Ben really didn't like lying to Luna. He didn't even like the idea of keeping secrets from her. After everything that had happened, not telling her about the text he got from Eddy sort of felt like stabbing her in the back. But he knew that if he had told her, there was no way she would have let him go. Or even worse, she'd demand to come with him.

There was no way he was going to back down from that punk, and no way he was going to risk her being there either. Maybe it was just a macho guy thing, but he wouldn't put hurting her past Eddy and it wasn't something he was willing to gamble on. Making an excuse to Kimi and Olley wouldn't be that hard. But he knew it wasn't going that easy with Luna. He was going to need help.

"You want me to do what now?" Sam asked.

"I need you to just… distract Luna. At least until I deal with Eddy anyway," Ben said. "If she finds out where I'm going there's no way she isn't gonna wanna come with, and if she does that no way Eddy isn't gonna try something."

Sam crossed her arms. "I get what you're saying man, but honestly I'm not sure if I should be helping you do this. Going after Eddy on your own? You know how reckless that is right? Why don't you just bring all of us with you? You know he's probably gonna bring his thugs along too."

"I know. But don't worry. I have a plan," Ben said, trying to sound confident.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you sure? Because you don't sound that confident," she said. Damn, was she seriously that easy to read? "If this is some macho thing where you're worried we'd get in the way, can I just remind you that there's a very high definition video of me kicking the crap out of him I can show you."

Ben chuckled as he was reminded of the beatdown. "Yeah I know. But trust me, I really do have a plan. And it's gonna keep that asshole off our backs for good."

"You're not gonna like… kill him are you?" she asked.

"Wha-?! No!" Ben said, quickly shaking his head. "I mean the guy is an asshole and I can't stand him, but I'm not going that hard. But I am going to make sure he's gonna steer clear of all of us. Especially Luna."

Sam looked down in thought. She definitely wanted Eddy out of their hair, but she wasn't sure she liked helping him trick Luna to do it. She didn't want to lie to her either, and she also didn't want Ben getting in over his head. If he really was going to do something crazy or dangerous, maybe she should tell Luna. She was more likely to snap him out of it than anybody.

"Are your brothers gonna be there?" she asked. If he had them there with him, then at least she'd know he'd have someone watching his back.

"I think so?"

"You think? Ben, if you're gonna ask me to do this then I'm gonna need you to give me more than that man. You're my friend too. I don't want you ending up in the hospital trying to fight this dude," she said. "Tell me you got this. Tell me that you're going to be alright."

Ben sighed before looking her in the eyes. "Sam, I got this. My brothers can be crazy, but when it comes to stuff like this they always pull through. I'm gonna be okay, I promise," he said.

The blonde stared back at him for a second, trying to see if he was just trying to get her off his back, or if he really meant it. Eventually she decided on the latter. "Okay, I trust you… so what's the plan here? Like, how am I supposed to distract Luna?" she asked.

Ben hesitated for a moment, and then cleared his throat. "I mean… I guess you could just invite her to hang out or something. I mean, she'll probably be up for some guitar gladiator at the arcade," he said.

"Are you telling me to ask Luna out on a date…?"

"I guess… I mean I know that's weird, but if it's gonna keep her away then yeah," Ben said awkwardly. He and Sam just stared at one another for a while, and then he grabbed his head and groaned. "Ah! I was trying to avoid saying the word date, but now I'm jealous!" he said.

Sam covered her mouth, trying to choke back a laugh. "If you were gonna get jealous, why didn't you ask Olley and Kimi to stall her?" she asked.

"They would've tried to stop me too. Or even if they didn't she would have gotten it out of them. But she's probably not gonna be thinking that deep about it if she's with you," he admitted. "Besides, I'm sure you wanna hang out with her too, right? I mean I feel like I've been soaking up a bunch of her time ever since last week. And I like hanging out with her, but she's your friend too."

Sam smiled at him. "Wow dude. If I wasn't already trying to hit it off with Luna, I might've ended up falling for you instead," she said, winking at him.

Ben blushed. "That's flattering, but please don't, I have enough girl troubles as it is…"

Sam looked amused as she turned to leave. "Yeah, we both do. I'll go and catch up with Luna. make sure you give Eddy A few good punches for me," she said.

