Chapter Nineteen! Closer and closer... :)

Thanks for the great review, Living Lucid Dream! Sweet Pea is sensing the ground shifting, I agree - perhaps in more ways than one. He and Alice are fun to write together, and I think they've got a good arc in them. :) I'm so glad you liked Agent Quinn and Williams' conversation! Agent Quinn doesn't have the issues with Williams that Brand tends to, and I'll be interested in seeing that play out as the three work together more... And Archie had the stuffing knocked out of him so badly in BCBC (and then in DIAV he was so overwhelmed) - so he's due for coming into his own, and getting some confidence back. I'm looking forward to seeing him do more! Also, Donn's been on Brand's bad list since day one, so you're in good company with your assessment of him! And yes... I miiiight like cliffhangers. :-D Mostly I grew up on mysteries that had a cliffhanger of some sort at the end of every. single. chapter. So I lapse into that at times, particularly as the action takes over.

Thank you for the lovely review as well, Guest! Sweet Pea is stepping up, and I am also a little worried about what this will do to him in relation to the Serpents. Even if he keeps it quiet, he'll feel that distance from now on. We shall see what comes of it! I really enjoyed giving another view of Brand-as-FBI, too, and I am so glad you liked that scene. It's so easy to feel like "that's just Brand," but he's truly kicking butt. Archie's doing his best, but I agree - it is definitely not a safe undertaking, and there may be surprises yet. I hope you like this chapter! :)

Enjoy!

-Button

00000

Veronica and Betty were surprised by how long they were left waiting outside of the storefront - and even more surprised when they were suddenly joined by Alice and Kevin.

"What are you doing here?" Kevin asked.

"What are you doing here?" Veronica countered. "It looks to me like you followed us."

"Because you're doing something." Kevin folded his arms. "Did you know Joaquin was around? Working with Andrews Construction?"

"We literally just recognized him and followed him here, Kev," Betty quickly reassured him. "We would have told you if we knew more."

"Should we go in? Crash the party?" Alice asked.

"I don't know," Kevin bit his lip. "FP's doing all sorts of sketchy things, and Joaquin looked like he was awfully close to the explosion. You think they're holding some kind of... meeting in there? We should probably just call the police."

"Wait, what is Mr. Jones doing that's sketchy?" Veronica held up her hands as if to freeze the conversation until they cleared up some important details. "He has been a model citizen ever since Jughead got back from Toronto. Did something happen?"

Betty interjected firmly. "I think we can just go in. There is no way that Mr. Jones is doing anything illegal. He's worked so hard to get custody and keep things on track for Jughead."

"Uh," Alice looked from Veronica to Betty, "actually, he's kind of been on the brink of inciting an anti-police riot. An anti-FBI one, too."

"Really? And what is 'on the brink' supposed to mean?" Betty's tone was only more skeptical. "I'm telling you, FP Jones would never jeopardize-,"

"Hey, I think they're coming out." Kevin waved everyone back from the storefront.

"What are you all doing here?" FP bounded up the cement stairs when he saw the group assembled there. Joaquin seemed frozen in shock, but moved to follow a moment later.

"Never mind - you obviously followed us from Southside High." FP shook his head as if to clear it. "This might even be good; I've got work for you to do. Take Joaquin and go to The Register. I need some information, and your mother's vendetta against all things Southside has got to be good for something, Betty." Betty's eyes widened, even though FP shrugged apologetically - and it was true that her mother had been fairly obsessed with the Serpents over the years. "Got something you can take notes with?"

FP started issuing orders.

Veronica typed in her phone as quickly as she could; this sounded serious, and it wasn't complicated - but there was a lot of it.

Alice and Kevin looked a lot more resistant, but Mr. Jones ignored that.

"Keep me or Brandon posted as long as you have cell service. Who doesn't have my number?"

FP accepted phones and typed his number swiftly for anyone who needed it.

"What's going on?" Kevin demanded as soon as FP had finished giving orders.

"Joaquin will fill you in on everything you need to know. We're not entirely sure what's going on, but the main problem is that Jughead, Archie, and an intern named Clark went missing somewhere between Southside High and the field office."

"What? What happened to them?" Veronica asked anxiously.

