A/N: Thanks to everyone for reviewing last chapter! :D

Tw for this chapter: Scenes of verbal and physical child abuse


When Ivy came home from her TV interview later that night, she was startled, though not truly surprised, to see her mother and father sitting in her apartment, waiting for her.

"What. The actual fuck. Were you thinking?" her father growled. His dark eyes glared at her with so much hatred, it made her freeze.

"W-Who let you in here?" Ivy stuttered.

"I have every right to be here. You wouldn't even have this apartment if it wasn't for me." He made a move to get up off the couch, her mother's arm over his chest, as if she was holding back an attack dog.

"Now Charlie, maybe you should take a few deep breaths-"

He shoved his wife away. "I paid for your education. I gave you a job. Your career. A career that most people would kill for. I handed you everything on a silver platter, and this is how you repay me?!" He stormed toward her until he was inches from her face.

Ivy forced herself to look him in the eye. "You only did it because you needed someone to carry on your 'legacy.' Especially after you threw away your only son," she said.

"A legacy that you just spat in the face of!"

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true," Ivy stood up straight, though even at her full height she was still half a head shorter than her father. "If you didn't want the world to know that you're a greedy child abuser, maybe you should've thought about that before-"

He slapped her, hard enough that she staggered back a few feet. As the shock wore off and she began to feel the sting, she saw her mother running towards her through blurry eyes.

"Charlie!" she cried out, reaching for her daughter. "I know you're upset but that's no way to deal with this-"

"Stay out of this Sharon," he snapped, pushing her back.

"You want to see child abuse? I'll show you child abuse," he stalked toward his daughter, his eyes dangerous.

"Your grandmother put me in the hospital more times than I can count while my father slept on the couch, too drunk to even open his eyes. And I never did anything nearly as bad as what you did tonight."

Ivy watched as the blurry outline of her father came closer and closer to her. She backed up, until she was pressed against the wall.

"You're no longer a part of this family, but that much is clear. You knew that well enough when you decided to throw your mother and I under the bus to, what? Prove a point?" He shook his head. "No, I'm going to make sure you truly regret what you did tonight."

As he threw back his fist, Ivy darted towards the other side of the apartment. When her father ran towards her, her mother put herself in between them.

"Charlie, no!" she screamed. "Stop it! She's your daughter!"

"She doesn't recognize me as her father anymore, why should I recognize her as my daughter?" he snapped.

"Let's go home," her mother pleaded, desperately grabbing on to her enraged husband. "I'll fix you up some scotch, set up a nice bath. Give you a chance to clear your mind and get back to yourself."

"You can take your scotch and baths and shove them up your-"

"Do you want to give her more ammunition against you?" her mother asked. "If you so much as leave a mark on her, you know she'll take it to the press. Right now, it's just her word against yours. But if you give her proof?" she gave him a sad smile. "She'll ruin us, Charlie."

Ivy's father gave his wife a long look before his body untensed. "Fine," he agreed. He looked his shaking daughter in the eye. "But tomorrow, I'm calling your landlord. Anything you don't have packed by then is going in the dumpster."

As her father stormed out of the apartment and her mother moved to follow him, Ivy stopped her in the doorway.

"Mom," she said softly. "You don't have to go back with him. You can leave. Stay with me and I'll help you find a divorce lawyer-"

"Have you lost your mind? I'm not divorcing your father," she snapped.

"Why not?" Ivy cried. "Are you really going to tell me you still love him? After everything he's done?"

"Your father is a complicated man, and he's not wrong to be upset with you," she shook her head. "He may have a nasty temper, but everything he said tonight was true. And frankly, what you did tonight to your father and I… well, I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive that."

"I was trying to defend Snake, after you called him a monster," Ivy choked out. "Why do you go along with his lies? Why do you always side with him, even against me and Snake?"

"I love your brother, and I love you, but you've both made your choices," her mother said. Then, in a lower, sad voice. "Maybe you should look up your brother's name, and Townsville Prison. Two people are in the hospital because of him."

"What?!" she cried. "What are you talking about?"

"Sharon, what the hell is taking so long?" Ivy's father's voice sounded from the end of the hall.

"I'm coming," she responded. She spared her daughter one last look before closing the door and walking away.


"So, since we got ol' man Macho with us now," Ace said, gesturing towards an irritated looking Macho. "It's time we start plotting our next move. We need cash and we need cash fast, especially with Mojo breathing down our necks. Now-"

"Wait," Macho interrupted. "Are you talking about Mojo Jojo? You're working for him?"

