Chapter Seventy-Seven: Lies and the Truth

“You were WRONG.” Daryl smirked.

“Shut. Up.” Judith Jofrey seethed.

They were sitting in the Mayors office, where Demon Jones had called a meeting.

“Both of you, enough.” Demon growled.

“C'mon Dad. Let me just have this.” Daryl grinned. “I mean, unless that baby brat Masters has grown into a teenager in the past twelve months, there's no way Belle Masters could be Giggles, because she doesn't have a sister old enough to fight!”

“Get OVER it!” Judith hissed.

“ENOUGH!” Demon raised his voice. “Now, if you don't stop Daryl, I will have you removed.”

Daryl settled back into his seat, satisfied.

“Now, we have a problem. Mark is dead, thanks to Master Revolver. Roger has vanished for the time being, which is annoying because I had plans with the March Hill Crusaders.” Demon glared at Judith.

“You were going to betray the Mobsters of Misneach.” She said evenly.

“They're idiots who have only kept their power by the sheer virtue that no one else could be bothered.” Demon muttered.

“They're the reason you got in as Mayor, remember?” Judith replied.

Demon bristled.

“I don't think we have anything further to discuss. Good day, Arnold.” Judith got up and left.

--

“Is this going to be another chapter of exposition?” Charlie groaned as Belle jotted down some notes.

“I'm just going say this is totally the fault of the Mob. The last time we had so many crime syndicates in Pleasantville was when the March Hill Crusaders ran the Mayors office. Now the Mob are in with Demon, it's history repeating.” Belle collated her notes, neatened them up, and put them in a folder. “Now, we need to deal with the fact that it's lunchtime.”

“Definitely exposition.” Charlie sighed as he climbed in through Belles bedroom window and followed her downstairs for lunch.

“So I heard that Demon is REALLY pissed at Master Revolver, and they had a huge blow up after Mark died.” Tammy was telling them what her snooping had discovered. “They haven't spoken since.”

“Maybe murdering Mark wasn't such a good idea for the Mob after all.” Peter mused. “It's just driven a further wedge between them and City Hall.”

“Which leaves the door wide open for the Haunted Maze Troupe, or anyone else to come in.” Belle sat down.

“No Belle.” Charlie shushed her.

“I just sat down!” Belle looked insulted.

“You had your lecture face on. We don't need random facts about Pleasantville history.” Charlie told her.

“Sounds like someone's being attacked outside!” Next door, Patrick began to panic.

“Calm down. Charlie just insulted Belle and is paying for it is all.” Sunny rolled her eyes, and went back to reading Melody her book.

“I don't think the Troupe want power though. They just want to sell their drugs.” Tammy said as Belle tore after Charlie.

“It makes things interesting though. Demon can't act until he has another legitimate name to throw his weight behind.” Peter mused. “Will you two sit down and eat?”

Belle and Charlie sat down, Belle pouting and Charlie grinning.

“Of course, we never exactly know WHO is getting themselves ready underground.” Peter continued.

--

Demon Jones sat at his desk typing up a letter to some rich snob or other that he needed to appease. Keeping all his connections happy was a difficult task, especially when those connections had needs that could only be serviced by drawing the ire of Chuckles and Giggles.

Those two pests and their friends the Noble Knights of the Last Order were making life extremely difficult. Especially when they had the backing of that goody-two-shoes Peter Masters. The criminal element, while still quite profitable, was running into huge problems because of them.

Demon sighed and finished off the letter. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and his son entered.

“What now?” Demon glared at Daryl.

“Well, my sister is finally getting married.” Daryl sat down. “Interestingly enough, to someone you might know.”

“I really don't care about that little trollop. She chose not to be a part of this family.” Demon grumbled.

“Also, we're going to have a visit from some government officials. They're going to do a full investigation.” Daryl added.

“WHAT?!” Demon roared.

“Thanks to Chuckles and Giggles and that stupid protest they had. Of course news of it got out and now we're under pressure.” Daryl told his father.

