Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Newsies, nor any of the characters from said movie. They belong rightfully to Disney. All other characters that are mentioned belong to their respective owners.

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Chapter Ten
The Fourth Option

This was not what she had expected. Peg warily followed the Six Saviors as they led the way down the winding stone staircase. This was no amateur group. By the looks of the place, Peg was willing to bet – and she was no Race – that this "Six Saviors" was a legitimate organization. An entrance through the Horace Greeley statue… she would have never imagined such a deceptive portal, and she knew about the ridiculous bathroom stall entrance in the Newsboy's Lodging House.

The fourth option, Peg remembered, distinctly remembering David's hypotheses from the Agent Meeting. "There is no new organization – there already is an active organization."

As the four girls finally came upon steady ground, Peg knew that the answer to the "Six Saviors" was in the fourth option. But if that were true, then that would mean a new set of questions. Who exactly were these girls? Who was leading them? How did they know about Duane Street without any member of Duane Street knowing about them? How did they know about her? And, most importantly, whose side were they on? Could she trust these people?

The unanswered questions swirled around in her head as the group continued walking in a barely lit tunnel. Dimly, Peg recalled Race's complaints about the lighting in Headquarters. He'd be glad he never had to deal with this place, Peg thought.

Peg was unnerved by the silence that had descended since the chatter around Horace Greeley. The sounds of their footsteps echoed off the stone walls and Peg wondered vaguely if there was an end to the stone tunnel. But indeed there was, and she soon found herself standing in front of a plain wooden door. Considering the grand Horace Greeley entrance and the trip they took through the stone tunnel, this door was, she had to admit, rather unimpressive.

The three Saviors, though – Stress, Brockie, and Snapshot – turned towards Peg in their characteristically dramatic fashion, standing between her and the door.

"You ready, Peg?" Snapshot asked her, her voice barely above a whisper.

Peg gave a tightlipped shake of the head, her eyes shifting in uncertainty. "Ready for what?"

"For your first look at our headquarters!" Snapshot exclaimed, obviously in disbelief of Peg's ambivalence.

"Oh. Yeah. Yeah, of course!" Peg added the enthusiasm for good measure. She chastised herself inwardly. She was already botching up her first undercover assignment by not paying attention. This was going to be harder than she thought. Focus, she told herself.

Focus.

But her last bit of enthusiasm seemed good enough for Snapshot. "That's more like it!"

Stress took a deep breath. "All right. Here we go!" With that, she took the brass door knob into her hands and yanked the door open, which gave an unflattering creak as it made the full opening arc.

The tunnel didn't exactly flood with light, but Peg took a moment to adjust her eyes to the comparably brighter source of light from beyond the door. When the white beam dimmed down, Peg saw, to her slight disappointment as she was expecting something rather dramatic, that there were more stairs. The three Saviors gave her a childlike glance of anticipation as they filed through the doorway, waving for her to follow. She did. To be honest, she was getting rather fidgety about seeing their organization and meeting the rest of the members. And wandering into the unknown didn't sit well with her; she was worried that it was beginning to show. She discretely wiped the sweat from her palms on the sides of her grayed skirt.

Breathe. Focus.

And then it happened. Just as she was taking a slow breath in, she stepped onto level ground. No more stairs. The three Saviors spread out before her and Peg finally saw their Headquarters. The room, if it could even be called a room, was immense. Perhaps the size of two large factories put together. In front of her was a wall of glass and if Peg thought this was impressive, she gasped when she looked upwards. Made completely from thick glass – albeit sullied glass that obviously had not been cleaned in ages – were concentric circles of walls layered upon one another, each subsequent floor smaller in circumference. Like a huge layered wedding cake.

Peg realized she had been holding her breath. Breathe, she reminded herself.

They approached the glass encasement and, once inside its walls, headed towards the center of the circular structure. The ground level, from what Peg could make out, was relatively empty. There were several scattered boxes and crates. A layer of dust covered unventured paths. They drew near to what looked like the metal core of the architecture which, Peg soon found, was the elevator. Brockie pressed a palm along the smooth, cold surface and Peg felt a faint, mechanical hum as the elevator door slid open. The four stepped inside.

As the elevator door clicked shut and the floor pushed against Peg's weight, she heard a strange jingling noise coming from above.

"Our elevator music," Stress explained when she saw Peg glance upwards. "We thought it'd be nice to have a tune to listen to while waiting for our floor. Kind of takes the stress away from coming back from a mission, doesn't it?"

"Sure does," was Peg's reply.

