"Time to wake up, ladies." Oscar said, Morris followed him down the steps into the basement of the circulation building. They carried two mugs and a brown paper bag.
"Not like we coulda slept anyway." Spark snorted.
The girls' wrists were tied behind them to the bed frame. They were forced to sit upright all night, facing each other.
"Sorry to hear that, Girly." Said Morris.
"No you're not." She snapped.
The boy lifted his hand to strike.
Oscar stopped him. "Come on, Morris. These girls is our guests. We should treat them with all the respect theys deserves." He sat down on the bed next to Chase and put his arm around her. "How did you sleep, Doll Face?"
"I didn't," she did her best to shrug him off.
"Aww, somebody sounds cranky," He and his brother shared a glance. "How's about a good mornin' kiss?"
Chase had been working on the knot the boys had tied all night. A piece of rope was not going to keep her prisoner in this dusty old basement. She had planned on waiting until they left and then she and Spark could try to escape through the window. But when Oscar came at her, puckering his lips, she couldn't just sit there and let him kiss her again.
"Get away from me!" And she punched him right in the face. The force of the punch (and the shock of it all) caused Oscar to back into the printing press.
The look on his face was priceless. Chase couldn't hold back any more. The haughty smirk she had picked up from Spot lit up her face.
"Ooooh, you're gonna get it." Morris said, clearly enjoying the show.
Oscar wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and stepped toward her, pulling back his fist like he was going to strike. Chase's gaze didn't waver. "You're lucky, Doll Face. Shade made us promise not to touch yous until the show."
"Show? What show?" Spark looked from one Delancey to the other, narrowing her eyes.
Oscar ignored her. He stroked Chase's gold curls, twirling them around his fingers. "But after that, yous are fair game." The look in his eye frightened her more than anything else but she didn't show it.
Oscar grabbed the rope and forcefully took Chase's hands. He pulled the knot hard, so hard it cut into Chase's wrists and causing her to gasp openly.
"Tight enough?" He and Morris laughed darkly.
"Boys! Hurry up, we got work to do!" A voice from upstairs bellowed. The girls recognized it belonged to Weasel.
"Alright we's comin' in a little bit!" Morris called. "Breakfast time, ladies."
The boys pulled out two pieces of bread from the bag.
"Does your uncle know we're down here?" Spark asked, dodging Morris' hand as he tried to feed her.
The brothers shared a mischievous smile.
"'Course he does, Shade is payin' room and board for yous two." said Morris.
"Hope the accommodations are to your liking." Oscar added.
Chase just glared at him, not opening her mouth. She wouldn't eat if she was being forced.
"Shade wants yous lookin' healthy for the show. And ya gotta eat anyway." Oscar persisted.
"I don't want t-." Oscar shoved the whole piece of bread in her mouth.
Spark, who was in the middle of drinking, spit a mouthful of water in Morris' face.
"That's it!" And she kicked him where she could reach.
Morris dumped the mug of water over her head.
"Come on, boys!"
"I SAID WE'RE COMIN'!" Morris turned to the girls. "See ya's later."
As soon as the girls heard the trap door shut, they relaxed. Chase leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Spark could see that she was starting to cry.
"Chase," she said. "It's gonna be alright."
"I- I can't do this forever."
"It's not gonna be forever-"
"But we don't know how long we're going to be here. And who knows what they'll do to us."
Spark took a deep breath, trying to be the strong one this time. "I know but they just want their information, right?"
As the boys stood in line to buy their papes, Helena took down notes for everything. According to Skittery, Spark and Chase were kidnapped not too far from the circulation building.
"You're late, Cowboy." Weasel sneered as Jack approached the counter.
"Oh, really? So sue me." He didn't have time for this.
"Someone's in a bad mood this mornin'." Weasel laughed his terrible laugh. Jack, uncharacteristically, just stood there and glared.
"Are you gonna take my money or what?"
"How many?"
Jack snatched a newspaper out of Morris's hand so quickly he didn't even have time to blink. The paper wasn't even ripped.
