Abby found herself once again sitting in the hospital waiting room. "He was still conscious when you brought him in, right?"
"Yeah, he was scared but conscious." Sweet Pea was shaking with fear and anger.
"I want whoever did this to fry." She curls her hands into tight fists and rested them on her knees.
"It was Reggie. I saw him with the gun right after Fangs was shot." He told her.
She was silent for a while before she spoke again. "Then Reggie had to pay. He needs to learn that daddy's money doesn't shield him from everything." She knew his parents would get the best lawyer and play the moment of insanity plea. Say, that he thought his good friend's killer was going to walk free. He would go to a cushy prison, where he can lounge around all day watching TV. "And I want those fucking rioters to feel the pain that I'm feeling right now." It was because of the chaos they cause that Fangs was able to get shot.
"You're right. They'll pay, I'll make sure of it." He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. "Stay here with Fangs. I'll take care of the rest." He walks away to gather some Serpent to go on a manhunt.
It was an hour later when she got a call from her brother. "Hello."
"Abby, listen Reggie wasn't Fang's shooter. I tackled him before he could get to him. It was Mrs. Klump, Veronica got her to turn herself in. You have to call Sweet Pea to get him to stop looking for him. He trashing the school right now." Archie informed her.
"I'm not going to do that." She hissed.
"What, didn't you hear what I said, Reggie didn't do it?" He was surprised by the coldness in her voice.
"He didn't shoot Fangs, because you stop him. He was going to. If it was up to him Fangs would have two bullets in him right now. You saw how many rioters were out there. They wanted his head. So as far as I'm concerned this whole town can burn until Fangs Fogarty is back to health." She hangs up the phone, ignoring her brother saying that she needs to think clearly.
"What did she say?" Kevin asked Archie.
"That the whole town can burn until she's got Fangs back with her." He stares at his phone shocked.
"Well, we got to do this Andrews." Moose held up his bat.
Archie nods and leads them out into the hallway. Sweet Pea was slicing into the canvas that had a painting of a school on it. He fill over a table while someone broke the display case and chucked the trophies out. "Serpents, stop!" Archie yelled.
"Well, Fellas, looks like we found some bulldogs to put down." Sweet Pea chuckles with happiness to finally run into some fun.
"Sweet Pea, I swear, Reggie didn't shoot Fangs. It was Mrs. Klump." He thought that would solve this whole mess.
"Bull. I saw Mantle with the gun!" He knew what Reggie's intention was.
"Then you also saw me tackle him before he got a shot off! It was Midge's mom! She's down at the station." He needed someone to hear sense, but it seem like everyone was too in their feelings.
"Yeah, and Fangs is still clinging to life. And whether it was Reggie or Mrs. Klump who pulled the trigger, a Northsider put him there. You took our friend, our land... And you'll take everything if we give you the chance. So now you get to watch as we burn your school to the ground." He picks up a trash can and dumps it on the ground. He throws the can into another display case. The bulldog got their bats up as the Serpents ready their knives.
Principal Weatherbee came in with a bat over his shoulder and the police behind him. "What the hell do you boys think you're doing to my school?"
"Hey Jugs," Abby picked up his call.
"I need you to wait outside, we have to stop the guys from destroying Mrs. Klump's house." He knew Sweet Pea blamed him for a lot of what was happening, so he needed her help to talk him down.
"Why would I help the women who tried to kill Fangs?" She scoffs.
"Abby, as hurt as you are right now, you have to know that she was hurting ten times worst. She thought her daughter's killer was going to walk free. She did a horrible thing and she knows that, that's why she turned herself in. Do you want Sweet Pea to do jail time for getting his own justice?" Jughead knew it was hard to get through to an Andrews but he prayed he was getting through to that thick skull.
"I'll be waiting by the entrance." She hangs up while walking to it. When he came, she got on the back of his bike. He speeds to Mrs. Klump's house. He was relieved that the Serpents just pulled up.
"What, are you here to talk us out of getting revenge for Fangs?" He glares at Jughead.
"No, she is." He pointed behind him.
