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"Mr. Jack Kelly," introduced Hannah as she moved aside and let Jack into the office.
Jack smiled at her in thanks before taking a moment to glance around the opulently decorated room. She schooled her features to not give away that she was not happy that Pulitzer had the audacity to higher the price of newspapers when his office looked the way it did.
Just sell a couple of these paintings and you'd be fine, she thought before clearing her throat and focusing back on the task at hand.
"Hey. Good afternoon, boys," she greeted, turning towards the men in the room, namely her boss.
"And which Jack Kelly is this?" wondered Pulitzer as he eyed Jack from head to toe, unimpressed. "The charismatic union organizer, or the petty thief and escaped convict?"
"Which one gives us more in common, huh?" she wondered with an amused smile, unfazed by the comment.
"Impudence is in bad taste when crawling for mercy."
"Crawlin'?" repeated Jack, confused before chuckling. "That's a laugh. No. No, I just stopped by with an invite."
That was part of Davey's plan for the rally and Jack offered to talk to Pulitzer herself about it while Davey worked out the details of the gathering itself.
"It seems a few hundred of your employees are rallyin' to discuss some recent disagreements," explained Jack. "Now, I thought it only fair to invite you to state your case direct to the fellas. Huh? So, what do you say, Joe? Want I should save you a spot on the bill?"
Pulitzer didn't seem impressed by the invite as he shook his head. "You are as shameless and disrespectful a creature as I was told. Did you know what I was doing when I was your age, boy?" he wondered and Jack just shrugged, not really caring. "I was fighting in a war."
She shrugged once more. "Yeah, how'd that turn out for ya?"
"It taught me a lesson that shaped my life," said Pulitzer with a smirk. "You don't win a war on the battle field. It's the headline that crowns the victor."
Jack nodded but she didn't see the point of that information. "Well, I will keep that in mind when New York wakes up to front page phots of our rally."
"Rally 'till the cows come home," laughed Pulitzer. "Not a paper in town will publish a word. And if it's not in the papers, it never happened."
Jack frowned. She didn't like the direction the conversation was going; it wasn't how she had planned it when she had entered the office.
"You may think you run this city," she began, her cocky attitude disappearing, "but there are some of us who cannot be bullied. Even some reporters."
She knew Katherine was still on their side and, even the man in front of her had banned the reporter from the newspapers, Jack knew that Katherine wouldn't go down without a fight.
"Such as that young woman who made you yesterday's news," remarked Pulitzer with a knowing smirk. "Talented girl, don't you think?" Jack didn't answer, not liking the situation. Pulitzer sounded a little… weird when he talked about Katherine. "However, she isn't quite at the proper level to be a good reporter, if I may say so. She hasn't gotten all the facts just right in her article. Did you know that, darling?"
Jack frowned deeply. Darling? she thought in disgust. Who the hell was he calling –?
"I trust you know my daughter, Katherine."
Jack needed to remember to breathe. Katherine stood up from the chair Jack had not previously noticed, the only one in the office that had its back turned towards the door. Jack and Katherine stared at each other, the reporter looking beyond guilty about the turn of events. She couldn't keep Jack's gaze after a while. Instead, she glanced in confusion towards Pulitzer.
"Yes, my daughter," repeated Pulitzer with a grin, enjoying watching the look of utter betrayal on Jack's face. "She was showing great promise in her career until this recent lapse." He held up yesterday's newspaper, showing it to the two girls. "Less we forget the large inaccuracy she wrote in this article, no?"
Jack was trying to take deep breaths. So much was happening so fast. She had come in here with the upper hand.
Thinking she had the upper hand. She had never been so wrong. So many variables she hadn't known about, so many things that could go wrong were doing just that and she had not thought of enough escape routes for all of them.
She especially couldn't think of one that was for Katherine Plumber being Katherine Pulitzer…
Jack didn't take the bait as Pulitzer waved the old newspaper around.
"No? You don't want to know?" laughed the man, his smile growing too sinister for Jack's liking. "For someone who talks a lot about what I have done to your newsies, you're the one who's been lying to them for years. Isn't that right, Ms. Jacqueline Kelly."
Jack took a step back in shock. How –? He… She couldn't formulate a proper thought in her head. She had no idea how he had figured out that she was female, how he got her full name, and she did not know what he would do with that information.
"Oh yes, you may thank an old friend of yours. Isn't that right, Mr. Snyder."
From the shadows of the corner of the office came out Snyder, a sadistic smirk on his face. "Hello, Jacqueline."
Jack panicked. The moment she spotted Snyder, she turned heel and bolted towards the door. However, the Delancey brother had entered the room by then and they grabbed her tightly, keeping her from going anywhere.
"Does anyone feel a noose tightening?" joked Pulitzer to the room in general.
Oh, Jack felt it alright. She felt it as the Delanceys squeezed and she struggled to break free. She felt it by the looks Pulitzer and Snyder sent her way.
She was in trouble. She knew it.