"They were carjacked." FP waited patiently while everyone gasped and reacted. "They might be absolutely fine, but we're not sure where they ended up, and their cellphones are currently with Brandon. We just need to find them, fast, and getting that information-" FP gestured to Veronica's notes "-is our best bet."

Kevin and Alice exchanged looks.

"Alice-," FP began, finally addressing the fact that her expression bespoke trouble - and knowing what that was likely stemming from.

Alice cut him off. "FP, you can save it. Some other time, all right? Jughead's missing. You don't have to beg me to help; he's my friend." Alice looked him over disdainfully. "But really, what did you expect? Take some responsibility once in a while, because it would have been nice if you'd thought to get it together before Jughead was left to figure his way out of whatever hole you've dug for him this time."

When Alice spun on her heel and strode away, FP was left gaping after her.

"We'll, uh, get you the information, Mr. Jones." Betty gave FP what she hoped was an encouraging nod, and then turned to follow Alice.

Kevin shot Joaquin a very uneasy look as he turned to follow, but the rest of the group fell in without further comment or complaint.

00000

Clark was free, Jughead was deteriorating, and Archie was pretty sure that he was not about to kill them all.

So it was a mixed bag.

But mostly they were hopeful, and it turned out that Clark had a useful skill after all: he was moving the sand and salt that was piled up in the storage room for use on sidewalks or parking lots, and constructing it into a protective barrier of sorts.

Clark was basically just filling five-gallon buckets, but Archie tried to make it sound more exciting and more vital; he'd seen FP do that countless times on job sites, and it had always worked well.

And, honestly, Archie did appreciate the backup; it wasn't like he'd ever done this before. The demo guys were chatty, and they'd enjoyed showing off, but ultimately Archie had not actually done any of the work. They also had not been working with primary explosives for the most part. But those were the fun ones to talk about, so those were the ones Archie had picked up the most information about.

It should work. Archie was fairly confident. And now they would have Clark's wall of sand and salt in case things turned out a lot more exciting than they should.

Archie shot a nervous look at Jughead, who was dry heaving into his bucket again as his pain continued to worsen. Archie looked away - and doubled down on encouraging Clark's enthusiasm. Clark needed some kind of serious spark to keep him going, because Jughead needed help. Soon.

"You okay, Jug?" Archie focused on his own task as he inquired; he was working on the shaping part, which was a little tricky with only the materials they had on hand.

There was no answer.

Archie looked over; Jughead was signing "okay" to him while he leaned over the bucket. He was breathing hard and sweating.

"Clark, hurry up with the sand. Jughead needs help. Get him some water and maybe... figure out how he can sit better or something." Archie's sense of assurance that Brand would come for them had waned, and his earlier fear had been steadily returning - and increasing. Having a job (a cool, interesting job) had helped, but seeing Jug in so much pain was making everything terrifying once again.

Archie wondered if they'd need to summon their own captors at some point, and basically turn themselves in to get him medical attention. Or at least a few pain pills, if Jughead could even keep them down at this point.

Maybe he couldn't. Maybe he needed to go to a hospital.

Archie wasn't sure how far he and Clark could carry Jughead. Brand had acted like he could just take away the pain pills the previous night, when they'd all been watching movies. Maybe this pain response wasn't normal and something was really wrong with Jug. Or maybe Brand had just been saying stuff. He liked to do that, and it was often hard to tell what was a joke and what he actually meant seriously.

Archie ran a hand through his hair.

When Clark finished filling his current bucket with sand and turned to check in with Jughead, offering him water and talking quietly to him, it was a little easier to focus on what Archie needed to do: get this bomb finished.

00000

The handoff at Pickens Park was smooth; Brand got into the car that FP had secured while FP and Fred swapped phones quickly through the window.

"Tell us anything you hear, even if you're not sure whether it's valuable," Brand reminded Fred. "Just get into the middle of things and stay there. Don't make it obvious that you're texting, though; they won't like that. If you run into trouble, you only talk to Agent Quinn. She's someone we can trust."

Fred nodded. "Let me know the moment you hear anything from - or about - Archie."

"We will," FP promised. They pulled away from the curb.

