Abby walked into the shared hospital room of Malcolm and Eddie. Monroe was sitting at his brother's bedside. "I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that they let you guys share a room considering the ideas you have come up with." Sweet Pea, Greg, and Nancy were with her.
"We were trying to help." A bandage up Eddie told her. They went looking for the Dickenson family.
"You should have got out of there after spotting them and let us handle it. You guys got boxing lessons but these guys fight dirty and with weapons. You're not trained for that." Greg knew this would be a problem when the Serpents joined the center. It was a mixed message to these kids. They were telling the kids to be kids when they were teens being adults.
"That was the plan. I promise." Malcolm looks towards his brother whom he knows he disappointed the most. "We never were going to engage with them but we were spotted."
"But, at least we got a few hits in." Eddie thought of Bill's black eye. "The only reason they were able to beat us was because they used weapons."
"I would hit you if you weren't in a hospital bed." Sweets shook his head.
"We're trying to tell them that violence is not always the answer." Abby rolled her eyes.
"This coming from the girl who bodyslam the vending machine to get a candy bar." He pointed outside where the incident happened.
"Here." She gave the boys their candies. "Archie is down at the station talking to FP. He is planning to give him an ultimatum of the police arresting them or we're going to take matters into our own hands."
"That also contradicts what you said about violence." Nancy points out.
"Well, I'm tired of the excuse of not enough evidence to arrest them and the police aren't trying to gather shit." She knew FP's hands were tied with laws and budgets. There wasn't money to pay for police to do everyday duty and extra investigations.
"So, how long did they say you guys would be here for?" Greg asked.
"I got a few days and Eddie got a week, maybe more," Malcolm explains.
"There was internal bleeding," Eddie explained.
Sweet Pea's phone rang. "FP?" He picked it up. "Yeah… of course I'll be there."
"So what?" Greg asked after he put his phone in his pocket.
"He's going to help Archie scare them out of town. He called me and Kraken for backup. He called it Serpent business. I haven't heard that from him in a long time." The smile on his face said that he missed it.
"I'll stay with the girls, make sure they get home fine," Greg told him.
"Thanks, man," They did a bro hug. Sweet Pea kissed Abby's head before leaving.
Eddie stares at the side of Abby's face. "What?" She asked.
"I'm going to be your protector when I grow up." He was going to pay her back for everything she did for him.
"You're going to be more important than that." She pats his cheek.
"Someone needs to do it, Greg is going to get old." He teased the guy who had the job he wanted.
"Hey, You Punk Ass Kid! You're taking advantage of being in a hospital bed." He barks.
The Serpents wait around the corner as Archie approaches the Dickenson brothers. "Well lookie here, Bill and Fagan Dickenson. You guys are the scum of the earth going after kids." In response, Bill spat on Archie's shoes.
"Big man, huh?" FP wearing his Southside Serpents jacket led the serpents around the corner. "Beating up teenagers. Let's see how you do against someone your size." He got into Fagan's face.
"I'll break your bones, old man." Bill let chuckled.
"Not going to be able to do that after I break all of yours." Archie glares. The fight between the four men started.
"And we are here because?" Sweets was annoyed. He got hyped up for a fight and all he was able to do was watch.
"Just in case more guys were here." Kraken wasn't any more happy than him.
"It is entertaining." He watches their guys dominate the fight.
"I don't believe this place has good garlic fries. It's a hospital." Greg didn't believe that a hospital would have good unhealthy food. Abby swears they were the best in Riverdale.
"They also have a nacho cheese dispenser." Nancy laughed while pointing at it.
"It looks like we're even now." They turn to see Darla sitting at a table drinking a cup of coffee. "We both had to visit our kids in the hospital."
"Think with a level head, Abby," Nancy whispers.
Abby sat down across from her. "We are nowhere even. I have already visited those two boys in this hospital before because they didn't want to work for your disgusting cowardly worthless pieces of lives you call sons. I had to do four hospital visits. You only had one." She leaned across the table as she hissed. "I told you if you show your face around here you would have a war against the Serpents. I got a bunch of men searching for them."
"Twenty to be specific," Greg spoke about the people who were looking for them during the week. "You think your three sons can handle twenty snakes."
"You're fighting a losing battle. Riverdale is practically no man land, it's not just the bad guys doing illegal activity. You're not even from here so I don't know why you're fighting for turf that is rightfully ours." She wasn't going to let those kids get under her influence when she saw what she did to her sons.
They heard footsteps running down the hallway. "We got two males badly injured." A head nurse informs. She smirks as Darla's face drops.
"This damn gang violence has to end." A male nurse cursed.
"It looks like our numbers are now 3 to 4. I still owe you one." Abby got up.