"Abby?" He was surprised he didn't see her earlier. "This is the woman who shot Fangs."
"I know, she was hurt and full of rage. She's going to have to do time for what she did. Yes, it might not be as much as I think it should be but I don't want the same thing to happen to you. Fangs is going to need you when he gets out. You won't be there if you're in jail. You can't leave me with an injured Fangs and Tessie." She slowly walks over to him to pull him into a hug.
In her arms, he felt he could let go of all the tension and anger if for a moment. "Fangs wouldn't want any of you to go to jail for this. He is going to need all of us for his recovery." Jughead was able to talk the Serpent into going to the Whyte Wyrm.
Jughead told them that the Ghoulies were trashing Pops. "I can't just sit here…" Sweet Pea walks to the door.
"You don't have a choice, Sweet Pea, you're staying put." He pins him against the wall.
He was easily able to shove him off. It would be laughable if it wasn't for the situation. "You said it yourself, the Ghoulies are back!"
"We will deal with them as soon as my dad gets back…" He needs to buy some time to think of a game plan.
"Oh, so you're not our leader all of a sudden?" He found it funny how all of a sudden he wants to be a good boy for his daddy. "Oh, no, that's right, you're just the guy who got Fangs shot!" He let out a bitter laugh at how Jones was realizing all his mistakes are why they were where they are.
"Watch it…" Jughead warns.
"And now, Fangs might die! And the Ghoulies are out for our blood because of a drag race you started." Whispers broke out as everyone was reminded that it was Jughead that got them into this turf war with the Ghoulies.
"An hour. That's all I'm asking for, Sweet Pea." He pleads.
Sweet slam his fist into the wall as he walks out of the bar. He stood next to Abby who was on the phone with the hospital. "What did they say?" He asks.
"It took me a while because I got that bitchy nurse who wouldn't tell me anything because I'm not related. I had to wait and call on her break to get the nurse who used to live on the Southside." She grumbled not wanting to give the news.
"And?" He knew it couldn't be good when she didn't blurt it out.
"He's still in surgery. The bullet hit a vital organ and they're trying to save it. She said it looking 70/30 right now and not in his favor." She sobs.
Sweet Pea pulls her into a hug. "Hey, that's been our odds all our lives. We pulled through every day. Fangs is tough. You have to believe in him. You got to for him and me." At the moment he was only holding it together for her. She was so fragile that he had to be her strong shield.
"I believe, I do." She cried into his chest.
"It's time we end the Ghoulie scourge and that traitor, Penny Peabody permanently." Sweet Pea pace in front of the Serpents. Jughead had come back with Toni and Cheryl. Penny had taken Toni hostage. Jughead and Cheryl went to get her back. Penny gave a warning that the Serpents need to be out of the Southside or it would be war.
"Sweet Pea, two hours ago your fight was with Reggie Mantle. Now you want us to go to war over territory that we don't even control anymore? This is Hiram Lodge's problem, not ours." Jughead thought it was silly to fight over something that wasn't theirs. As far as he was concerned, Hiram could deal with the Ghoulie problem.
"So you're just gonna hand over Sunnyside Trailer Park, our home…" She pointed at her and Sweet Pea. It was the only home they have ever known. It was where all their childhood memories were. "...to Penny and the Ghoulies?"
"Toni, I don't want us to die. A rumble with the Ghoulies right now? It's a suicide run." Jughead thought their lives were more important than a place.
"It's better than a coward's death… Don't we have to defend ourselves?" Sweet Pea got in Jughead's space.
"Calm yourself…" Jughead hisses.
"That's enough!" FP walks out of the office. "I just got a call from the Sheriff's office." He took a deep breath. "Fangs, uh... He didn't make it. He's gone."
"Fangs is dead?" Cheryl held Abby while she cried.
"And we will mourn him, hell yeah, we will. But first, we will honor him. From what I just heard, it sounds like we need to put it to a vote. All those against going to war with the Ghoulies?..." When no one put their hands up he went on. "And all those for giving them hell on the battlefield tomorrow?" He put two curled fingers resemble snake fangs up in the air. Even Cheryl and Abby who didn't have a vote did the same. Jughead thought hard about it. There was no way to talk them out of it, so he would have to figure out a way around them. He turn around to give his dad a nod that he was in as to not make him suspicious.