"More like we have a mutually beneficial agreement," Ace corrected him. "As it turns out, organizing a prison break-in can be quite pricey these days, and good ol' Mojo agreed to help us out. Now we just gotta pay him back."

Macho turned to Arturo. "Did you know about this?"

"It was the only way, Papi," he defended. "Don't worry, Ace has a plan to pay him back, and then we'll be in the clear."

"Mijo, are you honestly going to tell me you trust him, and Mojo, to-"

"I got you out of the slammer, didn't I?" Ace spoke up, his arms crossed across his chest. "If I was you I'd have a bit more faith in me right now. Maybe even throw in a thank you or two."

"I never asked for your help," Macho spat.

"Trust me old man, I didn't do it for you, I did it for your son," he gestured toward Arturo.

"Now, gettin' back to the matter at hand before I was so rudely interrupted, my good man Snake over here has a family with quite a bit of dough. His sister in particular lives in this super ritzy apartment and a shit ton of valuables. They had a bit of a falling out recently, but with a bit of creative thinking, we can come up with a plan to get her to let him in-"

"Ace!" Snake cried. "I'm not robbing my sister's apartment!"

"Why not?" he asked. "She threw you away like dirt just so she can continue to live the high life. Taking her for everything she's got would be some poetic justice if there ever was any."

"Look, she didn't-" he paused, sighing. "She was on the news earlier tonight. She quit her job and denounced our parents. Publicly. She's probably not even going to be living there much longer, if Dad didn't already find a way to get her kicked out." He shook his head, smiling to himself sadly. "She's as much of an Ingleberry as I am at this point."

At this, Ace raised his eyebrows over his sunglasses. "You must be shittin' me."

"I just saw her myself a few hours ago. I wouldn't believe it myself if I didn't."

"Well damn," Ace said. "That does make things more complicated."

"We could hit a bank or something," Arturo suggested.

"Arturo!"

"Nah, too much security. We don't have enough smoke bombs left," Ace shifted his weight in thought. "Hey Snake, your parents didn't suddenly turn over a new leaf or donate all their money to charity, did they?"

"Why? What are you thinking?" he asked warily.

"Well, they got loads of cash, more than enough to pay off Mojo, and a generous amount for ourselves," he said. "If Ivy's out of the question, we could hit their house. Sneak in while they're sleeping, take what we need, then get out. You grew up there, so you must know it like the back of your hand. It'll be easy."

"Ace," Snake started. "I don't know…"

"Oh come on," Ace rolled his eyes. "You can't look me in the eye and say they don't deserve it."

"They do," Snake admitted. "But I don't know if robbing our parents blind is the best way to thank my sister for defending my character on live television."

Ace barked out a laugh. "And a prison break-in is?"

"That was before!" Snake cried. "Besides, that's different. We were freeing an innocent man and reuniting him with his son. Robbing your parents is a bit harder to justify."

"Snake," Ace reached over to put his hand on his shoulder. "Your 'character' is already in the shitter, at least in Townsville's eyes. All of ours are. Nothing we do now is going to make anyone see us as more than a gang of thieves and drug dealers," Ace shot a look at Macho. "Well, one drug dealer."

"I was providing for my family," Macho defended. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"I'd know more about it than you think, old man-"

"Guys, stop it!" Arturo pleaded. "Can't we just focus on the plan?"

"Arturo's right," Snake chimed in. "We can't be fighting each other all the time while the whole town is trying to hunt us down as we speak." He turned toward Ace.

"I don't care about having Townsville's respect," he said. "But I do care about my sister's."

"She ditched your parents herself," Ace pointed out. "If anythin' she might get a kick out of it. Clearly they pissed her off somehow."

Snake hesitated. "I'm not sure about that."

"I know I would. What better way to say 'fuck you mom and dad' then to get publicly disowned by one kid, and robbed blind by the other?"

At this suggestion, Snake started to think it over. "You know what… I'm starting to like it. It's definitely better than robbing a bank."

"So, we got a plan?"

"Yeah," Snake nodded, grinning. "We got a plan."


Later that night after Ace had fallen asleep, Snake left the bedroom they were sharing to get a snack. With everything that had happened, he didn't even realize he hadn't eaten all day until he woke up in the middle of the night to a growling stomach.

