A Tale of Two Snakes

Disclaimer: I do not own any Riverdale and Cobra kai characters. This story is purely written for fun, not for any kind of profit.

Hello everybody. I am back with another chapter. Please read and review

Chapter 16: Masquerade

Alice Cooper came to the hospital at the morning. She had an appointment with the coroner. The coroner was an important source of her. He gave her lots and lots of information with exchange of a good sum of money. Today she came for that same exact reason.

After her chatting with the coroner, she came to the small medical shop to buy some antacids. There she saw a Hispanic woman in the counter. The woman was clad in a hospital technician's uniform. She was purchasing some medicines and tonics. Alice knew those pills. Doctors recommended those medicines to pregnant women. Alice curiously looked at that woman, but she was not pregnant. The woman took her medicines and turned to leave, when she saw Alice. Alice looked at her. The woman also looked into her eyes.

"Good Morning." She said in a sweet voice. Then she walked besides her.

The woman seemed a bit familiar, Alice thought to herself. Then she came to the counter.

"Good morning, Mrs Cooper.", the man behind the counter greeted her.

"Good Morning, Jerry. Bye the way, I did not recognize her. Who was she?" Alice asked Jerry Robertson, the tall, dark man behind the counter.

"She is Carmen Diaz, the hospital's new X-ray technician. Nice lady, she is. But fate was so cruel on her. Has a son about the same age of Betty, but that poor lad is on a wheelchair. "

Now Alice remembered a bit. She remembered her younger daughter talking about the new family recently moved into the town. There was a man, an older and a younger woman and a wheelchair ridden boy. Then who was pregnant in her house? The idea lingered in Alice's mind for a moment, and then it was lost in there.

Miguel had just finished his phone call with Jughead. The news he got was both interesting and disappointing. Jughead and Betty found Jason's gateway car, but while they called the police, someone torched that car. In that car, they saw Jason's school jacket. But then they saw something which shocked them to their core.

In that car, there was a bag full of drugs.

Miguel was silently thinking all the way to the school. Johnny dropped him to the school. While Miguel was turning his wheelchair, something struck in his mind.

"Sensei, I need something from you." He said.

"Tell me, kid." Johnny smiled. Miguel rarely needed something from him.

"I need your friend, Bobby Brown's phone number."

While Johnny was thinking about a variety of things, he certainly did not expect that.

"Why?" he blurted out.

"I will tell you later, sensei. I swear." Miguel said.

Johnny did not say anything. He took out his phone. In a minute, Miguel's phone vibrated.

"Thanks, sensei." Miguel smiled. Then he drove his wheelchair towards the school, leaving a clueless Johnny behind.

When he entered the school building, he saw a gobsmacked Archie with a teary eyed Betty.

"The sheriff arrested Jughead, Diaz." Archie told him.

Now Miguel was shocked.

"What the...why?"

"Jughead was bullied by the football team when we were young. Now the sheriff thought it as a motive for Jason's murder."

For a second, Hawk's face flashed into Miguel's mind. But he quickly calmed down.

"This is insane. We have to do something."

"I am trying to call F.P. But he is not picking up.", Archie said. Then he looked at Betty.

"Let's call my dad."

It took Fred Andrews a lot of lies and some fake paper trails to get Jughead out from the police station. Jughead was sad and angry, because his father came to him in a drunken state and hurled abuses at Fred. Jughead had a heated argument with his dad. Though he was out of custody, Jughead knew that he was under the radar of police. He was now way more determined to catch the killer at any cost. He heard Archie calling Miguel, telling him everything.

The next day morning, Miguel woke up with a pissed off mood. He was angry because he was feeling helpless. There was not a single clue which could help him to nab that killer. Poor Jughead was dragged in the police station which made him sad. He mustered all his will powers to control his head.

"We must catch that killer, by hook or by crook."

A cold shower calmed his mind. He went to the breakfast table and saw Johnny, Carmen, Rosa and Polly. Carmen was telling Polly about how she had a brief encounter with her mom. Polly was silently listening.

After a brief moment of silence, Polly looked at Miguel.

"I know Jughead from my childhood. He is not a killer. He did not kill my Jason."

Miguel nodded," I know. The sheriff made a mistake."

Polly hung her head. Then she started crying. Carmen came to her and embraced her. Poly's eyes were full of tears now.

"I am so alone without him. It's like a chunk of my soul was cut out. Sometime I feel so hopeless, so scared...."

"Please don't think like that, Polly." Miguel felt his heart melting," We are with you."

Polly was still sobbing, but Carmen's soothing words calmed her down a little bit. She rubbed her tears and looked at Miguel.

"I need to talk to Betty. Can you please bring her here after school?"

"Yes, I will." Miguel said.

"I am sorry. I know I am being too much of a burden." She took a tissue from the box and dabbed her eyes.

"No you are not." Carmen's tone was hard. She placed her hands over Polly's shoulder.

"Don't even think like that, ever. No one is a burden in our life. No one present in here is a burden. Everyone has his own part to play in life. This is fate."

