✿
"Wait, so someone just submitted this to you?"
Mickey leans over Tabitha's shoulder to get a better look at the article Jughead asked them to read. The two women are skimming the revolting review of Riverdale.
It's become a usual occurrence for Mickey to show up at Jughead and Tabitha's place as of late. Part of it was to to check up on Jughead, but now that his hearing is back miraculously, she just likes being around Tabitha and Jughead.
From the kitchen only a few feet away, Jughead says, "Yeah, to my Riverdale Choice email." He uses the dish towel to dry the dishes he's just washed. It's all be can manage to do as he tries to read Mickey and Tabitha's minds simultaneously. He's convinced everyone that his hearing is back just so he didn't have to tell them he could read their minds. Post-explosion, he can hear the words forming in a person's brain just before they speak them, but it's slightly disorienting.
Mickey stands straight, unable to read another word. "That's pretty bad. I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but yikes!"
"I know," he leans against the sink. "That's why I published it anonymously, to protect our identity, which they asked me to."
Tabitha puts the paper down, turning to face her boyfriend. "I don't know, Jughead. What will the town think? What will they do?
The article wasn't just critiquing Riverdale. It was burning it to the ground. What the town presented as versus what it truly was. It excoriated Veronica and Reggie's Casino, calling it illegal, claiming it would be a gateway to crime, drug use and violence. It condemned Riverdale's culture of street gangs. The Serpents and Ghoulies forever teetering on the brink of war. It called out the town's long history of intolerance, ignorance, persecution and backwards thinking. It highlighted the overtaxed, ineffectual law enforcement, the utter lack of culture and the performing arts. But its most scathing critique took aim at Riverdale's struggling economy, soaring unemployment and quote, "Homeless encampments on every corner." Every word was a razor blade that cut to the very heart of Riverdale itself.
Concern dominates Mickey's features. "Jug, this is anonymous. Don't you think that means you're going to take the brunt of the blowback?"
"I'm expecting it," he admits to them.
✿
That very night, an emergency town hall meeting was scheduled so everyone could respond to the garbage review in person.
All the chattering at the meeting stops when Alice begins speaking. "All right. All right, I'm sure everyone has read the article written by our mysterious author. And, yes, there is a lot to dispute. But not the fact that we do have an illegal casino operating covertly and corruptly within our town limits." Alice is on a mission. She has tunnel-vision for the casino ran by Veronica.
Veronica stands from her seat, "If I may. Babylonium's employees are all citizens of Riverdale who are paid a generous living wage. Also, we have the potential to bring in out-of-towners. Guests who would spend fresh cash across all of our businesses."
"Nice try, Veronica, but we all know who truly profits from a casino. It's its owners. And I mean, when is the last time a Lodge has done anything good for this town?"
"What the hell does that mean?" the casino-owner frowns deeply.
"I think you know exactly what that means," Alice deadpans.
"Well, Mickey came back to help us save the school. She's not involved in anything illegal," Toni states. It's her way of trying to defend her friend, who has the unfortunate luck of having the Lodge last name.
Alice mutters, "That you know of."
Archie stands next, wanting to end the casino debate. "Can we cut to the damn chase here? Who wrote that article?"
No one fesses up.
"Oh, come on. Whoever it is, if you're going to attack our town, at least have the guts to own it," the fiery red head presses.
"It was me. I wrote it." A man in a purple suit rises from his seat. "I wrote the article," he admits with his posh accent. "I...I know I should have had the courage to put my name on it. I guess I was just concerned that if you saw the name Pickens on the byline, then, you'd dismiss my words out of hand because of what my great-great grandfather did."
Toni narrows her eyes at him. "You mean a genocide against my ancestors? Yeah, that's a strike against you."
Mickey remembers the riot the Serpents conducted in high school and the aftermath of that. General Pickens' head being chopped off, Mickey siding with her father and blaming Jughead, and Jughead sleeping with Betty because of that.
"I'm sorry, you've been living here, what, four days?" Archie's trying to cast doubt on Percival's opinion of the town. "And we're supposed to care what you think?"
"Well, sometimes it takes a recent arrival to see what's really wrong with the town," Percival states.
"Yeah, well, all I see, is a Johnny-come-lately talking trash about our town without offering any real solutions."
Percival sits back down and crosses his legs. "But I do have solutions. If you're open to hearing them."
"Buddy, I'm open to resolving this outside. You and me, right now." Typical Archie Andrews.
Frank cuts in, "Okay, Archie. We do need to let Mr. Pickens speak."
"Oh, with a town that's in such dire straits as Riverdale, where do you even begin?" Percival taps his chin with his index finger to mock thinking. "I know. The homeless encampment you call 'Sketch Alley.' Poverty begets more poverty, begets drugs, begets crime, begets more crime until no one is safe."
