Fifteen - Bad Luck of the Irish -

 The rest of the party, meanwhile, broke into the factions that Sarah instructed them to break into.
Each spread out to investigate the neighborhood. A neighborhood in which was devoid of activity.

Mulder led Mabel, Fred and Daphne.
Scully led Dipper and Eleven.
And Jim departed from Sarah to meet with Velma, Shaggy and Scooby.
Mulder's faction returned to town to question the townsfolk.
Scully's group went door to door of each home, pressing whoever would respond for answers.
While Jim's side headed to a rather unsavory location, under the suggestion of Velma, which went against Sarah's request to check out the hospital..
a haunted house.

As the four approached the residence, Jim and Velma took notice of the growing lag between them and Shaggy and Scooby. When they came to a halt at the gate, they turned to see the two quivering in eachother's embrace, their teeth chattering as they gazed upon the darkened house before them with widened eyes. Velma's hands went at her hips.
"Oh come on, you two, I know the rumors are bothersome, but it's still just a rickety old house! And you're with Jim and me! There's nothing to be scared of!"
"VELMA! Every time you tell us there's nothing to worry about--like--there's everything to worry about!" "Reah! Rear's r-r-rookies!"
"Cookies?!"
"ROH! ROOKIES!"
"Like, spookies, Velma, get with the flow!"

Jim cleared his throat and leaned his head a little too closely to Velma.
The girl's cheeks ran red at the close range of his presence and she shifted her glasses, trying to control her nerves.
"I'm no expert, but isn't this the part where you offer the two a bribe for their courage?"
Velma gasped, "Oh no..Daphne has the Scooby snacks!"
She facepalmed.
"That is unfortunate.." Moriarty pouted, his hands behind his back.
"Oh well! We tried!" Shaggy perked, a smile appearing on his recovering expression.
"Guess that leaves us out, then! Have fun, guys!"
Jim then lunged forward, catching Shaggy by the shirt collar, Scoob by the dog collar, and jerked them both backwards with an effortless yank. "That leaves us with only one alternative.."
The three looked at the Irishman with intrigue.
He then flung the two through the open metal gate onto the sidewalk leading to the front door, the two landing with a thump and an oof.

Velma gawked, jerking her head back, as Jim stared down at his hands with minor disdain.
He wiped them together as if dusting off the germs he received by touching the two.
"Well THAT was cruel!" She hissed.
Jim didn't even bother to lift his eyes at her.
"I'm a world class criminal mastermind, darling..it's the package I come in."
She shook her head with disapproval, "How does Sarah even handle you hooligans?"
"My wife? She mostly abuses us. I live a sad life."
She scrunched her nose. "If she's your wife, then I'm a monkey's uncle."
"Oh really?" He gave her a quick look up and down. "..Never would have guessed."
He then walked away, leaving her mouth dropped in disgust.
Moriarty then waved at the two ahead with a lazy hand and bored eyes, yawning as he turned his attention away. "Right then, boys, move along."
Shaggy swung his head back, "Move along?! We're not going in there!"
Jim made a face, "I mean, I can always throw you in and block the door. There's always an alternative to an alternative." "W-what?! You're crazy, man!"
Jim sighed deeply, inspecting his nails. "You have no idea, little man.."

Velma stepped up, shaking her head. "Please, you two, we have to solve this mystery! We have to be brave! Now more than ever! The kids are counting on us..Sarah's counting on us! We can't let them down!" Jim rubbed his chin as he listened.
Heroes and their speeches..it always amused him.
"Right and if you do this..you'll be awarded handsomely."
Shaggy's eyes cut, "Would there be a sandwich involved?"
Jim rolled his eyes away as he mentally constructed a believable lie. "..Well, why not? With an abundance of mayonnaise and pickles."
"Your revolting way of bribery makes me suddenly ashamed of our daily method to coerce them."
Velma shuddered at all the times they were only able to get the two to help take down a monster was to bribe them with the fabled Scooby snacks.
With Jim pulling such tactics, it now felt very wrong.