"I'll give him enough for everybody," Ben assured.

Whenever someone picked a place for a showdown in movies, it was almost always something cliche like an abandoned warehouse. Or an empty parking lot. Not a park in the middle of the day. That was just weird, right?

But here he was. In broad daylight. By himself… this was definitely weird. Why was this part of the park so empty? "Well, I can't believe you actually showed up Brittle. Figured you'd chicken out and run to your big brothers for help." Ben looked over and saw Eddy making his way towards him.

He narrowed his eyes on him. "Where is everybody else? What did you do?"

"Aw, you getting cold feet Brittle? Well don't get your panties in a bunch. There's a family of skunks around here nobody wants to deal with, so people steer clear. Lucky for you, since it means nobody is gonna see you get your ass kicked," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Or maybe it's unlucky since nobody's gonna be able to stop me."

Ben snorted. He guessed this probably was for the best. He didn't want anybody seeing them fighting out here. "Whatever," he said before walking forward. "Before we get started, I want to make sure we're clear on what's gonna go down here."

Eddy smirked. "What's to know. You're gonna get your ass kicked and-"

Ben cut him off. "This wasn't a big deal. Not on my end anyway. You were just some jerk from a party who was bugging me. But then you want after Olley, and you outed Luna. You took something between me and you, and got my friends mixed up in it. This was NOT personal, YOU made it personal," he said, balling his fist up.

Eddy scoffed. "Are you serious? Are you trying to give me some heroic speech? Get off your high horse Brittle. If you would have manned up and settled things with me from the jump I wouldn't have had to come after drummer boy. And as for Loud… you should be thanking me. She's been all over you since it happened, right?" he asked, chuckling.

Ben grit his teeth. "This isn't a joke you crazy asshole! After I beat you, you promise to back the hell off, and more importantly you don't even look towards my friends! You got it?!" he snapped.

Eddy waved his hand. "Yeah, sure whatever. You're nuts if you think you actually got a shot at beating me. But I'll humor you runt," he said, rolling his shoulders back. "Now are you ready to take your beating like a man? Or you wanna pour a few cups of tea and keep on chatting."

Ben walked forward and got ready to meet him. "Yeah, let's do this…"

Eddy smiled even wider and then brought his fist back. He was going to beat this kid down, and then beat him down some more. The fact that he was stupid enough to come here on his own was-

PPSSSSTTTT!

"AAAAHHHH!"

Eddy yelled as he stumbled back, his hands covering his now burning eyes. He growled in anger as he tried to force them open, but the stinging was just too much. "You son of a bitch! What did you do?!" Eddy yelled angrily.

Ben narrowed his eyes as he put the small can of pepper spray back into his pocket. He walked towards Eddy, who was hunched over, wiping desperately at his face. "You really called me out here after everything you did and expected this to just end with a fight?" he asked.

Eddy grunted. "This isn't what we agreed to! This isn't-!"

"I didn't agree to anything. You sent me a text saying to meet you here, and I said I would be. I never said anything about going along with your bullshit," Ben said. "I didn't come here to fight with you, I came here to hurt you. The same way you hurt Olley and Luna."

Eddy looked a bit panicked, but held his hand up. "Oh, you tricky little punk. You think you're so smart don't you? Well you were dumb enough to come here, so you're the one that's about to get fucked up! Guys, get out here!" he yelled. He heard footsteps coming, and he smiled as he looked toward where he knew Ben was standing. "You didn't think I was really gonna come without my boys did you? I was gonna knock you around a bit by myself first, but now-"

"Yeah, you boys aren't coming."

Eddy froze when he heard the voice. That… that wasn't either of his boys. "You really messed up Eddy. you messed up badly," Bruno said, crossing his arms. Bruce and Beck were also present, the eldest four Brittle brothers all surrounding Eddy. "I tried to warn you about messing with my family."

Eddy was starting to sweat. This wasn't supposed to be how things went. His buddies were supposed to be keeping an eye out for his brothers. What happened? Why hadn't they said anything? Where did they go? "Your friends are flakes dude. Second we told them we had dirt on what you guys pulled with Olley they tucked tail and ran," Beck said smirking. "Bunch of punks."

