About 20 minutes later, Spot and Singah walked through the door and into the sitting room. Everyone squealed and jump up. They all pounced on Singah and smothered her with hugs. Hades practically squeezed all the air from her. "I'se so glad you'se ok Singah..." She said. Singah smiled.

Once everyone had calmed down and was seated again, Hades stood in front of them. She looked around at her newsies. Half-Pint was sitting contently on Race's lap, Spot was holding Singah in his arms, wide-eyed Lil'Bit sat Indian-style on the floor, Inky and Lashes sat together in the air chair, Rae and Duchess sat side-by-side on the couch, and Mush stood leaning against the wall, eying Hades.

"So. What are we gonna do?" Hades asked as she put her hands in her pockets.

"What can we do? Dey got Harlem and Th' Bronx..." Said Lashes.

"They don' have em for sure..." Protested Tiger.

"Yeah, but Harlem already aint too fond a' us...and Th' Bronx will fight against anyone." Hades acknowledged.

"I say we fight!" Cried Mis'sippi.

"I don't think we should fight..." Shadow pronounced softly from a dark corner.

"Yeah, it's too risky!" Agreed Tiger.

"And ya know...fighting aint too pleasant!" Lil'Bit also agreed.

"Hello?! Are any a' you payin' attention?!" Hades questioned irritably. "I almos' got raped, Jecca and Snipes was held hostage and beaten, alotta you all were beaten, and Singah was stabbed...an' you don' wanna do anyt'ing about it?!"

Nobody spoke, just stared silently at Hades, thinking about her words.

Hades continued. "You jus' wanna sit around an' let dem beat up on us until they'se killed all of us off?!"

"You people seem ta have forgotten who we is!" Spot spoke up.

"We're Brooklyn." Rae announced quietly.

"That's right! We'se Brooklyn. We'se strong, tough, an' feared...an' I know all a' ya can fight..." Hades glanced at scrawny Lil'Bit, "Well, most a' ya at least!"

Everyone grinned.

"We can't just let 'em take our pride!" Stated Inky.

"We gotta show 'em who's boss!" Added Duchess.

"But wait! If we'se gonna fight, we can't do it on out own...there aint enough a' us, Hades..." Kid Blink said over the newly raised voiced.

"He's right Hades...we need allies." Singah spoke for the first time since she'd come home.

Hades nodded. "Tamorrah, we'll go ta' Manhattan an' ask 'em to help."

"But Staten'll still have more people." Lashes pointed out.

Hades thought a moment. "Well...I guess we could go to Queens. Even though we aint on the friendliest terms wid 'em...I'll go ovah theah and try ta make peace."

"Good..." Spot said standing up. "Staten'll be sorry dey evah messed wid us!"

Cheers and shouts danced off the walls.

"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT!" Hades yelled. "SETTLE DOWN!"

The noise died down. "Who wants ta go ovah to Manhattan?" Hades asked.

"Me, Blink, an' Half will go. Jack'll definitely listen ta me an' Blink." Race volunteered.

"Alright...an' who wansta go to Queens wid me?"

Mush hurried to Hades' side. "I'm comin'!"

"I'll come Hades." Rae said.

Hades nodded in approval. "Good, good.....now, everyone, get ta bed! Busy day comin' up!"

With that, everyone started to file out of the room.

As Half and Race stood up, Half gave Race a kiss and whispered something in her ear. His eyes widened and he grinned. Half giggled and whispered something else in his ear. Race's eyes grew even wider. He practically picked Half up and ran out of the room. Hades laughed and shook her head.

Hades then threw herself onto the couch. Mush, who was walking out the door, turned and looked at Hades. He came and took a seat beside her. She leaned her head on his shoulder. Mush ran his hands over her soft curls and then wrapped his arms around her.

"We'se got our work cut out for us." Hades said tiredly.

"Yeah...we do. But we can do it." Mush said and lifted Hades face and looked into her eyes.

She looked up at Mush, then kissed his nose. He smiled and pulled her onto his lap. "I love you." He declared.

"I love you too." Hades said with a smile.

Mush pulled her closer and kissed her affectionately. Hades broke that kiss and looked at him. "How do you do it, Mush?"

"Do what?"

"Make me so happy."

Mush grinned and kissed her again.

{[ AN: Half! You got whatcha wanted in this chappie! LoL, I hope it was to your liking! Also, anyone who wants to be a newsie from any of the other places (Manhattan, Queens, Staten, Harlem, etc...) email me (FireEyes8602@aol.com) or IM me (HeinousHades) or you can just tell me in your review, because I know you were going to review anyway, right? I've been totally brain-dead lately and can't think of names! So help a fellow newsie out! Whehe! ]}