The Other Detective - Book 3 (Riverdale Season 3)

Fear the Reaper - Part 2

They sat in the bunker as it was lit by candles, Kurtz's unconscious body handcuffed to one of the cabinets.

"Kurtz is an insidious bastard," Jughead broke the silence. "I mean, even if we save Aminity, we still lose. I just robbed Pop's at gunpoint. It was unloaded, but still. How can we stay in Riverdale after that?"

"We don't," Gladys said, making him sigh. "We get in a car and we drive up north and we keep going until we find a town where nobody knows us."

"You just don't get it, do you? Riverdale's our home. Dad, Aminity, and I live here. We're happy here. It's you. You destroyed that." She was unable to say anything and Jughead scoffed before grabbing a bucket of water and dumping it on Kurtz who woke up with a start.

"What the hell?" he demanded.

"Sleeping time's over, Kurtz," Jughead told him and pulled him up. "What's the next challenge?"

Kurtz reached into his pocket. "It's a doozie," he said as he looked at the card. "Trial with the Cyclops."

"Cyclops?" Jughead asked as he took the card. "That's not a character class that I've ever read about."

Gladys took the card and looked at it before looking at Kurtz. "I might know what he's talking about."

***

"This was once the Gargoyle lair," Kurtz said as he led them into the new Serpent headquarters. "Now it's a serpent den. But tonight, a battlefield." A figure stepped through the other doorway, coming into the light.

"Penny Peabody," Jughead let out. "You're the Cyclops? I thought you were-"

"Dead?" she cut him off. "Is that what Mommy told you? No. It was an eye for an eye," she said, alluding to the eye patch that now covered her left eye socket. "Though I'm sure she wishes now that she had finished the job."

"Your weapons," Kurtz continued, "will be the sai." He pulled a small sheet off of a table, revealing four sai, picking them up and handing them to the women. "As decreed by the king." Jughead and Kurtz took a seat on the couch.

"Ever held these before, Jones?"

"Once or twice," Gladys said as she got into a fighting position.

"Players, on my mark, let the battle begin. Begin." The girls launched into the fight, Jughead unable to tell who was winning before Gladys kicked Penny in the stomach and Penny hit her arm up, making Gladys cry out.

"Mom," Jughead stood before Kurtz pulled him back down.

"This is a two player game. If you move again, your sister will pay the price." They watched as they continued to fight, Gladys pushing her blade through Penny's shoulder and nailing her to the wall.

"Stop!" Jughead yelled as he stood again. "You just need to defeat her to complete the quest. You did that. Let's go." Gladys looked at her son before shoving the other sai into Penny's knee, causing her to scream.

"I guess you'll be limping home," she spat into Penny's ear.

"Come on," Jughead went up to his mother. "Let's get you to the hospital. Come on."

***

"And then there was one," Kurtz said as Jughead got back in the car after walking out of the emergency room.

"I just dropped my mom off at the emergency room for a broken arm and ruptured kidney. My dad's been shot and my little sister's being held against her will. So you are going to take me to Aminity right now."