Half the Serpents were evacuating the trailer park to make sure no innocent lives would be lost. The other half was getting ready to go to war by gathering for their weapons. Knives, guns, bullets, were being laid out on the pool table. Sweet Pea and Toni were packing up a bag to take supplies on their bikes. "Toni, where is Penny's hideout? Jughead turns himself into Hiram to try and avoid the war."
Toni told him the location and he ran out the door after giving the order for everyone to stay there because the war was still on. "Naive Jones." Sweet Pea shook his head.
"Sweet Pea." Toni scolds.
"What? He thought Hiram was going to let the war go if he turn himself in. Those people have no honor. All they did was take out one of our strategists, so they would have a better chance of winning at dawn." He didn't know how someone could be so smart and dumb at the same time.
"Sweet Pea, while he was being naive. He was also being selfless. He was trying to save lives by putting himself on the line." Abby corrected him.
"You don't know think I know that. I do. That's why I'm so mad. He did that for nothing. Ghoulies, the Lodges, Penny, none of them give a shit to keep their word. It makes me hate them even more because now another Serpent is going to be in the hospital for no damn reason other than someone else's pettiness." He shouted in anger.
"Sweet Pea." She went to grab his hand.
"No, you have to go." He pulls his hand away.
"What?" She, along with everyone else was surprised, they have never seen him push her away.
"You can't be here when everything starts. Malachai has expressed an interest in you. I don't want you to be kept as some kind of sex slave." He wouldn't let her be a casualty in this.
"He hollered at me twice. I'm sure he only add me in at the drag race to get under their skin. I doubt he remembers me." She didn't think a guy that looked like that could get hung up on a girl he saw twice.
"That's because everyone here including me has been running interferences. Do you know how many Ghoulies I chased away from going to Pops on your shift? How many Ghoulies have been circling Sunnyside when you're sleeping over?" Sweet Pea had been keeping this secret close to his chest. But, now with their numbers back up, he couldn't do that.
She looked around to see the Serpents who made eye contact with her nod their heads. "I've been getting stalked and you haven't told me anything."
"I had it under control. You haven't seen anyone with a skull on their jacket have you?" He never let any of them get close enough to touch her.
"Sweet Pea is right, Abby. Malachai is going to remember the girl that we've been protecting. He would have won that drag race if the police didn't show up and he wants what he thinks is owed to him and that includes you." Toni couldn't let anything happen to her. Fangs would come back from the dead to kill them if they allow that to happen.
"Fangs would want it that way, Abs." Sweet Pea grabs her hand.
"You just had to throw that low blow didn't you." She wipes her tears.
"If it keeps you safe then I'll throw whatever I have to." He squeezes her hand.
"Okay, I'll go home. I wouldn't want you to be worried about me while you're fighting." She nods.
"Here, take this." Hog Eye held up the key to his truck.
"Are you sure?" She asks.
"Yeah, it'll be safer parked in front of your house than here." He made like she would be doing him a favor.
"Thanks." She hugs them goodbye before leaving. It wasn't until she was sitting at a stoplight did she see she had a voicemail on her phone.
"Hey Abby, this is Larissa." It was the nurse that was from the Southside. "I wanted to tell you that Fangs is out of surgery and he should be waking up soon. No one here, someone should be when he gets up. I put you down as his sister. He's in room 325. If you want to come and see him."
"What?" She picked up the phone to see that it was from half an hour ago. "How?" She replay the message to make sure she wasn't imagining things.
A car horn stops her from playing it a third time. "Okay, coming." She went in the opposite direction of her house to go to the hospital. "What the hell is going on?" She pushed her away through the angry crowd demanding information on Fangs or their loved ones that got hurt during the riots.
She took a deep breath before opening the door. "Fangs." She smiled at the teen sleeping. He had tubes everywhere but he was there, breathing.