"FP, there's something I need to tell you. About Donn. We might have a rogue faction within the FBI that's… racing us." Brand wasn't sure this was making any sense, but he had to do this without implicating Rose directly.

"Racing us to what? I thought that was what we were already doing, with the boys." FP was steering them in the general direction of the Whyte Wyrm. And somehow, miraculously, he wasn't questioning Brand's analysis.

"To shut down the Serpent's splinter faction."

"Oh." FP was quick to fill in the many blanks Brand was intentionally leaving. "So, what, we need to sift good information from bad information on all fronts, and not just about the boys - and both might be coming from the FBI? Do you think Donn planted the idea of blowing up Southside High to speed things up for exposing the splinter faction?"

"There might be a whole lot going on here," Brand replied. "So let's play this out as a hypothetical. If Donn is the root of all evil in the Southside, either directly or indirectly, here's another theory I'm considering: I give it maybe two percent odds that the boys are in real danger if this is the case, but they might have been carjacked by someone being paid by Donn, as a diversion. From his perspective, it may only be worthwhile to speed up the bust if he's the one who makes it. So we have to make a decision - do we do what Donn expects and go after the boys first, possibly throwing the race in the process?"

"Hell yes we do." FP gave Brand a look. "We can lose a race. I can lose this work, and you'll live without a job if it comes to that. The boys are our first priority."

"Good. All right. Just making sure we're on the same page." Brand nodded once, firmly. That was that, then.

Rose might be very disappointed, and this decision might have repercussions for everyone if Donn was promoted into a position of power over them, but FP's analysis was the same as his own:

They had their priority.

00000

Sweet Pea was surprised when he got a call back. There was a lot going on in the Southside that was a whole lot more pressing and immediate than the information he'd shared and the action he wanted to see taken.

He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though.

"Davies?"

"Sweet Pea, I hear you're not nearly as useless as you look."

Sweet Pea had never been told that he looked useless. Literally never. He might have been accused of being useless, and Alice had certainly made her best pitch for that earlier that very day, but that was different. He immediately wondered if this agent was full of it.

"He's got an ego, huh?" Davies continued speaking, but now his voice was directed away from the phone to someone on his end. "I think he had a stroke just now. You want to take this one?"

"Sorry about him." FP's voice replaced Davies' on the phone. "He's impatient. But then, so am I - what do you know about the carjackers? We need locations."

And now Sweet Pea was lost. And more than a little panicked to realize that FP Jones presumably knew that he'd cut a deal with the FBI. Despite his claims of insight into FP's motives and loyalties, Sweet Pea was realizing in this moment that he was not nearly as sure about those declarations as he'd thought he'd been. "Nothing. I don't know anything about - FP, what's going on?"

"There was a carjacking in the Southside; someone took an FBI van. And I take it news of the Serpents' involvement in recent activities has been exaggerated." FP sighed, but it was with relief; Joaquin had made it sound as though every last Serpent had been in on the blowing up of Southside High, and that had been much more troubling than potentially shortening that list to just the less stable - but still loyal - Serpents whose names FP could rattle off without much effort. "They released the FBI agent who was driving, and we think that they took Jughead and two others. None of whom are actually full FBI."

Sweet Pea made a face. That was definitely weird. It didn't sound like the Serpents, either. "Look, the guys who beat up Jughead wouldn't have done that."

"Who would?"

Sweet Pea thought that was a stupid question; if he'd known that, he'd have volunteered that information before now.

"Hey, it's Davies again." The phone had clearly changed hands once more. "Forget motive. Rogue Serpents might want FP's kid, and they'd definitely want leverage with the FBI. We might even have a severely misguided rescue attempt we're dealing with, but we're not counting on that. Let's also ignore the release of the driver for a minute, since it's possible they just didn't know who that was. FP wants the kid back; I want the FBI's interns back. We'll take the well-adjusted one while we're at it, and the world's a safer place for all concerned." Brand figured that covered just about everything.

"Now, DeSantos thinks that somewhere in his crazy-as-hell scheme to become a homeowner he might have tipped people off to Trip's value to… well, everyone. DeSantos also thinks that there might be a hiding-in-plain-sight location that was acquired by the faction sometime during the past six or eight months." Brand wasn't clear on the timeline, but a very recent acquisition would be too risky for what he suspected was going on - from the bombing to the abduction.

