The following is the first part of my epic fan fiction saga “Riverdale’s Supergirl” which contains 33 chapters.

You can find artwork and individual .pdf files of the chapters over on my DeviantArt page

Prologue – The Arrival

16 Years ago…

“Daddy come on you said you would take us to the Pickens Day festival,” the blond young boy complained.

“Yeah Daddy you promised,” his blonde sister also whined.

Hal Cooper sighed. His two young children Chic and Polly who were six and a half and four years old were excited to go to the Pickens Day festival. It was an annual event in the town of Riverdale celebrating the victory of General Pickens for the Union Army during the civil war. There were carnival rides and games, food stalls and trinkets for sale, clowns and entertainment for all ages.

“Let me just check with your mother, I want to make sure she is okay,” Hal said.

He went upstairs to the master bedroom where his wife Alice was lying on her back. Her stomach bulged outward from her pregnancy; she was already more than a week past her due date.

“Honey, the kids really want to go to the festival, will you be okay?” Hal asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Alice said turning her head to look at her husband while she rubbed her belly with one hand. “If worse comes to worse I’ll call an ambulance.”

“You sure?” Hal asked again.

“Yes, now come on the kids are really excited,” Alice said. “And I don’t want them to resent their sister.”

“Alright,” Hal said. “But you call me if anything happens.”

“I will,” Alice promised. “Now come on, go before Polly and Chic start yelling.”

Hal kissed his wife, first on the forehead, then on the belly and finally on her lips, before he turned and left the bedroom letting her nap. Chic and Polly were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him, the two bouncing around like barely contained bundles of energy. Hal looked at them a sad expression on his face. They stopped jumping and looked at their father on the verge of tears, thinking that they weren’t going to be able to go to the festival.

“Alright you two let’s go,” Hal said breaking out into a smile.

The two kids screamed with joy and ran to the door flinging it open.

“Hey wait up,” Hal called.

However a split second later there was an explosion as their minivan was destroyed in an instant leaving nothing but a crater in the ground. The force of the explosion was enough to knock Polly and Chic to the ground. Hal quickly ran to his kids and dragged them back into the house. Outside he could hear more explosions and as he looked around he could see things streaking down from the sky and slamming into the ground.

“What the hell?” Hal muttered.

However he knew he didn’t have time to think about what was happening; his first priority was to protect his family.

“Get down to the basement!” Hal ordered Polly and Chic. “I’ll be down their soon with your mother.”

The two frightened children nodded and ran down to the basement. Hal ran back up the stairs to find Alice struggling to get to her feet.

“Hal what’s going on?” Alice asked.

“I don’t know,” Hal replied. “It’s like we’re under attack or something.”

Just then something ripped through the roof tearing a hole into the ceiling just above Alice. It then slammed through the wall before landing in the backyard in an eruption of dirt and grass. Alice fell to the floor clutching at her stomach.

“Oh god, oh god,” she moaned.

Hal ran to his wife’s side.

“What’s wrong?” Hal asked. “Is it the baby?”

“I… something isn’t right,” Alice said.

Hal looked at his wife in concern and suddenly she started screaming in pain.

“Oh no!” she yelled as she clutched at her midsection.

Hal ran to the phone in their bedroom but the line was dead; he realized that the lines outside must have been knocked out by one of the… whatever they were.

“It’s coming!” Alice screamed.

Hal ran out into the hallway looking for towels. He opened the linen closet but couldn’t find any. He then remembered that they were all downstairs with the laundry in the basement. Worriedly he ran downstairs; in the basement he saw that Polly and Chic were huddled frightened under the stairs.

“You two just stay here,” Hal said as he grabbed some clean towels. “I’m going to help your mother.”

“Daddy I’m scared,” Polly sobbed.

Hal wanted to comfort his daughter, but the life of his second daughter probably depended on him.

“You’ll be fine,” Hal promised.

He ran back upstairs but it was too late. Alice was lying there on her back sobbing, clutching a dead little girl against her chest. Outside the explosions had stopped, replace by the sounds of people crying for help and the sirens of emergency vehicles.

Hal went to hug his wife but she pushed him away. Hal said nothing and just let her have her space. He decided to take a look at the hole in their roof. He hoped that their insurance would cover the damage; he was going to have to take a look at their policy. He looked out into the backyard to see just what had wrecked their home. His eyes went wide at what he saw.

“Alice, Alice come here,” he said.

Alice ignored him the first time.

“Alice, you need to see this,” Hal urged her.

Alice came over still holding their dead infant and crying. She wiped the tears from her eyes to look out. Her sobbing stopped and was replaced by a look of shock by what she saw.

Out in the backyard was a black egg shaped object. The top of it had opened up to reveal an infant girl inside.

“Hal, is that…?” Alice asked not finishing the question.

“I don’t know.” Hal replied.

They ran downstairs and out into the backyard. Hal picked up the little girl who didn’t seem to be more than a few days old.

“What is she doing here?” Alice asked. “Who are her parents?”

Suddenly a transparent image of a woman appeared floating in the air just above the object.

“Thank you for finding our daughter,” the woman said. “I am Alura of the planet Krypton. Our planet is much like yours but we are far more technologically advanced. However that technology has come with a steep price and unfortunately our planet is dying. My husband and I have sent our daughter Kara to your planet so that she may live. Under your yellow sun she will end up being different to the beings of your planet, she would almost be a god. Please raise her to use her abilities for the betterment of your race.”

With that the image of the woman disappeared.

“It’s… it’s a miracle,” Alice commented.

“I like the name too, Kara,” Hal said.

“We already agreed we were going to call our daughter Elizabeth,” Alice said firmly. “But I think Kara is a fitting middle name.”

Hal looked at the little girl he was holding.

“Elizabeth Kara Cooper,” he said trying the name out. “I guess welcome to Earth.”

Chapter 1

“Betty! Betty Cooper! Elizabeth Kara Cooper you get up now or you will be late for school!” Alice Cooper shouted up the stairs.

Betty Cooper’s eyes shot open and she looked up at the ceiling. It seemed closer than it should have been. She then glanced over at her alarm to see the numbers were blinking. It looked like the power had gone out. Betty then realized that the alarm clock which should have been at the same level as her head was below her. She looked down to see that she was floating about a foot and a half above her bed.

All of a sudden she fell out of the air bounced off her mattress and fell to the floor. The 5’9” blonde teen who was turning sixteen in less than a week lay on her back for a second staring up at her ceiling in disbelief. The fall hadn’t hurt at all, but she was still surprised.

“Ugh,” Betty groaned as she got to her feet. “Not again.”

Betty bent down and picked up her whole bed with one hand with no effort and pulled her backpack out from under it. Then with inhumanly quick speed she got dressed and was downstairs in less than ten seconds.

“Alright see you later mom,” Betty called out from the front door.

“Not so fast,” Alice said.

“What?” Betty protested. “I thought you said I was late.”

“You are, for a normal person,” Alice replied. “Normal people can’t get to school in two seconds, or get dressed in ten. Just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean that you should. Although one thing you can and should do is rethink that top with those pants, even I know Sheila is going to criticize that choice.”

Betty hadn’t really been paying attention to what she had put on and glanced down to see she was wearing a bright orange top with her blue jeans. Her friend Sheila Wu, who considered herself a fashion expert, would definitely criticize Betty’s outfit.

“Ugh,” Betty groaned clutching her hair. “I’ll be back in flash.”

A second later Betty was standing in front of her mother wearing a pink top.

“Better?” Betty asked.

“Much,” Alice replied.

“Oh, Jughead’s here,” Betty said.

Seconds later the doorbell rang and when Alice opened it, Betty’s friend Jughead Jones was standing there. Jughead a lanky teen with sleepy eyes and dark hair who stood about an inch taller than Betty. His actual first name was Forsythe, but he hated the name and instead went by his nickname Jughead, the origin of which was forgotten by everyone, even Jughead himself. Betty may have been incredibly strong and fast, but she swore that Jughead had his own special ability, the ability to eat anything and everything and not gain any weight.

“God I hate it when she does that,” Alice muttered to herself.

“Sorry what Mrs. Cooper?” Jughead asked.

“Nothing, hello Jughead,” Alice said quickly recovering.

“Hey Betty, you ready for the first day of school?” Jughead asked.

Betty had known Jughead for nearly her entire life. The two of them had lived just a few houses apart on the same street for their whole lives and they’d gone to school together since kindergarten.

“It can’t be as bad as our first day as freshmen,” Betty replied.

“Yeah, you made a complete fool of yourself when you walked up to Archie,” Jughead chuckled. “I hope you don’t try that again, you become a total klutz when you’re around him.”

“Yeah, I know,” Betty grumbled.

Betty knew why that had happened. Archie wore a small pendant made from a piece of meteor from the meteor shower that had hit Riverdale on Betty’s birthday almost 16 years ago. Archie had only been a few months old at the time and his parents had been killed. He now lived with his aunt and uncle who were father’s older brother Fred and his wife Mary.

Betty wasn’t sure why but whenever she was near a piece of meteor from that meteor shower she became incredibly weak, to the point that she could barely stand, which was unusual because Betty was superhumanly strong. And touching a piece of meteor rock caused her a great deal of pain.

“Get going you two or you’ll be late,” Alice said. “And try and stay out of trouble.”

Betty glanced back at her mother and gave her an exasperated look. She then turned and walked out of the house with Jughead.

“So are you going to try out for the cheerleading squad this year?” Jughead asked as they walked to school.

“I don’t know…” Betty replied hesitantly.

“Oh come on, I know you want to,” Jughead prodded her.

“Well yeah,” Betty agreed.

“Well as long as Archie Andrews isn’t the one picking the team I think you’re a shoe in,” Jughead said.

Betty had to laugh at that.

“That probably is true,” she agreed.

They rounded the corner and passed their friend Sheila’s house stopping at the end of her driveway. Moments later Sheila came jogging out of the house to join them.

Sheila Wu was the same age as them. The diminutive Chinese girl was only 5’3” and had long black hair that was almost to her waist with a pair of bright pink streaks dyed into it. She was quite up on the latest fashion trends always wore stylish outfits like the perfectly matched skirt, vest and top she had on with one of the most amazing pair of knee high black leather boots Betty had ever seen.

“Hey friends,” Sheila greeted them. “Nice outfit today Betty.”

“You like it?” Betty asked. “I mean it’s not as good as yours, can you believe I almost wore an orange top.”

“Ugh, despite the shows name, orange is most definitely not the new black,” Sheila said.

“Well if we can stop talking about clothes, I was just trying to convince Betty here to try out for the cheerleading squad,” Jughead interrupted trying to change the subject.

“Oh Jughead is right, you should totally try out Betty,” Sheila agreed. “You would look amazing in a cheerleader outfit. You’ve got the perfect legs for those knee high socks.”

“That wasn’t really what I was going for, but thanks for the support Sheila,” Jughead muttered.

“Maybe you’ll finally impress Archie Andrews,” Sheila added.

“Impressing him isn’t the problem,” Betty said.

“Well how about some other cute boy, like Reggie Mantle?” Sheila suggested.

“Reggie may be good looking but he’s a jerk,” Betty responded. “Remember when he stuffed Dilton into his locker last year?”

“That was one time,” Sheila said.

“If I didn’t know better I’d think you’ve got the crush on Reggie Mantle there Sheila,” Jughead commented with a chuckle.

“What, no… I…” Sheila stammered.

“Oh yeah, she totally does,” Betty agreed.

“Yeah, so what if I do?” Sheila asked annoyed.

“Eh, you feel how you feel,” Jughead responded with a shrug. “I’ve gotta say though it makes you come across as a little superficial.”

“Oh, I’m sure Reggie is a nice guy once you get to know him, Jughead,” Betty replied.

“Clearly you haven’t taken gym class with him,” Jughead retorted.

“Fair enough,” Betty admitted.

Sheila just grumbled as she regretted saying anything.

They rounded the corner and were now just across the street from Riverdale High. They stood on the corner watching as a school bus pulled up in front of the school to let a bunch of students off. They were about to cross when Betty saw Archie and stopped in her tracks.

“Betty you coming?” Sheila called over her shoulder.

From where she was Betty could see Archie’s green meteor rock pendant around his neck. She knew what would happen when she got too close to him and she wanted to keep her distance. She stayed standing on the curb watching as Archie walked towards the school for a moment.

“Yeah, yeah I’m coming,” Betty replied.

She stepped out into the street to follow her friends. Just then a convertible came racing by at high speed. Betty was able to get out of the way in time thanks to her speed, but a normal person would certainly have been run over. The car came to a screeching halt not far away.

“Oh my god Jason you almost hit her,” said the red-headed girl in the passenger seat.

Betty knew exactly who the red-head was, Cheryl Blossom, the captain of Riverdale High’s cheerleading team. The two knew each other but they didn’t exactly hang in the same social circles.

“But you said…” Jason the driver began only to be cut off when she hit him.

“Watch where you’re going,” the Cheryl said as she got out of the car. “You go park and bring my bags.”

Betty stood watching a little dumbfounded as Cheryl got out of the car and strode around it walking up to Betty. The two girls were about the same height, but in her heels Cheryl was currently standing a few inches taller than Betty. She wore a black leather mini-skirt and a low cut green tank top.

“I am so sorry for my brother’s careless driving,” Cheryl apologized.

Betty thought the apology came across a little sincere but there was no point in calling Cheryl on it.

“It’s alright,” Betty said. “No harm, no foul.”

The two walked towards the school. Betty walked past Jughead and Sheila who were staring with their mouths agape in surprise.

“If you say so,” Cheryl replied. “So how was your summer?”

Betty was immediately suspicious, Cheryl wasn’t exactly known for being friendly to those not in her clique.

“It was fine,” Betty replied. “Why all the questions?”

“Ugh fine,” Cheryl groaned. “If you must know Sherry and I had a falling out over the summer, and well I need somebody to take her place on the cheerleading squad.”

“Really what happened?” Betty asked a little surprised, Sherry Thyme was practically Cheryl’s best friend.

“Oh she slept with my brother,” Cheryl replied. “Which normally I would have been fine with, except I explicitly told her not to because I was using Jason to recruit that new gay student Kevin to the football team and she completely ruined the illusion.”

Betty wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that. She just stood there her mouth half open a stunned expression on her face.

“Anyway with Sherry gone the only blonde on the cheerleading squad is Mina Martin, and everybody knows that blonde cheerleaders are totally necessary on a squad. I could just make another girl dye her hair but really I would prefer a natural blonde.” Cheryl said. “And so would the guys that watch us I think.”

Betty continued to stare at Cheryl for a moment before she suddenly got what Cheryl was saying.

“Wait, you want me to be on the cheerleading squad?” Betty asked in disbelief.

“Took you long enough, I guess that is your natural colour,” Cheryl quipped.

Betty ignored the blonde insult, with Cheryl such things were par for the course.

“Isn’t there try-outs for that sort of thing?” Betty asked.

“I’m the captain and I pick whoever I want to be on the team,” Cheryl answered. “The spot is yours if you want it.”

Betty glanced over her shoulder at Sheila and Jughead who were following as they tried to listen in.

“Can I get back to you later?” Betty asked.

“You’ve got till lunch time,” Cheryl replied. “If not I’ll have to have try-outs.”

Betty nodded and stopped to wait up for her friends.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” Sheila exclaimed excitedly. “My best friend is going to be a cheerleader.”

“Hey I haven’t accepted yet,” Betty said.

“And you shouldn’t,” Jughead stated. “Cheerleaders are a bunch of stuck-up, self-centered twits.”

“Not all cheerleaders are like that,” Betty said a little annoyed, her sister Polly had been a cheerleader in highschool.

“Oh yeah?” Jughead challenged her.

“Yeah, and you want to know how I know? Because I’m going to be a cheerleader,” Betty declared.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” Sheila exclaimed once more.

Betty stormed off to catch up with Cheryl. She caught up to her just in the school’s foyer.

“Cheryl,” Betty said tapping her on the shoulder.

“Yes?” Cheryl asked.

“I accept,” Betty stated. “I’ll join the squad.”

“Excellent,” Cheryl said with a broad smile. “The first practice is today after school.”

“I’ll be there,” Betty said.

As Cheryl walked off Sheila and Jughead came up to your friend.

“You know she’s going to assign you a member of the football team to date right?” Jughead said.

Betty looked at Jughead surprised.

“Maybe you’ll get Reggie,” Sheila said somewhat dreamily.

“I’m pretty sure Cheryl’s dating him,” Jughead reminded her.

“Oh then maybe it will be Archie,” Sheila suggested.

Betty’s eyes went wide with the realization that she might end up in forced close proximity to Archie. If that ended up being the case it was quite likely that her secret would be found out.

Chapter 2

Betty was nervous throughout the rest of the day. The thought of being paired up with Archie terrified her. All her life Betty’s parents had cautioned her on revealing her powers, not to reveal them until she was ready, and with the knowledge that once she did her life would never be the same again. Betty knew that she would reveal her powers one day, but she certainly wasn’t ready for it to be today.

At the end of last class she was surprised to see Cheryl standing the in the hallway waiting for her.

“Meet me under the bleachers in ten minutes,” Cheryl said before walking off.

Betty stood there for a long moment as the other students all swarmed past her heading to their lockers or home. She considered what she was going to do, she could go and talk to Cheryl and ask not to be paired with Archie. But that might make Cheryl suspicious. She could chicken out and not show up and just go home, but that might make Cheryl mad and Betty might become a total social outcast. Betty realized that she’d just put herself in a seemingly impossible social situation.

As Betty stood there trying to figure out what to do the hallways grew empty.

“Are you alright Betty?” somebody asked behind her.

Betty turned around to see Dilton Doiley, one of the smartest but also least popular students in the school. Betty knew he was a little weird, but she always felt he was nice and not deserving of being mistreated so much by other students.

Part of it probably was because of his size, Dilton was quite short at just 5’3” and barely 100 lbs. even Sheila was bigger than him. The other part was that he dressed the part of a nerd. With his large round glasses, his shirt and tie with pens and pencils in the breast pocket, and his pants held up with a pair of colourful suspenders with some superhero on them there wasn’t much else he could do to invite bullying from the jocks of the school.

“I’m alright Dilton,” Betty said. “But I think I made a bad decision.”

“Can I help?” Dilton offered.

“Can you take me back in time to this morning so I can turn down Cheryl’s offer to join the cheerleading squad?” Betty asked.

“Uh… no,” Dilton replied. “But why wouldn’t you want to be a cheerleader?”

“It’s complicated,” Betty said. “But I didn’t consider the whole, matching with a member of the football team thing.”

“Well what if you tell Cheryl that you already have a boyfriend?” Dilton suggested.

“Yeah like she’s going to believe that,” Betty scoffed. “I mean she knows just about everything about every guy at this school.”

“Then say it’s me,” Dilton said. “Cheryl doesn’t know anything about me. She completely ignores me, she wouldn’t notice if she tripped over me.”

Betty stared at him dumbfounded for a moment.

“Look we don’t have to actually date or anything,” Dilton said. “Whatever you need to convince her I’ll do it.”

“Why? Why are you helping me?” Betty asked.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Dilton answered. “And you’re one of the few people who have been nice to me in the years at school.”

“Well thank you Dilton,” Betty said. “Now come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Dilton asked.

“To meet up with Cheryl,” Betty replied.

Betty grabbed Dilton by the hand and led him out to behind the bleachers of the football field. She saw Cheryl waiting there, but no other members of the cheerleading squad. However there were two members of the football team Moose Mason and Victor Johnson, two of the biggest players on the team, as well as Cheryl’s brother Jason.

“Uh, what’s going on here Cheryl,” Betty asked. “I thought this was the first practice?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Cheryl answered as she glared at Dilton.

“I figured that you should know, that Dilton and I are dating,” Betty replied with a slight pause.

Cheryl glanced back and forth between the two of them.

“No,” Cheryl said with dismissive shake of her head.

“No?” Betty asked confused.

“You’re not dating him, you will date who I tell you to date,” Cheryl answered.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s how relationships work,” Betty said.

“When you’re on the cheerleading squad it is,” Cheryl responded. “And you’ll do what I ask or your boyfriend gets it.”

She gave a motion and Moose and Victor advanced towards Dilton. However Betty quickly interjected herself between the two of them.

“You want to get to him you boy have got to go through me,” Betty said.

The two big boys looked at each other bemused that Betty was even daring to stand up to them. They both stood more than a head taller than her and outweighed by at least two and half times her weight.

“Move or you’ll get hurt,” Victor said threateningly.

“Make me,” Betty dared him.

“Betty, please don’t,” Dilton begged fearfully behind her.

Victor grabbed Betty by her arms to pick her up and move her out of the way. However the second he did Betty easily pushed his hands off of her and then gave him a shove in the chest. It was only a fraction of her strength but it was more than enough to knock Victor onto his back.

Victor looked up at her with surprise, as did everybody else.

“How did you do that?” Cheryl asked.

Betty didn’t reply but just lowered her hands and looked between Cheryl, Jason, Moose and Victor.

“Look Cheryl, you invited me to join the squad,” Betty said. “If you want me on the squad that means you have to accept me and who my friends are. I’m not going to just drop people from my life because you say so.”

There was a long awkward silence as Betty and Cheryl stared at each other.

“Fine,” Cheryl agreed. “But you don’t say a thing about what happened here.”

“Deal,” Betty said with a nod.

Cheryl made a motion with her head and walked away with Jason, Moose and Victor following close behind.

“Okay that was amazing but impossible,” Dilton said once they were gone.

“What do you mean?” Betty asked.

“The way you knocked Victor over,” Dilton replied. “I mean no offense I’m sure you’re in good shape for a girl, but the only way for you to generate that much force to possibly knock him over like that, is with a running start.”

“Does it really matter? I just saved you from a beating courtesy of Moose and Victor,” Betty said a little annoyed and a little worried that Dilton was questioning what had just happened.

“Yes and thank you for that,” Dilton responded. “But…”

“I just caught him off guard Dilton,” Betty replied. “That’s all.”

Before he could ask another question she walked away leaving Dilton dumbfounded.

Rather than head home, Betty decided to go for a walk to try and clear her head. She used her super speed to get somewhere private and in seconds she was at Knott’s Bridge. The small single lane bridge was out near the rural part of town and crossed the creek that connected Jones’ Pond with the main river which gave Riverdale its name. Betty liked to stand on the bridge and look out at the pond; it always seemed to calm her down.

She stood there staring out at Jones’ Pond her thoughts drifting. She was worried that Dilton was going to look further into what she had done to Victor and that Cheryl might try to get revenge on her for foiling her plans. She was completely second guessing her choice to join the cheerleading squad and trying to figure out if there was some way to get out of it.

Betty was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t pay attention to the sports car that was rapidly approaching. It was just seconds before impact that Betty finally snapped out of her train of thought and looked up. She couldn’t see the driver through the tinted windows of the car but she heard the squeal of brakes. The car clipped Betty’s leg and veered right through the side of the bridge doing a half barrel roll and crashing down into the muddy embankment bellow upside down.

Betty was knocked aside as well and landed with a soft thud beside the car on the muddy embankment. She looked over to see that the front of the car was underwater in the creek. Realizing the driver might be hurt Betty grabbed the car and flipped it back over, she then grabbed the driver side door and tried to open it but it was stuck. Seeing no other option Betty ripped the door off with one hand effortlessly.

Inside the car was a dark haired girl who was perhaps a few years older than Betty. Betty thought something about her looked familiar, she was quite pretty, but Betty couldn’t place her face right away. Who she was, wasn’t the immediate concern though and she pulled the girl from the car and carried her up the embankment and checked to see if she was alright. The girl seemed to be fine despite being unconscious, but Betty was going to let a medical professional make the final determination. She pulled out her phone and called 911.

“What’s the nature of your emergency?” The operator asked.

“I’m out at Knott’s Bridge, there’s been an accident,” Betty replied. “Send an ambulance.”

Betty then lay down on the embankment beside the girl and stared up at the sky. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt that her life had changed for good now. Not much longer after that Betty heard the sound of sirens, although she knew they were still a couple minutes away; she had always seemed to have a far better sense of hearing than anybody else. She could hear somebody’s footsteps walking up the driveway to the house even when the door was closed.

As sirens approached and grew louder the girl beside Betty began to stir. Betty sat up to check on her.

“Are you alright?” Betty asked.

The girl blinked in surprise as she looked up at Betty.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Betty, Betty Cooper,” Betty replied. “Are you okay? You were in a car accident.”

“I… I… didn’t I hit you?” the girl asked.

Betty wasn’t sure how to respond. However her first instinct was to deny.

“No, you uh tried to swerve but ended up driving off the bridge,” Betty said. “I pulled you out of the car and called the ambulance.”

The girl frowned as if she couldn’t quite remember what had happened. She tried to sit up but Betty firmly put a hand on her shoulder to hold her down.

“You shouldn’t sit up right away,” Betty said. “First tell me, your name, the date and where we are.”

“I’m Veronica Lodge, it’s my first day in this rinky-dink town of Riverdale.” She replied pushing Betty’s hand away although she was a little surprised by how much effort it took.

Betty for her part was surprised to learn who the girl was. Everybody in town knew who the Lodges were. They were a one of the wealthiest families in the country. Veronica’s father Hiram had taken a real-estate development company and turned into one of the biggest corporations in the world, Lodge Corp. The family’s fortunes had actually taken a turn not long after the meteor shower that hit Riverdale. Lodge Corp had been pretty much the sole company responsible for the clean-up and rebuild of Riverdale.

But Veronica herself had recognition outside of being from such a wealthy family. She had graduated high school at just 14 years old and had finished University before she was 17. She’d then caused quite a stir when she formed her own fashion company in an effort to prove she was capable of working for her father while at the same time getting her master’s degree. Now she was 20 and working for her father and at the same time working on getting her doctorate in xenobiology.

“Why are you staring at me?” Veronica asked.

Betty stood up suddenly realizing that she had been staring at Veronica in surprise for what was an awkwardly long moment.

“Sorry,” Betty apologized. “I… uh, you’re probably the most famous person I’ve ever met.”

“Really? That’s kind of sad,” Veronica commented slightly conceitedly.

Before Betty could say anything a fire truck and an ambulance arrived. The paramedics and firemen came running over to the two girls.

“Are you two okay?” the first fireman to reach them asked.

“I’m fine but you should check on her,” Betty answered pointing at Veronica. “She was the one in the car.”

The fireman took a look at the totalled car and then at Veronica.

“You’re lucky to be alive,” he said.

“Yes… lucky,” Veronica muttered.

Veronica felt that there was something strange about this whole situation. Especially since a girl who was still in high school somehow pulled her from her car. She noticed that the door was torn off, but it didn’t seem to be caused by the crash.

Despite her appearance there was something not normal about this Betty Cooper and Veronica was determined to find out what.

Chapter 3

Hal Cooper came to a stop just short of Knott’s Bridge. He didn’t know what had happened all he knew was that the police had told him that Betty was involved. The bridge was blocked by a police car and there was a fire truck and ambulance on the other side. Hal got out of his car and ran across the bridge.

“Betty? Betty?” he called out.

“I’m right here dad,” Betty replied.

Hal saw that she was talking with a police officer and he ran over to his daughter. The police officer nodded that he was finished to Betty and she turned and hugged her father.

“What happened?” Hal asked.

“I, uh, helped somebody who was in an accident,” Betty replied.

Hal glanced over to see the car upside down partially in the creek. He took note of the ripped off door and looked up at the bridge where the car had gone through.

“What really happened here?” Hal asked in a whisper.

Betty looked around to make sure nobody was listening in.

“The girl driving the car hit me,” Betty responded. “I’m perfectly fine though.”

“You’re sure?” Hal asked.

“Not a scratch on me,” Betty replied. “But there’s something you should know…”

Before Betty could continue another man came over followed by Veronica. He had grey hair and wore glasses and an expensive navy suit.

“So you’re the one who rescued my daughter,” the man said.

“And who are you?” Hal asked.

“Hiram Lodge,” the man responded. “And I believe I should thank you for raising such an upstanding young woman.”

“I was just trying to do the right thing like anyone would have,” Betty mumbled.

“Nonsense my dear,” Hiram said. “Unfortunately this day in age most people wouldn’t have reacted as you did, and I’d have gotten a call that my daughter had died in an accident not just that she had been in one.”

Betty blushed and looked down at her feet, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Let us thank you for saving my life,” Veronica said. “Why don’t you and your family come over to our house for dinner?”

“We’ve already got plans for tonight,” Hal said.

“Well perhaps tomorrow night then?” Hiram suggested.

“Yeah, we’ll think about it,” Hal replied.

“Well here’s my card, call me,” Hiram said holding out a business card.

Hal took the card and glanced at briefly before putting it in his pocket. He then grabbed Betty by the arm and led her back to his car without another word.

“That was kind of rude dad,” Betty said.

“You don’t want to associate with people like the Lodges,” Hal said. “They profited on the disaster that hit the town on the day you arrived. They turned it into a multi-billion dollar fortune.”

Betty knew about the Lodge’s and where there money had come from. What struck her as odd was that her father had said arrived instead of born.

“What do you mean arrived dad?” Betty asked.

Hal sighed; he had been dreading this day but he knew that he would have to tell Betty eventually.

“Get in the car,” he said. “We’re going for a drive.”

The car ride was awkwardly silent. Betty wasn’t entirely sure where they were going at first as her father was driving away from Riverdale out into the country. However as they turned down a familiar rural road Betty soon realized where they were and moments later they turned down the driveway to a farm.

“Why are we at Grandma and Grandpa Munroe’s farm?” Betty asked.

The farm belonged to her mother’s parents. Grandma Munroe had died back when Betty was only five years old and Grandpa Munroe had developed Alzheimer’s and had been living in an assisted living facility for the past two years. The farm house wasn’t being used and the neighbour was being allowed to use the fields.

“You’ll see,” Hal replied as he came to stop beside the farm house.

He got out of the car and Betty followed him still confused. He walked behind the house where the barns were. There were two of them, the new barn which had been constructed shortly after Betty had been born, and the old barn which was falling apart. Hal led Betty over to the old barn and went inside.

The barn was pretty dirty and for the most part empty with the exception of some very rusted old farm equipment and something that was covered by a filthy canvas tarp. Hal walked over to the tarp and yanked it off. Betty starred at what was underneath it confused.

It was egg shaped and black but the back of it had a pair of small fins. Betty slowly walked around it and saw that it had what looked like a trio of small rockets on the back, but they didn’t look like anything she had seen before. It looked like something from a science fiction movie, like a space pod or something.

“I don’t get it dad,” Betty said.

Hal didn’t answer instead he just placed a hand on the side of the pod. Suddenly it hissed and the top opened to reveal a compartment that was perhaps large enough to hold a baby, maybe a toddler. Just then an image of a transparent woman appeared in mid-air hovering just above the pod. Betty wasn’t sure why but something about her seemed very familiar.

"Thank you for finding our daughter," the woman said. "I am Alura of the planet Krypton. Our planet is much like yours but we are far more technologically advanced. However that technology has come with a steep price and unfortunately our planet is dying. My husband and I have sent our daughter Kara to your planet so that she may live. Under your yellow sun she will end up being different to the beings of your planet, she would almost be a god. Please raise her to use her abilities for the betterment of your race."

And then the image of the woman vanished.

“Dad… what’s going on?” Betty asked slowly.

“Betty, the day of the meteor shower, you weren’t born.” Hal struggled to explain. “Your mother was pregnant, and the shock of our house being struck by a meteor forced her into labour. Our daughter was stillborn.”

Betty was confused, none of this made any sense.

“However it turns out that it wasn’t a meteor that struck our house, it was this… ship,” Hal continued. “And inside it was you.”

“What are you saying dad?” Betty asked tears welling up in her eyes.

“Your mother and I, we had been excited to have a daughter, and then we’d lost her only for you to show up immediately afterwards, it was like a miracle,” Hal said.

But that wasn’t the answer Betty had wanted.

“Dad… are you saying… are you saying I’m an alien?” Betty asked as she choked back tears.

“If that message is to be believed… yes,” Hal replied on the verge of tears himself.

Betty stood there in stunned silence, her mouth hanging open. It was like a bomb had gone off. Hal stepped over and hugged her while Betty just stood there staring at the space ship.

“That’s why your middle name is Kara,” Hal explained. “And I think that’s why you’ve always felt weak around the meteor rocks. I think they’re from your planet, perhaps why it was destroyed and that’s probably why they make you feel weak.”

“So that… that was my birth mother?” Betty asked.

“Yes, and you look so much like her,” Hal replied.

“So why is the ship… my ship… hidden here in Grandpa’s old barn?” Betty asked.

“Because if anybody knew we had an alien baby they would have taken you away from us,” Hal replied. “From the moment your mother and I first saw you we knew that you were our daughter.”

Betty smiled and hugged her father.

“Oh, ow, too tight Betty!” Hal grunted.

“Oh sorry,” Betty apologized.

“It’s alright,” Hal said.

Betty stepped past her father and knelt down beside the ship. It was hard to believe that she had once been small enough to fit inside it, let alone that it had carried her here from another planet. She placed a hand on the ship and suddenly it began to hum.

“Uh, what’s happening?” Betty asked standing up and backing away.

“I… I don’t know,” Hal stammered. “The only thing it had ever done before was play that message from your mother.”

Suddenly the ship began hovering a few feet above the barn floor.

“Hello Kara,” a voice came from the ship.

Betty and Hal both looked at each other confused.

“What’s going on?” Betty asked. “Why are you calling me that?”

“You are Kara Zor-El, daughter of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze,” the ship replied.

“How… how do you know?” Betty asked nervously.

“I have been programmed to protect you on this planet and to teach you about your heritage.” The ship replied. “Now come with me.”

The ship turned and its engines began to glow.

“No,” Betty said.

The engines dimmed and ship turned back around.

“No?” the ship asked.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Betty said. “I don’t care where I was from this is my home now and this is father and I’m leaving with him, not you.”

“Very well, if you will not come willingly I will make you,” the ship said.

Suddenly a yellow beam shot from the nose of ship striking Betty and making her drop to her knees.

“Betty!” Hal exclaimed.

Without thinking of his own safety Hal stepped in between Betty and ship the beam striking him. Betty recovered almost immediately and saw her father struggling and crying out in pain. In a split second she leapt over him and kicked down on the ship causing the nose to slam into the ground. The ship then stopped humming and fell to the ground with a clang. Betty stared at it for a second, but it seemed to be offline. She then turned around to her father.

“Dad are you alright?” Betty asked.

“It hurts but I think I’ll be okay,” he replied as he climbed to his feet.

“Come on let’s get out of here,” Betty said.

They covered the ship back up with the tarp and went back to the car.

“Today has been a crazy day dad,” Betty said as she got into the passenger seat.

“That it has,” Hal agreed.

“I just want you to know that I meant what I said in there,” Betty told him. “It doesn’t matter where I came from or who my birth parents are; you are my father, mom is my mother and Polly is my sister.”

“What about Chic?” Hal asked.

“Eh, I guess he can be my brother,” Betty said with a laugh.

The car ride home was far less awkward than the one out to the farm had been.

Chapter 4

As Hal pulled the car into the driveway Betty saw her mother come running out, followed not long after by her older sister Polly. Polly who was twenty was attending Riverdale College for broadcasting course with the hopes of going into the TV business and she still lived at home. Her brother Chic had left to join the Air Force and was currently at officer training out in Colorado at the Air Force Academy.

“Oh my gosh Betty,” Alice exclaimed as Betty got out of the car. “Are you all right.”

Before Betty could reply she was engulfed in a hug for her mother.

“Yes, I’m fine mom,” Betty replied.

“Well what happened?” Alice asked. “Why didn’t you call me Hal?”

“I told her,” Hal responded simply.

Alice went quiet and just looked from Hal to Betty and back to Hal.

“Told her what?” Polly asked feeling left out.

“Dad told me the truth,” Betty replied, “About where I’m from.”

“What do you mean?” Polly asked more confused than ever.

“Perhaps we should go inside,” Hal suggested.

Alice nodded and together the family went inside. Hal had them all sit down in the living room.

“You probably don’t remember much of the day Polly,” Hal said. “The day of the meteor shower.”

“Well yeah I do,” Polly said. “I mean that was the day Betty was born.”

“That’s the day, a Betty was born,” Alice corrected her. “But not the one you grew up with.”

“What do you mean?” Polly asked confused.

“I’m an alien,” Betty blurted out.

“Yeah you’re a little weird, and you’ve got strange abilities,” Polly said.

“No I arrived that day in a space ship,” Betty interrupted her. “Dad showed me the ship today.”

Polly looked over at her parents; she thought that Betty was playing a joke on her or something. However neither parent seemed at all surprised by what Betty had just said.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Polly asked a little annoyed.

“It’s no joke,” Hal said. “Your mother gave birth that day, but the baby was stillborn. We buried her out on your grandparents’ farm, the same place we hid the spaceship.”

“Wait you’re serious?” Polly exclaimed.

“Betty arrived in a ship, that’s what hit our house,” Alice explained. “She came with a message asking us to raise her. We figured the easiest thing was to pretend that she was the girl I had given birth to. We hid the ship at my parent’s farm and buried the baby and nobody was the wiser, at least at first.”

“But… but she even looks like us,” Polly stammered.

“There was a message, a hologram or something, from my birth mother,” Betty said. “She looks like a normal human. Actually she kind of looked a bit like mom, like they could have been sisters.”

“Does Chic know about this?” Polly asked.

“Yes he knows,” Hal replied. “He was old enough to remember and he helped out with hiding the ship. He’s kept the truth secret all these years, even from you.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?” Betty asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Polly inquired.

“Because the fewer people who knew the truth the safer you were Betty,” Alice replied. “And it was such a big secret for a young girl to keep. We didn’t want to burden you with the truth Polly.”

Without another word Polly stood up and ran upstairs to her room.

“Let me talk to her,” Betty said.

She left her parents in the living room and followed Polly upstairs where she knocked on Polly’s door.

“Go away,” Polly called out from inside.

“It’s just me,” Betty said as she opened the door.

Polly was sitting on her bed staring out the window with her back to the door. She didn’t say anything as Betty entered the room, closing the door behind herself and sat down beside Polly.

“I know this was a big bombshell dropped on you,” Betty said. “It is for me too, I mean think how I feel Polly. For nearly 16 years I thought I was just different for some reason, now today I find out I’m not even from this planet.”

Polly brought her hand up and wiped away some tears and for the first time Betty realized that her older sister was crying.

“Look at me I’m being so self-centered,” Polly said. “So worried about myself and not even thinking about what kind of effect this has on you.”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Betty admitted. “But as I told dad in the car, you are still my family. It doesn’t matter where I’m from. This is where I grew up, you’re my older sister and nothing is going to change that. It’s no different than if I were an adopted child from here on Earth.”

“God there you go making me seem like the younger sister with your grown up attitude,” Polly said with a slightly forced laugh.

“It’s been a crazy day Polly,” said Betty commented as she flopped backwards and stared up at the ceiling.

“Yeah, Mom and Dad freaked when they heard about the accident,” Polly said as she lay back beside her sister.

“You won’t believe who the driver of the car was,” Betty said. “Veronica Lodge.”

“The girl genius billion dollar princess?” Polly asked propping herself up on one elbow suddenly intrigued.

“Oh yeah, you kind of look up to her don’t you?” Betty replied as she turned on her side to face her sister.

“What was she like?” Polly asked.

“Well to be honest I didn’t really talk to her much,” Betty said. “But she’s quite stunning, even after a car accident.”

“Figures,” Polly said with a sigh as she lay back down. “Rich people have all the luck.”

“I don’t think being rich has anything to…” Betty began.

“Just let me have this one,” Polly interrupted her.

Betty just chuckled and sighed.

“Oh, I was asked to join the cheerleading squad today,” Betty mentioned.

“Really? That’s awesome,” Polly said sitting up.

“Well I don’t know,” Betty said. “Cheryl the captain tried to force me to hook up with one of the football players. Dilton offered to pretend to be my boyfriend to try and get me out of it, but Cheryl just got them to try and beat him up. I had to step in and defend him.”

“Oh god what happened?” Polly asked.

“Nothing serious, but I did knock over a guy that probably weighs three times what I do,” Betty replied. “So now Dilton is suspicious. I think my social life at school might be over.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Polly said. “I’ve been out of school two years and I barely see anybody from school anymore, just the few who are in my program at college. And being a cheerleader can be fun and get you dates, but once you’re done highschool nobody really cares.”

“Thanks Polly, I needed that big sister advice,” Betty responded.

Just then there was a soft knock on the door.

“Do you girls want to come down for dinner?” Alice asked.

“We’ll be right down Mom,” Polly replied.

Polly turned to face Betty once again.

“Let’s make a pact,” Polly said. “No matter what happens from here on out we’re always going to remain sisters regardless of who our parents actually are.”

“Deal,” Betty agreed with a grin.

The two of them then went downstairs where their mother was serving up a chicken casserole for dinner. All four of them sat down at the kitchen table to eat.

“So when you rescued Veronica Lodge did they offer you anything?” Polly asked.

“Well Hiram Lodge invited us to dinner,” Betty replied. “But dad turned him down.”

“Dad, why?” Polly asked in shock.

“We don’t need to associate with people like the Lodge’s,” Hal said. “They profit off the misfortune of others.”

“Really Hal, from one thing almost sixteen years ago,” Alice said with tinge of disapproval.

“It’s not just from that, although the fact that they made a fortune off the disaster that hit this town doesn’t sit right with me,” Hal stated. “They bought the cereal factory with plans of shutting it down to build something else.”

“Why’s that a bad thing?” Polly asked.

“A lot of people are going to lose their jobs,” Hal said. “People with pensions there will lose those.”

“But won’t there be jobs building whatever they plan to build and then at the place, whatever it might be?” Betty inquired.

“I don’t think you’re getting the point,” Hal said raising his voice with his frustration.

“Hal I know that you have friends that work at that factory,” Alice said punishingly. “But that’s no reason to yell at your daughters.”

“Sorry,” Hal apologized before he looked down at his dinner and began eating again.

“Mr. Lodge invited us over for dinner tomorrow night,” Betty said. “I think we should go.”

“Me too,” Polly agreed.

Hal looked up and glared at his daughters.

“I think so too,” Alice stated.

“Well the three of you can go,” Hal said. “But I’m not.”

“I think you’re being silly about all this Hal, I mean it’s just dinner, but that’s your loss.” Alice said.

From then on the Cooper’s ate dinner in awkward silence. When they were done Polly and Betty helped their mother with the dishes while Hal went downstairs to his man cave to watch TV. Polly then went to her room to do homework as did Betty.

That night when Betty fell asleep she had a strange dream. She dreamt about the ship, it had come to the house but now it was bigger, almost the size of a school bus. The ship fired a yellow beam through her bedroom window and Betty found herself helpless and being dragged into the ship unable to do anything about it. Just as she was entering the ship Betty woke up.

Betty glanced to see that she was floating in the air more than four feet away from her bed near her window. Suddenly she fell to the floor with a thump.

“What the hell,” Betty muttered confused as she got back to her feet.

She wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the dream or the fact that once again she’d found herself floating in midair in defiance of gravity. She looked at her alarm clock to see that it was about ten minutes before her alarm was set to go off anyway.

“Betty are you okay in there?” she heard her mother ask from the other side of her door.

“Yeah, just a bad dream mom,” Betty replied. “Made me fall out of bed when I woke up with a start.”

“Alright, well if you want I’m making pancakes.” Alice informed her.

“Blueberry?” Betty inquired.

“Chocolate chip,” Alice answered.

“Even better!” Betty said.

Betty went over to closet to pick out an outfit. She figured that she should be a little more conscious of what she was wearing today. After picking something out Betty went to the bathroom to have a shower. As she got there she saw Polly emerging from her bedroom looking to do the same.

“I’ll be quick,” Betty said.

“Really?” Polly asked.

“Not even two minutes,” Betty promised.

“I’m timing you,” Polly said.

Betty disappeared into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The moment it was warm enough she stepped under the water and using her super speed she was able to wash her hair and body in a matter of seconds and rinse off. She then dried herself off using her speed once more and was out of the bathroom.

“Cutting it close Betty,” Polly said looking at her phone. “One minute fifty-eight seconds.”

“Took longer for the water to heat up than I thought it would,” Betty complained.

“You know your alien DNA is probably why you never had to deal with acne,” Polly said as she went into the bathroom and locked the door. “Count yourself lucky.”

As Betty headed back to her room she thought about what Polly had just said. She hadn’t suffered any broken bones or cuts or anything as a child because she was invulnerable. But when she thought about it she also hadn’t ever been sick nor had acne or any of things that normal people dealt with.

Betty got dressed put on a white tank top trimmed with red and a blue skirt. She tied her hair back in a simple pony tail and then went downstairs where she was might by the enticing aroma of her mother’s chocolate chip pancakes.

“Well don’t you look lovely this morning,” Alice commented as Betty entered the kitchen.

“I don’t look any different than any other morning,” Betty responded.

“Here enjoy your pancakes,” Alice said as she handed Betty a stack of three pancakes.

Betty sat down to eat and was about half done when she realized something.

“Where’s dad?” Betty asked her mouth still half full.

“He said he had to head out early to do something before work,” Alice replied.

Betty thought that was a little odd but she decided not to think anything of it and went back to eating. She was just finishing her second helping of pancakes when Polly finally came downstairs.

“Good morning Polly, do you want some pancakes?” Alice offered.

“No, unlike some of us I need to watch my figure,” Polly replied. “Of course now I know why.”

Betty got up and cleared her plate. She wasn’t sure if her sister was joking or not with her comments.

“Jughead’s here,” Betty said. “See you guys later.”

She left the kitchen and picked up her backpack and opened the front door just as Jughead was at the bottom of the stoop.

“Hey Jughead,” Betty greeted him.

“Hey yourself,” Jughead responded. “How come you didn’t call me about what happened yesterday?”

“About what?” Betty asked.

“You saved the life of Veronica Lodge,” Jughead said. “It’s the talk of the whole town.”

Betty was surprised, she didn’t think that the story was going to become town wide news. But in the small town of Riverdale news could travel fast.

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal,” Betty replied as they walked down the driveway.

“A big deal? You just saved the life of one of the richest people on the planet,” Jughead said.

“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!” came the voice of Sheila.

The both looked up to see her running towards them, she came to a stop out of breath.

“You okay?” Betty asked her friend slightly concerned.

“I’m good, but you, you’re like famous now Betty,” Sheila said. “You’re like best friends with Veronica Lodge.”

“I wouldn’t say that, I saved her but I barely know her,” Betty responded.

“Well apparently she’s going to be at the school today, there’s like a ceremony to thank you and everything.” Sheila told her.

“What?” Betty exclaimed. “How come nobody told me?”

“Oh… maybe it was supposed to be a surprise,” Sheila replied a bit sheepishly. “Sorry.”

As they walked to school Sheila and Jughead both asked Betty about what had happened out at Knott’s Bridge yesterday. Betty gave them brief answers which were clearly not satisfactory for their curiosity. However her mind was more on the apparently ceremony that was going to be at the school today, the last thing she wanted was to be on stage in front of the whole school for what she had done yesterday.

Chapter 5

As Betty, Jughead and Sheila arrived at school, Jughead and Sheila were still pestering Betty for details about what had happened the day before. In front of the school where the school bus normally stopped was a big stretch limousine that was perhaps longer than the school bus. Betty figured it meant that Veronica, and probably her father as well, were already here at the school.

“Wow have you ever seen a limo that big?” Sheila asked.

She and Jughead continued to yammer on while Betty slowly walked in between not paying attention to a thing that they were saying. As they crossed the street Betty saw Cheryl approaching, her brother Jason following close behind her carrying several bags. Betty braced herself not sure what Cheryl was intending to do.

“Well if it isn’t Little Miss Perfect,” Cheryl said somewhat snidely.

“Excuse me?” Betty asked a little confused.

“You go and get me in trouble with the Bee for trying to set you up with a football player, and then you go out and save the life of the daughter of the richest man in town,” Cheryl stated.