"This… this ain't fair! You guys are gonna jump me! Why kind of-?!"

"Fair went out the window when you threatened our family," Bruno said angrily. "You can't pick a fight with one member. You have to fight the whole damn tribe."

"That's bull-!"

Ben threw a punch, hitting him square in the cheek and knocking him to the ground. He got up and stumbled away, trying to make a break for it. He didn't know where he was going, but anywhere was better than here. "Where are you going?" Eddy bumped into Bruce, who glared down before raising his foot and kicking him back.

He hit the ground and quickly tried to scramble up to his feet again, but Beck walked behind him and kicked him in the back of the knee. Eddy swung back at him, but Beck backed away, laughing as he did. "Too slow!"

Bruno rammed into Eddy from his blind spot, knocking him down once more. "You're gonna wish you kept the beef on the football field," Bruno said, reaching down and yanking him up to his feet. He brought his fist back and punched Eddy, who stumbled back again before holding his hands up.

He panted, clearly in a panic. "Okay, wait! Wait! Guys wait!" he said desperately. "I get it okay! I fucked up! You win!" he said, waving his hands. "I'll back off! I won't mess with-!"

Ben landed another punch right in the nose, and Eddy fell back and grabbed his face. "It's too late now! You should have backed off the first time," he said as he brought his foot back and kicked him in his side. Eddy curled up as Ben kept kicking. "I told you to leave me alone! I could have broken your arm! And you still wanted to keep on pushing things!"

Eddy grunted in pain. "Stop! I give! I said I give! Back of or-! I-I'll call the cops!"

"No you won't," Ben said, kneeling down next to him. "You're not gonna say anything to anyone about this. And you WILL back off. For real this time. Because if you don't, we're gonna give the police this."

"If you would have manned up and settled things with me from the jump I wouldn't have had to come after drummer boy. And as for Loud…"

Ben shut the recorder off, and Eddy grit his teeth. "Which one is a worse crime, you think? Us beating up some asshole for harassing our family and friends. Or you assaulting, putting someone in the hospital, and publicly humiliating a girl in front of the entire school?" he asked.

Eddy had an expression on his face that was a mix of anger, panic, and regret. "I get it okay, I'll back off…" These guys were crazy, and he didn't think for a second they wouldn't go to the cops, even if they did end up getting in trouble too. "For real."

"Good," Ben said, standing back up. "But we still have one thing left. You remember what I said would happen if you messed with Luna again, right?"

Eddy was confused for a moment, but then Ben grabbed his arm and yanked him forward. Before Eddy could react, Ben lifted his foot and then stomped down on his hand. "GAH!" Eddy rolled out and clutched his hand to his chest. "My hand! Your broke my fucking hand!"

"You should be glad it wasn't your whole arm like you did Olley. Have fun playing football with that jackass," Ben said angrily. "If you come towards me or any of my friends again, if you look at them wrong, I promise you we're gonna come after you again. And we're not even gonna bother coming up with a plan. We're just gonna run you down, in front of everybody. And forget playing, you'll be lucky to walk when we're done. You got it?"

Eddy had finally managed to rub enough of the sting from his eyes to see, and when he saw Ben's face staring down at him, he felt genuine fear. He nodded meekly. "Say, I need to know that you understand," Ben said sternly.

"I got it. I won't touch Loud or anybody else…"

"Good."

Ben looked back towards his brothers, who all nodded. Then they began walking off. Eddy flinched as the brothers passed by him. "See at practice," Bruno said. "After that hand heals up anyway."

Bruce brought his foot back and gave him one last kick as he passed by, and Eddy groaned and curled up once more. Beck whistled innocently as he walked by him, reaching down and picking his wallet from his pocket. He pulled out the bills inside before throwing it down beside him.

He could consider this payment for… emotional trauma and stuff.

Ben let out a breath as he kept on walking. Honestly, he wanted to go back and keep on kicking the guy into a bloody pulp. But he knew if he didn't stop, he might actually do something he would regret. A message had been sent, and they now had enough insurance to make sure he heeded it.

"You okay?"