“Those two little morons have been a thorn in my side for too long!” Demon growled. “First they invade MY home, now they've got the government onto us. Well, never matter. Pleasantville has gotten through things like this before. We'll just have to keep things relatively clean while they're doing their little investigation.”

“How about putting Masters on leave? Both of them?” Daryl asked. “If the investigators get a hold of them, it could spell trouble.”

“No, that will just draw attention. We'll just give them light duties. Nothing where they can get involved in any investigation.” Demon rubbed his chin. “We'll need to do something about the Mob.”

“They don't want to get arrested any more than we do.” Daryl pointed out.

“I hope you're right. They might just decide to act up out of spite.” Demon mused. “Especially with how unstable Mobster Marion has become.”

“Losing the Lions Claw Blade twice has unhinged her completely.” Daryl agreed.

“I'm trusting you to keep an eye on the Mob.” Demon told his son.

“Count on me.” Daryl grinned.

“Not sure what we're going to do about the Troupe, and the Crusaders could want revenge at any moment. DAMN Revolver!” Demon growled as Daryl walked out to lord over his two associates.

He only hoped that he could keep things under control until he could have his revenge on Chuckles and Giggles...and their number one fan, the number one lawyer in the city, Peter Masters.

--

The man and his coworkers stood on the edge of Pleasant Gorge, looking out over the city of Pleasantville.

“It's time to find out exactly what's going on in this city, or my name isn't Richard Dickson!” He said in a high-pitched voice while he narrowed his eyes.

Chapter Seventy-Six: What Matters

Giggles woke up.

“Belle! You're okay!” Petunia hugged her friend.

Belle felt her face. Her Giggles helmet was gone, and she was at the tip.

“It was a group hallucination controlled by the Haunted Maze Troupe!” She cried. “They had a little noise-device thing that they used to control it!”

“Explains a lot.” TJ said bitterly.

“Where's Charlie!?” Belle suddenly looked around for her best friend.

“Well...he's okay...but...” Petunia looked uncomfortable.

“Phew. Wait, where's Sunny?” Belle looked around.

“Facing off against Ruby Daryl.” TJ told her.

--

Lady Courage was slammed into a brick wall, and only just got her countenance back in time to dodge a Ruby Whip. Her left arm was already dead thanks to a Ruby Dagger, and the fight had turned against her.

“I don't know what it is about you, but I hate you more than I hate any of the other Knights.” Ruby Daryl told her. His eye was blackening fast, and he was certain that the little witch in front of him had left quite a few other bruises over his body.

“The feeling is mutual, jerk.” Lady Courage replied. This boy, her brother, had tried his best to ruin her life along with her father, just because she had been an unplanned pregnancy, and had been born a girl. He hadn't been a true older brother at all. He had never protected her, he had never believed in her or showed her things or loved her.

As far as Lady Courage was concerned, Daryl and Sunny Jones weren't siblings at all.

She flew at him with her baseball bat, which he dodged. He counter-attacked with a Ruby Spear, which nicked her foot, making it tingle but not quite enough to numb it completely. She spun around and clocked him fair in the shoulder.

He screamed angrily. In his fury, he fired a Ruby Blast. It threw the siblings in opposite directions, Lady Courage hitting the side of a van and Ruby able to stop himself with the Ruby Suit.

Lady Courage felt sore and defeated as Ruby advanced on her.

“You're finished Knight.” He said hoarsely, forming a final Ruby Blast.

There was a gunshot, and suddenly the Power Box on Ruby's shoulder was shattered, the Ruby Blast dissolving harmlessly to the ground!

“Wha-?” Ruby looked around, confused, before copping a knee to the head, Giggles-style!

“DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY SISTER AGAIN!” Giggles roared in fury.

“Giggles!” Lady Courage cried in joy.

“Darn it!” Ruby growled. Not only was Giggles armed with the Lucky Seven Gun and the ability to fly, she was also immune to the Ruby Power. Ruby wasn't going to stick around, he got out of there quickly.

