Why, oh why?

[Skittery]

{OPEN ONLY TO whichever SSSS person's want to reply --> you know who you are. }

Why was he here in this godforsaken place? He didn't know why. In truth, he had gotten lost and found himself roaming the streets of Midtown. Skittery was a fickle fellow. One minute he was in a great mood, ready to help, and charming the ladies, and in the next - he was a lemon. No, he was a lemon with a nail piercing into it, making the sour juice flow out onto everyone and everything around him.

But right now, he wasn't in either of his regular moods. He was in a daze. His mind was solely focused on one thing - and that was, in fact, a mystery. He himself didn't even know what it was that he was so entranced about - but he knew it had to be something like a lovesick puppy.

Ok, so this is what happened; It was a normal day - he sold about forty papers, and was headed to Tibby's for lunch, kicking at the fall leaves as he went. It was then, that it happened. His hat fell off. He cursed, spinning on his heel to look for it through the few people on the street, and saw it, not on the ground, but in the hands of a...Woman? It was a beautiful woman, probably married by now, but as she handed him his hat and hurried off smiling, it made Skittery think of just how lonely he was.

Maybe that was why he was so grumpy all the time.

Now, back to the present, he found himself in Midtown with serious thoughts lingering in his mind. What was he gonna do with his life? Was he gonna be a newsie forever? Would he marry and have kids? His questions were never answered however, because at that moment, he felt himself falling over something that felt like a fence, and down into what felt like a crater.

What the hell?!

He hit the bottom and rolled over to see someone looking at him like he was an idiot for falling into the construction pit. Glancing up, he saw just how high it was as well. High enough for someone NOT to be able to climb out of. Great. Just great.

[Anthony Higgins]

Racetrack hated life at the moment. He walked quickly, his head down and his hands buried in his pockets, as if he had a purpose, as if he belonged here. Wise ass guys at the lodging house. They were outta their minds. Race, the guy who hated to even leave Manhattan. Race, one of the smallest boys out of the group (but nonetheless one of the toughest, but he didn't look it to an outsider which made him vulnerable). They'd told him to look around to see where Skittery had gone to? Race argued irascibly: Skittery was a big boy; he could take care of himself. No, everyone said, just find out where he is. It ain't safe for any of us to be out on our lonesomes. If that was the case, Race thought now as he hazarded a glance in front of him, then why was he traversing alone in Midtown?!

Race turned a corner, and suddenly, he could see Skittery, walking around like he didn't know where he was going. He opened his mouth to call out, but was immediately silenced when Skittery tumbled over a barrier and into a hole in the street. The display was so beyond comical that a loud laugh exploded out of Racetrack. He couldn't help it; he'd just watched someone fall into a hole! But then he ran over, nonetheless, to see if he was alright. He came to the edge of the hole and peered down. "Odd place for a thinking spot, eh, Skittery?" he said, a grin pushing its way onto his face when he saw Skittery wasn't hurt. "I prefer the park, m'self. You should try it sometime. Much roomier." He couldn't resist poking fun at Skittery while he was in this compromising position. He would help, of course, but right now the opportunity for diatribes was just too good to pass up.

[Pick]

((Mind if I (Joker) jump in? 'Course you don't, cause I'm an SSSS. FEEL THE POWER!! Muwahaha!))

What a day. If Allie had never mastered the art of being a lock pick, then she would have excelled in being a spy for the United States Military, or something of the sort. Unfortunately for the general public, she was excellent in both degrees. One thing had always been her downfall though. That thing was Curiosity. It was curiosity that caused her to use her villainous talents.

Today, Allie was a free bird, wandering the streets of her territory. Midtown sure didn't have the best reputation at all, but it was where people like her lived. They were all a family, because they were all either misunderstood, criminals by accident, or criminals by choice. They were all pretty much bad people, but not everyone was bad to the core like the leader, Mike. Or at least, thats how he seemed to Allie.

Allie on the other hand, was a sweet and caring person. She was the master of an art that people just didn't understand. She only used her art when it was absolutely necessary, and that was often times rare. She fell into the category of "Misunderstood".

Her feet had carried her to 53rd Street somehow. She wasn't supposed to be here - the street was "Off-limits" to everyone who didn't want to be injured by construction or fall into pits...Like...

Allie watched as a tall boy fell right over a barrier and into one of the pits. She nearly fell over from hysterics. She was about to go and see if he was alright, but another, shorter boy beat her to it. She stood back a moment, listening to see if he was going to be nice and pull him out.

"Odd place for a thinking spot, eh, Skittery?" "I prefer the park, m'self. You should try it sometime. Much roomier."

How rude! This boy obviously wasn't going to help the other one, and he deserved the same fate as the one in the hole for how mean he was being! Allie was sensitive to things like that, because of how she was raised. Allie traipsed over to the boy leaning over the barricade and taunting the other one, with a scowl on her face.

"That's not nice!" she said sharply and then shoved him as hard as she could, intending for him to also fall into the hole.

[Skittery]

"Odd place for a thinking spot, eh, Skittery?" "I prefer the park, m'self. You should try it sometime. Much roomier."

