Abby walks into school with her new group of friends. Kurtz was next to her. "So many people have been trying to blame us for their dirty work: that robbery and the guy trying to scare his kid." He grumbled.
"Who cares? Any work making the king seem bigger. We have an opportunity we don't want to miss… The Ghoulies are up for grabs." She heard about Malachai running away when Penny disappeared.
"We don't need them. We got the highest numbers and the strongest soldiers." Tadpole from the other side of her spoke up.
"It's about stopping others from getting their numbers up or another gang from forming." She explains why they need to do this.
"It's about thinking ahead." Kurtz glares at him for trying to oppose a thought of hers.
"Entices them, Dracula." She looks over her shoulder at him.
"Me?" He pointed at himself.
"Him?" Kurtz didn't like her giving a mission to someone else.
"Yes, he can talk women into letting him drink their blood. He knows how to build a fantasy for people who don't have an imagination." She explained why she picked him.
"I could do that." He mutters.
"Are you questioning me?" She tilts her head.
"No…. but I am saying I could." He denies.
"I'll do it." Dracula nods.
"No mention of ascending, it scares people when they don't understand." She warns. They were an intense bunch. It was good to keep those convinced to stay in line but a sane person would run far from them.
Jughead and Betty walk into the Serpents and Sword meeting. "Where the hell is everyone else?" Jughead looks at the four members.
"Oh, we're down another fifteen." Sweets told him.
"What? Another fifteen?" He let his bag drop to the ground.
"Eight were girls and the other seven were G&G players." Sweet Pea broke it down.
"Where are the girls going?" Betty asks.
"Turns out Toni and Cheryl started their own gang. All the girls are defecting to it." He crossed his arms.
"The Pretty Poisons." Fangs hissed the name. He took a seat at the desk. "What do you want us to do, boss?"
"Have you tried talking to Abby?" He looks at Sweets.
"I tried but she said not to speak to her unless I'm saying sorry. I'm not apologizing. She is delusional." He didn't recognize her anymore. "She hasn't even asked about Tessie." He picked her up for the night to find out that she had been alone with Fred. He had no clue where his daughter had been.
"What? Really?" Betty was shocked.
"It's bad, Jugs. Her eyes are different. She is not that sweet generous woman anymore. She is hard, cold, and calculated. I'm scared that we're going to have to take her down to get to the Gargoyle King." Sweets didn't know if he would be able to do that.
"This is my fault. She went looking for them to defend me and now she sucked into their nonsense." Fangs had been feeling guilty. He was having a hard time looking at Sweets and Tessie.
"We'll get her back. She protected, not even a real player. We take down the King, the players will scatter and she'll have to drop back to reality." Betty gave the plan.
"What about the Pretty Poison?" Fangs ask.
"Nothing, this is all because I banished Cheryl and Toni. I just need to talk to Toni and get her back into the Serpents fold and the rest will come back. They need a reminder of what it means to be a Serpent. I'll make this right." He promised. He found rejection everywhere he went. Toni wouldn't budge unless she was given a power position. Verne told him that the Ghoules were already grabbed by the Gargoyles. He only had one more move left.
Abby was at her locker. She was by herself for once. "Hello, Abby." Cheryl approaches her with Toni. "I would like to give you an offer for you and the female Gargoyles to be part of the Pretty Poisons."
"I'm not a gift for you to give to Toni." She rolled her eyes.
"The gang is more than a gift. It's a community of women, protecting each other. We need some protection at this time." Toni gave the purpose of her gang.
"Why would I give up my position of power to be a follower?" She tilts her head.
"I get that." Toni wouldn't go back to the Serpents unless she was offered the position of being the Queen of the Serpents. "We just wanted to offer."
"It'll still be there when your gang fizzles out." Cheryl pulled Toni away, hurt that she didn't take their offer.
"What did they want?" Kurtz charged over when he saw another gang was talking to her.
"Just things they can't have." She shrugged.
"You told them that you would never leave us?" He would have reminded her of a lost child if it wasn't for his nails digging into her arm.
"You don't have to worry about them. They're just girls wanting to protect each other. Nothing that interests me." She wouldn't have joined even if she never found her place as the Goddess. "But, if we have to take care of the redhead, get close. She's a long-range fighter."
"Noted." He loosened his grip when she gave him a way to defeat her.
"Now, come on. Pops is making his cereal milkshakes and fruit pebbles always run out first." She closed her locker to walk to the exit.
"I know, that's why Tadpoles are getting you one." He had thought ahead.
