"Spot!" She heard someone yelling, a really unfamiliar voice. She peeked down from her perch in the rafters to see three boys, in blue. Blue meant Manhattan. She watched Spot walk out,

"Well if it isn't Jack be nimble Jack be quick."

"Hello, Spot."

"What are you doing here? You know you aren't allowed in Brooklyn territory. You're playing a dangerous game Jackie boy."

"Well, we had a proposition don't we Dave." Jack nudged the boy next to him.

"Oh, yeah! I may be super new but I know that you are the leader of the Brooklyn newsies, and super powerful." Spot interrupted him,

"I'm the king so call me king."

"Of course, so we know that you probably know about the pape raise."

"Yes."

"So we decided that we weren't going to be pushed around so we are on strike." Spot clapped his hand against the boy who was talking mouth,

"Quiet mouth. Who is this kid?" she giggled at the sight of these four boys. Guess this new kid had earned his nickname. Mouth.

"This is Davey, and if you've got half a brain you'll listen to him." Spot took his hand off Davey's mouth,

"We wanted you to join our strike, this isn't something we can do on our own. This is something bigger than just us, so will you join us?"

"Listen here mouth, and you Jackie Boy. I can't tell mouth has a brain, and I got more than half of one. You want to put on your big boy pants on and strike against someone who is bigger than you, stronger than you, and has more powerful friends than you do. How do I know that you won't fold the first time a bull comes running at ya with a club. I need proof Jackie boy, and you haven't given that to me, now get before I unleash Brooklyn." Spot walked away from the three boys, she wanted to climb down but not with her brother around and besides, they were leaving. She waited for Spot to leave before she scurried across the rafters and jumped out the window landing on a fire escape and she ran after the three boys that were leaving.

"Hey!" they didn't pay any attention,

"Mouth!" Davey stopped and turned around,

"Guess that's my name now," he muttered, she ran up in front of them. Dang, this kid was tall, really tall. Then again she did have the Conlon gene, Conlon's are short.

"Are you guys really going on strike?"

"Of course we are, we ain't gonna be pushed around anymore." Jack butted in,

"I wanted to do something about it but Spot said no."

"Well, circulation gate tomorrow morning if you want." she nodded and watched them run towards the trolley. Maybe this whole strike thing was a good idea, mouth seemed smart.

Davey jumped onto the trolley with Jack and Les.

"Mouth, I like it!" Les said gripping Davey's hand,

"I'm not letting that stick."

"Well, Dave lucky for you this isn't Brooklyn when the king gives you a name in Brooklyn you don't get to have a say."

"Is he really that powerful?"

"Among the newsies, yes, but among others, he's just another street urchin," Jack muttered.

"Wait, why was that girl we saw wearing blue? Isn't Brooklyn's color red?"

"I dunno Dave." he was still weirded out by the "infamous" Spot Conlon. He didn't seem that scary, but he was going to just let mouth slide with Spot.

"Spot!" she yelled running into the lodging house.

"What!"

"Where did ya go!"

"I'm on the roof." she ran back outside and climbed up the fire escape to where her brother was sitting.

"Hey,"

"Hi." she went and sat down next to him.

"So, a strike."

"Blu, I know what you're trying to do and it's not gonna happen. We aren't going to risk getting half of our newsies jailed."

"Spot, we can't just let them control us. We have to show them we aren't gonna be pushed around and just fall into place like they want us too. Come one we have to go!"

"Blu, we will go when I have proof they won't fold at the first sign of trouble." she wanted to argue but she could tell her brother was upset about everything but he was just trying to be a good leader and keep everyone safe.

A few days later…

He stood up on the table in Jacobi's,

"Everyone! We gotta try and get newsies here again! We are gonna hold a rally so who wants where?" no one said anything,

"Fine. Mush, Sniper, Specs you guys take a Harlem. Albert, Elmer, Jojo you guys take Midtown, Tommy Boy you take the East Side, Finch you take Queens, Buttons, Race you take Brooklyn!" everyone started to argue,

"Go and do it! This could be our chance to end this endless strike! Now go, I've got a strike leader to find!" All the newsies ran out the door in a stampede and Davey grabbed Les's hand, and he grabbed Katherine's.

"Where are we going!"

"To go find Jack." Davey ran up the street to the one place he knew Jack would be, Medda's theater.

