Katherine had been sitting in this room with Miss Medda and Spot Conlon for the last day. The three had been brainstorming ideas, but to no avail. Then Davey burst through the door.

"I've been looking for you all day."

"Well, we haven't moved," Katherine said, dryly.

"And we sure as hell ain't made progress," Spot growled. And that continued to ring true even after Race joined them in the dead of night. Until finally, Katherine began to whisper.

"And it ain't just about us. For the sake of all the kids in every sweatshop, factory, and slaughterhouse in this city, I beg you, throw down your papers and join the strike." Then she began to speak louder, excited. "With those words, Jack expanded the strike beyond just the newsies. He made this about all the working kids in the city. If we can somehow get them to join us…"

"Then there's no way your father can ignore us," Race finished for her.

"That's genius, Katherine," Davey said.

"But how do we spread the word?" Spot asked.

"The best way to spread news is in the paper," Katherine pointed out.

"I suppose it's a good thing we have the greatest reporter here, then," Davey said, smiling.

"One problem," Spot said, interrupting their elation, "If I correctly remember, Pulitzer put a ban on strike material. How do you plans on printing a pape?"

Katherine groaned. This would be so much easier with Jack. If only he had never gone to see my father. If only he had left it all alone. Then he never would've gone to the Refuge, never would've ended up in the basement with the old…

"Printing press!" Katherine shouted, standing up. "There's an old printing press in the basement of the World. I think it still works."

"Alright," Davey said with a smile, "we've got a plan."

"Can we do it tonight?" Race asked. "The faster we can get Crutchie and Jack out, the better." Katherine nodded. Everyone was smiling. Even Spot had a trace of happiness on his face. Then, Spot left saying he had to talk to his boys and Davey had to help his mom and Medda had a show that night and Race and Katherine were left alone. They stood awkwardly, staring at each other, and Katherine could tell Race was looking for an excuse to leave.

"H-how is Jack? And Crutchie?" she added hurriedly.

Race smiled at her attempt to hide her obvious affection for the leader of the Manhattan newsies. "Crutchie's okay. He's got some bruises, but it don't look like Snyder's touched him in awhile. Jack though… he ain't lookin' too good. He's sick and hurt. We hafta get him outta' there."

Katherine gasped at Race's description. She had heard stories about the Refuge since joining up with the newsies. All the tales were so horrifying that Katherine had originally suspected that the boys were making up most of the details. But anytime she attempted to talk to Jack about it, he would quickly change the subject. Some of the boys said that even Jack would wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares. It was these reactions and Race's affirmation that made her finally believe in all the accounts.

Race finally pulled her out of her thoughts. "You gotta write an article for tonight, right?" Katherine nodded and Race gave her a look that said you better get to it, then. She ushered Race out of the door then sat down behind her typewriter.

Thoughts rushed through her mind, but she couldn't seem to put any of them on paper. She ripped paper after paper from the typewriter and when lunch rolled around she felt like she was sitting in a pool of discarded waste. Finally, her fingers and brain clicked and she produced something she was happy with. She ate a quick lunch then rushed to find Race.

She found Race and Spot talking outside of the Lodging House. Katherine handed them the paper with a proud look on her face. Race's eyes lit up as he scanned the page though she could tell both he and Spot often had to skip words that were too high of a vocabulary. She inwardly groaned; she should've remembered that her audience wasn't as well schooled as her usual targets. But she didn't have time to rewrite it. It would have to work.

"This is good," Race said. "How do you plan on gettin' into the basement a' The World?"

"The janitor has been working there since he was eight and hasn't received a raise in a long time. He was more than happy to help." She held up a ring of keys and spun them on her finger.

The trio hung around with the rest of the boys until night fell on the city and Katherine led them in a silent procession to her father's successful business. She let Davey and Race in while Spot waited outside with the rest of the newsies. She introduced them to Darcy and Bill.

Katherine imagined how Jack would react. He would probably laugh and make fun of them and then freak out when he realized how far he had extended his strike. Just the mere thought of it made her want to laugh and cry, but she quickly turned back to business.

"I can see why they tossed this old girl down to the cellar, but I think she'll do the job. A little grease and she'll be good as gold," Darcy said.

"Alright," Davey said, "Race, you start bringing the boys in." Race nodded as Bill and Joe started to rub down the printing press. It took several hours to get the press up and working again and for them to evenly distribute the papers between the newsies, but then they disappeared to pass out the papers. Katherine smiled as she watched the last newsie leave the room. She was proud to help these kids bring down the higher powers, even if one was her father.

Now all that was left to get her father to roll back prices and get her boys out of the Refuge.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. I love hearing what y'all think.