More than meets the eye (A Spot Conlon, Newsies fanfic)

Attacks

“With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.” – George Bush

It had been a few days since the incident with Yella and Agatha’s brothers. Happenings had started to occur. Some of Spots boys had started to be targeted and attacked. Several had been verbally threatened but when asked could not identify by whom. Spot wondered if the attacks had anything to do with Agatha’s brother or if it was just a coincidence – but, thought Spot, I do not believe there is such a thing as coincidence. I believe in conspiracy and stratagem, I believe in carefully planned schemes that are made to ruin others. That I believe, but not coincidence.

With that thought in mind Spot decided to tell Rats to keep an extra eye out for any bizarre goings-ons. Rats had already noticed that things were going on and had told his spies to be more watchful. Rats was not happy because he believed he had the best spies and yet they could find nothing suspicious. Spot was particularly confused and even though he knew he and Brooklyn had a lot of enemies, he could not think of any that were intelligent enough to hide their tracks and not get caught.

Spot did not know what was going on, and Spot hated not knowing what was going on. It made him feel like a child kept in the dark. Spot believed that he had not been a child in a long time – sometimes he debated if he ever was. He had had to take on a lot of responsibility at a young age and had seen the harsh world in its true colours. Spot had come to realize that the world was a cruel place when he was five. Most people did not realize that until their mid teens – but Spot had had to bear the realization at a tender young age when most of our crucial and lasting opinions are formed.

Spot was starting to get angry at himself. How could he not figure out who was attacking them? How had no one seen any going-ons? How had nothing been reported? He decided that since his boys were not doing anything and that most of them were at a loose end they would all spy. He decided that they would all be assigned a different borough to spy on, and someone would spy on Agatha’s brothers. With that decision Spot went and sat on a bench pondering on who would want to cause Brooklyn pain. He came up with a lot of answers. Brooklyn had a lot of enemies.

As Spot was sitting there he heard a voice. It was two of his boys, Barrel and Pic, and Carpy. The only problem was that Carpy was bleeding and being carried. Spot got up quickly and went over.

“What happened?” He asked.

“We were sitting on a wall and then these boys came over and told us to get off. We said no and they pushed Pic off the wall. Carpy then punched one of them and then they just started attacking each other. We tried to help Carpy but they really wanted to hurt him and Carpy would not back down.” Explained Barrel.

That sounds like Carpy, thought Spot. Never backing down and squaring up to every Bob, Dick and Harry. He really needs to learn to calm down and take a deep breath.

“Go and get Birdie.” Spot ordered Pic. Spot picked Carpy up and laid him down on the bench. “Can you remember who it was that attacked you?” Asked Spot.

“I think it was someone from Queens.” Said Barrel.

“Rats will know. Go and get him.” Regimented Spot. Spot felt better when giving orders. It made him feel important and as if he was doing something good.

It took Rats about ten minutes to get there. Birdie still had not come. Rats and Carpy had a strong bond. They were very close and Spot could see that Rats was not happy. His left eye was twitching and his mouth was formed into a sneer. Spot could almost feel Rats planning revenge on the people that hurt Carpy. But for now, Spot needed Rats to stay calm in order to identify the people that Barrel was about to describe to them.

“Who was it? Who hurt him?” Rats demanded.

“It was five boys.” Explained Barrel “They were all older than us – about mid-teens, I would say. One of them had a scar on his cheek.”

Rats jumped on that piece of information. “Describe the boy with the scar.”

“He was tall with black hair. His ear also looked like it had been torn. He had very long fingers.”

“That is Blem.” Said Rats. “And I am guessing one of his merry men was blonde with a gimp leg?”

“There was a blonde boy, but I do not know if he had a gimp leg.”

“The blonde one is Blems sidekick. He is called Donk – it is short for Donkey. Apparently, Blem dumps all the work on Donk and makes him carry the burden.”

“Where are they from?” Asked Spot.

“Staten island.” Said Rats.

“What were they doing in Brooklyn, then?” Asked Barrel.

“Probably searching for their next victim to scare.” Said Spot.

“Why would they want to cause us harm?” Asked Barrel.

Spot looked at Rats. “Check if Agatha’s brothers have any connection with Staten Island.”

“Will do.” Said Rats not moving a muscle.

“Now.” Ordered Spot. Spot could see Rats having an inner battle. He was debating between disrespecting Spot and staying with his close friend. Rats looked at Carpy then at Spot, and decided that his friend was in good hands and he might as well go and do whatever he could to help. Rats sped off to go and find some of his boy to help him investigate. He was determined that Blem and Donk and whoever else was behind all the recent trouble would meet their comeuppance.

Meanwhile, Birdie had returned with Pic and was giving Carpy a check over. Birdie had never taken any medical courses so what he was doing was what he had learned from books and gut instinct – if a heart was not beating you did not need a doctor to tell you it was dead.

“He is concussed.” Said Birdie looking up. “We need to call a doctor. There could be extensive damage, maybe even internal bleeding.”

“We do not have money for a doctor.” Said Barrel.

“We will use Dr. Mossetti. Pic, go to Dr. Mossetti and tell him it is an emergency and that we will meet him at Lulus house. Barrel, go and round up as much money as you can from the boys.”

The two boys left, leaving Birdie and Spot to carry Carpy to Lulus house. Luckily, Lulus house was not far and when she saw them she did not hesitate to let them in.

As Spot was waiting for Dr. Mossetti, he made a silent resolve that the Staten Islanders were about to get what they deserved. After all, you fight fire with fire. And no one was better than Brooklyn at getting revenge.

I am incredibly sorry for the long wait. I was a tad busy and did not have the time to write. I realize this is not one of my best chapters. This chapter remains unedited so forgive me for any mistakes.

Do you think Agatha’s brothers have anything to do with the attacks?

Thank you for reading!