Here we go, everyone! The exciting climax! Woohoo!

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"Woohoo, c'mon Brett!"

CLANG!

"Yeah, that was a good one!"

"Me next, me next!"

CRASH!

"Over here! Over here!"

The six teenagers hooted rambunctiously as they took turns kicking a beat-up garbage can around the alley. At first sight, it just seemed like a bunch of hooligans with nothing better to do. However, after they all got in a few more good kicks, one of the group, a grungy-looking boy with a black mullet, motioned for them to stop. When the primitive game was over, the black-haired teen set the garbage can back up, knocked off the top, reached in…and hauled out one dirty, aching, terrified little eight-year-old.

Mac gasped for air as his older brother Terrence hung him in the air by his shirt for his gawking friends, like some sick trophy. He immediately tried to rub off the rancid-smelling garbage that now stuck all over him, a spectacle that was only greeted by more howls and jeers from the mob.

The boy mentally berated himself as he removed a rotten piece of something undistinguishable from his hair. What was wrong with him? How could he have been so stupid? Mac cursed himself for letting blind rage for getting the best of him. Marching off to Terrence's friend and supplier, staring him right in the face, and completely trashing over a hundred dollars worth of drugs? Come on! What in the world made him think that was a good idea? What did he expect these punks to do? Leave him alone, just because he finally stood up for himself? Just because he was a little mad and thought he had enough?

Not these guys. Bad mistake. Really, really bad mistake.

"Sooooo, you had enough, Mr. Tough Guy? Or do you need a little while more in time out?" Terrence sniggered, pointing back at the trash can.

Mac did not reply. All he could do was stare back, face distorted into a bizarre mix of fear for his life and utter hate for his brother. Terrence clucked disapprovingly.

"Tch, tch tch, still trying to be a big man? Have you forgotten everything I've taught you? Well, maybe THIS will jog your memory!"

He laughed maliciously, giving his little brother a swift punch to the gut. Mac gasped in pain and bit down hard on his lower lip, doing everything in his power not to cry out. Unfortunately however, he was unable to keep back the tears that welled up in his eyes, causing Terrence to grin in sick satisfaction.

"Awwww, what's the matter? Is baby upset his big brudder is being reawy mean? Does the baby want his mommy? Huh? Is he gonna cwy about it? Cry baby, cry!" He hissed. Now, hot tears began to pour unchecked down Mac's face, accompanied by the triumphant cheers of the frenzied crowd. With a harsh laugh, Terrence pinned the sobbing Mac against the wall.

"Okay, bud, fun time's over! It's time we stopped horsin' around and really got down to business." He said, snickering at his little joke "Sorry man, but you know the basic rule; step out of line, and pay the price. And if our friend Ben here is right about the stunt you pulled off today, we got a ways to go before we've settled this. You ready?" he sneered.

Mac stared back at Terrence with tearstained eyes. Still weeping uncontrollably, he managed to gather what little voice he had left, and managed to murmur hoarsely,

"I…hate…you."

Terrence responded by throwing back his head with a cruel laugh.

"What was that, little guy? You hate me? Oh no! Oh, boohoo! Look guys, my baby brother doesn't like me any more! Oh, woe is me, woe is me!" Terrence cackled sarcastically, his cronies chiming in like a pack of hyenas. Terrence grinned malevolently.

"You think it really matters to me what you think, bud? Well, you know what?" He leaned in closer to Mac, speaking directly into his ear in a cruel whisper. "I don't care."

Mac could only let out another hoarse sob. Terrence laughed, taking malicious pleasure out of the torment his brother was going through.

"I don't care what you think, I don't care! None of the guys here care, Mom's too busy to care, that's the way it is! You gotta understand this, little bro; we don't care. Nobody cares about you. And you know what?" he ask, leaning in close. "No one's ever gonna care, you little shit". He whispered diabolically.

Mac hung his head in defeat. His brother spoke nothing but the honest truth. He had tried to stand up for himself, he failed miserably, and now no one was going to care what kind of horrible fate he was about to suffer. With one last sob he shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable. With a vicious laugh, Terrence clenched one of his hands into a fist, pulled back, and.…

The teenager halted in mid-punch at the sound of screeching brakes. All six looked in surprise in the direction of a sleek black car that had just come careening to a halt by the alley. The moment it stopped, one of its doors blasted open immediately as something flashed out in a blur.

"What the-"

Terrence was cut off quickly by the fist that came crashing straight into his mouth. Instantly he was sent stumbling backward, dropping his captive in the process. Mac, who had been expecting to get hit himself, was quite surprised when he suddenly felt himself fall to the pavement. Lying on the ground, his eyes snapped back open, utterly perplexed about what just happened. However, before he could think any further, his eyes suddenly came in contact with a pair of extremely familiar blue sneakers as someone took their (well, her) place in front him.

Frankie placed herself squarely between Mac and the teens, shielding the eight-year-old boy from the others with her own body. Breathing hard, fists tightly clenched, and fire burning in her eyes, Frankie stared them all down boldly as she took a fighter's stance.

"Leave…him…ALONE." She growled, her voice quivering with rage.

