A/N: Chapter 24 and the last quarter of the game. Once again I want to give thanks to DaveTheWordsmith, KODfreak, and DaBlackGoku for reviewing and giving great feedback. Everyone you should check out and review their works because there is some great stuff there if you haven't already, especially "Choices" and "More than Friends" great fics by DaveTheWordsmith and KODfreak's "The Other Guy". Also check out and review "Life Goes On" by DaBlackGoku one of my favourite fics on the site. Please review this chapter and the one I put up late last night and tell me what you think about both of them as individual chapters and as part of the larger story.

A/N: With Johnny's future up in the air after this game I'm going to let you guys decide, should he stay or go?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Boondocks, Aaron McGruder and Sony Pictures does.

Chapter 24 – Cutting Down

"We only need three touchdowns and a couple two point conversions," Corey said to his team on the bench. "We have one quarter left we can do this."

"No we can't," Alex replied angrily. "We need to even the playing field."

"What do you mean?" Corey said cautiously and Riley could see a hint of fear in his eyes.

"I'm playing defence from now on," Alex said. "Riley can have my spot for now."

"Fine by me," Riley smiled. "Maybe we can get something going now."

"Just don't screw up," Alex warned.

"Now dat ya gone we won't," Riley laughed.

"Just get back on the field," Alex ordered going over to join the defensive team down the bench.

"I don't like this," Corey said watching Alex's back.

"Let's just do our thing right now," Brooks said putting on his helmet. "Let's score our points and let da defence worry about deir business."

On the other side of the field, Huey already had his team on the field waiting for their opponents while watching the clock wind down. "We have to stop this drive. They're most likely going to give the ball to Riley. Jason you have to make sure he doesn't get into the end zone."

"I can try but he's too fast out the gate. By the time our speeds level out he'll be in the end zone," Jason said.

"Then stop him before he gets going," Huey said as if it was the simplest thing in the world."

"I'll try," Jason repeated.

"That's all we ask of one another," Caesar said as Riley's team joined them at the Black Panther five yard line.

Corey lined them up for a simple HB Dive and when the ball was snapped back to him and he handed it off to Riley who stutter stepped behind the line as his first option was closed up. Pivoting on his back foot he cut to the outside toward the sidelines aiming for the orange cone that marked the end zone. As Riley ran diagonally, Jason cut straight across the field hitting him just as he came to the cone. Jason hit him out of bounds before he crossed the cone, but as he was going out Riley stretched out his hand with the ball wrapping it around the cone, pulling the orange marker with them. When they hit the ground out of bounds the nearest official threw his hands up to signal a touchdown and Riley shortened the gap even more bringing the score to 51-35 for the Black Panthers.

Jason received the kick off at his fifteen yard line and took it back for thirteen yards before Riley dragged him down to the ground. On the next play Huey took the snap from Caesar and pump faking he rushed to the outside throwing his pass down the field as he went, aiming for Jason. With Riley on his back Huey purposely threw the ball high trusting in Jason's jumping ability to get the ball. His trust was not unfounded as Jason leaped almost the entire height of Riley and pulled the ball out of the air accepting the hit he knew was coming to make the catch.

On the next play Huey rushed again breaking into the Roughback secondary where thanks to another block from his tight end Johnny and a simple juke on Alex he got a huge gain of forty three yards before being taken down by a trailing safety.

Taking the snap, Huey pushed forward as Cindy crossed in front of him and handing the ball off to her he continued forward still pretending to the hold the ball drawing Alex off while Cindy cut to the outside and took the ball all the way for another touchdown.

"I want to go for two points this time," Huey said to his time in the huddle before the extra point.

"If that's what you want," Jazmine said. "These chip shots aren't any fun anyway."

"We'll go with a QB sneak," Huey said breaking the huddle.

As Huey settled up behind Caesar almost touching his best friend, the rest of the team lined up along the line with Jason and Cindy behind Huey to help provide some push. Huey ended his counted and literally took the ball right out of Caesar's hands and as soon as he had a good handle on the ball he pushed forward. Behind him as soon as the count ended Jason and Cindy pushed by Huey and into the line creating the smallest of openings by dragging the defensive line down under their weight. With an opening in the air now open Huey leaped pushing off Jason's back to get a little more air. Below him Alex tried to meet him in the air to stop his advance but that extra push off Jason gave him the forward momentum and he bowled right through Alex and into the end zone to make the score 59-35.

With simple high give to his teammates Hey led his team back for the kickoff. "We're going to go for an onside kick," he said as they gathered for the kick. With a simple nod they lined up for an onside kick to the right. Reacting to the Black Panthers' formation Alex set up for the oncoming kick.

