A/N: Hello, all! Sorry this chapter took so long to come out again…I honestly started working on it last night (starting with the soaking-why on earth did I do that?), and then worked on it a bit more before I left for church at 10:55, and then started again around 3 something…so I've been writing for 2 hours straight. That might explain why my butt is numb. ;) Hopefully this chapter lives up to all of the hype I've given it…and hopefully you all really want to soak The League after this…cause if not….that would be a problem. Or you could just be a sadistic bastard like me who likes seeing the newsies getting hurt (okay, I have to write it, or I have no story…but I also have a guilty pleasure of whumping all of the characters). As my friend KayValo87 (who is a master of whump) told me a long time ago, "You can tell who your favorite characters are, because you can't wait to read about them getting beaten up." ;) That's why I like hurt/comfort fics so much! Anyways….also, happy kickoff to 7 straight chapters of cliffhangers!
DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL I'M JUST APPARENTLY VERY GOOD AT WHUMPING THEM!
Responses to reviews:
Biankies: Yeah…hopefully this chapter makes up for that! Or….it probably won't…but, ya know…no problem! Yeah, I like writing super protective older newsies, cause I figured that the older boys would watch over their younger siblings a lot…and it makes for great relationships and feels! Yeah…I'm not sure who you're thinking of, but if you're right…I'm sorry! I tend to be a shamless whumper…but yeah, Jack is going to go after the boys with a vengeance…maybe not this chapter, but definitely soon! No problem! I'm glad too—I haven't been to see a show in a while, so it was fun to go out with a fellow musical geek and see a fantastic show. I agree-creativity often comes at night…as does all of my energy. It might be why I'm not a morning person… ;) You're welcome…hopefully you still have some nails by the time this story is done! The next chapter should be out sometime tomorrow!
FansieFace: Haha…hopefully you don't die soon! Sorry, I tried to resolve it…but I couldn't resist throwing that preview of whumpage in! Haha… ;) That's good, cause it means I'm doing my job as a writer…just wait until this chapter is done! Thanks-the relationships between the boys and the boys/Juliet are really fun to write, and it's fun to see how a "family by choice" differs from a "family by blood" (they may not be biological siblings, but that's what they've chosen to be…if that makes sense). I definitely try to post soon…the only time I might take a while is on Thursday…and looking at my plan…holy crap you all will hate me, depending on how long it takes me to get it out! Haha…don't freak out too much, Hulu-I still need FansieFace to write awesome reviews! Yeah, Wicked was fantastic. I forgot about ScarecrowFiyero and TinmanBoq until watching the show, and then was like "oh yeah, that's a thing…" ;) When did you go see Newsies? (Like, which part was Andy playing at that point? ;) ) Yeah-stagedooring is so fun…and I'm going to do it when Newsies comes next year, so I can get Evan Kasperzack's autograph!
S. Castro: Yeah, The League is a bunch of vile monsters…and they're strangely fun to write…but you're right-seriously, 'Journal'? Really? Hopefully Pulitzer will be helping them soon! As for who's getting injured in this chapter…let's just say that one of the newsies you specifically named is one. The other…well, you'll see! Yeah, stagedooring was super fun…and most all of my friends are musical geeks, so it works out! And Wicked was so good! Haha…hopefully you enjoy these next 7 chapters!
CLIFFHANGER ALERT AND MAJOR (GINORMUSLY HUGE) WHUMPAGE WARNING!
Enjoy "A Rich Man's Newsie" Chapter 5!
"If there was one thing Jack knew for certain, it was this. No one would hurt a member of his family and get away with it. No one."
The next morning, Jack sent all of the newsies to the distribution center. He hung back for a second to talk to Race. "I'm gonna go talk ta Pulitzer-see wat he knows 'bout any a dis, an' if he's agreein' ta it or not. You's in charge 'till I gets back." Race nodded, and then slapped him on the back as he headed out. It didn't take Jack too long to get to Pulitzer's office from the distribution center, but he was glad for the walk, in order to clear his head. When dealing with Joseph Pulitzer, one needed to know exactly what they were going to say, since the man was not one to waste time. Pulitzer's staff looked at him strangely when he asked to see their boss, but they finally allowed him access to the office, where the man was sitting behind his desk.
