Riff put out his hand to stop the other Jets from continuing on and stepped out protectively in front of them. Bernardo had been here just waiting for them to arrive. Riff couldn't see any other Sharks around but he was sure they were there somewhere. He clenched his jaw and had to refrain from lunging at the man in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to inflict the pain Angie had felt on him but he couldn't risk his family getting ambushed because of that. He stepped closer to Bernado and kept his gaze, waiting for him to speak.

Bernardo recognized the look in his eyes as determination. The Jet was preparing for a fight. "Stand down, Jet boy. I've come in peace," He held his hands out in front of him. "I only want to talk."

Riff narrowed his eyes. What the hell was there to talk about? Bernardo had waltzed into his place and hurt one of his people. What else was there?

"We'll talk inside and only when my people leave safely." Riff demanded. He wasn't going to be distracted by Bernardo and let the Sharks jump his boys. He'd be damned before he let anything happen to them.

Bernardo stared at the Jet for a good while, his eyes occasionally glancing at the others behind him, before shaking his head. "That won't be necessary." He said.

"And why not? It's either that or we don't talk at all!" Riff growled, growing more certain that this was about to turn very bad very quickly. Bernardo seemed to be wasting time, keeping him and his boys exposed longer than he would've liked. The Sharks would pop out at any second and-

"I only want to ask about the girl. Angie, wasn't it?" Bernardo asked softly, shocking everyone. None was more shocked than A-rab, who had been in the process of drawing the boys in closer to him and the girl in question.

The inquiry had served to not only confuse Riff, but also anger him further. "What do you care about her?" He spat. "You're the one who hurt her in the first place!" His face was growing red as his voice got louder. From behind him, he heard Angie whimper but paid her no mind, knowing A-rab would take care of her.

Bernardo narrowed his eyes. "She was only hurt during the fight I was having with /you/." He growled. "If /you/ hadn't attacked me then she wouldn't have gotten caught in the middle of it." He didn't raise his voice for he too, had heard the girl whimper in fear. Unlike Riff, he understood the source of her fear had been his yelling.

"You would've hurt her anyway! There was a knife to her throat when we came running in! You were going to kill her!" Riff shouted, lunging at Bernardo in his rage. This man had hurt Angie and he was going to pay for it.

The Jets tensed in the background, unsure of whether they should restrain their leader or join him. Angie grabbed A-Rab's hand and hid behind him. She didn't want to watch another fight break out or become the target herself.

"¡Ayuadame!" Bernardo shouted as he stepped backwards, trying to avoid Riff's grasp. The Jet was matching his every step, trying to catch him so he could pin him down. He had his knife in his pocket and he wasn't above driving it into the Spic's shoulder for first daring to hurt one of his own, and then having the audacity to ask about her.

Four Sharks came running from all sides of the street and tackled Riff, just before he could catch Bernardo in his grasp. He felt hands pull him to his feet and then his arms were behind his back, two iron-like grips keeping him in place. The two other Sharks were behind him, waiting to see if the other Jets were going to try anything. The boys never moved a muscle, though they would have usually sprung into action by now. Right now they had to protect Angie, which meant staying in the tight knit circle to hide her. Not only that, but they were shocked at Riff's actions. He'd been quicker to anger than they'd ever seen before. He usually thought about things before he did anything like that.

Bernardo nodded at Pepe and Indio in thanks for restraining Riff. The boy had a murderous rage in his eyes that he knew was directed towards him. He hadn't done anything this evening to wrong him, but he realized that the Jets had only seen the last of the incident yesterday. They had only seen Angie with a knife to her neck, they hadn't heard how he had yelled at his boys to be gentle with her and to not hurt her.

She was younger than his own sister was, he wasn't about to let her come to any harm. All he had intended to do was bring her back to where he lived and talk with the Jets when they came to her rescue. Chino had been the one to suggest her execution with a good reasoning. He had been against her slaughter but he wanted to keep his men safer than he did a total stranger so he had agreed. The Jets didn't know any of this, so he could understand Riff's anger. He needed to explain himself before the other got loose, Pepe and Indio could only hold him for so long.

"Listen to me," he started, waiting until everyone was paying attention to him. "I intended her no harm, none, and the only reason you came upon the scene you did was because one of my men had made a very good point. If we let her go like we had planned, she could either anger you or go to the cops. Both outcomes were undesirable and so he suggested we just kill her. I didn't want to watch it happen but I had to protect my people so I could only turn away from it."

" I am very glad you came in time to stop her execution but you did not have to attack us. I know what it looked like, but there was no need to start a knife fight. You could have just punched Chino in the face until he let her go but you didn't stop there, did you?" He asked. "No. You had to escalate it until everyone was fighting and you came at me, threatening my own life. I had to retaliate of course, but then Angie comes between us and now she's injured."

"I'm very sorry for it, but should you not be at fault for attacking us in the first place? You caused this to happen. I may have held the knife but you were really the one to hurt her." Bernardo watched as his words only seemed to increase Riff's anger but he also saw how the rest of them were looking shamefacedly at each other. He didn't miss how they all seemed to get closer together though.

They thought that if their circle of protection intensified, maybe their guilt would abate a little bit. It didn't work, but Angie felt better for them to try. Bernardo's words made sense to her, the Jets could've saved her without causing such a scene but they hadn't gone that route.

"You shouldn't have been there in the first fucking place!" Riff continued his shouting. "You had no business being in our territory!"

Bernardo arched an eyebrow. "Had it occurred to you that we may have been looking for you?" He asked. They had come asking about a war council, hoping one final rumble would settle their dues. But had they found the Jets when they arrived? No, they'd run into Angie instead. Now whose fault was that?

He watched as the Jets shook their heads. Riff gave no response other than to continue glaring at him.

"We wanted a final battle to hopefully end the fueding between our gangs but that's no longer an option," Bernardo's voice held sorrow and remorse in it. He had truly wanted to end their differences, last month's rumble still fresh in his mind, but it had only added fuel to the fire. His boys were angrier than ever at the other gang because not only had they almost killed him last month, but had tried again with no warning. The Jets were angry that the girl had been stabbed. This was not grounds for peace. "It seems that we'll continue as we have been. I apologize again for harming Angie." He sighed, regret shining in his eyes. He turned away from the group of boys and started walking. When he was a safe distance from Riff, he whistled and the Sharks followed after him.