Jazmine kicked a floater to the right and her team charged the gathered Roughbacks trying to put pressure on them hoping for a mistake so they could recover the ball. Huey followed the path of the ball heading directly toward Alex who was scrambling to catch it. Seeing Alex making an attempt for the ball Huey picked up his pace and lowered his shoulder. Alex hesitated with Huey bearing down on him and mistimed his approach the bouncing ball and it clipped his foot. Immediately after Alex touched it Huey changed his direction jumping on the ball Alex had accidently kicked toward him. As he hit the ground almost everyone piled on top of him and he felt more than one pair of hands reaching to try and tear the ball away from him, but he pulled the ball tightly under him until the officials blew the whistle to call the play dead.

As Huey popped up with the ball and went to celebrate modestly with him time Alex fumed. "I've had enough of this Huey Freeman. I want him taken out," he said to his line as they lined up. He made sure Riley was lined up far away with Jason near the sideline when he said it. The last thing he needed was one of his players choosing family over the team. He had seen that cross move Riley used with Jason James in the last game and he did not want to be its next victim.

Huey ended his count in the shotgun formation catching the snap from Caesar and dropped back looking for a long pass to Jason. After a touchdown, two point conversion, and a successful onside kick if he could pull off another huge play right after it, it would completely demoralize his opponents. He saw the Roughbacks blitz through his line but looking down the field he did not see the newest member of the Roughback defence cutting in from the side. Alex lowered his shoulder very low taking Huey at the knees and Huey went down awkwardly.

It was like a reflex the moment Huey went down he was swarmed by both teams who were pushing, shoving, shouting, and cursing at each other. Only Jazmine remained immune from the reflex and went straight to Huey.

"Are you alright Huey?" She cried sliding down beside him and checking his knee.

It took only seconds for Rummy to once again hop the straight drop from the first row of seat to the field and run across the field. He tossed and pushed his way through the scrum until he got to Huey.

"It's my knee," Huey said ripping off his helmet and grabbing his compressed afro. His face was contorted in pain.

Rummy felt around his left knee pocking and rubbing it. "Nothing seems to be broken. I think you just tweaked it. You should be fine after you walk it off."

"I can't leave the field," Huey said as Rummy helped him up to a seated position.

"I know so you'll have to give up your position until you feel better," Rummy said.

"Help me up. We have a game to finish," Huey said and Jazmine and Rummy helped him to his feet where he favoured his left leg.

While all this was happening down the field Jason and Riley had stopped there route. "What the fuck Riley? That's your brother!" Jason shouted at his rival.

"I didn't know anything about dis," Riley shouted back his eyes on his brother. "I didn't know nigga. Ya think I would have just allowed dis!" He left Jason standing down the field and ran back to the line of scrimmage heading directly for Alex who was butting head with Caesar. "What da fuck Alex!"

"I slipped Riley," Alex lied. "I didn't mean to hit him that low."

"Bullshit. I watched you lower your shoulder to his knee," Caesar said shoving Alex back a few steps. The opening gave one of the officials the chance to move and he stepped between the two players trying to hold Caesar back. "I'll be coming for you."

"Caesar enough, get back in the huddle," Huey called limping on one leg as he pulled each of his players back from the Roughback players.

Caesar growled at Alex but in the end listened to his captain and best friend and joined the rest of his team in a huddle as Jason came jogging by, glaring at Riley.

In the huddle Huey looked at his players. "We can't let them get inside our heads. My knee will be fine in a few minutes until then Cindy will take over quarterback duties and I'll stay back out of the play until the pain leaves."

"I can handle dese pansies," Cindy said.

"Yeah we'll manage until you get back," Hiro added.

"Just watch out because I don't think this will be the end of things," Huey said. "I'll call the play signals so you guys don't have to huddle. Maybe we can wear them out by not allowing them to catch their breath."

"No prob boss."

Things in the other huddle were not so good. Riley seethed his eyes not leaving Alex for a split second. He wanted more than nothing to sock his captain one in the face but for the sake of the rest of the team he would hold it in until it was over and then Alex had better watch his back.

Cindy took up Huey's normal position behind Caesar after the ball was moved fifteen yards for roughing the passer. There were more penalties from the scrum afterwards but they all cancelled each other out leaving only Alex's initial penalty. Cindy ended her counted accepting the ball from Caesar. They were lucky since she played much the same game as Huey if a little more physical meaning she could run all of his play set as he did. While she looked for her pass she was also looking for a rushing route. This time she did not need one though as she saw Johnny cutting through the middle of the field and connected for the easy first down. On her second play as quarterback she choose to run to show that Alex's actions against Huey would not intimidate her from playing her game.

With Huey uninvolved in the last play he was able to call their next play and give them information on their opponent's tendencies allowing Cindy to utilize a real no huddle offence and design her actions to take advantage of weaknesses in the Roughback formation. Listening to Huey she rushed the next play for fifteen yards and for the touchdown threw a clean pass to Jason who easily broke away from the tiring Riley for a 66-35 lead.

