Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Jack woke up with a start and groaned. Pain assaulted his body and he almost cried out as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. The room was dark and Jack could barely see his own hand. Jack tried to stand up but the chains stopped him from moving too far. Wait, chains?

Jack stared at the heavy metal connecting his wrists and ankles. He twisted his wrist and the cuff dug painfully into his already bruised skin. He then resigned to just sitting there, breathing deeply to try and deal with the overwhelming pain. Thoughts raced through his mind. Is Crutchie okay? Is he still alive? Is the rest of my brothers alive and well? Is anyone of them in the Refuge too?

After what must've been hours, the door opened and light flooded in. The light burned, and Jack covered his eyes that were still trying to get use to the dark.

"Up, Kelly," a gruff voice said. Jack made no effort to move. "Let's move, boy." Jack didn't even acknowledge the man. The man kicked Jack. Finally, he started to stand but the chains kept getting in his way. Obviously he was moving too slow because the guard wrapped his hand around Jack's neck and pulled him off the floor. Jack's toes barely scraped the ground and he clawed uselessly at the man's hand. Once black spots began to invade his vision for the second time in as many days, the man let go and Jack dropped. He almost collapsed but somehow caught himself.

Jack stood on impossibly shaky legs and looked at the guard. He was one of the guards who had beaten him yesterday. "Come on, Kelly," the guard said, motioning to the door. "Snyder wants to talk to you."

Jack began an awkward shuffle as the guard pushed him up a long flight of stairs and a dark hallway. By the time they reached Snyder's office, Jack's whole body was screaming at him to stop.

"Come in, Kelly," Snyder said and the guard pushed him through the door. "Sit." Snyder pointed at a wooden chair. Jack collapsed in the chair. "Now I really don't want to do this, but Pulitzer asked me to give you one more chance to take his deal. Personally, I hope you don't take him up on his offer. We've got a lot of unfinished business."

"Well," Jack started, smiling past the pain, "since none of the other newsies is here yet, I'se guess you ain't goin' to get them. Besides you have no legal cause to arrest them. So tell Pulitzer there ain't no reason for me to take his deal. You'se stuck with me, Spider." Of course, being in the dark for the past few days he had no idea if any of his brothers were here, but Snyder's face let him know he had correctly called his bluff.

Snyder laughed. "I like that decision." Snyder stood up and walked over to the wall. He picked something up and Jack gasped. "So you recognize this?" He asked, holding up a crutch. "I guess you two really are best friends." Jack forgot his pain and was out of his chair in seconds. He slammed Snyder against the wall.

"What did you do to him? I swear to God, if you hurt him..."

Snyder laughed and pushed Jack to the ground. "I'll make you a deal and I think you'll find this one a bit more appealing than Pulitzer's. As long as you are here, I will not touch any of your friends. But that also means you take all the beatings meant for Crutchie along with anything I want to do to you."

Jack barely hesitated. "Deal," he said. And he didn't get a break. As soon as the word was out of his mouth, Snyder swung the crutch at Jack's face. It scraped across his head and Jack whimpered. "Come on, boy!" Snyder yelled, slamming the crutch into his side over and over again. "Scream, boy!"

Maybe he did. Jack couldn't remember. By the end, he was in so much pain that he couldn't distinguish all the noises. There had definitely been yelling, but maybe it was Snyder screaming at him. A door slammed, the sound sending waves of pain through his head and leaving him alone. Jack whimpered again with tears streaming down his face. Snyder kept telling him he was weak and, in this moment, he thought it was true. He hadn't even been here for four days and was already dying. How could he possibly protect Crutchie? Jack passed out covered in sweat, tears, and blood.

Jack awoke later hanging limply from the arms of two guards. He was dripping wet and Snyder was holding an empty bucket. "Time to join the boys, Kelly." The guards dragged him away, back down the long hallway. They stopped outside an iron door and one of the men pulled out a large key ring. The door opened and scraped across the ground, making a loud grating noise. It hurt Jack's ears and he winced.

"Have fun, boy," the man said and dropped Jack into the room. He cried out, but immediately silenced himself. A large group of kids stared at him. Jack painfully pushed himself off the floor and stood.

"Hey boys," he said and smiled. And then all of the boys were crowding him. A couple of the smaller ones hugged him and he shook the older kid's hands. He saw all of them eyeing his chains, but he didn't answer their unvoiced questions.

Then he heard a voice that he had missed so much. "Jack?" He looked up to see Crutchie staring at him.

"Crutchie!" Jack called out and tried to run over to his best friend, but the cuffs stopped him and he tripped. A couple of the boys picked him up, but, as soon as he was standing, he brushed them off. As much as he wanted their help, he had to save face. Most of these boys thought he was invincible and watching their hero fall would cause many of them to lose hope. So he shouldered the pain and slowly, but steadily walked over to Crutchie. He wanted to hug him, but the chains stopped him. It was okay though because Crutchie hugged him first.

A/N: A short chapter, I know. Hopefully the next few will be up soon, but I'm having some technical issues.