"Come on, there's a lot a' people waitin'."
Jack slapped a quarter on the table, making Spot, Mush, and the other newsies behind him jump. "Hundred papes."
Spot was next in line.
"Hundred." He grunted.
"Oh look, Morris," Oscar said as he counted Spot's papers. "Look what Conlon's wearin'. A locket."
"Never knew you was a pansy." Morris taunted.
Spot took out his cane and slammed it in the counter with a deafening sound. The Delanceys pulled back a little.
"It's my girl's." Said Spot as he slipped the cane back into his belt loop.
"Oh, yeah," Morris leered. "Ain't she that pretty little angel-faced blondie with the nice figure?"
Oscar whistled. "And a nice kisser she is too." He licked his lips.
Spot grabbed the bars with both hands, getting his face as close as he could.
"Yous are dead! Come out here and fight me like real men!"
"Gladly!" The Delanceys made for the door.
"Ah, boys." Said Weasel. "You know what happens if yous aren't in good behavior."
Spot smirked. "I heard the Refuge just opened up again."
After the strike, the Jacobs's brought up charges against the Delancey brothers for attacking Sarah, David, and Les. They didn't exactly have clean records to begin with so the judge ruled that they be sent to the Refuge. In the same week, however, the Refuge closed at Governor Roosevelt's request. He wanted to reopen it his way. The whole point of it was to help children get back on the right path.
The judge, instead, put the Delancey Brothers on probation so if they ever misbehaved again, they'd be sent to jail like promised.
Oscar slid the papers under the bars but not before Morris could spit on the top one.
"Thank you, so much." Spot took his papers and left, Chase had done a good job teaching him self control. Spot threw the ruined paper on the ground and joined his friends.
"Do you know where it's supposed to be?" Asked Mush, anxiously.
"I was told it will be on page nine, bottom left corner." Said Denton.
The boys sat down on the steps and flipped through their newspapers until they came to page nine.
"Are you sure it's gonna be in this edition?" Kid Blink looked up from his paper.
"That's what they told me."
"Well it's not here."
"What do you mean 'It's not here'?!" Helena exclaimed. She grabbed a paper from Racetrack, who had just gotten his stack, and scanned the page. Denton tossed Race a quarter.
Blink was right. Not once did it mention Chase and Spark. Where the ad should have been was an advertisement for the Phonograph, a new invention.
"I can't believe this." Helena leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. "Why would they omit our advertisement?"
"Pulitzer." Spot muttered . His whole body tensed with anger as he tried to keep from hurting some innocent bystander. Instead, he whispered curses under his breath, pacing the ground.
"What are we gonna do now?" Asked Skittery.
"I know exactly what we're gonna do." Jack walked out of the circulation gates to the doors of The World building. The others followed.
"You're going to talk to Pulitzer again?" Denton started writing in his notebook.
"This ain't no game." Jack opened both of the heavy wooden doors and entered the building.
"I'm comin'." Said Spot.
"Me, too." Mush declared.
Denton handed David a notepad and pen. "You should probably go too."
Jack walked passed the office boy's desk and stomped up the steps.
"You can't go up there without an appointment. Especially not you." The office boy said to Jack.
Spot pulled out his cane and glared with his piercing blue eyes . "You wanna repeat that for me?"
The office boy drew back, noticeably trembling. "N-no."
Jack and David lead the way up to Pulitzer's office. It was a very familiar scene. Without knocking or listening to hear what was going on in there, Jack barged in in the middle of Pulitzer's regular meetings with Mr. Seitz and Jonathon Pembermuffin and his other accountants.
Pulitzer was mildly surprised but he tried to hide it. "Who let you up here, boy?" He growled.
"Your office boy," Jack said.
"Ah ha..." Pulitzer said. "Jonathon, remind me to fire him."
"Yes, sir."
Pulitzer turned and looked out the window, pushing back the curtain .
"It's not a holiday," he turned back and sat back down in his chair . "And none of you appear to be sick or debilitated in any way."