"FP doesn't know it; DeSantos doesn't know it; if you know it, you've only seen or heard about it as something innocuous." Brand was putting all of his chips on this narrative, at least for now; they could regroup and try again if Sweet Pea had nothing for them. "Anything match that description and have a footprint that's bigger than an apartment? It could even be a trailer."

Sweet Pea blinked. "You mean… has any Serpent bought property? Anything bigger than an apartment?"

"Yes, Sweet Pea."

"No."

"All right, then let's talk about-,"

"There were just the places we leased in the spring. In some office buildings."

"Uh." Davies seemed speechless for a couple of beats. "That works too. Got an address?"

"There are a few of them."

"I've got a pen."

Sweet Pea was only sure that this was not high treason when he was reassured by the sound of FP's voice in the background of the call once again. The Serpent leader was asking something about how Davies figured "Trip" had value to "everyone" if a key factor was located in Canada. Davies was shushing him and then he returned his attention to the phone.

"Addresses, Sweet Pea. Go."

00000

Alice was not feeling very charitable toward anyone when she caught sight of Sweet Pea walking through the Southside from the rear passenger window of Betty's car; they'd retrieved her vehicle from Southside High and finally navigated their way out of the traffic surrounding the demolished school.

That less than charitable impulse might have had a lot to do with her insistence that the group drop her off on the sidewalk and continue FP's fact-finding 'mission' without her.

Or maybe Alice had lost her mind. That was seeming increasingly likely as she did more and more to enmesh herself in the tangled Southside politics that by rights had nothing to do with her.

"Sweet Pea!" Alice abandoned the car as soon as Betty stopped it, and she jogged toward the Serpent. Sweet Pea was pocketing his cellphone, and his head snapped up sharply at the sound of his name being yelled in the street. "Jughead and Archie were carjacked with some other guy. They're all missing. Let's just say that this is not the time to defend or protect anyone; what have you heard?"

Sweet Pea's skittish body language became still more pronounced and he avoided eye contact. "I don't... I don't know anything about that, Alice. I'm, uh, sure the police are working on finding them, though. We should probably stay out of their way, right? Don't you think?"

Alice had almost reached Sweet Pea on the sidewalk, but at his words she stopped in her tracks a few paces away from him. Her eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips. "Really? That's the line you're going with? After everything you said to Kevin Keller in the lunchroom at Riverdale High about the police?"

Sweet Pea looked like he might be sick as he absorbed that and realized his misstep.

"Sweet Pea, honestly - has it never occurred to you that you'd be a lot further ahead if you just leveled with me?" Alice searched his eyes for a moment before she seemed to shake the whole thing off. "Whatever; I don't have time to play mind games. FP sent the others to find information about real estate in the Southside, so that much is covered, but-,"

"Wait, what? FP sent them? He sent you?" Sweet Pea's face transformed from pained to a thrilled, hopeful expression. "You changed your mind - and you're working with FP now?"

"Do not get me started," Alice said darkly. She glowered over Sweet Pea's Pavlovian response to FP's name. "I haven't changed my mind. Not about FP, and not about you either. I just know that sending one more person to search a bunch of files is a waste of time. So I'd like to attempt to be a step above useless, even though you're making me think that this was not the route to take."

"You're not useless, Alice." The words came out before Sweet Pea could stop them. "You are a pain, but... I'm pretty sure that you're incapable of being useless. And you were right about some things. I can't tell you - uh, stuff - or you'll be in danger, too, but trust me: you were right about a lot of things. Just not about FP. He's definitely not on the wrong side of things. I don't know who else we can trust, though, because it sounds like some of the Serpents have turned on their own. I don't know who and I don't know why, but a lot of people have done things that I would have sworn on my life they'd never do." Sweet Pea looked tortured by the thought.

"Welcome to the real world, Sweet Pea," Alice said, but her tone was suddenly gentle. "I'm really sorry that your family's falling apart."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"Do you really think there's something to salvage here?" Alice gestured around at the Southside. "Some kind of core group of loyal, decent Serpents who haven't turned on you and everything you stand for?"

