Sorry its been a while since I updated. Been super busy at work and out of work.

But to make up for it. Longer chapter!

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Downstairs the rest of the teens were laughing and joking, unaware of the intruders slowly descending the stairs.

"Does he really take that laptop everywhere?" Veronica asked Betty.

"Yeah, like he says, writers dont go far from their laptops." Betty replied.

"And there is more of them." A mans voice came from the stairs. The teens turned around to see 3 masked men rush down the stairs, weapons all in their hands. Betty jumped behind Archie, Veronica grabbed his hand as they gasped in shock.

"Who are you?" Archie asked the man who was slowly advancing on the huddled group. Betty looked up the stairs hoping to see Jughead appear, but no one was there. Her heart started to race.

"You really think I am gonna tell you kid. But I know you." He looked at Veronica. "So you know what I am here for."

"No. No idea." Veronica said, trying to play dumb.

"Don't test me rich girl. Where is the safe?" he asked.

"We dont have one." She said. He stepped closer to her, Archie gripped her hand in reassurance.

"Don't even think of lying to me. I know more about this place then you do Lodge." The man glanced to Betty who had kept her eyes fixed on the empty stairs. "And besides, I know you will do what I say." He said.

"And what makes you think that?" Veronica stood strong, letting go of Archies hand and defiantly crossing her arms in front of her.

"Because one of my boys is keeping your friend company upstairs. You cross me, you try anything…..and he has instructions to exercise his right to bare arms." Archie looked at him then reached and pulled Veronica back to him.

"What have you done with our friend?" Archie asked, feeling Betty gripping his arm in fear.

"Little of this, little of that. Right now all you and that pretty lady behind you need to be worried about is if Ms Lodge here cooperates with us." The man looked back to Veronica. "I will ask again Princess, where is the safe?"

"Honestly I dont know. We dont have one." Veronica said.

"V, please….." Betty begged. Veronica looked back to her best friend.

"I am telling the truth, as far as I know we don't have a safe." She looked back to the masked man in front of her. "If we have one, my parents never told me about it."

"Search the place." He instructed the 2 men behind him. The men split up and started to look behind frames and cupboards.

"If I find you are lying to me Princess, I will end you." The man threatened.

"And you will go through me before you lay one finger on her." Archie stepped forward. The man whipped his hand up and hit Archie across the face. The connection of the hand onto his cheek made Archie recoil back in shock.

"Archie!" The girls gasped. Archie held his cheek and gave the girls a reassuring nod.

"Don't try it tough guy." The man pulled the gun from his waist band. "Cause I have more then 3 friends with me."

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With his head still pounding, Jughead laid on the soft bed. Unsure how he got there and what had caused him to wake up with such a pounding headache. He opened his eyes gently, expecting to see the sun beaming through the windows. But the room was dark. It was still night. He was remembering a game and then nothing. He reached his hands to his aching head but something felt wrong. He managed to focus on the hands in front of him. They had been bound together.

"What the…" He said. He sat up, using his bound hands to help him to move. He glanced ahead of him and noticed a man dressed in black, a hood over his head. Jughead began to panic. Had the Black Hood returned?

"So he awakes." The man spoke. Jughead shuffled back on the bed as his eyes came into contact with the gun in the mans hand.

"Who are you?" Jughead asked the man.

"Is it too much of a cliche to say…...your worst nightmare?" The man sniggered.

"Actually yes." Jughead replied. He looked around him, trying to make sense of what was happening. His thoughts soon turned to his friends. Where were they? Was this man alone? "Where are my friends?"

"Right now….having tea and scones with my colleagues. Then maybe a round of golf after." The man said. He moved further out of the shadow he was in and advanced on the bed Jughead was sitting on. "This wont take long, sit tight and it will be over with soon."

"Why don't I believe you?" Jughead replied.

"Believe what you want kid. We are not here for you. But the Lodge girl….thats a different story."

"Wait….what?" As much as Jughead was not a lover of the Lodge family, he didn't want anything to happen to Veronica. "The Lodges are not going to stand for anything like this, you know that?"

"Thats where you are wrong kid. People like the Lodges have been parading their wealth around this town for years, time for their come uppance."

"Then why all this?" He lifted his bound hands. "Why not just grab what cash or valuables they have and flee?"

"Well you being up here was not part of the plan." Ryan replied. "And plans can sometimes change"

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Veronica glared at the man in front of her, something looked familiar something was ringing alarm bells for her. The man looked at her, evil in his unmasked eyes.

"Got a problem Lodge?"

