A/N: WOW I surprised myself with this one...its long and a quick update. But since its long…I cant promise another one soon, I wrote this since I had a small break from work this week...but I probably wont have another for awhile.

And I found myself in a bad mood and what better escape than writing a fighting scene :)

Thanks to my reviewers! Silence is Silver and MushM12. I'm glad people are still reading this and enjoying it! You guys helped me write this faster.

I held my last paper of the day; I had tried to get a few extra so I could make up for not selling the afternoon edition. But it was getting closer to noon and I still had to get rid of one more. Why was it always hard to get rid of the last paper? I groaned and yelled towards the crowds. Finally an older lady spotted me and bought my paper.

I smiled and ran off, it was time. I found it strange how I wasn't too worried about this fight, considering I knew almost nothing about the fighting habits of either side. But that was part of the thrill of living on the streets, the fighting, the power of winning, the shame of losing; it was all a part of our lives.

I hurried my pace, the excitement and adrenaline flowing through my body. It didn't take me long to reach the lodging house, and I was followed by a few other straggles as we entered the house. Jack was feverishly pacing back in forth in the downstairs parlor. As the group of us entered he didn't even acknowledge us. I noticed Race sitting on an old couch and went to join him.

He nodded as I took the empty seat, "Ya ready Boston?" his usual smile was plastered on his face, and it seemed to reach his eyes. But as he fiddled with his cigar I could notice he was nervous about it.

I shrugged, "It's been too quiet since I got here" Race shook his head at me, and turned his attention back to his pacing leader.

"How long has he been doin that?" I asked as I leaned back on the couch. I might as well make myself comfortable if he was going to keep pacing.

Race glanced at his pocket watch, "About 30 minutes now, he's waitin' on woird from Brooklyn"

Apparently we weren't the only two watching Jack pace, as I looked around the crowded room most of the boys had their eyes on him. They were waiting for him to lead them, to get them to the fight and to get them all through it. I sighed as I watched the younger boys playing marbles on the floor. They desperately wanted to be part of the fight, but I knew they couldn't and shouldn't. They should try and keep their spirits as children as long as they could, fighting only made you grow up faster.

As I continued to look around my gaze fell on Crutchy. I hadn't talked to him much since I got here. But he was friendly enough, and always wearing a smile, I hoped for his sake he would stay behind today. I had heard how he was active in the strike, but this was different. I wasn't sure how many territory wars Manhattan had been in, but it sounded like Brooklyn was used to them. The more I thought this through, the more I realized I was out of my element, hell I was out of my city.

Thinking only got my emotions all out of whack… now I doubted this fight. I inwardly groaned at my thoughts. The creaking of the door brought me back to reality, and I saw a small boy rush towards Jack. This caused him to instantly stop pacing as he bent down towards the boy. It took awhile for the poor kid to catch his breath, but he immediately started talking to Jack, all business…must be from Brooklyn.

As soon as the kid was here, he was gone moving in fast strides out of the lodging house. Jack finally turned his attention to us, instead of the floor. "Alright, Spot said Midtown hangs out at their poker house during the afternoon. We gotta meet Brooklyn at our distribution center."

The boys and I nodded and stood up, ready for the action ahead. Jack turned towards the smaller boys and Crutchy. The boys playing marbles stood up looking at him with sad eyes. "Sorry boys, ya gotta stay and keep Crutchy company, can ya promise me you'll look afta him?" Each of the boys nodded their heads and sat back on the floor. Crutchy nodded his understanding towards Jack. With that we all left, heading back into the afternoon but this time not for work, or not the usual work at least.

The walk to the distribution center was long and silent; each of us was lost to our thoughts. As we approached the center I saw the eerie outline of Brooklyn, the number of them surprised me. I was expecting around the same size as Manhattan, but they had a good 10 more than us. Jack stood near Spot making some last minute plans before they both turned to us.

"Alright when we get there 'Hattan will take the left side and Brooklyn will surround the right, there are no doors in the back so this should be simple." Spot's voice carried out command and all I could do was offer a nod of agreement.

With no more words exchanged we headed off towards Midtown, looking like a mob of street kids. Manhattan slowed down and tried to split the mob up, so it was less suspicious to any cops around.

It didn't take as long as I had figured for all of us to reach Midtown's borders. I was in the middle of the groups that were forming, but as I watched everyone around me I felt as if I was in slow motion. The streets of Midtown weren't too crowded and it was quick and easy for us to locate the poker house. Our paces slowed, Manhattan took its position on the left side, Brooklyn on the right. Luckily this location was distant from any of the major busy streets; this part looked to be run by street kids themselves, which would hold off the cops for awhile. Jack and Spot exchanged glances, and with a slight nod both of them stepped forward. The sole door on the building now looked so tiny, and I wasn't sure if the fight would be taken inside or out.