As he made his way to the tiny kitchen area Mojo had set up for them, he saw Billy and Arturo fast asleep on the floor in front of the TV with a couple pillows and blankets, along with Macho sitting on the couch watching what looked to be some soap opera.

"Sorry," he apologized after he jumped at the sight of him. "I didn't know anyone else was awake."

"It's alright," Macho said, giving him a nod. "After being in prison for a decade, you learn to keep your eyes open and ears alert. Even at night."

"I was going to grab something to eat. Did you want anything?"

"No, I'm good."

Snake nodded and walked toward the cupboard and frowned at the selection. Apparently, Mojo thought a couple packs of ramen noodles, a bag of chips, and a few boxes of granola bars would be enough to feed five people for an indefinite period of time. Sighing, he grabbed a granola bar before walking back.

"Can I ask you something?" Macho stopped him as he passed. Snake stopped and turned to him.

"Like what?"

"What did your parents do that was so bad that you're willing to rob them? That your sister cut ties with them?"

"Well, for starters they disowned me," he said. "But, really that was just the icing on the cake. They did plenty of other stuff before that too," he shook his head. "As for Ivy, I'm not quite sure what finally pushed her over the edge."

"They abused you both?"

"Well, me definitely," Snake said. "Ivy always had it better. But when you get someone like Charles Ingleberry as a father I guess it's only a matter of time before he turns on you, even if you're his favorite."

Macho shook his head. He turned toward his son's sleeping form and reached down, running his hand through his hair.

"Some people shouldn't have kids," he said. "If my son hadn't been stuck with me he never would've been forced to go through so much at such a young age."

"You don't strike me as the Charles Ingleberry type," Snake said.

"I forced my son to leave his home, his own mother and sisters behind when he was ten years old so I could sell cocaine," he said. "He begged me not to. Maria, my wife, begged me not to. But I was stubborn and when I got a call from that bastard cousin of mine offering me a way out of the poverty we fell into, I took it."

"Arturo told me," Snake said. "He said that your cousin told you could make enough money to provide for your family for years and then some. That you had to leave the others behind because he and his wife only had enough room for two."

"And I listened," Macho said, his voice rising. "I risked everything for him, only for him to pin a drug deal gone wrong on me to save his own ass and force my son to take my place when I was out of the picture," he shook his head, collecting himself. "I didn't know, not about that last part. Not for years, when it was said and done and Arturo told me himself during a visit. But I did that, I did that to him. Left him vulnerable to be used and abused by monsters I called my blood."

Snake was silent, thinking back to the first time he and Ace had met Arturo. They were in juvie, and Arturo was doing his first stint for attempting to sell coke to some older kids in the park. Ace was his cellmate and ended up taking him under his wing, and before he knew it he was inviting him to live at the city dump with him and Snake when they all got out.

At the time he was jealous, angry even, that Ace invited someone else into a place that was supposed to be theirs and theirs alone. But no matter how much he protested, or did whatever he could to make Arturo feel unwelcome, Ace held his ground. Looking back, he felt guilty for how he treated his now good friend.

"You did what you thought was the right thing at the time," Snake said. "Surely that has to count for something?"

"Good intentions won't give my son his childhood back. They won't provide for my wife and daughters either." Macho looked at him, his voice lowering. "You seem to have a bit more sense than your friend Ace so I'm going to trust you with a secret. As soon as we get the money we need, I'm taking Arturo back to Mexico with me. Find my wife and daughters and try to rebuild whatever's left of our family bond. It's been so many years since I've seen little Rosalita, I doubt she would even recognize my face."

Snake stared back at Macho in surprise. "Does Arturo know about this?"

"I will tell him soon enough," he said. "He cares for you all a great deal; you and Ace, the big fat one over there," he gestured toward Billy. "And the ugly one you used to have with you. But it's time for him to be with his family. Nothing good will come of him staying here. Either of us."

"Arturo's an adult," Snake said. "You should at least give him the choice-"

"I abandoned him once to criminals," he said. "I can't do it again."

"Look. Just," he sighed. "Just wait until we get this all sorted out first. Maybe we can think of a better solution that will work for everyone."

"What solution?" Macho asked, smiling sadly. "What other outcome can this possibly lead to other than all of us behind bars?"

"We'll think of something," Snake said. "My sister, she has connections. If I can talk to her, get her on our side, then we can maybe find a way to figure this out legally."

Macho looked down at this son. "I hope you're right about that, Snake. But I'm not holding my breath."


After his talk with Macho, Snake left in search of a way to get into contact with his sister.

