This harsh parallel universe was relentless. "Slow down...one at a time..." Sheriff Keller was bombarded on all sides with a cloud of harried voices trying to explain what each person remembered. "First of all, where is Jughead Jones?" The groggy bruised couple just looked at each other and at the other bar patrons still around. Archie's battered face turned pale as his heart sank. Veronica's swollen eyes darted around as her mouth tried to form words. They looked around incredulously. "Well? Where is he?" Sheriff Keller was tired. "And what is Whyte Wyrm Swill?"

They had no idea. Unbeknownst to Archie and Veronica--Dark Betty, Fangs, and one other person had together placed Jug in the trunk of a nondescript car and sped off to a log cabin 2 hours away. Hours later, unaware he had been moved yet again, Jughead Jones slowly awoke startled to find himself in the very execution room and chair Jason Blossom had been in on that now infamous security cam footage. Seeing the view from Jason's point of view was chilling. Shaking a dirty potato sack off his head, he was able to see just how bad the situation was. His breath left his body for a split second as he struggled against the restraints. He raised his head at a snail's pace and his blurry eyes tried to recognize Betty's comely contours. "Betty!?" He could swear he was screaming but in his throat he felt the word being mumbled and garbled.

Dark Betty entered the room, but was very different in the dimly lit basement. "I thought about what you said." Jughead just listened suspiciously--almost smelling the sarcasm. "You and MY MOM must really want me to stay medicated, Juggy...or should I call you Druggy? But...news flash--alert 'The Blue and Gold'--I am on something far better now...and now that you're here with me...you're gonna be hooked on it too...it's very addictive."

"Betty, PLEASE...I love you..."

"Well, then you are REALLY gonna love me after I give you THIS." Betty unzipped a leather pocket on her Southside Serpents jacket and pulled out a syringe and vial. Like a snake ready to strike, her eyes peered into his. Juggy's frightened face grimaced and he awkwardly rocked the chair back and forth.

"Betty...do you really want to kill me in the same way they killed Jason?" Jughead hoped to appeal to whatever humanity was left in her.

"Silly boy...Jason died by a bullet from his old man's gun...you being such a great detective should be...'detecting' better, don't ya think? Oh, no no no no no...I'm not going to kill you. I am going to make you all better." Betty flicked at the milky white syringe to knock-out any air bubbles.

"What the heck IS that stuff? You are not going to put that into ME..." Jughead was now scared to death. "BETTY!!"

Betty stopped and it was as though her eyes were opened and a spell were wearing off. She shook her head violently and her bright face returned briefly. "Juggy?!" It was as though she were seeing him for the first time.

The moment of clarity was short-lived. It was very evident there was someone else in the tiny room sitting there in the shadows. "I knew she was still too weak..." A fastidious wave of a hand, and Betty was her Dark self once again, plunging the syringe into a vein in Jughead's neck. He winced in pain, but more than that, he winced knowing he was so close to getting his sweet Betty back from the brink. Someone had a sway over her. "Betty, NO!!!"

The unfamiliar voice came again from the darkness. "You see, I am in the hero-slash-anti-hero-making business in Riverdale...I'm very creative. Ever since I 'wormed' my way into the maple syrup business..."

Jughead continued to struggle.

"Um..yeah, so...her name isn't 'Betty' anymore--I call her Darkly Bent--for obvious reasons. Archie Andrews is either Batman or Spider-Man--I haven't quite decided yet--both had dead family member catalysts, so you can see my dilemma."

Jughead was growing tired from the monologue and the injection.

"Andddd...I think if you are a smart kid, and I know you are, you realize that if she is Darkly Bent, then you being who YOU are, that makes you 'The Jugger...'--get it? Harley Quinn? The Joker?" The voice continued to speak from the eerie black corner of the room. A silhouette was emerging before him. "What can I say? This girl likes to laugh and have fun..."

"I don't think it's very funny..." Jughead was not amused by the comparisons.

"Well, you might not...RIGHT NOW...but I can guar-an-darn-tee you you WILL once that trusty Whyte Wyrm Swill kicks in. 'The Jugger' and 'Darkly Bent' will be my greatest creations...just in time to face off with 'Archiekins' and his damsel-du-jour..."

Stepping into the light was a teenage girl Jughead had never seen before. She had a look about her that made his heart race even more than it already was.

Breathlessly he tried to speak. "Who are you, anyway?"

"The name's Sabrina...and I own this town."