Back in Brooklyn…

She looked down the street to see more boys in blue walking down. It was strike time! She ran back inside the lodging house to make sure and stay by her brother so that he would actually go that time. She saw the boys walking in and Spot going to greet them, Spot saw her coming and gave the stare and motioned for her to go wait somewhere else. She shook her head, and then kept walking towards him. He gave her the death stare, and she knew he meant to wait somewhere else so she continued to walk right past him and climbed into the rafters to watch the conversation unfold and pray that everything went how she wanted.

"What are you doing here?"

"Spot, we really need your help."

"I told you I ain't helping." The boy held his hand out,

"I broke my arm for this stupid strike, is that proof enough for you?"

"Exactly what I mean, I'm not putting my troop in danger-"

"Stop! You're putting your troop in danger by not striking. You're showing them to bow to power but we can't do that anymore. We have to show them we aren't worthless street urchins and they can make up the rules anytime they want. Like it or not now is the time to take a stand. It's time to be a voice, not an echo!" She could tell this boy was right, they couldn't them change the rules when they felt like it. It was time to take a stand. Spot paused,

"Let them know that Brooklyn's coming." she cheered in excitement from the roof causing the three boys to look up at her. She gave a small embarrassed wave her face flushing bright red. She was finally going somewhere other than Brooklyn!

The next day…

"Everyone get up, we have to go strike!" All the Brooklyn newsies followed down the street after Spot, through town until they got to the bridge. She heard him call out over the crowd,

"Just got words that our buddies is hurting!" she heard Spot call out from the crowd,

"Facing total disaster for certain!" answered Skip.

"That's our cue boys it time to go slumming!"

"Hey, Manhattan the cavalry's coming!"

"Have no fear!" all the newsies chanted,

"Brooklyn's here!" they chanted the whole way to Manhattan. She saw the theater coming into view with signs of different neighborhood scattered throughout. There were so many people here, she followed her brother through to the front of the crowd where that same boy from earlier, Mouth. She walked up next to him,

"Hey mouth, we made it!" he looked down at her,

"Yup, I see that." she saw her brother motioning for her to get into the crowd of Brooklyn newsies,

"I'll see ya later mouth, I've gotta go." she walked into the crowd of newsies, she saw Spot walk out into the middle of the circle of people cheering and pounding signs.

"Newsies united!" he yelled and the crowd went wild, he silenced the crowd like the conductor of an orchestra.

"Let's see what Pulitzer's gotta say to ya now." she heard a voice yell from the balcony,

"Hey Davey, where's Jack?"

"Yeah we want Jack!" the entire crowd started to chant the boy's name, she saw Davey talking to a woman and shaking his head as she pushed him into the middle of the crowd.

"Newsies of New York! Look at what we've done here tonight, we've got newsies from every pape and neighborhood here tonight. Tonight we're making history. Tonight we declare that we are just as important to the newspaper as any reporter or editor. Tonight we declare that we are done being treated like kids." she heard a familiar voice yell above the clapping,

"You want to be treated like an adult, then start acting like one. Don't just run your mouth and make some sense." it was the same boy in the blue shirt in Brooklyn, Jack.

"And here's Jack!" Davey moved out of the way thankful that he didn't have to continue. The entire crowd started chanting the boy's name. He put his hand up trying to silence them, but when that didn't work he yelled.

"Alright, alright! Pulitzer," he pointed to a large set piece with a picture of a shoe crushing the newsies with the word Pulitzer written on it with black ink. "Raised the price of papes without a word to us, and that was a lousy thing to do." all the newsies murmured in agreement. "So we got mad, and we showed them we ain't gonna be pushed around so we go on strike. Then what happens? Pulitzer lowers the price of papes so we'll go back to work." more cheers came from the audience. "Then a few weeks later he hikes his price back up again, and don't think he won't. So what happens when he raises his prices again after that? Look, fellas, we gotta be realistic here. If we don't work we don't get paid." Spot walked up to Jack as the crowd realized where this speech was starting to go. "How long can you go without making money." Jack said facing Spot, "Believe me Pulitzer can go longer. Now I have spoken with Mr. Pulitzer, and he said." he paused, "He said that if we disband the union," she heard Race yell from the crowd along with angry yells,

"Disband the union!?'