Darla got up to run and check on her sons. "I would get out of here because we make it even," Nancy yelled to her back.
"Yeah, Nancy." She high-fived the normally quiet girl.
FP and Archie were having pies at Pops. Sweets and Kraken went back to the center. "I got to say that it felt good." He rubs his busted lip.
"Yeah, we kicked ass, Mr. Jones." Archie agrees.
"It's been a while since these fists delivered some proper street justice. The old jacket still fits like a glove." He stretched his arms out. He loved how it felt like a part of him, unlike the sheriff's uniform. "Your dad, he's looking down on us, probably shaking his head but still…" He reached his arm out like he was going to arm wrestle. Archie joined his hands with him. "He'd be glad your crime-fighting days are over." It was the deal they made, he helped Archie and the teen would quit being a vigilante.
They finished their pies and had a few mugs of coffee as they talked about the good times. "What do you say we call it a night, Red?" FP pat Archie's arm who was nodding off. They got out of the booth. "You need a ride back to the center?"
He turned to answer him when he saw something that turned his blood cold. A man in a black hood came into the diner. "Mr. Jones." He turned to see the man pointing a gun at him. Archie tackled FP into the booth because of that the bullet hit him in the upper shoulder instead of his heart. Archie pops up but the shooter runs out of the diner. He checked on FP while Pops was calling the ambulance.
"I visit people here too much." Abby steps into FP's hospital room. In her head, she thought that she owed Darla two now.
"I can't believe it, Mr. Jones. I'm so sorry." Archie felt at fault. He asked for FP to back him up.
"For what? Hey, it'll take a whole lot more than a flesh wound for me to regret what we did tonight." He had been through worse than this.
"It was Dodger Dickenson." Archie hated this guy. Why did someone like his dad die doing something good while Dodger gets to harm children and keep on living?
"We don't know that." FP didn't want him to go on a revenge mission for him.
"A guy came into Pops wearing a black hood to shoot someone Archie was eating with. No one besides Dodger would make it this personal." Abby was mad that they would remind Archie of one of the worst days of his life.
"I repeat we don't know if it's Dodger!" FP yells.
"Yeah, we do." Fangs came into the room. "Word on the street is that Dodger and his crazy ass mom did it as a parting shot before the Dickensons get out of town."
"So, they are still in Riverdale?" Archie grips Fang's jacket in desperate need of an answer.
"Yup, loading out the arcade." He got words from Slash who was staking out the place.
"How about you keep your damn mouth shut, Fangs? You're already on thin ice for me." He pointed at the teen.
"I was following orders." Fangs defends himself. Abby told him to find out who the shooter was and report back to her. She patted his arm to let him know he was in the clear.
"And you," He grabs the sleeve of Archie's jacket to pull him close. "You don't even think about it, Red. We talked about this." Archie yanked out of his hold and ran out of the room. "You agreed to hang it up for good. Hey! They're leaving town, Archie. You got what you wanted! Archie! Archie!" His words fell on deaf ears.
"Dracula?" Abby called out to the man watching the door.
"I got your bro's back." He was on his tail.
"Abigail." FP knew she was halfway running the show.
"You know as well as I do there is no stopping an Andrews man from doing something that their heart tells them is right. Dracula will make sure he comes back alive." She knew her limitations and she worked with them. It made women better leaders than men in her opinion. Men were not good at compromising and adjusting at the moment. They wanted everything to be their way.
When she saw FP's unconvinced face, she nodded to Fangs. "Come on, we'll go and make sure Archie doesn't kill him."
"Hey, Dracula wouldn't stop that." Fangs agrees.
"Bye FP." They wave to the man before heading out.
Archie and Dracula were sitting in the truck and watched Dodger and his mom "No!" He jumped out of the truck. He didn't find it right that they were going to get off scot-free after everything they did. "You don't get to hurt my kids, shoot somebody in front of me, and leave without any payback." Dracula jumped out after him.
"Dodgy, care to pump these idiots full of lead so we can take the truck with us?" His mom said it in a sweet voice like she was asking if he wanted milk and cookies.
"Oh, you think you're the only one with a gun." Dracula pulls a gun from the shoulder holster underneath his jacket.
"No, Mom, that's alright. Look at him." He walks closer to him. He would see the bruises on him left by Bill. "Bill and Fagan, get their licks in, don't they? But, if it's a fight you're after, let's have ourselves a good old-fashioned brawl." He threw his gun to the side.
"I got more honor than I thought you had." Dracula put his gun back.
"Fine, but make it fast." Darla could see that he was already beaten.
