Mr. Green was talking to his banker on the phone, when Sean ran in, "hey!" he said, "We got a problem!"
"What's the problem?" Mr. Green asked, hanging up the phone."
"One of Tommy's stupid band kids heard our conversation yesterday, he's going to be testifying at court today."
"You idiot," Green growled, "if that kid testifies, then all of our hard work goes down the drain."
"What do we do?"
"…I'll send some guy's to 'take care' of the kid." Green said.
"Dude, he's just a kid."
"Relax, they'll just rough him up a bit, make sure he doesn't talk in that court room."
Sean nodded, "still seems kinda harsh."
Tommy sat in the courtroom, in front of him; Chuckie was interrogating the Peoples witness, an old 80-year-old neighbor of his.
"Now, did you see the fire yourself, Ms. Walker?"
"Yes, I saw the smoke when it started, and the blaze afterwards." She said.
"And did you see Mr. Pickles here come or leave the house?"
"Well, I saw him leave about three hours before, and left one of his hooligan friends there."
"Mhmm, but in the official report of that night, you stated that Mr. Pickles himself came out of the house when the blaze started?"
"Y-yes I did." She said.
"And now your telling me that Mr. Pickles was long gone before the blaze even started?"
"Well…yes…but…" she hesitated, "but he was the one getting arrested, so I thought it was his fault.'
Chuckie rubbed his forehead, 'Nothing further." He said.
Tommy leant over, "they got nothing on me." He whispered, "just old people who thought I did it because I was arrested."
"That's how it usually is." Chuckie muttered.
Tommy nodded, 'where's Elizabeth?"
"She's with your mother, they're not coming until Andre goes up, Elizabeth didn't want to sit in here and listen to people lying."
Tommy nodded, leaning back.
Andre put on a clean white shirt; he was about to head over to court, "gotta look fly for this." He said, putting on a white button up shirt and tucking it into his blue jeans, "Gotta free Tommy."
A knock at the door made him stop buttoning up his shirt and walk over to it, 'yo!" he said, opening the door, as soon as he turned the handle, four fairly large men barged in, grabbing him and forcing him into a chair, "what the fuck is this man!"
"Guess you could say it's a shakedown," one said, punching him, 'now lets talk about that court date today."
"Ms. Finster." The prosecutor said, pacing in front of her, "who was it that you said had been taking care of the kids?"
"My boyfriend." She said, "Z."
"And…where was he during the blaze?"
"Elizabeth told me that he had ran when the cops showed up."
"Uh-huh…now did it ever occur to anyone that…putting a hoodlum who runs away from cops in charge of two young children, is a bad idea?" he asked, "In fact, where is he right now?"
"I'm right here!" Z shouted, making everyone turn around, he stumbled in, sweat-faced, and pale, "and I'm here to come clean, it was my fault that fire started, and…and it was because…I…I was in Tommy's room, doin' meth." He leant heavily on the railing, "I found the meth in Tommy's drawer…and I shot myself full of it…and forgot about a towel that I had thrown on top of the lit stove…it was my fault…not tommy's, so just let him go."
The judge stood, "sir, I am somewhat astounded at your willingness to come forward and turn yourself in," he said, "but sadly, the question of how those bags got into Mr. Pickles drawer is still to be determined."
"It's…not his…" Z whispered, collapsing a little.
"Bailiff, take this man into custody…and also, take him to the hospital, he's not looking too well."
The bailiff hauled Z up, walking towards the exit, as Z past Tommy, he used what little strength he had to stall the bailiff, 'I'm sorry Tommy," he said, "guess I'm still a fuck up."
Tommy looked at Z for the longest of time, "your not a fuck up Z," he said, "You just haven't found your place."
Z let a tear fall down and let the Bailiff escort him out.
In the crowd, Jessie and Twitch were looking around for Andre, "he was supposed to be here by now," Jessie muttered, "I got a bad feeling twitch."
"S-s-s-s-same h-h-here." Twitch muttered back, "S-s-s-should we g-go b-by his house?"
"Yeah, I think that's the best idea." Jessie said, "especially since it's almost time for him to go up.'
Andre was punched again for what was the seventeenth time by his count. "Now, lets go over this again kid," the man said, "your going to go into that court room and tell them that Tommy Pickles isn't clean, that he bought that meth from you."
"Fuck you," Andre muttered, earning him a kick in the stomach.
"Your making this hard on yourself kid." He said.