“I didn’t say anything to anybody about what happened yesterday,” Betty said.

“What happened yesterday?” Sheila asked.

“So it was the little twerp,” Cheryl muttered. “Dill weed.”

“It’s Dilton,” Betty corrected her. “And just leave him alone. I doubt any of this would be an issue if you hadn’t tried to push the issue yesterday.”

“I can kick you off the team,” Cheryl threatened.

“Sure, fine go ahead,” Betty said with a shrug. “But I don’t think that kicking me off the team right now would be a very popular decision. Sure maybe you could convince the rest of the squad, but I think the rest of the school would be on my side. And I haven’t said anything to the Bee, but I could.”

Cheryl and Betty locked eyes and stared at each other for a long moment. Jughead took a step back nervously while Sheila was rubbing her hands together in anticipation of some kind of blow up between Betty and Cheryl. Eventually Cheryl raised her right hand, Betty thought perhaps Cheryl was going to slap her and got ready to fake getting slapped because if she just stood there Cheryl might end up breaking her own hand.

However Cheryl didn’t slap Betty, instead she just snapped her fingers. Jason stepped forward and reached into one of the bags he was holding and pulled out a cheerleader uniform.

“Here’s your uniform,” Cheryl said as Jason handed it to her. “Our first practice is tomorrow.”

With that she turned and walked away into the school Jason scurrying after her.

“Wouldn’t that be the second?” Betty called after her sarcastically.

Cheryl didn’t even bother to look back at Betty.

“Well that was unexpected,” Sheila commented.

“Don’t you think it’s weird how she leads her brother around like a trained dog?” Jughead asked.

“Yes it is and no, he’s more of a trained monkey,” Betty responded to both of them.

Her response drew laughter from both of her friends.

The three of them then went inside the school. As they were making their way to their lockers they were stopped in the hallway by Miss Grundy the English teacher.

“Principal Weatherbee would like to see you in his office before the start of class Ms. Cooper,” Miss Grundy said.

With that she turned and walked off.

“Oh man the Bee,” Sheila said using their nickname for their principal. “That’s never a good thing.”

“It’s got to be about the ceremony,” Jughead said. “I mean Betty hasn’t done anything else. Well unless it’s about what happened with Cheryl yesterday.”

Betty sighed, “I guess I’ll see you guys in class,” she said.

Betty turned and headed towards the Principal’s Office. As a rule Betty had always tried to stay out of any trouble because she didn’t want to bring any untoward attention to herself; so because of that she had almost never been to the Principal’s office. She was nervous as she grabbed onto the door handle. She suddenly realized how tightly she had gripped it; there were slight indents from her fingertips. She ran her hand over the door rapidly to smooth it out, it worked but it wasn’t perfect. Without further delay she opened the door to the office.

“Oh Miss Cooper you’re here,” the secretary Miss Phillips said. “Mr. Weatherbee is waiting for you in his office.”

Mr. Weatherbee had a section of the office which was behind a door that was closed at the moment. It was where he often screamed and yelled at the troublesome students. Miss Phillips used the phone to inform Mr. Weatherbee that Betty had arrived and a moment later he opened the door to his office.

“Miss Cooper please come in,” he said.

Mr. Weatherbee was a tall heavy set man who was almost completely bald. His large frame almost filled the entire doorway but when he stepped back into his office Betty saw that Veronica and her father were in there already seated in front of Weatherbee’s desk.

“I believe you already know Mr. Lodge and his daughter Veronica,” Mr. Weatherbee said.

“Hello again,” Betty said somewhat nervously.

Betty couldn’t help but feel like the Lodges were looking her over as if they were studying her, sizing her up; it was somewhat unnerving.

“Betty, I’d like to thank you once more for saving my daughter’s life yesterday,” Hiram said standing up and offer his hand.

Betty nodded as she shook his hand, but said nothing.

“So I’m sure you’ve already heard what’s happening today Miss Cooper,” Weatherbee said as he sat down at his desk. “I would have preferred for it to be a surprise but in this town that’s next to impossible.”

“I really don’t think any of this is necessary…” Betty started to say.

“Nonsense my girl,” Hiram said standing up. “You are a hero and you deserve this.”

“I…” Betty began to protest.

“She’s so modest,” Weatherbee commented. “She’s what we want all our students to be like.”

“Oh god no,” Betty muttered to herself quietly enough that nobody else heard.

“We’re going to be having a brief assembly today,” Weatherbee continued. “The fire chief will be bring a medal of heroism which he will say a few words about, and then Mr. Lodge here will present your with the medal. He’ll also be making a donation to the school. ”

“Yes, we’ll be providing the school with all new Lodge Corp computers,” Hiram said. “As well as ten thousand dollars for the athletics program.”

“That’s a generous donation,” Betty commented, knowing full well that it wasn’t even a drop in the bucket that was the Lodge family’s wealth.

“We’d like it if you could just say a few words after the medal presentation,” Weatherbee said. “You know just something about what made you perform such an act of heroism.”

Betty could feel a lump in throat forming. She didn’t like public speaking and she didn’t like talking about herself, so publicly speaking about herself was a nightmare. Tack onto that the fact that she was going to have to lie and make something up just made things even worse. However she just nodded reluctantly.

“Can I go to class now?” Betty asked.

“Yes, the assembly will be at the end of first period so we can get the auditorium ready,” Weatherbee replied. “I’ve already told Miss Grundy.”

Betty turned, and while she could have left much quicker, she left as fast as she could without using her powers.

“Well I’m going to go see how the auditorium is coming along,” Weatherbee said to the Lodge’s. “You can wait in my office or if you’re hungry I’m sure Ms. Beasley our cafeteria worker would be more than happy to make something for you.”

“Uh, no thank you,” Veronica said slightly disgusted at the very thought of eating cafeteria food.

“We’ll be fine,” Hiram said a bit more politely.

Weatherbee nodded and left the office closing the door behind. Veronica reached into her purse and pulled out her tablet, she opened it up and began going over the information on it.

Veronica was incredibly suspicious of this Betty Cooper girl. While her memory of the crash was foggy Veronica was almost certain that she had hit Betty with her car. But Betty had walked away without a scratch on her. After going home she’d done an extremely thorough background check on the girl. Of note she’d found that Betty had been born on the day of the meteor shower that had hit the town. Her grades were good but not great, she had no criminal record, seemed to be an excellent swimmer and she had never gotten a late fee at the library. She was now looking over Betty’s medical history which had taken a bit more time to get a hold of.

“Are you sure about this girl?” Hiram asked his daughter. “Do you think this is worth it?”

Veronica didn’t bother to answer him but continued to fly through Betty’s medical records, reading at a speed that only a few people on the planet could manage.

“There’s definitely something different about this girl,” Veronica said. “She doesn’t have a single hospital entry for any kind of injury whatsoever. What kind of child goes through life without getting hurt? I mean even I broke my arm when I was five.”

“The kind that live in bubbles, or with over protective parents,” Hiram answered.

“She was standing in the middle of a single lane bridge,” Veronica retorted. “That doesn’t strike me as behaviour of an overly cautious person afraid of injury. And while her father seemed worried he didn’t strike me as the overly protective parent type.”

“You have a point but it doesn’t prove anything, it’s just circumstantial,” Hiram said.

“I know,” Veronica said. “But I’ll come up with proof.”

Betty arrived at class a few minutes late, however Miss Grundy knew that she had been at the Principal’s Office so she didn’t punish Betty for her tardiness. She made her way to her usual spot in the back corner of the classroom where Sheila was in the seat in front of her and Jughead to her left. As she was sitting down Cheryl raised her hand.

“Yes Miss Blossom?” Miss Grundy asked.

“How come you’re not sending Betty to the office for being late?” Cheryl asked.

“Because she just came from the office,” Miss Grundy replied. “And any more of that out of you and you’ll be sent to the office, and I don’t think Mr. Weatherbee will want to see you yet again.”

The class chuckled while Cheryl looked around a little flustered.

“Anyway as I was saying…” Miss Grundy said as she went back into her lesson.

“So what happened?” Jughead whispered.

“Yeah give us the details,” Sheila insisted as she turned around.

“There’s going to be an assembly at the end of first period,” Betty replied. “The fire chief will be there, and Mr. Lodge is making a donation to the school on my behalf.”

“That’s awesome,” Jughead said.

“I haven’t told you the worst part,” Betty said. “They want me to go on stage and essentially give myself praise.”

“Oh, and that’s what you’re wearing?” Sheila asked as she winced.

“Really? What’s wrong with it?” Betty retorted.

Sheila turned back around and rummaged through her backpack. Before Betty knew what was happening Sheila was coming at her with a pair of scissors. She had to fight the urge to do anything with her strength knowing that she could accidentally kill her friend.

“What are you doing?” Betty asked.

Sheila just smiled as grabbed Betty’s white tank top and being cutting away at the neckline making a V to make the gap larger to the point that some of her cleavage was exposed. Sheila triumphantly held the cut off fabric aloft and gave a triumphant grin.

“Now you look much better,” Sheila said. “Although maybe if it was cropped…”

“No more,” Betty said as she snatched the scissors away from Sheila. “I feel kind of naked already.”

“Spoil sport,” Sheila complained.

“You’ll get these back after the assembly,” Betty said. “And you’re lucky I’m wearing a bra today.”

“Why wouldn’t you be wearing a bra?” Jughead asked.

Betty didn’t answer his question but just glared angrily at both her friends and then focused her attention on Miss Grundy’s lesson.

About ten minutes before the scheduled end of class Mr. Weatherbee came on the school’s PA system asking everyone to make their way to the auditorium. Betty and the rest of her class were seated in the front row. There was a podium set up on the stage and a row chairs. Betty saw that Veronica Hiram Lodge and a man she guessed was the Fire Chief, were seated on the stage. Mr. Weatherbee was currently talking to them with his back to the audience.

Once everybody was inside Weatherbee called for everyone to be seated and settle down. Once it had quieted down to his liking he began.

“Heroism is not something that can be taught in a classroom,” Weatherbee said. “We can tell you what makes a hero, how to act like a hero. You can know what a hero would do, but it takes a certain kind of person to actually do what hero would. And today we are here to reward one our own who’s heroism saved the life of Veronica Lodge, of the Lodge Family, Betty Cooper.”

The entire school applauded and Weatherbee motioned for Betty to join him on stage. Betty rather reluctantly went up on stage. She somewhat subconsciously was holding onto the neckline of her tank top that Sheila had made larger covering herself up. She saw Sheila waving her hands trying to tell Betty not to cover up. Betty didn’t want to uncover, but when Principal Weatherbee held out his hand to shake it she was forced to. With her sensitive hearing she could make out a few lewd comments from some of the boys in the audience.

Weatherbee stepped away from the podium and the Fire Chief stepped up holding a small white flat box which he set on the podium

“Courage, Honour, Valour,” the fire chief said. “These are the traits we look for in a hero, and these are traits we find in Miss Elizabeth Cooper. And that is why we are awarding her this medal for heroism in helping save the life of Miss Veronica Lodge.”

The Fire Chief sat back down as Hiram Lodge then stepped up and picked up the box. He open the lid and pulled out the medal. Betty got the impression that the Fire Chief thought that this was all a bit of a farce, and she couldn’t help but agree. The accident had been bad, but it wasn’t life threatening; Veronica had ended up being perfectly fine.

“Thanks to you Miss Cooper I still have a daughter today so it is with great pleasure that I award you this medal,” Hiram stated.

He handed Betty the medal and shook her hand before stepping back to the podium.

“I’m also pleased to announce that I’m making a donation of $10,000 to the school’s athletics program on behalf of Miss Cooper, as well as upgrading every computer in the school to a new LodgeTech 9000 provided by Lodge Corp.” Hiram announced.

There was a smattering of applause but a lot of students didn’t seem entirely impressed.

“So Miss Cooper do you have a few words to say?” Hiram asked.

He stepped back letting Betty take the podium. She stepped up and looked out at all of her classmates. She felt incredibly uncomfortable with all of their eyes on her. She took a breath to try and collect herself before she said anything.

However before she could the middle set of doors at the back of the auditorium were flung open. In walked a seemingly small scrawny boy who looked somewhat familiar to Betty.

“Not so fast,” he said.

Betty’s eyes went wide as she recognized his voice. It was Ambrose Pipp, a boy she had gone to elementary school with who disappeared when he was twelve. Nobody knew what had happened to him and many people thought he had been killed. However that obviously wasn’t the case as he stood before them now.

As Betty watched Ambrose raised his hands in the air and suddenly electricity began arcing from every single light in the auditorium towards him. Soon the lights began exploding in a shower of sparks, starting with those closest to him. As they did Betty watched as Ambrose grew bigger and more muscular. When all the lights had exploded it was quite dark in the auditorium but Betty could still clearly see Ambrose’ silhouette he was now absolutely enormous, bigger than Moose or Victor for sure.

“That’s not a hero up on the stage,” Ambrose said his voice having dropped several octaves.

He turned around and grabbed the door with one hand and ripped it off its hinges seemingly effortlessly.

“If you want a hero well I can be one,” Ambrose said; then he smashed the door over his knee splinters flying everywhere. “Or I can be the villain.”

Betty looked around, she could make out the worried faces of her classmates and teachers. None of them knew what was going on. Betty didn’t know either, the one thing she did know though was that it was going to be up to her to stop Ambrose.

Chapter 6

The hulking form of Ambrose took a couple steps further into the auditorium.

“So here’s how things are going to work,” Ambrose said. “You’re going to send the people I ask for forward, and maybe nobody else will get hurt.”

However before he could request anything from the school a massive panic ensued and everyone began running for the nearest exit. Ambrose stood there looking a little confused as several students ran past him. Betty took advantage of the panic to hop off of the stage and disappear into the surge of students running for the exits.

Once Betty was certain nobody was looking at her she ran at super human speed towards Ambrose. She picked him up over one shoulder and carried him right out of the school and then tossed him watching as he went sailing over the nearby houses before dashing back into the school and hiding in the crowd once more.

“Wait… where did he go?” Betty somebody ask.

“Everybody please exit the school in the quiet and timely manner!” Principal Weatherbee ordered.

Surprisingly the students listened to him and about a minute later everyone was out on the school’s front grass.

“What was that?” one girl said.

“I think that was Ambrose Pipp,” a boy stated.

All around Betty could hear other people having similar conversations. Nobody seemed to know where Ambrose had come from, and they certainly didn’t know what had happened or how he had grown so large and strong and turned off the lights.

Betty made her way through the throng of students till she found Jughead and Sheila. Jughead looked visibly nervous.

“Oh god that was Ambrose,” Jughead said when he saw Betty.

“Yeah so?” Betty asked not getting why Jughead was so worried.

“I used to pick on him,” Jughead said. “Nothing serious, I’d steal his dessert from his lunch or pull his hat down over his eyes so he would walk into things. But one time not long before he disappeared he felt he’d had enough and he came at me. You guys know I’m not much of a fighter, I’ve never been particularly big, and I just brushed his attacks off. But he was relentless so I eventually clocked him, BAM! Right between the eyes on the bridge of his nose. He fell to the ground in tears and I was so frightened of what might happen if an adult came by I just took off running. I never got to talk to him or apologize because two days later he disappeared.”

“I had no idea,” Sheila said.

“Me neither,” Betty added.

“I don’t know for certain but I think that Ambrose might be looking for a little payback,” Jughead said. “I was certain that I was going to be one of those names.”

“That’s a scary thought,” Sheila said sounding quite frightened.

“What do you guys think happened to him?” Betty asked.

“If I may,” somebody said behind them.

They all turned around to see Dilton standing there. He pushed his glasses up his nose with his finger before continuing.

“Now I’m not entirely sure how it is possible, but it was quite clear that Ambrose was using electricity to somehow stimulate muscular growth,” Dilton said.

“So you’re saying he could get even bigger?” Sheila asked getting even more frightened by the minute.

Dilton shrugged.

“I would think that there’s got to be some sort of limitations,” Dilton replied. “I mean there’s obviously got to be a limit on how big he can grow, on how much power he can absorb at once and there’s the possibility that over time that whatever it is that powers him, that makes him grow starts to dissipate and he would shrink back down to the normal size. My presumption is that he absorbs and stores electricity kind of like a battery.”

“So just out of curiosity, how do you think he can be stopped?” Betty asked.

Betty was hoping Dilton had a solution because other than beating Ambrose to death she didn’t have an idea, and that’s not something she wanted to do.

“I mean besides somehow killing him, and who knows what that would take, but perhaps overloading his system,” Dilton said. “Giving him more electricity than he can handle could probably shock his system and knock him out, possibly put him in a coma.”

Betty nodded in understanding. That was useful to know; she wasn’t entirely sure how she would do such a thing yet, but now she had at least the outlines of a plan. The other thing was that she had to find Ambrose again, preferably before he attacked anybody.

“Attention students!” Weatherbee announced loudly from the steps of the school.

Everyone turned to face the school.

“For your safety we are sending you all home,” Weatherbee announced. “However you will be sent home in groups of at least three, based on who lives near you. I don’t care if you’re friends or not, you will stick together for safety. I want you all to form groups and a teacher will let you leave once we’ve got everyone in your area.”

“Well good thing we live near each other,” Sheila commented to Betty and Jughead.

“Don’t forget me,” Dilton said.

Dilton lived just a few houses down from Jughead in the opposite direction from Betty’s house.

Sheila waved down Miss Grundy who consulted a list and once she was satisfied that the four of them all lived near each other she sent them on their way.

Hiram and Veronica Lodge were standing just outside their limousine, watching as Betty left with her friends.

“That boy in there, Ambrose Pipp I believe the students said his name was, that was your doing father?” Veronica asked Hiram quietly as they got into the limo in case anybody was listening.

“Well you suspected that there was something unusual about that Cooper girl and I wanted to find out for myself,” Hiram replied.

“And such an open display didn’t concern you?” Veronica inquired indignantly. “I would think somebody with abilities like that would be rather easy to trace. And where did he even get such abilities?”

“There’s nothing to trace the Pipp boy back to me,” Hiram responded confidently. “Besides, now I believe you about the Cooper girl. I mean it had to be her that made him vanish.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Veronica said. “Because your little display knocked out the lights.”

“It’s just a matter of time,” Hiram said to his daughter. “Once we know what she can do we can bring her in to test her abilities and find out how she got them.”

“Yeah and how do you plan to do that?” Veronica asked.

“You let me worry about that,” Hiram answered.

He tapped on the divider to the driver.

“Take us home,” he ordered through the divider.

On the walk home Betty, Jughead, Sheila and Dilton tried to talk about anything other than Ambrose and what had happened at school in an effort to distract themselves from the danger he presented. It didn’t work however as the conversation kept steering back in that direction. They reached Sheila’s house first and the other three all walked her up to the door.

Betty’s house was next but she didn’t turn to go in.

“Let’s walk Dilton home first,” Betty said. “You and I live closest to each other Jughead, it just makes sense to minimize the time we’re not in a group.”

“Fair enough,” Jughead agreed.

“Is this just because I’m the smallest?” Dilton asked.

“No, but I do want to make sure you’re safe Dilton,” Betty replied.

Dilton felt he was being treated a little bit like a child, but he said nothing because at the same time he liked that they were looking out for him.

They walked all the way to Dilton’s house and made sure he was safe inside before turning around and heading home. Nobody was home at Jughead’s house, his father was at work while his mother Gladys was out at parent-child pre-school with his younger sister Jellybean. Betty walked with him up to the front door.

“Do you want me to come in?” Betty asked. “I mean Ambrose does know where you live.”

“You’re right I do,” came a voice behind them.

They both turned around to see Ambrose standing there. The shirt he was wearing was ripped, possibly from the growth of his muscles. He wasn’t quite as big as he had been at the school which made Betty think that Dilton’s theory that the growth slowly dissipated as he used whatever electricity he had absorbed was true. However he was still well over six and a half feet tall.

Betty immediately stepped towards Ambrose.

“You leave Juggie alone,” Betty said as she crossed her arms in front of her test.

“Oh stay out of this,” Ambrose said. “This is between me and him. We both know you’re not a hero.”

“You want him you have to go through me,” Betty said as she stood right in front of him.

“Betty what are you doing get away from him!” Jughead exclaimed frightened for his friend.

“You should listen to him,” Ambrose agreed with a smirk.

“No,” Betty stated firmly.

“If you think I won’t hit you because you’re a girl you’re dead wrong,” Ambrose said.

He cocked back his fist and swung it striking Betty square in the gut. She went flying through the air and smashed through the wall of the second floor of Jughead’s house.

“Betty!” Jughead exclaimed looking at the hole she had gone through.

“Huh, I thought she would have gone splat instead of crash,” Ambrose commented looking at his handing work before turning towards Jughead. “Oh well maybe you’ll be different.”

He took a step towards Jughead who crouched down covering his head with his hands in fear.

“Please no, I’m sorry!” Jughead whimpered.

“You hit hard,” Betty said.

Jughead looked up to see Betty standing in the hole in his house. She jumped down to the ground landing in between Jughead and Ambrose.

“I hit harder,” Betty stated angrily.

She reared back and nailed Ambrose with a powerful punch that sent him sailing over the houses across the street. She then turned around to Jughead.

“Let’s get out of here,” Betty said.

Before Jughead could say anything she picked him up and hoisted him onto her shoulder. The next thing Jughead knew they were on a farm somewhere. Jughead took a few moments to compose himself as he paced in a circle.

“What the hell was that Betty?” Jughead asked.

“Don’t be freaked out,” Betty begged him.

“Freaked out? My best friend just punched a missing kid that recently returned with the ability to roid himself up with electricity over a block away after getting punched through the wall of my own house. Why would I be freaked out?” Jughead asked sarcastically.

“I’ll admit that’s a good reason to be freaked out,” Betty admitted. “But try looking at it like this, your best friend just saved your life.”

Jughead took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

“Alright thank you for saving my life, but can I ask a few questions?” he asked.

“Of course,” Betty replied.

“Okay how did you do that?” Jughead inquired. “I mean when did you get so strong?”

“I’ve always been this strong,” Betty replied. “Well, I’ve always been abnormally strong. I’m stronger now than when I was three, obviously.”

“Okay, and here another question, and perhaps I should have led with this one; where are we and how did we get here?” Jughead asked.

“This is my Grandpa Munroe’s farm,” Betty replied. “I carried you here.”

“I get that I don’t weigh anything to you probably, but did I pass out or something?” Jughead inquired.

“No, not only am I strong, I’m also incredibly fast,” Betty answered.

“So you’re the reason that Ambrose disappeared from the auditorium,” Jughead said.

“Yes, but I didn’t want anyone to know,” Betty tried to explain. “I mean it’s complicated. If certain people knew what I could do…. I just want to live a normal life Jughead.”

Jughead considered for moment, he had known Betty for as long as he could remember. They had shared their hopes and dreams with each other. Betty had talked about wanting to be a novelist or a reporter, while he had talked about being a chef or having his own restaurant. They were the simple dreams of simple people. When he had been talking with her Jughead had not gotten the impression that Betty had been lying about her dream; but apparently she had lied about her powers for her entire life. So he wasn’t sure what he could believe.

“I don’t know if I can believe you,” Jughead said.

“You know I want to be a writer of some sort,” Betty said. “But if the world knows what I can do they won’t care at all what I write, they’ll just want to know what I can do. And then there’s what people might do to my family to get to me.”

Jughead nodded in agreement.

“You right,” he said. “So where do your powers come from?”

“That would take far too long to explain, but when this is over I promise I’ll tell you,” Betty replied. “We need to think about stopping Ambrose first.”

“And just how are we going to do that?” Jughead asked.

“Well I think Dilton’s theory was right. There’s got to be a limit on how much power he can absorb and over time it starts to fade away. You saw that he was a bit smaller when he showed up at your house right?” Betty replied.

“So do you have a plan?” Jughead inquired.

“I do but I’m going to need your help,” Betty said. “I need you to be bait.”

Jughead gulped slightly frightened but then nodded.

“Alright, I’m in,” he said.

Chapter 7

Ambrose picked himself out of the remains of the minivan he’d landed on. The vehicle had been almost completely destroyed when he’d crashed into it. Healing himself had drained almost all of his power and he had shrunk back down to his normal size.

Ambrose realized that he’d been a bit over confident and he’d been caught off guard by Betty. He should have realized something was different when she had smashed through that wall instead of splattering against it. He wondered where she’d gotten her strength from, and why she didn’t grow like he did; whatever the case he wasn’t going to underestimate her a second time.

Before he did anything though Ambrose knew he needed to recharge. In his fall he had crashed through the power line running to the house, the live wire was lying on the lawn, arcing occasionally. He walked over and picked the wire up and jabbed it into his bare chest.

Ambrose laughed as he felt the rush of power surge into his body. His body practically exploded outwards as his muscles grew to enormous sizes. He could feel himself grow stronger than ever before. Then a transformer on the pole exploded and the surge of electricity stopped. Ambrose could sense that the power grid had shut down following the surge. It was a bit disappointing but he’d gotten more than enough power.

He looked down at himself. He was close to nine feet tall now and his shoulders were close to seven feet wide. He had huge biceps that were bigger around than standard trash cans and even larger thighs. He picked up one of the side mirrors from the broken van that was still mostly intact. His huge hands engulfed it and he looked at his reflection. His head was practically engulfed by the bulging muscles of his neck with traps that rode all the way up the back of his shaved head. Ambrose smiled as he stared at himself.

He then crushed the mirror in his hand, the broken glass not even penetrating his skin, which meant he didn’t have to use energy to heal himself. As he dropped the mirror he thought about how this was going to be fun.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jughead asked. “I mean what if Dilton is wrong?”

He and Betty were at an electrical substation near the edge of town.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Betty replied. “Trust me, I’m a lot stronger than I look.”

“How strong are you?” Jughead asked.

“I don’t know,” Betty replied. “I’ve never really tested myself. Don’t want to risk exposure.”

“How do you know he’ll even fall for this plan?” Jughead asked.

“I don’t,” Betty answered. “There’s a lot of things that could go wrong here.”

“Then why are we doing this?” Jughead asked nervously.

“Because who else do you think is going to stop him?” Betty asked. “Ambrose is going to hurt a lot of people. This is the right thing to do. Besides I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Jughead sighed and nodded.

“So let’s do this,” Betty said.

Jughead sighed and pulled out his cellphone.

Ambrose arrived at Jughead’s house once more. He walked up to the front door and was about to open it when he realized that was pointless. Grinning he just walked into the door and the door as well as the wall around it all to collapsed inwards into the house.

“Anybody home?” Ambrose asked.

He didn’t expect a reply but he chuckled when he heard the phone ring. He ignored it and went looking around the house smashing walls with his huge body as he did. He heard the answering machine get the call.

“Mom it’s me,” came Jughead’s voice causing Ambrose to stop his search. “Betty and I have gone to hide near the electrical substation to get away from Ambrose. Don’t worry he won’t find us we’ll be safe. I’m sorry about the damage to the house.”

The phone then hung up and Ambrose smiled to himself. Jughead and Betty were fools to try and hide from him at the electrical substation. He smashed his way out of the house, just walking through the living room wall out step outside; as he did he heard the sound of sirens approaching.

A single police car pulled up to the house and two officers climbed out and drew their weapons.

“S…stop where you are,” one officer nervously ordered as he pointed his pistol at Ambrose.

Ambrose was standing next to a solid concrete bird bath on the lawn. With one hand he picked the bird bath, which had to weigh well over 100 lbs., up and with a single hand and threw it at the police car smashing into the windshield.

The frightened officers responded by opening fire at Ambrose. The bullets bounced off of his muscular frame, but Ambrose could feel the sting from them like they were bee stings and he could feel his power gradually lesson to repair whatever small damage they were doing.

“I don’t have time for this,” Ambrose said.

He crouched down coiling his legs. The paved walkway beneath him cracked from the force he was pushing down with. He then leapt into the air hundreds of feet as the confused and frightened police officers could only watch.

“Do you think it worked?” Jughead asked as he put his cellphone back in his pocket.

“We’ll find out soon,” Betty responded.

Almost on cue there was a loud crash nearby and cloud of dust was thrown up in there air. Moments later Ambrose emerged from the dust cloud looking more menacing than ever, chuckling evilly.

“You two are fools to come here,” Ambrose said.

“Why, because you get your power from absorbing electricity?” Betty asked.

“Very clever,” Ambrose stated with a smirk. “But that also means you’re very stupid.”

He then paused looking at her.

“Unless… do you get your strength from the same source?” Ambrose asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Betty replied with no intention of telling him anything about herself.

“I’ll take that as no,” Ambrose said. “You caught me off guard with how strong you were, but that won’t happen again, with all this power here I’ll be unstoppable.”

“Well why don’t we find out,” Betty said.

She advanced towards Ambrose who stood there chuckling. As she neared he swung his arm casually trying to backhand her aside. However Betty caught his arm with just one hand, stopping it and just holding it in front of her.

Ambrose tried to pull his arm back but Betty held on seemingly effortlessly. Ambrose’s eyes went wide with surprise, even with how strong he was now Betty was somehow still stronger than him.

“What’s wrong?” Betty asked slightly sarcastically. “Not strong enough? Let me give you a boost.”

She grabbed Ambrose’s arm with both her hands and dug her heels into the ground and began to spin around. Ambrose was helpless to do anything as Betty twirled him around going faster and faster. He began to get dizzy as she spun him like a hammer thrower.

Betty then released Ambrose throwing him right at one of the big transformers of the electrical substation. Ambrose slammed into it as there was a shower of sparks. Electricity began arcing across his body as he began to grow even bigger.

“You fool,” Ambrose said as he got to his feet.

Betty was worried, perhaps Dilton’s hypothesis had been wrong.

Ambrose quickly grew to nearly twelve feet tall in a matter of second. However all of a sudden his growth stopped. A worried look cross his face and he let out a high pitched squeak before toppling face first to the ground and lay still.

Betty and Jughead both watched a little surprised as Ambrose slowly shrank all the way down to normal size. Betty then went over to Ambrose and cautiously rolled him over onto his back. He didn’t move but seemed to be breathing.

“He’s out cold,” Betty said, then she exclaimed with joy, “It worked!”

“I was worried for a second there,” Jughead said rather relieved. “I thought for a moment there you’d made him almost unstoppable.”

“Me too,” Betty admitted. “But you have to admit we did pretty good. We stopped Ambrose and nobody got hurt.”

“Well I think we did just black out the whole town,” Jughead -said looking at the smoking burnt out hull of the destroyed transformer.

“Yeah… let’s get out of here before anybody shows up,” Betty suggested a little guiltily.

Hiram Lodge looked down at the unconscious body of Ambrose Pipp as he was loaded into an insulated armoured truck. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out what had happened, that Ambrose had overloaded himself by trying to absorb too much electricity at once. Fortunately he owned Riverdale’s power company and when they had found the boy the first call that had been made was to him rather than the authorities.

“This is messy father,” Veronica said.

“It’s simply a test,” Hiram retorted. “Now we know that it’s difficult to match her strength. But perhaps we can bring in Ms. Cooper through some other means.”

“And what about the damage that your test subject there caused?” Veronica asked.

“I’ll pay for it,” Hiram said. “It will all be worth it.”

Veronica watched as the doors to the armoured truck were closed and they drove off.

“Where are they taking him?” Veronica asked.

“To the same place where I made him,” Hiram replied. “Or I guessed had him made would be more accurate, Belle Reeve.”

Veronica frowned, she knew off all of her family’s holdings. Or at least she thought she did, but she hadn’t heard of Belle Reeve before.

“Belle Reeve?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s off the books,” Hiram replied. “That’s why you don’t know about.”

“What is it?” Veronica asked.

“Well why don’t I show you dear daughter?” Hiram suggested.

“Alright you said you would explain where your powers come from,” Jughead said. “So why are we back at your grandfather’s farm?”

He and Betty were standing in the old barn back on her Grandpa Munroe’s farm.

“The answer is under that tarp there,” Betty said pointing at the tarp covered ship. “Go take a look under it.”

Jughead frowned in confusion but did as she suggested and walked over to the tarp and pulled it off. Betty stayed where she was standing just inside the entrance to the barn not wanting to get the near the ship. It was lying slightly crooked on the ground with no sign that it was active. Jughead looked at it ever more confused.

“What is this?” he asked.

“It’s a spaceship,” Betty answered. “It’s what brought me to Earth.”

“Okay if you didn’t want to tell me you could have just said so,” Jughead said.

“No, I’m serious Jughead,” Betty said. “I’m not from Earth.”

Jughead stared at her and then at the ship and then looked back at Betty.

“Why are you staying over there?” Jughead asked.

“The ship and I don’t exactly get along,” Betty replied. “It kind of attacked me yesterday.”

“But it’s your ship? Why would it do that?” Jughead asked confused.

“Because I rejected it wanting to take me away to teach me about where I’m from,” Betty replied.

Jughead was even more confused than ever.

“Look I know this is a lot to take in,” Betty said. “I mean I only found out that I was an alien yesterday.”

“Wait… you only learned that yesterday?” Jughead asked in disbelief.

“My parents never told me when I was growing up, probably because they didn’t want me to feel any different than I already was.” Betty explained.

“But they knew?” Jughead asked.

“The day of the meteor shower was the day I arrived on Earth,” Betty replied. “My ship crashed into our house before landing in the backyard. My mom lost the baby she was carrying, but when they found me they pretended that I was that baby, and that’s what I thought up until yesterday.”

“That’s heavy stuff,” Jughead commented.

“Look, I’m glad that you know now,” Betty said. “It’s been hard on me to keep what I can do secret from you. But there was a reason for it; there are people that would come for me not all for good reasons. And they might try to hurt the people I care about like my friends and family.”

“And outside of your family nobody else knows?” Jughead asked.

“Just my mom, dad, Chic and Polly. Grandpa Munroe might know but his Alzheimer’s is so bad at this point, who knows.” Betty replied.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be hard keeping this secret from Sheila,” Jughead said.

“You have to,” Betty said. “Or I’ll make sure you never eat a hamburger ever again.”

Jughead’s eyes went wide with shock. There was nothing he liked more than eating hamburgers.

“You can do that?” he asked worriedly.

“If you keep my secret you’ll never have to find out,” Betty replied.

“Okay,” Jughead agreed.

Chapter 8

“So that hole was caused by you?” Polly asked her sister.

She was standing across the street from Jughead’s house along with Betty and Jughead as the three of them watch a crew of repairmen going over the damage Ambrose had done to the Jones’ house.

“Yep, I’ll admit I was little caught off guard when he punched me,” Betty answered.

“Really? Because he kind of announced that he was going to hit you,” Jughead mentioned.

“I didn’t think he was going to go through with it,” Betty protested.

“Did it hurt?” Polly asked.

“Not really,” Betty replied.

“Do you even know what pain is?” Jughead asked. “Because I think getting punched through a wall would qualify as something that hurts.”

“I know what pain is,” Betty answered slightly indignantly. “I might not experience pain from injuries, since I can’t be injured. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what pain is.”

“Yeah, you should see her when she’s near shard of the green meteor rocks,” Polly stated. “She gets weak and uncoordinated and touching them, that causes her pain.”

“Yeah like a burning sensation that just courses right through me,” Betty added.

“Oh… wait a minute!” Jughead exclaimed. “Is that why you’re such a klutz whenever you get near Archie? Because of that meteorite pendant he always wears?”

Betty nodded sheepishly.

“Well this is good,” Jughead said.

“Good? How is this a good thing?” Betty asked.

“Because I can help now,” Jughead said. “You might not be able to go near him, but I can. And I can take that pendant of his.”

“Ah, and I thought that you two were going to end up together,” Polly said putting her arms around the two of them.

“Oh come on Polly,” Betty complained pushed Polly’s arm off of her.

“Yeah, that’s just wrong,” Jughead agreed.

“Oh come on you two have been friends almost your whole lives,” Polly said.

“Yeah, FRIENDS,” Betty stressed. “No offense Jughead, but there’s no romantic feelings on my side.”

“None taken Betty,” Jughead responded with a shrugged. “I’ve got no romantic feelings for you either.”

“Or any girl really,” Betty added with a smirk.

Jughead nodded in agreement.

“See I don’t believe that,” Polly said.

“You should see him at school,” Betty said. “There’s this trio of girls, Mina, Nina and Tina they all have a crush on him and he totally stonewalls their advances.”

“Are they ugly or something?” Polly asked.

“Oh no they’re definitely attractive,” Betty answered. “Here look.”

She pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of the three of them.

“Oh, oh they are good looking,” Polly said.

Betty turned the phone to Jughead who just shrugged nonchalantly. Then his stomach rumbled.

“Man I’m hungry. You guys want to head over to Pop’s and maybe get something to eat?” Jughead suggested.

“Ah, I think I see now, Jughead’s heart is overridden by his stomach,” Polly commented. “Well one day Jughead a girl will win you over, very likely with her cooking.”

“Maybe,” Jughead admitted. “Just don’t go telling them that.”

“I think Pops already has a hold on him,” Betty said with a laugh.

The three of them began walking down the street heading to Pop’s. The local diner lay between their houses and the highschool and was a popular hangout for student. Back when Polly had gone to Riverdale High it had been known as the Chock’lit Shoppe. However the owner Terry Tate, had won a descent sum in the state lottery and had used the money to do some major renovations to the more than 60 year old diner and he’d reopened it with a new name, Pop’s, after what all the students called him, Pop.

“So what did you guys do with Ambrose after you stopped him?” Polly asked.

“We called in an anonymous call from a pay phone that something was happening at the substation,” Jughead answered.

“But you weren’t there?” Polly asked.

“Well, I don’t think trying to explain that I had just thrown Ambrose after he’d grown into a nine foot giant into a transformer with enough force to damage it was a good idea.” Betty replied.

Jughead nodded in agreement.

“Fair enough,” Polly said. “But I haven’t heard anything about him being taken into police custody.”

“Well they might be trying to keep that under wraps,” Jughead said. “I can see the military being rather interested in somebody with Ambrose’s powers.”

“That’s actually a scary thought…” Betty said. “Maybe we should have stayed behind.”

“Look you can’t worry about it now,” Polly said. “Just be glad that it’s over.”

They arrived at the diner and went inside and sat down in one of the booths, Betty and Jughead on one side, Polly on the other. Maria Rodriguez, a pretty Hispanic girl in the same grade as Betty and Jughead came over with three menus. She was wearing a turquoise coloured dress with a white apron that served at the Diner’s uniform.

“No need,” Jughead said waving her off. “I know what I’m getting.”

“Oh, uh do you two want menus?” Maria asked Betty and Polly.

“Yes please,” Betty said taking a menu.

Polly took one as well and the two sisters looked them over, while Maria left to give them some time to look them over. It was fairly loud in the diner as Pop had 50’s and 60’s rock and roll playing all the time.

“So what was it like growing up knowing about Betty’s powers Polly?” Jughead asked.

“I mean it was a little weird, but she was my sister,” Polly said.

“Was? I’m not dead Polly,” Betty protested.

“Sorry, sorry, just the whole learning you’re actually an alien and all,” Polly apologized.

“That is weird,” Jughead agreed. “Anyway you were saying?”

“Well I knew that she was different, not like other kids or the rest of us.” Polly said. “It led to some hilarious situations.”

“Oh? Like what?” Jughead asked excited and curious.

“Well do you remember that Volvo station wagon we used to have?” Polly asked.

“Oh no,” Betty groaned.

“Oh yeah the one with the seat in the back that faced backward,” Jughead said. “I remember Betty and I used to love sitting in it when your mom drove us to swimming lessons. What happened to it?”

“Betty happened,” Polly replied.

“Polly…” Betty complained.

Polly brushed off Betty’s protests with a somewhat flippant wave of her hand.

“We were on a summer vacation, we’d driven all the way down to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and we were on our way back,” Polly regaled Jughead. “We were passing through Tennessee when we got a flat tire, probably because Dad was driving a little fast because Chic had gotten diarrhea from eating some bad fish in Louisiana the night before.”

“That’s a meandering route,” Jughead commented.

“Well we’d gone to Houston to see the NASA space center and stayed the night in New Orleans, figured we should see the country,” Polly explained. “Anyway back onto the story. So Chic had a very bad case of the runs and we were trying to get to the next rest stop when BOOM! Flat tire, the front passenger tire just went down.”

“Oh I think I know where this is going,” Jughead said chuckling as he looked at Betty who had her face buried in her hands with embarrassment.

“Now Betty was not quite 8 at the time,” Polly said. “So she still looked up to Chic and she didn’t want to him to shit his pants.”

“I also have a more sensitive sense of smell,” Betty added.

“Sure but really nobody wanted to smell that,” Polly said. “So anyway Betty wants to help change the tire so we can get going. So dad gets the tire out and Betty grabs a hold of the front bumper and before my dad can stop her lifts up.”

Jughead struggled to contain his laughter, “Let me guess, she tore the front bumper off?” he asked.

Polly nodded as she laughed herself.

“It screeched so loud, we were lucky there were no other cars on that stretch of the highway because that would have been something to explain,” Polly said.

“Look, I was still seven,” Betty protested. “I didn’t realize you have to lift the car by the chassis.”

“It’s still funny,” Jughead said chuckling.

“Oh it gets better,” Polly continued. “So she bends the bumper back, not perfect but enough that the car at least doesn’t look like it’s been in an accident. And then after dad tells her to lift by the frame she does that with one hand and with the other she starts to take the nuts off the wheel, because she can do it faster than my dad could with the tire iron.”

Jughead frowned not sure where this part was going.

“Problem is she took them off too fast,” Polly said. “Stripped the threading right off of the bolts and the nuts. We couldn’t put the spare tire back on. We ended up having to call a tow truck. The driver was confused as to how we’d even been driving with such stripped bolts.”

Jughead started laughing.

“Oh my gosh, that is amazing,” he said slapping the table.

“I think I made a mistake saving your life,” Betty groaned as she looked up at the ceiling.

Just then Maria came back to take their order.

“Have you had enough time to look over the menu?” she asked.

“Well it’s the usual burger for me,” Jughead said.

“I’ll have the fish and chips,” Polly decided.

“And I’ll have the turkey club,” Betty chose.

“And anything to drink?” Maria asked.

“Root Beer floats all around,” Polly said. “It’ll be my treat to you two.”

Maria nodded and left to place their order.

“I still wonder where Ambrose is…” Betty wondered softly.

Belle Reeve, 30 miles west of Riverdale

Veronica looked out the limousine window as it pulled up to what looked like a large country estate. They had passed through some large gates and drove at least a quarter mile up the driveway just to reach the building. It was a C- shaped building that was three stories tall with a roundabout driveway with a fountain in the middle.

“This is Belle Reeve?” Veronica asked a little confused.

“Don’t let the appearances deceive you,” her father Hiram said. “Belle Reeve houses some rather dangerous individuals, Mr. Pipp was just one of them.”

Veronica could see the armoured truck that Ambrose Pipp had been loaded into stopped nearby. The back opened up and she saw Ambrose lying on a gurney.

“Come let me show you where they’re taking Mr. Pipp,” Hiram said.

He got out and led Veronica over to the side entrance where the two attendants from the truck were wheeling the unconscious Ambrose. Veronica took a glance at the IV bag that was currently hooked up to him and noticed that they were pumping him with sedatives. It made sense they didn’t want to risk him escaping.

The side entrance went almost directly into an elevator and she and her father boarded with along with the attendants and Ambrose. However rather than go up as Veronica expected the elevator began to descend and it went far further than she expected.

When it opened they were in a long and wide corridor. There were large heavy doors on either side of the corridor always two opposite each other and space equally apart. It reminded Veronica of a prison.

The attendants wheeled Ambrose down the corridor until they arrived at specific door. One of them buzzed into a radio panel near the door and it opened remotely. They wheeled Ambrose into what was a room with rubber padding on the walls, the ceiling and the floor. There was a wood framed bed with a thin foam mattress. They lifted Ambrose off the gurney and put him on the bed and removed the IV before quickly exiting the room.

“What is this?” Veronica asked.

“This room was designed specifically to contain Mr. Pipp,” Hiram replied.

“So you knew about him before today?” Veronica asked.

“Of course, he was given his powers here,” Hiram answered.

“What do you mean given his powers?” Veronica inquired suspiciously.

“Come with me,” Hiram said.

He led the way back to the elevator and Veronica followed him. She still wasn’t sure what was going on but she had her suspicions. The elevator went up this time but Veronica could tell that they were still underground.

This time the door opened to reveal yet another corridor, however this one was lined with glass walls. On each side were some of the most extensive scientific labs that she had ever seen.

“You were only four years old when the meteor shower that began our family’s good fortune hit Riverdale but you recall that I managed to secure the sole clean up contract,” Hiram said as he walked down the corridor with Veronica following him.

“Yes, what of it?” Veronica asked.

“Well I made a rather low bid, the reason being was I was able to secure all of the meteorites that had hit the town, it was worth more than what the clean-up contract would have earned us.” Hiram replied.

“The meteorites?” Veronica inquired more confused than ever.

“At first I thought that they were emeralds or something,” Hiram said. “But tests on them soon showed they weren’t, in fact their composition was nothing we had seen before. They showed properties we didn’t even know existed; but perhaps the most interesting fact, they showed that they were capable of mutating a person’s DNA.”

He stopped at a particular spot and Veronica saw a teenage boy strapped to a table. Scientists dressed in clean suits surrounded him their identities concealed. There were tubes connected to him were pumping in some sort of green liquid. The boy seemed to be screaming in agony.

“What are they doing to him?” Veronica asked.

She was a little concerned, not so much for the boy’s well-being. But rather for the potential lawsuit that could result if this was some kind of unsanctioned torture.

“They’re pumping liquefied meteor rock into him,” Hiram replied. “It has the strangest properties, it melts at about 600 Kelvin, but it doesn’t revert back to a solid until it cools to 300 Kelvin. That alone is extraordinary don’t you think.”

“It defies the laws of thermodynamics,” Veronica remarked. “But why pump him full of meteor rock?”

“To see what kind of mutation it can cause,” Hiram said. “With Mr. Pipp we arced electricity through the meteor rocks into his body which is how he gained his powers.”

Veronica was fascinated. As a xenobiologist this was exactly what her field of study was centered on.

Just then the boy on the table began seizing as he spasmed uncontrollably. The scientists moved to try and help him but suddenly he lay still. Veronica could see that he was bleeding from his mouth, nose, ears and even his eyes. It was soon quite clear that he had died having suffered massive internal haemorrhaging.

“Unfortunately not all of our experiments work,” Hiram commented with mild disappointment. “Of course I’m hoping you can change that.”

“What do you mean?” Veronica asked.

“I want to put you in charge of all this,” Hiram said. “Hopefully you can use it to capture that Cooper girl, or if not perhaps duplicate whatever happened to her.”

Veronica looked around at the facility, already thoughts were forming in her mind about what she could do.

“So do we have a deal?” Hiram asked.

“Oh yes,” Veronica replied with a smirk. “I think I’m going to like it here.”

Chapter 9

Betty, Polly and Jughead all headed back to the Cooper household. Hal and Alice had offered to let Jughead stay with them while the Jones’ house was being repaired which was probably going to take at least a week. His parents had agreed since the hotel that they were being put up in was further away from the highschool, and this would be easier for Jughead to go to school.

As they were walking up the driveway to the front door Alice came out.

“Where were you three?” she asked.

“We went to Pop’s to get something to eat,” Polly replied.

“Did you forget about the offer for dinner at the Lodges’?” Alice asked annoyed.

“Yes, but that’s because I have no intention of taking them up on that offer,” Betty replied.

“And why, that’s rather rude?” Alice asked.

“Because I think the Lodge’s might be responsible for the incident at the school and whatever happened to Ambrose,” Betty answered.

“That’s a kind of wild accusation,” Polly commented.

“Why would you think that?” Alice inquired.

“Well that whole heroism medal, which I didn’t even end up actually getting, but it all seemed like a farce,” Betty said. “I mean the Fire Chief sure didn’t seem like it was warranted like he was going through the motions.”

“That’s true, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there,” Jughead commented.

“Well you did save Veronica’s life,” Alice said.