"I need to check on her, let her know I'm on her side," he told Macho before he left. "If Ace or any of the others wake up and start asking where I am, turn on the water in the bathroom and tell them I'm taking a shower."

It took a while to find a phone booth hidden off in a fairly secluded area, but eventually, Snake found one off to the side of a backroad.

After patting his jacket pocket where he kept his pocket knife, he slid a quarter into the coin slot and dialed Ivy's phone number. To his surprise, it picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" Asked his sister on the other line. Her voice sounded off, as if she had just been crying.

"Ivy? It's me."

He was met with a shocked silence on the other end.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice sharper than he expected.

"I heard The Great Charles Ingleberry just lost another child due to his terrible parenting skills," he said, trying his best to sound light. "How are you holding up?"

"I should be asking you the same thing."

Snake sighed. Of course she would've found out about the break in by now.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, but we were doing the right thing. He was a wrongly convicted man put in a bad situation. And I was trying to help out my friend."

"And while you were helping out your friend, did you realize that whatever you used to knock everyone out sent two people to the hospital?"

This made him pause. "What?"

"Meredith Asher and Freddie Patson," she said. "Meredith has a lung condition, and Freddie had an allergic reaction to whatever was in that gas you used."

"Oh god," he said, running his hand through his hair. "Ivy, you have to believe me, I didn't mean to-"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

He swallowed. "Are they going to be okay?"

"The most recent reports are optimistic," she said. "Though they're still being kept under observation."

"Ivy…" he trailed off. There was nothing else he could think of to say.

"You and your friends are all over the news. I don't know where you're hiding, but you should know they're going to find you sooner or later."

"That's why I needed to talk to you," he said. "Look, we got ourselves into a bit of a tight spot. We owe some money to Mojo Jojo-"

"Are you seriously asking me what I think you're asking me?" Ivy asked incredulously. "You vandalize a store and cause thousands of dollars in damage. You break into a prison and put two people in the hospital. You get yourself roped in with a supervillain, and now you want me to give you money?"

"Of course not," Snake said. "We… have another way to get the money."

Ivy paused. "Should I even ask?"

"Our parents," he said. "Do you know how secure they keep their valuables these days?"

"You want to rob Mom and Dad."

"Would you be against it?"

It took a few minutes before Ivy spoke again. "No one gets hurt. Not Mom, not Dad, no one. Even if you get caught and some stranger off the street sees you and your friends, you leave them alone."

"Of course," Snake agreed immediately.

"And if you're successful, you'll use whatever you get to pay for Meredith and Freddie's hospital bills."

"I'll give them whatever I can out of my share."

"You promise?"

"I swear."

"Okay," Ivy said. "They just fired their security guard a few weeks ago. Apparently Dad thought he looked at Mom a bit too much and a bit too long for his liking," she said wryly. "They have cameras; one by the front door and another in the living room. Nothing that cutting a few wires won't fix. They still have a safe in the basement where they keep a good few hundred thousand in at a time. I hope that's enough for whatever you need."

"It's more than enough," Snake said, relieved. "Thank you, Ivy. Seriously."

At this, Ivy stayed silent.

"Are you really doing okay?" he asked. "Do you have a place to stay, enough savings to keep you afloat for a while-"

"I'll survive," she said, curtly.

"Ivy-"

"Goodbye, Sanford. And don't call me again."

Before Snake could respond, the other line went dead. Snake stood there, phone in hand, for a good few minutes before he made his way back to the hideout.


Anon #1: Writing the boys doing Criminal Things TM was super fun, it's nice to see them take matters into their own hands. Mojo's appearance was a bit of a surprise for me too, to be honest. But, I think he'll shake things up in an interesting way now that he's here. ;)

K: Ace has never been particularly well known for making good choices lol, at least when it comes to thinking of the aftermath. He just does whatever works in the moment, regardless of how it might play out.

PPGGuy06: She's definitely a little (well, more than a little) fed up at this point lol. You can only push someone so far, and Charles is about to learn that the hard way.

Anon #2: To be honest, I'm not completely sure. I just revamped my outline and it's at a projected 27 chapters at the moment, but that number will likely change again the further I go on.

GGG fan: Sedusa's training definitely came in handy last chapter lol. She might be ruthless and manipulative, but she knows her stuff.

Note: This site has been a bit wonky the past week, so if you leave a review and it doesn't show up, that's probably why. Hopefully things will get fixed soon and it will show up in a few days ^^;