Murmurs of agreement are soft but audible. Frankly, the lack of disagreement speaks loud as well.
"We can't just bus them out of town. And I'm sorry, but that's not who we are, and it's not what we do," Archie declares. "Riverdale takes care of their own. And the people that live in Sketch Alley, are citizens of this town just as much as all of us."
From her seat, Mickey agrees. "We need to show them that we care."
"In that case, you've heard my recommendation." Percival looks to Mickey, "But we're all ears, Ms. Lodge. What's yours?"
✿
Mickey watches Jughead pace in front of her in her living room. He was waiting for her inside her apartment when she arrived. "You do know that key is for emergencies, right?"
"Riverdale is in a state of emergency!" Jughead exclaims. "I don't think bussing the unhoused out of Riverdale is a proper solution. I know those people. At times I was one of them, and they've always helped me when I was in trouble. They're good people. They need our resources."
"You could've said that at the meeting," she points out.
"At the time, I thought being an impartial journalist meant I couldn't, but I will at the next one. I will fully support you when you present your big idea, which I assume you've come up with?"
Mickey shrugs, "You know me. Anyway, I did some research of my own after the last meeting." She opens a folder full of the research she did today. " She hands him one of the first articles. "A lot of cities, they're building these micro homes. They're basically cabins. They have a shower and a toilet and a bed. Imagine if we did that. We build one of these homes for every unhoused person living in a cardboard box or a tent on the alley."
"We?"
"Well, Archie and his construction crew. We have to talk to him, but he's the one fighting Percival too. I'm sure he'll agree."
"All right. Let's do this. Let's try." Jughead picks up the entire folder to return the first article he gave her. "This is impressive, Mick."
"Thank you."
Jughead moves to sit next to her on her couch. "Can I ask you something?" When she nods, he asks, "How come you didn't stand up for Veronica during the meeting today?"
"Veronica is definitely my father's daughter. She has always been easy to lure to the dark side of things, and I'm pretty sure it's happening again."
"How can you be sure?"
Mickey bites down on her bottom lip, considering for a second. She can trust Jughead with the fact that Veronica hired a hitman to kill their father. She's sure she can. But she doesn't want him seeing Veronica in a bad light to reflect on her. They are related. "I know my sister."
Jughead has to control his expression when he hears her thoughts. He can't let her know that he knows what she just thought. "You know, no matter what Veronica did, you're nothing like your father."
"That means a lot coming from you, Jug."
✿
"All right, people, let's call this meeting to order," Toni instructs at the town hall meeting the next day.
Veronica uncovers her and Reggie's presentation board by ripping off the sheet. "Our proposal for the town's future is simple. Riverdale, the new Atlantic city. Instead of the town and the casino being at odds with each other, why not work together and rebrand as a family-friendly, destination hotspot? Let Babylonium be the solution to lifting Riverdale up." Pride bubbles its way to the surface of her tone.
Alice asks, "So, what, children can gamble now, is that it?"
"We would open an arcade, provide daycare," Veronica counters.
Frank clears his throat. "Here's my problem with the casino. Riverdale has a lot of broken people. Including veterans like myself and Archie. And a casino just isn't a healthy environment for people like that."
Reggie points at Frank, "You raise a valid point, Frank. Let's have that dialogue."
Alice shuts it down, "But not today. We have your proposal, Veronica. We will look it over and get back to you." It's clear she has tunnel-vision when it comes to Veronica and the casino. "In the meantime, if we catch one whiff of any trouble coming from your casino, then any partnership would be immediately untenable."
"Great!" Tabitha speaks up to disperse the tension between Alice and Veronica. "Thank you, Team Babylonium."
Archie's presentation is next. His own presentation board—with a blueprint of the tiny homes—is being showcased to the council as he speaks. "So, the spaces are eight feet wide. They house one to two people, and they can be locked which helps give the occupants a sense of ownership and security. And not to mention, all of the labor, will be provided free of charge by Andrews Construction."
Toni is impressed. "This is a strong, simple, and smart idea, Archie."
"I can't take all the credit. Mickey came up with it. I just came up with the blue prints for the homes."
Tabitha smiles at Mickey before looking back at Archie. "I've seen these mini-houses in Chicago, and they are game changing."
"Yeah. So to start, I was thinking around thirty houses," Archie suggests.
Alice raises a brow, "Uh, how much do these things cost?"
"Well, like I said, Alice, the labor will be free, but with materials, I'm thinking around twenty, twenty-five."
"Thousand? For each house?" Alice shakes her head. "Oh, no. Uh, Riverdale can't afford this. We'd have to raise taxes."
This lights up the chatter amongst the crowd.