“That’s debatable,” Betty said. “I probably could have just called and let the paramedics and fireman get her out of the car. She wasn’t in imminent danger.”

“Still why do you think they were responsible?” Polly asked.

“It was something about the interaction I had with them before school in the Principal’s office. It was the way they looked at me, it wasn’t like they were looking at a person it was like they were analyzing something; like I was an experiment.” Betty answered. “It made me feel rather uncomfortable.”

“Well why do you think that?” Alice probed.

“I may have ripped the door off of Veronica’s car with my bare hands to get her out,” Betty said. “And it wasn’t something that would have come off from the crash.”

“Alright, fine,” Alice said slightly disappointed. “Let’s all go inside we’ll get you settled in Jughead. You can have Betty’s room and Betty will sleep in Polly’s room.”

Polly gave a slight sigh of disappointment of having to share a room again. She and Betty had shared the same bedroom till four years ago when Chic had moved out. Betty had moved into Chic’s old room while Polly got their bedroom (which was bigger) to herself.

“Come on Polly, it’ll be just like old times,” Betty said.

“At least you don’t snore,” Polly stated trying to be positive.

“Do you want to get your old beds from the basement Betty?” Alice asked.

Betty nodded and in a flash she was gone. As Alice, Polly and Jughead walked up the stairs they felt a breeze blowing first up past them then down and then up again. When they got up the stairs to the bedroom Betty was standing in the door way waiting. Gone was Polly’s double bed replace with two twin beds.

“All ready,” she announced.

“Okay that was… how are you two used to it?” Jughead asked Polly and Alice.

“Well I pretty much grew up with it,” Polly replied. “So it would be weird if she couldn’t do that.”

“She’s been doing stuff like that pretty much since she could walk,” Alice added. “So while it’s a little weird at first you end up growing used to it.”

Betty just grinned proudly, glad that she could show off to her friend finally.

“Wait a minute… My Little Pony Sheets? Oh come on Betty!” Polly exclaimed as she saw what was on the beds. “Where did you even find these?”

“They were in a box down in the basement right beside the bed frames,” Betty replied.

“They used to be your favourite sheets Polly,” Alice said.

“Yeah, when I was ten,” Polly complained. “I’m twenty now.”

“Oh get over yourself,” Betty said. “It’s only for a little while.”

“I’m gonna burn them when this is over,” Polly muttered.

“Well since you three have already eaten, and we’re not going to the Lodge’s I’m going to go shopping for your birthday present Betty? Do you have anything in particular that you want?” Alice asked.

“Oh yeah your birthday is this Saturday,” Jughead commented. “You know you’ve never had a birthday party before.”

“That’s because it’s the same day that they always hold the memorial service for the people who were killed in the meteor shower,” Betty said. “Just about every family in Riverdale lost somebody that day, so seems a little inappropriate to be having a party on a day when a lot of people are mourning.”

“Fair point, my dad’s parents were both killed that day,” Jughead said. “I never knew them, but I know my dad’s always made us go to the memorial service because of them.”

“We were lucky,” Alice said. “The only casualty in our family was the daughter I was pregnant with who ended up being still born. But we were blessed with Betty just minutes later.”

“You know I don’t think it’s my actual birthday,” Betty said. “I mean somehow I don’t think I arrived on Earth on the same day I was actually born.”

“Well I think we should do something this year,” Polly said. “I mean you are turning 16. I’d take you to the DMV to get your license but unfortunately it’s closed because it’s Saturday.”

“Is there anything you want to do?” Jughead asked.

Betty considered the question for a moment.

“Could we go to Six Flags Great Adventure?” Betty suggested.

Both Jughead and Polly got excited by that idea.

“Well I’ll have to run it by your father, but I don’t see why not,” Alice replied. “Besides it might be a good idea to get out of town that day.”

Betty, Jughead and Polly all high-fived each other and then ran downstairs.

Later that evening Jughead, Polly and Betty were down in the basement watching TV when Hal came in.

“Oh hi dad,” Betty said. “Did you want to watch the baseball game?”

Hal Cooper was a diehard New York Mets fan.

“Nah, the Mets aren’t playing tonight,” Hal replied. “I did just talk to your mother though and we’re definitely taking you to Six Flags for your birthday.”

Betty, Jughead and Polly all celebrated once more.

“Can I bring anybody else?” Betty asked.

“We’ve got enough room in the van to take two more people,” Hal said. “Unfortunately that’s it.”

“Well Sheila’s got to come obviously,” Jughead said. “But who else are you going to invite?”

Betty considered for a moment.

“You know what, I think I’ll invite Dilton,” Betty replied. “I kind of owe him for helping me out the other day.”

“Are you sure?” Jughead asked. “Dilton’s a nice enough guy but… he’s a little strange too.”

“Why not invite Archie?” Polly suggested. “You’ve always had a crush on him.”

“I don’t know; he always goes to the memorial service, I mean his parents were killed,” Betty stated. “And can you guys guarantee that he won’t have that pendant of his with him?”

“I could steal it,” Jughead said.

“I don’t want that,” Betty said. “That’s a sentimental reminder of his parents. I don’t want you taking something important to him away.”

“Your loss,” Jughead said with a shrug.

“Well whoever you decide let me know,” Hal said before he headed back upstairs.

That night Betty and Polly were in Polly’s room, sharing it for the first time in four years. They could hear Jughead next door in Betty’s room snoring softly.

“Hey Polly, can I ask you something?” Betty inquired quietly.

“Of course,” Polly replied.

“If you were in my position, would you want to learn about where you came from?” Betty asked.

“Well I’m not in your position and I want to know,” Polly replied. “So yes.”

“But what if it meant you’d have to go away and you didn’t know for how long, or even where?” Betty asked.

“I might put it off for a little bit, but there’s no way I could stave off my curiosity for long,” Polly said. “And if I know you, which after nearly sixteen years I’m pretty sure I do, you’re just as curious.”

“You’re right,” Betty said. “I guess I just needed to hear it from you.”

“You might not want to tell Dad you’re thinking about going with the ship though,” Polly said. “He would dismantle that thing before letting you go anywhere with it.”

“Well good luck to him with that,” Betty said. “I punched it about as hard as I could and it didn’t even make a dent. I was trying to destroy it.”

“Were you?” Polly asked.

“Yes, at the time I was sure that it was trying to kill Dad,” Betty said. “And I’ll do whatever I have to when it comes to protecting you guys.”

“Well I’m glad to hear that,” Polly said.

The two sisters lay there in silence for a while before both of them drifted off to sleep.

It was approaching midnight, but Veronica Lodge was still at Belle Reeve. She had been there since eight in the morning and after being introduced to the staff as the new director of the facility she had spent close to fourteen hours going over all of the research that had been done and was currently being done at the facility.

One of the first things she had done was suspend the human testing. Not because of the loss of life, but rather the inefficiency. Obtaining test subjects was very difficult to do without attracting attention and with the high percentage that died (which was almost 80%) the number they needed to obtain was high. Instead she wanted testing being done on animals and if that gave positive results then they could move onto human testing.

Fortunately there had been quite a bit of animal testing going on as well. Veronica had gone over the various experiments sorting through which ones showed promise and which ones didn’t.

There were a few interesting ones; one involved cheetahs which seemed to make them even faster than their already impressive speed. There was another being done with wasps which seemed to increase the control that a queen had over the hive which made them more aggressive, it also showed that she could take control of the drones from other hives and make them turn on their queen.

But the experiment that she found showed the most interesting promise was the one where meteor rock was ground up and mixed with standard fertilizer and used on plants. There were tests being done with all sorts of plants, some plants grew far larger than normal, some changed colour and others look no different; but all the plants showed some sort of mutation to their DNA when looked at under an microscope.

Veronica was reading a report about modified corn at the moment. About one ten kernels on the cob was a bright green colour while the other nine were a normal yellow. However all the kernels showed the same modification to the plants DNA.

Veronica pulled up an image of the corn’s DNA and looked it over, comparing it to an image of the DNA of an unmodified corn plant. She was biologist so she knew what she was looking at although her focus was more on fauna than flora. From what Veronica could tell the changes to corn did affect anything with the plant itself, however the changes to the plants proteins looked as though they would be passed on to anything that consumed it.

“You’re here late,” Veronica heard her father say behind her.

Veronica turned around a little startled. She hadn’t heard him enter the office.

“Sorry father, there’s just so much to catch up on here,” Veronica said.

“I know; it’s all rather impressive isn’t it? I don’t entirely understand it all myself. But I’m sure you’ve got a much better grasp on the science of it than I do,” Hiram commented.

Veronica knew that her father was a brilliant man, but his mind was geared almost exclusively towards business and politics. Veronica had a similar mind but with the added bonus of being a brilliant scientist, she knew that one day, probably not too far in the future she would succeed her father and take Lodge Corp from him.

“It’s quite fascinating,” Veronica said. “But a lot of the work being done here has been sloppy. They keep doing tests when there’s not promising leads rather than focusing on those that show promise.”

“Well it’s been difficult keeping a director in charge,” Hiram said. “They’ve all failed to live up to my expectations.”

Veronica wasn’t entirely surprised by that; her father had extremely high expectations of anybody that worked under him.

“Who was my predecessor here?” Veronica asked curiously.

“A Dr. Steven Hamilton, I believe,” Hiram replied.

Veronica hadn’t heard of him before.

“What happened to him?” Veronica inquired.

“The stress of the job got to be too much for him,” Hiram replied.

Veronica felt like her father was keeping something from her, but she knew that trying to get it from him was futile. She’d just figure out what happened to her predecessor on her own.

“Come Veronica, you should get home and get some rest,” Hiram said. “All of this will still be here when you return tomorrow.”

Veronica nodded and straightened up her desk and turned her computer off. She then got up and left the office with her father, pausing in the door to look back. She noticed for the first time a red chunk of crystal that was being kept in a cube that was probably made from Plexiglas or Lexan sitting on a filing cabinet in the corner. She wondered why she hadn’t notice it before. She decided to investigate it tomorrow as she followed her father out of Belle Reeve to the waiting limousine.

Chapter 10

Betty awoke to sunlight streaming through the window into her face. She had forgotten how bright Polly’s room got in the morning since it was on the east side of the house, whereas her room was on the north side and didn’t get very bright ever.

Betty blinked as she sat up and stretched. She looked across the room to see that Polly had already gotten up and left the room.

“Thank god I wasn’t floating again,” Betty muttered to herself as she made her bed.

“Sorry what was that about floating?” Polly asked.

Betty turned around to see Polly standing in the door, her blonde hair was a mess and she was wearing an XXL T-shirt that she wore as a nightie.

“Oh, uh, just a weird dream I had the past two nights,” Betty said. “I was just sort of floating in mid-air and then I fell and woke up.”

“Ah the falling dream, I’ve had those,” Polly said. “It’s said that it’s your subconscious telling you that you’re doing something wrong.”

“Hmm, well I didn’t have one last night so I must be in the clear now,” Betty commented.

“Well that’s good,” Polly said.

Polly grabbed her towel from behind the door.

“I’m having a shower now,” she declared. “So do you need to use the bathroom first?”

“I’m fine for now,” Betty replied.

“Okay, just checking,” Polly said.

As she left the room Polly pulled her far too large T-shirt off and tossed it in a laundry hamper in the hallway just outside the bathroom. She turned to enter the bathroom and let out an ear piercing scream and dropped her towel. Betty ran out of the room at super speed to find out what had happened.

“What the hell Jughead!” Polly exclaimed covering herself up with her hands.

Jughead was sitting on the toilet, his pants around his ankles reading the newspaper.

“What?” he asked seemingly oblivious to the fact that Polly was naked.

“Don’t you lock the door?” Polly asked.

“I thought I had,” Jughead replied innocently.

Betty decided to intervene. She picked up Polly’s towel and wrapped it around her covering her up.

“Are you almost done?” Betty asked Jughead.

“Yeah almost,” Jughead replied.

“Okay, Polly just come wait in the room till Jughead is done,” Betty said leading her sister back to the bedroom.

When they were in the room Betty closed the door, she would hear Jughead finish perfectly well with the door closed. Polly tossed her towel onto her bed and sat down. She was completely naked except for her panties.

“I have to say I’m a little insulted. I mean he saw all this and didn’t even react.” Polly said as she pointed at her boobs.

“Well that’s Jughead for you,” Betty said. “Doesn’t matter to him what kind of breasts you’ve got, big or small, Jughead couldn’t care less.”

“But he’s not gay?” Polly inquired.

“No, I think the best way to describe him is asexual,” Betty answered.

“That’s weirder than anything you can do,” Polly commented.

Betty nodded in agreement with her sister. Just then she heard the flush of the toilet.

“Okay he’s done,” Betty said.

Polly picked up her towel and wrapped it around herself as she made her way back to the bathroom. Betty meanwhile went downstairs where her mother was making breakfast. Jughead was sitting at the kitchen table still looking at the newspaper.

“Good morning Betty, what was that commotion upstairs?” Alice asked.

“Polly walked in Jughead while he was the toilet and she was topless,” Betty answered.

“I thought the door was locked,” Jughead commented.

“That lock can be funny,” Alice said. “I should have warned you.”

“It’s alright,” Betty said. “Polly was actually more annoyed by the fact that Jughead didn’t react to seeing her naked.”

Alice chuckled while Jughead just shrugged.

“Jughead honey, how do you like your eggs?” Alice asked.

“Sunny side up,” Jughead replied.

“And Betty?” Alice inquired.

“Uh, I’ll have the same as Jughead I guess,” Betty answered.

Betty sat down next to Jughead and poured herself a glass of orange juice from the pitcher on the table. A few minutes later Alice brought over two plates of bacon, egg and toast for Betty and Jughead.

“Enjoy you two,” Alice said.

“Thanks Mom,” Betty said.

“Yeah, thanks Mrs. C,” Jughead thanked her.

Betty sat there watching Jughead eat. It always amazed her not only how much, but how quickly he could eat, given that he didn’t have any powers.

“What are you doing?” Jughead asked Betty when he was about half done and noticed that she was watching him and not touching her food.

“Giving you a head start,” Betty replied.

“No…” Jughead began.

In a flash Betty cleared her plate eating it faster than the blink of an eye.

“…way,” Jughead finished.

Betty was sitting there wiping some egg yolk off the corner of her mouth. Jughead sat there staring at her plate in disbelief.

“Why do you not enter eating contests if you can do that?” Jughead asked.

“I can eat fast, but I can’t eat more than a normal person,” Betty replied.

“That’s disappointing, with your speed you’d be a champion eater for sure,” Jughead said. “You could break Sonya Thomas’ records, probably even do better than Joey Chestnut. But you’d have the popularity of Gal Sone, now that’s a woman I respect.”

“Competitive eating is disgusting Jughead,” Betty stated. “And I have no idea who those people are.”

“Well here, look them up on my phone,” Jughead said.

“No thanks I…” Betty glanced at the phone. “Wait who’s this?”

On Jughead’s phone was a picture of Japanese woman who looked like one of those generic Japanese pop stars.

“That’s Gal Sone,” Jughead replied.

“She’s a competitive eater?” Betty asked in disbelief.

Jughead nodded as he went back to eating his breakfast.

“And you’re into that?” she queried.

Jughead nodded again.

“That’s… well it’s weird and gross but it’s you so I guess I should expect it,” Betty commented.

Jughead shrugged and took his phone back from her.

“I wonder what would happen if I told Mina, Nina and Tina about this?” Betty mused.

Jughead suddenly coughed and a bit of his toast came up and landed on his plate.

“Please don’t,” he begged.

“I won’t,” Betty said. “Unless you do something to deserve it.”

Jughead finished up and he and Betty went upstairs. Polly was only just coming out of the bathroom and was cursing at her hair straightener.

“Betty do you think you can…” Polly started to ask.

Betty was ahead of her. She had sped to the bathroom and grabbed a comb and was waiting in the bedroom.

“Come on, let’s get this over with,” Betty said.

Polly sat on her bed while Betty ran the comb through her hair going progressively quicker making sure to get all the tangles out. Betty then rubbed her hands to together rapidly making them about as hot as the hair straightener and then squeezed them on either side of Polly’s hair and ran them down the length just as one would use a hair straightener.

“Thanks Betty,” Polly said. “I’ve got an interview for a part time job after class and I won’t have time to change so I’ve got to be ready now.”

“Isn’t your interview at the mechanic shop?” Betty asked.

“Yes, but as the receptionist,” Polly replied. “Do I look like the kind of girl that works on cars?”

“That’s a bit of a stereotype that you’re playing up to,” Betty said.

“Whatever,” Polly said dismissively. “Oh I saw you got your cheerleader uniform, let me see how it looks.”

Betty had the uniform still in her backpack she hadn’t touched it since Cheryl had given it to her yesterday.

“Why were you in my backpack?” Betty asked.

“It’s in my room,” Polly replied as if that justified it.

Betty decided it wasn’t an argument worth having and quickly put the uniform on. It wasn’t till she had it on that Betty realized how revealing it was. The top was a low cut and cropped blue tank top with a gold R that showed quite a bit of cleavage as well as Betty’s abs. The matching skirt was surprisingly short barely reaching mid-thigh. Lastly were a pair of knee high socks with gold trim.

“Wow… the uniform has changed since I was on the squad,” Polly commented.

“This has to be Cheryl’s doing,” Betty said.

“Well you look good in it,” Polly said. “Although that’s not really the right shade of blue for you, but oh well it’s the school colours.”

Betty stripped out of her cheerleading uniform and put on a pair of denim shorts and a red t-shirt.

“Well I should get to school,” Betty said. “Good luck with your interview.”

Betty headed downstairs where Jughead was waiting. They said good-bye to Alice and then left for school. Along the way the made the usual stop at Sheila’s house to meet up with her.

“You know I’m a little jealous,” Sheila said as she came down the walkway from her house to join them. “Jughead gets to stay over for a sleepover and I don’t.”

“Well then it would be you me and Polly all in the same room,” Betty said. “That wouldn’t be very fun.”

“Yeah but tell her the good news,” Jughead prompted Betty.

“Oh yeah, my birthday is this Saturday and we’re going to Six Flags, and you’re invited!” Betty exclaimed.

“Do I? And not have to attend some memorial service for people I never knew? Of course!” Sheila shouted.

Sheila’s family wasn’t originally from Riverdale, her parents were actually originally from Hong Kong and they had moved to Metropolis shortly after being married. That was where Sheila had been born but when she was seven they had moved here to Riverdale after her father, who was a professor, was offered a senior position at Riverdale University. Her father had recently been promoted to Dean of the Social Sciences department.

“That a little insensitive, but okay!” Betty said excited her friend was coming.

“I take it Jughead is going, who else?” Sheila asked as they started walking to school.

“Well my parents and my sister Polly, and Jughead and you,” Betty replied. “And I’m thinking about inviting Dilton.”

“Dilton? Why Dilton?” Sheila asked.

“Well he doesn’t really have many friends,” Betty replied. “And he helped me out the other day pretending to me boyfriend in front of Cheryl. And now she’s probably going to be going out of her way to make his life miserable, so feel like I kind of owe him.”

“Makes sense I guess,” Sheila said. “But I’m guessing that Polly is going to be with us and that makes 5 which is a bit of an uneven number for going on rides.”

“We’ll make it work,” Betty said.

On the way to school they talked about the rides at the amusement park and the games and what they each wanted to do. When they got to school they headed to their lockers, however rather than head to class Betty went a different direction.

“I’m going to try and find Dilton before I get to class,” Betty said.

“Alright see you there,” Jughead said.

Betty headed off towards the science labs where she knew Dilton’s locker was located. As she approached Dilton’s locker which was near the end of the hall she heard a commotion and as she got past a group of freshman students that were just standing in a circle blocking the hall she saw Reggie along with Moose and Victor trying to stuff Dilton into his locker.

“Hey!” Betty called out. “Leave him alone.”

Reggie let go of Dilton and turned around.

“Sorry babe, I’m just doing as my girl Cheryl asked,” Reggie said. “But uh, maybe you can do something to make me change my mind.”

“You’re disgusting,” Betty said. “You can go tell Cheryl that if she has a problem with Dilton then she has a problem with me and if I find you or anyone else trying to stuff Dilton into a locker or something like that again… well Cheryl will find out that I’m not someone to be trifled with.”

Reggie just gave a smirk and walked up to her.

“I like this tough girl act,” he commented slyly. “Kind of gives you a Ronda Rousey thing.”

In a second Betty grabbed Reggie by his shirt slammed him against the nearest lockers and had her forearm to his throat.

“Yeah, and like Ronda Rousey I could kick your ass,” Betty threatened.

“Alright, alright,” Reggie said putting his hands up. “I don’t want to fight a girl.”

Betty slowly let him go and Reggie then nodded at Moose and Victor and the three of them headed off to class. Betty went over and helped Dilton pick up his things which had fallen to the ground.

“Thank you Betty,” Dilton said.

“Well I feel I owe you for helping me out the other day,” Betty responded. “And I was actually looking for you. Do you want to come to Six Flags this weekend? It would be my family, you, Dilton and Sheila.”

Dilton was a little caught off guard.

“You’re inviting me?” he asked surprised.

“Nobody has ever invited me to anything before,” Dilton said.

“Well I’ve never had a birthday party before,” Betty replied. “It always falls on the Meteor Shower Memorial Service.”

“Well yes, yes I’ll come,” Dilton said. “Oh this’ll be great!”

“Awesome, hey why don’t you come sit with the three of us in the cafeteria at lunch today?” Betty suggested.

Dilton nodded.

“Okay I’ll see you then,” Betty said. “I’ve got to get to class. Grundy is a stickler for punctuality.”

Betty hurried off and made it to class with just seconds to spare.

Veronica was sitting in her office in Belle Reeve. The red crystal was sitting on her desk and she was staring at it pondering.

She had gone over every experiment that had been done at Belle Reeve since it had opened but nothing showed signs of the supposed invulnerability that the Cooper girl seemed to have. And just about all increases in strength came with either some kind of disfigurement or muscular hypertrophy which wasn’t the case with her.

She wished to speak with Ambrose Pipp about what had happened to him, but he remained unconscious. The scientists weren’t sure if he was in a coma caused by his abilities or just from whatever had happened to him. Signs at the scene had suggested he’d overloaded himself absorbing too much electricity at once.

Veronica suspected that if that were the case he’d likely suffered damage at a cellular level and to make him up would require fixing that; something she sure was possible. And even if it could be done there was still the possibility that his memories had been lost; memory problems were quite common with people who had been in comas.

However Veronica was developing a new theory. The vast majority of the meteor rock they had found was green and looked quite a bit like emeralds. However she had learned the red crystal she had on her desk was a shard of very rare red meteor rock. Given the unusual properties of the green meteor rocks it wasn’t at all hard to believe that the red one also had unusual properties and that they could be quite different. Veronica wondered if perhaps Betty Cooper had gotten her abilities from this red rock.

There was still no way to no and the amount she had was so small that she could do at most five experiments on mice or rats and all of them could end up abject failures; so unfortunately she was going to have to wait until she had more information.

She picked up her tablet and pulled up her file on Betty Cooper once more. Her eyes went wide as she saw the date of birth at the top of the file. Her birthday was this Saturday and she was turning sixteen. Veronica smiled to herself as she picked up the phone.

Chapter 11

Saturday morning arrived. Betty woke up to Polly sitting on her bed grinning down at her.

“Happy Birthday little sister,” Polly said.

“Good morning,” Betty responded.

“You excited to go to Six Flags?” Polly asked.

“You know it,” Betty replied.

“Well come on, Mom’s making everyone breakfast,” Polly said.

The two sisters went downstairs, Alice was at the stove busy cooking and Jughead and Hal were already sitting at the kitchen table.

“There’s the birthday girl,” Hal said.

“Happy Birthday,” Jughead said between bites of pancakes.

“Yes, Happy Birthday dear, now what do you want for breakfast, your choice it’s your day,” Alice said. “I’ve got all your favourites.”

Betty glanced at what Jughead was eating and quickly knew what she wanted.

“Pancakes with the cream cheese and custard sauce?” Betty asked.

“With your choice of fruit,” Alice added.

“With cherries,” Betty said happily.

Alice nodded and turned back to the stove while Betty and Polly sat at the table.

“Here, a birthday gift,” Hal said as he put a small and flat wrapped box on the table.

“What is it?” Betty asked as she began opening it.

“It’s actually from Grandpa Munroe,” Hal said.

Betty was a little confused; she didn’t think that Grandpa Munroe could remember what day of the week it was, let alone that it was her birthday. She opened the box and inside found some folded sheets of paper. The first one she looked at said “Deed” at the top of it.

“What is this dad?” Betty asked holding it up.

“That’s the deed to your grandfather’s farm,” Hal replied.

Betty’s eyes went wide with surprise. Even Jughead paused eating for a moment to look up.

“What?” Polly exclaimed beside her.

“When we hid your spaceship on the farm way back when you first came here we knew that it was only temporary,” Hal explained. “The problem was we couldn’t think of anywhere else to put it. Your grandfather built the other barn and let the old one deteriorate around the ship as an additional measure. But then there was the problem of his Alzheimer’s. We couldn’t decide what to do with the farm, but your grandfather decided that since it was your secret being kept there it should be your decision as to what happens. So about two years ago just before we put him in the home we sat down with a lawyer and he had these paper’s drafted up. The farm became yours on your sixteenth birthday, or his death if it came before that.”

Betty wiped a tear from her eye. She hadn’t seen her grandfather very often since he’d been placed in the assisted living facility. Her mother went and saw him at least three times a week since it was her father, but it was often during the day when Betty was at school, so Betty rarely saw him. She wanted to say thank you to him, even if he didn’t know what it was for, or even who she was.

“Do you think I can go with you to see Grandpa Munroe next week?” Betty asked her mom. “I want to say thank you.”

Alice nodded, “Yes I think that would be nice.”

“I got you something too,” Jughead said.

He placed a something that was wrapped up poorly in newspaper and duct tape on the table. Betty looked at it in disbelief.

“Go on, open it,” Jughead urged her.

Betty picked it up and easily tore the newspaper off. Inside was a brand new multi-tool, with the price tag still on it, it was actually a rather expensive one.

“I don’t get it,” Betty said staring at the tool a little confused.

“Well remember the other day when Polly was telling that story about how you wrecked the car on your trip to the Grand Canyon? Well it got me thinking that despite your intentions you probably end up breaking quite a few things. This is to help you fix them.” Jughead explained.

“Clever,” Polly commented with a laugh.

“And true,” Hal added chuckling.

“It’s actually a rather thoughtful gift Jughead,” Alice stated.

“You know I’d be more annoyed if you weren’t right,” Betty said. “This actually will be handy Jughead, thank you.”

Jughead nodded and went back to eating. Alice brought over Betty’s breakfast and Betty licked her lips as she picked up her knife and fork and got ready to dig in.

“Somebody’s at the door,” Betty said hearing something.

Two seconds later the doorbell rang.

“That’s creepy,” Jughead commented.

“That one still bothers me too,” Alice admitted. “She does it every day when you come over. It’s kind of like having a dog.”

“I’ll get it,” Polly said standing up.

Betty dug into her pancakes as Polly went to answer the door. There wasn’t any conversation with whoever was at the door, but a few moments later Polly came back with a stunned look on her face.

“Who was that?” Hal asked.

“You should come see,” Polly said. “All of you.”

Everybody went to the front door and stepped out onto the porch. They were all surprised to see a brand new cherry red Ferrari sitting in the driveway. There was a white bow on the hood of the car and a card tucked behind the windshield wiper that was clearly marked “Betty”.

Betty walked over and opened the card and turned around.

“Betty, thank you for saving my life and Happy Birthday… Veronica Lodge,” Betty read aloud.

“Oh my god that’s amazing,” Jughead exclaimed.

“I have to give it back,” Betty said.

Hal, Alice and Polly all nodded in agreement.

“What, why? The Lodges have lots of money?” Jughead asked.

“Veronica is trying to buy my friendship with this,” Betty replied. “It’s obviously a ploy to get close to me.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Jughead said.

“True, but I’d rather not risk it,” Betty said. “Besides now that I own a farm I think I need a truck more than I need a Ferrari.”

“Well we’re going to have to get this thing moved, it’s blocking the van,” Hal said.

“I’ll move it,” Polly said eagerly as she ran to the driver side door.

“It’s my car,” Betty said.

“And you don’t have a license,” Polly retorted as she opened the door.

“Let me just grab the van keys,” Hal said.

“I’m just going to take this thing for a quick trip around the block,” Polly said.

She climbed in and started the ignition the car roared to life.

“Wait for me!” Jughead said as he ran and hopped in the passenger seat.

“But it’s my car,” Betty complained, her complaints falling on deaf ears.

Polly back out of the drive and took off. The car lurched as she shifted gears before disappearing around the corner.

“Come on back inside Betty,” Alice said. “You can finish your breakfast.”

While Hal moved the van out of the garage and onto the street, Betty finished her breakfast. A few minutes later Polly and Jughead returned rather excited.

“That was so awesome!” Polly declared. “It’s a shame you can’t keep it.”

“That thing accelerates like nothing else, I mean 0-60 in four seconds flat,” Jughead said.

“I can accelerate faster than that,” Betty said sulkily.

“You already said you weren’t going to keep it Betty,” Hal said as he came back in from parking the van. “So stop pouting about it.”

They were sitting around the table about ten minutes later when the doorbell rang again.

“How come you didn’t say anything that time?” Jughead asked Betty.

“I was drinking my orange juice,” Betty answered. “And it’s just Sheila.”

Polly answered the door once again and let Sheila in. Sheila came bounding into the kitchen all excited.

“Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod!” she squealed. “There was a bright red Ferrari just ripping around the neighbourhood did you hear it go by?”

“It’s in the garage right now,” Betty replied.

“WHAT?” Sheila asked extremely loudly which caused everyone to reach for their ears.

“It was a gift from Veronica Lodge,” Betty answered. “But I’m not keeping it. Polly was just taking it for a drive.”

“So Veronica Lodge gives you a Ferrari, and you turn around and want to give right back to her?” Sheila asked. “Are you sure you’re not the one that was in the accident?”

“It’s complicated,” Betty said.

“She also got a farm,” Jughead chipped in.

“A farm?” Sheila asked in disbelief.

“It was my grandfather’s,” Betty explained.

“Why would he give it to you?” Sheila asked.

“He wanted it to be in the family for as long as possible and he figured giving it to the youngest grandchild was the best way to ensure it,” Polly lied.

“That’s kind of flawed logic,” Sheila said.

“Well he also knew that Chic was joining the Air Force, a fairly dangerous job; so that meant either myself or Betty so if you had to choose who would you pick?” Polly asked.

“Well when those are my only options I guess it would have to be Betty,” Sheila said.

Betty wasn’t sure whether that was an insult or a compliment. It probably wasn’t meant as either, but Sheila didn’t have much of a filter when it came to expressing herself.

“Well I guess we’re just waiting for Dilton to show up,” Hal said. “Once he’s here we can leave.”

“Do you want anything to eat before we go Sheila?” Alice offered.

“No thanks, I’m on a no carb diet right now,” Sheila replied.

Alice shrugged and went about cleaning up as everyone else was done eating. Betty and Polly went upstairs to get bathing suits as they fully intended to go on the water rides. Once they were done they came back down where Sheila and Jughead were in the kitchen talking with Hal. Just then the doorbell rang.

“That must be Dilton,” Polly said as she went to answer it.

“Didn’t you hear that?” Jughead asked Betty.

“Hear what?” Betty retorted before glancing over at Sheila.

Jughead got the hint and immediately winced at the mistake he had almost made.

“Sorry, I thought the doorbell rang twice,” Jughead apologized.

“Yeah your head is probably ringing from riding in the Ferrari with Polly,” Betty commented sarcastically.

It was indeed Dilton at the door and he came into the kitchen along with Polly. Even now Dilton was dressed in a nerdy fashion with a red and white polo shirt, khaki cargo shorts, black socks with white shoes and a fanny pack.

“Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Cooper for allowing me to come along,” Dilton said. “Here is some gas money.”

He handed Hal a hundred dollar bill that he pulled from his fanny pack.

“Uh, you don’t need to do that,” Hal said.

“Oh I insist, I’ve never been invited anywhere before,” Dilton said.

“Okay, but this is way more than what gas is going to cost,” Hal said.

“Oh that’s alright, I have lots of money,” Dilton said.

He reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a wad of bills.

“Where did you get all that money?” Sheila asked as she stared at it in disbelief.

“Oh well I made this phone app that ports over old 8 bit games from old systems like the NES, SEGA and Gameboy.” Dilton said. “Sells for a 1.99. I’ve had about twenty million downloads worldwide.”

“Twenty million…” Jughead stammered. “That’s like almost forty million dollars!”

“Yeah, although it’s not all mine, I mean iTunes and Google take their cuts,” Dilton said. “I only get about 40% of the profit.”

“That’s still what, sixteen million dollars?” Sheila exclaimed.

“Before taxes,” Dilton said. “It’s more than I need so I don’t bother with any tax loopholes I pay in full, so really it’s more like eight million.”

“Well you’re still a millionaire,” Betty commented.

“Indeed, if it’s alright with you Mr. Cooper I’d like to pay for everything to day, as my gift to Betty and to say thanks,” Dilton said.

“That’s very generous of you Dilton,” Hal said. “But at least let me pay for the parking.”

Dilton nodded in agreement.

“Well if we’re already I guess we should get going,” Alice said.

They all went outside, and Alice locked the door while everyone else got into the van. Betty, Sheila and Polly sat in the back, Jughead and Dilton had the two middle seats while Hal drove and Alice sat beside him in the front passenger seat.

“Seatbelts on everyone,” Hal said. “And we’re out of here!”

Veronica frowned as she watched the feed from the Ferrari. She’d had a spy camera installed on it as well as listening devices in the hopes that Betty would say something to give her some insight into what Betty could do. But Betty hadn’t even gotten in the car, her older sister had; and after a few quick laps around the block with some boy who Veronica guessed was a boyfriend or neighbour they parked it in the garage.

While they had been driving around Veronica overheard the sister and boy talk about how this car was probably faster than the rides at the amusement park they were going to. As they were getting out the boy made a remark about how it was a shame that the car was going to be returned.

The feed was now only showing the inside of the garage and since they seemed to have left home nothing was happening. Veronica cursed under her breath and shut the feed off.

After sitting there for a moment she pulled up a map of the nearest amusement parks. The closest one was Six Flag Great Adventure which was about a thirty minute drive from Riverdale. Veronica considered what her options were. She didn’t want to create a panic like her father had with Ambrose Pipp.

She then came across one interesting test subject, a girl named Cricket O’Dell. It seemed that the girl had an extreme love of money before hand, something that went beyond being a gold digger. She was also an accomplished forger despite only being eighteen. Apparently she had made her own ink using ground up meteor rock which was able to duplicate that of real currency perfectly.

However there had been an accident where the ink had been spilled all over her and had caused rather severe burns to her arms. However afterwards it was found that she was able to absorb money into her arms and then fling it like projectiles which were able to cut through most things.

Veronica wasn’t too concerned about the latter ability. However the ability to absorb money struck Veronica as rather useful. Amusement parks were notorious for the transactions being cash, some were cash only although this one wasn’t. Still it seemed an excellent way to rob a place, and if Betty was the upstanding citizen that Veronica suspected than she was likely to step into stop Cricket if Cricket were sent to rob it. Veronica could easily tap into the park’s security feeds to monitor whatever was going on.

Veronica picked up the phone and dialled the extension for the wing holding the human test subjects.

“Yes this is Director Lodge,” she said. “Send me subject 207, I have an assignment for her.”

Veronica hung up the phone and smiled. She rubbed her hands anticipation that soon she would have the answers she was looking for about Betty Cooper.

Chapter 12

“So Dilton, how come nobody at school knows that you’re like a millionaire?” Sheila asked.

They were on the road to Six Flag Great Adventure and were about half way there.

“I figured that telling people would attract the wrong kind of attention,” Dilton replied. “I want people to be my friends for who I am, not how much money I have.”

“That’s an excellent attitude to have Dilton,” Alice commented from up front.

“So why are you still even bothering going to school though?” Jughead asked. “I mean you could just go run your own business.”

“With the way technology is progressing I’m sure my app will be out dated and not making money in less than a decade, perhaps even less than five years,” Dilton replied. “I really just made it as something to make money to put myself through college; getting a doctorate is expensive.”

“So you know that you want to be a doctor?” Polly asked.

“Not a medical doctor,” Dilton corrected her. “I want to get my doctorate in physics or mechanical engineering or something. What I really want to do is become an astronaut.”

“An astronaut?” Betty asked.

“Oh yes, I’ve always been fascinated by space,” Dilton replied. “Plus I’ve actually got a lot of things going my way that give me a leg up.”

“Like what?” Sheila asked.

“Well I’m small which is often a benefit because weight always has an effect on a rocket’s launch,” Dilton replied. “Also years of being crammed into lockers have made me comfortable in tight spaces.”

“So do you want to be part of one of those Mars missions?” Hal asked.

“Oh yes, I mean I don’t think we are alone in the universe. I’m certain that there is life on other planets and that while it may be dead now that Mars once had life on it.” Dilton said. “I would love to be the one that figures out what exactly happened.”

There was a strange quiet amongst everyone in the car that left Sheila and Dilton a little confused.

“So uh, what do you think happened?” Betty asked.

“Well the most likely scenario is that an asteroid struck Mars, much like the one that hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs,” Dilton replied. “However in the case of Mars since it is much smaller the explosion caused Mars to vent much of its atmosphere out into space. The atmosphere thinned so much that the oceans literally boiled away and over the years what remained has continued to gradually get thinner.”

Dilton continued to give his thoughts on being an astronaut and Mars and other space related topics all the way to the amusement park. When they arrived at the gate Dilton paid for everybody’s admission, even getting them the platinum flash passes so they could jump the lines of certain rides.

Hal and Alice split off and went to walk the main area and go on some of the gentler rides since Alice got vertigo from the rougher ones, while the teenagers all went to ride the faster ones. They immediately took advantage of the passes to go on all of the roller coasters in the park.

Several hours later they were in line for the Congo Rapids ride.

“Okay we’ve got room for three more,” the ride attendant said.

“You guys go, I’ll wait with Dilton,” Betty said.

Polly, Jughead and Sheila all got on the ride while Betty and Dilton remained on the platform.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something Betty,” Dilton said. “It’s about the other day when you pushed over Victor.”

“Oh come on Dilton,” Betty said.

“No, I have an eidetic memory,” Dilton said. “I remember what happened perfectly. I’ve gone over what happened again and again. Betty there is no way that you should have been able to fend of Victor like you did.”

“Dilton, I told you…” Betty said.

“That he was off-balance and you caught him by surprise,” Dilton finished. “But that’s only half true. You did catch him by surprise, but he wasn’t off balance.”

Betty was stunned and not sure how to respond.

“Then the next day Ambrose Pipp returns from the dead and for some reason he attacks Jughead,” Dilton said. “And the two of you had just walked me to my house. Now I didn’t see what happened until it was over but I did notice that Ambrose returned to his house for a second time, and that struck me as odd.”

Betty wasn’t sure where Dilton was going with this, but she was starting to get worried.

“Of course not long afterwards Ambrose disappears again, but not before the town is plunged into a temporary black out,” Dilton said.

“Do you have a point here?” Betty asked anxiously.

“Well I don’t think that Ambrose just left; I’m sure somebody stopped him. Somebody who knew that overloading his system with electricity just may work; which just happened to be my theory and I only mentioned that idea to three people, you, Jughead and Sheila.” Dilton replied. “And I’m pretty sure it was Sheila because she was safely at home, which leaves either you or Jughead.”

Betty fidgeted nervously.

“Now Jughead seemed absolutely terrified of Ambrose, so I doubt it was him, which leaves you Betty,” Dilton continued. “With what you did to Victor demonstrating that you are clearly stronger than you look; well, all I want to know is how you did it.”

Betty found herself caught, unsure of what to say. Fortunately before she had to she was interrupted by the ride attendant.

“Alright, next!” he shouted.

Betty and Dilton stepped forward and climbed into the ride car which was a large round tube with seating for twelve. They strapped in and waited as more people climbed on board.

“Look, I’m not going to out you or anything,” Dilton whispered. “Obviously you’ve been keeping this a secret for a good reason; and the only times I suspected anything was when you stepped into help me and then Jughead. So obviously it’s like you use your ability for nefarious purposes.”

“Actually it is abilities,” Betty whispered back. “And I’ll explain when we’re off the ride.”

The two of them were awkwardly quiet for the rest of the ride, only really making any noise when they were surprised by a splash of water; something which a rather obnoxious girl who was around the same age loudly pointed out to everyone else on the ride.

Once they got off they headed down the exit queue. They saw Polly, Jughead and Sheila at the end waiting for them.

“So I’m guessing that Jughead knows, and your sister probably knows too,” Dilton said. “What about Sheila?”

“She doesn’t know,” Betty said. “So I’d like to keep it that way.”

Dilton nodded, “Okay I can respect that, Sheila can be a bit of a gossip.”

He quickly dropped the conversation as they got within earshot of the others.

“I’m feeling hungry,” Jughead said.

“No surprise there,” Sheila commented.

“So do you guys want to go get something to eat now?” Jughead suggested ignoring Sheila’s remark.

“I could eat,” Betty said.

“Well it’s your birthday so we’re doing what you want,” Polly said. “I’ll text Mom and Dad and see if they want to meet up with us.”

The group of friends talked about what rides they were going to go on after eating as they made their way towards the restaurants.

Cricket O’Dell was entirely surprised by what had occurred in the past three hours. In the morning she had been sitting in her underground cell back at Belle Reeve having just finished her meagre breakfast when two guards had come into her cell and taken her up to the new director’s office.

Cricket had heard some chatter about a new director but was surprised to meet her. Veronica Lodge was only about a year older than Cricket was. However despite her young age and having only been director for less than a week Veronica seemed to know a great deal of what was going on in the facility and about Cricket herself.

Cricket had thought that perhaps she was just being introduced to the new director as a formality or something, but then Veronica had begun inquiring with Cricket about her ability. Ever since she had been a child Cricket had been absolutely fascinated to the point of obsession with money. She didn’t like to spend it though she just liked to collect it, it was sort of a hoarding thing. The problem was she could never get enough.

But then Cricket had tried her hand at forging, her few attempts were abysmal failures. But then she’d come across a sizeable chunk of this green crystal meteor rock. Experimenting she had ground it down and used it to try and make her own ink and had been surprised that it seemed to perfectly replicate the colour she wanted. She’d gone on to make her own forged bills that were nearly impossible to detect.

However one day Cricket had been making a batch of ink when she had accidentally tipped over the large pot she was boiling the ground up meteor rocks in onto herself getting it all over her arms and burning herself. It took several months for her to heal and Cricket was just getting back to forging again. She had picked up a real twenty dollar bill to look over and suddenly it was absorbed into her arms appearing like a tattoo on her forearm.

After some experimentation Cricket soon found that she could absorb any money that she touched into her skin and it would appear like tattoos on her arms. But not only that she could also turn them back into bills, making them shoot out of her wrists with enough force to cut into a wooden door if she wanted.

Her first foray in using her powers was to rob a convenience store. However no sooner had she walked out the store with the unsuspecting cashier staring confused at his empty cash drawer than she was grabbed and loaded into an unmarked van and brought to Belle Reeve.

It seemed as if her parents had sold her out, literally. Whoever it was that ran the facility had paid them for turning her over. The scientists at Belle Reeve had done dozens of experiments on her when she had first arrived, but soon lost interest and she had been left to languish in her cell, until today.

Cricket pushed a lock of her orange hair away from her freckled face as she stood in the queue to get into the amusement park. She had been extremely surprised when Veronica had explained that what she wanted Cricket to do, was come to this amusement park and steal as much cash as she could. Veronica said if Cricket did well enough she was free to leave and do whatever she wanted.

Cricket couldn’t help but feel like Veronica wasn’t telling her something, or if this was some kind of setup. However she had been rotting in that cell for nearly at least a year; she’d lost track of time so she wasn’t about to refuse the chance to get out, even if it was for a short time.

“Next,” the attendant at the ticket window called.

Cricket stepped up.

“Just one today?” the attendant asked.

Cricket nodded.

“That’ll be 48.75,” the attendant said.

Cricket placed her hand on the counter. Before she had been sent, Veronica had given her a stack of 300 dollars in twenty dollar bills to absorb. The tattoos were currently hidden under the long sleeved grey and white V-neck t-shirt that Cricket was wearing. Cricket willed three of the bills to appear and they did under her hand and then she slid them across to the counter.

“That’s an interesting trick,” the attendant said. “11.25 is your change.”

Unfortunately the attendant was on the other side of a glass partition so Cricket couldn’t reach across and steal the money from the drawer as it opened. The attendant handed Cricket the change and as she pocketed the quarter she absorbed the ten and the one dollar bills.

Cricket entered the park and walked over to the nearest map and looked it over deciding what to hit first.

Veronica was sitting in her office when her cell phone rang and she picked it up and answered it.

“Yes?”

“Subject 207 is in the park,” came the report.

“Thank you,” Veronica said before hanging up.

Veronica had already hacked into the security cameras at the amusement park. Doing so had been child’s play for her. But the ease with which she was able to gain access was likely because the cameras weren’t of a particularly high quality. They were a bit choppy at perhaps a frame or two per second, although they were at least in colour and the image quality was decent, which let her run a facial recognition program to track Betty’s movements through the park.

Veronica had been watching Betty through the day and saw that she had her friends were heading away from the rides now, possibly to get food or maybe to play some of the carnival games. It was rather fortunate since it made it more likely for Betty to learn about Cricket.

Veronica found calling Cricket, subject 207 was rather dehumanizing; it was something that one of the previous directors had mandated in an effort to treat the experiment subjects as though they weren’t human. She could understand the idea of treating them as though they weren’t people since it would make coping with what was being done to them easier to deal with, even if she didn’t agree with it in practice.

Veronica watched as Cricket walked over to a ring toss game. There was a cash box that was kept just below the counter that could be seen from the camera Veronica was watching. Cricket paid for some rings and then as Veronica watched she intentionally misthrew them. The attendant was distracted by one of Cricket’s terrible tosses which afforded Cricket the split second she needed to reach across the counter putting her hand in the cash box. Veronica saw all of the cash disappear in an instant, the attendant none the wiser. Cricket threw her last ring and then just turned and walked away. It was few minutes until the attendant realized he had been robbed.

Veronica wondered how long it would take and how many different places Cricket would have to rob before Betty intervened. She sat back and continued to watch the cameras.

Chapter 13

Betty and the other had gone back to the main area where the majority of the parks restaurants were located. Jughead had made an immediate beeline for Johnny Rockets, while Polly went to get a table for them to sit at. Sheila went to the pizzeria and Betty was about to follow her when Dilton grabbed her and led her over towards the Main Street Deli.

“Dilton, what are you…?” Betty asked surprised.

“We’re going to talk,” Dilton said quietly. “And I could go for a pastrami sandwich.”

Betty had felt like pizza but as they approached the deli she could smell the corned beef and soon changed her mind.

“Alright fine,” Betty agreed. “What is it you want to know?”

“First off, just what is it you can do?” Dilton asked. “Obviously you have enhanced strength, but what else? How strong are you?”

“I’m very strong,” Betty said. “Give me a lump of coal and I could probably crush it into a diamond.”

“That’s not actually possible,” Dilton said.

“The replacement diamond on my mom’s wedding ring would disagree with you,” Betty responded.

Dilton wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. Betty wasn’t but she couldn’t prove it at the moment.

“Okay, so what else?” Dilton inquired.

“I’m fast, extremely fast,” Betty answered.

“You somehow got Ambrose out of the auditorium without anyone seeing,” Dilton realized.

Betty nodded.

“And I’m guessing it’s very hard to hurt you,” Dilton said.

“I was punched through a wall,” Betty said. “An exterior wall too, so you know… thicker.”

“But how?” Dilton asked.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” Betty replied. “But I’ll show you later after we leave the park, deal?”