"Jack? I'm surprised you're not out selling-is there something the matter?" Pulitzer queried. Jack solemmly nodded his head. "Yeah, Mr. Pulitzer-dere is. Dere's dese rich boys comin' 'round and hecklin' my family, an' takin' half a da papes we's supposed ta sell an' givin' 'em 'way for free, since dey can afford to buy de ones da next day." He took a breath, and then continued. "Wat I wants ta know is-did ya give da rich boys da okay ta do dat?" Pulitzer sat there for a few moments, thinking, and then sudden recognition flashed across his face. "You mean 'The League of Gentlemen', don't you."
"Yes, sir-dey's takin' half a our papes, an' hecklin' an' tauntin' da newsies-an' even beat Crutchie up yesterday." Pulitzer stepped back in shock.
"They beat Crutchie up? How bad is it?"
"Accordin' ta da doc, it's almost da same as when Juliet got soaked, but worse." Pulitzer sighed. Then, he looked at Jack. "I promise you, Jack-I never have, and never will have, any relationships or dealings with any League members. I did not give them my approval to sell papers, nor to give them away for free. Oscar and Morris should not have let them take any papers, and I will make sure to tell them that." Jack stared at him, as if trying to make absolutely certain that Pulitzer was telling the truth, but he could see nothing but truth in the man's eyes. "I assure you, Jack-I had nothing to do with those rich boys, and I want them gone as much as you do." Jack sighed thankfully. He had begun to trust the man a little more when he helped them win the lawsuit against the Comstocks, but…old habits die hard-and didn't Jack know it.
The newsies sold well that day, and everyone was in much higher spirits. Of course, The League members were more vicious than ever, and fights nearly broke out on several corners, but the newsies made sure to attempt (emphasis on attempt) not to sink to the rich boys' level. They also didn't want to give the rich boys the satisfaction that their taunts were getting to them. Lastly, they didn't want to give Jack anyone else to have to worry about. Race had told Elmer and Snitch to take care of Crutchie while the rest of them were out selling, and no one wanted to add another downed newsie to the list. As soon as they were done selling, they all booked it back to the Lodging House as fast as they could, trying not to run into any of The League members on their way.
Well, all except for two. Specs had scrounged up enough money to buy a new pair of glasses, and he had dragged Romeo along with him. It had taken a while for the shopkeeper to find a pair that fit him, and so it had grown rather dark as the two walked along. They were keeping an eye out, since they didn't want to run into anyone. The streets of Manhattan were dangerous enough during the day, but during the night it was especially dangerous. Which was one of the reasons Jack always walked Katherine home if she ended up at the Lodging House after dark…but not the only reason. The two were talking quietly, before they heard a noise coming from behind them. They hurriedly whipped around, but they didn't see anything, so they turned back around-and crashed into a solid body.
"Hey! Watch were ya's goin'!" Romeo cried, looking up to see who he had run into-and stopping dead. Two members (Jordan Harris and Lukas Rowlin) of The League were standing in from of them, leering. The two boys looked around and noticed five other members encircling them. "Well…I's thinkin' we's gotta problem here…" Specs muttered to his brother, who nodded. "We's gotta git outta here-now." Romeo murmured back. The two jumped to their feet and tried to run, but Jordan pushed them down to the ground again. "You're not getting out of here so easily, newsie filth. You haven't learned your lesson yet…and we're strict teachers. We can't let a lesson go unlearned. Plus, payback must be given for the horrendous abuse suffered by Delon, Mitchell, and Lucius yesterday."
"An' wat lesson would dat be?" Specs asked, glaring defiantly up at the rich boys. He had already determined that if this did break out into a fight, he would try to take the worst of it on himself, since he was older. All of the older newsies were extremely protective of the newsies who were younger than them, and would take a worse beating than their younger siblings if they had to to protect them.
"What do you think-that you are the lowest of the low, and that in order for Manhattan-and the city as a whole-to rise to its full potential, you must be eliminated from the equation." Lukas sneered. Specs and Romeo both chuckled. "Ya must not know much 'bout us den-we don' give up easy. Not without a fight." Romeo declared. The seven League members smirked at him as they closed in around the two boys. "Good-because that's exactly what we want." And with that, they jumped the two boys. Both Specs and Romeo fought incredibly hard, breaking multiple bones and causing much damage between the two of them, but the fact that they were outnumbered slowly took its toll. By the time The League members scampered off, happy with their outing, even with broken bones and bruises and lacerations all over their bodies. Specs was left leaning up against a building on the side of the road, and Romeo was lying near him. Both boys were extremely hurt, and Specs was sad to see that while he had tried to take most of the beating once the fight began to go against the two newsies, it looked like Romeo was even worse off than he was. In addition, Specs was still conscious, although the darkness was trying to overwhelm him.