"Alright, you two, come on! Inside!" Velma began to push Shaggy and Scooby towards the house with great force, greater than their own efforts to plant their feet in the ground.
"You, too, Jim!"
"Oh, no, you have fun inside. I'll be waiting right here."
Velma immediately swerved her view to the handsome trouble maker behind her, who was now busy picking lint off his jacket in a casual posture.
"What are you saying?! You're not helping??"
"No no, you see..this isn't my..err..forte? I don't do the dirty work. I have others pursue that particular activity."
"Rut rood rare rou, ren?!"
Moriarty's casual posture suddenly coiled with alarm.
"What did that dog just say?!"
Shaggy made an effort to cover Scooby's mouth from further insult, but Velma only smiled a smug smirk. "Mr. Moriarty, I don't believe a translation is needed..judging by your behavior, you know EXACTLY what Scooby said."
She then spun on her heels back in the direction of the house.
"And I happen to agree..you're not very useful after all."

He was at a loss for words. These three cartoons were dissing one of the greatest criminal masterminds in the world, like he was yesterday's trash.
Scooby then uttered something to Shaggy and chuckled, which Shaggy chuckled at as well.
"You're right, Scoob..I think Mr. Mourarty is more afraid than we are!"
That..that was the last straw. He would not let his honor be shamed in such a way.
"That does it, I've had it to bloody here with you pinheads!"
He lunged forward with curled fists and shoved past the three.
"James Moriarty fears nothing!"
The three giggled behind him at his humorous courage.
Gradually, he walked up the steps, Velma following behind with a curious finger pressed against her lips. Jim paused upon standing on the front porch and began looking the house over.
A house of which held an unnatural presence.
"What's with this place, anyway? Someone die here?"
Shaggy gulped. "Like, the old man who used to live here passed away years ago..right inside that house. And the people who tried to sale it..were like..chased right out of it!"
"Ever since, it's been said to be haunted by evil.." As skeptical as Velma was, even she seemed cautious of the building in front of her.
"Reah! Revil!"
As Jim made a face, Velma shook her head. "You have to admit, there's something very strange about this place."

Moriarty only sighed. "Velma, my dear, superstitious nonsense. That is the field for one Sarah Demens and her peculiar kind." He walked upon the porch and nonchalantly approached the door.
Shaggy and Scooby both cowered from a distance, refusing to move a muscle.
Jim glanced back at them. "You three should re-calibrate your sense of fear. You have a living, breathing monster before your eyes and you shudder at an old wife's tale?"
"It's really not, though." Velma argued. "There really have been people chased from here!"
"Then why haven't you lot investigated it?"
"We've tried, but our families and the police have always prevented us from doing so."
"For this place, of all things?" He looked upon the property with an unimpressed expression.
There was indeed something unnatural about the whole ordeal.
"You all have investigated much worse, and more dangerous, cases."
"Exactly..that's why..there's just something not right about it."
The cunning Irishman was deep in thought. "..Who was the old man? Some crusty hillbilly or crazed scientist?"
"A professor. Brilliant, admired by the community. But became a bit of a recluse..refused to see anyone in his last days."
Jim cocked his head as he reflected on this. "Why, I wonder...what changed..."
Jim was at least convinced now that something was off about this mystery.
Perhaps the old man was really still alive. Or was until he ensured this elaborate hoax took off..
That's when he turned and cleared his throat. He reached in and knocked.

The three behind him jolted.
He anticipated some kind of supernatural response. But nothing..
He knocked again, two more times.
The small group awaited some kind of action to ensue...staring at the house like it was a wild sick animal ready to attack. Jim, however, got impatient.
He tried to turn the knob, but it would not budge.
His brows crinkled. "There must be someone inside."
He next tried the door bell. He pushed in the dusty old button..but upon doing so, something clicked from the door and it creaked open, revealing a canvas of black from within. Moriarty's muscles tightened as he retracted his arm and jolted back a bit.
He swallowed a bit too loudly as his eyes stared at the knob.
The other three stared at the darkness from the other side. Much of this darkness was from the lack of sunlight being let in due to the boarded up windows. Jim rose a curious brow.

Shaggy, clutching onto Scooby, quivered like a trembling leaf in the wind, whimpering like a child.
"D-Don't go in t-there!"
Velma breathed. "..I have a bad feeling about this."
Just as Jim sighed at their reluctance, he took a step forward.
"You wussies really are afraid o-"
But in that second, an unseen force suddenly reached from the darkness and grappled Jim's entire arm.
He only had the chance to gasp before it then swiftly hurled him inside, the remaining members of the party screaming in terror as they watched, while Jim's own screams were cut off as the door immediately slammed shut.