Chapter 13

"I'm falling on my knees right now, I'm covered in the mess I've made. These colors used to wash right out, but now they are a part of me." -Black Market by Rise Against

If he hadn't overheard the scuffle between the older men and the blonde man's comment about cleaning the Cleaner, Jughead knew he never would have recognize Carlos 'The Cleaner' DeSantos.

And that realization terrified him.

This man standing here, with a gun pointed at someone and probably the reason that woman had a broken leg looked nothing like the horrifying Boogeyman that haunted Jughead's childhood. Yet, he was just as deadly as he'd always been. Only now he hid it in a pretty package.

"I almost didn't recognize you." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, the shock apparent in his tone as the Cleaner took his eyes off the other man long enough to meet his gaze. The dark blue eyes that used to be sunken and hollow in a thin, skeletal face were now bright with life in a face filled out from years of constant meals. Half of those years this man spent building a new life as Jughead's fell apart, and now he was here to make sure Jug never rebuilt it…

The smile that turned the corner of the Cleaner's mouth was humorless, "I suppose I've changed." His gravelly voice reminded Jughead of the sickening reason he'd packed up and left Riverdale, the scar wrapped around his neck puckered and pink against his bronze skin. He didn't want to compare the ways Clifford Blossom destroyed both of their lives, but at least this man got away. At least Clifford didn't hunt him.

"Couldn't have changed all that much." Jughead replied, cocking the gun as he felt Betty grab his free hand and squeeze lightly. It was a reminder that she was there, that he currently had something worth living through this moment for.

The Cleaner's blue eyes caught the movement, lingering on their clasped hands and traveling up their arms to look knowingly between the two of them.

Without warning, a cellphone began to ring and they all exchanged looks until Carlos chuckled, "Whoops, that's me. Hang on." He reached into his pocket nonchalantly and swiped across the screen to answer the call, "DeSantos."

Jughead's ears twitched as he caught the muffled sound on the other end, but none of the words were distinct. For a moment, it almost sounded as if he was being reprimanded.

His chuckle was dry, "Clearly, I'm alive. But, yes, I know the gunshots you're referring to."

A pause before he looked between the two strangers and added, "I got you a gift, wrapped up all neat in a bow."

Betty's hand squeezed Jug's again as he heard her intake of breath right before she uttered, "Carlos!" Her words were somewhere between a whisper and a shout, but it was enough of a warning for the man to duck as the woman fired a gun she must have gotten out of the bag that was, just a few seconds ago, out of her reach.

"Fucking die already." She groused, but before she could fire again, Jughead took aim and fired at her hand, sending her gun flying into the underbrush and causing her to curse and cradle her hand and glare in his direction as blood bloomed over her cupped hand. It was a knee jerk reaction, really. He couldn't exactly explain why he'd prevented her from killing the man that was so obviously here to kill him, but it was done, "You'll pay for that, kid." She snarled, her dark eyes zeroing in on him, really looking at him for the first time.

He ignored her scrutiny, unnerved as realization dawned on her face just as Carlos, now off the phone, tackled the man she was with. The two scuffled over something as Betty began to move towards the woman, clearly intent on helping and not being another bystander but Jughead grabbed her hand, "Betty," He warned, unsure as to why he felt in his gut that something wasn't quite right with the woman. Before he could explain, Carlos brought a rock down on the man's head and stood up in time to hold a hand out and order, "Don't get too close to her!"

The woman cackled, her curly brown hair seeming to vibrate around her face as though it wasn't hair but serpents, "Do come closer, girl." She sneered, reaching a hand out like some kind of witch from a Disney movie. Betty shuffled back a step, wary.

"Beauty here is unconscious, Beast, and the authorities are on their way." Carlos spoke to the woman, his words punctuated by the arrival of a lone, dark car with red and blue dashboard lights that cut through the suddenly dark woods as dusk bled into night. "Betty, dear, see that…Aaron there is tucked safely in your apartment. Let them know this was nothing but a domestic dispute and that you stumbled upon them and knocked Isaac here unconscious with a rock." He tossed the rock in question towards them and Betty caught it easily, questions written across her face as she looked to Jughead.

He knew his face mirrored hers as Carlos slid his gun away and nodded at them before disappearing into the woods, no sound following his exit, not even of his footsteps.

"He's right." Betty spoke, breaking Jughead's gaze from the woods to meet her achingly lovely green eyes, "Go back to the apartment and wait for me. I'll talk to the police." He opened his mouth to say he'd stay with her but she shook her head, "You have no identification. We don't know these people, they could be after you, too. I need you safe and Sheriff Keller knows you. Please, just this once." Her words became rushed and turned into a whisper as footsteps and flashlights cut through as an unknown voice called out.

"I can't argue with your logic, Cooper." He murmured, "I'll hide, but I won't head back to the apartment until I'm sure those are cops."

Betty nodded, her eyes watching him melt into the darkness in an eerily similar manner to Carlos' exit and then she turned to see the newcomers break through the foliage, into the clearing. Flashlights swept across the scene, blinding her, and she tried not to look as nervous as she felt as one of the people came towards her. "Are you alright, Miss?"

He was probably in his late twenties, his voice deep and rumbly, strangely soothing. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. But, I don't think he is." She nodded to the unconscious man and then held out the rock to the man.

Watercolor green eyes shone from the pale, light of the flashlight as the man got within a foot of her to speak reassuringly, "My name is Agent Rhodes. I've been investigating these two for close to a year, you're a very lucky lady, Miss." He paused and turned to watch with Betty as his partner approached the 'Beast' as Carlos referred to her. Betty figured with a mouth like hers, it seemed rather fitting.

