The Other Queen - Book 5 (Riverdale Season 5)

The Pincushion Man

"So the FBI are taking over the investigation of the Lonely Highway?" Aminity asked as she and Betty walked around Riverdale High.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Glen said Jughead and you weren't allowed to be involved anymore unless through the police department."

"As much as I wish we could help, I do appreciate one less thing on my plate. But let Tom or me know if you guys need anything."

***

Aminity was waiting for the next wave of parents on parent teacher night at school, organizing papers, when the power went out.

"What the..." she let out before walking into the hallway. "Archie," she called as she saw him walking past.

"Hey. I think one of the circuit breakers went out. Do you know where they are?"

"Yeah, they're in the shop. Come on. They have flashlights too." They walked down the hall and into the shop classroom. "Catch," she tossed him a flashlight. "It should be on one of these walls." They split up and checked the walls, Aminity finding the breaker box first. She put her hand up to it before hesitating. "Archie?"

"Yeah?" He walked over and noticed the broken lock hanging on the bottom. They glanced at each other they heard someone scream, turning to see a man in a prison jumpsuit running towards them with a crowbar. They both ducked as he swung. Archie quickly popped back up and gave the man a swift uppercut and Aminity punched him in the face while shoving him away. Before they could do anything else, two other men in orange jumpsuits rushed at them. Aminity fell back as one of them rushed at her, knocking her to the ground. She covered her face as the man pounded at her until she managed to get a leg under him and kneed him in the groin. He recoiled long enough for her to flip him over, picking up his head and slamming it onto the ground hard enough to knock him out. She turned to Archie who had knocked the other out as well.

"What the hell is happening?" he panted, but she didn't have an answer. "Come on." Archie readjusted the crowbar in his hands and Aminity grabbed another one before they started moving slowly through the halls. They checked each classroom, finding scared teachers and parents hiding in some of them. Archie and Aminity motioned for them to be quiet before closing the door and making sure that it was locked before moving on. Archie went to turn a corner, but Aminity grabbed him and pulled him back. She pointed at the glass in the trophy cabinet and he saw the reflections of three men. They talked quietly to each other before splitting up. One of them started heading towards where they were, so Archie tossed his crowbar into the office, causing the man to turn and head there instead.

"I'll take care of them. You get to Kevin in the music room," Archie whispered barely loud enough for her to hear and she nodded. They split up and Aminity stayed close to the wall as she moved through the halls, checking more classrooms as she went. She suddenly heard footsteps behind her and she turned, looking up as an inmate stalked towards her, almost a full two feet taller than she was. She took a deep breath, readying the crowbar in her hand, but he only laughed, pulling out a gun from his pocket.

"I know you, cop," he sneered before aiming at her. He didn't get the chance to shoot as someone came up behind him, smashing his head into the wall before kneeing him in the stomach and kicking him twice for good measure once he was on the ground.

"You alright, Princess?" Sweet Pea checked, rushing over to her.

"Yeah," she let out a shuddering breath. "You?" He nodded. "Kevin's got a tour group in the music room."

"Let's go." He took the crowbar from her and she picked up the inmate's gun. They worked their way through the couple classrooms left before meeting up with Archie a they got onto the hallway where the music room was. They heard a loud scuffle inside before hearing Kevin's voice.

"Okay, okay, okay."

"Riverdale Police," Aminity annouced as she walked into the room, seeing an inmate holding a gun pointed at Kevin. "Put the gun down," she ordered.

"I'm not going back," he said, turning the gun to point at her.

"Yes, you are," Archie said as he came up behind him with a machete he had taken off of another inmate. Sweet Pea went over and held his hand out and the man clenched his jaw as he gave Sweet Pea the knife before Archie hit him in the back of the head and he fell to the ground.

"There's three more by the circuit breakers."

"I found two in the halls."

"We found another three," Aminity finished after Archie and Sweet pea.

"The school's under some kind of attack."

"Yeah, my dad just texted me," Kevin said as he pulled out his phone. "He said there's been a breakout at Hiram Lodge's prison."

"I have to get out there," Aminity said. "Tom's gonna need all the help he can get tonight."

"We need to move out," Archie said.

"There are eleven civilians in here," Archie general from the army who was visiting said. "We don't know how many armed inmates are out there. We stayed put, Sergeant."

"Then we barricade all entrances and secure all access points. Kevin, hold down the fort." Archie handed him the machete. "We'll secure the school, get everyone from the classrooms into the music room."

"I'll help you before going to meet Tom." The general, Archie, Sweet Pea, and Aminity went out into the hall, splitting up to make sure everything was secure. Once Aminity handled her section, she went to the front of the school, seeing Archie letting Fred in before closing the door.

"It's a good thing you told me about parent's night," he sighed in relief.
"Frank," Aminity smiled as she jogged over.

"Good to see you, kid."

"You too."

"Uncle Frank, Kevin's dad said there was a prison break."

"Maybe not. I overheard some of my fellow inmates saying they're getting paid to trash the town, especially this school."

"Only Hiram Lodge would be crazy enough to do that."

"But I guarantee you we won't be able to find a way to tie him to it," Aminity sighed.

"Now he's made us the target which means we gotta go." There was suddenly a thump on the door before multiple people started pounding on it and Archie finished chaining it shut. He turned, seeing his general pointing his gun at the door. "General, you only have six bullets in that gun. What are you gonna do when you run out? The smart play is to withdraw while we still can."

"You want us to lead civilians out into open hostile territory?"

"I went to this school. I grew up in this town. We can slip out through a tunnel behind the boiler and then I can get everyone to the sheriff's station safely."

"Archie's right. We wouldn't be above ground very long. The sheriff station has a safe room."

"Really?" Fred asked.

She shrugged. "It's Riverdale. We tried to be prepared for anything."

"Sounds like a plan, Sergeant," Kevin said and they turned to see Kevin and all of the other parents nodding.

"Let's go," Archie said, leading the way.

***

"We had to call in some help from nearby towns and some inmates escaped, but most of them have been rounded up and moved to other prisons. We'll see how long we can keep them out of Hiram's prison, but we'll see," Aminity sighed as she walked through the door and flopped down on the couch.

"You okay?"

"The school's not gonna be up and running for at least three weeks. They're gonna have to do remote learning for now, so we need to change up our lesson plans-"

"Aminity?"

"Yeah?" she finally looked at him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just tired, but I only have a few hours before I need to go help Tom again."

"You're doing too much, Aminity."

"I'll take a break soon. I promise."