Percival stands, "Well, I feel it's my civic duty at this point to point out that, uh, my straightforward proposal would cost the people of Riverdale virtually nothing, and could be carried out immediately."
"We like the vision, Archie. At least, most of us do." Toni cuts Percival a nasty look. "We just need to figure out a way to fund it."
Tabitha adds, "And if you could show us proof of concept, that would be super helpful."
"Yeah, for sure," Archie agrees. "I'll figure something out. I appreciate your time."
✿
Veronica watches as her sister signs through the stack of papers. The scratch of the pen against paper is the only sound in the room. It's eating Veronica up inside, so she decides to speak. "I haven't heard from you much since the funeral." Or at all.
"A lot has been going on. You know, especially with Percival and his very flawed thinking. People like him think the homeless only want handouts. People like him only think about how someone's homelessness impacts them and their property values. It was pretty disappointing to not hear many people at the meeting standing up for our homeless population."
"I didn't know what to say," Veronica bows her head.
"You knew what to say about your dirty casino." Mickey stops signing.
"For your information, Reggie and I are planning on going legit. Maybe it'll help Pickens and all the townies to not see us in such a cynical light."
"So no more side hustles, scams, loopholes, or tax evasion?"
"I want to prove all our haters wrong. We just buried daddy. I want to start a new chapter and rehabilitate the Lodge name. Instead of the council fighting us at every turn, we lock arms with them, help fix the town our father broke."
"It sounds good, Vee. But are you really going to stick with it?"
Veronica can't help but to feel cut by her sister's doubt in her. "Reggie and I are working on getting our licenses and permits in order."
Mickey sighs. "I'll believe it when I see it, Veronica. For now—" she looks down and signs one final line. "Daddy's rum business is yours." It was one last gift from their father and it left a bad taste in Mickey's mouth. She couldn't keep half of it. That's not her world anymore. "I should go."
✿
"How is Kevin doing?"
Archie says, "I just came from the hospital. He's gonna be okay." This afternoon, while building the tiny homes, Doc attacked Kevin out of the blue. He hit him in the skull with a hammer.
Toni stops chewing the inside of her cheek. "This is a mess, Archie."
"Believe me, I know, Toni."
Mickey folds her arms over her chest, "These houses are going to be painted with you guys' businesses on them. If they're associated with violence and crime...—"
"We know," Tabitha and Toni say sadly. Neither of them want her to finish.
Archie says, "I know that article didn't exactly do the Serpents any favors..."
"It did not," Toni doesn't even try to deny the claim. "But you still have our financial support. So, maybe just hold off a beat before you paint it to match the Whyte Wyrm."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for the support, Toni."
"No problem. I'll send you my payment on Chime right now." She pulls out her phone and taps away in her screen.
Archie's phone chimes. "Cool." He looks to Tabitha expectantly.
Mickey, who is also behind the counter, nudges her friend. "What do you say, Tabby?"
Tabitha says, "I am..." she inhales, "still in, Archie." She exhales. "Paint job and all. So! When do you want to set up the first house?"
"Well, I'll bring it by in my truck later today. Thank you, guys." Archie's smile is big. It reminds Mickey of his father. The two men are definitely the heart of this town.
Toni waits until Archie gone to announce that she's going to go downstairs and check on the Wyrm.
Mickey leans her backside against the counter, watching as Tabitha starts a new pot of coffee. "I sold Veronica my portion of my father's rum business today."
"How did that go?"
"As expected."
"What're you gonna do with the money?"
"Well, I already donated some to the tiny homes initiative. I think I'm going to put the rest away for a rainy day or something. Be a responsible adult and all that."
Tabitha grins. "That is very smart."
✿
"So why are we meeting with Percival?"
It's the day after Kevin's attack and Jughead insisted on Mickey joining him at Riverdale High to speak to Percival. He always thought clearer when he could run things through her. "I went to see Doc and he claims to have had no memory of attacking Kev," Jughead informs her.
"Maybe he's not in the right mental state," Mickey suggests. "I mean, clearly he isn't because no sane person just knocks another person in the head with a hammer."
Jughead's mouth twists into a grimace. "I know Doc! I believe him. He said someone with a British accent put the idea in his head. One minute he was helping build houses and the next...he was standing over Kevin."
As if on cue, Percival enters the high school's newspaper room.
"Thank you again, for agreeing to meet with us." Jughead motions to the seat in front of his working desk so that Percival will sit. "Like I mentioned, I would love to do a follow up article to the one that you wrote."
"Do you usually conduct your interviews with non-journalists?" Percival nods toward Mickey.
Mickey says, "I was just curious to hear more of your insight to the current situation in town. Is that okay with you?"
"It's fine."
Jughead says, "This will be something like a rebuttal."
Percival scoffs. "Well, to each his own."