"He will not raise the price of papes again for two years. I say we take the deal…" she couldn't even hear the rest of the speech because of the deafening yells, she saw Spot shove Jack and Jack ran into a man who shoved money in his hands. He looked down at the money and when the little boy tried to talk to him he ripped his hand away,

"Your a traitor Jack!" she heard someone yell, the room was chaos with yelling and pushing, in the middle she saw Davey shaking his head disappointedly before running off. Jack just stood there before storming out the door. She ran in the direction Davey had run and followed his tall figure down the street. She saw him turn the corner in through a set of gates, and she followed him. She saw him sit down against the wall and just stare at the other side, she tentatively walked over.

"Davey? Right?" he nodded his head, she slid herself to the ground against the wall to sit next to him.

"Are you ok?" he shook his head,

"We could still win right?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well we don't need Jack, we could do this on our own. I mean leading a strike can't be that hard." she could hear yelling down the street, she could catch sounds of down, pavement, you'd, swollen. She stood up,

"Alright enough moping, we can do this without him." she offered a hand to him,

"Do you have a name, or for that matter a plan?"

"I've got a good a name as mouth, and we'll think of something." he grabbed her hand and she led him back down the street to run into to Jack and a girl.

"Davey! We have a plan!"

"One, huh? Two you just backstabbed us, so three why should we trust you?" the girl interjected,

"No time for questions like that you need to round up all the newsies and now."

"How am I supposed to do that?" he yelled to Jack and the girl.

"Figure it out Dave, your smart! Meet us in the cellar of the World when you have everyone!" Davey threw his hands up,

"I'll go up this way and you go that way?" she asked,

"Sure, meet me back at the gates with the newsies you collect."

"Got it." she ran down the street until she skidded to halt in front of a restaurant, with you guessed it. Newsies. She ran inside,

"Are you guys ready to end this?" all eyes focused on her, Race stepped out of the crowd.

"This is it guys, let's go." she led the huge group of newsies out of the restaurant and back down the street to the gates where Davey was already waiting there with an army as well. She and Davey walked in through the gates and led all the newsies down to the cellar, she walked along the hallway before walking down the stairs to the cellar. She looked over the dusty basement with a few lights shining over them,

"Did you bring enough fellas to keep us covered?"

"We could hold a hoe down in here and no one would be the wiser."

"Good job." Jack started to walk down the stairs and Davey followed after him,

"Hey Jack, it's good to have you back."

"Shut up." She ran down the stairs to see the shiny machine that looked like a steel monster,

"Is this really what they print the papes on?"

"Yup, now let's get to work." said the man in the blue suit,

"There's a change coming once and for all," Jack said helping to scrub down the machine.

"HERE THEY COME!" Race yelled as Newsies started to flood the cellar,

"Once and for all, if they don't mind their manners we'll bleed 'em!" Jack shouted which was responded to by,

"Bleed 'em!"

"Once and for all, we won't carry no banner that don't spell freedom." Race yelled as they printed the papers, all the newsies started to chant as they finished printing the papers and they started tossing them to be delivered,

"This is for kids shining shoes on the street with no shoes on their feet everyday. This is for guys sweating blood in the shops while their bosses and cops look away. I see a kid standing tall, glaring and raring to brawl. All of these guys who are sick of the lies getting ready to rise to the call. Once and for all they'll be blood on the wall if they doubt us, they think their running this town but this town will shut down without us. Ten thousand kids in the square, ten thousands fists in the air. Joe, you is gonna play fair, once and for all!"

"Once and for all!"

"Once and for all!"

"Once and for all!" they all yelled running outside to deliver a message, a message of hope. She handed out papers to anyone and everyone, she read it to people she had to. The streets of New York were littered with their banner, and as the sun began to rise so did the their confidence. They waited patiently in the square, she prayed people were coming. She had finally given up hope when she heard yelling and cheering and chanting,

"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!" crowds of people were coming from every direction waving their banners and signs. They continued to chant as Jack went to talk to Pulitzer, they saw Jack walk out onto the balcony and the crowd quieted,

"WE WON!" everyone screamed and clapped and hugged one another. These kids had shown everyone something that day. They showed them that some days you lose the battle but you have to keep fighting until you win the war.

I love the song Once and for all a lot just because after I listen to it I have the motivation to overthrow like three countries. Come's in handy during finals week when I don't feel like studying.