"My teeth are tingling just thinking about it." She sighs dreamily. She walks past her old friends, not realizing it.
"We have to do something." Fangs watch Kurtz barking at people to get out of her way.
"How did your guys' attempt go?" Sweets look at Tomoko and Fangs.
"She tried to recruit us." She told them.
"You think if she saw Tessie she would come back to us." Trev gave another option.
"I can't take a chance of her being rejected. That would break Tessie. They might not get a chance to rebuild when she comes back down." Sweets weren't going to risk the little girl's heart.
"I mentioned Tessie and she said she would get her when the time is right." Fangs were scared of the Gargoyles kidnapping the girl as a quest. "We need to snap her out of it before it comes to that."
"We will." Sweets nod in determination.
"I have to say, Sweet Pea, it is admirable how committed you are to getting her back." Tomoko thought it was romantic.
"She would do the same for me." He knew she wouldn't stop until he came back to his senses.
"And you love her!" Fangs sang.
"That too." He laughed, pushing his friend.
Abby was in her new home which was the manager's office of the slaughterhouse. She was leaning back in the office chair with her legs up on the desk, reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. "Goddess, a Serpent came into the building." Greg, an ex-Ghoulie, was standing guard at the door. She was surprised by how easy it was to recruit them. They were lost lambs glad to have a shepherd, pushing them into a pen.
She steps onto the indoor balcony that oversees the first floor. She watched Jughead shine his light making some people that were laying on the floor hiss. "They're having a bad high, the idiot." She gave them water and dark space to sit.
He eventually found Kurtz sitting on a throne that had a gargoyle on top of it that had a skull for a head. "Are you Kurtz? I'm here to talk. One leader to another." He nods for Jughead to take a seat across from him. "I'm the Serpents King and I'm here to make you an offer. You're all wanted for making and dealing with fizzle rocks. But, if you and your Gargoyles join my gang, I can promise you immunity from the sheriff's office and the law."
She laughed. Jug didn't realize when he stepped through the door he fell down the rabbit hole. "Laws? Immunity? I have looked into the eyes of the King, and he is the only law. The law of Gargoyle carved in stone." He let out a scoff at the offer.
"Right, so you wanna play a game. I'm a game master, let me be your game master." His cluelessness was making the few coherent people in the room laugh.
"You think Gryphons and Gargoyles is a game? You are a mistake." He stood up and Jug was quick to get to his feet. "You come here as a king but you're not a king. And you think we're playing a game. We are living a prophecy and you all are just sacrifices waiting to be made. The Gargoyle King lives and he decides and he will choose. Only the worthy will ascend."
Jughead ran out while he stared off to the side. He was watching Abby come down. "He ran off." She was planning on giving him a piece of her mind.
"All for the better. He's not worthy of your time." He sat down on the throne.
She took a seat on the arm of it. "Greg has been thinking of his new self."
"Oh, is that so?" He looks up at the new member that the goddess has taken too. For that Kurtz would have him ascend sooner than later.
"A giant." He puffed out his chest.
"It's fitting because he is so tall." She cheers.
"You like them tall." He questions.
"Umm… I suppose they are useful for grabbing things." She shrugs. "Come on, Dracula. I have a reward for you for gathering the Ghoulies." She called for the teen that was texting girls.
"Okay." He put his phone in his pocket to follow her.
"Stay here." Kurtz stops Greg from following them up to the office. She grabs a needle that is still in the wrapping from the desk drawer. "What are you doing?"
"Just drawing a little blood." She opened it.
"Do you know how to do that?" Dracula grabs the needle to do it for her.
"Give me that, you're shaking." Kurtz took it from his hand.
"I can't help it, this is the goddess's blood." He looked down to see that he was shaking.
After drawing it, Kurtz hands it to Dracula. "Take it to a private room." He didn't want others asking for this. He didn't want Abby to see him moan like a whore while drinking it.
"That's probably for the better." He stared at the syringe like it was the holy grail. "Thank you." he bows to her before he leaves the room.
"Are you sure it is wise to give that guy a taste?" He closed the door to ask.
"I'm a goddess to everyone, not just you." She sat in the office chair.
"I know. I'm working on my jealousy." It wasn't the first time they had this talk in the weeks she had been with them.
"More like working on ascending the ones who make you feel that way." She scoffs.
"That's the end goal." He reminds her.
She hummed. "Then why not make their time on earth a living fantasy."
"If I bathe, can I hold you again?" He asked. She paused to think about it. She didn't know if she wanted to reward him when he was still showing jealousy. "I did get that Serpents out, didn't I?"