Skittery growled up at him in response as he brought himself into a sitting position, in which he went on to a standing one. He was having a bad day. His heart was hurting, and this was how one of his best friends treated him?! That was just wrong.

"Shut ya yap, Race..." Skittery mumbled up half-heartedly to him. The words were hardly out of his mouth though, when he heard a female voice call "That's not nice!". He looked up curiously to see a face he faintly remembered, pushing Race Track.

Who was she...? Skittery racked his brains for a moment, staring up at her dirty face. Allie? Allie the Pick? Pick Perkins? He knew her! Oh dear, he knew her... He really knew her...

During a strike (before the newsies had gone on strike) there were raids going on all day and night, and people were getting mugged and kidnapped. No one was really harmed of course, but the strikers needed some way to put a bit of a scare into the locals - so to do that, they kidnapped some of the locals. It was mostly young people and children - because children had such a soft spot in peoples hearts.

Skittery had seen a small group of strikers taking a child from their mother, and a girl trying to help the mother keep the child. He felt a bit of pity and decided to help. Of course at that time there were only 4 of the strikers. Now that he had joined though, they increased to 7. He, the girl, and the child were all forcibly taken to a warehouse somewhere, and locked in. The girl, had unlocked the door quickly (as if by magic), but they had been standing guard and quickly pushed the three back inside - this time barricading the door. Skittery had been forced to spend 3 days barricaded in that warehouse with that girl and the child.

He had found her to be rather amusing and always looking on the bright side of things, and, when she cleaned up, she was pretty easy on the eyes...

He shielded his eyes to the sun and called up, "Pick Perkins, is that you?"

[Anthony Higgins]

"Shut ya yap, Race..."
"That's not nice!"

Race barely had time to attempt another diatribe at Skittery, before he was shoved from behind after registering an unfamiliar female voice. He stumbled, and he felt his stomach about drop to his knees as he fell after Skittery. Well, rather on top of Skittery. It wasn't too spacious of a hole. After wrestling to get himself to stand upright, Racetrack looked up at whoever had the gall to shove him in here. "Ya little brat! You'll pay for that!" He shook his fist up at her threateningly, thought of how silly he looked, and was content to glare up at her, whoever she was. Skittery was taller than him, and if he hoist himself out, Race didn't have a prayer.

"Pick Perkins, is that you?"

Race looked at Skittery, and then at the girl, Pick Perkins. "Sweet mother of God, you know her? Perfect..." This was just what he needed. Skittery finds a friend who pushed people into holes. He rolled his eyes. "Look, Perkins, you think I wouldn'ta helped Skittery outta here? Christ, I ain't heartless. Unlike some of us." He looked at Pick Perkins pointedly. He sighed heavily. "Since one of us is outside this damned hole, how 'bout some help? He's your friend, and you pushed me in here in the first place!" In his mind, that entitled both of them to get the hell outta here with the help of whoever this dame was.

Race stopped suddenly. "Hey, wait a minute. I know you! Yeah, you're that dame that Woody punched not too long ago! Started that fight at the World building!" He could remember the incident clearly: one of the scabbers had decided to bite his ear. No kidding. Bite. His Ear. Anyway, he knew that a girl standing in line for her papers had been the cause of it. "I remember...yeah, that Benjamin kid was with ya! Zippy, Woody and Clay." He turned to Skittery. "How the hell do you know her?"

[Pick]

Allie covered her mouth in surprise as he actually fell into the hole. She hadn't thought it would work. Oops. She giggled at the comedy of it, but then stopped abruptly as he stood up and threatened her.

"Ya little brat! You'll pay for that!"

She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion, "How am I going to pay for that?" she asked, "You are the one in the hole, I am the one who is going to help you out of the hole - so that would mean that you would have to pay me back for my kindness." she concluded rather matter-of-factly. She may have been the one to push him into the hole in the first place, but that had been an impulsive gesture of frustration - he was the one who actually fell in.

"Pick Perkins, is that you?"

She squinted her eyes and bent over more to look in the hole at the taller boy. What? How could she have missed that it was him? Skittery.

"Skittery?" she asked hesitantly. She had spent a few troubling days locked in a warehouse with him and a poor kid. He was a nice boy - what was he doing in Midtown?

"Look, Perkins, you think I wouldn'ta helped Skittery outta here? Christ, I ain't heartless. Unlike some of us."

Allie chuckled, "One can never be too sure about the people who wander around these parts." she said airily.

"Since one of us is outside this damned hole, how 'bout some help? He's your friend, and you pushed me in here in the first place!"

Allie nodded graciously, "But of course I will help you! What kind of person do you think I am?" she asked, looking hurt. She thought about her left index finger that was broken. That wouldn't help her at all in helping them.

"Hey, wait a minute. I know you! Yeah, you're that dame that Woody punched not too long ago! Started that fight at the World building!"

Allie winced. She remembered that.

"I remember...yeah, that Benjamin kid was with ya! Zippy, Woody and Clay."

Allie brightened a bit, "Benjamin is the one with glasses right? Such a sweet boy - you guys could cut him some slack ya know. He's got more manner then most of you put together." she said sweetly. The word "most" pretty much meant everyone BUT the beautiful Jack Kelly whom she had a slight infatuation with.