"I have to believe that, Alice." Sweet Pea's tone was even as he met her gaze. "What choice do I have? I'd be as bad as the traitors if I up and walked away now."

"All right, then. I'll help you. I'll let FP know that we're in the Southside and we're available. Any idea where he's likely to go? We could always just meet up with him and save some time."

Sweet Pea grimaced uncomfortably as Alice began to text, but he did not raise any objections - he'd try to be encouraging as long as she was helping. "I'm parked a few blocks that way. And I might know basically where he's headed right now, yeah."

"Okay. I texted him that we're on our way." Alice began to lead Sweet Pea in the direction he'd indicated. "Have you got a car? Or am I going to be taking your helmet? Because no way am I getting on a donor cycle without at least that much protection from your driving."

"You can borrow my helmet." Sweet Pea ducked his head apologetically as they walked together. "It won't fit, but we'll see what we can do. And, uh, here." Sweet Pea shrugged out of his leather jacket. "This won't fit either, but-,"

"It's protection. I'll take it." Alice draped it over her shoulders and was amused by how easily she could slide both arms into the long sleeves from that position. "How tall are you?"

"Tall enough that I'll probably die young," Sweet Pea intoned mournfully.

"Oh, give me a break." Alice shoved his shoulder lightly, noticing as she did so that his T-shirt was soft with wear and that he wore dog tags. "Aren't you going to get cold?"

"Nah. I just wear the jacket as a fashion statement." Sweet Pea smirked. "Seriously, I'm like a furnace. You're doing me a favor by carrying that thing for me."

"I see." Alice tried not to crack a smile when Sweet Pea held a very warm hand to the back of her neck to demonstrate.

"I saw that." Sweet Pea gave Alice a knowing smile and a wink. This time she returned his smile without hesitation. "You know, Alice, now that you've come to help the Southside and all, I'm starting to wonder if you're a team player after all... just one without a team."

"I'm sure that's what people said about the Unabomber," Alice quipped defensively, but with a surprised laugh. It was not an unwelcome idea that she might be capable of having a group of her own, and of being accepted and valued. However, it was unexpected to be confronted by that prospect right now.

"Well..." Sweet Pea's smile became slightly mischievous, "don't tell anyone, but after seeing Southside High blasted down to its foundation, I'm not entirely opposed to the bombing types. You know, as long as nobody's hurt."

"Of course," Alice agreed wryly, but she was still smiling. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Hey, that might be FP texting. Let's see what he has to say for himself."

00000

Fred was deeply relieved when Jonathan regained consciousness. His employee was horrified and even somewhat mortified over everything that had happened, and he welcomed Fred sitting in as he gave his statement to the FBI and to Sheriff Keller.

"I was attacked while I was locking up; they held me at gunpoint. They all wore masks, and I'm not sure who anyone was."

Fred was nodding along sympathetically. Jonathan kept looking at him apologetically, and it felt important that he keep reassuring him: his safety was worth far more than the materials or insurance or whatever else was affected by him cooperating with armed intruders.

"We were hoping you'd be able to help us figure out who set off the explosives, and why," Agent Quinn spoke gently. "Did anyone say anything?"

"It sounded like they just wanted to create a lot of chaos. They were sending a message to someone. I'm not sure how I got that impression, exactly," Jonathan frowned. "They mentioned television coverage, maybe? I'm not sure what they said, but it was something like that."

"That information might help." Agent Quinn was nodding. "Impressions are fine for now; we'll work backward from whatever you can tell us and try to make sense of it that way. What happened after they jumped you?"

"They made me give them a tour of the school and explain what was wrong with it, and why we decided to make it a tear-down." Jonathan frowned. "I assumed that was related to the explosives since they were really interested in those, but they kept asking questions even after that was clear. They seemed to have some sort of a list of questions - maybe from someone else? - and we worked through them one at a time, even if they were redundant. Do you think this was politically motivated? Southsiders who didn't believe the tear-down was warranted?"

"It could have been. We'll consider all possibilities," Sheriff Keller contributed. "So you showed them around the school and explained the mold issues and the reasons that rebuilding was... cost effective?"

"Yeah. Weird, I know. Then we went to pick up their supplies."