“Deal,” Dilton agreed.

They waited in line to be served at the Deli. There was red-headed girl in front of them in line, wearing a long sleeved grey and white shirt. Betty noticed that it looked as though she had tattoos of money creeping up her shoulders towards her neck. They looked very realistic. Betty tapped the girl on the shoulder and she turned around a little startled.

“I love your tattoos,” Betty commented. “They’re very real looking.”

“Oh, uh thank you,” the girl said before turning back around.

The girl was up next and she placed her order getting a roast beef sandwich on rye. She went to place her change in the tip jar and accidentally knocked it over behind the counter.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the girl said as she reached over the counter.

“It’s alright,” the server working behind the counter said. “No harm, no foul.”

The girl smiled and then took her sandwich and walked off.

“And what can I get you today?” the server asked Betty and Dilton.

“Whatever you want birthday girl,” Dilton said. “I’m buying.”

“Hmm, I’ll have the corned beef and egg sandwich,” Betty decided.

“And I’ll get the hot pastrami,” Dilton decided.

“Are those combos?” the server asked.

“Of course,” Dilton replied.

“That’ll be $37.50,” he said.

Dilton reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a pair of twenties and handed them to the server. The server went to open the drawer and get change.

“What the…” he stammered in surprise. “Where did my money go? All I’ve got here is coin? Where are my bills!?”

Betty stole a quick glance to see if he was lying for some reason, but saw that he wasn’t. There were only coins left in the till. But he’d just given change to the girl ahead of them. That could only mean one thing.

“Where did she go?” Betty asked as she turned around looking for the red haired girl.

However Betty couldn’t find her. Despite her rather distinct hair colour, the girl had managed to vanish into the crowd. However that wasn’t too surprising to Betty; what was, was how the girl had managed to clear out the cash drawer so quickly. Her diversionary tactic of knocking the tip jar over looked like it would have been enough to perhaps palm a few bills, but certainly not all the cash in the drawer at once. Then Betty remembered the money tattoos on the girl and she had a crazy idea.

“I’ve got an idea Dilton,” Betty whispered.

“Don’t worry about the change,” Dilton said to the server.

The server gave them their food but then the manager came along to close the restaurant down.

“What the heck happened back there?” Dilton asked as they made their way towards the table that Polly had saved for them.

“I’m not entirely sure how, but I’m almost certain that girl ahead of us stole all the money from the till,” Betty replied.

“How? That shouldn’t be possible,” Dilton said.

“I don’t know either, but you also saw those money tattoos that she had, they looked almost exactly like real money,” Betty said.

“…And maybe they were,” Dilton stated finishing her theory.

“I know it’s crazy,” Betty said.

“It’s no crazier than anything you can do, or what Ambrose could do,” Dilton said.

“The problem is who’s going to believe us,” Betty said. “We could tell the park security but nobody would believe us.”

“Well then there’s only one thing to do,” Dilton said.

“What’s that?” Betty asked.

“We have to stop her ourselves,” Dilton replied.

Veronica had been tense and excited to see that Betty and one of her friends were in line at one of the restaurants directly behind Cricket. Cricket had made a clever distraction to rob the till, which left Veronica rather impressed. It wasn’t until Cricket had vanished into the crowd that Betty and her friend had realized what had happened.

Unfortunately Veronica didn’t have audio so she wasn’t sure what was being discussed, but she was quite certain that Betty and her friend had figured out that Cricket had robbed the restaurant. However to her disappointment they didn’t go running off after Cricket. Veronica wondered if perhaps her plan wasn’t going to work.

Unfortunately Betty and her friend had moved on and were sitting in an area that wasn’t well covered by the security cameras so Veronica couldn’t see what they were doing. However she was able to keep an eye on Cricket, who had immediately dumped the food she had purchased and then headed to a store called the M-PORIUM that sold a lot of candy.

That store had multiple registers and as Veronica watched Cricket cleverly robbed them all. Once she had Veronica remotely erased the security camera footage as she had each time Cricket robbed a place, going back for about 15 minutes and then watched the panicked staff in the store freaking out as Cricket calmly moved on.

She hoped that Betty would figure it out soon and do something about it. If not this was going all be for naught.

Dilton and Betty reached the table where Polly and Jughead were sitting, Sheila was still getting her food apparently.

“We may have a problem,” Betty said.

“What, they don’t have the mustard you like?” Polly asked jokingly.

“No, there’s a thief stealing all of the cash from the tills around here,” Betty said.

“And we think she’s somehow turning it into tattoos on her body simply by touching it,” Dilton added.

Polly and Jughead both looked at Betty and Dilton and then at each other.

“He knows, doesn’t he?” Jughead asked pointing at Dilton.

Betty nodded.

“You told him?” Polly asked rather surprised.

“Actually he figured it out himself, well enough of it that I had to tell him the rest,” Betty replied.

“It’s very hard to convince a person with an eidetic memory that they didn’t remember something properly,” Dilton stated.

“Well… shit,” Polly commented.

“You’re certain that this thief, whoever he or she is, is doing this?” Jughead asked.

“Oh it’s definitely a girl,” Betty said. “She was in front of us in line at the Deli and when we ordered suddenly there was no cash left in the drawer.”

“Betty noticed that the girl had some very realistic looking tattoos going up her shoulders, they probably cover her entire arms but she had her arms covered with a long sleeve shirt,” Dilton said.

Just then they heard shouting from over near the M-PORIUM, a candy shop that sold Mars bars, M & M’s and other related products.

“Shouldn’t we just tell the park security?” Polly suggested.

“I don’t think they’ll believe us,” Betty responded. “Probably might even think we’re responsible. No we’ve got to try and catch her.”

“But what if she’s dangerous?” Jughead asked. “I mean the electricity that Ambrose absorbed made him stronger, maybe the money she absorbs makes her faster? I don’t know.”

Just then Sheila came walking back from getting her pizza.

“That was annoying,” Sheila muttered. “They had ran out of change for some reason so it was either exact change or pay with a card. I didn’t want to use my Visa.”

“We had the same issue at the Deli,” Dilton commented.

“You’d think they’d know how to properly run an amusement park right?” Sheila asked.

The others all nodded in false agreement.

Polly got up to go get her own food while the others ate their lunches and talked about what they were going to do in the afternoon. Polly returned from Johnny Rockets a few moments later.

“They were out cash there too,” Polly commented. “That’s really weird.”

“You’d think somebody is going around robbing the place,” Sheila said. “But then somebody would probably notice.”

“You’d think,” Jughead agreed.

“I wouldn’t mind trying some of the boardwalk games,” Betty said. “Maybe win an oversized stuffed animal?”

“That sounds fun,” Polly said.

“Those games are usually rigged,” Sheila said.

“Betty’s really good at them,” Polly stated.

“It’s true that the odds are stacked in the favour of the operator,” Dilton said. “But they’re not unwinnable.”

“If you don’t want to play the games you and I can go on the go-karts,” Jughead suggested. “They’re in the same place more or less.”

“Alright,” Sheila agreed.

Once they finished eating the group got up and headed over in the direction of the boardwalk games and go-karts. On the way they heard many comments about missing money as well as seeing a lot of security guards wandering about trying to be inconspicuous but failing miserably at it. Jughead and Sheila split off to get in line for the go-karts.

“Let’s fan out a bit,” Betty said. “It will make finding this girl easier.”

“What does she look like?” Polly asked.

“A bit on the shorter side, orange-red hair she’s wearing a grey and white long sleeved shirt with a V-neck and a pair of jeans,” Dilton replied. “She’s got quite a few freckles on her face but there’s a particularly dark one right near the corner of her mouth on the left side of her face, her left your right.”

Betty and Polly stared at him surprised.

“Eidetic memory, remember?” Dilton said tapping his head. “Now let find this girl.”

They fanned out each of them going to a different game. Dilton went to try the ring toss, while Polly went to try a skee-ball game and Betty went over to a test of strength game, the one where you hit a hammer pad with a hammer and tried to ring a bell, or rather a more modern electronic version of that game.

“Hey there pretty lady,” the guy running the game said.

“Can I play?” Betty asked.

“Sure, but don’t you want a big strong guy to take a swing for you?” he asked flexing his right arm.

Betty immediately thought that this guy reminded her of Reggie. He was strong and good-looking with similar dark hair, but clearly chauvinistic and a bit of a jerk.

“I think I can do alright myself,” Betty responded.

“It’s your money,” the guy said. “Three swings for five dollars.”

Betty handed him five dollars and he then handed her the big rubber mallet. Betty hefted it in her hands, to her it felt like nothing.

“Whoa this thing is heavier than I thought,” Betty lied.

“The offer still stands,” the guy said.

Betty took a testing swing on the game and watched it go up. There was an electronic counter at the top that would count all the way up to 100 and her first swing only got to 62.

“That’s not bad, for a girl,” the guy commented.

Betty gave him a dirty look and took a second swing. This time it went all the way up to 81.

“Whoa, that’s a big improvement,” the guy said surprised.

Betty just smirked and then took her third and final spring. The counter quickly went all the way to 100 and then a series of bells began clanging and a voice yelled out, “Winner!”

“What the hell?” the guy muttered in surprise.

Betty tossed the mallet back to him with one hand and he caught it with two rather awkwardly.

“Keep working out, maybe you’ll be as strong as I am one day,” Betty commented. “So my prize?”

The confused guy handed Betty a huge stuffed giraffe and she happily walked away with her prize looking for her sister. She spotted Polly playing skee-ball before she got to Polly she was intercepted by Dilton.

“I found her,” Dilton said.

“Where?” Betty asked.

Dilton pointed to a row of shooting games and Betty immediately recognized the girl’s orange hair.

“Hold this,” Betty said handing him the giraffe. “I’ll deal with her.”

She walked away from Dilton leaving him holding the giraffe. She kept her eyes locked on the girl watching her every move. She was at a game where the object was to shoot a water gun at a target to be the first to fill up a tube. It looked like she was flirting with the game’s attendant at the moment. Betty saw the girl accidentally drop a one dollar bill to the ground on the other side of the counter. As the attendant went to pick it up for her the girl made a move for the cash drawer. Betty quickly sped over and grabbed her by the wrist stopping her.

“What the hell?” the attendant asked as he stood up.

“She was making a move for your cash,” Betty said.

The attendant looked at the girl surprised. He then went to grab a walkie-talkie he had sitting nearby, when suddenly the girl flicked her free hand and something came flying out striking the radio and destroying it. The girl then flicked her wrist at Betty’s and something struck Betty on the wrist.

“Ow!” Betty exclaimed as she grabbed her wrist letting go of the girl in the process.

The girl took off while Betty looked at her wrist in surprise. She was cut, actually bleeding. She had never bled before in her life. The cut quickly healed but Betty was worried. She stood there staring at it for a moment.

“Are you okay?” the attendant asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Betty replied finally looking up. “Which way did she go?”

“I think you should let security handle that,” the attendant said.

Just then Dilton and Polly came running over. Betty quickly walked over to join them.

“What happened?” Polly asked.

“She got away,” Betty replied.

“How?” Dilton inquired.

“She… cut me,” Betty answered.

“Cut you? How could she do that?” Polly asked.

“I don’t know,” Betty replied. “She flung these projectiles from her wrist, one destroyed the attendant’s radio, and the other one cut my wrist.”

“Are you alright?” Dilton asked.

Betty showed them her wrist which was healed all there was still a bit of blood stained on her skin.

“But the only thing that hurts you is meteor rocks,” Polly commented.

“Wait, meteor rocks can hurt you?” Dilton asked.

Betty nodded, “Yes why?” she responded.

“Because I’ve got an idea on what’s going on, with Ambrose and this girl, probably you too,” Dilton said.

Polly and Betty both looked at each other both confused.

“I think that they got their abilities from the meteor rocks,” Dilton explained. “I actually have a few samples of my own and I’ve done some experiments on them, they defy the laws of physics and have properties that make no sense. It stands to reason that they might be able to give people different abilities.”

“So we could have even more people like this on our hands?” Betty asked worriedly.

“That’s possible,” Dilton replied.

“I’ve got to stop her before anybody else gets hurt, and fast,” Betty said.

“Betty, no, she can hurt you,” Polly said grabbing her sister’s wrist.

“I’ll heal,” Betty said. “Look it might not be my fault, but if these people’s abilities come from meteor rocks then I’ve got a responsibility to stop them.”

“Why would it be your responsibility?” Dilton asked.

“Because I’m an alien,” Betty replied. “And those meteor rocks came with me when I arrived on Earth.”

Chapter 14

“What do you mean you’re an alien?” Dilton asked in complete disbelief.

“Exactly what I said,” Betty replied. “I’m not from Earth, yes I came here in a space ship, and I’ll show it to you if you want.”

“Really Betty, I haven’t even seen the ship yet,” Polly said.

“You probably have but just don’t remember,” Betty responded. “But that’s not the point, the point is we need to stop this girl. And I don’t really care what either of you say, it is my responsibility. There was a message with the ship, from my birth mother, asking that I be raised to use my abilities to help people, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“She can hurt you Betty,” Dilton said.

“She caught me off guard,” Betty responded. “Now that I know what she can do I know how to take her down.”

“And just how are you going to do that?” Polly asked.

“I’m faster and stronger,” Betty said. “Piece of cake.”

Betty turned and went off searching for the girl on her own.

Veronica cursed the low frame rate of the amusement park’s security cameras. Betty had gone to confront Cricket just as Veronica had suspected she would. Unfortunately it had all happened rather quickly and Veronica had been unable to make out what happened. Even though it was recorded on two separate cameras.

What she did see was that it looked as though Cricket had cut Betty’s hand or wrist with one of her thrown bills. Veronica found that a bit contradictory since she was certain that she had hit Betty with her car but Betty didn’t have a scratch on her.

Veronica continued to monitor the cameras while she put the footage from the two cameras through some software that would try and render a 3D composite video of what happened.

Cricket was worried. That blond girl had come out of nowhere to stop her from stealing cash from the carnival game and she’d been forced to use her powers to get away.

Cricket hadn’t wanted to hurt the girl, but she’d had such a surprisingly strong grip on her wrist. She’d made sure that the wound was as superficial as he could manage. The girl was only trying to do the right thing and Cricket could respect that.

But now Cricket was worried. The girl and the attendant had both seen her face so it was only a matter of time before security started looking for her. She had to try and get out of the park now, but going out the main entrance likely wasn’t an option since there would definitely be security stationed there, plus that meant going back through all the security from the restaurants she had ripped off earlier.

“Good going Cricket,” she cursed herself. “You really backed yourself into a corner on this one.”

She paused to look around and think. There had to be another way out of here; a maintenance or employee exit that she could use. Then she spotted something over on the far side of the go-karts. It was a service entrance, it was a rolling metal door that was probably used to bring in go-karts and take others out for repairs that couldn’t be done on site.

She made her way over to the door and tried to lift it up only to find that it was locked. Cricket cursed yet again as she looked at the lock. It was a simple sliding bar that was being held shut by a padlock. She could probably break the lock with her abilities.

It took two tries but she managed to break the padlock. Smiling to herself Cricket bent down and went to open the door when suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Going somewhere?” a familiar voice asked.

Cricket looked up to see that it was blonde girl again.

“Who are you?” Cricket asked.

“No! No! No!” Veronica shouted at the screen.

She had watched as Cricket walked off into an employees only area that had no security cameras and then moments later was followed by Betty. If anything happened there Veronica wouldn’t be able to see it. She had to make sure that her people managed to at least bring Cricket back to Belle Reeve. She picked up her phone and made a call.

“I could ask you the same question,” Betty replied to the thief.

“Fine, let’s swap names, I’m Cricket,” the girl said.

“Betty,” Betty replied a little caught off guard.

Cricket suddenly made a move to throw a razor bill at Betty, but Betty grabbed her by both wrists and pinned her up against the door.

“That wasn’t going to work a second time,” Betty said.

Cricket struggled to get free but was surprised at how strong Betty was. She brought her knee up into Betty’s gut but only succeeded in injuring her leg, it was like driving her knee into a brick wall. Cricket let out a cry of pain while Betty just had an amused expression on her face.

“Are you one of the Belle Reeve experiments?” Cricket asked. “Or did you get your powers from an accident like I did?”

“Belle Reeve?” Betty responded confused. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s this facility where they experiment on people with meteor rocks trying to give them powers,” Cricket explained.

Betty was shocked; she wondered if that was where Ambrose had been since he disappeared.

“Did you know a boy named Ambrose Pipp?” Betty asked. “He would have been about the same age as me.”

“Oh the Hulking Battery as we called him,” Cricket answered. “Yeah, he disappeared from his cell one night only to return later in the day in a coma, we wondered what had happened to him.”

Betty was growing more and more worried with each answer Cricket gave her.

“Who runs this place?” Betty asked.

“The person in charge seems to turn over all the time, we’ve had like five in the last four years. In fact we just got a new director the other day; a young woman too, very pretty, uh Veronica Lodge.” Cricket said.

Betty’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“I take it by your reaction that you know her,” Cricket commented.

“You could say that,” Betty responded. “So did she send you here?”

Cricket nodded.

“She must have figured out that we were coming here,” Betty thought out loud.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Cricket asked.

“Look, both of us have… abilities,” Betty said. “From the sounds of it Veronica and her father Hiram Lodge are trying to gather people with them. For what purpose, I don’t know. But given the family’s cutthroat reputation in the business world my guess is that it isn’t anything good.”

“I don’t know, Veronica seemed kind of nice the one time I met her,” Cricket said. “She said if I did well enough here I could go free.”

“I don’t think she intended to keep that promise,” Betty said. “She sent you here to lure me into revealing myself.”

Cricket frowned confused.

“I have… abilities, that they find rather desirable shall we say,” Betty said picking her words carefully. “And I’m pretty sure that you were sent here to get me to reveal myself.”

“What are you talking about?” Cricket asked.

“I rescued Veronica from her car after she hit me with it and then ended up running off a bridge,” Betty said. “I’m also the one who put Ambrose in a coma; not intentionally by the way.”

“Whoa, that’s badass,” Cricket commented.

“Look I’m guessing that you don’t want to go back to Belle Reeve or wherever right?” Betty asked.

“God no, they’ve kept me locked in a cell for… I don’t even know how long now.” Cricket replied.

“Well I bet you that they’re waiting outside ready to take you back in,” Betty stated. “But I can help you out.”

“If you just step aside and let me go we’ll call it even,” Cricket said.

“I’ll do you one better,” Betty said.

She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled a card out of her wallet. It had Dilton’s email address on it.

“You promise to e-mail everything you know about this Belle Reeve facility to this email address and I can get you to nearest bus station, like instantly.”

“What you can teleport?” Cricket asked in disbelief. “Why not send me to Hawaii or something?”

“Because I don’t teleport,” Betty replied. “Now do we have a deal?”

Cricket looked at the card. Ever since she’d been sent on this assignment she had felt something was off. If Betty could make good on her promise then Cricket was more than happy to take the chance to go free now. And as far as she could see she was in a win-win situation.

“Alright, deal,” Cricket agreed.

“Okay, hold on,” Betty said.

Cricket was surprised as Betty picked her up over one shoulder and there was a rush of wind and an instant later they were in a bus station that was about five miles away from the park.

“How did we get here?” Cricket asked surprised.

“I ran,” Betty answered. “Now remember, everything you know about Belle Reeve to that email address. If they’re actually experimenting on people and holding them prisoner I’m going to set them free and I’ll need your help.”

“Of course, you got it,” Cricket agreed, grateful for being given a chance.

“And try not to steal any more money,” Betty said. “I don’t want to have to come hunt you down. If I come across a news report about a girl absorbing money out of a till by just touching it…”

“Well I might a little, just to get by,” Cricket said. “But I’ll try to keep it to places that can afford to lose it.”

“You know you could find a way to use your ability legally,” Betty said. “You know transporting money for people.”

“You’re right, I hadn’t considered that,” Cricket admitted. “I’ll look into it once I’ve relocated.”

“Where are you going to go?” Betty asked.

“I dunno, maybe out west, maybe down south. Preferably somewhere warm,” Cricket answered.

“Well good luck,” Betty said. “I’ve got to get back.”

Before Cricket could even wave good-bye Betty was gone. Cricket just shook her head in disbelief and went to purchase a bus ticket.

Betty returned to the park and soon re-joined her friends.

“Where did you disappear to Betty?” Sheila asked.

“Oh I had to use the bathroom,” Betty lied. “But the women’s bathrooms over here are so crowded so I wandered around till I found one that wasn’t.”

“Well you could have told somebody,” Sheila chastised her.

“Sorry Sheila it was urgent,” Betty said. “Now come on let’s go hit some more rides.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the park going on all the rides not designed specifically for kids. It was starting to get dark when they finally met back up with Hal and Alice near the main entrance.

“Did you kids have a fun day?” Alice asked.

“It was certainly eventful,” Polly commented.

“Yes apparently a bunch of places in the park were robbed right around lunch time,” Hal said. “But they didn’t end up catching anyone.”

“Yeah, I heard that it seemed like it was co-ordinated by a bunch of people,” Betty commented. “Seems like one of those mysteries that will never be solved.”

They all left the park and got in the Cooper’s van and Hal drove home.

“Alright Dilton and Sheila before you go home come in the house for some cake,” Alice said as they were getting out of the van.

Everybody went into the house. Alice brought out a cake she had made and they all sang happy birthday to Betty and had a slice of cake. Then Dilton and Sheila went to go home. Sheila left first and then Dilton. Betty offered to walk with him.

“So when can I see this supposed ship of yours?” Dilton asked as they walked to his house.

“Tomorrow,” Betty replied. “It’s out on my grandfather’s, or I guess it’s mine, farm.”

“Alright, I’ll come by in the morning?” Dilton asked.

“Not too early,” Betty said. “I’ve got to return that Ferrari to Veronica tomorrow too.”

“What do you mean you can’t find her?” Veronica yelled into the phone. “She absorbed money onto her skin she doesn’t disappear into thin air.”

Veronica was endlessly frustrated. Cricket had disappeared off camera with Betty; they were off camera for about fifteen minutes but then Betty had reappeared but Cricket never did. Veronica had just lost a test subject for no gain. She hadn’t gotten any proof about Betty whatsoever, even the footage she had tried to splice together had proven useless.

Veronica realized she was going to have to rethink how she went about this. She couldn’t just send an endless stream of the test subjects after Betty.

It was late though and Veronica was tired. Whatever she was going to do it could wait. At the very least Betty looked as if she was going to be in highschool for two more years so Veronica definitely had all that time to figure out what Betty’s secret was; but she would prefer to figure it out before then.

Veronica took a look at the red meteor shard on her desk once again. She wondered if there were other coloured shards that existed besides this one. That was something she was going to have to look into as well. But again another day.

Veronica grabbed her things and left her office and turned off the light. As she looked back she saw that the meteor shard was glowing very dimly, barely enough to light up the area on her desk immediately around itself. Another mystery for another day.

Chapter 15

“Geez, we haven’t been out on Grandpa Munroe farm in years,” Polly commented.

Polly along with Betty, Jughead and Dilton had all driven out to the farm together. Earlier in the day Betty and Polly had driven the Ferrari back to the dealership where it had been purchased from.

“Well it’s my farm now,” Betty said. “And I’ve been out here twice in just the last week. But I know what you mean, it had been years before that. Come on it’s in the old barn.”

Betty led the way to the old barn. She opened the large swinging door carefully not sure if it might cause the whole structure to collapse. When it didn’t she stepped aside to let the others in.

“You’re not coming?” Dilton asked.

“My ship and I don’t exactly get along,” Betty said.

Dilton was a little confused but didn’t ask further. He, Polly and Jughead went over and together pulled the tarp off of the ship.

“This is amazing,” Dilton commented looking at it. “And it works?”

Betty shrugged. “I think so.”

Dilton knelt down beside it and ran a hand along it feeling the smooth metal surface.

“Weird, it’s almost warm to the touch, like touching a person’s skin,” Dilton commented.

“Really?” Polly asked.

She knelt down on the other side of the ship from Dilton and did likewise. As she did the image of Betty’s birth mother suddenly appeared above ship floating in the air. Dilton and Polly both scurried back, frightened by the appearance.

“Thank you for finding our daughter,” the image of Betty’s mother said. “I am Alura of the planet Krypton. Our planet is much like yours but we are far more technologically advanced. However that technology has come with a steep price and unfortunately our planet is dying. My husband and I have sent our daughter Kara to your planet so that she may live. Under your yellow sun she will end up being different to the beings of your planet, she would almost be a god. Please raise her to use her abilities for the betterment of your race.”

A few seconds later the image vanished.

“How does she speak English?” Dilton asked. “Or rather know to speak English? I mean perhaps they sent you here having known of our planet but how could they know that you would have ended up in a place that speaks English. There are nearly 6,500 spoken language in the world, admittedly not all nearly as widely spoken as others. But still why not Chinese then, more people speak that? Perhaps there’s some sort of translating devices?”

“I don’t know Dilton,” Betty replied. “I have no idea how it works.”

“I think a better question is how come you didn’t mention that your birth mother looks like Aunt Judy?” Polly asked.

“I… I didn’t even realize that,” Betty said. “At least not till now. I mean she’s a lot younger looking than Aunt Judy.”

Their Aunt Judy was Alice’s older sister and she lived out on the west coast in Portland. They used to see her once a year during the Christmas holidays but hadn’t in the past three years since their grandfather’s health issues.

“Yeah but that picture of her from Mom and Dad’s wedding day? I mean the similarities are eerie.” Polly said.

“Yeah but that picture is what, almost 27 years old, 28 almost?” Betty replied.

“If I may interject,” Dilton interrupted. “Perhaps you coming here and ending up with the Coopers wasn’t just a coincidence, perhaps it was predetermined.”

“What are you talking about Dilton?” Jughead asked.

“Well we’ve got a pretty curious series of coincidences here, the Hologram speaks English but also looks very similar to their aunt. What if these are the result of mere coincidences but rather that Betty was sent here to live with the Coopers.” Dilton suggested.

“What do you mean?” Betty asked.

“Well we have no idea where your planet of origin is, but based on what science has determined about solar systems with planets that may support life the nearest planet is five hundred light years away and that’s not even necessarily where you are from. So for them to send you here from wherever you are from suggests that they have extremely advanced technology.” Dilton said. “Your mother said as much in her message, but I’m trying to give a scale here. Anyway the wording also suggests that they searched out for and found out planet somehow. So it’s not unheard of that they would search for a family that you could fit in with to raise you.”

“Those are a lot of presumptions there Dilton,” Polly commented.

“Well it just seems far more likely than the fact that she ended up with your family by pure coincidence,” Dilton said. “I mean she looks like she could be your sister, I mean who knows maybe there’s some kind of connection between Betty’s race and humans.”

“Well there could be a way to find out,” Polly said looking at Betty.

Betty shook her head.

“No, I’m not ready for that yet,” Betty said.

“What are you not ready for?” Dilton asked.

“The ship has the answers,” Polly said. “But to get them Betty needs to go away with it.”

“And I don’t know where or for how long.” Betty added.

“You could always ask it,” Polly said.

“I’d rather not,” Betty said.

“But…” Dilton began to say.

“This is Betty’s decision,” Jughead cut him off. “It’s not either of yours, it’s not mine, and it’s not even her parents’ decision. It is her decision and it’s our job to support her no matter what she chooses as her sister and her friends.”

“You’re right Jughead,” Polly agreed.

“I’m sorry for pushing you Betty,” Dilton apologized. “Can we make this up to you?”

“I’ve got an idea on that,” Betty said.

Polly and Dilton looked at her a little shocked and a little curious.

“Keeping the ship here isn’t exactly the safest option. I mean I’m sure that the Lodge’s will find out that it belongs to me now soon and come snooping, or at least send somebody.” Betty said. “So we need to hide the ship better.”

“Okay well what did you have in mind?” Jughead asked.

“Burying it,” Betty replied.

“Come again?” Polly inquired not sure she understood.

“I’ll dig the hole,” Betty said. “I just need you guys to put it in the hole.”

“And where would this hole be?” Dilton asked.

“Here on the farm, out in the fields,” Betty said. “It will be deep enough that we can plant crops over top of it.”

The three of them looked at the ship. It was smaller than a car but it still looked heavier than anything the three of them could carry.

“Grandpa sold his tractors so we’ve got nothing to move it with,” Polly said.

“Well I can help with that,” Dilton said.

“How?” Jughead asked. “Do you own a tractor?”

“No, but I do have money,” Dilton replied. “I know you had to return that Ferrari Betty, but let me buy you a truck. You’re going to need it now that you own a farm.”

“I can’t let you do that Dilton,” Betty said. “Besides I don’t have my licence yet.”

“Very well, Polly would you like a truck on condition that you use it to help Betty?” Dilton asked turning to Polly.

“Uh, hell yeah!” Polly agreed.

“Polly!” Betty exclaimed.

“What? He offered me a truck. Not my first choice of car admittedly, but I’ll take it,” Polly stated.

“I’m with your sister on this one Betty,” Jughead said.

Betty sighed in resignation.

“Fine,” she agreed.

“You know we can use this place as our little base as we try and take down the Lodges,” Polly suggested.

“That’s true,” Dilton agreed. “I mean we’ll probably have to renovate the house a bit and perhaps the barn…”

“We definitely need to get a stone pizza oven,” Jughead stated.

“I don’t think a stone pizza oven is going to help us take down the Lodges,” Betty said.

“Speak for yourself but I do everything better on a full stomach,” Jughead said.

“We’ll look into it Jughead,” Dilton said.

Dilton, Polly and Jughead covered the ship up with the tarp once more and then they left the old barn. Betty picked up a shovel as they left the barn.

“Well, I’m going to get started digging that hole,” Betty decided. “You guys figure out what you’re doing for a truck to move the ship.”

“Do you want me to come back and pick you up later?” Polly asked.

“Nah, I’ll run home,” Betty replied.

Betty watched as they got into the van and drove out to the rode heading back to Riverdale. She stood there until they had driven out of sight before heading out into the field and finding a spot. Then she got to digging.

For Betty it wasn’t difficult work, but it was a little tedious. She went quickly at first to get the shape but as she started to go deeper she slowed down a bit because she didn’t want to have the hole filling in on itself because that would just increase the amount of work she would have to do.

It was starting to get late in the afternoon when she finally felt she was finished. Betty was standing in the bottom of the hole which was nearly twenty feet deep and was about twelve feet long by seven feet wide; the length and width were just a bit larger than the dimensions of the ship and Betty wanted to make sure it was buried deep which was why she had gone down twenty feet.

Betty jumped up out of the hole and stood looking at her handing work. She had dug up over 62 tons of dirt using nothing but a shovel and she hadn’t even broken a sweat. She smiled proud of her accomplishment for the day and hoped that her sister and friends could come through.

Betty then looked down to see that she was completely covered in dirt and mud. Quite a bit of that would come off when she ran home but she would still need a shower, and she couldn’t see what her hair looked like at the moment. However Betty wasn’t quite ready to head home yet. Resting the shovel on her shoulder she slowly walked back towards the farm house.

Betty had been thinking quite a bit about everything she had learned yesterday from Cricket. The fact that there was a place where people were being experimented on was reprehensible; and Cricket had flat out said that Veronica was involved. However she had also said that Veronica had been made the director in just the past week, which made sense with Veronica’s rather public profile. For her to be involved with something shady like this with how much she used to be followed around by the paparazzi seemed unlikely.

But it wasn’t hard to believe that her father Hiram Lodge was involved. The first time she had met him he had just seemed to be concerned about his daughter, but the second time she had met him in Principal Weatherbee’s office she had gotten a strange shady vibe from the man. Given that his company had gotten the sole clean up contract for Riverdale it wasn’t hard to believe that he’d taken advantage and hoarded vast amounts of the meteor rocks and had later used them to test on people. The only thing that was hard to believe was that he had been allowed to do so.

Betty was hoping that Cricket had more information when she was able to get back in contact.

Cricket got off the bus in Kansas City. She wasn’t sure how, but she felt like she was being followed. She had been paying cash for all her bus tickets. She walked across the street to the train station glancing back over her shoulder. She didn’t see anybody but she couldn’t shake the feeling that somebody was watching her.

Cricket walked up to the Amtrak ticket counter.

“I’d like a ticket please, to Portland,” Cricket said.

“Okay, would you like a sleeper cabin?” the woman working the counter asked.

The cabin meant that Cricket would have a door she could lock and it would give her some privacy as well as help her know if she was following. At least better than she could tell on the bus. Plus she had barely slept in the past day, she could use a bed now.

“Yes, please,” Cricket said.

“That will be $917,” the attendant said.

Cricket soon realized why more people didn’t travel by train. It was slower and somehow more expensive than an airplane. She faked reaching into her pocket to produce the requested cash and handed it over. The attendant counted the money and was surprised that she had given her exact change.

“Here you go,” the attendant said giving Cricket her ticket. “There’s a transfer in Los Angeles onto the 14 Coast Starlight train. Your train leaves in fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks,” Cricket said taking the ticket.

She headed to the station bathroom first to freshen up before getting on the train. As she did she felt she saw a man wearing a black ball cap following her. In the bathroom Cricket looked over the money tattoos on her arms. She still had nearly three thousand dollars left which was more than enough to get out to the west coast. However she was wondering if Portland might not have been the best place to go. Well she could always get off somewhere earlier along the route.

Cricket left the bathroom and headed for the platform. She looked around but didn’t see the man in the black ball cap. Perhaps she was just being paranoid. The call for final board came just as she reached the platform. All of sudden Cricket was grabbed from behind. Cricket flailed her elbow around at her attacker connecting squarely to his nose.

She spun around to see that it was the man with the black ball cap; although his hat now lay on the ground and he was clutching at his nose which was bleeding profusely.

Cricket threw two bills at his feet, the cut through till they hit bone and caused him to cry out and fall to his knees in pain. Cricket didn’t stick around and instead ran and boarded the train. She ran to the cabin assigned to her and closed and locked the door. Moments later the train began to slowly pull out of the station. As Cricket looked out the window she saw the man still on the platform moaning in agony as people attended to him.

Cricket gave a sigh of relief. She was safe, for now. However she had been right to be paranoid. She was indeed being followed. Cricket knew that she was going to have to change her destination now.

“What do you mean you lost her?” Veronica asked angrily. “I want that girl back in Belle Reeve I don’t care what it takes.”

Veronica angrily hung up her phone.

“Tough day?” her father asked.

“Oh like you don’t already know what’s going on,” Veronica responded angrily.

They were at their recently built mansion on the edge of Riverdale just sitting down for a late dinner. Just then Veronica’s mother Hermione entered the dining room.

“Hello Veronica dearest,” she greeted her daughter. “Hiram.”

Veronica’s parents didn’t exactly have the best relationship. However the two remained together because a divorce was mutually assured destruction. Both knew secrets about the other that would result in situations neither wanted.

“I heard about your issues at work Veronica,” Hermione said as she sat down. “If you need any help I’m happy to assist you.”

Veronica looked across at her mother a little confused. Hermione didn’t have any position within the company at except for holding a seat on the board, and she rarely attended board meetings. She spent most of her days going to spas or shopping or having lunch with the wives of other rich men.

“How do you know…?” Veronica asked.

“I know a great deal about what goes on in this company,” Hermione replied. “I do control 50% of your father’s shares after all. But unlike the rest of the board I also know about his off the books side projects like Belle Reeve.”

Veronica was surprised by this revelation, but quickly composed herself.

“Thank you for the offer mother, but I have things under control,” Veronica said.

“Very well,” Hermione responded. “Shall we eat?”

The Lodges set down to eat. However Veronica couldn’t help but wonder if there was more that either of her parents weren’t telling her.

Chapter 16

Betty arrived home from her day of digging. Her clothes were stained with dirt and her blonde hair was so dirty that it now looked brown.

“Ugh Betty you need a shower,” her mother said the moment Betty entered the house.

“I know Mom,” Betty said.

“Before you go upstairs give me those clothes,” Alice said. “I’ll put them in the wash. That way you won’t be tracking dirt all over the house either.”

“Alright,” Betty said.

Betty stripped down to just her underwear and handed her dirty clothes to her mother. Alice took the dirty clothes downstairs, while Betty went upstairs to have a shower. She was just at the top of the stairs when the door to her own bedroom opened.

“Oh hey Betty,” Jughead greeted her.

Betty instinctively covered herself with her hands, even though she was still wearing her bra and panties.

“Jughead!” she exclaimed.

Jughead looked his friends up and down and then shrugged.

“You’re not showing me as much as Polly did,” he commented.

“Just… turn around and go back in the room,” Betty said through gritted teeth.

“Whatever,” Jughead said as he went back in the room closing the door behind him.

Betty went into the bathroom and closed and locked the door. Most days she would have a quick shower, but today she felt like taking her time and enjoying it.

About twenty minutes later when she finally got out she came face to face with her father. She was glad that she was covered up with her towel.

“Are you trying to use up all the hot water?” he asked slightly annoyed.

“No, and come on I rarely take a long shower,” Betty protested.

Betty went back to her and Polly’s room to get changed. After she had gotten dressed she went over to her own room that Jughead was staying in and knocked on the door. Moments later Jughead answered.

“Oh, you’re dressed now,” he commented.

“Where’s Polly?” Betty inquired.

“She and Dilton were going around pricing out trucks,” Jughead replied.

“Ugh, I hope she doesn’t talk him into something ridiculous,” Betty said.

Jughead shrugged, just then there was the sound of a car horn from the driveway.

“Oh maybe that’s them,” Jughead said.

“Oh it is,” Betty said rolling her eyes as she turned to head downstairs. “I can here Polly’s giddy laughter from here.”

“God that is weird,” Jughead muttered as he followed behind her.

At the bottom of the stairs they ran into Alice and Hal who were both going to see who was in the driveway when the door flung open and Polly was standing there bouncing up and down on her toes in excitement with Dilton beside her not nearly as excited, but still smiling.

“Oh, oh, oh come on Betty, come see!” Polly said excitedly.

She grabbed Betty by the wrist and pulled her out of the wrist. Sitting in the driveway was a brand new bright red Dodge Ram 3500. It had the dual rear wheels, the full size cab, lots of chrome and a sunroof. Betty could only guess at what other accessories this truck had.

“I didn’t think I was a truck girl,” Polly said. “But I love it, I love it, I love it.”

“This is a little much Dilton,” Alice said.

“Betty’s got a farm now, and since she doesn’t have her license yet Polly gets the truck on the condition she helps out,” Dilton explained.

“Still, it’s… big,” Hal said.

“Well she’s going to be driving us to school Mr. Cooper,” Jughead said. “Need to have room in there. And it’s not like we won’t be taking Sheila either.”

“Speaking of Sheila…” Betty said.

She pointed and everybody turned to see Sheila running down the street.

“Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!” Sheila shrieked. “That was Polly driving the truck!”

Polly ran out to meet Sheila and the two of them jumped up and down excited.

“Wait… why are you driving the truck. And why a truck?” Sheila abruptly stopped and asked.

“Well Betty does have a farm now,” Polly replied. “So we need a truck to do work on that farm.”

“But I don’t have a license yet.” Betty added.

“Yeah but you can get that tomorrow,” Sheila said.

“Yeah, but still, Polly actually needs a car too,” Betty responded. “I’m fine with sharing. Besides she’s going to be driving us to school. Oh, speaking of… PERMA-SHOTGUN!”

“D’oh,” Jughead moaned.

“Okay well dinner is almost ready,” Alice said. “We can all go out for a ride in the truck afterwards. Dilton, Sheila I’m sure your parents are expecting you for dinner too.”

Betty, Polly and Jughead said their good-byes to Dilton and Sheila and then went inside.

At the dinner table Polly prattled on and on about all the various features on the truck. Several times she mentioned things that she didn’t even know what they were, but she was excited about them none the less. After dinner they all went out to the truck and went for a drive out to the farm. Out at the farm Polly let everyone else take a turn driving. Hal went first and then Alice, then Jughead who had his learners permit and lastly Betty. It took Betty a little while to get used to the pedals since it was her first time driving but she eventually got it.

On the way back Alice ended up driving and she backed it into the driveway flawlessly as if she had been driving big trucks like this her entire life.

“How did you do that so well mom?” Betty asked.

“Yeah, that was impressive,” Polly added

“Remember I did grow up on that farm,” Alice replied. “My dad might not have had a truck quite as nice as this one, but he did have several pickup trucks, not to mention tractors.”

“Oh,” both Polly and Betty said feeling embarrassed for forgetting what should have been an obvious fact.

“You know I could use a truck like this for doing my errands and getting the groceries,” Alice commented.

“No Mom, it’s for me!” Polly protested.

“I’m just teasing,” Alice said. “The van is more than enough.”

It was dark out so they all went inside for the night.

Cricket had unfolded the bed in her small cabin for the night and was climbing in when one of the train attendants came by.

“Will you be needing anything else tonight miss?” she asked.

“No, just some privacy,” Cricket replied a little brusquely.

The attendant moved on and Cricket turned off the light and lay down. Outside the country side was dark but she could vaguely make it out. There was the soft sound of the train clicking as it rode along the tracks. Cricket was beginning to rethink he opinion that train travel was overpriced. It was actually a bit like staying in a moving hotel and her meal had been included.

Cricket punched her pillow a few times to try and soften it up and then rolled onto her side and was looking out the window as she slowly began to drift off to sleep.

Cricket couldn’t have been asleep long though when she awoke to a loud click noise. Her eyes sprang open and she could see in the reflection of the window that the door to her cabin was open. She rolled over quickly to see the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway. Cricket sprang up kicking at him as she got off the bed knocking him into the hallway. However the man was bigger and stronger than Cricket and he soon forced his way back up and pushed Cricket back into her cabin. The two of them struggled until he managed to get behind Cricket and tried to wrap his arm around her neck to try and choke her out.

Realizing she was on the verge of passing out Cricket resorted to her powers. She flung a razor bill along his arm cutting him and making him release her. But when she turned around he punched her right across the jaw. Instinctively Cricket flung another razor bill at him as she fell down onto the bed unconscious.

Cricket awoke to the sound of screaming, groggily she stood up and got to her feet to see the attendant standing just outside the room. At her feet was the body of the man that had attacked Cricket. He was lying with his eyes wide open and one of Cricket’s razor bills embedded in his forehead.

“Oh shit!” Cricket cursed. “Shit! Shit! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!”

Thinking quickly Cricket pulled the man and the attendant into her cabin which made it rather cramped. She then clamped her hand on the attendant’s mouth.

“Do you know who this guy is?” Cricket asked.

The attendant just stared at her fearfully.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I didn’t want to hurt him but he attacked me,” Cricket said. “So who is he?”

“I don’t know, he got on at our last stop, he asked about you,” the attendant said.

“Fuck…” Cricket muttered.

She realized that somebody was following her. Most likely it was Veronica as Betty had said. The guy at the station must have told somebody about which train she was on and they had boarded at the last stop.

“Look I can’t really tell you what’s going on, but suffice to say some bad people are after me,” Cricket said. “Like this guy here.”

The attendant looked at the dead man and then back at Cricket her eyes full of fear. Cricket quickly tried to come up with a plan.

“Okay, here’s what needs to happen,” Cricket said. “You go out there, let anybody else no that it was nothing and just go back to your job. When everybody is asleep I want you to come back here and we’re going to dump his body of the train and clean up. It will be like he was never here okay?”

The attendant didn’t respond but just stared at her.

“If you alert authorities then whoever he works for is going to come, or at least send others and they’ll find you and find out what you know,” Cricket said.

“But I don’t know anything,” the attendant pleaded.

“I know that,” Cricket said. “But they won’t and they’ll want answers. And when you can’t provide them…”

Cricket let the possible threat of violence linger.

“Okay, I’ll help you,” the attendant agreed.

Cricket let the attendant go and shoved the dead man’s bodies up onto the lower bunk. She then climbed up onto the top bunk to try and get a little rest.

It was two hours before the attendant returned.

“Everybody is asleep,” she said.

Together Cricket and the attendant dragged the corpse to one of the train’s doors. The train was currently passing through the Laguna Off-Reservation Trust Land. It was miles and miles of typical south-western desert. They shoved the body off the train watching as it bounced several times before disappearing in the darkness as it rolled away.

“What are the next stops?” Cricket asked.

“Flagstaff, and then Kingman,” the attendant answered.

Cricket actually knew about the small town of Kingman Arizona, it was located just south of Las Vegas. Vegas could actually be a place where she could use her abilities but could also be a good place to hide and remain anonymous. That was where she would get off.

Veronica was awoken by the sound of her phone going off. It was late at night, 3:30 am.

“What is it?” Veronica asked groggily as she answered her phone.

“We lost contact with out agent on the train,” somebody said. “We suspect he may have been killed.”

Veronica could remember his name it was Dave or Kevin or Steve, something with a v in the middle.

“Do you know if she’s disembarked?” Veronica asked.

“No idea, we would assume so but it’s going to be difficult to get somebody on the train until it almost in Los Angeles,” the person on the other end replied.

“Look listen… Steve…” Veronica guessed.

“It’s Evan,” the man on the other end corrected her.

Veronica knew she had the V right.

“Whatever, that’s not important,” Veronica said. “What is important is finding Cricket and returning her to Belle Reeve. I don’t care what it takes I want you to find her.”

“Yes mam,” Evan said.

Veronica then hung up her phone and lay back down. She was tired and she didn’t want to deal with this right now. She wasn’t even a week into her tenure as the Director of Belle Reeve and she was already finding it stressful.

Tomorrow though looked to be a better day. She was going to have a survey done to try and find different coloured shards of the meteor fragments. Hopefully she could get her hands on more of the red fragments so she could do some testing and perhaps even find some other colours. She also had to figure out another way to get to Betty Cooper. But that was for another day, tonight she just wanted to get some sleep.

Chapter 17

“Alright here you go guys,” Polly said.

She had just pulled up to Riverdale High in her new truck and she let Betty, Jughead, Sheila and Dilton out.

“Remember you have to pick me to take me to the DMV after school,” Betty reminded Polly. “This truck isn’t just for you.”

“I know, I know,” Polly said exasperated.

Betty had been reminding her all morning.

“As long as you remember,” Betty said. “I’ll text you at lunch and after school.”

“Ugh,” Polly groaned.

Betty closed the door and Polly drove off. Betty and her friends were heading into school when they were confronted by Cheryl who stood in their path, her brother behind her holding her bags.

“Uh, do you need something Cheryl?” Betty asked.

“Yes, but not from you,” Cheryl replied.

She then looked directly at Sheila.

“Do you want to be a cheerleader?” Cheryl asked.

Sheila stood there for a moment before she started making some strange babbling noises. Cheryl frowned as she looked over at Betty.

“Is something wrong with her?” Cheryl inquired.

“YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!” Sheila began screaming crazily.

“I think that’s a yes,” Betty said. “She’s wanted this more than anything.”

Sheila began jumping around like a maniac waving her hands in the air as everyone watched.

“Well she does have spirit I guess,” Cheryl commented.

Sheila began doing cartwheels as she screamed for joy.

“Uh, why did you ask her to join the team?” Betty asked.

“I had a bit of a falling out with Midge over the weekend,” Cheryl said. “Long story short she’s off the team and I need a replacement.”

“Dare I ask what happened?” Betty inquired.

Cheryl glanced over her shoulder at Jason and frowned at him and then looked back at Betty.

“No, that’s a little tidbit I intend to hold as leverage over her should she try anything,” Cheryl replied.

Before Betty could ask another question Cheryl walked away with her brother leaving Betty standing there with Dilton and Jughead while Sheila continued to bounce around excitedly.

“Do you think it’s a little rude how she treated us like we didn’t even exist?” Jughead asked Dilton.

“I’m used to it, that’s how most people treat me,” Dilton replied.

“Come on Sheila we need to get to class,” Betty called.

Sheila excitedly bounced behind them still giddy.

Lunch time came around and Sheila was still absolutely giddy, much to the chagrin of Betty, Dilton and Jughead. They were sitting at a table together in the corner of the cafeteria.