The jingling continued as a silence once again fell upon the girls. The silence on Peg's part was due to uncertainty and a particular feeling of awe, but she sensed that the Saviors were keeping silent in order to enhance the dramatic official introduction to their Headquarters. Stress was tapping her toes and biting her lips, as though she were desperately trying to keep herself from revealing a secret. To their credit, it was working. Peg was starting to absorb the excitement.

The elevator came to a jolting stop at the top floor.

"Gotta get that fixed," Brockie mumbled.

The door opened slowly as though it, too, sensed the dramatics that the Saviors were preparing for Peg. And when it opened fully, and the three members stepped out, and Peg tiptoed into the room, and was confronted by a room full of girls, a loud shout filled the room.

"Welcome!" the girls greeted in unison.

"Surprise!" said one late voice from the right side of the room.

An exasperated sigh.

"Oh, I mean… Welcome!"

"Pegasus, this is the Headquarters of the Six Saviors," said Snapshot, grandly gesturing with her arm. "We're still working on the name, though."

"What was wrong with Fatal Five?" came a voice.

Peg took in the sight. A large, round wooden table that echoed the shape of the rest of the architecture was situated in the center of the room. About a dozen or so girls were assembled around it, all staring at the newcomer. Peg ignored the sudden need to shift from foot to foot, knowing that that would give off the impression of anxiety.

"Let's start the introduction briefs already. Took you girls long enough to get here. We've been sitting on our bums for hours." The order came from the same girl who had given the loud sigh. As she spoke, she rose out of her chair. She was slim with dirty blonde hair wrapped in a bun. Her thin lips were pursed and her jaw was clenched with impatience. She strode purposefully towards the front of the room, opposite from where Peg stood in front of the elevator, and reaching up on her tiptoes, grabbed a cord and pulled down a white screen. Plastered on the screen were individual black and white images of girls from the waist up, which Peg automatically assumed were of the girls that were gathered in that very room.

"Don't mind Keza," whispered a girl directly in front of Peg, looking up at her from her seated position. "She's always like this." She motioned towards the seat next to her. "Take a seat. I'm Alley Kat, by the way," she said quietly, her tone slightly shy.

Peg did so, slowly, as the three Saviors also took their seats at the table.

Keza commanded the attention of the room. She whipped out a pointer and with a loud thwack against the screen, directed everyone's attention to the first image.

"That's me, Keza." The picture said it all. The photograph was an exact duplicate of the person standing live next to it. Keza barely cracked a smile, though there was a hint of sarcastic tendency lingering in her eyes. Both image and person had a cigarette stub sticking out from the corner of their mouth. She was a no-nonsense sort of person who expected perfection from those around her. Peg saw in her a natural leader.

"I'm the Head of the Corrections Department. Basically, I dash some alcohol on cuts and sew people back up. This," she pointed with her pointer to the next photograph, "is Acorn. Also Corrections. Too nice for her own good."

Acorn may be "too nice," but her picture suggested a quiet confidence. A petite figure with dark braided hair contrasting her pale complexion, Peg was immediately able to pick her out from the others around the roundtable. She looked mildly amused with Keza's presentation.

Keza continued, speaking quickly. "Next in Corrections is Stagey. She's new here, too. Picked her up from Medda's – you know Medda Larkson, Peg? D'ya mind if I call you Peg? Who doesn't know Medda Larkson in this city. Right."

The most striking aspect of Stagey at first glance was her large, expressive eyes. They were the type of eyes that could tell no lie, trusting but at the same time tentative. Peg scrutinized each photograph, evaluating each member of the temporarily named Six Saviors organization. The realization jerked her back to Duane Street and David Jacobs, who she knew was waiting for her outside.

The bugs, Peg remembered abruptly. She was supposed to plant them so David could listen in on the undercover mission. But there was something stopping Peg from reaching into her boot and pulling out one of the listening devices that the Tech twins had provided her with. First, the motion would be rather conspicuous and Peg almost smacked herself in the forehead for her lack of foresight. Not the smartest idea she's had. Second: could it be that she was feeling a bit guilty for lying to these girls? Feeling guilty for not telling them that she was actually on a mission and had no intention of joining their "secret organization"?

Or did she?

"Moving on, we have Communications. Snapshot – you've already met Snapshot – and Curtains are in charge of that sector."

"Joanna," came a voice.

"Oh, right. She likes to go by Joanna. Curtains, that is. Curtains likes to go by Joanna."

"I like my real name," Joanna explained, her bright green eyes meeting Peg's browns.

"Next is Technology. That's Brockie's specialty."

Brockie sat leaning back in her chair. She gave a small smile of acknowledgement at the mention of her name, pushing her glasses above the bridge of her nose. Peg had already determined that Brockie was naturally quiet: out of the three that had escorted her here, Brockie had spoken the least.

"Lastly, our Field Agents. Stress and Gimmick are the heads of that sector," said Keza, pointing to each photograph as she spoke. "Alley Kat, Smee, and Spinner are our newest Field Agents."

The photograph of Smee showed a girl with dark hair and light eyes. Peg looked over the table and found that she had brown hair with tints of red, and hazel eyes. Like her picture, in which she gave the suggestion of a smile, Smee appeared quiet and unassuming. Spinner was the opposite. She gave a good-natured wave, her hand covered by a black fingerless glove. Curly, light brown hair, and sparkling brown eyes, she exuded an optimism that seemed a bit lacking from the others around the table. Peg didn't blame them. From the looks of their Headquarters and their ragtag, disparate crew, this may have been David's fourth option theory, but it was a far cry from being an effective one.

Keza walked forward to the roundtable and set down her pointer. "That's us. The nameless, crime-fighting, underground organization."

"Question."

"Yeah, Gimmick?"

"Why do we have to show pictures if we're all sitting right here," she gestured around her for show, "in this room?"

"Because it's professional. Next."

Peg raised her hand. It was about time she got some answers.

"Yes?"

She decided to be forward. "Why am I here?"

"Good question. That leads us to our Training sector, which is headed by… no one."

Stress took up the point. "We found that we're a little out of shape going out on the field. We've got really great talent," she added intently. "But we could use some, um… fine tuning."

The group looked to Peg in anticipation; upon feeling all those eyes on her and suddenly realizing what they asked of her, well, Peg couldn't help it.

She burst out laughing. They had to be joking. She laughed so much that tears welled up in her eyes.

But when they're solemn expressions remained, Peg realized that, for some reason, they were absolutely serious about the matter.

"Ha… ha…" Her laughter faltered. She straightened. "Go on," she managed.

"Our organization was once on the brink of great success. We were giving all those boys a run for their money back in the day. Bringing in gangs and thieves by the dozens to the bulls. We were building a reputation for ourselves. Those government officials started calling us the 'Anonymous Avengers.' But then suddenly, it all began to fall apart. The leaders started fighting with each other. Stress, Gimmick, Brockie, Snapshot, and me were the youngest recruits – we were supposed to be the next generation. We were supposed to be the next ones to carry this Agency." Keza sighed.

"But everyone parted ways before we ever got the chance to carry anything," Brockie said quietly.

A blanket of melancholy covered the room. Peg pressed her lips together and looked at the girls around her – each were lost in her own thoughts. She was feeling empathetic to the group of girls around her. She realized she believed them; there was a genuineness and a sincerity in their eyes that it was impossible not to.

Stress cleared her throat. "But we're starting up again, full force. We've been in operation for a couple of months and even though it's taking us a little while, we're all doing really well, all by ourselves."

"Yeah, I think we've been doing great, don't you guys?" Spinner chipped in.

Slowly, heads nodded.

"But we could always improve," Gimmick said. "We haven't reached the level that this Agency used to be at."

"That's where you come in, Peg," said Snapshot. "We know we're asking a lot from you, but we need your help."

Peg stuttered in her response. "I… I just don't know. I don't know anything about –"

"We know you're with Duane Street," said Keza.

That startled Peg for a second, but she regained her composure. "So you're asking me to turn my back on Duane Street?"

"Oh no, we don't mean it that way! That just sounds so negative. We'd just like you to help us and not them is all," Snapshot explained with a satisfied grin.

Peg gave them a look that was a cross between puzzlement and a wordless Are you out of your mind? "That sounds like the same thing to me," she said dryly.

"Oh, no, no, no, it's not the same thing, though, silly… it's, uh… The difference is very subtle, but there is a difference."

"Peg, we have a lot of potential here," said Brockie, almost pleadingly. "This place has seen some great things happen and we need to revive it. And we can help. We're on the side of Justice," she added earnestly. "Like we've said, these girls are all talented. And your boys haven't really been on their toes lately from what I've heard…" she said quietly.

"Right, because you girls were stalking them."

"Keeping tabs," Acorn corrected.

"Right. That."

"So," Stress said finally, her attention on Peg. There was a knowing look in her eyes and a hint of a half-smile on her face. "Are you in?"

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Author's Note: Dewy, I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out! Thank you to stress, brockie, and Dewy for your reviews. I'm glad someone remembers this silly thing despite the sporadic updates. This chapter was written a couple of months ago, and I know it's lacking in our newsboys, but hopefully, if this momentum of motivation stays with me, they will appear in the next! Thanks for reading and any feedback would be greatly appreciated!