The boys shared confused glances.
"Why aren't you boys out selling my paper?"
Jack started. "See, that's what we came here about, Joe-"
Spot couldn't keep his mouth shut anymore. He pushed himself to the front and got right in Pulitzer's face . "Why didn't The World print Denton's ad?" Spot seethed.
Jack pulled him back. "Will ya let me handle this one?" Spot reluctantly joined Mush and David behind Jack. "But my question is the same. Every big paper in New York printed the ad except for you. Why is that?" He stared Pulitzer down.
"What ad?" Pulitzer glanced at Pembermuffin.
"The one about the two missing newsgirls." He answered.
"Ah," Pulitzer nodded. "We ran out of space. That ad was submitted too late. How long until we have an opening, Jonathon?"
"The first week of February, sir."
"See, problem solved. Get back to work." Pulitzer turned back to his account books and Mr. Seitz opened the door behind them.
Jack pounded his fist on the desk. "No, Joe, the problem is not solved!"
David took a turn. "Are the lives of two girls less important than the phonograph?"
Pulitzer crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, asserting his authority. "People in this city go missing all the time, that's hardly my responsibility." He answered. "You boys leave or I'm calling the police. I hear the Refuge has opened up again."
Spot glared at Joseph Pulitzer with a violent intensity. He really wished he could kill him with just a look. Any respect Spot had for rich old men like Pulitzer (the little that remained after the strike) went out the window. He silently vowed never to become so greedy and stubborn and practically evil. Chase would never let him, anyway. That is, if he ever got her back.
"Wait!" Said Mush, all of the sudden. "This is your responsibility."
Pulitzer looked up from his book. "What did you say, boy?"
Jack allowed Mush to step forward. "One of the missing girls is my sister, Roselia Meyers. As I recall, you are our legal guardian when our parents died. You're supposed to be takin' care of us until we turn 18."
Pulitzer blinked.
"That's right, Joe." Mush smiled triumphantly. "We could take this to court. And who wouldn't listen to the children, especially after what you did to us back in July?" The strike.
Jack pat Mush on the back, praising his smart thinking.
"And you think you could win?" Pulitzer stood up again. "You don't know who you're messing with, boy."
"Yeah, we do, Joe." Said Jack. "You don't want a repeat of last summer, do ya?"
Pulitzer froze for a second. "You wouldn't-"
"Yeah, we would." Spot brought himself up to his full height, with even more fire in his blue eyes. "Especially now that we know how to do it right."
"Plus," said David. "We already have the governor on our side. You might have most of the power in this city but the state still belongs to Governor Roosevelt."
Mr. Seitz and Jonathon shared a nervous glance. They knew that if "The World" caused another uprising by the newsies the whole paper would be done for.
Pulitzer looked to each of the boys to see if one would crack. None of them did.
"Alright," said Pulitzer, finally. "You'll see it tomorrow. Page nine."
A/N: Ok, so now I can finally tell yous about "The Turn" which was my original title for this story. The story was going to be a crossover between "Newsies" and "The Prestige" (seriously if you haven't seen "The Prestige" you NEED to! It is one of my favorite movies of all time). There are a ton of reasons I chose this pairing. First, Christian Bale plays one of the leads (opposite Hugh Jackman, no less). Both movies take place at around the same time, there is even a flashback scene that takes place in 1899. As soon as I saw that I knew a story had to be written. If I'm not mistaken I think both "Newsies" and "The Prestige" were both filmed on the same set. You can see some familiar looking places in "The Prestige". Like I said before, I wanted to explore Chase and Jack's friendship. At the beginning of the story John Cutter (from "The Prestige") finds Jack and gives him a journal that's supposed to be from his father. The journal is in a code that Jack can't read. Chase sees the journal and recognizes it as a keyword cipher (used a lot in "The Prestige"), and she decides to translate it for Jack so he can find out about his father. I decided that I will release the chapters of "The Turn" that I still have as a bonus once this story is over. Next chapter I will reveal the original villain.