"I've been thinking about this quote that I read. 'The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.'"
"Well, whoever said that obviously didn't grow up in Riverdale."
"It's Gandhi." Jughead persists, "So tell me, Percival, do you really think that bussing the unhoused out of Riverdale is the best that we can muster as a society?"
Well, as I mentioned before, I am coming at this from a place of compassion. My main concern is for the the law-abiding citizens of Riverdale, those who pay their taxes and contribute to the betterment of our society. Now, I've been to several Sketch Alleys in my time. The truth is, charity is doing them a disservice. As is giving them a handout when what they really should be doing is fending for themselves."
Mickey notices the smug look on Percival's face as he stares at Jughead.
"What?" Jughead murmurs. He is wearing a confused look on his face. Then a moment later, Jughead jumps out of his seat like he's seen a ghost. He backs into a corner with terror in his wide blue eyes.
"Jug?" Mickey questions.
"Are you all right, Mr. Jones? Did I not answer the question to your satisfaction?"
Mickey stops the recorder, which is sitting in the middle of the table. "I think we're done here." It's not until Percival is gone that Mickey moves to stand in front of Jughead. She presses her palm to the side of his face as a way to relax him. All she can think is that that was weird.
"You have no idea how weird that was," Jughead responds.
For a split second she's not sure if she had said it aloud or not, but she ignores the weird feeling she's getting.
✿
Two days later, Archie pulls up the diner's lot to find Toni, Tabitha, Jughead and Mickey painting over the finished mini house that was vandalized last night. "What are you guys doing? I'm here to break that house down and haul it away."
Tabitha's breath is seen in the cold air as she rejects this idea. "No, you're not."
Toni stops painting to say, "Tabitha called us, Archie. We started a project, and we're doubling down to finish it."
Archie shakes his head. "It's not worth it. In a few hours, someone will have vandalized it again."
Mickey says, "Then, we will repaint them. And again, and again. As many times as we have to."
"Why don't you grab a brush, Archie?" Tabitha suggests. "It's cold out."
Mickey could think of a few ways to warm up.
Jughead rolls his eyes before walking up to Archie while the girls continue to paint.
Percival pops up, "Hello, there. Now what are you folks doing?" He glances at the work the women are doing. "My goodness, aren't those charming houses? No need for them anymore, though. Sketch Alley is no longer an issue."
Archie squints his eyes. "Meaning what?"
"I took it upon myself to visit Sketch Alley. I spoke to the people living there, and got them to move on. Leave town, start over somewhere else."
Mickey inquires, "And how did you do that?"
"Call it the power of persuasion. I also bought them bus tickets, and gave them each a hundred dollars to build new lives elsewhere."
Toni says, "I don't believe you."
"Well, see for yourselves. Then afterwards, hopefully, see you at the town hall. Keep up the good work."
✿
After another town meeting, where the townspeople expressed gratefulness toward Percival for getting the homeless out of town, Mickey had to pull Jughead to the side. Some people stuck around, waiting to talk to the council one on one as others filed out of the building.
Mickey couldn't help but to notice an interaction between Archie and Jughead during the meeting. Jughead murmured something to Archie as if it was a response to something Archie said, but Archie never said anything. It was just like what happened after Jughead's rebuttal meeting with Percival.
"Tell me what's going on right now, Jug."
"I don't know where to start," he confesses.
"Start with what happened when you interviewed Pickens. Why did you freak out like that?"
Jughead scratches the back of his neck. "It's gonna sound crazy."
"Try me."
"I..." Jughead knows there's no way to sugarcoat it, so he just decides to rip the bandaid off. "I can read minds."
"What?" Mickey wears an incredulous look.
"It started happening after the explosion, when I lost my hearing. Mick, I never got my hearing back."
She's still staring at him like he's got two heads.
"You don't believe me. Look, I know it sounds crazy, but how else would I know that you thought what happened with Pickens was weird or...the ways that you were thinking of warming up when we were painting the houses, and that—"
Mickey's eyes widen and she gasps. "You've been in my head! Jug, that's a complete invasion of privacy!"
"I can't control it! You've really got to stop thinking certain things." He gets back on track, "Percival was in my head during the interview and it freaked me out. I think he can control people's minds. Make people do things. Bad things. We're in trouble, Mick. The whole town is."
a/n: and we're backkkkk! i really thought I would update as the show went on but then the supernatural bits threw me off and I had no idea where the show was going. I still don't even after season 6 but I'm writing it anyway. the show's ending with season 7 which means Mickey's store will be concluding next season as well </3 I will miss writing for her but bless the show ending LOL
Also this is my 100TH CHAPTER!! Wow. Thanks for reading through the years and even now :) I appreciate all of you soooooo much!! <3