Unfortunately, Romeo had lost that fight a while ago. The younger newsie, lying off to Spec's left, was most definitely unconscious, and no amount of pinching or prodding from Specs (or as much as he could do while leaning against the building) had any effect on him. Specs sighed. He was beginning to lose consciousness, but right before he did, he thought he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him, and then pounding away. The sound was fleeting, however, and he convinced himself that he had just imagined it. As he slowly drifted off, his last thought was that he had let Romeo down.
"It's almost nine o' clock….it shouldn't take Specs and Romeo that long to get a pair of glasses and then come back here." Davey murmured. The rest of the newsies were back in the Lodging House, playing an extremely loud game of Egyptian Ratscrew. All except for Jack, Race, Davey, Crutchie, and Juliet, that was. Crutchie, of course, was still banged up incredibly badly, and while Jack finally agreed to move his bed out to the Living Room for a while so that he could be with his brothers, he wasn't about to allow Crutchie to play a game where one of the main points of the game was slapping. Which always degenerated into the newsies slapping each other silly. Juliet wasn't playing because she often preferred to sit and watch, and not to play. She called it her "me bubble" time, where she could be near the others, and still have her own little space. Today, however, she couldn't settle down, nervous about Romeo's continued absence. She was worried about Specs, of course, since the two were good friends and often hung out after they finished selling, but Romeo…Romeo had been her closest friend ever they started selling together, and she couldn't stop herself from worrying that something bad had happened, and that he was lying injured or worse somewhere.
Jack nodded. "Yeah…either dey got lost, which would never happen in a million years, cause dey know da streets too well, or dey's in trouble somewhere." He looked again at Juliet, who was trying-but failing-to hide her extreme nervousness. Jack sighed. "I's gotta idea. You two stay here an' watch ova dem. Juliet'n me'll go look for Specs an' Romeo."
"Jus' da two a ya? At least take Davey-he can stick with Juliet if y'all eva need ta split up." Race muttered. Jack looked over at Davey, who nodded in support of Race's plan. "Alright den-let's git goin'." Jack said, before making his way over to Juliet. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded, coming over to join the older boys at the door as they headed out. For a while, they kept together down the streets, looking as hard as they could, but not seeing anything. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that it would be faster if they split up and covered more ground-Jack going one way, and Davey and Juliet going the other. As they walked along, Juliet and Davey kept their eyes peeled, but they didn't see any signs of Romeo or Specs.
Until Juliet saw two men slinking off into the darkness on a nearby side street. She nudged Davey and pointed at the two men, and they quietly headed towards the men, being sure to stay quiet. When they arrived at the spot where they had seen the men, there was nothing. "Dose men was parta da League-I's sure of it!" Juliet murmured. Davey nodded his head in agreement. "I know-I've seen them before. I just don't know what they were doing here." Both of the newsies began to look around, trying to figure out what business The Leage members had at this hour of the night.
Juliet saw them first. There was a street light up ahead, and its light shone directly over Specs and Romeo. The young newsie gasped in horror. "Oh no…no no no….no!" She ran over to the older boys, Davey following close behind. When they got close enough, and they could see clearly all of the injuries the two boys had received, they both let out strangled gasps of horror and terror. Romeo was clearly unconscious, and Specs fell unconscious right as they ran up. Davey was livid with anger, and was so enraged that he punched the nearest thing to him. Which turned out not to be a good idea-since it was the metal pole of the streetlight. He winced in pain, shaking his hand. Then, he looked over at Juliet. His younger sister was extremely angry, like he felt, but there was another emotion showing itself all over her face. Juliet was devastated. Here were two of the newsies that she was extremely close to, both unconscious and lying (or sitting) next to puddles of blood that may or may not be theirs, and dozens of injuries between the two. The young girl began to breathe faster and faster, sweat beginning to drip down her face (and rubbing it with her sleeve only seemed to make it worse), grimacing as she held her chest, as if she was in pain, and started to tremble. Davey gulped. He could tell what was happening-Juliet was having a panic attack. He wasn't exactly sure how to stop it-he just knew he had to get her out of there. Someone needed to go get Jack, after all.
