ѕerpenт qυeen - Jughead Jones

XXXIV.

Ava arrived to meeting spot to see Jughead, Fangs, Toni, Sweet Pea, and a few other Serpents. "Hey.. Sorry, I was driving around thinking." Ava said before standing with Jughead. "Penny Peabody has got my dad dealing drugs. I know this,'cause she had us doing it before him. Now she's roped in Tall Boyand Sweet Pea." Jughead said. "Man, if you're pissedbecause your old man tapped me-" Sweet Pea said before Ava stopped him. "No, Sweet Pea, We're pissedbecause we don't want the Serpents to end up like the Ghoulies. And I doubtthat any of you became Serpents just to be at the beck and callof a drug queenpin. We know where this ends." Ava said. "Death, jail." Ava and Jughead said in unison. "Which is whyin the interest of self-preservation..." Jughead started before he looked at Ava. "We have to take out Penny." The both of them said in unison. "Snake Charmer's helped some of us... Even, Aveline." Sweet Pea told him. "Oh, yeah? What did she ask forin return, Sweet Pea? How many favors?Now, if we don't stop Penny tonight... she is going to getevery single one of us in on this." Jughead said. "I promise you. I promise you, Sweet Pea. What I'm asking is,are you willing to risk your necks to save FP's life?" Ava asked crossing her arms. There was a silence before Toni stood up. "What is the first law?" She asked. Sweet Pea looked down then to her. "No Serpent stands alone." He said. People started to agree with them to take down Penny. 

Ava and Jughead stood at the door to see Penny on the other side. "Penny." Ava said smirking. "Ho, merry, ho." Jughead said. She sighed seeing them, "Jughead Jones. Aveline Creed." She said. "Nice crowbar." She commented to Jughead seeing it. "This? I brought itin case I need to pry the door open." Jughead said dropping it. Penny looked at them. "Are you gonna give me a hand with this?" Penny said walking off. "Your dad will be here in, like, what,15, 20 minutes? He probably won't be too happyto see you two, huh?" Penny said working. "I wouldn't worry about that.Neither of us are gonna be here." Ava said. Penny turned around to see the whole group behind them. "Is this supposed to scare me?" Penny said which caused them walk to her. "I would not do this if I were you.You are making a big mistake." Penny told them. "You are making-Are you out of your mind?!" Penny said to them before her face was covered. Ava looked at Jughead, smirking. "Time to carry the plan out, my Prince." She said.

Penny was on her knees on the ground, Toni uncovered her face from the bag. She was breathing heavily as they all watched her. "Where am I?" Penny asked. "You're in Greendale. Your new home." Jughead told her stepping forwards with Ava. "But frankly, Penny,I don't care where you set up shop. But it's not gonna be in Riverdale,and it's not gonna be with the Serpents." Ava told her. "You wanna deal drugs?You wanna extort people? That's your business. But not on the Southside.That belongs to us." Jughead said. They were kneeling in front of her, Ava was slightly smirking. She started laughing and shaking her head. "You stupid, cocky kids. The Serpent law saysyou can't hurt one of your own." Penny said showing her tattoo. "Grab her." Jughead ordered. "Oh, Penny, it's time you learn." Ava said smirking. Toni and Sweet Pea held her still. Jughead took off his jacket. "What are you doing?Get off of me! Get off. Get off of me!" Penny yelled. "That tattoo doesn't make you a Serpent." Jughead said before cutting it off of her while she screamed. "Shh.." Ava said covering her mouth. "Your screams get annoying." She whispered in Penny's ear. After they were done, they left her there while they left. 

"Hey dad." Jughead said. "Hi FP." Ava said. FP walked in to see Pop's. "What's all this?" FP asked them. "This is a celebratory dinner." Ava said smiling softly. "Penny didn't show upfor your pickup, did she?" Jughead asked. "No. No, she didn't. Why?Do you know something about that?" FP said trying to find out what they did. "She's gone, Dad. I rallied the younger Serpents.We drove her out of Riverdale. I got my pound of flesh in the process." Jughead said. "Are you nuts?!! She'll be back. Better believe that." FP said pointing at them. "She won't! We were very persuasive. And even if she does,we will take care of it." Ava said. "You and me and Ava and the other Serpents. In unity, there is strength. That's the sixth law. While you werein jail, I recited that. I lived by that. You wanna take my jacket? You wanna take Ava's? You wannarelegate us to Toys for Tots? Fine. But We're still a Serpent, Dad. And this? This life you wanted to protect me from? I'm proud of this. I'm proud of who I am. You can't take that away from me or from Ava." Jughead said. Ava smiled a bit and held his hand tightly. FP looked at them, he was stressed and frustrated they would even do that. 

Ava, Jughead, Ronnie, Archie, and Betty were at Pop's in a booth together talking about the Black Hood. "Your instinct about Svenson was right,Ronnie. You thought he was the Black Hood. We could've ended it at school,where we confronted him. I didn't see it,I didn't see it in his eyes." Archie said. "Forget his eyes.I can't believe he cut off his own finger." Veronica said. Betty looked at them, "The finger of accusation." Betty said. Jughead scoffed, "So, we know who done it.Why did he do it?" Jughead said. "Mr. Svenson accused an innocent man of murdering his familyand got the man killed. Maybe in some backwards way,he thought that targeting sinners would balance the scales somehow. I don't know." Betty said. "No, no. It makes sense. I mean, Svenson was always around,lurking in the hallways." Ava told them. "He could've seen me and Miss Grundyin the music room." Archie said. "Yeah, he could have seen Mooseand Midge buying Jingle-Jangle." Betty said. "Guys, this is starting to feellike that last scene in Psycho." Jughead told them. "The truth is... I... have nothing, actually. Except that he's in a body bagand we aren't. I think that's enough for tonight." Jughead said. Ava nodded and held his hand softly as they sat there. 

Jughead got a typewriter he always wanted from Betty which kinda made Ava upset she didn't get him anything but a book he used to always read. The Baxter Brothers books she was able to get for him.