Still anger at Alex's actions Jason ignored Huey's no showboating command and kicked the ball up over his head with his heels. Once the ball was up he did a flip kicking the ball while upside down, sending the brown, lemon shaped ball in Alex's direction. Landing on his back he sprung up to his feet from his shoulders and just looked at Alex for a few moments before rejoining his team.

After getting the chip shot, Jazmine kicked the ball down to Brooks who returned it for a small ten yard gain.

Without Alex on the field the Roughbacks' offense began to click for really the first time in the game as Corey took possession of the ball before handing it off to Riley who got them another eighteen yards before Hiro caught up to him. He gave the ball to Riley on the next play again but Jason caught him early this time and Riley only got seven yards. To get the first down and move the chains for a fresh set of downs, Corey fed Brooks a short pass for six yards.

He wasted no time in his huddles calling the play as fast as he could and snapping the ball with almost no count. They did not have time to waste talking. If they wanted any chance of catching up to the Black Panthers they could not waste the finally four minutes on things that would not advance the ball to the end zone.

With a quick snap Corey threw a quick pass to Brooks who got fifteen yards before Cindy got him. On his next quick snap play he handed off to Riley who put on a final burst of speed passing by Jason and making it to the end zone to erase Jason's last touchdown with a score of 66-42.

In the end zone Riley collapsed again too tired to stay on his feet. "I need a break," he said to Corey and Brooks who came to retrieve him.

"Then sit out the next defensive series and catch your breath," Corey said as they helped him to their bench and handed him a full bottle of sports drink.

Back on the field Jason received the kickoff and without Riley on the field he brought the ball back to the Roughback fifty-two yard line. On their next plays Cindy who was now running the clock to waste time took advantage of Riley's exhaustion to hook up with Jason for too huge gains moving the chains into field goal position.

It was like Cindy hit a wall after those two big plays as she over threw her next pass to Hiro then she had to throw the ball away when her line broke down. On her third down she took things into her own hands but only managed to get four yards and was forced to kick a twenty yard field goal.

Jazmine lined up for her kick as Caesar snapped the ball back to Cindy who had never taken a long snap before. She fumbled the ball a little and placed it with the laces facing Jazmine which threw Jazmine's timing off and she missed the easy field goal.

"I'm sorry Jazzy," Cindy pouted.

"It's alright, I can't make all of them and we are winning," Jazmine comforted her upset friend and giving her a hug. "I can't expect you to get it on your first try. I should have used Jason but I wasn't thinking."

"We'll have to practice," Cindy agreed.

"Definitely."

Jazmine reset herself for the kickoff and Riley who had barely recovered from his last run caught the ball after a bounce and returned it thirty yards before running out of bounds too tired to keep going.

Seeing his running back was too tired to keep running, Corey gave him time to rest by throwing to Brooks but Cindy was covering him and hit him as he tried to catch the ball knocking it from his grasps.

Huey lined up on the next play as a safety, being able to stretch out his knee over the last several plays had him feeling good and he wanted to get back in the game to finish off Alex and get his revenge for everything Alex had down over the last week to him and his team. He watched as the tired Riley took the handoff and thanks to a timely block by one of the Roughback linemen managed to get by Jason. Riley managed to get three more yards before Huey stepped up to knock his brother down before he could really get going, if he could even get going as tired as he was.

Under pressure now, Corey threw his next pass to Brooks wide and was faced with having to punt the ball away or go for the ten yards with only fifty-five seconds left. It was effectively his last play of the game and if he could not win he was going to try and go out at his best. Lining up for the no huddle quick snap he signalled for a long pass. When he got the ball from his centre he dropped back looking for Brooks down the field. When he saw Brooks open down the field he threw the ball with all his strength. The ball wobbled a little as it went down the field, but it was going too fast and over shot Brooks near the sidelines in the last ten yards of the Black Panther half of the field.

Corey stood staring at the end zone frozen in place. He had screwed up again. He waited for the screaming to start as his team tore into him for screwing their last shot at redemption, but nothing came. Instead his team swarmed him all of them encouraging him and trying to comfort him, his offensive team first and as they came on the field the defence as well, except for Alex who just glared from the outside of the group angry flames in his eyes.

"Ya did ya best," Brooks said when Corey looked at his to explain. "We all know ya did ya best and we can ask for nothing more."

"What about Alex? He'll punish me," Corey quivered.

"Fuck Alex he can finish dis game and get da fuck out. We don't need him anymore," Brooks answered shielding his quarterback from Alex's seething glare as the offence left the field, except for Riley who even though he was drop dead tired wanted to finish the game. From the rest of the offence their game was done. All that was left was to watch the Black Panthers run the clock.