"Juliet-I need you to go get Jack. He needs to know what happened to Specs and Romeo, and someone needs to stay with him until he gets here. I'll stay here and watch over them while you go find Jack." The younger girl shook her head, violently protesting his words, but Davey walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders, crouching down to both meet her eye level and block her view of the two boys. "Juliet-I need you to go get Jack. Specs and Romeo will be all right, I promise you, but we need to get Jack and get them out of here as fast as we can-and you're a much faster runner than I am. I need you to go find Jack and bring him here…it's the best way you can help Specs and Romeo." Juliet tried to look around Davey, but he knew what she was doing and simply shifted his body, blocking her view again and again. "Juliet, I need you to go-now. The longer Jack takes to get here, the longer it will be until we can get Specs and Romeo back to the Lodging House and get them help." Davey may not have been the newsies' leader, or their lieutenant, but he was a member of the "Core Four", the inner circle of newsies (that also included Jack, Race, and Crutchie), and he put a little of that authority into his voice. It took a few moments, but Juliet finally nodded, turned around, and ran off in the direction that Jack had been going. Davey sighed, slowly getting to his feet and moving over to stand in front of the two younger newsies. The rich boys wouldn't get near the two of them again tonight-he would make sure of that.
Juliet raced down the streets, trying to find Jack as quickly as she could. There were some…unsavory characters…that leered at her from across the road and she heard some catcalls, but she pushed it all to the back of her brain, her sole focus finding Jack. It took somewhere around five minutes-which was five minutes too long-but she finally found him down one of the side streets.
"Jack! JACK!" At Juliet's shout, Jack quickly turned around.
"Wat is it, kid?" he murmured, taking in Juliet's tearstained face. It took her a while to respond, but she was finally able to choke out, "Dem rich boys…dey did it again…an' dis time…it's bad. It's really bad." A second later, she was running off, Jack following her. They quickly made it over to where Davey stood protectively over the two younger newsies. As soon as Jack saw how bad their injuries were, he very audibly cursed under his breath. "Da League is gonna pay. I don' know how, but dey is gonna pay. Even iffn' I has ta kill all a 'em, dey's gonna pay." Jack's overprotective nature was on fire, and both Davey and Juliet could tell. Juliet's temper was flaring up bright red and hot, and Davey was very close to exploding himself. Jack was already there. "Iffn' I sees whoeva did dis…dey isn' gonna be walkin' outta dere. I ain't gonna let dem touch any of ya again, an' I sure as hell ain't gonna let dem waltz right in like dey own da streets an' knock us out like dis again." The other two newsies nodded, feeling the same way. Then, Davey turned to Jack. "Jack," he whispered, so quietly that Juliet couldn't hear him, "we need to get her out of here. Have her go get Race and bring him here…just get her out of here."
"Why?" Jack queried back, not exactly comprehending. Davey sighed, looking down at the two injured newsies. "Well," he explained, "not only because it's Specs…but especially because it's Romeo. She started having a panic attack earlier, and the only thing I could think of to do was to send her to go find you. The longer she stays here, the more she's at risk for a nervous breakdown-and none of us want that." Jack nodded, realizing that, while Crutchie's soaking was horrific for the young girl, this was even worse, because the two injured newsies were her two best friends. It was extremely personal for her, and Jack could already tell that she was trembling just being near her friends' unconscious forms again. Jack nodded. "Iffn' ya can keep her from seein' dem, I'll git her outta here." he muttered back. Davey nodded, and the two boys immediately moved-Davey to block Juliet's view again, and Jack to stand in front of her. "Hey, kiddo…I's got an important job for ya ta do, alright?" Juliet looked up at Jack, tears flowing down her face. "…Yeah?" she asked, in a very small and quiet voice. Jack squeezed her shoulder. "Ya wanta help Specs an' Romeo, right?" At her nod, he continued. "Den, I's gotta mission for ya-I need ya ta git back ta da Lodging House, an' git Race. I don' care if he's sleepin', just tell him dat dere was a soakin', an' we need his help-an' ta bring dat stretcher we used for Crutchie. Ya think ya can do dat?" His gentle and calm voice seemed to soothe his sister's fears slightly, and she slowly nodded. Jack squeezed her shoulder again. "Alright-good girl. Now git goin'-we's gonna be here when Race an' ya git back." The younger girl flashed a brief glance at Davey, who nodded at her, before nodding herself, and taking off for the Lodging House. Jack turned around, and together he and Davey crouched down by the unconscious newsies and tried to take care of what injuries they could, since the doctor wouldn't be able to come by until the next day anyways (he was in the middle of helping a young woman give birth, and would probably be busy until the next day).