"I suppose you did. If you bathe, you can." She gave in.
The door to the office was open. The heavy metal that was being played downstairs traveled up to her. She was looking through her gifts of the day. They were all homemade since she said those were her favorite. She held up a dream catch, thinking it was beautiful. She felt the soft black feathers. When Crazy Train by Ozzy was turned off, she got up to see what was wrong. "Who the hell are you to come up here and demand to see the Goddess?" Kurtz was standing across from a woman she never thought she would see again.
"Let Auntie Glady up." She leaned against the railing.
The older woman looked up to see how the little girl she knew had grown. "Boss lady said to let me up." She turned to Kurtz who didn't move. He growls as he moves to the side.
"Send someone to check the perimeter. She didn't come alone. But, don't attack, just be aware of where they are located." She spoke to him when he started to climb the stairs.
"You heard her!" Kurtz shouted.
"I got it." Greg volunteered.
"I'll go too." Kraken was another ex-Ghoulie. He was always ready for some action. The possibility of fighting some Serpents wasn't an opportunity he was going to pass up.
Abby closes the door after they enter. She took a seat behind the desk while gesturing for Glady to take the chair across from her. "Let me guess you're here to do what your son failed to do." Kurtz stood behind Abby's chair. "I'm getting a lot of offers lately and I'll ask the same thing I did for them. Why should I give up my power to be your follower?" She crosses her legs.
"No one said you have to give up power. I know those guys will never listen to Jughead. I need you as a commander. My next in line." She offers.
"I'm supposed to believe you want to groom me for that when you have a son and a daughter." She narrowed her eyes.
"Jug has proven that he is too soft like his father. Jelly Bean is still young. I'll pass it on to you and you can pass it on to her." While she saw a bit of her youth in Veronica, she thought Abby looked like her spitting image. She wasn't trying to survive, she was trying to thrive. That was something she welcomed into her gang.
"Tell me, why are you here, to take over the drug trade?" They need an income. If she didn't have money coming in then it would be only a matter of time before they start getting arrested for petty crimes.
"I am actually. I know right now you don't have an income. We'll both benefit from this partnership. I'll have the manpower and you'll get money." She wagers.
"Does Jughead know? Because he is against dealing and G&G. He is not known for playing nice." She informs her.
"I'll take care of him, don't worry." She reassured her.
"We'll be a chapter of Serpents. A subgroup if you will. We'll still do your bidding and be on call but they need their freedom for G&G." She didn't want to be under Hiram's thumb.
"Serpents Gargoyle… hum… alright we got a deal." She stuck out her hand. Abby gave her a firm handshake. "I'm surprised there were no objections." She looks at the teen behind her.
"I agree with the deal. We need the money and more material for G&G." He agrees. "But, you better handle, Jones."
"Kurtz, we just made a deal and you're making underline threats." She looks over her shoulders.
"Fine, but I will only listen to you." He wasn't taking orders from anyone else.
"We'll work together fine." She looks at Glady with a large smile.
"We'll go in first." Greg went in front of the women.
"I don't think that is a smart idea." She knew her kids wouldn't react well to them.
"It's not for you, it's for the Goddess." Kraken joins him in clearing the area. They charge into the trailer.
"Gargoyle!" Jughead yelled.
The ladies walk in to see Jughead, Jellybean, Fangs, and Swee Pea had their guns on the men. "It's okay, kids, stand down." Glady orders. They put their guns down.
"What the hell is this?" He asked his mother. "Are they with you?"
"I did what you couldn't. You know there is someone called the Gargoyle Goddess in the group and you think Kurtz was the leader." She rolled her eyes at her foolish son. "Take the dumb mask off." She snaps at the group.
"This is a friendly meeting." Abby reminds them. They took off their masks.
"This is a bad idea." Jugs told his mother.
"Sweetheart, sometimes beggars can't be choosers. You'll find a way to work with her. We all want the same thing to get this town back and to do that we need manpower." She tried to convince him.
"I told you he wasn't going to play nice." Abby crosses her arms.
"There is no point in manpower when they are unpredictable." He sneers.
"Mommy." A little girl ran out of the bathroom.
"Tessie." She stares at her like she had to be a mirage.
Tadpole moved to stand in front of her but Kurtz pulled him back and smacked him in the back of the head. "A drug-out idiot ran out at her and you don't see anything wrong but a little girl is dangerous to you." He grips the back of his neck tightly.