"Hold on - they didn't have those with them?" Agent Williams interjected. "They must not have expected to get access. But they set all of this up?"

"No. They were waiting for me." Jonathan shook his head. "They knew they'd have access. They wanted me to show them what was in place so they could determine exactly what to bring. It was a lot of materials, and I'm guessing they had additional people and vehicles that they didn't want to involve if they didn't have to."

"Which means there's a stash somewhere." Agent Quinn nodded. "They'll have to dispose of the excess, or they'll have to store it. That's helpful information."

"Not 'somewhere.'" Jonathan looked around at the law enforcement in the room. "It's a factory building that's been converted into offices."

"You... went with them to get the supplies?" Agent Quinn's jaw dropped.

"That's probably why they left me inside of the school to die," Jonathan confirmed soberly. "I saw everything but faces. I can take you there right now."

"Bury the lead much?" Williams was already moving. "Let's go."

Fred waited for it to be at least a little less obvious before he began texting Brand.

And there were texts waiting for him on the screen.

Some of which were from names he did not recognize.

Fred figured FP would have said something if there was anything too private on his phone; he finished texting Brand and then pulled up the text messages that had come in.

Betty was texting that Joaquin had an idea, and they were investigating floor plans for an old factory. That seemed like confirmation from a second source to Fred, and those two were unlikely to make a reckless move since they were officially on intel-gathering duty.

Fred recalled Brand's instructions to impersonate FP as needed, and replied: 'Get me whatever you find. You and Desanto (sp?) stay put.'

Alice had texted that she'd met up with Sweet Pea (whoever that was), and that he had more faith in FP than was warranted, but they'd see him (FP?) soon. That did not make sense without more context, and Fred tried to be vague with his reply - but perhaps begin rebuilding the bridge that seemed to have become at the very least badly singed between those two. 'Sounds good. It's always a pleasure to see you and Sweet Pea, Alice.'

Someone called Tall Boy had texted that a runt had gotten into a scrape and asked whether FP wanted the leashes off.

That one sounded dangerous.

'If nobody is going to be hurt or engage in anything illegal (or questionable), then you may use your best judgment. Do you have more details?' Fred texted cautiously.

That last one didn't really sound like FP, but Fred was nervous about ignoring or okaying something that he'd later regret, and he wanted to make absolutely certain that he was communicating clearly.

'Mustang' had a question and some constructive feedback: 'You got a clue whos workin for who? Been pulled all directions. Tell me you blew up the school - rock on.'

Fred figured he'd better leave that one alone.

Brand texted back: 'Had three options; now we have one. Nice work. Get more info if you can. We're going in.'

Fred sagged in relief.

"Who were you just texting?" Agent Quinn was returning to where Fred was texting, almost at a run. She did not look happy.

"Uh, what?" Fred tried to look innocent, before realizing that would only look more guilty. "Why would you ask-,"

"We just got word that there was a second explosion, your son was a target of the carjacking, and you're right in the middle of our investigation - and you're texting. You know demolitions; you're still covered with dirt from the first explosion of the day." Agent Quinn's eyes were wide. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Brand told me to level with you if something came up. Only you." Fred put his hands up placatingly - or maybe as though he was being arrested. Nobody else was coming over to investigate yet, so if he spoke quickly he could hopefully keep this just between him and Agent Quinn. "I'm texting Davies what Jonathan told us. And, uh, a few other people. We're just trying to find my son. What do you mean, another explosion? Did you get more information? Is everyone okay?"

"Davies is the one you were texting? You didn't just detonate an explosion remotely, as part of a ransom demand? Is this even your phone, or were you given it for some kind of a job? It's possible that you may not even know it if you did just set off a bomb." Agent Quinn's eyes were still wide.

"It's FP's phone. Brand told me to take it. There are no demands. Or… did you get demands? I thought we didn't know why the boys were taken." Fred gasped in a deep breath. "I… I don't think I could have detonated anything." He still had his hands in the air.

Agent Quinn took the phone from Fred. The messages between him and Brand were still on the screen. "He's on his way there already?" She blinked. "I'm going to win the bet with Williams."

"She bet against Brandon finding my son?" Fred's jaw dropped. That was horrifyingly cold.

