Barclay Davis - Angela, Desperate Measures Reveals All

Art by Scopedog

The Gang have all congregated at the Crow's Bar, after what had transpired in court. They all went into the pool room to be by themselves. Since it was still afternoon, Hirsh made sure nobody bothered them. Nobody was saying much of anything. Everyone was still processing what they had taken in.

During the trial, Archie Sanders had brought up Frida's past, where she was actually working as a stripper, which Frida and Izzy had anticipated. What they didn't anticipate was Archie showing photos of a younger Frida having sex with another woman, which Judge Stone allowed to stand. Not much was said by anyone.

Then, Mitch asked Frida "So...have you always had a sexual attraction to other women?"

Frida calmly nodded her head, left to right, and told Mitch and everyone "No. Not before Catherine, or any other woman after."

"Was that her name?" Carol asked Frida.

"Yeah." Frida told her and the rest of the Gang. "Her name was Catherine Walsh. She was my roommate in college, from day one."

"We're you two close, friend wise?" Gloria asked Frida.

"Yes, we were." Frida answered. "We hit it off from day one. Catherine was a ball of energy. She taught me everything I know today. She was like the big sister I never really had."

"So what happened that the two of you ended up getting closer?" Gloria had asked Frida.

Frida started saying "...well, the usual about boys. Catherine wanted to teach me how to kiss, so that I'd be ready when I went out with one. So we kissed. And then, one thing led to another, and before we both knew it, we were naked and in each others arms."

"How long were you two together as lovers?" Gloria asked.

"About a year, a year and a half." Frida said. "By my third year, things started getting out of hand. Catherine started getting rough with me. She wanted to do some kinky S/M stuff with me that I really didn't want to do. Then, one night, after studying by myself in the library, I returned to my room, only to see Catherine in bed, naked with three other women going at it with each other. Shocked at what I saw, I ran away into the washroom where I started throwing up and crying. I didn't return to my room after that. The next day, I asked to be placed in a new room."

"You sound as if she hurt you." Carol told Frida. "Were you in love with her?"

Frida didn't say anything for a moment. Then she said "I don't know...I'm not sure if it was love...but I felt very close to her."

Frida then turned to look at Max, who was leaning up against the pool table. