New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 10: Lucky

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Life continued, basically, as normal. As normal as life could be for a young girl pretending to be a boy all day long, and yet donned her dress on the weekends to go out and enjoy some time with some of her favorite male friends. They visited the Queens hall on a weekly basis, and enjoyed every second of it while they were there. Occasionally Wit would stay home, occasionally Rylet would come along, occasionally they wouldn't go and would play poker instead. But, for the most part Prince, Avalanche, and Red would go out, every weekend, and truly enjoy each others company, and themselves. Of course after a while they started to be recognized, and made some very casual friends. However, Prince would always turn down an invitation to dance, unless it was from Red or Avalanche, she had no desire to dance with anyone else, and while Red would only dance with Prince, Avalanche on occasion would find another girl to escort on the dance floor. Whenever they were asked how they all knew each other, they all gave the same answer: they were family.

The weeks went on and slowly but surely summer started coming up quickly again. Prince never got a new dress, she just wore the same one over and over. It reached June, and things had been progressing nicely. Prince was able to be herself a little more out in public, and the slight friends that that had managed to make over the course of weeks were understanding of her only wanting to dance with Red, and Red with her. Though they claimed they were family, no one believed them when Prince and Red said they were related. Not with the way he was always calling her Mavourneen. No one believed them, surely there was something there.

It was a lovely night in mid June as the three of them were out about the town again. This evening they were joined by Rylet, but Wit had stayed home for the evening, claiming he was a bit too tired. Plus, he said he hadn't been feeling well lately, and didn't want to get a cold, or worse, so he was going to sleep it off.

Red, Prince, and Rylet were all taking a break from dancing. Prince had learned to love Ragtime music, and could now hum and tap her feet along to the songs as natural as though she was playing them herself. And she wished she could.

Rylet had been dancing with other girls all evening, and charming them as was his custom, though he never seemed to go much beyond that. He'd glance over at Prince every so often, which had not gone unnoticed by Red, but it had by Prince. However, at the same time, Rylet wasn't making any moves, so Red wasn't concerned. But he'd be keeping an eye out.

After a few moments a song came on that Prince recognized. She smiled and her eyes lit up. "C'mon Red!" she said as she stood, grabbed his hand and was now dragging him to the dance floor. She'd come a long way since spring. Avalanche and Red were proud of her.

Though Prince was in a particularly good mood tonight, but no one knew why. Perhaps she'd just had a good day, but who knew really. She was relaxing on the dance floor more than usual and smiling a lot, especially at Red.

"So," he said after a moment of dancing, "what's got you all smiles tonight?"

She shrugged. "I… I dunno… I just… been havin' such a great time comin' to these things…" she didn't like it very much when she had to go back to being a boy for the week, but she always did it none the less. She couldn't play dress up all the time after all.

"That's all?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's all."

As he looked down at her he couldn't help but stare a little. When she was smiling, her hair down, a little feminine, and enjoying herself, she was the prettiest girl in the room to him, and to hell with the others. Avalanche could say and do and think what he liked about Prince, but Red believed she was beautiful. Though Prince was still having issues with these said complements, she was improving.

"What?" she said as she looked back up into his eyes that were gazing down at her.

"Nothin," he said and shook his head. "You're just… I'm just lucky is all."

"Lucky? Why?" she asked.

"Because I get to dance with the prettiest girl in the place."

Prince blushed. And Red was always proud when he could make her blush, it meant he'd said something right. At these compliments, Prince had given up protesting. No matter how much she would say 'no' or 'you're mistaken' or even 'hey… good one,' she would always lose the battle. So she took to accepting them, but it was still difficult to get them to sink in.

As she was following Red around the dance floor, eyes transfixed on his she suddenly heard a whistle blow. She turned around suddenly, and her worst nightmares came true. There, standing not 20 feet from her was Warden Nigel Snyder, and at least 5 police men. The Warden wasn't looking directly at her, but he was there.

She instantly ducked behind Red and he shielded her from her pursuer. She knew she should have never agreed to these nights out! It had all been a huge mistake. She couldn't attempt to hide forever, and dressed as a girl, she was doomed.

As for Red he was furious. Why was the Warden even in Queens? And whose job was it to lead him elsewhere? Oh that's right… his. But someone else was gonna beat him to it.

The entire crowd gazed at the Warden, and then saw a flash of a human being whip by and steal the Warden's hat right off of his head. "Good evening sir Warden!" Avalanche announced as he jumped up onto a table.

The Warden glared up at Avalanche. "Get down boy, I need to talk to you."

"I'm afraid," he said as he put the hat on his head, "that I cannot do that sir," Avlanche did his best Charlie Chaplin impression, making the crowd around him laugh. Before he jumped off the table and bounded for the stage, quick as a flash. Avalanche had always been fast, but he was setting speed records that night.

Two of the policemen left the Warden's side and ran after him. Avalanche hadn't been expecting that, so he was now on the run. Great.