"She bet that it would take him an hour longer to get an address and get into position." Agent Quinn pulled out a set of handcuffs. "Come on. I like you, but we're playing this safe until we have a whole lot more information about what's going on."

Fred was surprised when it finally clicked: the cuffs were for him. Apparently texting information from the site of the FBI's questioning of a witness had landed him in at least a little hot water.

Then Fred fully processed what she'd just told him: there had been a second bomb. Maybe somewhere near where Brandon was heading. Where Archie might be. And she'd just taken FP's phone away from him.

"Uh, you can cuff me." Fred held his wrists out willingly. "But can I have the phone back? Just for a minute?"

Agent Quinn's incredulous expression was not encouraging.

00000

Betty looked at the text one more time. "Yeah, I think you're right, Joaquin. That doesn't sound like it's from FP. We should get over there right now. Alice texted too and FP told her and Sweet Pea to go ahead and meet him, but it was weird and she thinks there might have been a code. Like maybe he's being held against his will and he's trying to send us a signal."

Veronica, Kevin, and Joaquin stared at her in horror. They were in the offices of The Register, using the computers to gather the details they needed; they had printed building plans and texted the information that they were able to Brand's phone.

"Come on. Jughead and Archie are still missing, and Alice and Sweet Pea could be heading into a trap. We have to hurry." Betty motioned for them to follow her.

"Are we seriously doing this?" Kevin asked Veronica. She shot a glance at Betty, who was already moving quickly.

"Archie might be there, so yeah - I am. And I get the sense that Betty is, whether or not you go along. Alice and Sweet Pea are already headed there." Veronica shrugged. "You two can bail between now and then if you change your mind. We can just drop you off somewhere along the way."

"In the Southside? Right. Great plan." Kevin gestured to underscore his sarcasm.

"Hey. I'll make sure you get home safely if we have to bail. I say we go and at least try to give them some backup. No way was that text from FP. Maybe he is trying to send us a message," Joaquin offered. He was speaking only to Kevin.

"You going to explain all of this on the way?" Kevin gestured to Joaquin's filthy outfit. Joaquin had left his hard hat in Betty's car, but he was still covered with dust and dirt from the explosion.

"The story might be too long for right now, but sure. I'll try." Joaquin nodded. He bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Kevin."

It was not the first time that Joaquin had apologized since they'd begun their fact-finding mission. It was, however, the first time that Kevin acknowledged him apologizing:

"You should be. Let's go." Kevin motioned for the others to follow him as he exited the building.

Veronica gave Joaquin a weak smile as they hurried toward where Betty had brought the car around. "Thanks for coming. And... I'm sure you had good reasons for everything."

Joaquin sighed. "I thought I did, until about a week ago. Now I'm not so sure, and I'm really not sure how Kevin's going to see things."

"You can only explain, and then let him decide what to do with that information." Veronica dropped a hand onto Joaquin's shoulder as they exited the library's double set of doors. "He was really worried, so he might be mad for a while. Just give him time to figure out how he feels. But for now let's go find my boyfriend."

00000

"Don't go over there."

"It didn't work - we should-,"

"Dude, stay down. Haven't you ever set off fireworks?"

"Those are illegal."

"Not even on the fourth of July?"

"They're still illegal."

"But that's, like... civil disobedience, Clark. Come on."

"What's your point?" Clark turned on Archie. "Why would fireworks be relevant to-,"

The bomb went off.

"Not gonna say I told you so, but seriously-," Archie was already moving to spot Jughead as he climbed up and over their sand and salt barrier, "-listen to the demolitions experts from now on."

"It... worked." The explosion had not felt nearly as violent as the school going up, but they were a whole lot closer to it - and proximity had a quality all its own. Clark was staring at a hole in the wall that was just above waist height, and very impressive in diameter. "We can actually fit through that. We're alive. The barrier isn't even-,"

"Science," Archie declared proudly. "Now come on - we need to run."

Clark quickly reached to help Archie support Jughead. It seemed like he was a lot more sure of himself now that the explosion had been completed successfully, and he began to take charge of the three once again. "Let's go. You doing okay, Macgyver?"