"Kurtz, we talk about if you ever meet Tessie." She bent down to pick up the girl. She stared at the strangers in the room. He let him go, remembering the rule of no violence in front of her. "You see this little girl," She turned for all the members to see her. "If you hurt her in any way whether on purpose or accidentally, you will not ascend." To the shock of others in the room, the group looks panicked at the thought.
"But, you will suffer," Kurtz adds on with a menacing smile.
"You're the guy from my dreams." Tessie pointed at him.
"What are you talking about?" She looks at the girl.
"He's in my dreams. He comes into the room and leaves the gifts." They realize that she must have woken up and thought she was dreaming when he sneaked into the room. "So cool like Santa." She admired him. "Daddy, Papa, mommy's back." She looks at her two father figures.
"I see her." Sweets went to take her from her arms.
She wiggles to be let down. When she was, she returned to her mommy's side. "Who are your new friends?" Abby went around introducing her. "Dracula is like a monster." She looks up at the muscular teen.
"Yeah… it's a nickname." He was nervous to be around her. He never had to deal with a child.
"Why?" She tilts her head.
"Um… for my sharp teeth." He opens his mouth to show the teeth he files to be sharp.
"Woah." She felt her canines.
Fangs went with her as she went around asking them questions. "So, can we talk?" Sweets came up to her.
"I don't know, do you have something to say to me?" She glanced at him like she was bored.
"Are you sorry? You said some fucked up shit too." He reminds her. She nods for him to follow her outside. They went to sit around the fire pit.
"I am. I should have told you of my frustration of being treated like a helpless child. I definitely shouldn't have insulted the Serpents, all things considered." She thought back to the two groups that had too much tension to mix. Tessie was the only one going between them.
"That's why you shouldn't have insulted them?" He cocks an eyebrow.
"And because of how much they mean to you." She rolled her eyes. "And you?"
"I'm sorry, I let my anger get the best of me. You have told me that you don't like me throwing my distaste of the Northside at you and I did it again." He did go for her weak spot the second he was hurt. They sat in silence because despite admitting their wrongs, it felt like there was too much distance between them.
"What happened to your face?" She asked.
"The Pretty Poisons." He mutters before asking when he wanted to scream in her face since he saw her enter the school with them. "What are you doing with them?"
"Leading." She leaned into whispers. "No one has ascended since I took the lead."
"That's not going to last…. So, have you been pretending this whole time?" He was relieved she didn't believe it.
"If I'm being honest, I get lost in the role more than not. It's hard not to, the goddess is powerful, confident, and commanding. She's everything I want to be." She rubs her hands by the fire.
"I thought you were perfect before." He hated that he had never seen this insecurity.
"That's sweet of you to say." She smiles. "I do care for them. Sure, Dracula has a blood kink, Tadpole a dense fuck up, and Kraken likes to fight more than most, but, they're oddballs looking for an escape from reality. That's why they're so vulnerable to the game." She wanted to find the King to stop him and save them.
"I have to say you are convincing." He didn't have a clue she was trying to control things from the inside.
"This has to stay a secret, Sweets. You have to pretend like you're still upset with me." She couldn't have him blow her cover.
"I can't tell Fangs? He's feeling guilty and he's worried sick." He felt bad for his friend.
"You can, if you do, you have to tell him the same thing. Kurtz for all his craziness is observant. If he finds out that I don't believe, it would be bad.." She feared he would lock her away until she went insane and believed she was a god.
Greg walks over to her. "Tessie keeps calling Kurtz a dreamy guy and it started to disturb me. Nothing that small and cute should cuddle up to that scumbag."
"Alright, we'll need to talk about boundaries." She got up to go put Tessie to bed.
"You were a Ghoulie, right?" Sweet Pea looks him over.
"Yeah." He looks back at the trailer before leaning into whispers. "Don't worry, I got her back."
"So you don't believe in the game?" He wondered if he said the wrong thing.
"No, I went there because a lot of the Ghoulies went. She could see that I was freaking out. She pulled me to the side and told me everything. I've been made her bodyguard." He thought he should know that she wasn't flying solo in this undercover mission. "If I were you I would watch yourself around Kurtz. He has a jealous streak when it comes to her."
"Is he in love with her?" He asks.
"He's in love with the goddess but he would never make the first move. It would be insulting to her as a god." Kurtz was out of his mind but he played by the game rules. "She loves you, you know. Whenever we are alone she talks about you. All of you. I think she does it to keep herself grounded."
"I love her too." He felt himself tear up at the thought of losing her. "If it wasn't for all this shit, we would be smooth sailing. I swear."
"Sorry, dude. Nothing is smooth sailing in Riverdale." He pats his back.