Jessie drove towards Andre's house, Twitch beside him and Emma, Diane, and George in the back.
"Here we are." Jessie said, pulling up, he got out, the rest following.
Jessie walked up to the door and was about to knock on it when he heard Andre scream, "ANDRE!" Jessie shouted, slamming into the door with his shoulder, busting it open, the four men turned around, exposing a badly beaten Andre tied to a chair with his own shirt.
"Guy's run!" Andre shouted, just as the four men ran at them.
Jessie ran forward and tackled one of them, the two rolled around on the floor, punching and kicking each other, George was grabbed and thrown into the wall, knocking him out, Twitch was grabbed by two of them and pinned to the wall, while the one that had knocked George out, Grabbed Diane and Emma.
Jessie was pulled up off the floor, his nose bleeding a little, "you little brat!" he shouted.
"L-l-l-l-leave J-J-Jessie a-alone!" Twitch shouted, making the four men laugh.
"Or what, you gonna stutter some more?" one asked.
"S-s-shut u-up-up." Twitch stuttered angrily, his fists clenching.
"O-o-o-or what!" one said mocking him.
Something in Twitch suddenly broke, making him break free of the two men's grasp and slamming them together, he jumped Over Andre and tackled the guy holding Jessie, beating him into a bloody pulp.
Emma struggled against the last guy, until she finally got her hand into her pocket, "let go of me you prick!" she shouted, pulling her switchblade out and flicking the blade out, stabbing the guy in the leg, the guy howled in pain and let both her and Diane go, holding his injured leg.
Diane stood up and let out a high-pitched scream, she jumped up and kicked the guy across the chin, sending him through the window.
Emma, Andre, and a newly conscious George looked at the redhead stunned.
"What?" she asked, " A girls' got to know how to protect herself."
Twitch stood up, his fists clenched, "I hate when people make fun of my s-s-stuttering." He muttered.
"That was legit Twitch." George said.
"Yeah, yeah, lets all congratulate Twitch after we get Andre free." Emma said walking over to Andre and cutting the shirt that they had tied him up with.
"Thanks," he said, "Now lets get to the court." He stood but one of his legs gave out and he fell, Jessie and Twitch caught him.
"Dude, you are not looking good, we need to get you to the hospital." Jessie said.
"I'm…fine…" he groaned in pain, "Just get me to the…fucking court house!"
Chuckie sat in the courtroom, looking at the entrance, where are you Andre? He thought.
"Mr. Finster!" the judge shouted, making Chuckie look ahead, "y-yes sir?"
"Where is your last witness?"
"He's…he's running a little late sir, can I get a five minute recess."
"Your honor, it is obvious that the defense has no other witness," the opposing attorney said standing up, "and is wasting the courts valuable time."
The judge sighed, "I'm sorry Mr. Finster, but we have to move on!"
"Wait!" Jessie shouted, Chuckie turned and Saw Jessie and Twitch walk in, a limping Andre being supported by both of them in the middle, "Andre's here!"
"My lord…what happened to him!" The judge shouted.
"Coupla thugs tried to persuade him to lie." Jessie said, "They sorta did a number on him.
Andre walked forward, limping heavily, "aiight, lets do this,' he said.
"Just sit down son," the Judge said, "we'll get you to the hospital.'
"The hospital can wait!" he shouted, holding his side, "come on man, just let me tell you what I know."
"Alright, but you stay right there young man." He said, "I don't want you to tear yourself up too much."
Andre nodded, "Aiight, I'm only goin' to say this once!" he said, "so if you aren't listening, too fuckin' bad. I know who those bags of meth belong too, and they don't belong to Tommy, or anyone close to him, they were planted there, by Coach Sean Butler."
The Judge's eyes widened, 'that's a heavy allegation son."
"Shit…" Sean whispered, standing up and slowly nudging himself out, a hand grabbed him and forced him to sit down, he looked to his side, Tristan and Dil were sitting beside him, glaring at him.
"You're not going anywhere." Dil muttered angrily to him.
"What proof do you have?" the judge asked.
"I listened to him talking about it myself, he was talking about it to some guy on the phone, sayin' that some secret was going to be kept, and that Sean, had a chance with Ms. Deville."
Lil looked over at Sean, Sean looked back with a weird look, making Lil sit back, terrified,
"What other evidence do you have?" he asked, "what supports this?"
"I'm not sure what Mr. Finster has found," he said, "but that's what I know."