"I am trying very hard not to puke on you, Clark." Jughead smiled weakly. "Take me to the drugs."

"Our first priority is making contact with the FBI," Clark replied firmly. He climbed through the hole first when Archie waved him forward, and then he helped Jughead painfully hoist himself up and through the damaged wall. "They'll hook you up, Jones."

Clark helped Jughead land gently on his feet, but they all winced when Jughead bent over and retched again.

Archie had just made it through the hole and out of sight when they heard the door to the storage room fly open. At first there wasn't even a shout; it sounded as though they'd shocked their captors into giving them a few more moments of head start.

And they had exited the storage room to an exterior hallway that had a wall of windows - some of which had not fared well in the blast.

"I'm a genius," Archie whispered.

Archie grabbed Jughead's arm as he seemed to have recovered slightly, and hoped that his best friend would be able to manage a real run for it once his current round of nausea abated. They could just go through the opening where the windows had shattered, and it would be short work to disappear into the neighborhood if they were careful - and quick.

But then Jughead doubled over again.

Clark began pulling Jughead away from Archie. He was shaking his head and his expression was darkly determined. "Leave him with me. You're an athlete, right? Run. Get help. We'll get as far as we can, but you have to be the one to make sure that at least one of us gets away."

Archie tugged them both along after him for a few more steps, but Clark grabbed Archie's shoulders and shook him harshly. "Seriously, Archer. If none of us make it out, we're screwed. Get to the FBI. They'll want the two of us back in the worst way. And who knows - maybe we'll make it out right behind you."

Archie nodded. Jughead was straightening up - people were coming - Archie bolted.

"MacGyver, I'm not going to leave you," Clark quickly helped Jughead in the opposite direction from the one Archie had gone in, "but you should know that at this moment we are only buying time for Archer. We're not going to make it out."

"Then we should give them as many targets as possible." Jughead nodded decisively, even while gasping with pain. "I'll head to the parking lot and get down so they can't find me easily. Go get Brand; get my dad."

"What? No, Jones. I literally just said that I'm not leaving you. We didn't risk our lives blowing out a wall to leave you to face the music alone - and injured. This is how the FBI works." Clark made a face. "I think, anyway. I also think that our resident agency might have some serious issues."

Jughead laughed shortly. "Yeah. I think you might be right about that."

The people who were pursuing them would almost certainly exit the building at any moment.

"They're going to see us," Jughead warned. "We should-,"

"Just take it easy." Clark made firm eye contact with Jughead to underscore his words. "Don't draw attention to yourself or give them any clue that you're valuable to Davies or to anyone else; you're too vulnerable and it would be way too easy for them to take advantage of that, just by withholding your pills. I'm going to ask for your pain meds and we'll go from there. They're probably going to want to split us up now that we've escaped once, but we'll do our best to keep that from happening."

Clark looked terrified by the prospect of recapture, but as soon as Jughead nodded in acknowledgement of the plan he pushed the younger intern behind himself and squared his shoulders.

"We're going to try to convince them that you're not with the FBI, okay? You're my... second cousin or something, and you just happened to be in the vehicle. You're underage, you have no clearance, and if they so much as touch you they'll be drawn and quartered."

Clark nodded to himself as he continued to ramble. "Uh, they need to drop you off somewhere or there's going to be an Amber Alert out for you within the next fifteen minutes. That's our story."

"They blew up a highschool. They're not going to care about an Amber Alert." Jughead felt his breathing accelerating toward hyperventilation. He tried to slow his respiration, but it was painful with his ribs in such tough shape.

"They thought it was an empty building. I hope." Clark's voice was shaking, but he seemed to steel himself once again while he reached behind his back and grasped Jughead's arm firmly as they saw the men emerge from the building and raise their guns threateningly. "Just remember your legend, Macgyver, and act clueless. I'll do my best to get us both home in one piece."

"Okay. Thanks, wingman."

"Don't thank me yet."

00000

Sorry (okay, not as sorry as I could be, admittedly...) for another cliffhanger! :-D Just a few more chapters as we bring this all together... :) As always, I'll enjoy any and all notes immensely, and be much encouraged as I sort out all of the threads... :-D Thank you for reading! I hope you have a lovely weekend!

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