A/N: I absolutely loved writing this chapter, because I got to introduce more of the original characters and practice my combat writing.
No OCs in this chapter, just a warning about some fighting that happens near the end. It's not crucial to the story, so if you need to skip it you can, I'll just explain what happened in the end Authors Note.
~ July 18, 1899 ~
After Spot had finished his speech, saying that he wasn't going to force anyone to buy or not buy papers, until 'hattan proved themselves, he sent everyone away and went back to the lodge with Ollie, Mac, and Firecracker. Once there, he pulled Ollie into his room and gave her a rundown on what she was about to do.
"I'm sending you to 'hattan." He said. "I need you to see if they'll keep to their word. I don't wanna join if they's gonna back out at the last second."
"I know," Ollie said smirking. "You said that already."
"Just listen." He snapped. "I'm sending you because you're the best bird I got, and I think ya bruises from that bull are all healed now." His gaze flickered to her arms, where her bruises were beginning to fade, and he went silent for a few seconds.
"Aw, is the big and tough Spot Conlon, worried about his sister?" She jokingly mocked him.
He gently shoved her shoulder. "Shaddup and listen to me." She nodded. "You can't be seen." He said.
Ollie rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Like I don't know that."
"Ollie, I'm serious."
She sighed and crossed her arms, waiting for him to continue.
"I want you to report back to me every night at the bridge on 'hattan's side. Ya still have to tonight though, even if you'll just have gotten there." Ollie sighed. "And don't get too close to the 'hattan boys either. I don't want them to find out youse a girl."
Ollie laughed quietly. "Youse actin' like I ain't done this before." She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll be fine, it's my job, remember?"
Spot nodded. "Alright, go get ready, we're leaving when you're done." Then he left her to get ready in private.
Ollie headed up to her and Spot's room and began looking for her things. Her slingshot was still in her bag and she pulled it out and stuck it through her belt loop. Ollie pulled off her newspaper bag and tossed it onto the bed. She wouldn't need it in Manhattan. She dug through the drawers trying to find her few belongings. She also grabbed a looser button-up shirt and a couple of long strips of cloth to wrap around her chest. From a distance, it wasn't noticeable that she was a girl, but since she was 16, the cloths would definitely help if she happened to get too close to the Manhattan newsies.
Sighing, she pulled off her suspenders and replaced them with a pair of Spots black ones. She couldn't wear her red ones as that would give away her status as a Brooklyn newsie away if she happened to get seen.
Of course, she wasn't planning on being seen, but there were so many Manhattan newsies and she couldn't disappear into thin air, so she was stuck with leaving her suspenders behind. It wasn't like she hadn't done it before though. It was just that those suspenders made her feel like she belonged to the Brooklyn newsies, even though she knew full well that she was just as big a part of Brooklyn with or without the red suspenders.
She re-braided her hair and tucked it beneath her hat once more, and then looked around the room, making sure she didn't miss anything. All she really needed was her cap, but she decided to bring along her slingshot and a couple of shooters too, just to be on the safe side.
It was well past sun-high when Ollie left the room.
Spot met her outside the lodging house with Mac. "Took ya long enough. Are ya ready to go?"
Ollie looked around the outside of the lodging house. "Give me a minute, then we can go. I don't know how long I'se gonna be over there, and I don't wanna forget anything."
Ollie knew she wouldn't forget it, but she just wanted to mess with Spot a little bit, before she left for who knew how long.
Spot rolled his eyes, clearly onto her scheme. "Youse lived here almost ya whole life, ya won't forget." But he let her look around anyway.
"All right, I'm ready." She said, turning back to her brother, a smirk on her face. He nodded and began walking away, Mac and Ollie falling in behind step behind him.
They walked through the streets of Brooklyn, past shops, other smaller lodging houses, and street vendors selling treats. Normally, Ollie would love to stop and buy an ice cream cone, or a red hot from the vendors, she only had a few coins left, as she had given most of them to the newsies at the distribution gate so they could buy their papers.
When the group reached the bridge, they stopped and said their goodbyes. "Remember to meet me here, every night." Spot reminded her.
"I know," she said. "I will." Then she turned and mock-saluted to Mac. "I promote youse to second in my absence."
He laughed and saluted back, before turning and going back to the docks with Spot.
She stepped up onto the bridge and began to make her way across it.
Ollie loved walking on the bridge. Even though it was noisy and dusty, it was serene, almost peaceful, in a strange kind of way. It took her around half an hour to walk across the bridge, but she didn't mind, the bridge was one of her favorite places in Brooklyn, even if it was between Manhattan and her home.
On the other side of the bridge, Ollie began walking towards where the Manhattan lodging house would be. Even though she had officially only been there once, Ollie had been sent to spy on the Manhattan newsies multiple times, so she had a general idea of where their lodging house was.
She walked the streets of Manhattan until they were nearly empty and the sun was close to setting.
She had just turned onto the street to where the Manhattan distribution center was when she was stopped by someone emerging from the shadows.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
The voice was coming from the shadow in an alley, and when Ollie turned to see who it was, she realized that there were two shadowed figures.
"A newsie out for a stroll?" Asked the second figure. "So close to the circulation gate too. Why are ya alone?"