The teenagers dumbly remained where they stood, unsure of what to do next. A scared little kid was one thing, but none of them were quite sure if they wanted to take on this enraged young woman who was more than ready for a fight. After a few more tense moments of hesitation, Ben finally made a move and charged forward, screaming angrily.

"You stupid bit-"

Before he could finish speaking Frankie immediately let fly with a massive right hook to the gut. Instantly the boy was sent sprawling to the ground, all the fight knocked out of him with one blow. Again the rest stood stock still, not quite positive if it was worth it to charge an angry redhead who could deal out punches like a heavyweight boxer just so they could teach Mac a "lesson". At last though, Terrence, who had managed to recover sufficiently enough from Frankie's first punch, jabbed his finger at her and bellowed angrily "Don't just stand there, assholes! GET HER!"

At his urging the other four boys yelled savagely as they made a mad dash at the twenty-two-year old. Frankie, never leaving her place in front of Mac, continued to silently stand her ground as the wild mob rapidly advanced. She didn't do so much as bat an eyelash as they all charged upon her, until…

When the first attacker got close enough, Frankie moved like lightening, her fist colliding into the side of his jaw with a resounding crack. The boy stared at her in amazement for a brief moment, then his eyes rolled back until only the whites were showing as he collapsed into an unconscious heap.

Another one tried to lash out at her with a clumsy blow. Before his fist could make contact however, Frankie grabbed his outstretched arm by the wrist, pulled him towards her and immediately fired off a vicious punch squarely into his stomach. The instant she let go he tumbled over like a sack of bricks, doubled up in pain.

"Take this, you witch!" the most heavyset of the group cried, brandishing a metal pipe he plucked from the ground. With a ferocious scream he charged, swinging his weapon wildly. However, the instant he was less than two feet from her…

THWACK!

Everyone present cringed as they heard the sickening noise of Frankie's sneaker scoring a direct hit into the boy's crotch. Once she removed her foot, he gave out an extremely high-pitched groan before he fell over like a bag of cement. Frankie then looked up at the last group member standing, who had as of yet failed to move. Frankie smiled grimly at him as she cracked her knuckles.

That was all she needed. Instantaneously the terrified teenager turned around and sped off, running as fast as his legs could carry him and wanting nothing more than to get away from the avenging demon who dressed in a green sweater and purple denim skirt.

Frankie momentarily watched the last of her opponents take off wildly down the street with a sense of grim satisfaction. In less than a minute she had successfully disposed of every one of her opponents. However, once the last goon vanished into the distance, Frankie quickly remembered why she had just been a participant in the short brawl in the first place. With a mixed look of horror and concern, she whirled about to where Mac still lay curled up on the cold pavement.

"Oh my God, Mac!" she cried, dropping to her knees and gently taking the boy by the shoulders. "Mac? Are you okay, pal?"

Mac just stared right back at her, caught in a state of dumb shock. As he failed to respond, tears welled up in Frankie's eyes as she began to grow frantic.

"Oh God, Mac, speak to me! Please, say something! Anything! Please! Are you all right? What happened? It's okay! Anything will do!" she cried, rapidly growing close to becoming hysterical.

Finally though, after what seemed like an agonizingly long period of time, Mac slowly and wordlessly raised his arm in the air. Frankie turned around and saw that he was pointing in the general direction of Ben, who groaned in pain as he continued to remain completely incapacitated from his failed assault earlier.

"What? Him? Does he know something?" Do you want me to get him to say something? Why…" Frankie then realized that Mac had lowered his arm a bit to now point more specifically to Ben's pants.

"What? The cargo pants? Does he have something I need to see?" Frankie asked worriedly. Mac nodded dumbly in response. Quickly she put him down gingerly and scooted over to the teenager, immediately starting to fish about in his pockets.

"Mac, if you'd only tell me what's been going on I…" she stopped as she felt her hand come in contact with something. Slowly, she withdrew the item and held it up for inspection. As she stared at the dime bag of pot in shock, everything began to fall into place inside her mind.

"Leaving early all the time…seeing you here downtown…never wanting to tell me what was going on…they…they…"

Mac wordlessly nodded again. At this, almost instantly the look on her face slowly distorted from one of shock and horror to a look of unspeakable rage that Mac had never seen on her before. She shot a bloodthirsty look down at where Terrence had crawled to while he had been trying to unsuccessfully escape the brutal one-sided brawl.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

In an instant, Terrence found himself roughly grabbed by the shirt and lifted clean off the ground. The grungy mulleted teen took a hard gulp as he came face to face with an absolutely enraged Frankie, whose face had become so red with fury that it almost matched her fiery-red hair.

"You dirty, stinking, low-down piece of crap! So this is it? This is what's been going on?" she demanded fiercely, waving the bag of marijuana in his face. "Making your eight-year-old brother get your rotten drugs for you? Making his life a living hell every day to make sure he didn't tell anyone? IS THIS IT? IS THIS WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?" she roared. Terrence, not use to this violent role reversal, was completely paralyzed with fright.

