The Serpent Queen

Chapter Six

FP was still in jail for covering up Jason Blossom's death which was irritating as hell because the Serpents were in uproar. Especially after they found out Mustang had been killed and Joaquin had left. This was not a good time to be a Serpent and I was trying my best to keep it together. I had heard that FP was offered a deal to get out early in exchange for snitching us out for something we didn't do. I just hoped he stayed quiet.

The whole gang were keeping an eye on his son Jughead from a distance incase anything came up that we could help him with. We'd given him the Serpents jacket as a sign of faith but he hadn't used it yet. Our time came soon though. He rang Tall Boy to meet him at the hospital so I went along too. We met him outside.

'We got nervous when you said to meet you at the hospital' Tall Boy said to Jughead once we had reached him.

'I was just wondering about what you guys said about the Serpents having my back,' Jughead replied, 'Does the courtesy extend to a guy who's like my brother, and a man who's like a second father to me?'

'What do you need kid?' I asked.

'Fred, my buddy's dad, was shot during a robbery at Pop's. The guy was in a black hood' he explained.

'Serpents don't wear hoods' I interjected.

'Yeah, I get it. But some Serpents were working for Fred Andrews when he decided to let them go. Maybe someone took it personally? Went rogue.' Jughead said 'You guys know every hidey - hole in town. Someone has to have heard about what went down.'

'All right. We'll knock some heads. Let you know.' Tall Boy promised him.

We went back to the Whyte Wyrm to interrogate our fellow Serpents on whether they knew anything about what had happened to Fred. Although I doubted they did.

'Come here kiddo' I requested of Sweet Pea.

'What's up Crystal?' he asked.

'I need your help. Take Toni and a couple others you trust to the other popular Serpent hangs. See if you can learn anything about a man named Fred Andrews' I requested 'But be discreet. We can't have this riling the ranks.'

'On it Crystal, you can trust us' he reassured me.

He called Toni over and they left with a few other younger Serpents as I stayed in the bar and spoke to my dad quietly to see if he'd heard anything whilst he was at work all day. Thankfully, he had. There was a guy in the corner of the room who had been running his mouth about Fred Andrews, Pop's, and the shooting. So we did what any normal person would do, beat him for answers and then dragged him to FP's trailer to wait for Jughead to see himself.

We had to wait quite a while so I called the kids off the man hunt and eventually Jughead came home. He looked shocked when he walked through the door and saw us waiting for him.

'What the hell guys? What is this?' he demanded, coming over to us.

'We went out like you asked. This guy was holding court at the Whyte Wyrm. He was overheard talking about how if Andrews was gonna let Hiram Lodge's bitch run the show, fire his crew, it's good he was gut shot' I explained, flexing my hand that held my brass knuckles 'We thought we might press him a little, see if it was just talk or not' I giggled.

'And?' Jughead asked desperately.

'And after a lengthy cross - examination, yeah, we've concluded, he was just being a loud mouth' Tall Boy finished.

'What did you bring him here for? If he didn't do anything?' Jughead exploded.

'So you could see we done what you asked' I told him impatiently 'You need to tell your old man. That's important to us' I tried to keep a straight face and not let any feelings I had for FP show.

'With or without the jacket, you're a Serpent' Tall Boy told Jughead.

'Have you seen my dad yet?' Jughead asked me.

'Haven't had the time to go yet but no doubt he'll be out soon kiddo. Meanwhile, we're here to help you and both you and your dad need to know that' I replied before leaving.