When Juliet opened the door to the Lodging House, it was very quiet. From the looks of the Living Room, the other newsies had been sent to bed a while ago, and the only two still up were Race and Crutchie, who were quietly conversing off to one side. At the sound of the door, both newsies looked up. "Juliet-did ya find dem?" Race questioned. His sister nodded, and stepped a little further into the room. As she came further into the light, the older newsies could clearly see the tears that were still trickling down her face. Race and Crutchie looked at each other and sighed. "Dose rich boys got ta dem, didn' dey?" Crutchie asked. Juliet nodded, swallowing a few times. "Jack wants ya…ta come help him cause….dey's hurt really bad. He wants ya ta…bring da stretcher too."
"How bad are dey?" the newsie lieutenant asked. Juliet swallowed again, more tears leaking out of her eyes as she choked out, "It's really bad…really bad. Dey's both unconscious, an' Jack an' Davey can' wake neither a dem." Almost before she had finished speaking, Race had jumped up, grabbed the stretcher, and opened the door. "Ya gonna be alright on your own, Crutch?"
"Yeah, I's gonna be fine-go git Specs an' Romeo." Crutchie replied. Race nodded, and he and Juliet headed out. As Juliet lead Race up to the spot, Race made a sound in his throat like a dying cat, and nearly gagged. "Dey's…dey's gone too far dis time." he muttered darkly. Jack and Davey nodded, and shifted slightly, allowing Race to slide in with them. "We's gotta git dem back ta da Lodging House…but we haveta take 'em one at a time…we's only got one stretcher." Jack quietly breathed. The three older newsies quickly looked at each other, and nodded. They would take Romeo first, since he was the most injured, and Specs would never let them forget it if they took him first, and left the younger and more injured newsie to go second. The three boys slowly and gently shifted Romeo onto the stretcher, but suddenly stopped, as he let out a mewl of pain, and then his eyes began to flicker open.
"'Ey, Romeo…you're alright. Can ya open your eyes for me? Your sister's worried 'bout ya." Jack quietly murmured, keeping a hand on Romeo's shoulder to keep him from moving. Everyone had their eyes glued on the young boy, who-after a lot of effort-was able to open his eyes. Jack sighed in relief, and he could hear the other three newsies doing it as well. "'Ey dere, buddy…how ya doin'?" the newsie leader asked. It looked like a lot of effort, but Romeo finally muttered, "Well…I's had better days." The other newsies let out a weak chuckle at that. "Specs okay?" the younger newsie queried, to which Jack nodded.
"Yeah-he's banged up pretty bad, like you, but he's gonna be alright, jus' like you is." Romeo quietly exhaled in relief. The three older newsies looked at each other for a second, and then Davey said, "Romeo…do you remember who attacked you two? Were they members of The League, or…"
"Yeah, dey was…I recognized all seven a dem." At Romeo's declaration, the four other newsies all let out strangled gasps. "Ya mean…Specs an' ya…got jumped by seven rich boys?" Race asked, his anger making his voice a little harsher than normal. Romeo nodded, closing his eyes slightly as he slowly started to lose consciousness. Jack squeezed his shoulder. "Jus' rest now, kid-we got'cha, an' dose rich boys ain't never gonna touch ya again." Romeo weakly grinned at him, before fully closing his eyes and falling unconscious again. Jack and Race swore under their breath. Davey looked like he wanted to, but he usually tried not to swear if he could help it. "Dey got set on by seven League members…dey's all gonna pay. All a dem." Race declared.