The other agent handcuffed the brunette, who spit and swore the entire time, "You've got a lot of nerve, bitch! Handcuffing a defenseless woman! Do you think I'm going to run away?" She bit out, continuing to grumble and gripe the entire time as the agent ignored her threats and moved over to check on the man.

"Unconscious, but alive." She drawled to Rhodes, for it was a woman, and the tension seemed to ease in both of them. "Get the civs statement then come help me lift this..." She glanced briefly at Betty, as though to gauge what she could get away with, then shrugged, "….piece of shit."

Rhodes smothered a laugh with a cough and lazily reached into pocket for a small notebook, as if he weren't in the woods where numerous gun shots had gone off just twenty minutes or so ago. Betty felt relaxed with both of them, their obvious comradery and lack of professionalism didn't spook her the way Hollywood portrayed FBI Agents. Granted, neither one looked older than thirty at the most, so maybe they were just gathering experience with small town cases…

"Don't mind Fuentes, she's always pissy when it's her turn to tangle with the rats. So, miss, tell me what brought you out here, what happened…" He waved his hand to mime what Betty suspected was an all-encompassing type movement that made her think of her mother, who always talked with hands moving in big flourishes.

It gave her the courage and just a touch of regret to lie to the easy-going Federal Agent "I-I heard the gunshots and I know I probably shouldn't have come to look, but the woman screeched, and I just knew if she was in danger I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to her. So, I came out here and I think they were having a-a domestic dispute. I grabbed a rock and brought it down on the man's head."

Agent Rhodes sighed as he wrote in the small notebook he'd pulled out for her statement, "And your name and number in case we need to follow up?" He asked, lightly.

"Betty- Elizabeth, Cooper." She noted the way his pen paused before writing her name and when she gave him her telephone number, he seemed to speak a little more gently and with a lot more candor.

"I'm glad you're safe, Ms. Cooper." He murmured, tucking the notepad in his pocket, "These two are contract killers. Beauty," he pointed towards the man, and then the woman, "And the Beast. They've been just out of our reach, but with the right help, we were able to catch them before their next target."

Betty swallowed, not needing to ask who their next target was, but wondering if she could be honest with the man in front of her and find out someway to protect Jughead. "I-I'm glad, Agent Rhodes." She murmured, instead. Her plan would be put into effect tomorrow, if it didn't work, then maybe she would reach out to Rhodes and Fuentes for help. It felt good to have another back up strategy in place, especially now that Carlos knew where she lived…

"Here's my card, in case you remember anything else? Otherwise, you're free to head back home." Rhodes interrupted her thoughts, a new anxiety and exhaustion swamping over her as she realized she needed to move her and Jughead before he could feel safe.

Robotically, she reached out for the card and nodded her head, "Thank you."

He tilted his head to catch her eyes, "Are you alright Miss Cooper?"

She forced the smile she'd perfected over the course of her life, the smile that felt brittle but always masked the truth of her feelings, her worries and anxieties. "Just crazy to find out who these people actually are. Thanks for putting them behind bars, Agent Rhodes." She nodded to him before turning around and heading towards the apartment, picking her way through the jagger bushes and dead leaves with her brain whirling at the events that seemed to happen too quickly to comprehend.

First, Jughead confronting the Cleaner, then the phone call, the movement of the Beast as she went for the gun, and then Isaac getting knocked out and Carlos disappearing as the Agents arrived…it was all so much.

She dug into her pocket, pulling her phone out and scrolling through her contacts. She needed a safe place tonight for them, but in the last five years her list of people to lean on had slowly deteriorated much like Jughead's life. First Archie and her mother ran off, and even though she was speaking to them again, they were across the country, living it up on the West Coast. Veronica and Cheryl lived together in New York City, and even if they were in Riverdale visiting the Lodge's or Cheryl's mother, that didn't seem like the best case scenario considering it was Cheryl's father who was after Jughead.

Or, it would have been the best hiding spot, right below Clifford's nose…but again, that couldn't work. Cheryl and Veronica were most definitely in the city right now.

Which brought her to her last friend. Kevin. Who lived with Joaquin, who was the brother to the Cleaner. It wasn't ideal, but it seemed unlikely to her that Carlos would guess they'd hide with his sibling.

Sighing, she hit Kevin's number just as she stepped into her building, annoyed when it went to voicemail after a few rings, "Hey, Kev, it's me. Give me a call back as soon as you get this."

Betty nodded to the guy at the front desk as she got on the elevator and pressed her floor number. She glanced down at the card the FBI agent had given her, the name of both him and his partner printed in black on a sterile white background. Charles Rhodes and Lucila Fuentes along with two different cell phone numbers. She thought back to the phone call Carlos had taken, his words about a gift for whoever was on the other line as he focused on the two contract killers.

Her stomach flipped with nerves as the elevator opened on her floor and she stepped out with a mess of tangled emotions. Though, Joaquin had warned her of his brother's false charm and the inevitable strike, she was beginning to wonder if they'd gotten him all wrong. He hadn't attacked them in the woods, yet he could have circled back and gone for Jughead once the Agents showed up, could have been waiting for him in her apartment if he really wanted to kill Jug…

The thought sent her running down the rest of the way down the hall, fumbling with her keys as she hurriedly unlocked the door, her ears listening for any kind of violence going on behind the door before she flung it open.

A/N: So sorry this took forever, guys! Sept-Dec was my last semester of grad school and I had literally no time to write anything other than school-related things. And then after it was over I was too burnt out to really do much. Anyway, I hope this wasn't anticlimactic, but trust me that there will be another confrontation soon! Thank you to all reviewers and I'm really sorry if I haven't replied to your review yet!

Next chapter half written so it won't be a 4 month wait! Ball parking about 3 or so chapters left of this story!