“Thanks Giggles!” Lady Courage grinned as Giggles helped her up and flew both of them into the sky towards the tip.

“Any time.” Giggles grinned back. “Uh-oh...”

As proof that the drug had worn off and Giggles was in fact back to reality, the Backpack cut out, dropping both women in Pleasant Lake.

“Now I get why Chuckles hates flying.” Lady Courage groaned as the pair finally got airbourne again. “Where IS Chuckles by the way?”

“Well...” Giggles hesitated.

“Is this real life?! What if it's just fantasy again?! What if I'm still in the dream?! What's going on?!” Charlie cried, rocking in the fetal position as the Noble Knights of the Last Order looked bemused.

“It's a fault of the family.” Thomas Begly told them later as he helped load Charlie into his car. “We tend to overthink sometimes.”

“By the way...Belle...what you said before to Ruby...” Sunny asked as the pair got into the back of the car.

“You're as much my sister as Madels is.” Belle said firmly. “Don't worry about it.”

Sunny beamed all the way home.

--

It took three hours to finally convince Charlie that everything was okay (a quick spin on the Backpack fixed things).

“It's kinda scary to think we now have enemies that can do that to us.” He said as the group sat at Bills restaurant eating roast chicken with thick gravy and vegetables.

“Maybe we should up our breathing protection. Just in case.” Daniel shoveled down his dinner. “I mean, who knows what the side effects of that drug are?”

“I swabbed some from Belles helmet.” Peter Masters told them. “From the looks of things it's not addictive, but you'll probably be having some weird dreams for a few days.”

“How on earth do you get access to things like that?” Sammy asked.

“Being a prosecutor means access to labs and people who can run those labs.” Peter winked at him.

Just then, Judith Jofrey in her wig walked in looking harassed.

“Judy, you okay?” Peter got up and offered her his chair. She sat down, frazzled.

“Revolver...he killed Mark...and I just walked away and let him.” She shook with emotion.

There was silence around the table.

“This is getting out of control. Especially now that the Haunted Maze Troupe is back.” Sunny held Melody tightly.

“Pleasantville is a war-zone, and Demon is encouraging it for his own profits.” Tammy growled.

Lara held Madeleine, and looked at Belle and Ozzy. “I wish I could have been born elsewhere sometimes.”

“I don't blame you.” Betty had her mouth set in a thin line.

“Judith, I know you're in a bad place, but if you truly love your sister you need to join us. We can help you guys keep some sort of control until we can get a decent Mayor in to clean the city up.” Peter told her.

“Betray my sister?!” Judiths eyes snapped up with fire.

“If you don't, she could be the next one dead.” Thomas said darkly. “Especially if Jones is in bed with the March Hill Crusaders. They're going to want blood.”

“Marion and I are on thin ice anyway. If she gets even a sniff that I'm working with you, she'll kill me.” Judith groaned. “Especially now that Daryl has pretty much told everyone I'm a liar.”

“Do you see now why we want to end crime in Pleasantville?” Belle asked her gently. “If you weren't part of a crime syndicate, you and Marion would just be regular old sisters.”

Judith looked away. “It doesn't matter right now.”

There was a brief silence.

“I'll tell you what DOES matter, and that's Belle and Charlie!” TJ suddenly spat out.

“Huh?” Belle and Charlie looked at each other.

“You two!” Petunia groaned. “You OBVIOUSLY have feelings for each other!”

“Huh?”

“You keep up with all this 'best friend' stuff but you two CLEARLY belong together!” Sammy added.

“Huh?”

“Guys, they're oblivious. Just drop it, it's never going to work.” Sunny groaned.

Judith looked around, before turning to Peter, confused.

“Just...go with it...” He recommended.

--

Later on, Charlie and Belle were in their tree, looking up through the leaves to the stars, listening to the creek flow.

“I can't believe them.” Belle sighed.

“Yeah.” Charlie agreed. “We know what we have.”

“Exactly.” Belle smiled.

They were together, and that was all that mattered.