“Do you think now we can sit with the other cheerleaders?” Sheila asked. “I mean of course we can we’re cheerleaders too.”

“Sheila can you knock it off?” Jughead snapped as he was trying to eat his meal of five hot dogs.

“Oh come on Jughead,” Sheila pouted.

“No, he’s right,” Betty said. “This is starting to get old.”

“What… but Betty I…” Sheila start to say.

She stopped in mid-sentence however when she saw Cheryl approaching the table followed by her brother and Moose.

“Uh hi Cheryl,” Betty greeted her.

“Ugh it’s unseemly you sitting over here,” Cheryl said. “Especially with the nerds.”

“They’re my friends remember?” Betty reminded her.

“Oh right,” Cheryl said dismissively. “Anyway I’m not here to talk to you Betty, I’m here to talk with you Sheila.”

Sheila just stared at Cheryl her mouth wide open in amazement.

“Please close your mouth, that looks disgusting,” Cheryl stated.

“Sorry,” Sheila mumbled closing her mouth.

“Anyway since Midge is no longer on the cheerleading squad she is not allowed to date a football player either, so that means that from now on Sheila, you and Moose here are boyfriend and girlfriend.” Cheryl said.

Betty shook her head in disgust. She hated the whole cheerleader being paired with a football player thing. She didn’t know Moose particularly well but he wasn’t known as the nicest person; he’d been incredibly jealous about Midge threatening to beat up any boys who even talked to her and he wasn’t a great student either with below average grades.

“Cheryl I don’t think…” Betty started to say.

She was cut off by Sheila standing up and sticking her hand in her face. Sheila then walked up in front of Moose. The size difference between them was almost humorous as Moose was about 6’7” while Sheila was 5’2”.

“This is the greatest day ever!” Sheila loudly exclaimed.

She then jumped up and latched onto Moose in a hug as he looked down at the diminutive Asian girl attached to his chest a little surprised.

“Hug her back you idiot,” Cheryl hissed at him.

“Duh, oh,” Moose said.

He hugged Sheila back and suddenly a round of applause erupted from the cafeteria. Cheryl turned around to face them all.

“Riverdale High may I present the newest it couple, Sheila Wu and Moose Mason!” Cheryl announced.

The student all continued to clap, although Betty, Jughead and Dilton were just watching confused and a little disgusted by the display. It all seemed so staged and fake.

As Betty looked around the cafeteria she noticed one other person not clapping. Seated all by herself near one of the fire exits was Moose’s ex-girlfriend Midge Klump. The attractive girl with dark hair in a pixie cut was glaring daggers at Moose and Sheila, and probably Cheryl as well. Betty had never seen anybody look so hateful in her life.

Betty didn’t really like Midge, she came across as rather self-absorbed and shallow; probably why she and Cheryl had once been close friends. But she couldn’t help but feel somewhat sorry for her and the way that Cheryl was treating her. She wondered just what had happened between the two of them.

She was still wondering when the bell signalling the end of lunch sounded.

Midge stormed through the front door as she arrived home from school. She slammed the door shut behind her with enough force that it rattled the pictures hanging on the wall in the entrance way. Her parents both came to the door to see what was going on; her father Victor coming from his office, while her mother Amanda came from the kitchen.

“Midge honey what’s wrong?” her mother asked.

“I don’t want to talk about!” Midge replied angrily as she stomped into her room and slammed that door shut.

“Let’s just let her cool off for a bit,” Victor said to his wife. “We can talk to her once she’s settled down.”

Victor went back to his office and Amanda to the kitchen. As he sat in his desk staring blankly at the email he had been in the middle of typing he couldn’t help but feel concern for his daughter. He looked down at a picture he had of himself and Midge on his desk from a few years ago when they had gone camping. The two didn’t really look at all alike. Midge had dark hair and brown eyes while Victor had blond hair and blue eyes as Midge took after her mother in the looks department.

Upstairs he could here banging from Midge’s room which was just above his office. He decided that perhaps this couldn’t wait and he went upstairs and knocked on Midge’s door.

“Go away!” Midge yelled from the other side of the door.

Victor ignored his daughter and opened the door.

“Midge honey, something is clearly bothering you,” Victor said. “I think it would help if you talked about.”

“What is there to say, Cheryl is replacing me,” Midge replied.

“Replacing you?” Victor asked confused, he didn’t understand the social structure at school’s these days.

“She kicked me off the cheerleading squad, she broke me and Moose up and she then turned around and replaced me with that psycho Sheila Wu.” Midge answered angrily.

“She can do that?” Victor inquired a bit surprised.

“Ugh, yes dad, Cheryl is only like the most popular girl at school she controls everything,” Midge stated as if that should have been obvious.

“But I thought you two were friends, what happened?” Victor inquired.

“It was at that party on Saturday, it was…” Midge suddenly stopped midsentence.

“It was what?” Victor asked.

“The details aren’t important,” Midge said. “Basically I did something that Cheryl didn’t want me to and all of sudden we can’t be friends anymore, Moose can’t be my boyfriend anymore and frankly nobody at school will even talk to me anymore. My life is ruined.”

“Oh come on Midge I think you’re being a little melodramatic,” Victor said. “I mean there’s no way Cheryl could have that much control. I’m sure you could make friends with other people.”

“I don’t want to associate with the geeks and losers,” Midge complained. “But Cheryl is like the queen bee of the popular kids, they all do whatever she says.”

Victor was suddenly hit with inspiration.

“The queen bee?” he asked.

“Yes sure the queen bee,” Midge replied not sure why her father was fixating on that phrase.

Without another word Victor left the room heading back down to his office. He opened up the safe in his office and peered inside looking at the large numbers of shards of red meteor rock inside. He’d been saving it for a while but now he had an idea.

Veronica was sitting in her office. She had several teams out in Riverdale doing a search for fragments of the red meteor rock or any other colours that they could find. There had actually been some success as a team doing a dive in Jones’ Pond had found a rather large fragment of the red meteor rock that was about the size of a football.

Just then she got notification that she had received an email. She opened it up on her tablet and read it to see that it was from one of her researchers, Victor Klump. She saw there was an attachment and when she opened it she saw what looked like dozens of shards of red meteor rock sitting in a safe. Veronica was curious and began reading the email.

In the e-mail Dr. Klump explained that he had found the fragments over the years while out on hikes and that he had kept them because they were only required to turn in green fragments as that is what all research was done with. He asked for permission to perform research with the fragments he had found on his current project.

Veronica set her tablet down and turned to her computer and looked up Dr. Klump’s record. She quickly saw that he was a much more complex man than he appeared. His grandfather had been Johann von Klump, a notorious Nazi doctor who had been known to experiment on prisoners in concentration camps. His wife and children had fled from Germany and escaped to America right around the end of the war via Spain; they’d dropped the von from their name to avoid any association. Victor had attended Metropolis University and earned his doctorate in etymology. However he’d been unable to find work in the field at first and had been working several menial jobs to support his wife and daughter until he had been recruited to work at Belle Reeve. His family didn’t know what he actually did here though and believed that he was an assistant director at a long term care facility. The majority of the researchers who worked here used the cover story that they worked at a long term care facility in some capacity.

His field of study was on the effect of meteor rocks on bugs. The majority of the projects had been busts; however his latest project had showed some promise. It had involved extracting the pheromones of a queen wasp and using the pheromones as a form of mind control; almost like an interrogation perfume. It hadn’t shown success on humans but it had proven extremely potent in making dogs obedient.

Veronica considered, she wasn’t entirely sure what the difference was between red and green meteor rocks. This seemed like a fairly controlled experiment that if successful could prove quite useful. She decided to allow him to do the experiment but he would only get to use the fragments that he had found and any that he didn’t need she wanted turned in for other research. She typed up a reply email on her tablet and sent it back.

Just then she got another email, she looked at it and saw that it was a request to join her mother for dinner. Veronica was a little curious as ever since she had been a child her mother hadn’t wanted to spend any time with her. So for Hermione to want to spend time with her daughter now was definitely a little suspicious.

However despite not really having much in common with her mother Veronica decided to join her for dinner anyway. If for no other reason today had been a successful day and she could go for a good meal and her mother always picked the best restaurants to eat at. She sent a reply to her mother and then began finishing things up so that she could leave.

Chapter 18

Veronica was shown to the table by the maître d’, where her mother was already seated. The restaurant was otherwise completely empty. They were at a very popular five star restaurant called Skyline which was located on the top floor of one of the taller buildings in Metropolis.

“Thank you for sending the helicopter to pick me up mother, although I think it was a little much,” Veronica said.

“What good is it being as wealthy as we are if we can’t use it?” Hermione responded.

“Fair enough,” Veronica agreed as she sat down at the table across from her mother.

The waiter offered a glass of wine for Veronica but she covered it with her hand.

“Just water please,” she said.

The waiter nodded and the filled Hermione’s glass before leaving to get Veronica’s water.

“So what is this about mother?” Veronica asked.

“What a mother can’t want to have dinner with her daughter?” Hermione asked innocently.

“A typical mother perhaps, but you’re anything but typical mother,” Veronica retorted.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Hermione said somewhat smugly.

“Can we just get to the reason you asked me here?” Veronica inquired.

“Very well,” Hermione agreed. “I know that your father is up to something and it has to do with the research that you’re doing at Belle Reeve. I’d like you to keep informed on the goings on.”

Veronica was a little surprised. Not so much by her mother wanting to keep tabs on her father, the two were constantly suspicious of each other. More that she was interested in Belle Reeve which was different from her usual interest which was in bank accounts. From what Veronica had found the spending on Belle Reeve wasn’t even a blip in the Lodge fortunes. Veronica’s own fashion company had a large financial footprint.

“Why are you suddenly interested in what’s being researched at Belle Reeve?” Veronica asked.

“I know about the human experiments there, the boy that gets stronger from absorbing electricity for example and the girl that can absorb money into her skin. It’s all rather fascinating,” Hermione said.

“So you want to know what’s going on because it’s fascinating?” Veronica asked incredulously.

“No, because it has potential,” Hermione said. “I mean think about what these powers can be used for. We could increase our wealth tenfold but also we could obtain real power.”

“Real power?” Veronica inquired quizzically.

“Yes the power to truly rule,” Hermione said. “Forget the government. I’m certain that’s what your father is planning.”

Veronica couldn’t disagree with her mother. Her father was excessively ambitious. However Veronica herself wasn’t interested in toppling the government to take power herself. But she figured that by keeping her mother informed on Belle Reeve she could perhaps stop her parents as she was certain that neither one was interested in sharing power with the other.

“Alright mother,” Veronica agreed. “I’ll keep you up to date.”

“Excellent! Now let’s eat!” Hermione said.

Friday had come and it had been a rather strange week. Sheila had begun spending increasingly less and less time with Betty and her friends and instead hanging out with Cheryl and the other cheerleaders.

It was the end of the day and Betty was getting her things from her locker. As she turned around she saw Archie Andrews approach wearing his green meteor rock necklace and she suddenly slipped dropping her bag. Several students pointed and laughed and Archie barely glanced at her before continuing on.

However Jason Blossom appeared out of nowhere to help Betty pick her things up, which surprised her.

“Thanks,” Betty said slowly, a little confused.

“You’re welcome,” Jason responded.

“I’m a little surprised you’re not attached to your sister’s hip,” Betty said.

“I’m not always… never mind. Cheryl actually asked me to invite you to our house this Saturday as we’re having a pool party,” Jason said.

“Oh that’s nice but no thanks,” Betty replied. “I’m sure you heard that I recently came to own a farm and well I’ve got some farm work to do.”

“That sounds interesting,” Jason commented.

“Well if you want to come help out you can,” Betty offered.

“What, no, no, no, Cheryl would never allow that,” Jason said.

“You don’t always have to do what Cheryl says you know,” Betty said. “You are your own person.”

Jason gave Betty a look as if she was crazy. Without another word he just shook his head and walked away.

“What was that about?” Betty muttered to herself before she turned to go meet up with Jughead and Dilton.

As she turned around however Betty bumped into somebody and accidentally knocked them to the ground. She looked down to see that it was Midge.

“Oh I’m so sorry,” Betty apologized holding out her hand to help Midge up.

“Whatever,” Midge said not taking Betty’s hand but just getting up on her own.

“Look I don’t know what happened between you and Cheryl but if you want to talk or something…” Betty offered.

“Yeah I don’t want to talk about it,” Midge said.

“Well do you want to maybe hang out?” Betty suggested. “I mean you seem lonely, my friends and I were about to head over to Pop’s.”

“That dumpy place? No.” Midge refused. “And I wouldn’t want to be caught dead in public with you and your friends.”

“Look you seemed lonely I was just offering, there’s no need to be rude,” Betty said.

“Whatever, get out of my way,” Midge said as she brushed past Betty.

Betty stared at her watching her leave.

“What a bitch,” Betty commented shaking her head in disbelief.

Since Midge’s fallout with Cheryl she had basically become a social pariah with all of her cheerleader friends and by extension much of the rest of the school. Betty wondered why she would refuse the friendship of anybody at this point. But then some people just are like that Betty figured as she went to meet up with Jughead and Dilton.

She met up and the three of them walked to Pop’s. Sheila wasn’t joining them because she was hanging out with Cheryl and the other cheerleaders. It was a little fortunate because that meant that Betty could talk with Jughead and Dilton about the parts of her life that Sheila didn’t know about.

“I ran into Midge on my way out of the school,” Betty mentioned. “I asked if she wanted to tag along with us to Pop’s, you know because she seems lonely.”

“I take it she declined,” Dilton said.

“More than that, she said she didn’t want to be caught dead in public with us, and that Pop’s is a dump.” Betty related.

“What a conceited bitch,” Jughead commented. “You’d think that she’d be appreciative of somebody wanting to be nice to her.”

“It’s her loss,” Betty said. “I’m not going to feel sorry for her anymore when I see her sitting alone in the cafeteria.”

“Almost sounds like she’s getting her come-uppance,” Dilton stated. “Karma catching up to her and all that.”

They had arrived at Pop’s and went inside and sat down. A few minutes later they saw Maria come over tying on her apron.

“Hi guys, I just started my shift, sorry for the wait,” Maria apologized.

“No problem we know exactly when you got off school,” Jughead said with a chuckles.

“Here’re some menus I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order.” Maria said.

“So what do you guys want to do this weekend?” Betty inquired.

“Well I was planning on downloading and playing that new MMORPG all weekend,” Jughead replied.

“Oh that sounds like fun!” Dilton exclaimed. “I might do that too, although I do have to make some time to deal with updates for my app…”

“Really? So neither of you want to help me out at the farm?” Betty asked.

“Well… there’s not internet out there,” Jughead said.

“Well that’s because we need to fix the place up,” Betty said. “Come on I could use your help and advice. And Polly has to work most of the weekend so she can’t be around much…”

“Well I’m not much for manual labour,” Dilton said. “But I’ll help where I can.”

“Ugh, fine,” Jughead agreed. “But just for Saturday, I’m gaming on Sunday.”

“Fair enough,” Betty agreed.

The following day Betty was out at the farm with Dilton and Jughead. Polly had dropped them off earlier before heading to work. They’d spent the first hour going through the farm house looking it over. Dilton had studied up on home repair and he pointed out a multitude of things that would need to be addressed including wiring, plumbing and the possibility of asbestos. One thing that definitely needed to be dealt with was the kitchen which was unusable. It hadn’t been used in years and all of the appliance were obsolete anyway. They decided to gut the kitchen.

After they’d gone through the cupboards and taken out any dishes and utensils that could still be used and thrown out anything that was garbage Betty set to work demoing the kitchen while Jughead and Dilton washed the dishes out at the barn.

Betty had just finished removing the counters and the stove and was in the process of removing the refrigerator which was probably built in the late 1950’s. She was easily carrying the heavy appliance out the side door by herself when she heard Jughead shouting.

“Betty! Betty! There’s a car coming!” Jughead yelled sounding worried.

Betty set the fridge down on the side porch and jogged to see a silver Audi A4 coming up the driveway. A few moments later Jughead was there standing beside her followed by Dilton.

“Who do you think it is?” Jughead asked. “Do you think it’s the Lodges?”

“No, that car is not luxury enough for them,” Betty said.

The car then came to stop a cloud of dust forming behind it.

“I guess we’ll find out soon,” Dilton commented.

The three of them watched as the driver turned the engine off and got out. Betty was a little surprised to see that it was Jason Blossom.

“What’s he doing here?” Jughead asked incredulously.

“I wonder if he finally decided to ditch his sister like I suggested,” Betty said. “I did invite him out here.”

“What? Why?” Jughead asked.

Betty ignored his question and began walking towards Jason.

“You two stay there,” Betty said over her shoulder.

She approached Jason who was slowly walking towards her as he looked around the farm.

“So this is all yours?” Jason asked sounding mildly impressed.

“Yep,” Betty replied. “But what are you doing here Jason?”

“Cheryl insists that you attend her pool party,” Jason answered.

“If Cheryl wants me to come she can come get me herself,” Betty said.

“Actually she was going to, but I got her to let me come instead,” Jason said. “I wanted to see the place for myself, and to be honest ever since that incident with Midge I’ve been looking for any excuse to get away from Cheryl.”

“What happened there?” Betty asked.

“Well you know that new kid Kevin?” Jason asked.

“The one that start the gay right club?” Betty asked.

“Yes, well turns out he was a star receiver at his previous highschool on track for a division 1 college scholarship or something. But when he came out as gay his teammates essentially ran him off the team,” Jason said. “Apparently he’s decided not to play football anymore or something like that but my sister wanted me to try and convince him to join our football team.”

“Wait… did she want you to pretend to be gay?” Betty inquired hoping that wasn’t the case.

“Yes, but Midge ended up ruining the illusion. That’s what the whole falling out was about,” Jason said. “There was this party last weekend and she wanted me to try and seduce him. But I’m not into that sort of thing so I’d had a few… a lot… of drinks to try and work up the courage. Unfortunately Midge got to me first and she was pretty drunk herself; I don’t really remember how things went down but we ended up getting found half-naked in the coat closet by Kevin which basically ruined my sister’s plan. She says that Midge was intentionally sabotaging her, but I can’t see why.”

“That’s all just really messed up,” Betty said.

“You’re telling me, I don’t even like Midge,” Jason said.

“Well I’m glad you came, even if it was at your sister’s suggesting,” Betty said.

“Well the only reason I even came was because of what you said to me yesterday,” Jason said. “That I need to stop doing everything Cheryl tells me to do.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Betty said.

“Nobody’s ever given me the courage to stand up to Cheryl before,” Jason stated. “And…”

Betty looked at him waiting for him to finish the sentence. Jason just stood there fidgeting.

“And what?” Betty asked when Jason didn’t say anything.

“There’s something I want to ask but I don’t know…” Jason stammered.

“Don’t know what?” Betty inquired.

“Betty Cooper do you want to go out with me?” Jason asked.

Betty stared at him in shock. Behind her she could hear the surprised gasps from Dilton and Jughead who were clearly eavesdropping. Betty wasn’t sure what to say, for years she had held a big crush on Archie Andrews from afar; she’d dismissed Jason as nothing but Cheryl’s lackey.

“I… um…” Betty stammered as she struggled for response.

Chapter 19

“I… uh…” Betty stammered as she stared at Jason her mouth slightly agape.

Jason had just done what was the highschool equivalent of popping the question. Betty was having difficulty processing it all. For as long as she could remember she’d had a crush on Archie Andrews, but there were plenty of things standing between the two of them, not the least of which was the meteor rock pendant he always wore. Betty had never had a boyfriend thinking she’d wait for Archie, but here was another boy asking her.

“Betty? Are you alright?” Jason asked.

“Sorry, it’s just, I’ve never actually dated anybody before,” Betty apologized.

“I find that hard to believe a girl as pretty as you…” Jason said.

“Well I don’t run in the same social circles,” Betty said.

“But to be honest I know what you mean,” Jason said. “I’ve never really dated anybody either, or at least not one that wasn’t set up by my sister.”

“You’re kidding, you let run your life that much?” Betty asked in shock.

“Well, not anymore,” Jason said with some confidence.

“But why would you let her in the first place?” Betty asked.

“She had me convinced for years that because she was the older twin she got to boss me around,” Jason said. “By the time I found out that wasn’t true well I was so used to it…”

“Your parents didn’t stop her?” Betty inquired a little surprised.

“You know my parents, the whole town does; you think they had time to pay attention to us?” Jason retorted.

Jason and Cheryl’s parents, Penelope and Clifford Blossom were two successful real estate agents. They practically had a monopoly on the real estate business in Riverdale. They seemed to spent endless amounts of time advertising their business. Pictures of them were on every bus stop bench in Riverdale; which admittedly was only about ten but in the small town it made them the closest thing the town had to a local celebrity.

“My parents didn’t pay much attention to us, we were left in the care of nannies that barely spoke English,” Jason explained.

“That’s kind of sad,” Betty commented.

“But you still haven’t answered my question,” Jason said.

Betty held her hand up as she considered for a moment. There was clearly more to Jason than she had thought, and it seemed that he genuinely liked her. There was the possibility that he had been put up to this by Cheryl but Betty’s gut feeling told her that this wasn’t anything like that. And Jason was actually quite good looking, he was tall and with reddish-brown hair and sparkling green eyes. The only reason that girls weren’t all over him was they didn’t want to risk ending up on Cheryl’s bad side. But that wasn’t something Betty was worried about.

“Yes,” Betty finally answered.

“Great!” Jason exclaimed excitedly. “So um… do you want to go do something?”

“Well, I was kind of in the middle of something here,” Betty said.

“Oh right the farm stuff. Do you want some help?” Jason offered.

“Uh, no we’re just about done here actually,” Betty said. “How about we meet up at Pop’s later, say five o’clock? It can be our first date.”

Jason’s eyes went wide with surprise then he nodded eagerly.

“You got it!” he exclaimed happily as he ran back to his car. “I’ll see you at five!”

Betty gave a small wave as she watched him race down the drive way and back into town.

“So you’re ditching us to date Jason Blossom?” Jughead said once Jason was gone.

“Oh come on, you and Dilton wanted to play that online game thing,” Betty responded. “Now you get to.”

“You’re not worried about Cheryl?” Dilton inquired.

“What’s she going to do? Kick me off the cheerleading squad like she did to Midge?” Betty replied. “To be honest I was never that enthused about joining in the first place. And I’ll still have you two as my friends. Besides if I wanted to I could really make her life miserable.”

“I don’t want to know,” Jughead said holding up his hands. “But I think dating Jason is a bad idea.”

“To be fair you think that dating in general is a bad idea Jughead,” Dilton said.

“Which is why dating Jason is a bad idea,” Jughead stated.

“Let’s finish up and we’ll head back into town,” Betty said. “Thanks for your help today guys.”

They finished up what they were doing and Betty’s father came out to the farm to pick them up since Polly was still at work with the truck.

It was 4:15 when Polly arrived home from work. Jughead was in Betty’s room yelling something about staying in formation as he played his online game while Betty was in Polly’s room trying to figure out what to wear.

“Hey Betty,” Polly said as she entered the room. “What’s up?”

“Not much, trying to pick out an outfit for my date,” Betty replied.

“What!?” Polly shouted so loud the whole house probably heard her.

“Polly keep it down up there!” Hal yelled from downstairs.

“So who is the lucky guy?” Polly asked in a normal tone.

“Jason Blossom,” Betty replied.

“As in the twin brother of Cheryl?” Polly inquired disbelievingly.

“The one in the same,” Betty replied.

“Okay, I’m going to need some details here,” Polly said as she sat on the bed.

“I don’t have time,” Betty replied. “I’m meeting up with him at Pop’s at five for our first date so I need to get ready.”

“Ugh fine I’ll help you get ready, but I want to know everything when come home tonight,” Polly stated.

“If I come home to night,” Betty responded with a smirk.

“Oh come on Betty you and I both know you’re not that kind of girl,” Polly said.

Polly walked over the closet and opened it up and looked inside.

“So what kind of look are you going for?” Polly asked. “What do you want it to say?”

“I want something casual, but something that says I care about this,” Betty replied.

Polly flicked through the closet and then tossed some clothes to Betty.

“Put those on,” Polly said.

Betty got dressed; Polly had given her a pair of skinny-fit denim capris and a white blouse with light blue horizontal stripes that had a deep V-neck. Betty looked at herself in the mirror while Polly also looked on nodding her approval.

“It just needs the right shoes…” Polly muttered as she went back to the closet and searched.

She pulled out a pair of strappy sandals that had some light blue bows above the toes. Betty put them on.

“Eh I don’t know, the bows are a little much,” Betty said.

“They can come off,” Polly said.

Betty reached down and saw that bows could indeed be detached. She pulled them off and gave them to Polly.

“That’s better,” Betty said. “Thanks Polly!”

“Well good luck,” Polly said. “And remember I want every last detail.”

“We’ll see,” Betty said as she left the room and went downstairs.

“Bye Mom, Bye Dad, going out,” Betty called as she went to the front door.

“Where to?” her father asked appearing from the living room.

“Oh, just a little date,” Betty said innocently.

“Oh really, who with?” her father asked suspiciously.

“Jason Blossom,” Betty replied.

“I haven’t met this boy before…” Hal said.

“Dad I can take care of myself, probably better than any other girl in the world,” Betty interrupted him. “Besides we’re just meeting for dinner at Pop’s. It’s not like anything could really happen.”

Hal frowned. He knew that Betty was perfectly capable of handling herself, but he couldn’t help but feel protective; especially when it came to boys.

“Have fun Betty,” Alice called from the kitchens.

“Thanks Mom!” Betty replied as she headed out the door.

“I want you back no later than nine!” Hal called as she left.

“Ten,” Betty called back as she closed the door.

Betty cut through the parking lot at Pop’s on her way to the diner. She was so focused that she didn’t noticed Jason get out of his car almost right beside her.

“Betty!” he called out.

Betty turned around surprised.

“Oh, you’re here!” Betty said.

Jason was wearing a plain black dress shirt with no tie and matching pants. Betty couldn’t help but think he looked rather sharp.

“Where else would I be?” Jason asked.

“I… don’t know,” Betty replied. “You caught me off-guard is all.”

Jason chuckled a bit.

“Shall we?” he asked holding out his hand.

Betty took his hand slightly hesitantly and then the two of them walked into the diner hand in hand. They were greeted inside by Maria.

“Hi Betty, Hi… Jason?” Maria greeted them surprised to see the two of them together.

“Table for two please,” Jason said.

Maria seemed to still be in shock as she showed them to an empty table. As they made their way to the table Betty noticed that the eyes of almost everyone in the diner were on them. She could also hear their whispering, a lot of them were confused as to why Betty and Jason were together. Maria handed them menus before hurrying off, probably to send off some text messages or a Facebook update, Betty guessed.

“So what’s good here?” Jason asked.

“Uh, it’s all good,” Betty replied.

Betty noticed that Midge was at the diner, despite saying that it was a dump and she wouldn’t be caught dead there. She was sitting in a booth with a man who Betty was quite certain was her father. She noticed Midge glaring angrily at her and Jason.

“Uh… Midge is here,” Betty said quietly.

“Where?” Jason asked glancing around.

“Don’t look,” Betty said. “She’s staring at us, I think she’s upset about something.”

“She probably blames me for what happened between her and Cheryl,” Jason said.

“Well I wouldn’t worry about it,” Betty said.

“Yeah, let’s not worry about Midge or anyone else here,” Jason agreed. “Let’s focus on having a good date.”

Midge glared across the diner at Betty and Jason.

“Midge honey, are you alright?” her father asked.

“No daddy I’m not alright,” Midge replied.

He glanced over his shoulder at the couple that his daughter was staring at.

“Do you know them?” he asked.

“That’s Betty Cooper and she’s here with Jason Blossom,” Midge said her voice dripping with venom.

“Cheryl’s brother?” her father asked.

“Yes,” Midge replied not taking her eyes off of Jason and Betty.

“Is something the matter?” Victor asked.

“Look at them just sitting there, flaunting that they’re together,” Midge grumbled.

“Why do you care, wasn’t your boyfriend Moose?” Victor inquired confused.

“Well yes but that’s because that’s who Cheryl assigned to me,” Midge replied. “But I’ve always liked Jason.”

Victor scratched his head in confusion. He so did not understand the social dynamics of teenagers these days.

“But what really irks me is that apparently Betty is allowed to date him,” Midge continued. “Even though I’ve been Cheryl’s friend for years; it’s so unfair.”

“Not to be insulting dear, but maybe Jason likes Betty more than you,” Victor suggested.

“Ugh, please dad,” Midge responded. “How could he possibly like that more than me?”

Victor sighed, he wasn’t about to get into an argument with his daughter about personal preferences such as blondes versus brunettes. But clearly this was making her miserable; fortunately there was something he could do about it.

“Midge what if I told you that there was a way for you to have any boy you wanted?” Victor asked.

“I’d say you’re delusional,” Midge answered.

“I’m serious,” Victor responded.

“Really? And how would you do that exactly?” Midge asked.

“I’ve been working on an experiment using wasp pheromones, adapting them for human use,” Victor explained. “In theory any boy who smells them would become instantly attracted to you.”

“What are you talking about dad? You work at that place for the mentally ill,” Midge said. “I think they might be getting to you.”

“I went to school for etymology and my dissertation was about how the queen wasp controls the hive through the use of pheromones,” Victor explained.

“Sounds boring,” Midge said. “Can we go? The food here all smells disgusting.”

“Fine,” Victor agreed.

As they got up and left he saw that Midge was still glaring at Betty and Jason. He couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed at how ungrateful his daughter seemed to be acting as well as insulted at how she didn’t believe that his experiment with wasp pheromones was real. Well he would show her. Then maybe Midge would finally show some gratitude.

Chapter 20

Betty and Jason watched as Midge stormed out of the diner followed by her father. They both noticed the death glare that Midge was giving them on her way out.

“What was that about?” Betty asked.

Jason shrugged confused himself.

“Who cares? Let’s not let it ruin our first date,” Jason said.

Just then there was a crash from the adjacent table as Maria who had been bringing drinks to that table had dropped her tray in shock. Jason and Betty looked over at the table to see Maria as well as the two patrons who were also students at Riverdale High, Bobbi Suarez and Tono Diaz, were all staring at them in disbelief.

“You’re dating?” Bobbi asked.

Both Betty and Jason gulped visibly. Bobbi was a notorious gossip and even had her own gossip column in the school newspaper. Neither of them wanted the scrutiny that would come from Bobbi Suarez announcing their relationship to the whole school.

“It’s our first date,” Jason said. “But if you’re intent on blabbing about it to the whole school then that’s probably going to ruin it and make it our last date too.”

Bobbi and Jason stared at each other for a long moment.

“Fine, but I want an exclusive interview with your sister about what happened between her and Midge,” Bobbi said.

“I can arrange for you two to talk, but I can’t promise she’ll tell you what you want to know,” Jason responded.

“That’s enough, I can get her to talk,” Bobbi said.

“Your funeral,” Jason said. “We’ve got a deal.”

He turned to Maria.

“Do you think maybe we could get a booth so we have some privacy?” Jason asked.

“Uh, I, uh, yes,” Maria stammered apparently still surprised that Jason and Betty were on a date.

She led them over to the booth where Midge and her father had been sitting. She wiped off the table before they sat down and went off to serve her other customers.

“Sorry about all of that,” Jason apologized once they were alone.

“It’s not your fault,” Betty said.

“I know you don’t like all this attention, I remember how uncomfortable you looked at that medal ceremony,” Jason said. “I could have chosen somewhere a little more private.”

“It’s fine really,” Betty said. “Besides I love this place. I come here all the time with my sister and my friends.”

“So what are you ordering?” Jason asked as he looked at his menu.

“I’m think of getting the all-day breakfast,” Betty replied. “Kind of hungry after all that work on the farm today.”

“How’s the steak here?” Jason asked.

“My dad loves it,” Betty replied. “You should get it with the garlic mashed potatoes. They go so well together.”

“Sounds good,” Jason said.

Just then Maria came to take their order. Jason ordered the steak as Betty had recommended and Betty ordered the all-day breakfast with scrambled eggs and white toast.

“So Betty, tell me something interesting about yourself that I might not know,” Jason said as they waited for their food.

Betty stifled a laugh at the question. There was a lot that Jason didn’t know about her, she thought to herself; and she certainly wasn’t about to reveal those secrets.

“Like what?” Betty asked trying to stall for some time to think of something.

“Like what do you want to be?” Jason asked.

“I’ve long wanted to be a writer,” Betty replied.

“Like a journalist or a novelist?” Jason inquired.

“Both if I could,” Betty answered. “I like all types of writing. But what about you?”

“What about me?” Jason asked.

“What do you want to be?” Betty inquired.

“It might seem a little corny, but I’ve always kind of wanted to be a police officer,” Jason replied.

“That’s not corny that’s admirable,” Betty said. “Plus I think you’d look good in a uniform.”

“I know right,” Jason agreed.

“You know it’s only September, but why don’t we both be police officers for Halloween,” Betty suggested.

“That’s a great idea!” Jason exclaimed.

They chatted for a little while more about what good places were to get costumes until Maria returned with their food. They were about half-way through eating when they heard the door to the diner fling open.

“Where is he?” came the angry voice of Jason’s sister Cheryl.

As Betty watched Jason slowly slunk down in his seat nervously like he was trying to hide under the table. However Cheryl quickly spotted Betty and stormed over to their booth.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Cheryl asked angrily.

“Cheryl I…” Jason began to reply.

“I wasn’t asking you Jason,” Cheryl cut him off crossly, she then stared at Betty.

It’s wasn’t Betty’s initial instinct to make a spectacle of the situation, but since Cheryl seemed determined to Betty decided to oblige her. Betty stood so that she was face to face with Cheryl, the two girl’s just inches apart from each other.

“Is something the matter?” Betty asked calmly.

“Yes, you’re here, with my brother, instead of being at my pool party this afternoon,” Cheryl said.

“Pool parties aren’t really my thing,” Betty stated with a shrug. “And I like your brother and he likes me so I don’t see what the problem is there.”

Betty was so close she could see Cheryl’s jaw clench. Clearly Cheryl had expected Betty to be thrown off simply by the fact that Cheryl had confronted her; Cheryl was used to intimidating people with her mere presence. But Betty wasn’t one to easily be intimidated. The two girls continued to stare at each other for a several moments as the entire diner silently watched them.

Finally Cheryl took a breath and then looked down at her brother.

“So you like her Jason?” Cheryl asked.

Jason stared nervously up at his sister and just nodded.

“Alright, fine,” Cheryl said looking back at Betty. “But you hurt my brother and you and I are going to have a big problem.”

“Alright then,” Betty agreed.

The two girls stared at each other for another moment before Cheryl turned and walked out of the diner without another word. As soon as Cheryl was gone Betty could feel the eyes of everybody in the diner staring at her. She quickly sat down again and looked across the table at Jason who had a surprised expression on his face.

“What the hell just happened?” Jason asked in disbelief.

“I think Cheryl gave us her blessing, or well her version of it,” Betty replied.

“Yeah but why?” Jason asked.

“Maybe Cheryl cares more about you than she lets on,” Betty answered.

“I’m not going to lie, if that’s the case then this is possibly the best date ever,” Jason said.

Betty didn’t respond but just smiled.

They finished their meal and when Maria brought the bill Jason paid.

“So do you want to go see a movie?” Jason asked.

“Dinner and a movie? Isn’t that a little cliché?” Betty replied.

“Do you not like cliché?” Jason inquired.

“I don’t mind it, but I prefer spontaneity,” Betty said.

“Spontaneity, alright,” Jason said. “Then come with me.”

He got up and held out his hand. Betty looked up at him for a moment before taking his hand and letting Jason lead her outside to his car. He opened the passenger side door for Betty and helped her in before getting in himself.

“Where are we going?” Betty asked.

“You’ll see,” Jason replied.

They drove around for quite a while, seemingly in circles. Betty noticed that the sun was starting to get low in the sky. Finally Jason pulled down a road which Betty realized was for Pembrooke Golf and Country Club, a rather exclusive club on the north-west side of town.

“What are we doing here?” Betty asked.

“You’ll see,” Jason replied cryptically.

They pulled into the parking lot, there weren’t a great many cars since most golfing was done for the day. Jason got out and quickly ran around to open Betty’s door for her. He then took her hand and led her over to the golf carts. They got in one and Jason began driving it out onto the course.

“Okay what are we doing?” Betty asked curiously.

“You’ll see soon,” Jason answered with a slight smile.

She noticed that they had gone off the course and were driving up a hill. When they reached the top Jason stopped the cart and put on the parking break.

“Um, Jason what…?” Betty asked confused.

“Look,” Jason said pointing forward.

Betty finally realized that the sun was setting before their eyes. From up on this hill they could make out the silhouette of the water tower from the nearby town of Greendale.

“Oh wow… it’s… it’s beautiful,” Betty said.

She felt Jason’s hand reach over and grasp hers. They sat there just holding hands for the next few minutes as they watched the sun slowly sink below the horizon.

“Wow that was really amaz…” Betty began to say.

She was cut off as Jason suddenly leaned across and kissed her on the lips. Betty was surprised at first but soon began kissing back. The two of them kissed for several minutes before they finally broke it off.

“Wow…” Betty breathed. “That was... just wow!”

“Thanks,” Jason said. “I’ll admit I’ve had some practice.”

“Well you certainly made my first kiss memorable,” Betty commented.

“Really that was your first kiss?” Jason asked surprised.

Betty nodded.

“If I’d known that I would have made it more special,” Jason said.

“No that was perfect,” Betty said. “I thinking trying to make it more special probably would have ruined the moment.”

“You have a point there,” Jason agreed. “So are there any other firsts you want to cover this evening?”

“Not tonight,” Betty replied with a chuckle. “We’ll see how things go though.”

“Still want to see a movie?” Jason asked.

Betty glanced at the time on her phone.

“I told my dad I would be home by ten,” Betty said. “I don’t think there’s time for a movie.”

“But you’re not ready to call it a night just yet?” Jason asked.

“If you’ve got something we can do…” Betty said.

“Do you like to golf?” Jason asked.

Betty shrugged, “I’ve never tried it before,” she answered.

“Well why don’t we hit the driving range?” Jason suggested.

“Sure, I’m willing to give it a try,” Betty said.

Jason started the cart back up and they drove back down. They stopped beside his car and Jason opened the trunk and got his golf clubs out, they then drove over to the driving range.

There were buckets already filled with range balls available and Jason grabbed one as they walked out to the range. There was only one other person there hitting balls.

“So have you ever swung a golf club before?” Jason asked.

“No, but how hard can it be?” Betty asked.

“It’s trickier than you think,” Jason replied.

“Well let me try,” Betty said.

Jason reached into his bag and pulled out a club and handed it to her. Betty looked at it and then at the clubs in his bag.

“Why can’t I use that big one?” she asked pointing at the club with the largest head.

“That’s my driver, that’s actually one of the hardest to learn to hit straight.” Jason answered. “You should always start learning to swing with the irons since those are the clubs you use most during a round.”

“Okay, what’s this 5 on here mean?” Betty asked.

“That’s just to show the loft on the club, the higher the number the more loft it has,” Jason explained.

“Okay, give me a ball and let me try this,” Betty said.

Jason dropped a ball onto the pad and Betty took a stance as she lined up to swing.

“Okay, now lock your pinky and your index finger,” Jason said. “And bend your knees a little.”

Betty did as he suggested.

“Now just take a nice and easy back swing keeping your eye on the ball and then swing, but remember keep your eye on the ball the whole time,” Jason advised her.

Betty brought the club back. She was a little nervous about possibly hitting the ball too hard, the last thing she wanted to do was smack the ball an impossible distance. But it was dark out so if she did make such a mistake then it could probably be explained away as having lost sight of the ball.

Betty swung down at the ball, but the club only hit the top of the ball smacking it down into the ground. The ball bounced up into the air and hit the metal roof of the shelter that covered the tee boxes. Betty let go of the club with one hand and snagged the ball out of midair before it could hit her.

“Nice reactions,” Jason commented.

“Sorry,” Betty apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, you just hit the top of the ball,” Jason said. “Happens even to the pros. Just try again.”

Betty dropped the ball and took her stance once more. She took a deep breath and then swung again. This time she solidly connected with the ball and it sailed out but then began curving to the right till she lost sight of it.

“Uh…” Betty said wondering if she’d done something wrong.

Jason let out a low whistle.

“That was a wicked slice,” he commented.

“Slice?” Betty asked.

“When the ball curves to the right like that,” Jason said. “It means you sort of opened your hands as you made contact and put a spin on the ball that made it curve that way. You want to try and keep your wrists as stiff and straight as possible through contact. But you made good contact, you hit it pretty far.”

Jason dropped another ball so she could try again. Betty lined up and took another swing. This time the ball flew straight and true landing about 160 yards down the range.

“Nice!” Jason commented patting her back. “That was extremely good for a beginner. Let’s see if you can do that again.”

Betty quickly was able to figure out how hard to hit the ball, but the trick was to make sure she didn’t always hit it perfectly, which was quite easy for her. For the next hour she and Jason both hit balls down the range, laughing at each other’s major mistakes; Jason more so at Betty’s even if they were intentional. She didn’t want to emasculate him by showing off how good she actually was.

At about 9:30 they finally stopped and went back to Jason’s car and Jason drove her home. Betty and Jason kissed good night, it wasn’t quite as long or passionate as their kiss up on the hill had been; and then Betty walked up the driveway to her house. As she got to the front door she could hear that Jughead was still yelling at his video game.

When she stepped inside she saw her father was waiting by the door.

“You have 27 seconds to spare missy,” Hal said.

“Oh knock it off Hal,” Alice called from the living room. “How was your evening dear?”

“It was great, a lot of fun,” Betty said. “We had dinner at Pop’s then we went to the country club to watch the sun set and then we hit balls at the driving range.”

“Golf?” Hal asked a little surprised.

“Yeah, it’s surprisingly easy,” Betty said. “For me I mean, the hard part is trying to not be so good.”

“Of course,” Hal grumbled.

Hal had a bag of golf clubs in the garage, but about half the clubs in the bag were broken from when he had smashed them after a bad shot. He hadn’t gone golfing in several years because he couldn’t afford to keep buying new clubs, and he had been advised to avoid things that made him angry.

“Hmm, well I guess this boy doesn’t sound that bad,” Hal said as he went back to the living room.

“Well I’m going to go to bed,” Betty announced. “Good night.”

“Good night,” her parents both said.

Betty went upstairs. Polly was in the room sitting on her bed texting with one of her friends.

“So how was your date?” Polly asked.

“It was interesting,” Betty replied.

“Tell me all about it,” Polly said. “And remember our deal, I want every last detail.”

Betty flopped down onto her bed and then began regaling her elder sister with every detail of her date with Jason, from dinner, to her first kiss, to the driving range. The story went well into the night.

A few blocks away a family was unpacking after a busy day of moving. The father was unpacking boxes in the living room/dining room while the mother was in the kitchen putting dishes away in their places in the cupboard. Just then the doorbell rang.

“Barry that’s probably the pizza guy!” the father called. “Could you get that?”

Upstairs their son Barry, a slightly shorter than average teen with brown hair was setting up his room.

“Where’s your wallet so I can pay him?” Barry asked.

“It’s on top of the boxes near the door,” his father replied.

In an instant Barry was downstairs at the door cash in hand. He opened the door to see the pizza guy standing there, he looked to be about the same age as Barry.

“Hey, did you guys just move in?” the pizza guy asked.

“Yeah why?” Barry responded.

“Just curious, welcome to Riverdale,” the pizza guy said handing him the boxes. “My name’s Adam Chisholm.”

“Barry Allen,” Barry replied taking the pizza.

“You going to be attending Riverdale High?” Adam asked.

“Yeah, starting Monday,” Barry answered.

“Cool, well see you there,” Adam said heading back to his car.

“Wait, I need to pay you for the pizza,” Barry called out.

“Consider it a housewarming gift,” Adam shouted as he hopped in his beat up Honda Civic hatchback.

Barry waved good-bye before closing the door. He then opened the lid and took a deep whiff of the pizza.

“I’m gonna like this town,” Barry commented to himself.

Chapter 21

Morning came on Sunday and after getting dressed and having breakfast Polly offered to drive Betty out to the farm so that she could take a look at how the renovations were progressing before she had to go to work.

It was now a little bit afternoon and Betty decided to take a break and eat the lunch that her mother had packed for her. Betty had spent the morning stripping the walls of the farmhouse of the old floral patterns wallpaper that was in just about every room.

Betty was sitting on the swinging bench on the covered front porch looking out towards the road as she ate a tuna salad sandwich when she saw a red convertible with a driver with familiar red hair come racing along the main road and turn down the driveway heading towards the farmhouse. The car came skidding to a stop and the driver got out of the car.

“What are you doing here Cheryl?” Betty asked not getting of the porch.

Cheryl didn’t reply and just approached the house walking up onto the porch and finally stopped when she was standing right in front of Betty.

“Didn’t we go through this yesterday?” Betty asked as the whole scenario seemed quite similar to when Cheryl had stormed in on her and Jason during their date.

“We did, but Jason was there as well as other people,” Cheryl said. “Now it’s just the two of us.”

Betty gave an exasperated sigh.

“Fine Cheryl, what do you want to know?” Betty asked.

“I spent hours talking to my brother last night, and despite anything I said it seems that he truly does like and care for you,” Cheryl said.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Betty commented.

“Not necessarily,” Cheryl said; “Because if you don’t feel the same you are in for a world of misery.”

Betty blinked in surprise as she looked up at Cheryl.

“Oh my gosh, you really care about your brother,” Betty stated in some disbelief.

“Of course I do,” Cheryl said as if that should have been obvious.

“I’m sorry it’s just the way you always seem to treat him like your own personal servant, it almost seems like you enjoy humiliating him because you don’t like him,” Betty said.

Cheryl stared at Betty for a moment clearly thinking something over. Suddenly the stern expression from her face vanished and she sighed.

“Mind if I sit?” Cheryl asked.

Betty slid to one side so Cheryl could also sit on the bench. Cheryl sat there looking down at the ground for a while as Betty watched her for a long moment.

“I’m going to tell you something, but I don’t want you to repeat it to anybody,” Cheryl said. “Not even Jason.”

Betty was a little curious as to what Cheryl was going to say.

“You’ve got my word,” Betty promised.

Cheryl held out her pinky.

“Swear on it?” Cheryl asked.

Betty looped her pinky through Cheryl’s and nodded.

“I swear,” Betty replied.

Cheryl lowered her hand and sighed.

“When we were really young Jason and I were the only friends we had,” Cheryl said. “Our parents didn’t bother to really socialize us with other kids, they were too busy with their shameless self-promoting. We didn’t really get to meet other kids until we were in kindergarten.”

Betty nodded as she listened wondering where this was going.

“In kindergarten the other kids all really wanted to be Jason’s friend, especially the boys,” Cheryl said. “I know he told you about how I convinced him that the younger twin has to do whatever the older one says, and that’s when I began using that on him. It made all the other kids not want to be his friend and made Jason closer to me. I guess you could say I was jealous.”

Betty was intrigued by Cheryl’s honesty.

“As the years went on I grew used to Jason’s… I guess you could almost call it devotion,” Cheryl continued. “I cared about my brother and I liked how he did what I asked. I felt like I couldn’t tell him that he didn’t have to do everything I said. Eventually he figured it out himself but by then I guess it had become second nature to him. Then I hit puberty and well… I think we can both agree it’s been good to me.”

Betty nodded, there was no point denying that Cheryl was extremely beautiful; slim and well-endowed. There was a reason she was so popular.

“That was when I began to get popular, that’s when my upbringing kicked in. I had watched my parents for years and their self-promotion so I did the same, that’s why I’m so popular,” Cheryl said. “And like them I don’t want to give up anything I’ve earned from all of that, that’s what’s led to my ruthless attitude.”

Betty fidgeted feeling a little uncomfortable as this was getting quite personal.