While all this had been happening Red had lead Prince over to an exit with Rylet. "Get her outta here!" Red hissed to Rylet, who quickly obeyed, grabbed Prince's wrist and headed for the back door.

Red, at this point, walked over to the Warden. "Excuse me sir," he said as he folded his arms, "I do believe you're interrupting our good time. Would you mind leaving?"

The Warden stared at Red for a moment before he smiled wickedly and said, "Red…" of course the Warden knew his name. You just couldn't help but hear it as people would say it to him as they were running and cheering him on. He'd caught it in passing, one way or another.

Red nodded a little and bowed even a bit. "Good evening good sir! Now… get out," he said and smiled before he turned away from the Warden and called to Avalanche "C'mon! Let's get outta here!" he said.

"Arrest them," the Warden said. Avalanche looked over at the Warden, and then redoubled his efforts to get away, now officially resisting arrest. Red, in the mean time turned to run out the way that Prince had gone, the only other exit in the joint except for the main entrance. The three police men chased him as the Warden headed back outside to his horse.

Once outside Red sprinted down the street until he heard his name being called. He ran towards it to find Prince and Rylet hiding in an alley. "What are ya doin'? Run!" he said

Prince had been sure that if she had just hidden herself instead of runaway they'd go on a wild goose chase away from the lodging house and she'd be just fine. She was sure of this.

"Now!" Red told them again as he took off down the street. He wanted to stay and help her, but he'd have to trust Rylet for now, he had no other choice. He needed to lead the police away from her, and if they were focused on him then they wouldn't notice the children crouched in the alley.

However, Avalanche had the same thought Prince had and ducked into the alley from the other direction. As he came around the corner he came up to her, not wanting to scare her, tapper her on the shoulder so she would turn and look at him. He looked at her. "Girly this ain't good… they're tryin' ta arrest me and Red," he said glancing over his shoulder.

Prince's blood ran cold. Arrest them? No. Avalanche and Red had just gotten back to the city! They couldn't be arrested now. They couldn't be arrested because of her. "Why?" she said looking up at Avlanche fiercely.

He shrugged his shoulders. After all, what had they done, except maybe be a little rude.

"There he is!"

"Run!" Avalanche called and Prince and Rylet took off as Avalanche stood his ground in the alley way. But as he held his position only one stayed while the other went after Prince and Rylet.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the man coming after her, and then a horse about a block behind him, sporting an all too familiar figure on the back of it. She had to run, she had to fight, she had to get away!

But, what would become of them all if she did? The wheels in her mind began to turn as she processed the situation. What if she made it back to the lodging house and hid successfully? Prince didn't want to admit it, but the Warden had her cornered. He was attacking the two men she cared about more than anything, and she would do anything to get them to go free... anything.

"Rylet go!" Prince said as she sent Rylet away.

"What do you mean?" he said as he stopped standing next to her. "Not without you I ain't!"

She shook her head. "You gotta go, you don't understand, just go, I'll handle this," she promised him.

Rylet's eyes were wide as he couldn't decide what to do, and instead decided to hold his ground. As he did the policeman caught up to them and grabbed a hold of Rylet, much to Prince's surprise, but left her alone. Then again, it wasn't all that surprising considering the next voice she heard.

"Mary Ann…" The Warden got off of his horse as Mary's back was turned. She turned to face him, eyes stone cold, emotionless, strong, and she appeared poised to kill. "You're coming home this instant."

She shook her head no. "I refuse."

"You don't have that choice."

"I think I do," she said. Avalanche was still back in the alley way, and slowly walking towards Prince, a look of shock and alarm on his face.

The Warden glared. "How dare you speak that way to your father?"

"What? Not like it's hard," she said with a shrug. "I just do it." She was being extremely bold for the daughter of the man before her, and speaking the way she was. If there hadn't been so many people around, she would have gotten herself slapped in this day and age. But what did she care? She'd gotten worse from the Brooklyn kids.

Red rounded the corner of a back alley and froze on the spot at what he saw. He couldn't move, could barely breathe as he saw Prince standing face to face with the Warden. She was doomed, he was doomed, they were all doomed. He wanted to call out to her, but what to call out? "Mavourneen," he said. He didn't say it that loud, not that loud at all. It was almost in a normal tone of voice and as she heard it her eyes lost some determination and started to be replaced with sadness, for she knew her only way out of this.

"Let them go," she demanded. "Let them all go free, clean records, all of 'em, and I don't wanna hear of you chasin' them again."

The Warden's eyes looked at her, attempting to read what she was figuring in that head of hers. Prince knew what he was going to ask. Her eyes faltered a little and she looked down towards the ground as she nodded a little. Everyone watching knew exactly what that motion meant.

"Mavourneen!" Red called as he was about to run down the alley way towards her. He couldn't let her go, he wouldn't let her go. However, as he took a step, the policemen caught up with him and grabbed hold of him, then another, then another. It took all three of them to hold him back.

The Warden turned and saw the policemen holding Red. He glanced at the other two who where keeping Avalanche and Rylet in a secure position. All at once he nodded and all at once the three boys were set free. And all at once they ran at her.

Rylet reached her first and grabbed her hand, ready to go again, but Prince's feet were planted to the ground. She wasn't going anywhere. She had just sold her soul to the devil so that these three boys could keep living their lives, and they all knew it.

Avalanche reached her next. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind and held onto her tightly. He leaned down, "I'm not letting you go," he whispered in her ear. His eyes were on fire with hatred for the Warden as his heart burned for the girl that had become his family.

Red reached the scene and took a full step between Prince and the Warden. It was quite the picture, and nothing that the Warden had seen before. Standing before him was a man willing to sacrifice everything for a girl who was currently being sheltered by another boy, and holding the hand of yet another. All three men stared at the warden in utter disgust. It seemed as though they were prepared in a moment to initiate some intricate maneuver that had been practiced time and time again. All the while, Prince's eyes were hauntingly vacant, staring towards the ground.

The first thing she did was remove her hand from Rylet's, which caused him to look at the young leader. "Prince?" he said quietly and shook his head.

Next thing she did was take her hands and reach up to Avalanche's. She tugged on them gently and he looked at her and released her. "Girly listen," he said as he faced her full front and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You dun gotta do this… we can fix this," he promised her.

"I'm counting on it," she said quietly. Alex stared at her in confusion, but all the same Prince turned, she had one more goodbye to say.

She stepped beside Red, so he was no longer between her and her father. "Red," she said quietly. "You gotta let me go."

"No." And that was his only answer. The tone in his voice told her there would be no argument, and his gaze was not broken from the face of the Warden.

"Yes," she said gently. "You have to."

"No!" he said sterner this time and glancing at her quickly before returning the eyes forward. She started to walk away and Red grabbed her by the wrist and refused to let go. "I'm not letting you go!" he commanded her, in the most caring way possible.

Avalanche took a step forward and put a hand on Red's shoulder. "Let her go," he asked quietly. "You have to," he told Red.

"No, I ain't never lettin' her go." He had made a promise to protect her and he would do just that! He had promised. He was not going back on it now.

Avalanche sighed. He had to get Red to let go… so he did the only thing he could think to do. He came around to the front of him. "Sorry," he said quietly before he balled his hand into a fist and punched one of his best friends square in the stomach.

It hurt, it hurt quite a bit, but Red didn't move, his hand still gripping Prince's wrist. He did grunt at the sudden shock of what had just happened. Red was always too stubborn, something he and Prince had in common, except it was even more prominent in the elder Irishman. The Warden simply stood there watching it all. If he didn't let her go he'd have Red arrested, so it didn't matter to him really what they did. But he would honor his word, if his daughter came with him, he would clean their records, and they'd be free men.

When Red didn't budge Avalanche shook his head. "Don't make me do this."

Red looked at Avalanche. "If you think this is the right decision… then I'd like to see you try." Red didn't believe that Avalanche knew what he was talking about, or doing, or that a plan had already begun to form itself in the old Queens leader's brain.

"Let her go!"

"No!"

Red was sent reeling as Avalanche landed a punch square on his jaw, and muscle reflexes caused him to release Prince's hand, and then it only took a moment for the Warden to leap back up onto his horse, and assist his daughter in joining him. By the time Red recovered and charged at the horse, the Rylet and Avalanche were ready to stop him.

There had never been a more sorrowful set of eyes as Prince's were at that very moment. She was being condemned to hell, after running away for so many years. She gazed at Rylet hoping he'd help take care of the boys, and Avalanche, praying to God that he understood what she was thinking, which he usually did, and then to Red who had so much fight and drive to keep her safe that he was determined to get her off of that horse. She wished he hadn't been hurt. She wished she hadn't been the one to have to break his heart, and Avalanche hadn't been the one who had to break his grasp on her.

"Mavourneen!" he called again as he darted forwards at her. It was all he called her anymore. As he ran forward Avalanche caught him and held him back best he could, but it took the rest of the policeman around, and Rylet to help. "Mary! Mary Ann!"

She hung her head as the Warden turned the horse and started back down the street. She breathed deeply and sighed.

The Warden was satisfied; he got his property back, and he had big plans for her, in more ways than one.

As the horse started to pick up speed towards the Queens police station Prince could hear Red calling for her over and over again by name. She finally turned around to look at him, and when she did he stopped. He looked at her face, and it broke his heart to see her so sad. At that second, he understood that this fight was far from over. They were going to win this, they were taking the Warden down, and Red was going to get her back. The Warden had no idea what he had done. He had unleashed Brooklyn's fury upon himself, not to mention the entirety of Queens. This was far from over. These three boys would see to that.

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A/N: I didn't hear from anyone after Monday, so I got this one up as quickly as I could once it came back to Thursday. I hope all of you who are following along are enjoying the ride! Coming up on Monday is the 4th of July. And I won't keep you in suspense as to what happens next any longer than absolutely necessary. See you on Monday!