What scared her most was that she didn't know how much trouble it was…
"But, allow me to offer an alternate scenario," began Pulitzer as the Delanceys pushed Jack back to the center of the room. "You attend this rally and you speak against this hopeless strike. And I'll see your criminal record expunged and your pockets filled with enough cash to carry you in a first-class train compartment from New York to New Mexico and beyond." He glanced towards Katherine as he added, "You did say she wanted to travel west, didn't you?"
Katherine took a deep breath, covering her mouth, unable to believe the turn of events that were happening.
Jack tried to keep a frown on her face. She clenched her fists tightly, hoping it would hide how much they were shaking in fear.
"There ain't a person in this room that don't know you stink," gritted out Jack, wanting to put up a brave front.
"And if they know me, they know I don't care. Mark my words, girl. Defy me and I'll have you and every one of your friends locked up in the Refuge."
Jack growled at that threat, advancing towards Pulitzer but the Delanceys grabbed her once more, holding her back. It had been one thing to threaten her, to intimidate her but, the moment he brought her newsies into the equation, she was not going to sit by idly.
Pulitzer, meanwhile, was smirking. "Now, I know… I know that you like to play Mr. Tough Guy. But, it's not right to condemn that little crippled boy to conditions like that. From what my sources tell me, you and him were – are – close. They've also told me about your pal…"
"Davey," put in Bunsen softly for Pulitzer to hear.
"Davey!" repeated Pulitzer with a knowing smirk as he stared Jack down. "And his baby brother ripped from their loving family and tossed to the rats. Will they ever be able to thank you enough? Or, better yet, will he ever be able to return those feelings of yours?"
Jack grew very still, trying to hide her shaky breathing. She couldn't begin to wrap her head around how much information Pulitzer had on her and she wracked her brain to figure out just how he had gotten it.
Her gaze flickered towards Katherine and Jack felt her heart drop. Had she told him? She thought, stunned. Had she betrayed us?
"Time's running out, kid. What do you say?" asked Pulitzer, enjoying seeing Jack struggle as she realized more and more that she never had the upper hand in this conversation; that she was never going to succeed with her so called strike.
"Cowgirl or convict, I win either way," continued Pulitzer. "Your abject surrender was always the bottom line." He then turned his gaze on the Delancey brother, motioning towards Jack as he said, "Gentlemen, escort our guest to the cellar so she might reflect in solitude."
Jack began to struggle but the combined strength of both brothers was too much and they easily dragged her out of the room.
Jack was lost in thought as the Delanceys led the way through the building, trying to understand how their plan had backfired so horribly in such a short span of time. She realized she should never have gone to see Pulitzer: she had let her ego get in the way, having wanted to rub it in his face that he wasn't going to win this war.
And now… Not only was he going to win, he was going to use her as his weapon.
What choice did she have? If she didn't speak against the strike, all of her newsies would be sent to the Refuge. She could never put them through that. Some already had been through there and, just like her, and they were scarred.
And to send all the others there as well? To send Les and Davey?
She'd do anything to avoid that, even if it meant betraying her newsies.
I knew this strike was hopeless, she thought, defeated.
Jack was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as the Delanceys pushed her down the last several steps and she stumbled, nearly falling over and colliding with a large piece of covered furniture in the middle of the cellar.
She whirled around, glaring at the brothers. At least she didn't need to fake that emotion: she really was angry at them, angry at the situation.
"And now, we've been given discretion to handle you as we see fit. Yeah, so behave," laughed Morris, eyeing her up and down.
"But, just in case, I've been polishin' my favorite brass knuckles," added Oscar, coming up on her other side. "Maybe I should try thems out."
Jack took a shaky breath as she continued to glare at the brothers. She knew very well everything she had done to them, every time she had mocked them and she almost regretted it now.
Almost.
However, remembering that it was for her newsies that she had done all that, she wouldn't have changed anything.
Instead, she just spit in Oscar's face.
The Delancey yelled out angrily, wiping the saliva off before taking a swing at her. Jack backed away enough to dodge the punch and she raised her own fist to retaliate.
However, Morris grabbed onto her, trapping one arm against her body while the other was firmly in his grasp. She yelled out in anger, trying to break free and she almost did when Oscar landed a solid punch to her stomach. She gasped out in pain, her knees buckling but Morris didn't let her fall. He kept his tight hold on her, leaving her without protection as his brother landed several more punches.
All the while, both were laughing in amusement, having been looking forward to the day they could get even with the famous Jack Kelly.
The two didn't let up until several minutes later when they let her fall to the ground, her legs unable to hold her up. She coughed out in pain, her stomach, ribs and back throbbing. They hadn't hit her anywhere else, Morris having reminder Oscar that they weren't supposed to leave any easily visible proof of a beating on her. Jack wasn't sure when they had gotten that order but she figured it was on the way down to the cellar, while she was lost in thought…
Maybe she should have paid more attention; maybe she wouldn't be in the state she was in if she had…
As Oscar put away his brass knuckles, Morris ripped off the fabric covering the piece of furniture. "You can sleep right here on this old printin' press," he laughed Morris, balling up the fabric before throwing it onto Jack. "Or just stay on the floor like the bitch you are. Your choice."
The Delanceys laughed as they left the cellar and Jack shifted ever so slightly, biting back a groan.
She grasped the fabric and, with a strangled, furious yell, threw it across the room.
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