The two leaders stepped up to the door, but only Spot entered. I figured he was going to go in and flush some out. A few minutes seemed to pass before some movement could be heard inside. The noise grew as it sounded like the fight began, with only Spot inside.

Jack took this sign and motioned for some of the boys to go inside. I stayed outside, with most of the Manhattan boys, this was Brooklyn's fight, and they needed to go in first. Not many boys rushed out of the house, which was starting to get me worried.

But it didn't take too long for Midtown to feel threatened, and start to come out hoping to escape. Manhattan held its line and took on the groups that came out. While I went forward to meet the Midtown boys, I heard a cry behind me. Spinning around I saw more of Midtown advancing behind us. Apparently we didn't have them all inside the poker house.

I turned and took on the ones from behind. I picked out a target, one of the boys that was around my height and advanced. He spotted me and came forward with a charge. I quickly dodged and threw a punch at his jaw. I hit my mark, but he was quick to retaliate. His punch was packed with more than I had expected, and I was soon on the ground. Before he could get another hit in I quickly kicked his legs out from under him. With us both on the ground it gave me the chance to catch my breath, and get back up. As soon as I got my footing back I noticed he too was back up. The fire in his eyes matched mine, the rest of the newsies blurred around us; I was focused on one target. It didn't matter that we didn't know each other, it just mattered that we were now enemies, for this moment it was only about us. I watched his footwork as he moved around quickly. I was able to match it, but I was slowing, maybe I was out of practice.

In a swift motion I felt the sting of his fist again. I stayed on my feet this time, but I could feel the blood seeping out of my split lip. I got a quick blow to his stomach, causing him to bend over slightly, which left an opening for me to send a punch to his cheek. When he straightened out his body, I noticed he was slipping on brass knuckles. My eyes narrowed, but it could have been worse, I knew some others boys probably had chain and knives. I waited for him to make the first move as I slowly moved around in a circle. He threw a fake jab and as I moved to duck it, he caught me with the brass knuckles. Instantly the pain ran through my face, he had hit my eye dead on. My left eye watered and I had to force myself to keep it open. My anger and pain was transformed into my fists and I landed two blows on him. I got an upper cut that forced him to the ground and followed by a kick to his side. It was enough to keep him down for a little.

I took this time to check in on the rest of the newsies. There was more than I remembered outside now. I could see Spot in a blur fighting with his cane, Jack also had the upper hand as he fought off a bigger boy. Race was off in the corner near the building, he had forced his opponent up against the wall. I couldn't help but smile, it looked like we were winning this. As I looked around I noticed Boots was being cornered. There were two guys advancing on him, and from where I was standing I could see a knife behind one of their backs. Knowing Boots and Manhattan as a whole was unarmed; I quickly searched the ground for anything I could use.

The boy I had brought to the ground now looked to be slightly unconscious, without another thought I quickly took his brass knuckles off of him and ran towards Boots. As I slipped on the knuckles I came up next to the two advancing on Boots. I headed for the one with the knife and slowly walked behind him. I tapped his shoulders hoping it would throw him off his current objective. I smiled as he turned towards me, giving me the opportunity to throw a right hook, with the brass knuckles.

Boots quickly took on the other boy and soon we had them both down and out of the fight. He smirked at me and offered a quick spit shake. I responded and once again looked around the streets, taking in the severity of the fight. But as Boots and I looked on for another person to fight, we saw Spot in the middle of it all. He had his guy on the ground, using his cane to hold him there.

The noise around them seemed to dull, as if everyone was now watching them. I guess Spot had taken down the leader of Midtown. And soon I could hear Spots words echoing, "We are even Bits, if ya newsies are seen in my territory tryin' to start anythin', I'll come back and end this for good." Bits seemed to meekly nod at Spot's statement.

I smiled it was over, we had come out of it. Brooklyn followed their leader and headed out of Midtowns territory without looking back. Manhattan followed closely behind as we picked up our injured.

A few of us hobbled back but other than that there were no serious injuries, on either side it looked like. Race came up next to me as we entered into Manhattan's territory, and casually offered me a puff of his cigar. I smiled and took it from him. "Brooklyn's having a celebratory poker game later, ya in?"

I laughed, Brooklyn wasn't even all the way back to their territory and already they had planned a poker game. I nodded slowly, "I could use some more excitement today"

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed it, I hope the fighting was descriptive enough…and soon Boston's past is going to be catching up. (I haven't forgot about it don't worry)

Let me know if you enjoyed it :)