Carmen became quite.

At that very moment, Miguel looked at Johnny. He saw him looking at his mom. Johnny had a shocked expression in his face. Miguel smiled inside his mind. He noticed the changes in her mother. He made a quick prayer inside his mind.

Fred Andrews was anxiously waiting in front of the construction site. The phrase 'horns of a dilemma' was the perfect explanation of his mindset. He was deep in thought when he saw the familiar black challenger car coming towards the site. Johnny Lawrence came out from the car.

"Good morning, Mr Lawrence.", Fred greeted him.

"Good morning to you too, Mr Andrews.", Johnny said. He looked at Fred's anxious face.

"Is everything okay?"

"Umm...I want to say something to you. But I don't know how to start." Fred said.

"Speak your mind, Mr Andrews.", Now Johnny was a bit suspicious.

"Well...finally, I got a crew to work in this site." Fred took a deep breath. He looked into the piercing blue eyes of the man in front of her.

"That's good news." Johnny said.

"But there are a tiny bit problems...Mr Lawrence. I swear I had no choice. The new crew working here is the Southside serpents."

Now Johnny understood the whole fiasco. He smiled at Fred.

"You don't have to worry about me. The old Johnny Lawrence always held a grudge, but that person was gone. I can work with them just fine."

Fred literally felt light after that conversation. Yesterday night, when F.P called him for work of him and his men, the first thing popped in his mind that they were the alleged assaulter of Johnny. But his back was literally at the wall, so he accepted the offer. He was actually anxious about how Johnny would react to the news.

But now, as Fred could see from the window, Johnny was working alone. His posture was calm and soothing. He felt that his respect towards Johnny Lawrence was going up.

After thirty minutes, Fred heard sound of cars. It was time to greet his new crew.

"But I must keep a watch on them, for everyone's sake." He thought to herself.

Miguel was happy while entering the school. Today Carmen dropped him there. But then he got some news that was totally unexpected.

Hash tags about Polly being Jason's killer was circulating in the school, thanks to Cheryl. They were now talking about launching a manhunt to find her. The whole school was now practically jumping with...excitement? Miguel sometime could not understand this town.

Betty was crying over Veronica's shoulder when Miguel found them. Jughead and Kevin were coaxing her.

"What the bloody hell is happening?" Miguel asked Kevin.

Kevin sighed, "Well we were talking about Polly in the common room. Betty and Veronica were planning to organise a baby shower for Polly. A few moments later, we saw those hash tags started by Cheryl."

"Damn!!" Miguel looked at Jughead,"Jug, is there anything else?"

"Judging by the facts, it is highly possible that Cheryl does not know that Jason is the father of Polly's children." Jughead sighed.

"Well, the Blossoms will not leave it easily." Betty said in a shaky voice. Veronica handed her a tissue. She cleaned her tears.

"Let them do whatever they want to. You guys keep...." Miguel saw Archie entering the room. The redhead was probably running. He was taking deep breaths.

"Betty...what happened? I saw those hash tags..."

It took Jughead exactly five minutes to explain him everything. Archie was shocked to his core.

"This is load of crap man...first Jughead and now Polly..."

"Calm down Andrews." Miguel said. Then he looked at Betty.

"Yes, the baby shower is a great idea. But first, we must wait until this mess calmed down. Every single one of us must lay low. Participate in the search if you want to. But Polly must not be caught. The whole town is on the verse of mass hysteria. Polly getting caught will add fuel."

The whole room was silent. Miguel kept speaking,

"Betty, as much as I understand your family, they will certainly try to gain the upper hand. They will play their trump card."

"What trump card?" Betty was astonished.

"A public announcement about Polly's pregnancy and Jason being the father."

"What?"

"Think about it, Betty. This is basically the only way that can turn the whole table towards us. No one will believe that Polly killed the father of her children. Then we strike hard."

"How?" Jughead asked. He was literally shocked after the revelations.

"By taking Polly to the sheriff. We have the ultimate trump in our hand...Polly herself. Her safety is our topmost priority, guys. We will ensure that." Miguel said.

Everyone present in the class agreed with the plan. Then Miguel looked at Betty.

"Polly wants to meet you in the evening. Can you and Veronica come to my house after school?"

Both the girls agreed with a smile. Miguel approached Betty and took her one hand in his.

"Remember, fear does not exists; pain does not exists; defeats does not exists. We will win at any cost. Jason will get justice. We cannot replace the loss that Polly suffered...but we all will be with her.

Betty smiled a bit. Miguel's words were giving him new hope. She would fight for her family and her sister. She was not alone.

"I am lucky to have you guys with me. Without you I don't know what happened to us."

Jughead gave her a hug. Betty also embraced him, forming a little bubble of emotions towards them.

Miguel looked at them, both feeling happy and sad. Happy for themselves and sad for himself. He vowed in his mind to get them together somehow. Both of them had genuine feeling towards each other. Now they just need a suitable situation. A suitable situation for them to get together. He just has to wait for that certain time.

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