Ben looked up towards Bruno, who had put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm good," he said. And it was mostly true. Olley and Luna didn't have to worry about Eddy anymore, so this was a win in his book. "I'm good… thanks you guys."

Bruno scoffed. "Thanks? For what? Having you back? That's what we do man. We're brothers," he said before putting his arm around his shoulders. "Aiga e i ai lava iina. You know that."

Bruce grunted in response, and Beck chuckled. "Man, it's been a while since we got to flex on some losers like that. Did you see the look on his face when you played that recording? I should have taken a picture. We could have framed it and hung it on a wall," he said.

"We got all the pics and videos we need. Soon as we get home, we gotta make sure to back that recording up," Bruno said. "Then we gotta get right to helping out. Pretty sure auntie and the twins have a lot on their plate right now."

"When we close up we should order a pizza. Celebrate another Brittle brother victory!"

Bruno smirked and looked towards Ben. "We can, but I'm pretty sure Ben is gonna want to call up his lady and let her know the whole Eddy problem is settled, right?" he asked.

Ben scowled towards him, but then thought for a moment. Neither Sam or Luna had called or texted him, which… was good right? It meant they were probably having a good time. And even though he was a little worried about that… they deserved to have a good time without him interrupting or trying to put himself between them.

He could let them know about what happened tomorrow. Or later tonight if they felt like calling or texting him. But right now wasn't the time.

Besides, he could take one night off to just hang out with his brothers. Especially after they'd had his back with this. "Nah, I think I'll be staying in tonight fellas. And forget ordering pizza, I'm making it," he said.

"Oh, look at chef Ramsey over here. One compliment from Mr. Loud and suddenly you want to be a master chef huh?"

"I want pineapple on mine."

"No, gross. How are we brothers?"

"How are you mine?! Besides, I'm the customer. I'm always right."

"You can starve for all I care! No pineapples!"

A/N: Sorry for the REALLY late update, but between my other updates, commission, and having a bit of a hard time deciding how to go about this chapter, I was in a bit of a slump. I originally was just going to skip right to the scene where Ben meets up with Eddy, because I felt adding anything before might be a bit... I don't, spoilerly? Or ruin the tension or something. But I felt like it would be weird not to have a reason why Luna and the others wouldn't be curious or ask what he was up to. (I thought they'd see through a lie to easily. At least Luna would anyway.)

Hopefully I didn't have anyone thinking I was dropping the story again. That's not happening. I'm pretty determined to finish this one out! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I wanted Ben and the others to get back at Eddy, but I didn't want things to get TOO violent. Let me know what you think!

Don't think the drama is over guys. Eddy's time may be pretty much done, but I have other things in store...

Reviewer Responses!

Skater1ooo: Lol, there was no way Ben was gonna go by himself. He knows not to take Eddy at his word, and so do his brothers. And yeah, he's sort of crazy and he's willing to go pretty low. But the Brittle brothers can and will act crazier and go lower if you mess with their friends and family! I'm glad you're still enjoying the story and writing! Like I said before, I really didn't want to do some cliche thing where Sam is suddenly a jerk or just erase her for the sake of Ben and Luna's relationship. I wanted to make the existing dynamics work within the story. And It's good to hear you think I'm doing a decent job of it!

Anonymous: Wow! A very long and thoughtful review! Personally I'm usually a fan of showing a bully type character as... well, a person. But sometimes it is okay to just have a character be a bully just because, like you said, he likes messing with people. Because there are actual people like that in real life too. Also, another vote for team Len lol! And yeah, Sam's dynamic with Ben and Luna is one of my favorite things to write about the story. I didn't want any of the usually over dramatic BS they throw into young adults stories. Because I know teens can definitely be dramatic, but it borders on just plain ridiculous sometimes.

boygenius2020: 4 years?! I couldn't believe it when I read it lol. It still doesn't feel that long. Man, time sure does fly! Thanks for sticking with the story for this long!

GoodSR: Yeah, I don't blame you for being a little worried. Thanks for the kick in the pants btw. I had been working on and off on this chapter and when I saw you review I was like... okay, let me buckle down and get this done. I'll try to get the next one out quicker. Thanks for reading!