Courage

Chapter 1

Joseph Pulitzer knew when Bunsen returned to his office the night of the newsboys' rally with a grim expression and a wad of cash, that things hadn't gone the way he'd wanted them to. He stood immediately when the other man entered, and didn't bother trying to keep the agitation out of his voice.

"He didn't take the deal."

Bunsen shook his head. "He gave some inspirational speech and walked right past me on his way out."

Pulitzer let out a growl of frustration. "Foolish boy."

"What do you want to do now, sir?"

He thought for a moment, before an idea came to him. "Those two boys... the Jacobs."

"Yes, sir?"

"Find where they live, and have them taken to The Refuge."

"For what?"

Pulitzer waved his hand dismissively. "For anything, it doesn't matter. I just want them locked up by tomorrow morning. Maybe that'll teach that Kelly boy a lesson."

oOo

The first thing Davey registered when he regained consciousness was the pain he was in. He involuntarily let out a groan, and he felt some movement near him. Then he heard a voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

"Davey?"

Davey didn't want to get up, because everything hurt, but he knew he had to. He had to meet with Jack, so they could talk about what their next move would be, and he had to make sure Les got up, he had to -

"Davey, c'mon, wake up."

Whose voice was that? He couldn't place it, but he recognized enough to force his eyes open. Once he did, he shot straight up with a gasp, ignoring the pain shooting through his ribs as he did so. He had no idea where he was.

"Hey, calm down." Davey felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look the person attached to the hand and the voice. He was both surprised and confused to see Crutchie looking back at him.

"Crutchie? What...?"

Then it all came flooding back to him. The Refuge, that's where he was. They'd come to the apartment that night,  and arrested he and Les for God only knows what. And that brought him to a whole new set of worries.

"Les, is he okay?" He looked around frantically, but it didn't take him long to see his younger brother lying on the bed next to Crutchie. "Is he -"

"He's fine." Crutchie cut him off. Davey didn't know how he could stay so calm. "He's just asleep."

Davey nodded, now trying to focus on coming to terms with the situation. They were in The Refuge, the place that was so dangerous that Jack had warned him to stay away from it on the first day they met. But it'd be okay. Everything would be fine. He took a deep breath.

"Okay."

Once Crutchie was satisfied with Davey's level off calmness, he grew even more serious.

"What's going on with the strike? Where... where's Jack?"

Davey shook his head. "I don't know where anyone else is, I don't know what happened."

"What? Davey - "

"We had this... we had a rally yesterday, at Medda's, newsies from every borough were there, I thought it went pretty well... you haven't seen anyone else familiar?"

Crutchie shook his head. "You and Les are the only ones I've seen, but that don't  mean others ain't here somewhere else."

Davey nodded. So no one knew what was going on. They could only pray that the other boys were still okay, and that they'd be able to settle the strike without them.

In the meantime, he, Les, and Crutchie, had to figure out how to stay alive in this hellhole until they could figure out a way out.