“I could spend hours going over every little thing that has made me the way I am, but that’s not why I’m telling you this,” Cheryl continued. “This is really more about Jason. Even now I’m jealous of other people getting close to him, and I do what I can to scare them away. But it’s also because I don’t want them to hurt him. I was intending to do the same to you, but after I talked with Jason I realized that breaking you up would actually hurt him just as much if you not more than anything you could do.”

Betty blinked in surprise, still speechless.

“So I guess what I’m trying to say is that as long as you have good intentions for my brother, I’m fine with you seeing him,” Cheryl said.

“Wow…” Betty commented. “I didn’t realize how much you actually cared for your brother. I mean the way I see you treat him at school…”

“It’s all a cover to protect my reputation,” Cheryl said. “I mean you know the other cheerleaders, they’d do whatever they can to take my place. Midge was never my best friend, she was closest rival.”

“How can you stand to live like that?” Betty asked.

“Like I said, I’ve done it so long I’m just used to it,” Cheryl said. “Can I tell you something else, but you have to promise not to get mad?”

“Why would I get mad?” Betty asked.

“Because it’s about you,” Cheryl answered.

Betty was just confused.

“Yeah, I won’t get mad,” Betty said.

“The whole reason I asked you to be on the cheerleading team, it wasn’t because we needed a second blond girl, that was just an excuse I made up,” Cheryl said.

“Okay, it seemed a little weak at the time,” Betty said. “So what?”

“The whole reason I wanted you on the team was so that I could befriend you and then kick you off,” Cheryl said.

“Why would you want to do that?” Betty asked.

“I don’t know if you realize this, but along with myself you’re one of the most attractive girls at the school. And you don’t even really seem to work at it either, you rarely wear makeup, you don’t seem to put much effort into your outfits but yet all the boys still find you, and I’m quoting a few of them here, smoking hot.” Cheryl answered.

Betty was a little surprised. She knew that other boys found her attractive but she didn’t realize it was on the same level as Cheryl.

“I mean I think you can understand how for somebody in my position how I would see you as a potential rival,” Cheryl said.

“Yeah but I don’t really care about being popular,” Betty said.

“I know, but still I’ve always felt threatened,” Cheryl explained. “When I tried to set you up with one of the football players and you rejected it, that actually made me feel more threatened.”

“I’ve been wondering why you didn’t kick me off the team then,” Betty said.

“Because it would have garnered you sympathy. Our classmates aren’t complete idiots, well some are; but the majority of them would have seen it as me just trying to embarrass you and you would have come out the better. And I didn’t want that.” Cheryl explained. “And then I saw how close you were with your friends, and that got me more jealous because I wish I had friends like you do. That’s why I asked Sheila to be on the team, we didn’t need to replace Midge, I wanted to try and break up your friendship.”

“Now that’s low Cheryl,” Betty reprimanded her.

“I know,” Cheryl admitted. “I feel terrible about it to be honest. And now that you’re dating my brother, I guess what I want is for us to become friends.”

Betty said nothing but just nodded her head.

“I would like that,” Betty said. “But I think you’re going to need to earn my friendship. You’ve admitted to doing some things that friends just don’t do to each other, at least your intentions. I’m willing to forgive those but you’re going to have to prove that you’re deserving of my trust and friendship.”

“That’s fair,” Cheryl agreed. “You must have great parents Betty because you’re not nearly as socially messed up as I am.”

If only you knew about my parent situation, Betty thought to herself.

“You’re not messed up Cheryl,” Betty said. “You’ve just been making bad decisions. But you know enough to correct them.”

Cheryl sighed heavily and nodded.

“I’ve got to ask though, what’s up with the farm?” Cheryl asked.

“My grandfather left it to me,” Betty replied. “So this is mine now.”

Cheryl stood up and looked around.

“You could host some killer parties out here,” she said.

“Yeah, that’s not really my thing,” Betty said.

“Well I guess it is your place,” Cheryl said.

Cheryl began walking back to her car.

“Where’re you going?” Betty asked.

“Home,” Cheryl replied. “I’ve got appearances to keep up. We might be on the path to becoming friends but there are still a dozen different girls who would be happy to bury me six feet under if they got the opportunity.”

“You should think about making some changes to your social life,” Betty suggested. “I mean you should think about having real friends, and not just a bunch of people who like you.”

“I’ll think about it,” Cheryl said. “But it’s not as easily said as done.”

“That’s true,” Betty agreed. “Well drive safe.”

Cheryl waved good-bye as she got into her car and drove off. Once she was gone Betty finished her lunch before going back to work.

Jughead had finally wandered downstairs in search a snack, he ended up running into Alice in the kitchen.

“Oh Jughead, would you be able to do me a favour and run to the corner store and get me some milk?” Alice asked.

“Sure,” Jughead agreed since he realized he could get some jellybeans or pretzels at the corner store at the same time.

Alice handed him some cash to pay for the milk and Jughead left the house to walk to the corner store. He was walking through the parking lot when he came across a boy around the same age as him heading to the store from the other direction. Jughead was a little surprised as he didn’t know him.

“Hey are you new in town?” Jughead asked the boy.

“Uh, yeah,” the boy replied a little surprised. “My family just moved here from Central City yesterday.”

“Are you going to be going to Riverdale High?” Jughead asked.

“Yeah, do you go there?” he responded.

“I do,” Jughead answered, then held out his hand. “Jughead Jones.”

“Barry Allen,” the boy said. “Jughead… that’s a strange name.”

“It’s a nickname,” Jughead said. “My given name is Forsythe, same as my father, same as his father. Nobody calls me that though. Not even my mother.”

“It seems almost derogatory,” Barry said.

“Meh, I don’t mind it,” Jughead said. “That’s really all that matters right?”

“I guess so,” Barry agreed.

They entered the store and split up. Jughead went to the back to get the milk before going down the aisle and grabbing a bag of pretzels and a bag of jelly beans. He was up at the counter and had just finished paying when Barry came up with a few groceries.

“Well I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” Jughead said.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll see you there,” Barry agreed.

With that Jughead walked out of the store and headed home.

“He seemed nice,” Barry thought quietly to himself as the clerk rang through his groceries.

Veronica was reading over a one of Dr. Klump’s preliminary reports. He was using the wasp pheromones and mixing them with various bits of meteor rock to make a sort of perfume. He was doing a fairly controlled experiment with one with no meteor rock, one with green, one with red and one with a mix of red and green.

So far he was still in the manufacturing of his perfumes or mists as he called them in his report. Apparently they needed to sit and ferment for a period of at least two weeks. Veronica wasn’t sure why but she had no reason to doubt his veracity.

Finished with the report she set it down and then looked at another one. The people she had searching for Cricket still had not managed to locate her. However it was looking as though she had ended up in Las Vegas. If that was the case then she was probably long gone. Veronica was considered giving up the search. There wasn’t much point in continuing to waste resources on something that was likely futile.

As she read the report she saw that the men she had searching suspected that Cricket may be under the protection of an organized crime boss. Veronica frowned, she could see how an ability like Cricket’s could prove useful to a crime boss. And a crime boss would probably be loath to part with such an asset. She sent the men an email telling them not get involved with any criminal enterprises, the last thing she wanted was to risk retaliation. Cricket would know who was coming after her and how to strike back.

She then saw another report, one that she wasn’t sure where it came from. She opened it up and saw that it was about Betty Cooper, apparently she had come to own a farm. Veronica wondered how such a report had ended up being sent to her, then she noticed her father’s e-mail in the CC section on the email. He was still interested in the Cooper. Veronica however had lost some interest over the past week. There was something about the girl, but she was very good at hiding it. However now her interest was renewed.

Veronica sat at her desk considering her options.

Chapter 22

Betty and her friends got dropped off at school by Polly, who then went off to college.

“Oh I just remembered something,” Jughead said as they walked up to the school. “There’s a new student who just arrived.”

“What how do you know?” Sheila asked.

“I ran into him at the corner store yesterday,” Jughead replied. “His name is Barry Allen and he’s from Central City.”

“I’ve always thought that was a dumb name for a city,” Sheila commented.

“It was originally only a place holder,” Dilton said. “Because the city is in the center of the country, but after nobody could really agree on a different name for the city it ended up being the name by default.”

“We all know, that’s a lesson from seventh grade geography,” Sheila said.

“Well the dumb part is that they couldn’t agree on a better name,” Betty commented.

Just then they saw Cheryl and Jason walking towards them. What was unusual was that Jason was walking beside his sister instead of behind her as he normally did.

“Oh my god Cheryl is something wrong?” Sheila asked as they approached.

Cheryl looked at Sheila as though she were a crazed homeless person.

“I’m sorry,” Sheila apologized.

Cheryl gave a derisive snort and then looked at Betty.

“There’s a meeting for the cheerleaders today at lunch, I’d appreciate it if you would attend,” Cheryl said.

“Okay, I’ll be there,” Betty agree.

Cheryl turned and walked away but Jason didn’t follow her. Betty soon realized that everybody save for Jason was staring at her.

“What?” Betty asked.

“You didn’t find that weird?” Jughead asked.

“Cheryl never asks anybody anything!” Sheila exclaimed. “She tells them what to do!”

“I… I don’t want to talk about this,” Betty said. “Let’s just get to class.”

She took off towards the school leaving her friends behind to wonder what was going on. However Jason quickly followed behind her.

“Betty wait,” Jason called.

Betty didn’t stop however till she reached her locker. Jason leaned up against the locker beside her as she opened her locker.

“Betty I know my sister came to talk to you yesterday,” Jason said. “I know I should have stopped her…”

“No actually you shouldn’t have,” Betty said. “I’m glad your sister came to talk to me.”

“Oh no… what did she tell you?” Jason asked worriedly.

“Nothing that you need to be worried about,” Betty said. “What you just saw was your sister’s attempt to treat me like an actual friend.”

“Really? That’s what that was?” Jason asked in surprise.

“Well you should know, she’s never really had any true friends,” Betty said. “She doesn’t exactly know how to act.”

“So she wants to be your friend…” Jason said somewhat suspiciously as he trailed off.

“I think she’s actually pretty genuine about that,” Betty said. “We… actually have a few things in common it turns out.”

“Oh, like what?” Jason inquired curiously.

“As much as I’d like to tell you I promised I wouldn’t tell anybody, even you,” Betty said. “Now I’ve got to get to class but I’ll see you in second period.”

She kissed Jason on the cheek which drew a surprised gasp from a few nearby students before heading off to class. What Betty didn’t see was the furious glare from Midge Klump who had been watching Betty and Jason from across the hall.

Betty got to class and took her seat and not long after Jughead and Sheila came in.

“Okay, you’ve got to tell me everything about your relationship with Jason,” Sheila said. “I mean we’re best friends, I’m surprised you haven’t told me already.”

“Yeah that’s not really something I like to talk about,” Betty replied.

She then looked up to see that Principal Weatherbee had just walked in with a student that Betty didn’t recognize. She quickly deduced that his was the new kid, Barry Allen, who Jughead had mentioned.

“Ladies and Gentlemen if I can have your attention for a moment,” Weatherbee said. “We have a new student joining us today, if you’d like to introduce yourself.”

“Uh, my name is Barry,” the boy said. “My parents and I just moved here from Central City.”

There were a few scattered whispers. Weatherbee glared at the students.

“I want you all to make Barry feel welcome here in Riverdale,” Weatherbee said before leaving the classroom.

“Barry if you wouldn’t mind taking the seat at the back in front of Mr. Jones,” Miss Grundy said.

Barry made his way through the row of desks towards the empty spot in front of Jughead. As he did Reggie Mantle stuck his foot out to trip him. Betty watched him stumbled and then she saw Barry react so quickly that it looked like he barely tripped. Betty’s eyes went wide with surprise, she doubted that anyone else had noticed Barry’s reaction time it had been so quick.

Barry sat down in the seat in front of Jughead.

“Nice to see you again,” Jughead whispered to Barry.

“You too,” Barry replied.

Miss Grundy went into her lesson but Betty just sat in her seat looking at Barry not paying attention. After a few minutes she tapped Jughead on the shoulder.

“Switch seats with me?” Betty asked in a whisper.

Jughead looked at her confused, but Betty gave him an urging look and he just sighed and shrugged and got up as the two of them switched places. Up at the front Miss Grundy didn’t even notice. Once Betty had sat down she leaned forward across the desk and tapped Barry and shoulder. He turned around a little surprised.

“Pretty quick reactions there,” Betty whispered.

Barry said nothing but just looked at her confused.

“I saw how you avoided falling,” Betty continued.

Barry’s eyes widened with surprise for a moment.

“Are you a speedster too?” he asked quietly.

“What’s a speedster?” Betty asked her turn to be confused.

“Mister Allen, Miss Cooper I would ask that you introduce yourselves after class,” Miss Grundy interrupted from the front. “Miss Cooper if you would switch back with Mister Jones please.”

Betty sheepishly returned to her desk while Jughead gave her a quizzical look. For the rest of class Betty sat wondering just what a speedster was and glancing over at Barry, who she saw glancing back her occasionally.

The bell finally rang to mark the end of class and Betty watched Barry get up and quickly hurry out of the class room. Without a word to her friends Betty got up and followed after him. She caught up to him just outside the library and pulled him into the library.

“Whoa, that’s a strong grip there,” Barry commented as he pulled his arm away.

“I… sorry,” Betty apologized.

“So are you a speedster?” Barry asked.

“I… I don’t know… what’s a speedster?” Betty responded.

“It’s someone that moves so fast that ordinary people can’t see them,” Barry replied. “However other speedsters can.”

“I guess I am,” Betty said. “So wait there are more like you?”

“I’ve only met one, he goes by the name Zoom,” Barry said.

“So are you from Krypton as well?” Betty asked.

“Krypton? Never heard of it,” Barry replied. “Is that in New Mexico? They’ve got all sorts of weird named towns down there.”

“Well where are you from?” Betty asked confused.

“Central City,” Barry replied. “That’s where I was born at Central City hospital.”

“So… you’re human?” Betty asked confused.

“Yeah, what is wrong with you?” Barry responded.

“I…” Betty began.

Just then she saw Jason approaching.

“Oh Jason!” she called.

Jason came over and looked at Barry.

“This is Barry Allen, he’s knew here,” Betty said. “I was just showing him where the library is.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jason said holding out his hand.

“This is my boyfriend Jason Blossom,” Betty introduced.

“Pleasure,” Barry said shaking Jason’s hand.

Betty then noticed Jason giving her a curious glance.

“Did you need something Jason?” Betty asked.

“Just wondering if you wanted to head to class, I know you hate being late,” Jason replied.

“Yeah, yeah let’s go,” Betty agreed. “See you later Barry.”

Barry watched and Betty and Jason walked off. There was something rather odd in his opinion about Betty, she shouldn’t have been able to tell he was a speedster but she didn’t seem to be one herself. This was something he would have to investigate, although he would need to be careful.

“Ms. Jackpot, my money please,” said Tony Bellucci.

Tony Bellucci was a big wig in the Las Vegas crime scene. He was known as Big Tony not just because he was big name, but because he was also a big man. He stood a towering 6’6” and was about 350 lbs.

“What money?” Cricket replied.

Since escaping the train she had managed to make her way to Las Vegas. It seemed like the best place to get a fresh start and because of the amount of cash that moved around in the town a good place where she could put her powers to work. Unfortunately she’d quickly attracted the attention of the wrong type of people. She’d been contracted to move the cash of a major drug deal, but that wasn’t something she was comfortable with.

“I’ve been told how your abilities work,” Big Tony said.

He grabbed Cricket and forcefully ripped her clothing off till she was just in her underwear and tossed her to the ground. He then grabbed the gun from one of his henchmen and pointed it at her.

“I can those tattoos of yours,” he said. “Now give me my money.”

“Well killing me isn’t going to get you your money,” Cricket said. “I die and it stays as ink on my body.”

“Good point,” Tony said. “Boys have some fun with her.”

Cricket saw that the two henchmen undo their belts and quickly realized what was going to happen. There was one part of her powers that she doubts that Big Tony knew about. She flung a razor bill at Tony’s hand which made him drop the gun and then quickly flung two more taking out his henchmen. She then flung two more at Tony’s feet which caused him to drop to the ground unable to stand.

She then reached into her torn clothing and pulled out her phone and dialled a number.

“A little help please,” Cricket said when somebody answered.

Just a few seconds later FBI agents were storming the area.

“Good work Ms. O’Dell,” the lead agent said. “You brought in a man we’ve been trying to nail for years.”

“No problem,” Cricket said. “I’d talk more but I’m feeling a little naked.”

Another agent gave her his jacket and led her outside to the back of one of the FBI’s vehicles so she could sit. Cricket asked for a moment alone and agent wandered off. Cricket pulled out one of the henchman’s phones which she had palmed just before the FBI had burst in, she didn’t want this call being traced.

She placed a call to the number that Betty had given her. She got an answering service.

“Betty it is Cricket, sorry for taking so long to reply. I escaped to Vegas. Long story short I’m working with the FBI at the moment so communication will be difficult. It would be best if you could come meet me.” Cricket said.

Just then she saw the FBI agent returning. Cricket quickly hung up and broken the phone and removed the SIM card.

Midge arrived home. It was only half-way through school but she couldn’t stand to be there any longer.

“Midge, honey what’s wrong?” her mother called as Midge stormed up to her room.

“I’m not feeling well,” Midge replied.

Amanda called her husband. Midge just wouldn’t speak with her when she was in a mood like this, but she would talk with her father.

“Yes, Midge came home,” Amanda said when Victor answered the phone. “No I’m not sure what she’s upset about. Yes I agree coming home will probably help.”

About twenty-five minutes later Victor arrived home carrying his briefcase. Amanda met him at the door.

“She’s upstairs in her room,” Amanda said.

Without a word Victor went upstairs and knocked on the door to Midge’s room.

“Midge it’s your father,” he called out. “Can I come in.”

He didn’t get a reply so he opened the door. Midge was lying on her bed with her back to the door. Victor entered and closed the door behind him. He then sat down on the bed and sat his briefcase down beside him.

“Midge, is this about that Blossom boy?” Victor asked.

“Of course it is,” Midge answered angrily. “Cheryl wouldn’t let me date him for years but Betty Cooper comes along and Cheryl is fine with letting her date Jason.”

“Well what if I told you that I could make you irresistible to any boy?” Victor said.

Midge sat up and looked at her father like he was crazy. In response Victor opened his briefcase, inside were several test tubes filled with a mix of green and red liquids.

“These are pheromones I’ve been developing,” Victor explained. “They’re mixed with bits of meteor rock to be far more potent than normal pheromones.”

“What are you saying daddy?” Midge asked.

“I’m saying these can make you irresistible to any boy,” Victor said. “In fact, all the boys. They’ll be fighting with each other for you.”

“You’re kidding right?” Midge responded.

Victor pulled one of the test tubes out and handed it to her.

“Why don’t you take this to school, put a little on your neck and find out?” Victor suggested.

Midge looked at the test tube studying it. The way the light seemed to pass through the green and red liquid seemed unusual and she actually began to believe that it could work.

“If it doesn’t work you can come back home,” Victor said. “In fact just text me and I will come pick you up.”

“Thank you daddy,” Midge said as she gave her father a kiss on the cheek.

Victor watched as his daughter left the room and head downstairs. The front door then opened and closed as she left the house. Victor then pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Let Ms. Lodge know that I’ve begun human testing,” Victor said before hanging up.

Chapter 23

Veronica was just about to leave for lunch when one of her assistants came to her office to deliver a message.

“It can wait until after lunch,” Veronica said dismissively before she had even heard the message.

“But it’s from Dr. Klump,” her assistant said nervously.

Veronica’s eyes narrowed at her assistant. She hadn’t been expecting an update today he said that things would need a couple weeks. Her assistant shrank back under her withering gaze.

“What is it?” Veronica asked slowly and suspiciously.

“He said that he’s begun human testing,” the assistant answered nervously.

For a long moment Veronica just stared at him saying nothing and standing perfectly still. Then the assistant noticed that her right hand was twitching ever so slightly.

“Uh… Miss Lodge?” he asked.

“He defied my orders,” Veronica growled, more to herself than the assistant. “I said there was to be no more human testing for the moment.”

“I uh… I think he’s testing it on his daughter,” the assistant said.

That snapped Veronica out of her rage, but instead filled her with worry. There had been a small excerpt about the daughter in Victor Klump’s file. She was in the same grade as the Cooper girl, which could potentially be useful. But the file also mentioned how she displayed borderline sociopathic tendency, and that could potentially be disastrous. Veronica knew she had to go into damage control and prevent Belle Reeve from coming under scrutiny.

“I want Klump fired immediately, no make that I want him fired five days ago,” Veronica ordered.

“Uh…” the assistant stammered.

“I don’t mean go back in time, but I want him fired now and make it look like it was five days ago,” Veronica said. “It’s a breach of contract pure and simple, it will hold up fine in court although I have a feeling that will be the least of our concerns.”

“Miss Lodge I don’t understand…” the assistant began to ask.

“Your job is not to understand!” Veronica shouted at him angrily. “Your job is to do what I tell you to do! Now go do what I ordered!”

The assistant scurried off frightenedly to do as she had demanded. Veronica stood there for a moment trying to think about what else to do. She then turned around and sat back down at her desk and got out her phone and opened up her computer. It looked like she would have to work through lunch today.

Betty arrived at the cafeteria; she made her way over to the table where all the cheerleaders were sitting with their football player boyfriends. She noticed Archie Andrews sitting at the far end of the table with his current girlfriend Ginger Lopez, last week it had been Mina. But it was all for show. She could see the green meteor rock pendant that he always wore peeking out of the neckline of his shirt. She knew she had to stay as far away from his as she could while here.

Betty sat down beside Sheila who was sitting beside Moose. She felt so out of place at this table. However the moment Jason sat down on the other side she didn’t feel so out of place. He gave her a reassuring pat on the back as his sister Cheryl sat down beside him with Reggie Mantle sitting beside her.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Cheryl began. “I’m sure you are all aware just what important business we have at today’s meeting.”

“Uh… I’m not,” Betty interrupted.

Cheryl opened her mouth like she was about to say something then paused and smiled.

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you Betty.” Cheryl apologized which drew whispers from almost everyone else around the table; since when did Cheryl Blossom apologize for anything?

Cheryl glared angrily and the whispers ceased almost instantly. She smiled before continuing.

“Anyway we are here to discuss who the Home Coming King and Queen will be,” Cheryl said. “In the interest of keeping harmony amongst our group unless we can come to a consensus on which couple it should be, we will choose a couple not amongst us that we deem… acceptable. So, any thoughts?”

“Well I think it should be you and Reggie,” Sheila blurted out.

“Kiss ass,” Betty muttered to Jason who chuckled and nodded.

“Well I think it should be me and Archie,” Ginger suggested as she leaned over and kissed Archie.

“You two haven’t even been dating a week,” said Mina, Archie’s ex.

“This time, but we dated for two months last year,” Archie replied.

“How about Jason and Betty?” suggested Nina, another cheerleader.

There were a lot of agreements to that choice around the table.

“Uh-uh, no way,” Reggie protested. “He isn’t even on the football team.”

“I don’t think being on the football team is a pre-requisite for being named home-coming king,” Jason said.

“Do you want to fight me for it?” Reggie asked standing up.

Cheryl immediately stood up and put a hand on Reggie’s chest to try and calm him down.

“Boys, there is no need to fight,” she said. “Since we can’t come to an agreement it’s clear we should pick another couple to give our support to.”

Reggie sat back down as did Cheryl, but Reggie kept glaring over at Jason.

“How about Maria Rodriguez and Frankie Lopez?” Betty suggested.

Betty didn’t know Maria too well, but they saw each other all the time at Pop’s where Maria worked. Betty liked Maria, she was definitely Betty’s favourite waitress there. Maria’s boyfriend Frankie was a dishwasher there and an aspiring musician. Betty didn’t know him very well either but she knew he was quite popular with the ladies.

Around the table there were a lot of nods of agreement.

“Any other suggestions?” Cheryl asked.

Nobody else said anything.

“Well then it’s settled,” Cheryl stated. “Our home coming king and queen will be Frankie and Maria.”

Everyone then broke out into their own conversations about the inane aspects of life at Riverdale High.

“That’s it?” Betty asked Cheryl.

“The decision as to who are home coming king and queen is important,” Cheryl said. “It’s caused major rifts amongst the school elite in the past.”

“Well I guess so,” Betty agreed. “I’m going to go find other friends.”

She turned to go but Cheryl grabbed her arm.

“Wait,” Cheryl said. “This Saturday how about you and Jason come on a double date with Reggie and me?”

Betty glanced over at Jason who just shrugged to let Betty know it was her decision.

“Uh, sure why not,” Betty agreed. “It could be fun.”

Betty wasn’t entirely sure. Reggie was an egotistical prick on a scale that rivalled Cheryl; however Cheryl had shown she had a good side. Betty wasn’t sure that Reggie had one.

“Great, wear something nice we’ll be going somewhere fancy,” Cheryl said.

Betty walked and Jason followed her.

“What does she mean, something nice?” Betty asked.

“A dress, probably something designer,” Jason replied.

“I don’t own a designer dress,” Betty said.

“Don’t worry I’ve got you covered,” Jason said with a wink.

“What do you mean?” Betty asked.

“I said don’t worry about it,” Jason replied.

Just then they arrived at the table where Jughead and Dilton were. Betty saw that they were joined by the new student Barry.

“Hey guys, Barry nice to see you again,” Betty greeted them all as she sat down.

“Barry was just telling us about his school back in Central City,” Jughead said. “Why don’t you tell them the one of the chemistry lab experiment gone wrong? You’ll love this it’s hilarious.”

Before Barry could begin his tale however the doors to the cafeteria were kicked opened and a gun was fired into the air. Betty looked up to see Adam Chisholm, a student in their grade holding a pistol in the air. He then lowered and pointed it towards the table of cheerleaders and jocks.

Without think Betty got up and ran at top speed towards him. However before she could get there she saw Barry had beaten her there already. Barry disarmed Adam and ran back to his seat depositing the gun in a trash can. Betty raced back to her seat as well both of them sitting back down before anybody else had seen anything.

“What the?” Adam exclaimed looking at his empty hand.

He then growled and charged at the table lunging across for Cheryl. However Moose and Vic grabbed him and threw him to the ground. He got up and the two of them had to pin him down. Adam struggled against them like a crazed animal seemingly desperate to attack Cheryl until Moose knocked him out with a punch to the face.

“What the hell was that?” Jughead exclaimed.

“Did those two date or something?” Barry asked.

“No, they barely associate,” Jason replied.

“You should go check on your sister,” Betty said to Jason.

Jason nodded and ran over to check on Cheryl who was clearly shaken up by the incident.

“Nice job stopping him,” Jughead whispered to her after Jason was gone.

“I didn’t do it,” Betty said. “It was Barry.”

Dilton and Jughead both looked at Barry.

“You’ve got powers too?” Dilton asked.

“Super speed, fast healing,” Barry replied slowly. “Why do you guys all…?”

“No, just me,” Betty said. “But I don’t think our powers are quite the same. You’re even faster than I am. I was closer and you got there before I did.”

“That’s me, the fastest man alive,” Barry said. “I just let Usain Bolt have the title.”

“So how exactly did you acquire your powers?” Dilton asked.

“There was this accident two years ago, some friends and I were sneaking around an old chemical plant back in Central City that had been shut down. Just sort of exploring and what not, we were thinking about setting it up to play some paintball.” Barry explained “Anyway it was windy and cloudy all the threats of rain, but it hadn’t started raining. I was in this room with these old barrels of chemicals I don’t know what they were and suddenly the plant was struck by lightning. Somehow it arced all the way down to the room I was in and the chemicals detonated. I was thrown all the way outside, somehow almost completely unharmed, but I was in a coma. Nobody was sure from what. I woke up three months later over the next few days I discovered I had these super speed abilities.”

“What did you do with them?” Jughead asked.

“Not much,” Barry replied. “I used them to get out of some sticky situations, I helped a few people. Nothing like just now though.”

“Speaking of which what the hell got into Adam?” Betty asked.

“It was almost like he was under a spell,” Dilton commented. “As though he had been compelled to kill Cheryl. Even though you had disarmed him he still tried to go after her.”

“And where would he have gotten a gun?” Jughead wondered.

Just then they heard the sounds of police arriving.

“I don’t think the police will be able to properly solve this,” Barry said. “I don’t really know Adam but I do know that the night we moved into town he delivered pizza to our house and let us have it for free. This doesn’t seem like the actions of that person.”

“I think you’re right,” Betty agreed. “And if we’re going to help Adam we can’t let the cops find that weapon.”

Barry glanced over at the garbage can. In a flash he ran over pulled the gun out and came back, the gun hidden under his shirt.

“What do you think you’re doing with that?” Jughead whispered worriedly.

“I know where we can take it,” Betty said. “Come with me Barry.”

She got up and slowly led the way to one of the other exits of the cafeteria. As they were leaving four police officers entered the cafeteria to arrest Adam. Betty and Barry emerged into the hall way and Betty glanced around. There was nobody around looking at them

“Try and keep up,” Betty said.

With that she took off at her fastest speed. Barry quickly followed her catching up to her with ease. Betty ran the entire distance to her farm coming to a stop beside the farm house.

“Was that as fast as you can go?” Barry asked.

“You can go faster?” Betty retorted.

“Yeah, a bit,” Barry replied.

“Give me the gun,” Betty said holding out her hand.

Barry handed the gun to her. Betty pulled the slide back to chamber a bullet and then put it to her head and pulled the trigger. Barry was so surprised he didn’t even react. Betty burst out laughing.

“You didn’t think I was actually going to kill myself, did you?” Betty asked.

She bent down and picked up the slug that had flattened against her skull and tossed it to Barry who fumbled it twice before catching it.

“Whoa…” Barry exclaimed. “That’s amazing.”

“You might be faster, but I’m bullet proof, and stronger,” Betty said.

“No need to brag,” Barry said.

Betty then proceeded to crush and dismantle the gun with her bare hands till it was no longer recognizable as a weapon.

“So what is this place?” Barry asked.

“My farm,” Betty answered. “This is sort of where we’re going to be making our base.”

“You base?” Barry inquired quizzically.

“There’s a place near here called Belle Reeve, it’s run by the Lodge Family. They’ve been experimenting on people to give them powers,” Betty explained. “We’re looking to take it down.”

Barry nodded in agreement. “That sounds totally wrong, if you need help then I’m in.”

Betty smiled and held out her hand, Barry grabbed it and the two shook hands.

“Welcome aboard,” Betty said.

From in the hallway Midge smirked as she watched the police lead Adam Chisholm away in handcuffs. Her father’s stuff, pheromones or whatever it was, had worked. Adam had been willing to kill Cheryl for her. He’d failed, so how he’d ended up disarmed, Midge hadn’t seen what had happened. But it had worked and that was all that mattered.

Midge looked at the little vial of red and green liquid. She’d used about a quarter of it getting a hold of Adam, she was going to need more of it. However after what she’d had Adam do she suspected her father might not be so willing to give her more. As Midge stared at the vial she wondered if perhaps she could use it to compel her father to make her more.

Chapter 24

Barry and Betty arrived back at the school to see that everybody was leaving. Betty quickly found, Jughead and Dilton.

“What’s going on?” Betty asked.

“They’re sending everyone home. Probably because the police want to talk to everyone directly involved separately,” Dilton answered.

“We need to try and figure out what happened too Adam,” Betty said.

“Do you think maybe it’s some kind of mind control?” Jughead suggested.

“Ugh, I hope not,” Barry said. “I mean how can you fight that?”

“Well it depends on how the mind is controlled,” Dilton said. “There’s several theories on how that could be done. The most popular one is by transmitting on the radio frequency that’s sync with a brain’s function. However that one in practice comes across as a crap shoot, like you would have a one in ten billion chance at properly sync up with your target’s brain.”

“Well what do you think it is?” Betty asked.

“Well amongst insects that form large colonies like bees, wasps and ants the Queen tends to control the others through scent. Personally I feel like that’s the best way to control someone is through scent, now how exactly that would work… I don’t know,” Dilton replied. “And odds are it wouldn’t even be a scent you can recognize, not like a pie or a burger. It would seem odourless, most pheromones don’t have a noticeable smell.”

“That’s a scary thought,” Jughead said.

“It is, but if that is the case it would be fairly ease to stop,” Dilton said. “Olfactory blockers are simple enough. The issue would be detecting it them, and since olfactory blockers plug up your nose you’re usually left mouth breathing, which isn’t exactly the most appealing thing in the world.”

“This is all just speculation though,” Barry said. “For all we know this Adam kid simply lost it.”

“He’s right,” Betty agreed. “I think we wait and see what happens when they question Adam and go from there.”

“What if something else happens in the meantime though?” Jughead asked.

“Well if somebody else goes postal then I think we’ll have our answer,” Betty said.

“Do you think maybe who he was trying to kill might help us figure out who is behind this?” Barry suggested.

“Cheryl has so many enemies though,” Dilton said.

“Yeah but none of them would kill her,” Jughead said.

“Don’t under estimate the vindictiveness of a teenage girl,” Betty commented.

“What do you mean?” Barry asked.

“Midge Klump,” Betty replied. “She used to be Cheryl’s best friend and… they had an ugly falling out, I don’t really know all the details. But Midge went from being the second most powerful girl in school to a total social outcast. I’ve seen the way she looks at Cheryl since, it’s a death stare.”

“Yeah but if Midge could do something like this I don’t think she would have ended up in her situation in the first place,” Jughead said.

“She probably would have been the one running the school and not Cheryl,” Dilton added.

“Fair point,” Betty agreed. “Still I think we should keep an eye on her.”

“If we were police or private eyes, I would agree,” Barry said. “But we’re just high school students. We can’t keep somebody under surveillance, at least not without raising a great deal of suspicion.”

“He’s right,” Jughead agreed. “We can’t do anything without more information. And what if it isn’t Midge we’d be wasting a great deal of time watching her, and I really don’t want to do that.”

Betty looked at Dilton who nodded in agreement. She let out a small defeated sigh.

“Alright,” Betty said. “Well we’ve got the rest of the day off and lunch got interrupted, who wants to go to Pop’s?”

“You know I do!” Jughead said eagerly.

“What’s Pop’s?” Barry asked.

“Only the best burger joint in town!” Jughead exclaimed.

“It’s a diner near here,” Dilton said. “It used to be called the Chock’lit Shoppe from when it was first built in the 50’s. The man who owns it, his family has owned it since it first opened. He renovated it a little while back.”

“Sounds cool,” Barry said. “Let’s go.”

Midge arrived home; as soon as she came in through the door her father sprang from his office.

“Midge why are you home?” he asked.

Midge grinned at him.

“It worked daddy,” she said. “It worked better than you said it would.”

Victor’s eyes went wide with surprise and a smile came across his face.

“Tell me what happened?” he asked eagerly.

“Well when I got to school I tried it immediately on the first boy I saw,” Midge said. “I told him to kill Cheryl and he tried to! Somebody stole the gun from him, but even then he leapt at her! Some of the boys stepped in and beat him up, but he was so desperate to do what I told him to it was wonderful!”

With each detail of her story Victor’s expression changed from one of excitement and amazement to one of shock and horror. He hadn’t intended for Midge to use this to kill people.

“Midge that’s not why I gave you the…” he began to say.

Midge held up her finger to his lips cutting him off. As he watched she showed him the vial and then sprinkled it on herself. Even though he couldn’t smell anything he could feel his sense dull and he became transfixed on his daughter.

“You’re going to make me more of this,” Midge said. “Actually I want you to figure out a way so that I secrete this stuff naturally.”

“I… I…” Victor tried to protest.

However he suddenly found himself turning and going back into his office and looking over his notes. Soon his mind was racing with thoughts on how to do as Midge asked.

Betty and the others were sitting in a booth at Pop’s looking over the menus. Jughead was pointing out all of his favourites to Barry which was just about every single thing on the menu. Dilton was looking over his phone.

“Betty, I got a message from Cricket,” Dilton said.

Betty set her menu down a little surprised.

“What is it?” Betty asked.

“Apparently she’s in Las Vegas and she’s working with the FBI,” Dilton said. “She says that the best way to communicate is for you to go out and meet her.”

“Vegas? How am I supposed to do that?” Betty asked.

“I could go for you,” Barry suggested. “I mean I’ve run from Central City to Los Angeles and back in under an hour.”

“Under an hour? That’s more than 4000 miles per hour!” Dilton exclaimed in disbelief. “That’s hypersonic!”

“Well that’s pacing myself,” Barry said. “I’ve broken 10000 miles per hour over short distances.”

“I’ve managed a little over 7000 myself,” Betty said. “2 miles in a second.”

“What are we talking about here kids?” Pop asked as he came over to take their order.

Pop was a heavy set man with dark hair who was balding on the top.

“Just a video game,” Jughead answered. “A high speed racing one, Barry here is really good at it.”

Pop looked at Barry.

“You’re new around here, Barry is it?” Pop asked holding out his hand.

“Barry Allen,” Barry introduced himself shaking Pop’s hand. “My family just moved here from Central City.”

“Well hopefully I’ll be seeing a lot more of you Barry Allen,” Pop said. “I can tell already you’re a good kid, you’ve picked some of the best kids in town to be friends with.”

Betty, Dilton and Jughead looked around a little embarrassed.

“Well looks like I’m embarrassing them, a task I should save for their parents,” Pop said with a chuckle. “How about I just take your order?”

“I’ll have my usual,” Jughead said.

“The Everything Burger with fries and onion rings?” Pop asked which Jughead confirmed with a nod.

“I’ll get the Southern Fried Catfish,” Dilton said, “With the sweet potato fries.”

“I’ll have the Chicken Avocado Club Sandwich,” Betty said, “With the deep fried pickles.”

“And how about you?” Pop asked Barry who was still looking at the menu.

“I think I’ll have the Triple-Triple burger,” Barry said. “And I’ll get fries and onion rings with that.”

“Are you sure?” Pop asked sceptically. “That’s three patties each with three types of cheese.”

“Yeah I’m sure,” Barry replied handing him the menu.

Pop shrugged and took the menu as well as the others and went to prepare the order.

“A Triple-Triple Burger?” Jughead asked. “That thing is big even I only get that when I’m really hungry.”

“Side effect of the super speed is a super-fast metabolism,” Barry explained. “I need to eat about 6000 calories a day.”

“That would make sense,” Dilton commented. “There would have to be some kind of adaption to your physiology to provide the energy for your speed. I would suspect though that as your body adapts to whatever it is that gives you your speed you metabolism will begin to normalize, although it will likely always be faster than average.”

“It already has, I used to need 10000 calories a day,” Barry said. “How about you Betty, how much do you need to eat?”

“Honestly I don’t know,” Betty said. “I’ve had some days I’m really hungry and I can eat a ton and others where I don’t feel hungry at all. But I don’t know actually know anything about myself.”

“What do you mean?” Barry asked.

“Well as I was about to explain back at the library, I’m not human, I’m an alien,” Betty answered.

“Alien?” Barry repeated in disbelief. “What did you come here in a flying saucer?”

“It’s really more of a wedge shaped ship,” Betty replied.

“You’re kidding,” Barry said.

“No I’ve seen it,” Jughead stated.

“Where is it?” Barry asked curiously.

“Buried about twenty some odd feet deep on my farm,” Betty replied.

“Why?” Barry inquired.

“Because the ship’s AI and I don’t get along,” Betty answered.

“What do you mean?” Barry asked.

“I get the impression it doesn’t like how… human I act,” Betty answered.

Barry nodded although he didn’t really understand.

“Do you think maybe this thing with Adam is related to that Belle Reeve facility you told me about?” Barry asked.

“The probability is extremely likely,” Dilton replied.

“That makes getting in contact with Cricket even more important,” Betty said. “If the Lodges are behind this she’s got vital information on the facility and how to stop them.”

“The problem is how do we contact her?” Jughead stated. “Sure we know she’s in Las Vegas, but that’s a big city and apparently she’s working with the FBI.”

“Did she send anything saying how to contact her?” Betty asked Dilton.

Dilton read the message over and shook his head.

“Then there’s not much we can do,” Betty said. “Maybe on the weekend Barry and I can go out there to look for her.”

“You’re not doing anything with Jason this weekend?” Jughead asked.

“Shit… yes! Jason and I are going on a double date with Cheryl and Reggie,” Betty replied.

“I can still go,” Barry offered.

“Cricket doesn’t know you, and she’ll be expecting me,” Betty said. “Hopefully we can go on Sunday.”

“Let’s just hope that isn’t too late,” Dilton said somewhat ominously.

Veronica was furious. She’d just gotten reports of a student going crazy and attempting to kill another student at Riverdale High. It hadn’t taken her long to put two and two together and figure out that it had been Dr. Klump’s daughter who was responsible. This was the worst possible scenario. She had done what she could to distance herself from the Klumps but that didn’t seem like it would be enough.

Klump’s pheromones experiments were clearly successful and given the report she had read, extremely effective. That in and of itself wasn’t the issue, the issue was that he had given it to his clearly deranged daughter. Veronica knew that she had to somehow put a stop to Klump’s daughter before people started getting hurt or it was likely that things would turn back on her. She also knew she needed to secure Klump’s experiment. It could prove extremely useful for her in so many different ways.

The problem was how would she go about doing this, Veronica didn’t want to use any of the staff associated with Belle Reeve just in case it didn’t work. She picked up her phone and was about to call her father when she paused. She wasn’t sure she wanted her father involved in this, instead Veronica called her mother.

“Veronica darling what a surprise to hear from you,” her mother said when she answered.

“Mother, I need your help,” Veronica said.

Chapter 25

Victor Klump was exhausted. Despite his desire not to, he had been working non-stop on trying to come up with a way to make Midge’s knew ability permanent. It was now three in the morning but he’d come up with a likely solution. However he had no idea what other effects it might have on Midge, nor did he relish the idea of her using her powers for petty revenge. That hadn’t been what he’d had in mind, he’d intended Midge to make a boy fall in love with her, not make a boy try and kill her former best friend.

He’d fought against the mind controlling pheromones but it was like a constant nagging voice in his head was constantly telling him to obey Midge’s orders and his body felt compelled to follow.

Victor slowly filled the syringe with the reddish liquid which has small green bubbles in it. He wasn’t even sure what to call the serum, but in theory if injected it would allow Midge to produce the mind controlling pheromones naturally rather than need his spray on mists.

Victor went upstairs to Midge’s bedroom and knocked on the door before opening. Midge was sound asleep but woke up when her father entered the room.

“I’ve solved it,” Victor said as Midge sat up and handed his daughter the syringe.

Midge turned on her bedside lamp and looked the syringe over and then grinned.

“There might be side effects though,” Victor warned her.

“What sort of side effects?” Midge asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Victor replied. “I’m dealing with only partially understood compounds and operating off of what is essentially an educated guess.”

“But I’ll produce those pheromones myself?” Midge asked.

Victor sighed and nodded.

“Then that’s all that matters,” Midge said.

She jabbed the syringe violently into her own leg and injected herself letting out a grunt of pain as she did. She then pulled the needle out and took several deep breaths.

“How long should it take?” Midge asked her father.

“I… I’m not sure,” Victor replied.

“Well how about we find out,” Midge said. “Hop on one foot daddy!”

Victor stared at his daughter confused by her order but suddenly he found himself hopping up and down on one foot as Midge watched with a gleeful expression on her face.

“Amazing!” she exclaimed.

Just then there was a bang downstairs.

“What was that?” Midge asked.

Victor shrugged as he continued to hop.

“Stop hopping like an idiot and go look,” Midge ordered.

Victor stopped hopping and left the room but as he did he saw two masked figures making their way up the stairs armed with MP7’s equipped with suppressors. Victor turned and ran back into Midge’s room when he saw them. The men chased him into her room.

“Stop you two!” Midge ordered as they entered the room. “Stand still and don’t do anything.”

The two men stopped in their tracks and stood still just staring ahead. Midge grinned as she stood up and walked in circles around them.

“You, point you gun at his head,” Midge ordered one of them to point his weapon at the other.

Clearly struggling to resist but unable to the man did as she said. His ally stood still clearly frightened. Midge walked over and pulled off his mask so she could see the fear in his face.

“Terrifying isn’t it?” Midge asked. “Knowing that with a word from me your friend here will kill you, and neither of you can do anything to stop it. Almost makes you want to piss yourself doesn’t it?”

The man stood there his eyes bulging with fright.

“In fact, why don’t you show me how scared you are and piss yourself,” Midge suggested with a smirk.

The man only felt more frightened as his bladder emptied, urine running down his legs and soaking his pants. Midge giggled with sadistic glee as she saw a dark spot appear and grow larger around the crotch of his pants.

“Okay kill him,” Midge said to the second man.

The second man opened fire killing the first with a burst from his MP7. He fell to the ground and was soon lying in a puddle of both urine and blood.

“Now hand me your gun,” Midge ordered.

The man handed his gun to her clearly reluctantly. Midge hefted it and pointed it at his head.

“You broke into my house, probably to kill me and my father right?” she asked.

The man said nothing.

“Answer me!” Midge snapped.

He nodded his head.

“I should kill you for that,” Midge said her finger quivering on the trigger.

However she then lowered the gun and smiled.

“But I won’t,” she said.

The man gave an audible sigh.

“What’s going to happen is you’re going to take that knife of yours and slit your own throat,” Midge ordered.

Terrified the man pulled the serrated knife from his belt and slowly raised it to his throat his hand shaking. As Midge watched utterly fascinated he slowly drew the blade along his own throat and soon collapsed to the ground his throat gushing blood.

“This is amazing!” Midge exclaimed.

Just then she heard a click behind her and saw that her father had picked up the pistol from the first man’s belt and was shakingly pointing it at her.

“You are not going to shoot me,” Midge said.

Victor knew he had to, his daughter was a psychopath. However as he tried to pull the trigger he found his finger wouldn’t respond. He struggled with all his might but his finger would not move.

“Here’s what you are going to do daddy, you’re going to take that gun and you’re going to kill mom with it,” Midge said. “And then you are going to do one of two things, you’re either going to come with me or you’re going to take that gun, put it in your mouth and blow your own brains out.”

Victor struggled to resist as his body made its way into his bedroom. His wife was still asleep, somehow having slept through the racket. He walked over to her side of the bed and pointed the gun at her. Midge followed behind and stood at the door. She watched with a smile on her face as her father fired two shots into her mother’s skull. Victor then turned around and looked at Midge.

“So what’s it going to be daddy?” Midge asked. “Are you going to come with me? Or are you going to join mom?”

Victor thought it over, he realized that if he went with Midge she might force him to make her ability to control people even more powerful. But he also knew that he might be the only way to stop her. However he also could be forced to kill other people like his wife. Victor took a deep breath and then in single a smooth motion put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Midge let out a surprised yet excited laugh as she watched her father’s brains splatter all over the ceiling.

“Oh that was awesome,” Midge exclaimed as she looked at both her parents’ corpses. “My revenge is going to be so sweet!”

She turned to head downstairs but as she reached the door she came across a big hulking man. He was dressed in dark blue and carried a pair of sword on his back and a pair of pistol on his belt. He wore a mask that was dark blue on the right side of his face and orange on the left. Only his left eye was visible.

“Oh, you look menacing,” Midge said cockily.

The man drew a sword.

“Put that back,” Midge said.

He did as she asked and stared at her in disbelief as she grinned at him.

“So big guy, what’s your name?” Midge asked.

“D…Deathstroke,” he stammered trying not to speak.

“That’s not a name, that’s an alias,” Midge said. “What’s your real name?”

“Slade, Slade Wilson,” he replied.

“Tell me Slade, who sent you here?” Midge asked.

“I don’t know,” Deathstroke replied. “My clients pay for anonymity.”

“Smart, disappointing, but smart,” Midge said. “Well now Mr. Wilson, you work for me.”

Beneath his mask Deathstroke face scrunched into a look of disappointment at the thought of doing the bidding of a psychotic sixteen year-old girl.

“Of course we can’t stay here,” Midge said. “So Mr. Wilson you’re going to take me some place to hide out for a while so I can plan my next move.”