An old-fashioned brawl it was with them trading blows. Of course, a guy who was only beating up preteens didn't stand a chance against the jock that was working out every day. Archie was able to knock him to the ground and kicked him in the face when he tried to get back up.
Fangs pulled up on his motorcycle with Abby riding on the back. Archie looks at them with narrow eyes, trying to warn them to not stop him. Like the scum that Dodger was, he uses Archie being distracted to grab a trash can lid. He got up while swinging it, smacking the teen across the face. Archie spit the blood in his mouth to the side.
He flicks out his pocket knife. Archie rolled his eyes and waved his hand for him to come at him. Dodger ran at him with adrenaline running through his veins. Archie grabbed the arm that had the knife mid-swing to stop from getting stabbed then grabbed the other arm when it went to punch him. He headbutted the man, who grabbed his forehead making him drop the knife. He picked up Dodger to slam him into a wall and knee him in the stomach. He gets a grip on his jacket collar to keep him up while he rains down blows on him.
"Stop! You'll kill him!" Darla screams in fear.
"Oh, but it was okay when he beat kids so badly that if they didn't go to the hospital they would die." Dracula scoffs.
"Archie, enough!" Abby yelled. He looked at her with a rage in his system. "Archie." She held his gaze until it softened. "You got what you wanted. He's unconscious. He's not even feeling the pain anymore." She slowly walks over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let them make you into the monsters that they are."
"I told Dodger if we ever fought again, he wouldn't be able to walk." He looks over at the man's mother. "So, you drag his ass out of here, Darla. And if you or any of your sons step foot in this town ever again. I'll kill all of you." He threw her son onto the ground.
"Don't take him to the Riverdale hospital. We want you out of town in the next hour." Abby pulls her brother to the truck. He stared at Dodger's body.
"I'll drive." Dracula took the keys from Archie's jacket pocket.
"Good thing, we came." Fangs started his bike up.
"Yeah," She straddles the bike and wraps her arms around him. She wasn't so sure that Archie would have stopped. She had never seen that murderous rage in his eyes before. He was acting like only Dodger's soul would satisfy him.
Jughead, Betty, Archie, Veronica, Abby, Toni, and Sweet Pea were standing by the Sweetwater River. Chery had called them to be there with her as she gave Jason a Viking's funeral. She was dressed all in white like she was the day of Jason's death. She was standing between a row boat with Jason on it with flowers surrounding him and a fire pit. "Thank you all for coming. You all were here last time I was at this river when I tried to take my own life. It's only fitting that you're here now. My beloved Toni, thank you for being here as I give Jason at long last, the funeral he deserves." She took a log that was on fire to light the rowboat up. Sweet Pea, Jughead, and Archie push the boat onto the river as the fire starts to spread.
"He was a good brother to me. I wish you could have met him for real." She sobs in Toni's arms.
"I know." She rubs her arms. Betty and Veronica went to comfort her too.
Abby walks over to Archie. "Speaking of good brothers, how are you holding up?"
"Some good brother I was. I lost control. I was blackout… if you weren't there I would have killed him." That was what scared him the most was that there was no doubt in his mind that he would have.
"Don't let the what-ifs haunt you. I was there. I did talk you down. We're family, that's what we're here for." She thought it was silly to punish himself over things that didn't happen. "Is that why you're sleeping at the center?" He spent a few nights at the house before camping out at the center again.
"I feel too dangerous to be around people." He whispers. She found it ironic that the teens were sleeping under the ring. "It makes me so mad when I think about how people like Dodger and Hiram seem to not have to pay for the consequences of their actions but people like Dad have to die as a consequence of other people's actions. That anger is swallowing me whole… I am a monster."
"No, Archie, you're not a monster. I get that angry. I do. I do." She tears up. "That's why I've been spending so much time at the center. When I'm helping others I feel close to him."
"Me too." He pulled her into a hug. "Me too."
"Dodger out of town!" Abby screamed as she along with her main serpents carried in pizzas for the kids. The teens including a recently discharged Eddie and Malcolm cheered.
"Now, that's not to say that you guys should be wandering around at night. But, a big danger being gone is something to celebrate." Archie smiling, and seeing the kids happy made all the hard work worth it.
They attacked the pizza when it was put down on the table. "You made this." Toby feeds his face.
"It's so freaking good." Star hums at the cheese melting in her mouth.
"Yup, there's a reason Jughead requests it on his birthday every year." She pointed to the teen. He gave a thumbs up since his mouth was full. Betty laughed at his cheek puffing out like a squirrel.
"Hopefully we can have more nights like this." She leans against Sweet Pea watching Tessie eating the topping off her pizza before picking up the slice to consume as well.
"With Riverdale, I'll be grateful for a peaceful month." He snorts.