The three older boys got the two injured newsies back to the Lodging House fairly quickly, Race standing guard with Juliet while Jack and Davey took Romeo, and then Race and Jack took Specs, Davey and Juliet following behind. Both times as they entered, Crutchie gasped in horror at the condition the two newsies were in, unconsciously trying to get out of his bed and go over to them, before Jack fixed him with a glare. "Stay in dat bed, Crutchie-I don' want'cha to git up before you's ready an' hurt yourself even more. Once they's settled, we'll bring ya ova, so ya can see dem, an' talk ta dem if dey wakes up, alright?" The younger newsie let out a "hmph" of protest, but followed Jack's order. Jack, Race, and Davey settled the two younger newsies into two unoccupied beds, and then brought Crutchie's bed over near them, so that he could see them. Jack let Crutchie know that one of the three older newsies would be in to sit with them in a little while, before closing the door quietly behind them. As he turned around, he noticed that the front door to the Lodging House was swinging shut-and he could see that Race and Davey were still in the Living Room. "'ey…were's Juliet goin'?" he cautiously queried. All three boys glanced at each other, and then gasped. "Ya don' think…" Race trailed off. A second later, they were dashing out the door to see Juliet running down the street a few blocks away. Her older brothers chased after her, Race finally catching up and grabbing her from behind in order to stop her. "Juliet-stop!" he whispered in her ear as Jack and Davey caught up to them.
"Let me go, Race!" his sister cried in response. "Dey's bastards, every single one a dem, an' I's gonna-"
"What-end dem? All a dem?" Jack asked as he moved in front of his sister, who was still struggling to get free of Race's firm grip. "I know ya wants ta soak dem good for what dey did ta Crutchie, Specs, an' Romeo, but dis ain't da way ta do it."
"Den how would ya do it-let dem keep goin' after us while we waits ta soak dem until da public approves?" She could tell Jack was angered by her words by the way his eyes hardened, but she could care less at the moment-she was too far gone in her anger. "All three a dem could have bin dead iffn' someone hadn' got dere in time, an' Specs an' Romeo almost were! Wat if next time dey dose kill one a us-wat den?" She took a breath, and then continued her tirade. "I cain't sit 'round an' do nothin' any longer! We's gotta end dese bastards now, before dey come afta anymore a us!" Jack gripped her shoulders tightly, trying to get her to stop struggling so that Race could hold her there easier (as it was, she had already kicked him at least twice while trying to break free.) "Ya don' think I don' want ta end dem bastards too? Iffn' I could, dat's where I would be, but we cain't! We ain't gonna sit on our butts an' wait for dem ta come afta us, but we cain't do it like dis!"
"An' why not?"
"Because it would be murder!" Davey cried from where he was standing by Jack's left shoulder. "Their parents would tell the cops that their sons were all killed in the night, and the police would start an investigation, and it would lead straight back to you. A judge would convict you of murder in a heartbeat, and you'd end up spending the rest of your life in jail. I know that's not something you want, and none of us want it either, but if you go after the boys now, that's what would happen." Juliet turned angry and hurt eyes on him, but he simply glared steadily back at her.
"We's gonna git dese bastards, Juliet. One way or another, we's gonna git dem. But we gotta git dem in da right way, so's we's not breakin' da law or anythin'. Ya hear me?" Juliet continued to glare and struggle against her three older brothers, and Jack sighed, getting frustrated with his younger sister. "Alright, Juliet-that's ENOUGH!" At Jack's shout, Juliet stopped in pure shock. She had heard Jack raise his voice before, of course, but never at her-always in the course of selling papers or yelling at someone else. The fact that he was yelling at her stopped her in her tracks. Jack crouched down, so that he could stare directly into her eyes. "Listen ta me. One way or another, we is gonna stop dese rich boys from messin' with any othar members a our family, but we gotta do it so dat we ain't gonna git sued again or arrested for standin' up for ourselves an' goin' afta dem. I know dat ain't wat ya wanna hear right now, but it's wat we gotta do, iffn' we don' wanta git in trouble with da law, 'specially since we jus' won a lawsuit cause we followed da law. I need ta know dat I can trust ya ta not go afta dem 'til I give da word, an' I don' know iffn' I can do dat right now." His steely brown eyes never left her face, watching and waiting for the time when Juliet gave up and stopped fighting. It took a few minutes, but the firm and gentle grips that each of the boys had on her seemed to be helping, as did the pressuring eye contact from Jack. Finally, the younger girl sighed, dropping her eyes to look at the ground. "I cain't…I jus' cain't let anyone else git hurt….iffn' any a ya got hurt…." Jack could clearly read the emotions shining in her eyes-fear, anger, sadness, worry, hurt, horror, shock, and terror-and he hated that she had to process all of them at once-and that she felt like she was doing it all alone. He flicked his eyes up to Race and nodded, and his lieutenant very slowly released his grip on Juliet. Almost as soon as he did so, the younger girl leaned over to the side and quietly threw up into the bushes, the stress of all of her conflicting emotions finally catching up to and overwhelming her. Throughout it all, her brothers stayed next to her, rubbing her back and helping her to calm down. Once she had finished, she looked guiltily up at the boys. "Sorry 'bout dat…" she murmured, but the boys waved it off.