Deathstroke just stared at her.

“Well, go on, lead the way,” Midge urged him.

Reluctantly he turned and walked down the stairs Midge following behind. Deathstroke was hoping that whatever hold his girl had on him wore off because he was looking forward to cutting her head off.

At school the next day everything was abuzz. Police had shown up at the Klump house to find Midge’s parents dead as well as two other unknown men also dead. On top of that Midge was missing and there was no sign of what had happened to her.

Betty along with Barry, Jughead and Dilton were sitting in the bleacher of the football field during gym class which was second period.

“Do you think Midge is responsible for whatever happened?” Betty asked. “Or maybe it’s all just a coincidence?”

“Her father did work at Belle Reeve,” Dilton said.

“Perhaps it was a kidnapping gone wrong,” Barry suggested.

“The Klumps aren’t particularly rich,” Jughead said.

“But maybe he had something that was worth more than money,” Betty suggested.

“We need to find out just what he did there,” Dilton said.

“I overheard that Adam was taken from police custody to Belle Reeve,” Jughead said.

“Maybe if we go there under the pretence of visiting him we can scope the place out?” Barry suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Betty agreed. “Between the two of us we should be able to scope the place out in no time.”

“But you probably won’t be able to get in to see him till tomorrow at the earliest,” Dilton said. “I mean at the very least he’s going to be kept in isolation for twenty-four hours so he won’t have any guests in that time.”

“That’s disappointing,” Betty commented.

“Have you talked to Jason since the incident yesterday?” Jughead asked.

“We texted and I talked to him briefly between classes,” Betty replied. “But he’s been staying near Cheryl; she was really shaken up by what happened.”

“I totally get that,” Barry said. “I mean it’s not exactly a common occurrence that a random person suddenly gets it in their head that they need to kill you.”

“If Midge really is somehow responsible for all this she might make another attempt on Cheryl’s life,” Dilton said. “We should keep an eye on her.”

“I hate not knowing what’s going on,” Betty grumbled.

Just then the gym teacher Coach Kleats yelled at them to get down from the bleachers and run laps. All of them did as told, somewhat reluctantly, although their reluctance was all different.

Veronica watched as the police van arrived with the newest patient, Adam Chisholm, to Belle Reeve. She watched as a heavily sedated teenage boy was taken off the van and put onto a gurney and transported inside. However Veronica wasn’t waiting for the patient. She watched as a limousine pulled up to the facility. Veronica walked over and got into the back.

“Why hello dear,” her mother greeted her.

“Your assassins failed,” Veronica said. “The daughter got away, probably with one of your assassins to guard her.”

“The two that were found dead were just fodder,” Hermione Lodge responded. “The real assassin is the one that’s still alive. And as long as he is alive he’ll get the job done.”

“You’re certain this won’t be traced back to you or me?” Veronica asked.

“Deathstroke prides himself on keeping his clients’ anonymity,” Hermione replied. “I’ve used him several times in the past with no issues.”

Veronica frowned but nodded.

“Alright mother,” she said. “I need to get back to work.”

“Don’t worry dear, it will all work out,” Hermione said.

Veronica got out of the limousine and then watched as it drove off. As she turned and headed back inside she was thinking everything that had happened, and could happen, over in her head. Veronica always tried to stack the odds in her favour whenever she could, but in this situation she couldn’t figure out a way to do that, and it worried her to leave things up to chance.

Perhaps the Chisholm boy would be able to provide her with something she could use, she’d have her doctors run every test they could think of on him. Hopefully she’d come up with something.

Chapter 26

Veronica entered the psychiatric ward of Belle Reeve. Since she had started working here this was only the second time she had even set foot in the place. She had to admit that an actual psychiatric and long term care facility was excellent cover for what the real purpose of Belle Reeve was. Her father might not be a scientific genius but that didn’t mean he wasn’t brilliant.

She walked up to the receptionist who noticed her with a start.

“Oh… Miss Lodge,” the receptionist stammered. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to get a report on the boy that was brought in yesterday,” Veronica replied.

“Oh, yes, I’ll page the doctor to come see you,” the receptionist said.

She keyed the intercom which came on with a short squeal.

“Dr. Quinzel please report to the reception, Dr. Quinzel to reception,” the receptionist paged over the intercom.

A few moments later a nearby door burst open and a bubbly young woman practically skipped through. She had blonde hair that was currently tied back in a bun and was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of wire framed glasses. She wasn’t too tall about 5’4” which was several inches shorter than Veronica.

“Ya called for me?” she asked in a perky voice with a noticeable Bronx accent, that made Veronica cringe.

“Miss Lodge is here to see you,” the receptionist replied.

The woman, who Veronica was a little surprised to learn was Dr. Quinzel, turned to Veronica a smile on her face.

“Oh my gawd! I’m so glad to meet you!” she exclaimed as she hopped over and shook Veronica’s hand. “Harleen Quinzel pleased to meet you! I’m a big fan.”

“Uh… thanks,” Veronica replied pulling her hand away. “I’m here for a report on the Chisholm boy.”

“Well with the exception of wanting to kill some girl named Cheryl he seems perfectly sane,” Dr. Quinzel said.

“Okay, but what can you tell me about his want to kill this girl?” Veronica asked.

“Well, he says it’s like this voice in his head is telling him to kill her, although he says it’s getting softer all the time,” Dr. Quinzel replied.

“Interesting, have you been giving him medication or anything Dr. Quinzel?” Veronica asked.

“No, just sedative to put him to sleep, no anti-psychotics, that would mess with my diagnosis,” Dr. Quinzel said. “And please call me Harley. Can I call you Ronnie?”

“No it’s Veronica or Miss Lodge,” Veronica replied with a frown. “So what would be causing the voice to get softer do you suppose?”

“Couldn’t say,” Harley replied.

“Let me throw a hypothetical at you then,” Veronica said. “Let’s say for a moment that mind control is possible. What would your diagnosis be then?”

“You’re saying somebody put him up to this with mind control?” Harley asked suspiciously.

“Hypothetically speaking,” Veronica responded.

“Well if mind control like that were possible then I’d say that’s exactly what this is,” Harley answered. “I mean the boy claims to have had very little interaction with the girl and he doesn’t exactly come across like a psychotic killer.”

“And just what does a psychotic killer comes across like?” Veronica inquired.

“Oh you know, wants to cut somebody’s face off and watch them bleed to death because it would be funny,” Harley replied.

“That’s a very specific example,” Veronica commented.

“It’s… it’s one that I heard from a killer that stuck with me,” Harley stammered.

Veronica shrugged.

“Do you think it would be possible for me to speak with the boy?” Veronica asked.

“Sure! Oh and you can meet some of the other patients too, they all really like you,” Harley replied.

Veronica was confused but before she could ask Harley grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her into the psych ward. They came into a large common room where patients with various mental issues were milling about, or in the case of one catatonic woman, sitting in a wheelchair blankly staring out a window.

Veronica spotted the boy, Adam sitting at a table staring at a checkers board. She pulled herself free from Harley yet against and made her way over.

“Hello Adam, mind if I sit?” Veronica asked.

The boy glanced up at her, gave a dull shrug and looked back down at the board. Veronica sat down across from him. Veronica noticed that it was all set up for a new game.

“Do you want to play?” Veronica inquired.

In response Adam moved a piece. Veronica then moved one of her own.

“So I understand you go to Riverdale High,” Veronica said.

“So?” Adam asked finally speaking.

“So I guess you must miss it,” Veronica said.

“Are you going to let me out of here so I can go back?” Adam asked.

“Unfortunately that’s not my call to make,” Veronica replied.

Adam just stared back down at the board as he made another move.

“Adam, do you know a girl named Midge Klump?” Veronica asked.

Adam looked up at her curious.

“Yeah, why?” he replied.

“What can you tell me about her?” Veronica inquired.

“She’s a real piece of work,” Adam answered. “She should probably be in here not me. I’ve never met anybody so shallow and self-centered in my life. I don’t think that girl has any empathy.”

“No empathy? Why would you say that?” Veronica questioned.

“Well last year we had a school trip to Metropolis,” Adam responded. “We were going to the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Anyway on the way into the museum we passed this homeless guy who had this kind of mangy looking orange cat. Some of us gave him some change others didn’t, but Midge went out of her way to tell this guy to get out of there and go get a job. Then for the rest of the trip we had to listen to her complain about how worthless homeless people are, it got so bad that even her best friend Cheryl…”

Adam suddenly stopped midsentence. Veronica watched in fascination as his pupils dilated and his hands balled into fists. All of a sudden two male nurses came over and one of them injected him with a sedative and moments later he was asleep.

“Any time Cheryl comes up he gets like that,” Harley said as the two nurses dragged Adam away. “He’ll be out for a while, I can let you know when he wakes up.”

“No that’s fine,” Veronica said.

“Who this Midge girl you were asking about?” Harley inquired.

“She was apparently friends with this Cheryl until recently,” Veronica replied. “I don’t know what happened.”

“You think maybe she put him up to this?” Harley asked.

“Maybe,” Veronica replied. “But I’m not sure how.”

Veronica turned to leave and Harley followed her.

“Please keep me apprised of his condition,” Veronica requested.

“Sure thing Ronnie,” Harley agreed.

Veronica stopped dead and the slowly turned to face Harley and used her height to loom over her.

“It’s Veronica,” she said slowly through gritted teeth.

She then turned and walked away leaving Harley standing there feeling rather frightened for a moment.

“Geez what’s her problem?” Harley pondered aloud her chipper mood quickly returning.

Betty was at her locker gathering her things at the end of the school day. Polly was coming to pick her, Jughead and Barry up and take them out to Belle Reeve to visit Adam. Betty was getting her history text book and putting it in her bag when suddenly somebody slammed her locker door shut startling her. She looked up to see Jason who appeared to be rather upset.

“What’s this I hear about you going out to visit the guy who tried to kill my sister?” Jason demanded.

Betty looked around to see if anybody else was watching, she didn’t want to have a rather public argument.

“It’s not what you think,” Betty replied.

“Oh, then explain it to me,” Jason said.

“Look you know your sister and what she does around here better than just about anybody. Can you think of any time that she ever even interacted with Adam?” Betty asked.

“Well… no not really,” Jason admitted.

“Well I don’t think Adam wanted to kill her, I think somebody put him up to it,” Betty said.

“What are you talking about?” Jason asked confused.

“Think about Jason, Ambrose Pipp suddenly returns from the dead with the ability to turn into a super strong hulked out monster by absorbing electricity, if you hadn’t seen it yourself would you think that’s even possible?” Betty retorted.

“Well… no,” Jason admitted.

“So if that’s possible then what if mind control were possible?” Betty suggested.

“So you think somebody controlled Jason’s mind and made him attack my sister,” Jason stated.

“And I’ve got my suspicions as to just who is responsible,” Betty said. “I think it was Midge. Her disappearance is too strange for it to be some sort of kidnapping.”

“But how could Midge make Adam attack my sister?” Jason asked.

“I don’t know, that’s why I want to talk to him,” Betty replied.

“Alright, then I’m coming with you,” Jason declared.

“No,” Betty responded simply.

“What do you mean no?” Jason asked angrily.

“Look, you’re too close, you’re angry at him even if it isn’t his fault,” Betty said. “And if it turns out it actually is what do you think you might do?”

Jason stood there looking back at her not responding.

“You’d do something stupid, probably start a fight,” Betty said. “And I don’t fault you for that, but it won’t help the situation. So just let me do this, for you and for Cheryl.”

Jason was silent for a moment.

“Fine,” he agreed somewhat reluctantly.

“I’ll let you know what I find out,” Betty promised as she picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

“I’m sorry for being so upset,” Jason apologized. “Let me at least walk you out.”

Betty smiled and nodded. The two of them then made their way out of the school chatting about their pending double date on Friday. Cheryl was quite determined for it to happen apparently believing it would help her get over the trauma of the incident on Monday. Jason told Betty that he’d gotten a dress for her and it should be arriving at her house tomorrow.

When they got outside they saw Polly waiting in her truck, Jughead was already in there riding shotgun. Betty kissed Jason goodbye just as Barry arrived and the two of them climbed into the backseat.

“So we haven’t met yet,” Polly said as Barry got in. “But Betty’s told me quite a bit about you Barry. I’m Polly by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Polly,” Barry said.

“So are you actually faster than Betty?” Polly inquired. “Betty denies it but Jughead says you are.”

“She’s got a lot of things on me, but speed isn’t one of them,” Barry replied.

“That’s hard to believe,” Polly said as she shifted into gear and pulled away from the school.

The trip out to Belle Reeve took quite a while, taking almost half an hour to reach. They pulled into the facility’s small parking lot and then walked up to the main entrance. They made their way to the reception area for the psychiatric ward.

“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.

“Um, we’re friends of Adam Chisholm, we were wondering if we could visit,” Betty replied.

The receptionist eyed them suspiciously.

“Just a moment,” she said before picking up her phone.

Veronica was sitting in her office when she received a call. When she answered she was a little surprised to hear that it was the receptionist from the psychiatric ward. She was calling to let Veronica know that there were people here to visit the Chisholm boy. Curious Veronica pulled up the current security footage of the reception area and her eyes went wide when she saw that it was Betty Cooper and her sister and what appeared to be two male friends.

“Let them see him,” Veronica said. “But have Dr. Quinzel or some of the staff monitor their conversations with him.”

Veronica hung up the phone but continued to watch the security footage. She wondered what Betty was doing here.

The receptionist got off the phone.

“Just a minute and someone will show you in,” the receptionist said.

A few moments later Dr. Harleen Quinzel showed up, as giddy and bubbly as ever.

“Oh wow what do we have here?” she asked. “Four visitors for our newest patient!”

Betty and the others thought that she seemed rather young, and a little immature, to be a psychiatrist

“I’m Doctor Harleen Quinzel, but you guys can call me Harley, like the motorcycle,” she said. “Follow me.”

She led the way into the ward. When they reached the common room they immediately spotted Adam sitting a chair staring out the window.

“I think just one of you should talk to him at a time,” Harley said.

“I’ll talk to him first,” Jughead said. “We used to play little league together.”

“Aw I bet you both looked cute in your little uniforms,” Harley said.

She continued to yammer on as she lead Jughead over to Adam. As soon as she was out of ear shot Betty and Barry looked at each other.

“You take the east of the building I’ll take the west,” Betty said.

Barry glanced up and noticed that there was a security camera looking at them.

“Let’s get out of sight of that camera first,” Barry suggested.

They subtly made their way out of the camera’s range.

“Meet back here in fifteen seconds?” Betty asked.

“I’ll be back in ten,” Barry replied.

The two of them took off in a blur leaving Polly standing there by herself.

“Freaky,” Polly muttered amazed at seeing Barry move as fast if not faster than her sister could, it wasn’t possible to tell.

However moments later Barry returned and not long after that Betty returned.

“Well?” Polly asked.

“Nothing,” Barry replied.

“Me neither,” Betty said disappointed.

“Do you think that maybe Cricket lied?” Polly asked.

“No, she knew about Ambrose, she had met him before,” Betty said. “There’s something here, but it must be hidden. Maybe somewhere we couldn’t get to.”

“Perhaps there’s a facility below Belle Reeve,” Barry suggested.

“Yeah, but how do we access it?” Betty asked.

“I can take a look around outside,” Barry suggested.

“Maybe after we leave,” Betty replied. “We don’t want to arouse too many suspicions.”

Just then Jughead returned followed by Harley.

“He seems pretty normal, just like himself,” Jughead whispered. “The mind control idea is seeming really likely.”

“What you whispering about?” Harley asked nosily.

“Just deciding who will talk to him next,” Betty replied.

She then turned and walked over to Adam, Harley quickly following behind her.

“Hey Adam,” Betty said as she sat beside him.

He looked away from the window at her a little startled.

“Betty… why are you here?” he asked.

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” Betty replied. “You caused quite a stir at school the other day.”

“I know… I…” Adam said quickly trailing off.

“I don’t know if Jughead mentioned this, but Midge has gone missing, and apparently you were one of the last people to talk to her,” Betty said.

“She… missing?” Adam asked confused.

“Yes we’re not sure what happened if she was kidnapped or if she ran away but her parents are both dead,” Betty answered.

“I… she… I remember seeing her in the hallway at school… she walked past me and said… what did she say? I don’t remember! All I remember is coming to in police custody!” Adam wailed.

“It’s alright,” Betty said patting him on the back comfortingly. “That’s actually quite helpful.”

She got up and walked back to her friends. Harley stopped and was caught between watching them and dealing with Adam who was clearly having an emotional episode. Betty and the others took the opportunity to leave. They left the facility and got into Polly’s truck.

“Well that wasn’t quite as productive as I would have liked,” Betty said. “But I think we can pretty much confirm that Midge was responsible. Now we just need to try and find her.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Polly said. “I mean if she’s able to control you or Barry, she could make you hurt a lot of people.”

“Polly’s right,” Jughead agreed. “We need to try and figure out how she controls people before we try and do anything to stop her.”

“That’s true,” Barry said. “Maybe we can figure something out from taking a look at her house.”

“It’s still an active crime scene,” Betty said. “We might be able to sneak in at night, but maybe we should just leave this to the authorities.”

“Why don’t we all go to Pop’s, we can catch up with Dilton and talk it over,” Polly suggested.

“Now that’s a plan I can get behind,” Jughead agreed.

Chapter 27

Midge was sitting on a king size bed in the Presidential Suite in the Fairmont Hotel in the neighbouring town of Greenvale. Deathstroke stood in the corner not moving just standing guard.

Midge had easily talked the hotel’s manager into letting her stay in the suite for free, even going so far as to kick the current guests out. She’d also gotten several expensive meals delivered for free, so far she hadn’t paid for anything. Not that she had any money.

However Midge had also learned that her powers didn’t work on female in a most unfortunate way when member of the housekeeping staff had come to the room and had recognized her as being a missing girl. Midge had gotten Deathstroke to kill her and dispose of the body. She was annoyed though that it seemed her powers only worked on men.

She was currently browsing around on a laptop that she had gotten a random man in the lobby to give to her.

“Hmm this is interesting,” Midge said aloud.

“What is it Mistress?” Deathstroke inquired.

He was furious about having to call Midge that, but there was nothing he could do. He had essentially been reduced to her bodyguard slave, a role he despised.

“Well I’ve just been checking around social media,” Midge replied. “It seems like a bunch of my enemies are going to be gathered this Friday.”

Deathstroke withheld comment about what she considered enemies. His past clients enemies had been CEOs, Warlords, Politicians, Lawyers, Mob Bosses amongst other powerful people. Midge’s idea of enemies was other highschool students.

“It looks like my former bestie is going on a double date with her boyfriend Reggie, and her brother Jason and that sickening good girl Betty Cooper,” Midge continued her tone become filled with contempt.

Deathstroke had a sinking feeling about where this was going.

“But this is perfect, we can eliminate three of my enemies at once,” Midge said.

Deathstroke knew she meant that he would eliminate them. She wouldn’t do anything other than tell him to and he would be forced to carry out her wishes.

“Yes and I can make Cheryl suffer,” Midge said. “Let her watch her brother and her new best friend die right before her eyes.”

Deathstroke said nothing but just listened as she prattled on about her disdain for these three other teens. He wondered if somebody would be able to stop this girl.

Betty arrived home on Friday after school along with Jughead. Her mother was waiting at the door for her.

“Oh Betty come on let’s get you ready,” Alice exclaimed as soon as Betty entered.

She grabbed Betty by the arm and led her upstairs. Betty saw the dress that Jason had sent hanging on the door to her bedroom. It was a sleeveless dress that was beautiful ocean blue colour.

“How do you want to wear your hair?” Alice asked. “I think it would look best if you wear it up.”

“I don’t know Mom,” Betty replied. “I don’t know if I want to go.”

Alice turned and stared Betty in the eyes.

“Betty do you like this boy?” Alice asked.

“Well… yes,” Betty mumbled.

“Then you are going on this date and that is final,” Alice said.

Betty was stunned a bit by her mother’s emphasis on the fact but nodded. For the next two hours Betty put up with her mother and Polly, when she arrived home, fussing over her and doing her hair and makeup.

It was soon nearing the time Jason had agreed to pick Betty up. Betty was still upstairs in the bathroom her mother and sister fussing over her face.

“He’s here,” Betty said brushing them off.

A second later the doorbell ring and they could hear Hal answer it. Betty continued to fend off her mother and sister as she made her way down the stairs.

“Oh wow, Betty you look… stunning!” Jason commented.

In the dress he had gotten with her hair done up in a curly up do, Betty was indeed a sight to behold. However she felt silly wearing the heels her sister had insisted she wear and was having trouble walking in them, they also made her now stand taller than Jason.

“Thank you, you look quite handsome yourself,” Betty replied.

Jason was wearing a suit with a white and shirt jacket and black pants and bowtie.

“Well shall we go?” Jason asked. “My sister hates to be kept waiting.”

“Is she waiting in the car?” Betty asked.

“No she’s making Reggie pick her up,” Jason replied. “She’s all weird about things like that.”

“It’s traditional, it’s nice,” Alice commented.

“You clearly haven’t met my sister,” Jason said.

“Remember bring her home by eleven,” Hal reminded him.

“Yes sir,” Jason agreed as he and Betty headed to his car.

Jason went around and opened the door for Betty before getting the driver seat himself.

“So where are we going?” Betty asked as they pulled away.

“You’ll see,” Jason replied cryptically.

Betty wondered if they were going to the Country Club, but the route that Jason drove wasn’t going there. However as they drove along the banks of the river Betty began to get an idea as to where they might be going. But it wasn’t until they pulled into the parking lot that she was certain.

The Mill was by far the most popular restaurant in Riverdale, and very hard to get a reservation at. The restaurant was a converted 1800’s mill that had been one of the first built in the area. Much of the original structure had been torn down as it had been structurally unsound and the cost of repairing it was greater than building a new structure; however the water wheel had been kept and restored and now provided a modicum of the restaurant’s power. The rest of the wood of the old building had been used to make much of the furniture like the tables and chairs.

There were three areas to sit at the restaurant, the deck which actually overhung the river and was outside. It was extremely popular during the warm months and Betty could see that it was packed full of customers. Next was what the restaurant called the Atrium which was adjacent to the deck and was a glassed in area that provided an excellent view of the river. And lastly was the restaurant itself which may not have had the view of the River but was opulently decorated.

“Wow, I’ve never been to The Mill before,” Betty commented as Jason parked the car.

“Well you’re in for a treat,” Jason said.

“How did you even get a reservation here?” Betty asked.

“Ginger’s father is the head chef here,” Jason replied. “Cheryl got the reservation through Ginger. Ginger owed her a favour.”

Betty was a little curious as to why Ginger owed Cheryl a favour but figured it wasn’t an important detail. As they approached the restaurant they saw Reggie and Cheryl arrive and they waited for the two of them.

“Lovely dress Betty,” Cheryl commented. “I was a little worried you were going to embarrass me and wear that pink one you wore to the spring formal last year.”

Betty bit her tongue not wanting to start an argument this early into the evening. She didn’t know what was wrong with her pink dress.

“Well shall we?” Jason asked gesturing towards the door trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.

He opened the door for the others to let them all in. Jason then confirmed the reservation and soon they were shown to their table which was in the Atrium right next to the window. Jason and Betty sat beside each other on one side of the table while Cheryl and Reggie sat together on the other. Betty picked up the menu and looked it over; she noticed that none of the items had a price listed. Betty knew that meant that this place was extremely expensive. She felt a little guilty about Jason spending all this money on her.

“So have you been here before Betty?” Cheryl asked.

“No I haven’t,” Betty replied.

“Well I would recommend either the veal or the duck,” Cheryl said.

“I don’t know I was thinking maybe the fresh caught trout,” Betty said.

“Yeah and then you’ll have fish breath,” Reggie commented.

“That’s what gum or a mint is for,” Jason retorted as he glared at Reggie. “Order whatever you want Betty.”

“So Betty, can I count on your help with the Homecoming Dance Organizing Committee?” Cheryl asked.

“Um… I’ve got some other things going on but I can help where I can,” Betty replied.

The conversation soon steered towards events at school until their waiter came and took their order. Soon afterwards the waiter returned with their appetizers. Once again the conversation was about school, this time about the relationships of other students.

“So I really don’t think that Archie and Ginger are going to last,” Cheryl said. “I mean we all know his pattern of moving from girl to girl. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve broken up by the end of next week. I’ve got a suspicion that they just got together because Ginger wanted to be Homecoming Queen.”

“Well if you’d let them then maybe we’d be sitting on the deck instead of in the Atrium,” Jason commented.

Cheryl shot her brother a dirty look. Betty was bored by the conversation, she didn’t like gossiping about their fellow students like this. She glanced over and she noticed something odd; a man wearing a blue and orange mask that covered his entire head. Then she saw the assault rifle in his hands, the pistols holstered on his belt and the pair of swords strapped to his back. Before Betty could react the man opened fire, indiscriminately shooting dozens of people in the crowded restaurant. The window shattered and Betty, Jason, Cheryl and Reggie all dove under the table for cover.

Betty tried to figure out a way to stop this man without revealing herself. However it didn’t seem possible. She could hear screams all around as people ran away however the man didn’t seem to care and as Betty looked up she could see him advancing towards their table. She quickly realized that he must have been sent by Midge.

He stopped at the table and grabbed the table and flung it aside exposing the four of them. Reggie got up and ran away immediately but the man did nothing. However when Cheryl tried he grabbed her and flung her to the ground.

“Leave her alone!” Jason said as he tried to tackle the man.

All Jason got for his efforts was the butt of the rifle to the gut and then shoved to the ground beside his sister. The man then aimed his rifle at Betty.

“Midge said to start with you,” he said.

Betty slowly got to her feet, a defiant expression on her face. As she looked around she could see that the restaurant was now completely empty except for herself, Cheryl, Jason and the assassin. If she revealed herself now only Cheryl and Jason would know and that was something she could deal with.

“Go ahead,” Betty said bravely knowing that he couldn’t hurt her.

“Betty no!” Jason exclaimed.

The man pulled the trigger letting loose a three shot burst and Betty stood there waiting for the bullets to strike her and bounce off, but it never happened. Jason sprang to his feet and took the shots instead before collapsing back to the ground.

“Jason!” both Betty and Cheryl cried out.

Jason lay on the ground at Betty’s feet bleeding profusely. Cheryl scrambled over to hold her brother desperately trying to stop the bleeding with no success.

“Fool,” the assassin muttered as he looked at Jason before pointing the gun back at Betty.

However Betty stepped forward and drove her forearm into his midsection sending him tumbling across the restaurant and over a table where he collapsed in a heap. She then knelt down beside Cheryl to examine Jason. As she looked at his wounds she could tell that they were fatal.

“You idiot you didn’t have to do that,” Betty said.

“Yes I did… because… I… love… you,” Jason croaked.

He grabbed Betty’s hand and squeezed it while squeezing his sisters with his other hand.

“Don’t worry Jason help is on the way,” Cheryl said.

But it was too late. Jason’s eyes closed and his hands went limp in theirs.

“Jason? Jason!” Cheryl screamed.

She leaned down and saw he wasn’t breathing. She then checked his pulse but he had none. Across from her Betty had tears in her eyes as she quietly knelt sobbing.

“Betty, look out!” Cheryl suddenly exclaimed.

Betty could hear something behind her and she realized it was the assassin. She was instantly filled with rage at the thought that he had killed Jason. She could literally feel the rage inside her like a burning heat working its way up to her head, her tears felt like they were burning her eyes.

“Betty… Betty your eyes…” Cheryl said nervously.

Betty couldn’t see, but her eyes were glowing red. Just then the Betty felt something strike her back followed by the sound of metal break. Slowly she stood up and turned around to see the assassin standing staring at his broken sword clearly confused.

Suddenly a blast of red energy shot out from Betty’s eyes burning a hole in the assassin’s chest and setting fire to a topple table behind him. When it stopped both Betty and the assassin stared at the wound confused and frightened before the assassin fell to the ground dead. Betty stared at his body in disbelief but was quickly snapped out of it by Cheryl’s scream.

“Cheryl stop,” Betty said.

“You killed him, with like laser eyes or something,” Cheryl stammered. “You’re a freak.”

“I…” Betty wanted to reply but couldn’t think of anything to say.

Then she heard the sound of police sirens approaching. She knew that she couldn’t be here, when they arrived. She also knew that she couldn’t leave Cheryl here to tell them what she had just seen. Betty grabbed Cheryl tossed her over her shoulder and sped out of the restaurant just as the police were arriving.

Chapter 28

Betty came to a stop and set Cheryl down.

“Put me down! Put me down!” Cheryl screamed.

She then realized that Betty had indeed put her down, but that they weren’t in the restaurant anymore.

“Where are we?” Cheryl asked.

“My farm,” Betty replied.

“What did you bring me here to kill me now?” Cheryl asked.

“What? No!” Betty exclaimed.

“You just killed that guy back at the restaurant,” Cheryl said.

“He was trying to kill us!” Betty said. “He killed Jason!”

“Oh god! Jason,” Cheryl said looked down at the blood on her hands and clothes. “We need to go back.”

“No,” Betty said grabbed Cheryl’s shoulder as Cheryl turned to walk down the drive way.

Cheryl spun around and slapped Betty in the face, however she only succeeded in hurting her own hand.

“Ow! Fuck!” Cheryl exclaimed holding her pain in agony.

“I’m sorry,” Betty apologized. “Just… please calm down.”

“Calm? Calm? I just watched my brother die in my arms and you want me to be calm?” Cheryl yelled clearly distraught.

Betty wasn’t entirely sure how she was keeping together herself.

“We don’t even know who that guy was or why he was there!” Cheryl exclaimed.

“Actually I’ve got a theory on that,” Betty said.

“Oh and what is that?” Cheryl asked.

“I think he was sent by Midge, to kill you, me and Jason,” Betty said.

“He did say her name in the restaurant,” Cheryl admitted calming down slightly. “But he looked like professional hitman, how could Midge pay for such a thing?”

“Because I don’t think she did,” Betty answered.

Cheryl’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you mean?” Cheryl asked.

“My friends and I… we think Midge has developed some kind of mind control,” Betty explained. “She’s the one that got Adam to attack you the other day.”

“That gun he had… you disarmed him?” Cheryl asked.

“I… yes,” Betty lied not wanting to give up Barry’s secret; that was his to tell.

“How did you do that?” Cheryl inquired.

“Same way I got us all the way here from the restaurant,” Betty replied. “I can move really fast, faster than people can see.”

“And what about the laser eye thing?” Cheryl asked.

“Um, that’s new,” Betty answered. “I’ve never done that before.”

“And Ambrose, were you responsible for stopping him too?” Cheryl asked.

“That was the first real test,” Betty replied.

“So you could have saved Jason,” Cheryl said.

“I… yes…” Betty replied. “But I was trying to save everyone.”

“How exactly?” Cheryl asked.

“I figured if he wasted his bullets trying to shoot me…” Betty said.

“Waste his bullets shooting you?” Cheryl asked.

“I’m also bulletproof,” Betty replied. “But I didn’t want to risk a stray shot hitting somebody, but Jason felt the need to take the bullets for me. He… he didn’t know.”

“Well who else does?” Cheryl questioned.

“My family, Jughead, Dilton and the new kid Barry, and now you,” Betty answered. “And that’s it.”

There were a few more like Ambrose, Cricket and possibly Veronica, but Betty didn’t feel they needed to be mentioned.

“So how?” Cheryl asked.

“How what?” Betty asked back.

“How do you do all of this?” Cheryl asked. “Are you like secretly an alien or something?”

“Actually that’s exactly it,” Betty answered.

“What?” Cheryl asked utterly confused.

“I’m actually an alien,” Betty explained.

“You’re kidding, I mean you don’t look like an alien,” Cheryl said.

“I’m not really sure what that’s supposed to mean or what an alien is supposed to look like,” Betty said.

“If you’re an alien where are you from? Uranus?” Cheryl asked sarcastically.

“My home planet is called Krypton,” Betty replied. “It was destroyed; how that happened I don’t know but my parents sent me here when I was an infant. I arrived with the meteor storm and the Coopers found me and raised me as their own. I didn’t even know I wasn’t human until a couple of weeks ago.”

“How did you not know?” Cheryl inquired.

“My parents always told me I was special, my abilities manifested themselves as I got older,” Betty said. “They found out I was super strong when I was 3, that I was nearly invulnerable when I was 5 and my speed when I was 10.”

“So you’ve been like this for years, had these abilities and never used them?” Cheryl asked.

“Because I know that there are people out there who would take advantage of them,” Betty explained. “I try to only use my abilities to help people.”

Cheryl said nothing but just looked back at Betty.

“Look I get that you’re mad at me about Jason,” Betty said.

“I’m… I’m not mad at you,” Cheryl said. “I want to be, believe me I really want to be. But I can’t be mad at you.”

Betty was taken aback.

“I already told you that I really did a number on my brother, I screwed him up socially,” Cheryl admitted. “But then you were fixing that. These past few days you were about the only thing that Jason would ever talk about. He really cared for you.”

“I know, that’s why he took a bullet for me,” Betty said with a sad smile.

“I may come across as this self-absorbed bitch at school,” Cheryl said. “But I can’t be mad at you for my brother loving you. I’m upset at him for being a fool.”

“You shouldn’t be upset with him even,” Betty said. “You should be upset with that gunman, or assassin or whatever and with Midge for sending him.”

“You’re right,” Cheryl said nodding as tears began to flow from her eyes. “But I can’t help feel like somehow I’m to blame, like I got my brother killed.”

“Look, I’m not going to say that what you did to Midge was right,” Betty said. “I think even you can admit it went a little far. But what Midge has done in response is beyond insane, and there’s no way you could know that she would go to such lengths for revenge.”

“Still the way I’ve treated her…” Cheryl said.

“You can’t think on it,” Betty cut her off. “All you can do is try and change who you are going forward. Your brother was trying to be a better person, you were trying too.”

“You’re right again,” Cheryl agreed. “God, you’re such a better person than I am Betty. I wish I could be like you.”

“You can be, you just have to work at it,” Betty said.

“I’m going to make things right,” Cheryl said. “I’m the one Midge wants dead so she’s going to be coming after me and I’m going to help you stop her.”

Betty wasn’t sure what Cheryl could exactly bring to the table in terms of helping stop Midge, but she wasn’t about to turn Cheryl down either; especially not after losing her brother.

“Alright, the we need to get back to the restaurant,” Betty said.

“Why?” Cheryl asked.

“It would be kind of suspicious if we’re not there,” Betty replied. “But we need to get our story straight. Nothing about my powers. After Jason got shot we ran and hid and we didn’t see how the assassin got killed.”

Cheryl nodded in agreement.

“You don’t mind if I carry you once more?” Betty asked.

“No just don’t drop me,” Cheryl replied.

Betty smirked and picked Cheryl up as she sped back to the restaurant.

Veronica arrived at the restaurant called The Mill. There were already multiple ambulances and police officers on the scene and as she got out of her car she saw several different media vans arriving. Veronica was curious as to who the victims were. She suspected that this was yet another attempt by Midge to kill this Cheryl girl that she felt had wronged her somehow.

Veronica was quite certain as to what had happened here; Midge had taken control of her mother’s assassin Deathstroke and used him to kill Cheryl. She saw two Medical Examiners wheeling away a corpse and Veronica went over to take a look.

“Excuse me, may I see,” Veronica asked stopping them.

The two of them looked at each other unsure and then Veronica reached into her purse and pulled out two hundred dollar bills and gave one to each of them. One of them unzipped the body bag to let Veronica have a look.

Veronica was surprised. It was a man wearing what looked like some kind of fine mesh Kevlar body armour. However the armour hadn’t protected him, as he had a huge gaping hole clean through his chest. Veronica could see that the edges of the wound were cauterized so it must have been made by an intense and concentrated blast of heat, like a powerful laser or something.

“What the…?” Veronica muttered.

“Our thoughts exactly lady,” the second ME said. “Thanks by the way.”

They zipped the bag up and took the body away.

“Looks like your mother’s favourite assassin failed,” a familiar sounding man said from behind Veronica.

Veronica spun around to see her father Hiram.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Veronica asked.

“You think I don’t know what’s going on at work with you?” he retorted. “You may be the boss but I write the pay checks. I know about the Klump girl.”

Veronica wasn’t surprised by that at all, she knew that several of her employees reported to her father on what went on.

“Yes, but that doesn’t explain why you are here,” Veronica stated.

“I’m here to clean up your mess,” Hiram told her.

“Clean up my mess?” Veronica asked. “I didn’t….”

She didn’t get a chance to finish as her father walked off over towards where the media teams were setting up their cameras. Veronica followed hoping to finish her thought but soon the cameras were all on her father.

“I’m going to keep this brief,” Hiram said. “I’d like to announce that Lodge Corp is going to pay for the medical bills of all the victims of this tragedy and for the funeral arrangements of the deceased.”

Veronica grumbled to herself as she turned and walked away. She was heading to her car when something caught her attention. It was Betty Cooper. She appeared to be wet and was wrapped in a dull grey blank and was sitting next to a red headed girl as the two of them talked with police officer.

Veronica made her way over to see what was going on.

“My brother he… he took a bullet for Betty,” the red headed girl was telling the officer. “We used the opportunity to jump out the shattered window into the river. We stayed down there until… until…”

She broke off crying.

“It’s okay Cheryl,” Betty said comfortingly as she rubbed Cheryl’s back.

“You know what I think that’s enough for now,” the police officer said folding up his note pad. “I’ll be in touch if I need anything else.”

The two girls nodded.

“Well, well, look who it is,” Veronica said.

Betty looked up surprised to see Veronica there.

“Veronica… what are you doing here?” Betty asked.

Veronica didn’t reply but just looked at Cheryl.

“So you must be Cheryl, sounds like a lot of people have been trying to kill you lately,” Veronica commented. “Tell me Cheryl did Betty here save your life?”

Cheryl stared back at Veronica, almost like she was trying to stare a hole right through her. Veronica felt a little unnerved by the girl despite the fact all the makeup on her face was smeared and running.

“My twin brother Jason was just killed in there,” Cheryl said. “He took a bullet for Betty and I so we could get to safety. So no, it was my brother who saved my life.”

Veronica clenched her jaw in anger.

“You know I can help put an end to these attempts on your life,” Veronica said her tone threatening.

“So are you saying that you’re at least partially responsible?” Cheryl asked. “Because when I find the person responsible for my brother’s death…”

Cheryl let the threat hang in the air. Veronica stood there for a moment, thinking about how to respond.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Veronica said. “I have a great many resources and I can help you…”

“Keep your money,” Cheryl said. “I don’t need it.”

“Now just a minute…” Veronica said.

“I think you should leave,” Betty said standing up and interposing herself between Cheryl and Veronica.

Betty and Veronica locked eyes for a long moment.

“This isn’t over,” Veronica said quietly so only Betty could hear before she turned and walked away.

Betty and Cheryl watched Veronica leave.

“Ugh, I can’t believe I used to idolize her,” Cheryl said. “What a bitch.”

“She definitely knows more about what happened then she’s letting on,” Betty said. “But I don’t think she wanted this to happen.”

“Don’t be so sure Betty,” Cheryl said. “You always try to see the best in people, but some people are just rotten to the core.”

“Well I believe that,” Betty said. “But she doesn’t strike me as a sociopath, not like Midge.”

Just then another police officer came over to them.

“We’re done questioning you ladies so I’m to take you home,” he said.

“My parents are out of town at a real estate conference in Florida,” Cheryl said.

“You’re coming to my place,” Betty said.

“Thanks,” Cheryl said.

“Come with me ladies,” the officer said leading the two of them past a mob of reporters.

The reporters all tried to get a comment from them but the officer held them back as they climbed into the back of his patrol car so he could take them home.

Midge was in her hotel room enjoy a free lobster dinner that she had told the manager to give her as well as a massage as she watched TV. Suddenly it cut away to breaking news. When the banner scrolled along mentioning a shooting at a Riverdale restaurant Midge turned up the volume.

“Oh this is going to be good!” Midge said excitedly.

The TV then cut to a reporter who was standing outside The Mill. There were police cars and ambulances all over the place.

“Eight people, including the shooter are confirmed dead and at least twenty four injured in the deadly shooting,” the reporter said. “The identity of the shooter remains unknown at this time as well as his intentions.”

Midge licked her lips hoping to hear about Cheryl’s death along with Betty and Jason.

“Nobody is sure what happened to the shooter, however he was dead before cops even arrived,” the reporter said.

“Wait what?” Midge shouted at the TV.

Midge had specifically told Deathstroke to kill as many people as he could before he was killed himself after he killed Cheryl, Betty and Jason.

“Oh it looks like two of the survivors, let’s see if we can get a comment,” the reporter exclaimed.

The reporter took off with the camera man following and as Midge watched she saw a mob of camera men and reporters swarming two girls currently with blankets draped over their shoulders, being led to a police car. As they got into the police car their faces were finally visible to the camera.

“NO!” Midge screamed angrily as she saw that Betty and Cheryl were still alive.

Furious she threw the remote at the TV causing it to shatter in a shower of sparks. She got up off the massage table, however the masseuse was still trying to give her a massage.

“Use those hands to break your own neck,” Midge snapped at him.

The masseuse grabbed his own head and broke his own neck with a loud crack just as Midge had told him to. Midge looked down at his dead body. She tried to think about how she could kill Cheryl, somehow she had managed to survive two attempts on her life. If only she had somebody like Ambrose Pipp…

A smile slowly spread across Midge’s face. Her father had created her, had given her the power to control men. Perhaps that is what had been done with Ambrose. And if that was the case then Belle Reeve was more than it appeared to be.

Chapter 29

The police car came to a stop outside the Cooper household. As Betty and Cheryl were getting out of the car, Hal, Alice, Polly and Jughead all came running down the drive. Polly was the first to reach them and she hugged her sister.

“Oh my god, Betty are you alright?” Polly asked. “We saw what happened on the news.”

“I’m fine,” Betty replied. “You know I would be.”

“I’ll be going girls,” the police officer said. “Call us if you remember any details that could help the investigation or need anything.”

The officer got back into his car and drove off.

“And I take it by the hair that you’re Jason’s sister,” Hal said to Cheryl. “But where’s Jason is he okay?”

“He… he didn’t make it,” Cheryl said on the verge of tears.

“Oh you poor dear,” Alice said as she embraced Cheryl.

Cheryl returned the hug and began sobbing uncontrollably on Alice’s shoulder.

“Shouldn’t she be with her family?” Hal asked.

“Her parents are out of town,” Betty replied. “I told her she could stay with us.”

“Of course, of course,” Alice agreed. “It’ll be tight but we’ll make do.”

They made their way into the house, Alice led Cheryl upstairs to clean off her make up and get her some clean clothes while Polly, Hal, Jughead and Betty went into the living room.

“So what exactly happened?” Jughead asked.

“Midge sent someone who looks like they were a mercenary or something to kill not just Cheryl, but myself and Jason,” Betty replied. “He didn’t seem to care about collateral damage either.”

“But what happened to Jason?” Polly asked.

“He… he… he took a bullet for me,” Betty answered with some trouble.

“Were you weakened with meteor rock?” Jughead asked.

“No, he was just trying to protect me,” Betty said. “He… he didn’t know about my powers.”

“He was a good young man,” Hal said. “I only talked to him for maybe ten minutes, but he certainly seemed to care for you.”

“Thanks dad,” Betty said with a sad smile.

“But how do you know that you’re bulletproof?” Hal asked.

“Dad I don’t want to…” Betty said looking down at the floor.

“No, I want to know,” Hal insisted. “Tell me.”

Betty looked up at glanced at her father and then Jughead and then Polly.

“If you don’t tell him I will,” Polly said.

“I’d like to hear this story,” Jughead commented.

“Fine,” Betty sighed. “Remember when Chic took me to the shooting range four years ago?”

“The time that he came back with the broken finger?” Hal asked. “I always thought that was odd.”

“Well that’s because he shot me in the foot,” Betty replied.

“Oh you’re going to have to explain that a little better,” Jughead said.

“Fine,” Betty said. “So it was four years ago…”

Four years ago…

Betty and her older brother Chic were out at the outdoor shooting range to the south of Riverdale. It was fairly early in the day on the weekend and there weren’t many other people out here right now. Their parents weren’t big fans of guns but Chic wanted to join the military and he figured he needed to be able to handle a weapon. He had been coming out here in the morning every weekend to practice. After pestering her brother for weeks Betty had managed to convince him to bring her along.

Their parents didn’t know Betty had come along, nor would they have approved. Neither one was a big fan of guns, and while they understood why Chic was going to the shoot range they had a multitude of reasons as to why Betty should not be there.

“So Betty what do you want to try shooting with first?” Chic asked.

He had three different weapons, a Mossberg 500 pump-action 12 gauge shotgun, a Winchester Model 100 rifle, and a Sig Sauer P220 semi-automatic pistol. Betty immediately grabbed the shotgun. The large weapon seemed even bigger in the hands of the twelve year old girl.

“Make sure nobody sees you use that,” Chic said. “A normal girl would get knocked to the ground by the recoil.”

Betty just grinned and pointed the gun down range and fired.

“Not bad,” Chic said as he peered at the target.

Chic checked the pistol and then pointed it and squeezed off 9 shots. All of them were tightly grouped at the center of the target.

“You’re really good Chic,” Betty commented.

“Thanks,” Chic said.

Suddenly there was another bang as the pistol went off in his hand. Betty looked down to see a hole in the top of her shoe.

“You just shot me in the foot,” Betty said, surprised but unhurt.

“I… you’re not hurt,” Chic responded.

“You shot me in the foot!” Betty repeated.

“It was an accident,” Chic said.

Betty snatched the gun away from her brother and then grabbed his index finger.

“Then so is this,” she said pulling and snapping his knuckle.

“OH FUCK!” Chic screamed. “What the hell Betty!”

“You shot me in the foot on purpose,” Betty said. “You’ve always been trying to figure out ways to hurt me.”

“You’re crazy,” Chic replied.

“Should I break another finger?” Betty asked.

“Okay, fine!” Chic admitted. “I was trying to see if a bullet would hurt you.”

“I knew it!” Betty said with a smile. “Of course I’m going to have to tell mom and dad.”

“No you can’t,” Chic exclaimed.

“Then you’re going to take me out for ice cream,” Betty said.

“Ugh… fine,” Chic agreed. “After I get medical attention for my finger.”

“Yay!” Betty shouted.

As the two head back to the car Betty was still teasing her older brother.

“You know if you caved to a twelve year old girl how are you supposed to hold up to torture if you’re captured as a soldier?” Betty asked.

“Shut up,” Chic replied. “And you’re not just any twelve year old girl.”

The present…

“So you broke your brother’s finger?” Hal asked a little disappointed.

“You do remember how he shot me in the foot just before that right?” Betty replied.

“You weren’t hurt, I thought we taught you better,” Hal said.

“You do remember that when I was five he pushed me down the stairs?” Betty retorted.

“And you were fine,” Hal said.

“Really Dad?” Polly interrupted. “Why are you giving Betty such a hard time over this?”

“Because if she isn’t careful with her powers she can end up killing somebody,” Hal replied.

“Betty wouldn’t kill anybody,” Polly argued.

“Actually…” Betty said softly.

Everybody went quiet and looked over at Betty.

“The guy that attacked us tonight… I… I killed him,” Betty said.

“Betty…” Hal started to say.

“I didn’t mean to,” Betty replied. “I… I was just so mad that he had killed Jason. And then my eyes… I… they blasted him with like these lasers or… or something.”

“Laser eyes?” Jughead asked in disbelief.

“Cheryl, she saw it,” Betty said. “You can ask her, once she’s calmed down.”

“I believe you,” Polly said.

“Wait look at the TV,” Jughead interrupted.

The TV had been playing to itself on mute, but Jughead turned up the volume.

“…has been identified as Slade Wilson, a mercenary suspected in dozens of high profile assassinations,” the reporter said. “Now the circumstances of Wilson’s demise have not yet been determined nor his motivation behind the attack…”

“Well that makes me feel a little better,” Betty mumbled.