"How do we know to trust your word?" the attorney asked standing up, "you are a pretty sketchy character."
"Man, I got the shit beat out of me, why the hell would I be lying!"
"For all we know, you had your friends rough you up a bit to pass this little ruse."
"Rough me up a bit?" Andre asked, "my fuckin' leg is broken!"
As Andre and the attorney argued, (with the Judge trying to stop them) a man in a trench coat walked in and went over to Chuckie, handing him a file, then whispering something in his ear, he nodded and said, "bring them in."
The man nodded and walked over to the door, opening them up, Four men were pushed in, all of them were thoroughly beaten and had at least one officer beside them.
"Who are these men?"
"These men were the ones who attacked Andre here," Chuckie said, standing and walking over to the judge with the file, "and here, in this file, I have rock-solid proof, of Sean's doings against my client." He put the file on the Judges desk.
The Judge opened the file, inside were pictures of Sean talking to the men in front of him, handing them money and a slip of paper, in another it was a picture of Sean handing money over to a man, who in turn was holding out a few bags to Sean, "why…this is incredible." The judge whispered, "How did you get this?"
"When Andre stepped forward to testify, I took the liberty of hiring a detective to find out more."
The Judge turned to where Sean was sitting, "Bailiff, arrest that man!"
Sean suddenly jumped up, pulling a gun out and pointing it at Dil's head, "if anyone moves, I blow his fucking head off!"
Tommy was on his feet, "your dead Sean!"
"Try and stop me!" Sean spat, "you move, I shoot his head off," he grabbed Dil's arm and forced him to stand and walk as Sean backed out, "I'm not going to prison!" he shouted.
A shot rang out and Sean fell back, a bullet in his leg, instantly the bailiff and the other cops were on him, restraining him.
Tommy looked to the side and saw Lil holding his gun, the barrel smoking, she was shaking badly. She kept the gun trained on Sean.
"Get him out of my sight!" the Judge said.
As the cops dragged Sean out of the court, the Judge turned to Tommy, 'Tommy Pickles, you are cleared of all charges!"
Everyone jumped up cheering, Tommy shook hands with Chuckie, 'best lawyer ever!" Tommy said with a grin.
'Oh come on Tommy, we all know that." Chuckie said with a grin.
Tommy jumped over the divider between the crowd and the rest of the courtroom and ran over to Lil, he kissed her, "that was some good shooting," he said with a grin.
She smiled, "well…you know…hehe…" she said, turning red.
Didi walked over, "I knew you were innocent." Didi said with a smile.
"Yay! Daddy won!" Elizabeth shouted, a grin on her cute little face.
Tommy brought Elizabeth into his arms, "we sure did Elizabeth." He said, kissing her cheek.
"Tommy," Carter said walking over, "I'm…I'm sorry I arrested you, I got my information wrong."
"It's alright Carter, you were just doing your job." Tommy said.
"What I want to know," Dil said, "Is who was the guy that Sean was working with?"
Mr. Green was in his house, packing clothes and other essentials he would need, 'That stupid Sean couldn't even get away from the police," he grumbled, "and he's sure as hell going to rat me out, I gotta make tracks, maybe go to Mexico." He turned around and came face to face with two policeman, pointing guns at him, behind them, Mr. Foreman sat with a smirk on his face, his walking cane in his hands. "W-w-w-what's the meaning of this?"
"Mr. Green," Mr. Foreman said, "I don't appreciate how you've been running the skyscraper project."
'But…but we're on schedule! It's almost done…"
Foreman laughed, "You still got two years until it's done," he said, "it was supposed to be done this summer." He walked over to Mr. Green's counter, where a bottle of scotch and two glasses were, he poured the drink and downed one himself, "and that's not what I mean when I say I don't like your work, I can handle the project not being completed on time, what I can't handle, is someone taking my money, money that should be going to the workers, or the building, and keeping it all for himself, I can't handle a liar, a cheater, and a swindler." He turned to him, "you've stole hundreds of thousands from your workers, and me, and I'm so lucky that I have these two fine policemen with me, they'll take you right off to jail." He put the drink in Green's stunned hand, "this will probably be your last drink for a while Green," he said, "I would suggest you savor it." Foreman turned and walked out.
Green looked at the drink, then at Foreman, he sighed and downed the drink, "alright boys," Green muttered, "Take me in."
shout out to SuperGeorgia for always following this story,