Always & Forever | Bughead Oneshots

Dark Corners Of A Tattered House

so, do y'all...like sub/vulnerable jug? this is also a mix of riverdale and ________ _____. y'all'll have to fill in the blank.  ;)

TW: kidnapping, trauma, starvation, weapons

"FBI, open up!"

The demand was loud-- anyone inside could have heard it. Betty knew that as she received a small nod from her supervisor, standing beside her with his gun angled right at the front door. Not a sound came from inside the dilapidated house.

As such, Betty kicked the door in, being followed in by her supervisor as she called out again, "FBI!" The others followed her in, breaking windows and sliding through, unlocking the back door and piling in.

"Clear!" she called out after looking around the living room. "Cooper, you stay here; I'm gonna check the upstairs," he said. She nodded and proceeded to examine the first floor, her gun proceeding her as she looked around, alert and aware.

The interior was thrashed-- old, dingy furniture ripped up with their cushioning on the floor, old hardwood floors stained and torn up, the walls with holes in them. Whoever was living here was only using it for their business.

Betty's team had been following up on a potential kidnapping ring-- one lead bringing them to this demolition zone of a house. "There's nothing here," one of the agents said with a deep sigh, turning the corner after looking through the kitchen. 

"I don't trust that," Betty said, shaking her head slightly as she looked down. "You're incredibly skilled, but something...something's here, I can feel it." "Well, what do you suggest we do?" the agent asked as Betty closed her eyes tightly to think. 

"We're not looking in the right places. Check behind the walls, go up to the roof if you have to, but I'm not leaving until we find it," she answered, nodding and inhaling deeply. But what was 'it'? Betty didn't even know. She just knew her gut was giving her a feeling that wouldn't shake.

"Upstairs is clear," the lead agent said, his voice deep as always and face resilient. "No, there's something here," she said, her eyebrows furrowed. "Cooper, I'm telling you, we didn't find anything. 

"I trust your abilities, Hotch, I do, but, no. I know someone or something is here, I just need to find it," she said before she was looking around, around the floor. "The floor," she said quietly, walking over to the far side of the great room, seeing a patch of flooring that was slightly raised.

"About a third of the floorboards in this house are like that, Coop, c'mon," the agent from before said. "Morgan, trust me on this. I've never been wrong before, have I?" Betty replied before crouching down and putting her gun in her holster.

Hotch and Morgan shared a look, Morgan being skeptical and Hotch replying, his expression reading, "Better to fail after trying than to fail because of not trying." Betty gasped when she ripped up the misplaced floorboards, seeing a hole in the ground with a ladder.

"Guys, back me," she said, calling over to the two agents, who walked over, their guns aimed at the dark abyss beneath the floor. "FBI!" she shouted, waiting to hear a response or some kind of movement.  

She nodded to Hotch when she heard the rattling of metal, discharging her gun and flashlight before slowly stepping down, her arm wrapped around the ladder. "It cuts off," she said, almost falling after trying to take a step that wasn't there. 

"I can step down, there's concrete." Her flashlight was angled at the ground as she took a step, instantly doing a three-sixty check. "FBI," Betty said again before the rattling made her look to her left.

She sighed when she saw a boy sitting against the wall, his arm raised and wrist chained to the wall. She proceeded slowly, calling up, "Hotch, Morgan, there's a kid down here!" "I'm from the FBI, I'm here to help you," she said quietly before stepping forward slowly.

His other arm was under a poorly-draped blanket that laid across his lap and Betty's instincts kicked in, prompting her to ask, "Are you armed?" The boy, who couldn't have been older than seventeen, shook his head; he looked terrified.

"Can you raise your other hand for me, just so I can make sure?" she asked with her flashlight and gun still aimed at him. He did so slowly, his empty palm facing the blonde as she stepped closer. "Is there anyone down here with us? Is there anyone else in the house?"

He shook his head with a small whimper and Betty nodded slowly, crouching down and pulling a bobby pin out of her hair after her gun found its way to her holster. She fit it into the lock of his shackle, unlocking the cuff and slowly lowering his arm.

He whined and groaned at the feeling and Betty could see the red marks around his wrist. "Are you hurt? Are you bleeding anywhere?" He shook his head before Betty was slowly moving the blanket from his lap. 

The boy's clothes--a tee shirt and jeans--were torn and she only sighed, helping him sit up and eventually stand. She could see a large bruise along his side and felt a pang in her chest, asking, "Can you tell me your name? How old you are?"

"J-Jug...Jughead J-Jones," he answered slowly, his breaths deep as they made their slow way over to the ladder. "Fifteen." "Morgan, I'm gonna need more room to get him up," she said, allowing his weight to lay against her.

"You got it, blondie, he answered back before following in the Cooper woman's footsteps and ripping up the surrounding floorboards. "I'm gonna give you a boost, do you think you can grab onto that ladder?" she asked gently as the boy nodded before wincing.

She lifted him slightly before he was climbing onto the ladder, Hotch helping him up the rest of the way. Once he was out, Betty lifted herself to the bars, climbing out and calling out, "Reid, call an ambulance, get 'em over here." 

Reid nodded, pulling out his phone before Betty was turning her attention back to Hotch, who was sitting with Jughead. "His name's Jughead Jones, he's fifteen," she said before adding, "I'm gonna get him some water from the van. 

Betty did just that, walking back into the shredded house and unscrewing the cap for him. The ambulance sirens could be heard from a while away as Betty sat with the boy, talking to him gently and trying to put his shaking figure at ease.

"Do you know how long you've been here?" she asked with her palm gently against his back. "Or who brought you. "A man. I don't know him," he answered, shaking his head slightly before taking another drink of water. "I don't know how long."

Betty only nodded slightly as her hand gently went across his back. "That was Garcia," another blonde agent said as she approached the two. "She pulled up his missing person's report, he'd been missing for two weeks."

Betty looked back at the boy with sympathy in her eyes before saying, "Thanks, JJ," before she was walking off to greet the ambulance. The Cooper woman helped Jughead to stand, once again letting him lean on her as they made their way outside to the ambulance

The team never doubted Betty's instincts; they were proved once again why they had no reason to.