"I know you." Veronica said. Archie and Betty looked at her in shock and disbelief.

"What?" Archie exclaimed. Veronica was reaching in her mind to try and unlock her memories. Bringing up her childhood days, playing around the lodge, the town, the lake.

"Shut up." The man said.

"Them eyes, the voice. I do know you." She said. All of a sudden it clicked. "Cassidy?"

"Who?" Archie asked.

"Oh My God." Betty exclaimed. Archie looked at her, confused that she knew him as well.

"Ronny, you know him?" Archie asked.

"Kinda. We bumped into him earlier at the local store. Him and his family have grown up around here, with me." Veronica stood up and faced the man. "Take that hood off. " The man looked at her and slowly removed the hood. Standing in front of the teens was indeed the young man the girls had seen at the local store.

"So why are you doing this? You want the safe, you could have easily have broken in here when we were not home. Why now?" Veronica asked.

"Much like most of the safes in these posh lodges around here, they are protected by high tech security, fingerprints, voice recognition. And I just know the lodge of Hiraim Lodge would be as high tech and secure as his dirty money could make it. Now you are here….makes it easier."

"But I dont know where it is. If I did I would tell you so you can leave." Veronica said.

"Well Princess, you had better hope we find it." He said.

"Then let us help, make this whole thing go quicker so you can leave." Archie said.

"What am I …..stupid? Having you kids roaming all over. Not a chance. Sit down and shut up." Cassidy demanded. Veronica stood still, staring at the young man. "Got a hearing problem?"

"Tell your friends to bring Jughead down here." She demanded.

"Not until we find that safe. Our insurance policy." He said.

"And what if you dont find it?" Betty asked.

"You dont want to know blondie."

"If you hurt him, my father will stop at nothing to find you." Veronica said.

"Like to see him try. Now shut up and sit down. All of you on the floor now!" He yelled. The 3 looked at each other, a bit of fear and a bit of uncertainty in their looks. "Sit down!" He yelled again. The friends slowly lowered themselves to the floor. Both girls hanging onto Archies arms for comfort.

"If any of you move…..you know what will happen."

The 3 sat on the floor, looking at each other with fear, shock, worry and all the emotions you go through when threatened in your own home. They watched the man in front of them pace.
A noise from upstairs made them all look to the ceiling, a move that would not result in them seeing what caused the noise, but was a natural reaction people had when a sound was heard above them. They knew it was potentially not a good sound, their friend was still not with them and they all knew it indicated that something was wrong….they were at the mercy of these men in front of them….but he was potentially at the mercy of something and someone worse.

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Jughead glared at the man in front of him. He was a serpent, and he was not going to stand for this. Being controlled by this man. He stood up and the man turned around to face him.

"Got something to say kid?" he said.

"I am not a kid. I am my own man and I refuse to be under the control of some feeble excuse of a man. Cant even show his face!" Jughead blurted out. The man did not react at first. He looked at Jughead and slowly removed his hood. He was a youngish man, but Jughead did not recognise him. All of a sudden the man brought his hand up and hit Jughead on the side of his head with the butt of a handgun. Jughead hit the floor with a large thud, something that no doubt his friends below him would have heard. Jughead brought his bound hands to his head, trying to check for bleeding. He could not reach what was now a very aching bump he had no doubt. The man leant down and towered over Jughead.

"Feeble ha? I beg to differ kid." Ryan almost glared at him. "Who has the better ground right now? You rich kids always think you are better then others."

"Whoever said I was one of those rich kids. I live in a trailer with my father who works at a diner."

"But you are here, with the over privileged Lodge girl. Same in my eyes." The man reached down and pulled Jughead up by his arm, pulling him close. "Anyone who is in the company of someone like the Lodges deserves to be brought down a peg." He pushed Jughead back down on the bed. As he fell, the man looked at Jugheads arm. Something caught his eye. The man forced Jughead to lay still and roughly pushed the sleeve of his t-shirt up.

"What are you doing?" Jughead asked.

"Whats that?" Ryan asked looking at the tattoo on his arm.

"What?" Jughead asked, unsure what he was talking about.

"You are a Serpent?" The man asked backing off the young man. Jughead sat up straight looking at the man. Was this it? Was this a chance to get this man on his side, Jughead thought.

"What if it is?" Jughead asked.

"You are too young….it can't be."

"What do you know about the Serpents?" Jughead stood up once more and faced him."More then you would know." he pushed Jughead back onto the bed. Jughead fell on his back. Ryan pointed his gun at his face. "This changes everything."