"Sorry, what?!" I gasp.
A week later, I sit at Pops with Archie, Betty and Jughead trying to figure out what the next move is with Archie being marked for death.
"Yup." Jughead sighs.
"So... You're telling me... That Betty tried to burn her house down, and then Mrs C sold the house to Mrs J?" I splutter.
"That is exactly what happened." Betty hums.
"Riverdale, man." I exhale.
"You're telling me." Jug says before turning to Archie "Here's the deal, Arch. I checked with my dad, who pulled all the files on Warden Norton after he committed suicide. They cleared out his office and found this."
Jughead holds up an evidence bag with another 'Kill the Red Paladin' card inside.
"A quest card... 'Kill the Red Paladin' just like the one Ricky had." Archie sighs.
"Wait... Jughead?" I say, taking both Ricky's card and the evidence card from Archie and inspecting them. "These cards are identical?"
"Exactly. Same design, same card stock." Jughead says.
"What does that mean?" Archie asks.
"Someone printed multiple 'Kill the Red Paladin' cards and put them out into the world." Jughead says.
"We need to find out who." Betty says.
"I know where to start." Archie says.
*
"Archie, Nova. Long time. How have you two been?" Hiram Lodge says as we stand across from him sitting in his chair.
"I was doing pretty good, Mr Lodge. Until a homeless kid stabbed both Nova and I in my house." Archie says.
"So besides a few stab wounds, yeah, we're doing great." I say sarcastically.
"Did this person break in?" Hiram asks.
"No." Archie says, pulling out the card and walking forward. "But he did have one of these. Do you recognise it?"
Hiram takes the card from Archie, inspecting it.
"I- um..." Hiram sputters.
"You started that quest, Mr Lodge." I say, my arms folded.
"Kill the Red Paladin." Archie reads. "With Warden Norton, and Tall Boy, when he was working for you, he referred to me as the Red Paladin."
"Even if he did, Archie. It's all in the past, we have a truce, you and I." Hiram says.
"Mr Lodge, did you give a quest card to Warden Norton?" Archie asks.
"Yes." Hiram says.
"Did you give out any others?" I ask.
I..." Hiram hums
"Mr Lodge, your actions are once again putting my brother's life on the line. Please. Just tell us the truth." I demand.
"I printed out an even dozen of the quest cards. I gave 3 to Warden Norton and 9 to Tall Boy to distribute amongst the more... fanatical players." Hiram informs us.
"Well truce or no truce, the clock you wound up is still running, Mr Lodge. There's other players out there, biding their time waiting to kill me that I now need to track down." Archie says.
"Right... Well I might be able to help you with that." Hiram says, getting out a pen. "While I was briefly distributing Fizzle Rocks, my soldiers like Tall Boy would make drop offs and pick ups to various hotspots around town."
YOU ARE READING
Resilience | Sweet Pea.
FanfictionResilience; (n.) the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. "I came to the place I felt the safest." I tell him. "With you." Nova Daniels, the adoptive sister of Riverdale's very own Archie Andrews, has had trouble after trouble...