"All right, I'm going to make this clear and simple." Frankie growled, narrowing her eyes. "Everything that's been going on up until now, your little drug ring, the way you've been mistreating Mac, all this stops, RIGHT NOW. You go that? In fact, I don't ever want you screwing around with Mac, EVER AGAIN!" she cried, violently shaking him to emphasize the last two words. "You got that, moron? From this point on, I don't want to see you give him so much as a scratch, you understand? Not you, not any of your asshole friends, NO ONE. You got that?" she hissed. Terrence nodded furiously.

"And don't you dare think you can try and outsmart me by sending one of your goons to do your abuse for you. I don't give a damn if you get some other punk I've never even seen before to pick on Mac for you, you know why? Because as soon as I see any cut, scrape or bruise, then I will come running over to your apartment and beat the living crap out of you. That's right! I'm not gonna care who does it for you, because YOU'LL be the one who's gonna pay for it, every time! If you, or any of your cronies do anything to Mac, then I'll make sure it comes back around to just you ten times as worse. If I see a bump the size of a pea, I'll give you one the size of a bowling ball! If I see one black eye, I'll give you black and blue all over your body! If I see a cut, you'll get a scar! And I swear to God, if I ever again find him limping so badly he can barely even walk, I'll put you in a wheelchair for a month!" Frankie snarled, while Terrence quaked in fright within her iron grip.

"You think you got all of that? Did I get that into your thick skull of yours? You do anything to make Mac's life a living a hell, and I'll personally send you to the real deal myself! You want that? DO YOU?" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"N-n-noooo…" Terrence barely managed to whisper, shaking uncontrollably in fear. Frankie lowered him a bit until the two were at eye level

"Get outta my sight." she ordered flatly, loosening her grip and unceremoniously letting him drop to the ground in a heap. With that, Frankie quietly turned around and marched out of the grimy alley, stopping only to bend down and gather up a still very stunned Mac. Cradling him gently in her arms, she carried him over to her grandmother's car, loaded him into the front seat, got in herself and drove off.

The instant they left, Terrence immediately got up and ran off as first as he possibly could, now of course carrying the extra weight of a very soiled pair of underwear.

Frankie gently eased the car into the garage. As she turned off the ignition, she glanced over at Mac, still sitting silently in his seat. During the entire way back to Foster's, he hadn't spoken a word. In fact, he had barely done anything much less breathe the whole time. Even now Mac simply sat there, completely motionless, blankly starring out into nothingness. After a few seconds, Frankie finally broke the awkward silence.

"Mac?" she asked softly, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, pal?"

She had barely finished speaking when Mac suddenly threw himself against her, hugging her tightly. Hot tears spilled from his eyes as he openly wept into Frankie's shoulder.

"Frankie…I-I'm so s-sorry..." He bawled unhappily. Frankie immediately gathered him up into a warm embrace, and hugged him close.

"Shh, shh, it's okay pal, it's okay. It's all over, you're safe now." She hushed soothingly, gently stroking his head.

"Frankie…everything I said earlier…so awful…I'm sorry…I didn't…I didn't mean..." Mac managed to whimper between sobs.

"I know Mac, I know you didn't mean any of it. Don't you worry, pal." She reassured him warmly. "Shhhhh, everything's going to be okay. I won't let them hurt you anymore. I promise. "

He looked up at her with tearstained eyes. For a few seconds they just stared at each other silently, Frankie waiting patiently.

"Well, what is it pal? Something you wanted to say?" she asked encouragingly.

Mac suddenly leaned up and planted a small kiss of gratitude on her cheek, holding it for about a second before nestling back into the safe depths of her warm embrace. Deeply touched by this affectionate gesture, Frankie chuckled as she returned the favor with a small peck on his forehead.

"Don't worry about it pal. Everything's going to be okay. Your big sister is going to take care of-"

Frankie stopped herself in mid-sentence. Mac looked up again in surprise, while she looked back just as shocked.

"Wait, did I just say what I think I…"

Mac nodded silently. Frankie slapped her forehead in embarrassment, as her face began to glow with a bright scarlet.

"Oh God, I'm sorry Mac! I didn't…um…you know we're not…I mean, you just, and…I…we're...um..." she babbled as she tried to frantically find a reason for her words.

However, after a few moments, she stopped her futile attempt when she glanced back to Mac. Much to Frankie's surprise, rather than giving her a look of disgust or shock, Mac was…smiling. Despite the fact that the tears still flowed freely down his cheeks, an unmistakable grin broke out and plastered itself across his tear-stained face as he looked up into her eyes with a loving gaze. With a sigh of complete contentment, the boy closed his eyes and snuggled happily into her embrace, suddenly perfectly at peace.

Frankie, completely taken off guard by his response, just stared blankly at the little boy in her arms for a few moments, unsure of what to do. After what seemed like an agonizingly long period of time though, a large smile finally began to take form on her face as she felt her own eyes well up with fresh tears. With a sniff, Frankie began to rock back and forth as she continued to gently cradle Mac, whispering softly,

"Yeah, that's right. Your big sister's here. Everything's going to be okay."

Hold on, hold on! We're not done here quite yet! There's still one more chapter coming up!

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