the museum when she noticed an empty podium along one wall. Upon closer inspection, she could see the markings left behind by something that had been sitting there for a significant amount of time.
She ran her hand across the empty platform. "That's odd," she whispered. She heard a quick, faint swish through the air. Her hand slapped her neck. "Hey! Ouch!" Then the room went black.
*****
30 minutes later, Scruffy, Doobie, and Ted met at the spot where they had started.
"Did you see anything?" Ted asked.
"No! I don't think so, anyway. Did you see anything, Doobie?" The mutt shook his head. "How about you, Ted? Did you see anything?"
Ted shook his head. "Nope, nothing. Have you seen the girls?"
"Not lately."
"I wonder where they are? Shoot! We need to get out of here before somebody finds us! But how are we going to find them? They could be anywhere!"
Doobie stuck his long snout in the air. Scruffy pointed at him. "Right! I'll bet he can find Debbie's perfume!"
"Of course! Lead the way, Doobie!"
*****
Vicki was the first to open her eyes. At first everything was blurry. Her mind was in a fog. She felt groggy. She quickly realized she was lying on a hard, concrete floor. Her hands were bound above her head and tied to a pole. Debbie was a few feet away. She was naked and sitting upright leaning against a column of some sort, with her hands bound behind it. She was just coming out of her brief sleep as well. Then it dawned on Vicki that she was naked, as well. She briefly struggled against her restraints before realizing it was no use.
"Debbie! Debbie!"
Debbie quickly awakened. "Vicki? What...what's going on?! Where are we?!"
Vicki calmly shook her head. "I don't know. Don't worry, we'll figure a way out of this."
"I seriously doubt it," came the voice from the darkness. When he stepped into the light, Vicki recognized him immediately.
"Dr. Johnson. I should've known."
Dr. Johnson nodded. "Yes. You brats have interrupted my operation. That's unfortunate. For you."
Another sinister voice came from the darkness. "Very unfortunate."
"Dr. Black, I presume?" Vicki asked flatly.
"Clever girl," he said as he stepped into the light.
"You're stealing artifacts, aren't you? And replacing them with fake ones. Correct?"
"Very clever. Too clever for your own good," Johnson replied.
"You and your friends will be dealt with soon enough. But first we're going to have a little fun," Black said with a sly smile.
"What...what are you planning?!" Debbie asked as Johnson moved closer.
Both men began to peel off their clothes.
Dr. Johnson smiled. "I've got somebody I'd like you to meet." His pants fell to the ground, revealing a large, stiff rod. "Miss Blake, I'd like to introduce you to my Dick Johnson."
"Stay away! Get away from me with that thing!"
Dr. Black was stripped from the waist down with an exposed thick, hard tool and sitting on Vicki's chest.