Huey had no such thoughts as he lined up once again in his position behind Caesar. He was going to drive as many nails in Alex's coffin as he could. Taking the ball from Caesar he rushed the ball for seven yards bowling over Alex again putting more than necessary force behind his block.

As they lined up for the next play Alex sent Riley to the opposite side of the field of Jason and all the way to the sideline. Was Riley was gone he turned to the players around him and signalled for an all out blitz on the quarterback.

Jason went in motion on the short side planning to run a long hook route. When Huey took the ball from Caesar Jason stutter stepped at the line of scrimmage. The stutter step held him on the line long enough to see the beginning of the all out blitz and Jason knew what was coming. He was supposed to hook fifteen yards down the field, but he hooked early bursting out of the hook heading back to the line of scrimmage where Huey was moving backward to give Jason time to get to the end of his route.

"RILEY!" Jason shouted to his rival on the other side of the field who had seen the blitz too but had yet to move frozen in his spot five yards from the line of scrimmage. Jason's shout had broken through to him and in that instant he made his decision.

Riley found a small reservoir of energy he did not have and he put on the rockets toward the line of scrimmage. As if nothing over the last week had happened the two fell into complete synchronization as they crossed the line of scrimmage. Wholly fixated on Huey's left knee, the same place he hit him earlier in the quarter Alex did not see the Cross Cleave as it came in like two hurricanes passing. Jason went high aiming for Alex's head while Riley went low for his knees and both blew through their targets at the same time trying to tear Alex in two. Alex's helmet popped off his head and his knees bent awkwardly under him as he did a flip in mid air and landed on his back unconscious.

His energy spent Riley collapsed in a heap while a brawl broke out around him. Once the Black Panthers realized what Alex had been trying to do all hell broke out and the Roughback players fought back in response to what happened to their captain. This was not a shoving match like that last time. Fists flew and helmets were thrown torn off. It did not end when the officials blew their whistles ending the game early after one of the Roughback linemen threw his helmet at a Black Panther lineman getting his team disqualified. It took the all the officials and the stadium security to separate the teams and funnel the Reagan High Roughbacks into their tunnel and back to their dressing room.

Riley was still heaving and panting on the ground when a large shadow blocked the sun from his eyes. Standing over him was Jason was his cocky smirk on his face, his helmet discarded across the field. "Looks like you decided then."

"I guess I have nigga," Riley laughed through his gasps for air.

"Well then let me be the first one to welcome you back, friend," Jason said his smirk spreading into a smile and he offered Riley his hand. "But you'll have to sit down and have a serious talk with Cindy," he added as he pulled Riley up.

"I know nigga," Riley said admitting in those three words his wrongs. "I said things I shouldn't have and I acted like a complete ass. My first apology has to be to ya nigga. I'm sorry for everythin' over da last week. What goes on between ya and Cindy is not mah business. And I'm sorry for blamin' ya for how I felt about playin' running back."

"Apologies accepted," Jason said helping support his completely exhausted friend and rival.

Off to the side of the field near the roughback tunnel Corey stood beside Brooks watching the two friends. "Looks like we lost our best player," Corey said.

"He was never ours to begin wit'," Brooks replied.

"I want to win next year," Corey said.

"So do I."

"Then let's go all the way next year...captain," Corey said as they entered the tunnel.

"Captain?" Brooks asked.

"We're going to need a new captain," Corey said.

"We aren't going to need a new captain, but you guys might need a new team," Alex said waiting for them in the tunnel with the rest of the Reagan High Roughbacks.

"No Alex you need a new team, but doubt anyone will give you one after this game," Corey said finally standing up to his old bully.

"Ya out Alex," Brooks said ripping Alex's helmet from his hands. "Dis is my team now."

"We'll see about that," Alex said looking at the all the other players of the team but no one met his gaze. Instead they simply pushed by him to stand behind Corey and Brooks.

"We will see," Brooks smirked. "Now get your stuff, leave your gear and don't come near my team again."

"It's good to have you back," Huey said to his brother as Jason and Riley entered the already full locker room.

While Jason grabbed his clothes from his original booth and went to take the empty seat beside the currently open gender divider and Cindy, Riley remained standing. "I have something to say."

"Then say it and get undressed because we have some celebrating to do," Caesar said. "I have some spare clothes."

"Aight, aight I'll just get to the point niggas. I'm sorry," Riley said and the team laughed.

"Sit down," Jazmine laughed and Caesar threw his spare clothes at him.

"But mah chains," Riley said.

"We'll get the on the way out brah," Johnny said as Riley took a seat beside him.

"Ya better," Riley said joining in the laughter relived that he was being accepted back so easily after everything he did and said.

Finally Huey's team is 2-0 after an offensive dominating performance and his team is intact. Will Johnny decide to stay on the team now that Riley is back? How will Riley and Cindy's talk go? And is everything really okay between Jason and Riley?