Ollie turned away from the figures. "Shove off." She said, lowering her voice slightly. She had been in Manhattan for not even an hour, and she had already been seen. She wasn't in the mood to add a fight to that list. Ollie turned and started walking away.
"Don't you walk away from us." Said the first figure, following her. Ollie ignored him and kept walking until she felt him grab her shoulder and spin her around. She glared at him but took the opportunity to size him up.
He was only a couple of inches taller than her, and something glinted from the fading sunlight on his fingers. Brass knuckles. Ollie realized with a sinking feeling that they were looking for a fight and she probably wouldn't get away from this without a couple of bruises.
She took a couple of steps back, just to give herself some room for when the fighting broke out.
"I don't want any trouble." She said. Yet the figures kept stalking closer to her. Her fists clenched and she raised them instinctively.
"Ha!" The one with the brass knuckles laughed. "Wouldja look at that Morris, the kid thinks he can fight us!"
Morris, as Ollie now knew, laughed with the other figure. "Well he ain't gonna last long," he said as he raised his fist to punch Ollie.
She tensed as the punch landed on her left shoulder sending sparks of pain through her arm. She gritted her teeth and looked up, aiming her own punch for Morris' jaw. It was successful, and Ollie smirked at her small victory.
Unfortunately, Brass Knuckles took this as an opportunity to kick the back of her knee, causing it to buckle, and Ollie fell to the ground, but she caught herself with her good knee. Ollie stood quickly; She wasn't in the mood to be kicked when she was down.
Ollie landed an uppercut to Morris's stomach and he doubled over. When she raised her arm to strike again, she saw Brass Knuckles raising his fist with the metal weapon, and he was aiming for her stomach. When he swung, she jumped out of the way, but his fist grazed her elbow, causing small drops of blood to appear.
She gritted her teeth and glared at him, trying to decide on where to hit him back.
"Hey! Leave the kid alone!" The three of them froze and looked over to see two new figures that had appeared at the other end of the alley. "He ain't done anything to ya, so you don't gotta bother him."
"An' what are ya gonna do about it?" Brass Knuckles asked mockingly, turning to face them. Ollie let out a quiet breath. The new figures weren't yelling at her.
"I'll beat the snot outta ya." The new figure said.
Morris looked like he was ready to attack the newcomers, just like he had Ollie, but Brass Knuckles held him back. "Don't." He said. "They ain't worth it. Besides," he smirked. "We've had our fun." He nodded to Ollie, and she scowled.
Morris' eyes glinted darkly, and he let out a sharp laugh. They continued laughing as they looked back at Ollie before turning and walking away. Ollie spat at their backs, but they didn't notice.
The two new figures were heading towards Ollie now, but she turned and started walking, or she tried to anyway, her knee was still hurting.
"Hey!" One called. "Where're ya goin'?"
Ollie turned around. "I didn't need ya help. I was handling it on my own."
The two figures stopped walking and just stared at her. Ollie took this opportunity to study them.
The one who had been talking was average height, with dark brown hair and a cigar in his mouth. His head was tilted back slightly; He also seemed to be studying her. The second figure was around the same height as the first figure with curly brown hair and Ollie noticed that, unlike most newsies, he wasn't wearing any suspenders.
"Sure ya were," Cigar scoffed. "Not like it was two against one."
Ollie crossed her arms. "What do you want?" She made sure to keep her voice lower than usual to make sure she wasn't found out as a girl.
"Nothin'." Curly-Hair said. "We's just making sure youse good."
"I'm fine," Ollie said.
Cigar looked her up and down, skeptical. "What's yer name?"
Ollie hesitated for a second. "Bird." She said finally, using her nickname from Brooklyn.
He nodded. "Well, Bird, what are ya doin' out this late? Got somewhere to be? Someone to meet?"
Ollie sighed. She didn't want to give too much information about herself. "No one to see, nowhere to be." She answered simply, turning away from them. She needed to get somewhere to check up on her injuries, small as they may be. However, the punches to her already bruised arms didn't help matters.
Cigar and Curly-Hair shared a look before hurrying to catch up with her.
"Well, it ain't safe to be wanderin' the streets this close to dark anymore," Curly-Hair said. "Especially with the strike. The Delanceys are just looking for newsies to beat up on now. Well, you know that I guess."
Cigar nodded. "Hey!" He said suddenly. "Why don't ya come with us? We can take ya to our lodgin' house. It's safer there than the streets, an' we can clean ya up there too-only if ya want to though." Ollie considered the prospect.
On one hand, if she agreed, there would be more of a chance she would be found out, but on the other hand, going to the Manhattan lodging house would be a good way to see exactly how well they were doing with the strike. It would also be helpful to help her check up on her wounds.
The three of them walked for a few moments more before Ollie stopped and the two boys turned to look at her.
"Alright," Ollie said, mustering what she hoped was a convincing smile. "Where's your lodging house?"
A/N: If you skipped over the fighting part, all you needed to know is that the Delancey Brothers showed up and fought with Ollie until Race and Mush showed up.
I've decided to set a posting date, and I think that it will be Wednesdays. If the day needs to change because I will be late posting the next chapter, I will say on my bio page.
As always, reviews are welcomed and appreciated! I would love to know what you are thinking of the story so far :) Until next time!
~ Cori