"You's got nothin' ta apologize for, Juliet. Your best friends jus' got soaked, an' da guys responsible seems ta be getting' 'way with it…would be a stressful time for anyone." Race murmured. From up above them, Davey sighed. "Jack, you and Race take Juliet back to the Lodging House. I'm going to go talk to someone who might be able to help us." The newsie leader looked at him for a second, before nodding. "Come on, Juliet-let's git ya back ta da Lodging House. You's need ta git some sleep, an' dat's da best place ta do it." Between the two of them, Jack and Race were able to get Juliet up and headed off to the Lodging House. Davey stood watching them for a while, before walking off down the streets.
Once Davey arrived at the courthouse, he snuck quietly inside and knocked on the judge's office door. He heard movement from behind the door, and it was finally opened.
"Davey? Is there something I can do for you?" Judge Bolger questioned, leading the young man into his office and closing the door behind him. Looking at the young newsie, he could see the rage that Davey was furiously trying to quench, and patiently waited until the boy was able to speak his thoughts. "Yes, Your Honor-there is something very wrong. Have you heard of The League of Gentlemen?" At the judge's nod, Davey continued. "They have been taking over half of our papers, and giving them away for free, severely reducing the amount of money that the newsies already don't have enough of that they can use to buy papers the next morning. We've had to start selling in groups in order to make ends meet." He sighed, closing his eyes as he had to crush his anger again.
"That's not all they've done, is it?" the judge asked, almost in a fatherly manner. Davey nodded. "No, Your Honor-it's not. In addition to taking the newsies' hard-earned profits, but…they've beaten up three newsies rather badly. Three of them went after Crutchie a day or so ago, and seven of them just jumped Specs and Romeo…maybe thirty minutes ago." Judge Bolger stared at him, aghast. "You mean to tell me that ten League members attacked three newsies?" At Davey's nod, he scowled, clearly showing his feelings towards The League. He then got up and paced, thinking hard. Suddenly, he stopped. "I've got an idea, but I don't know if you'll like it."
"What is it? We need any sort of plan at the moment-we have no idea what we're supposed to do. Juliet almost went out and tried to murder all of The League members." A sharp hiss escaped the judge at Davey's words. He sighed.
"Well, the rich boys can be arrested for aggravated assault and harassment...but the only problem is…the arresting officers have to actually see it happen. If the officers don't have proof that it happened, the parents of The League members will simply bail them out of jail. The officers need to have proof, in order to make the charges stick." Davey again nearly cursed under his breath. Most likely, in order for the officers to get their proof…it would involve another newsie getting beaten to a pulp. He sighed, trying to relax and cool his head.
"They'll get their proof, Your Honor. I promise."
A/N 2: So…who saw that coming? Well, I mean, you got the little preview that showed that there was going to be massive whumpage, but still… ;) The League boys are going to get a major soaking, if Jack and the newsies have anything to say about it…but there's still a bit of whumping left. Not too much the next chapters, but….there's still a bunch coming. If anyone wants know who the other 5 are that went after Romeo and Specs, I'll try to decide and let you know…cause I honestly couldn't think of which ones to use. Just know-they're not Delon, Mitchell, Lucius, Jordan, or Lukas, as those guys are specifically mentioned by name…and I don't know if Anton or Nixon would join in or not. Also, surprise surprise, this is my longest chapter so far, beating out a 4000 word "The Newsie Girl" chapter with this beast of over 6000 words. #TheThingsIDoForYouAll… ;) Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter…and all really want to soak the rich boys. Unless, of course, you're sadistic bastards like me, as mentioned above. ;)
Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I'll see you all next chapter!
God bless,
1monster2