“Betty you can’t be taking the law into your own hands,” Hal said.

“I know that dad,” Betty said. “But he did kill Jason, a bunch of others and he wounded even more. And he’s apparently killed dozens of times before. Not to mention he tried to kill me, he was going to kill Cheryl. I had to stop him, I just… it’s like when we first found out about my strength.”

“Betty you were three years old,” Hal said.

“Three year olds aren’t able to break a table by smashing their fists on it,” Betty said. “And what if I’d done that to another kid? I could have caved in their skull.”

“Still that’s…” Hal started to say.

“And how about when she first learned about her speed?” Polly added cut her father off. “She was six and she accidentally ran right through the garage door.”

“It was like seen out of a cartoon,” Betty said to Jughead.

“Do you think you could recreate it for me?” Jughead asked picturing it in his mind.

Betty nodded before turning back to her father.

“I don’t see what that has to do with this,” she said.

“I could have accidentally run through a lot of things,” Betty said. “What if I’d been running to hug Grandpa and I ended up running into him? I probably could have killed him.”

“Well you didn’t and we got your powers under control,” Hal said.

“And that’s what we’ll do with this,” Polly said.

Hal sighed and nodded.

“I wonder how Cheryl is doing,” Betty said as she looked up at the ceiling.

The question was answered moments later as Cheryl came back downstairs along with Alice.

“Cheryl told me about what happened,” Alice said as she came into the living room. “Is it true that you killed the attacker Betty?”

Betty nodded sadly.

“Don’t worry about it Betty, he was a bad man,” Alice said. “And we’ll help you figure out how to get this under control.”

Cheryl sat down on the couch beside Betty and the two girls hugged each other.

“Thank you so much,” Cheryl said. “You’ve got an amazing mother Betty. She cares about you more than my own mother cares about me.”

“Oh don’t say that dear,” Alice said. “I’m sure your mother cares about you.”

“Only what I can do to help her close out a real estate deal,” Cheryl replied bitterly.

“I’m sure that isn’t true,” Hal said. “Do you want to call them?”

“They won’t answer,” Cheryl said.

There was a long awkward silence.

“Well it sounds like your girls dinner got interrupted,” Alice said. “How about I make you both something to eat?”

“Oh I’m not hungry,” Cheryl said.

“Nonsense, you need to eat, and it’ll help take your mind of what happened,” Alice said.

Alice left and went into the kitchen and soon the sounds of her prepping and cooking could be heard.

“I don’t mean to sound cold but what are we going to do about Midge?” Jughead asked.

“We need to figure out a way to stop her,” Betty said.

“If I see her I’ll kill her myself,” Cheryl stated in a malicious tone.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to be determined to kill her,” Hal said.

“We’ll come up with a plan to stop her,” Betty said. “We’ll find out what Midge has to say for herself and go from there.”

“That seems fair enough,” Polly agreed.

Cheryl nodded somewhat reluctantly.

“If you do try to kill her I won’t stop you,” Betty whispered in Cheryl’s ear.

Cheryl looked up and the two girls shared a brief smile.

The taxi came to stop outside of Belle Reeve and Midge got out.

“That’ll be 34 dollars miss,” the driver said.

“You should check your engine,” Midge said.

The cab driver gave her a confused look but then popped the hood and went over and opened it up. He looked down at his cars motor but didn’t see anything.

“Put your face up against the engine,” Midge said.

The driver had a horrified expression on his face as he slowly lowered his head towards the engine. As his cheek pressed against the hot metal he let out a scream as his skin sizzled and burned. Midge let out a gleeful laugh and then slammed the hood down on him.

“You can just stay there,” Midge said.

She walked away and into the facility. She walked up to the reception and was disappointed to see a woman on duty.

“Hello welcome to Belle Reeve, I’m sorry but visiting hours are over,” the receptionist said.

“Oh I’m not here to visit a patient,” Midge said. “At least not one of your normal patients.”

The receptionist looked at her confused.

“My father used to work here, perhaps you knew him, Doctor Victor Klump?” Midge asked.

The woman’s eyes suddenly went wide with surprise. Midge could tell that she was pushing a silent alarm button on the underside of the desk. Moments later an armed security guard came running towards reception.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“You were just about to shoot her in the head,” Midge replied.

The guard had a frightened look on his face as he raised his gun and shot the receptionist in the face.

“What, no!” he exclaimed.

“Now I’d like you to take me to where they keep the… special patients,” Midge said. “You know the ones with powers.”

The guard’s face clearly showed that he was resisting but he led Midge outside and around to a side entrance, it went almost directly into an elevator. The guard then activated the elevator which began to descend. As they went down Midge soon realized this was some rather secretive stuff. She smiled to herself imagine all the chaos she could cause.

Chapter 30

Midge was amazed at what she found down below Belle Reeve. She looked through the cells at the patients, or were the inmates, being held inside. She came to stop at one with a very familiar patient.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Ambrose Pipp,” Midge said with a smile.

Ambrose was lying seemingly unconscious on a bed. The room had rubber padded walls and there was thick glass separating him from the corridor.

“Open this door,” Midge said to the security guard.

“I… I can’t,” he stammered.

“Figure out how then,” Midge snapped.

The guard ran off as Midge stood there waiting. A few moments later the door to the cell opened and Midge stepped inside.

“Wakey, wakey Ambrose,” Midge said.

Ambrose’s beady little eyes shot open and he sat up with a start and looked at Midge.

“Midge, Midge Klump?” he asked in surprise.

“Oh you remember me,” Midge said with a smile.

“What are you doing here?” Ambrose asked.

“Well I was looking for a little help,” Midge said. “You see I need somebody killed.”

“Who?” Ambrose asked.

“Cheryl Blossom,” Midge replied.

“Is she like your best friend?” Ambrose asked.

“Not anymore,” Midge said with a sneer.

Suddenly an alarm went off.

“I guess we should get out of here,” Midge said. “Come along Ambrose.”

Ambrose found himself following behind Midge his body moving before his mind had decided to agree. As they made their way to the elevator they were suddenly confronted by a pair of security guards.

“I got this,” Ambrose said stepping forward.

“No need,” Midge said. “You two, shoot each other in the face.”

The two security guards screamed in horror as they pointed their guns at each other and shot each other in the face dropping to the ground dead.

“What the hell?” Ambrose exclaimed.

“Yes, you’ve got the ability to get all big and muscular from electricity or whatever,” Midge said. “And I can make men do whatever I say. Problem is it doesn’t work on women, that’s why I need you.”

Midge stepped over the two corpses to the elevator and stepped inside after a moment Ambrose followed. He wanted to get out of this place more than anything.

“So that’s why you need me, to kill Cheryl for you?” Ambrose asked as the elevator began its ascent.

“Yes, now we can do this one of two ways, either you can help me willingly, or I can make you,” Midge threatened. “Help me willingly and I’ll let you go once the job is done. Don’t, well you’ll be my new personal slave.”

“I’ll help you,” Ambrose agreed. “But there’s something you should know.”

“Oh?” Midge asked curiously.

“Last time I was out I was stopped… by Betty Cooper,” Ambrose said.

“Betty Cooper?” Midge asked incredulously.

“Yes, she’s… I don’t know what she is,” Ambrose said. “She’s strong, indestructible, fast… I’m not sure if I can defeat her or not.”

Midge considered for a moment. That would explain what happened with Adam’s attack and with the attack at the restaurant. She wondered why Betty hadn’t saved Jason though.

“Well how did she stop you last time?” Midge asked.

“She threw me into a transformer,” Ambrose answered. “I think she overloaded my ability to absorb electricity.”

“Well this time we’ll power you up slowly,” Midge said.

The elevator reached the top and the doors opened. They were greeted by four more armed guards.

“Halt stay where you are!” one of them threatened.

“Please let me handle this,” Ambrose asked.

“Fine, but one little detail first,” Midge agreed. “All of you drop your weapons and stand still for a minute.”

The guards’ eyes were wide with surprise as their hands opened and their weapons fell to the ground.

“They’re all yours,” Midge said stepping aside.

Ambrose stepped out of the elevator and raised his hands towards the fluorescent lights. The lights exploded as blue forks of electricity coursed down into his body. The guards watched in horror as Ambrose grew taller and more muscular quickly growing two feet from his diminutive 5’5” to a towering 7’5” in just a moment. Huge muscles began bulging into existence all along his skinny body till he was so wide that the interior of the elevator could barely be seen past him.

“Now that’s more like it,” Ambrose said his voice gravelly.

He reached out with both hands and grabbed the heads of two of the guards; his hands were so large now that they completely enveloped their heads. Ambrose squeeze his hands into fists and their heads were crushed to a pulp between his fingers, blood and gore oozing out.

Ambrose then let go and the two decapitated guards fell to the ground dead. He then punched with both hands at the chests of the other two guards. Their bodies were unable to with stand the force of his punches as he literally punched right through them. He withdrew his fists and the other two guards fell down dead beside their decapitated colleagues.

“Very nice,” Midge commented as she exited the elevator while examining the damage.

“So where to?” Ambrose asked.

“Well as impressive as you are now we need to get you some more power,” Midge said. “And a contingency plan, just in case.”

She then led Ambrose outside as he followed.

Veronica was furious and surprised. The lock down of the underground facilities had not been initiated until after Midge had gotten a guard to release Ambrose. She was fortunate that Midge hadn’t managed to free more of the subjects that were being held down there.

Unfortunately Midge and Ambrose had managed to escape and Veronica wasn’t sure where they had gone. They hadn’t headed towards Riverdale as she had expected. However she suspected that Midge would try yet again to kill that Cheryl Blossom girl.

What Veronica found rather odd was that Midge had been able to wake Ambrose from his coma. Somehow her ability to get men to do whatever she said had let her wake him up simply by telling him to wake up. Medically that should have been impossible.

Veronica knew she had to come up with a course of action to deal with this. However she also needed to review the facility’s security protocols; the lock down should have been initiated the moment that Midge had entered the underground facility.

Losing Ambrose also angered Veronica. She suspected that he knew the truth about Betty and she had intended on speaking with him if and when he awoke from his coma.

All of a sudden her phone rang and Veronica answered it.

“What is it?” Veronica asked angrily.

“That’s no way to talk to your father,” Hiram said on the other end.

“It’s not a good time dad,” Veronica said.

“Oh I think this is the perfect time Veronica,” Hiram said. “You’re fired effective immediately. Security should be arriving any moment to escort you out.”

Before Veronica could responded he hung up. She looked up as right on cue to security guards entered to escort her out.

“Don’t touch me,” Veronica snapped at them. “I know the way out.”

“So why exactly did we have to come here?” Ambrose asked.

He and Midge were standing at the perimeter of the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Generating Facility located in Pennsylvania. It was almost 200 miles away from Riverdale.

“Power facilities closer to Riverdale are probably on alert for you,” Midge replied. “And I specifically wanted a nuclear one.”

“Why a nuclear one?” Ambrose asked.

“You’ll see,” Midge replied cryptically.

The two of them walked up to the compounds security booth. A single guard was manning the booth and he was sitting reclined in his chair watching a little TV and didn’t even notice them walking up until Midge was right next to the half open window. He sat up in his chair in a start.

“Step outside the booth,” Midge ordered him.

Dumbfounded the guard opened the door and stepped outside. Midge looked him over to see that he was armed, but that wasn’t what she was concerned with.

“Does your security pass let us into the reactor facility?” Midge asked.

“Yes,” the guard replied.

“Good give it to me,” Midge said.

The guard handed her his badge staring at his hand in surprise as she took it from him, confused as to why he had just done that.

“Now put your gun in your mouth and shoot yourself,” Midge said.

She and Ambrose walked towards the reactor as the guard struggled in vain to stop his hand from putting his sidearm into his mouth. Moments later there was a bang as he blew his own brains out.

“Why did you need his badge?” Ambrose asked. “I can just smash down the walls.”

“It will be easier to get where we need to if we don’t have to smash our way in,” Midge replied. “And these are nuclear reactors they have some thick concrete protecting them.”

Ambrose nodded but he was still wondering what they were doing here. They reached the reactor building and Midge used the guard’s pass to get inside. They then made their way to the control room where three people were on duty, two operators and a supervisor.

“What are you doing here?” the supervisor asked when they entered.

“Just sit down and be quiet,” Midge ordered.

All three of them sat and looked at her.

“So, here is how this is going to work,” Midge said. “My friend here is going to go power himself up from your main turbine and one of you is going to help regulate the power flow so he doesn’t overdo it. The other two are going to build me a dirty bomb.”

The three of them looked at each other in shock and even Ambrose was surprised.

“Midge, a bomb?” Ambrose asked.

“It’s just a contingency,” Midge said. “I case our other plans fail. No need to worry about it.”

However Ambrose was a little concerned. Midge focused her attention back on the three employees.

“So tell me the truth, which of you three knows the most about making a dirty bomb?” she asked.

The supervisor put up his hand.

“Okay so you and you,” she said pointing at one of the operators. “Are going to go build the bomb. And you are going to go help my friend Ambrose here with powering himself up. Ambrose will tell you what he needs you follow everything he says or believe me he will kill you.”

Ambrose and the second operator left the control room. As he did Ambrose couldn’t help but feel un easy about Midge’s plan.

It was late at night. Betty was sitting on the roof of the house staring up at the sky. She couldn’t see many stars because of the light clouds, but the half moon was quite visible through them. She was thinking about Jason and the afterlife. She wondered if a place like heaven or hell was real.

Just then her cell phone rang. Betty had brought it with her to look at the few pictures she had of herself and Jason. Betty wasn’t big on taking selfies so she only had about four pictures to remind her of her time with Jason.

Betty looked at the number but didn’t recognize it. However curious she answered it.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Betty, it’s Veronica Lodge,” came the voice on the other end.

Betty was about to hang up.

“Please don’t hang up,” Veronica said.

“What do you want?” Betty asked.

“I just want to let you know that Midge has teamed up with Ambrose,” Veronica said. “She broke him out of Belle Reeve.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Betty asked.

“My father fired me earlier for the escape, but I don’t think he plans to do anything about it,” Veronica replied. “Now you might not want to admit it to me, but we both know you’re the only person who has a chance of stopping them.”

Betty didn’t say anything as she wasn’t entirely sure how to respond.

“Well good luck,” Veronica said before she hung up.

Betty stared down at her phone in her hand considering what Veronica had just told her. If it was true then all of Riverdale was likely in a lot of trouble. But Betty wasn’t entirely convinced, why hadn’t Midge already come after them? She couldn’t rule out that Veronica was lying, but then perhaps Midge was being more careful. Ambrose did know about Betty’s powers, at least some of them maybe he’d told Midge and the two were coming up with a plan. If that was the case then things could become quite serious quite quickly.

Betty got up and jumped off the roof to the ground and went inside. She figured she needed to tell the others so they could decide as a group just what they were going to do.

Chapter 31

It was morning and the Cooper family was gathered around the kitchen table. Jughead and Cheryl were both still asleep. Jughead had sacrificed his bed to Cheryl and slept on a couch down in the basement and was still down there. Betty had just told her family about the call she had received from Veronica.

“So let me get this straight,” Polly said. “You get a call out of the blue from Veronica telling you that Midge has teamed up with Ambrose?”

“Yeah, apparently her father fired her almost immediately afterwards,” Betty answered. “And she doesn’t think he’s going to even try to stop them.”

“Well what are you going to do?” Alice asked.

“I don’t know,” Betty replied. “I don’t know where they are. I would have thought that with Ambrose by her side Midge would have gone after Cheryl by now. The fact that she hasn’t has me very worried. Either she’s planning something really sinister or Veronica’s lying to me.”

“What does Veronica have to gain from lying about this?” Hal asked.

“She’s been desperate to learn my secret,” Betty said. “It could be a trick to expose myself.”

“Even if it is, you have to take that risk,” Alice said. “I don’t know what this girl’s issue is, but she’s clearly mentally unbalanced and a lot of people are going to get hurt if she isn’t stopped. And if she’s now got Ambrose with her… Betty nobody else can stop them.”

“You’re right mom,” Betty agreed. “I need to tell Cheryl, she’s the one in the most danger.”

“Well don’t wake her,” Alice said. “That girl had a terrible night; she was up so late crying. She must be exhausted.”

Just then footsteps could be heard upstairs and then coming down the stairs. Moments later Cheryl entered the kitchen wiping at her eyes with one hand.

“Oh good morning dear, are you hungry?” Alice asked.

Cheryl nodded and just sat down at the table without saying anything. Betty took a deep breath before talking.

“Cheryl I need to tell you something,” Betty said.

Cheryl looked up at Betty wordlessly, a blank expression on her face.

“Midge is working with Ambrose,” Betty said.

Cheryl’s expression didn’t change she just stared back at Betty.

“Cheryl do you realize what his means?” Betty asked.

“Midge is finally going to get what she wants,” Cheryl said. “She’s going to kill me.”

Betty was surprised as to how resigned Cheryl was to such a fate. She refused to let Cheryl be like this.

“No, she’s not,” Betty stated emphatically. “Because I’m not going to let that happen.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Cheryl asked.

“I stopped Ambrose once I’ll stop him again,” Betty replied.

Cheryl just shrugged. Betty sighed, she wasn’t sure how to convince Cheryl that she could save her because she wasn’t entirely sure herself. It wasn’t as though Midge did her own dirty work, and it was possible that Midge could send other people after Cheryl as well as Ambrose, perhaps that was why she hadn’t attacked yet.

Betty stood up from the table.

“Where are you going Betty?” Hal asked.

“I need to talk to Veronica,” Betty replied.

“What why?” Polly asked.

“She probably knows more about how Midge’s powers than we do,” Betty replied.

Betty walked out of the kitchen leaving her family and Cheryl behind and out the front door before taking off at top speed for the Lodge Mansion.

Midge was standing behind the lead glass window watching the plant supervisor working on the dirty bomb he had instructed her to make. The man was sweating profusely and his movements were laboured; he had also vomited several times and some of his hair was starting to fall out. All signs that he was suffering from radiation sickness. Midge figured that he was likely going to die soon.

“How much longer?” Midge asked through the intercom.

“I… almost… done…” the plant supervisor replied.

However all of a sudden he collapsed to the ground, his body spasming from a seizure. Midge watched him spasm on the ground for about two minutes before he lay still, likely dead. Midge turned to the other worker who was sitting beside her and had just watched his supervisor die.

“Well looks like it’s your turn,” Midge said with a smile. “Get in there and finish it up.”

The worker entered the room through a double airlock style door area. He stepped over his dad colleague to examine the partially completed bomb.

“How long to finish it?” Midge asked him through the intercom.

“Um… maybe two hours,” the worker said.

“Well then get to work and you might not die of radiation sickness like your boss,” Midge instructed him.

The worker quickly got back to work completing the bomb. Midge went over and locked the door to the containment room and then went to see how Ambrose was doing. Ambrose had been gradually absorbing electricity all night except for a pause when he had to kill the people coming in for a shift change.

“Hey Ambrose how’s it going?” Midge asked.

Ambrose had absorbed so much energy that he looked comically large. He stood an absolutely gigantic twenty-three feet tall. His arms and legs bulging with obscene amounts of muscle, bigger around then a car was wide. Every part of his body was absolutely massive, except for his head which remained it’s normal size. It was practically swallowed up by his bulging traps and pecs.

“I don’t think I can absorb any more electricity,” Ambrose said. “If I get any bigger I don’t know if I’ll be able to move.”

“I think you’re plenty big enough for our needs,” Midge said. “It shouldn’t be too long for the bomb to be finished.”

“I still don’t see why we need a bomb,” Ambrose said.

“My attempts to kill Cheryl have been foiled twice, probably by Betty both times,” Midge said. “I’m not leaving anything to chance this time.”

Midge turned to head back inside.

“Are you okay Midge?” Ambrose asked.

“I’m fine why?” she snapped as she turned around.

“You’ve got a… something on the back of your neck,” Ambrose replied.

Midge reached back and felt the back of her neck. It felt a little like her skin was peeling and she also felt something kind of hair and sticky. She pulled her hand away with whatever it was and saw that it was like a large clump of spider web or something. She looked at it not sure where it had come from.

“Hmm,” Midge muttered and tossed it to the ground. “Wonder where that came from.”

She turned and left leaving Ambrose outside. Ambrose was a little concerned as he watched Midge leave, she looked almost a little feverish. He had his own revenge plans, he was hoping to kill Jughead Jones. But he knew Midge wouldn’t let him do that until Cheryl was dead first. He just hoped that whatever was going on with her didn’t mess up their plan.

Betty was standing outside the gate to the Lodge Manor. She walked up and pushed the buzzer.

“Yes?” came the reply of a rather snooty sounding man through the intercom.

“I’m here to see Veronica Lodge,” Betty said.

“Miss Lodge isn’t seeing people right now,” the man replied.

“Tell her that I need to speak with her about the call she made last night,” Betty said firmly.

“I don’t understand,” the man said a little confused.

“Just pass on the message,” Betty said angrily. “And tell her I will only see her out here, I’ll wait for ten minutes.”

Betty stepped away from intercom and leaned up against the large brick fence post to wait. She wondered if Veronica would respond.

Seven minutes later she got her answer as she saw Veronica making her way down the long driveway. Veronica stopped on the other side of the closed gate.

“What are you doing here?” Veronica asked.

“I had a few questions,” Betty said. “And I was hoping you could answer them.”

Veronica looked at her a slight smirk on her face.

“So you’re admitting that you can stop her?” Veronica asked.

“No, I’m not saying that at all,” Betty said. “But Cheryl, the girl that Midge is trying to kill is staying with my family at the moment, and that puts us in some danger I would think. I’d like to know what I’m dealing with.”

“How did you get here anyway?” Veronica asked looking around. “I don’t see a car parked anywhere.”

“I walked,” Betty replied in a rather deadpan tone. “It’s a great way to get exercise.”

“Is this some kind of joke to you?” Veronica inquired a little annoyed.

“The situation is no joke,” Betty answered. “But your irrelevant questions are. A lot of innocent lives are probably at risk so how about you let me ask you some questions.”

Veronica was a little annoyed, but also a little impressed. Betty was showing her momma bear side, willing to do anything to protect her family. Veronica decided to indulge her in some answers.

“Alright fine, ask away,” Veronica said as she crossed her arms across her chest.

“It’s obvious that Midge can control people,” Betty said. “First Adam, then the guy at the restaurant, the question is how? How does she control them?”

“Ah, that is a good question,” Veronica said pretending to be impressed. “Well her father was working on this formula a sort of pheromone concoction in conjunction with wasp DNA…”

“I’m a high school student please dumb it down for me,” Betty interrupted her a little exasperated.

“Sorry I forget sometimes that few people have the same intellect that I do,” Veronica sort of apologized. “Anyway it’s by scent.”

“By scent?” Betty asked a little confused.

“Yes, pheromones,” Veronica replied. “Basically she induces a state of attraction in people where their bodies obey whatever she tells them to do. The thing is it pretty much exclusively works on males.”

“Why?” Betty asked.

“Because that’s the natural biological attraction,” Veronica said. “At least that’s what I’ve observed. I can’t say I’ve seen her try to use her powers on a lesbian. It might work.”

“So that’s why she hasn’t just found Cheryl and told Cheryl to kill herself,” Betty said coming to a realization. “Is there any way to stop her pheromone-things?

“It’s just pheromones,” Veronica corrected her haughtily. “And any kind of olfactory blockers should work.”

“Olfactory blockers?” Betty asked confused.

Veronica shook her head in disgust and gave an exasperated sigh.

“Essentially nose plugs,” Veronica explained slightly frustrated, “Something that blocks your sense of smell.”

Betty nodded acknowledging that she now understood. As she thought for a moment she realized that it was quite possible to stop Midge, whenever Midge made her move Betty felt confident she could stop her.

“Thanks,” Betty said. “That nose plug thing will be helpful.”

Betty turned and began walking away.

“Olfactory blockers!” Veronica called after her. “You can still smell things through simple nose plugs!”

“I’m back!” Betty called as she returned home.

“In the living room,” Polly called.

Betty entered the living room to see her family and Jughead gathered around the TV watching the report.

“The man responsible for the massacre at the restaurant called The Mill in Riverdale last night has been identified as mercenary Slade Wilson better known by his nickname Deathstroke,” the newscaster Cat Grant reported. “Wilson is suspected in several high profile killings and massacres across the world and FBI sources say he was the most expensive contract killer in the world.”

“What the hell was a guy like that doing at The Mill?” Jughead asked aloud what they were all thinking.

“Authorities are still trying to figure out just what Wilson was doing in Riverdale last night,” Cat Grant continued, “As well as the mysterious circumstances behind his death. Early reports are looking at the idea that a thermite grenade he had strapped to his chest detonated.”

“You know there’s really just one group of people who could afford somebody like Wilson,” Hal said.

Everyone nodded in agreement that it was likely the Lodges who had brought him to Riverdale.

“When Veronica found out what Midge could do she probably hired him to kill her to clean up her mistake,” Betty said.

“Did she say as much when you went to talk to her?” Alice asked.

“No but she’s far too clever to implicate herself in something like that,” Betty said.

“Well did you learn anything useful from her?” Polly inquired.

“Actually yes,” Betty replied. “Apparently Midge’s mind control is from these pheromones and they only work on males, and possibly lesbians, Veronica wasn’t sure about that last part.”

“So can we stop her?” Jughead asked.

“Yes she said if we use um, olfactory blockers, that would stop her,” Betty said. “Of course, Mom, Polly and I wouldn’t be affected anyway.”

Betty then looked around the living room and realized for the first time that Cheryl was missing.

“Where’s Cheryl?” Betty asked.

“She’s upstairs,” Alice replied. “She’s on the phone to her parents…”

“No Mom! I know Jason would not want that!” everyone suddenly heard Cheryl yell from upstairs.

“Doesn’t sound like it’s going well,” Polly murmured.

“Fine whatever do what you want!” Cheryl continued to yell into the phone. “But don’t tell me that you’re doing it in Jason’s memory, I know it’s just to sell more houses.”

Moments later they heard Cheryl coming down the stairs everyone turned to look back at the TV.

“Everything alright with your parents?” Alice asked.

“I know you all heard,” Cheryl said.

“What happened?” Hal asked.

“My parents are going to have one of the cul-de-sacs in that new subdivision development they’re involved in named after Jason,” Cheryl said. “That’s the first thing they started to do. Not worry about his funeral or anything no. No they want to go and name a street after him hoping to get sympathy and that people will buy more houses.”

“Cheryl I don’t think…” Alice tried to comfort her.

“You don’t know my parents,” Cheryl cut her off. “They only had Jason and me, because they felt they needed to portray the image of being this loving family to make it seem like they related to actual families buying houses. We were never anything but a tool to help them sell more houses. We spent more time with nannies and babysitters growing up than with them.”

Alice didn’t bother arguing. Cheryl took a breath and then looked over at Betty.

“So how did it go with Veronica?” Cheryl asked.

“She’s about as heartless as your mother,” Betty commented. “But I did manage to get some useful information out of her. And I think we can stop Midge. Jason’s death won’t be for nothing.”

Cheryl nodded.

“The police said they’ll be releasing my brother’s body later today,” Cheryl said. “Do you think I could get a ride down to the morgue to pick it up?”

“Of course, of course,” Hal said. “And anything else you need we’re here to help you.”

“Thank you so much,” Cheryl said. “You guys have been amazing, treated me more like family than my parents ever did. I may have lost Jason, but at least with you I feel like I have a family.”

Alice stood up and hugged Cheryl.

“You poor girl,” Alice said.

They hugged for several moments.

“I’m going to call the funeral home and make arrangements,” Cheryl said. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to go to the morgue.”

She turned and went back upstairs. Just then there was a report on the screen.

“We’ve got breaking news,” came the TV as it cut to another reporter.

Hal turned the volume back up.

“We’ve just received word that there has been an incident at the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Generating Facility,” a male reporter said. “No word yet on just what type of incident it is, but Reactor number two at the facility has gone offline.”

A map came up on the screen that showed that the facility was just 200 miles away from Riverdale. Betty suddenly got a pit in her stomach.

“Oh no…” she muttered.

“What? You don’t think?” Jughead asked.

Betty looked at him and shrugged but her eyes were full of worry.

Chapter 32

It was late at night when Midge and Ambrose arrived back at Riverdale. Midge had ridden on Ambrose’s massive shoulder as he had walked, his huge strides allowing him to move along at a steady thirty miles an hour. Still in avoiding people as much as possible it had taken them thirteen hours.

“Set me down,” Midge instructed Ambrose.

Ambrose did as she asked, but he wasn’t sure if he was doing it because he wanted to or because she had ordered him to with her powers.

“I’m going to take the bomb into town and hide it,” Midge said. “You wait out here and I’ll send you a signal when to attack.”

Ambrose nodded and handed Midge the large metal briefcase that contained the dirty bomb. Midge took it and walked out to the nearby road into town and stood waiting. She waited about five minutes until a car came by with a young couple. Midge stood at the side of the road waving at them and they slowed to a stop.

“Are you okay?” the man who was driving asked.

“Oh I’m fine,” Midge replied. “But your girlfriend isn’t.”

“Actually she’s my fiancée,” the man said.

“Well not anymore because I want you to strangle her to death,” Midge said.

The man stared in horror at his hands and he reached out towards his fiancée.

“Mike, Mike what are you doing? Stop!” his fiancée screamed.

“I don’t, I can’t help it!” Mike exclaimed. “Nancy run!”

Nancy struggled to try and take off her seatbelt but she never managed to because Mike wrapped his hands around her throat and began squeezing. Nancy desperately tried to pull Mike’s hands off but couldn’t as he overpowered her. Midge watched a smile on her face as Nancy flailed about desperate as Mike choked the life out of his fiancée as tears filled his eyes. A minute later she was dead and Mike finally stopped strangling her. He looked at his hands crying.

“Oh stop the crying,” Midge said.

Mike stopped crying but his expression suggested that he wanted to cry.

“Get her body out of the car,” Midge instructed him. “Toss it in the ditch.”

Mike did as she asked tossing Nancy’s body into the ditch at the side of the road.

“I want you to start walking down the road towards Riverdale,” Midge said. “Don’t get out of the way for anything.”

Mike began walking down the road quickly vanishing into the darkness, Midge could hear him whimpering.

“What a wuss,” Midge commented.

She popped the trunk and put the bomb in and then climbed into the driver seat. She took a look at Nancy’s body in the ditch.

“He wasn’t the right man for you anyway,” Midge said to the dead body.

Midge closed the door and then hit the accelerator. She raced down the road and soon Mike came into view. He looked back and saw her approaching at high speed and his eyes went wide but he didn’t move out of the way because Midge had told him not to. The car slammed into him at the knees and his body went sailing up into the air and over the car and landed on the road. Midge cackled with laughter as she raced into Riverdale.

Morning came and it was quiet at the Cooper household. Cheryl had gone home and spent the night with her parents who had returned from their conference in Florida. The Coopers and Jughead were all getting ready to go to the funeral home. The funeral wasn’t until tomorrow, but there was a visitation today.

Betty was putting on the only black dress that she owned while Polly was also getting dressed.

“Don’t you think that’s a little short?” Polly asked looking at Betty’s dress.

“Maybe, but it’s the only black dress I have,” Betty replied.

The dress didn’t even go down to Betty’s knees but it did cover up the tops of her shoulders.

“I guess it’ll do,” Polly said.

Just then Betty’s phone which was sitting on her bed began to ring. Betty noticed that it was from Cheryl and she answered.

“Hello?” Betty asked.

“Betty it’s Midge, she’s here!” Cheryl exclaimed. “But Ambrose is coming for you!”

Suddenly there was a smashing noise out front. Betty ran to the window to see a huge hulking twenty foot tall giant had just smashed Polly’s truck with one giant fist that was almost half the size of the truck. Betty then saw the comparatively tiny head and realized that it was Ambrose.

“Oh shit!” Betty cursed.

“What is it?” Polly asked coming to the window.

“Get out of the house, get mom and dad and Jughead out and run!” Betty said.

“What?” Polly asked confused.

“Just do it!” Betty yelled at her sister.

Polly turned and ran out of the room while Betty, opened the window and jumped out landing in the driveway. As she looked down the street she could see people fleeing from the sight of Ambrose’s hulking form.

“What are you doing Ambrose?” Betty asked through gritted teeth.

“I heard that Jughead is staying here after what I did to his house,” Ambrose said. “I smashed you through it pretty good.”

“You’re not going to hurt him,” Betty said.

“Oh I beg to differ,” Ambrose said. “You may have stopped me last time but you won’t get so lucky this time. As I’m sure you can tell I’ve had a BIG power boost.”

Betty could tell that Ambrose was significantly stronger than the last time they had fought, but she was fairly confident that she could take him.

“Not big enough,” Betty said with a growl.

Ambrose let out a loud grunt and slammed his fist down towards her. Betty got out of the way but Ambrose left a two foot deep hole in the driveway. Betty then coiled her legs and leapt as hard as she could towards Ambrose slamming into his colossal chest shoulder first. The force caused Ambrose to fly across the street and land on a parked car, flattening it under his huge body. He picked himself up laughing.

“You are one tricky bitch, but while you’re here fighting me; well Midge is having her way with Cheryl,” Ambrose said with a smirk.

Betty suddenly realized that Cheryl was in danger too, as were probably anybody else over at the funeral home. Betty stood there not sure what to do. Suddenly Ambrose leapt up into the air travelling nearly five hundred feet almost straight up. Betty then realized that he was going to land on the house. She sped inside and made sure that her parents, Polly and Jughead were outside. Ambrose landed on the house with a crash smashing through all the way to the ground floor.

Letting out an angry cry Betty ran at him and punched him in the stomach as hard as she could. Ambrose let out a surprised gasp as he flew through the air sailing at least a mile away.

Betty then went to the backyard where her family and Jughead were looking at the damaged house.

“Get somewhere safe,” Betty said. “I’m going to end this.”

She turned and began walking away.

“Betty wait you can’t do this alone,” Polly called.

“I know,” Betty said. “That’s why I’m calling Barry.”

Betty took off at top speed for the funeral home.

Barry was lounging in his new room. He’d slept in and had just gotten up and was going to do some homework before going downstairs to have brunch. He was just cracking open his chemistry text book when his phone rang.

“Hello?” he answered it.

“Barry it’s Betty we’ve got a problem,” Betty said. “Meet me at the funeral home ASAP.”

Betty was at the funeral home five seconds later.

“What is it?” Barry asked.

“It’s Midge,” Betty replied. “She’s got a bunch of people held hostage in there, including Cheryl.”

“What’s the plan?” Barry asked.

“I need you to get them all out while I confront Midge,” Betty replied.

“What if she controls you?” Barry asked.

“She can’t,” Betty replied. “It seems to only work on males; it’s a pheromone thing or something.”

Barry nodded.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Be quick,” Betty replied.

The two of them ran into the funeral home. Barry cleared it free of everybody but Midge in seconds while Betty came to a stop in front of Midge.

“Hmm, Ambrose said you were fast,” Midge commented. “I didn’t realize you were that fast.”

“I’m full of surprises,” Betty said.

“And so am I,” Midge said.

She reached into her pocket to pull something out. Betty stood watching not sure what it was and then she saw that it was a dead man switch. She ran forward and knocked Midge out with one punch and took the switch away from her.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Betty cursed. “There’s bomb, probably a nuclear one.”

Betty looked around to see if she could figure out where the bomb might be hidden and then she thought she heard something from inside the casket. Betty flipped it open and saw that it didn’t contain Jason’s body but rather it contained a bomb.

“Uh-oh,” Betty said.

She looked at it to see that there was a timer.

“Barry?” she called.

Barry appeared beside her a split second later.

“Oh crap is that a…?” he started to ask.

“Bomb? Yeah, a dirty bomb I think,” Betty replied. “I think Midge was responsible for that incident at the nuclear power station yesterday.”

“Well what do we do?” Barry asked.

“We have to get this out of here,” Betty replied. “I don’t know what safe is.”

“I got this,” Barry said.

He grabbed the bomb and took off running. Betty turned and ran after him.

“Barry wait!” she called.

Betty pushed herself to run faster than she had ever run before. Soon she found herself slowly catching up with Barry. Barry ran down to the beach and began running along the water with Betty following behind.

“Barry!” Betty exclaimed.

Barry turned to look back at her slowing down ever so slightly as he did. Betty was able to finally catch up with him and tried to pull the bomb away but it started beeping. Betty ripped the bomb out of Barry’s hands and threw it as hard as she could before turning and shielding Barry with her body. The bomb exploded showering the area with radioactive material, however much of it bounced off of Betty and into the sea. The two of them skid along the water to halt about twenty miles of the coast and then Betty and Barry sank into the water for a moment before Betty pulled Barry up to the surface.

“We’re alive,” Barry said as he spit out some water. “We’re Alive!”

Barry laughed with joy.

“We’re not done yet,” Betty said. “Ambrose is still on the loose in town. And I’ll probably need your help to stop him.”

“You know you’re going to have to start paying me for this,” Barry said.

“Yeah? Take it up with me after we stop him,” Betty retorted.

They started swimming until they were going fast enough that they were able to run along the water back to Riverdale. As they reached the beach they could see smoke coming from near the town center. They came to stop near city hall to see Ambrose tearing the place apart. Most of the buildings around City Hall were smashed to pieces and City Hall itself was on fire. People were running away from Ambrose screaming.

“Holy crap is he big,” Barry commented.

Betty was worried, last time Ambrose had gotten smaller after she’d injured him but he didn’t look any smaller now.

“How are we supposed to stop him?” Barry asked.

“I don’t know,” Betty replied. “Last time I made him overload himself by absorbing too much electricity at once. So unless you can summon a lightning bolt to strike him I’m not sure.”

“Well his head is still normal sized,” Barry said. “Maybe you can knock him out?”

“Yeah maybe,” Betty agreed. “Do you think you could distract him for me?”

“Now that I can do,” Barry agreed.

Barry sped off to where Ambrose was holding a car over his head.

“Hey you big dumb-ass,” Barry yelled at him. “Bet you can’t hit me with that.”

Ambrose looked down at Barry and snarled before hurling the car at him with both hands. Barry easily dodge it moving like a blur.

“What the?” Ambrose exclaimed.

He didn’t get another word out before Betty was suddenly on his shoulders her arms wrapped around his head. She tried to get her arms down to squeeze his neck and choke him out but his neck was too thick and muscular. Ambrose began bucking around wildly trying to throw her off but Betty held on tight.

All of a sudden there was a loud crack and Ambrose dropped to the ground in a heap and Betty tumbled off. Barry ran to her side but she was already getting up and Barry could see that Betty wasn’t harmed.

“We should get out of here,” Betty said.

The two of them ran off as a pair of blurs. Soon the citizens of Riverdale were gathering around Ambrose’s body to look at it.

“I think he’s dead,” a young boy said as he poked Ambrose’s body.

“Those two blurs saved us!” an old woman exclaimed.

“Yeah but who were they?” somebody else asked.

They all looked in the direction that Betty and Barry had run off in.

Chapter 33

Betty came to a stop at her house which was in ruins. Barry came to a stop beside her.

“Whoa… was this Ambrose?” Barry asked.

“Yeah,” Betty replied.

“Is your family okay?” Barry inquired.

“Yeah I got them out,” Betty replied.

She walked towards the ruins and lifted up a huge beam with one hand.

“Are you looking for something?” Barry asked.

“Nothing in particular,” Betty replied.

“Well I’m going to head home,” Barry said. “But call me if you need any more help.”

Betty nodded and continued picking up pieces of her destroyed home as she rummaged around. She was propping up a large section of wall when she heard a startled gasp.

“Betty?” Sheila asked.

Betty turned in surprise to see her friend Sheila standing at the sidewalk starring at her in surprise beside Barry. Betty then realized that she was holding up the section of wall with just one hand almost effortless.

“Uh…” Betty stammered not sure what to say.

“How are you doing that Betty?” Sheila asked.

“It’s a long story Sheila,” Betty replied. “Do you know where my family went?”

“I saw them heading to Pop’s,” Sheila replied.

Betty dropped the section of wall with a relieved sigh.

“Well I’m going to go join them, do you want to come?” Betty asked.

“Will you explain what’s going on?” Sheila asked.

Betty looked over at Barry.

“Long story short we just saved the town,” Barry said.

Sheila looked at Barry confused.

“Come on let’s go to Pop’s,” Betty said. “That way we can tell everyone the story at the same time.”

They arrived at Pop’s where Betty’s family and Jughead were sitting at one of the larger booths. Barry, Betty and Sheila joined them. Pop had all of the TV’s mounted on the walls current tuned to CNN with the volume turned up. There was a great deal of coverage about what had just happened as the news crews were in town because of the massacre at The Mill just two days prior.

The TV was showing a shot of Ambrose’s corpse lying in town square. Police and FBI agents were looking at his obscenely muscular body unsure what to do with it. It looked like they would need a flatbed truck and a crane to move it.

“Betty what happened?” Polly asked.

“Well Barry and I went to the funeral home,” Betty said. “And Midge was holding a bunch of people hostage.”

“I got them out,” Barry cut in.

“And then I confronted Midge,” Betty continued. “But then it turned out she had a bomb, a dirty bomb I think.”

“A nuclear bomb?” Alice asked frightened.

“Don’t worry we ran it out to sea before it went off,” Barry said. “Betty protected me from the blast.”

“You protected him from a nuke?” Sheila asked in disbelief.

“No it was just a regular bomb,” Betty said. “But it was designed to spread radioactive material.”

“So anyway we get back to town after averting a nuclear disaster,” Barry continued.

“Only to find Ambrose is smashing up downtown,” Betty said.

“So she gets me to distract him,” Barry said.

“And then I jump up on Ambrose and I’m trying to choke him out, but his neck is so thick I can’t get a grip,” Betty said. “He starts trying to shake me off and I’m holding on and then all of a sudden, CRACK! He breaks his own neck trying to throw me off, falls to the ground and then Barry and I get the hell out of there.”

“Hey the TV,” Jughead said point.

Everyone turned to the TV where a reporter was interview people who had witnessed what had happened.

“I dunna know who dey was,” said a man named Sam. “But dey moved… moved like a Flash! Just whoosh, super-fast. But dey didn’t stay around for no one to thank dem.”

“So there you have it, it seems that the little town of Riverdale has its own heroes,” the reporter said.

“Heroes,” Barry said. “Who’d have thought that?”

“Kind of like that guy up in Gotham,” Jughead suggested. “Or that one out on the west coast in Star City.”

“Those guys are vigilantes,” Hal said, “Taking the law into their own hands.”

“We don’t know the circumstances there dear,” Alice said. “And technically what Betty and Barry did today could be considered vigilantism.”

“That guy actually had a good hero name for you Barry,” Jughead commented. “Flash.”

“I like it,” Barry said.

“Yeah but what do we call Betty?” Polly asked. “She’s more than a Flash.”

“Keep it simple,” Jughead said. “She’s super, she’s a girl, Supergirl.”

“Supergirl…” Betty said trying the name out herself. “I think that could work.”

“I don’t know how much hero stuff we’ll need to do though now that Midge has been stopped,” Barry said.

“Wait what happened to Midge?” Polly asked.

“Has there been anything on the TV?” Betty inquired.

“No,” Alice answered.

Betty got up and ran out of the restaurant in a blur. She came to a stop at the funeral home. Inside it was empty except for Cheryl who had returned and was staring at the empty coffin that had contained the bomb.

“Cheryl… are you okay?” Betty asked.

“I’m fine,” Cheryl replied not taking her eyes off the coffin. “I thought she’d gotten rid of Jason’s body, but it was just down in the embalming area.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Betty asked a little concerned.

“I can’t believe she was willing to use a bomb,” Cheryl commented not answering the question. “I mean who does that?”

“Cheryl please, are you sure you’re okay?” Betty inquired.

“It’s over now right? Midge and Ambrose are dead,” Cheryl said.

“Well Ambrose is dead,” Betty said. “But I don’t know where Midge is.”

Cheryl finally took her eyes off the coffin and stared into Betty’s eyes.

“What do you mean you don’t know where Midge is?” Cheryl asked.

“Well after Barry and I got rid of the bomb we had to stop Ambrose,” Betty said. “I left Midge lying right here unconscious.”

“She wasn’t here when I came back in,” Cheryl said.

A look of concern crossed Betty’s face.

“I don’t know where she is,” Betty said.

“So you’re saying that Midge is still out there?” Cheryl asked worriedly.

“She is,” Betty admitted. “But her plans have been stopped. Ambrose is dead, her bomb went off not hurting anyone.”

“But that doesn’t mean she can’t come back,” Cheryl said.

“You’re right,” Betty agreed. “But I’m going to do everything I can to find her before she can.”

“You need to kill her Betty,” Cheryl said.

Betty nodded in agreement, but inwardly she was conflicted. She didn’t want to kill anybody. Killing the mercenary had been an accident and Ambrose’s death was as much Ambrose’s own fault as her own. But Cheryl was quite possibly right, Midge had shown a complete disregard for the lives of others and killing her might be the only way to stop her.

“Your dress is ripped,” Cheryl commented.

“Well a bomb did go off near me,” Betty replied. “Do you know what happened to Jason?”

“His body is downstairs still,” Cheryl said. “I think she came here late last night and ambushed the funeral director when he arrived.”

“Is he alright?” Betty asked.

“He’s dead,” Cheryl replied. “He hung himself, or more likely Midge made him hang himself.”

Betty swallowed and nodded.

“When I find her I’ll make sure that she can’t ever hurt anybody again,” Betty promised.

Midge staggered dumbfounded through the forest. When she had come to she had found herself nowhere near the funeral home, even now she wasn’t entirely sure where she was. Her head was still ringing from Betty striking her, or at least that’s what she thought it was from.

She was feeling a little feverish and she noticed that the skin on her arms was flaking. Midge was worried that perhaps she’d exposed herself to too much radiation back at the power plant.

She tripped over a fallen branch and fell to the ground with a thump on some dry leaves. Slowly Midge struggled to her feet as she looked around. She noticed a cave nearby she was feeling really sick and that seemed like a good place to go rest for a little while.

Midge stumbled her way over to the cave and inside. She thought it was little strange that there was a cave out here in the woods in the middle of nowhere. It seemed to go down rather deep and there seemed to be a strange green glow from further in.

Despite how poorly she was feeling Midge made her way deeper into the cave holding herself up against the cave wall as she did. As she got deeper in she realized that the glow was coming from large chunks of green crystal. She got closer to one to examine it and realized that it was a very large piece of meteor rock.

“This must have been where that really big one hit,” Midge thought.

Back during the meteor shower when Midge had only been about two months old there had been many reports of a very large meteorite striking but nobody had ever found it, although now she had.

Midge made her way ever deeper and came across the largest chunk of meteor rock yet. It was nearly four feet tall and very irregularly shaped with multiple spikey protrusions. As Midge got closer she felt like her headache was getting worse. She wondered if maybe this had something to do with her powers which her father had given her using meteor rocks.

Midge slipped and fell to the ground once again. As she got up she saw that her arm was covered in a sticky stringy substance and with was stuck to the cave wall.

“What the…?” Midge muttered.

She then saw that there was more of it on her other arm. Midge tried brushing it off herself but that just seemed to make more of it appear. The more she struggled the more of the stringy stuff that seemed to appear, she had no idea where from. In a matter of moments she was practically cocooned in it and it was difficult to move. At the same time her headache seemed to be getting worse and worse and soon Midge passed out her body dangling in the cocoon from the cave wall.

Hiram Lodge calmly walked through the forest till he came to the cave. He entered it and made his way in, basking in the glowing green glow of the meteor rocks that lined the cave until he came to a large cocoon on one wall of the cave. He walked over to it and smiled at Midge’s face which was the only part of her that was visible.

“Soon my dear, soon,” Hiram said to the cocoon. “You will give birth to my rise to power.”

Comments or Questions? Contact me at “betty_cooper72@yahoo.ca”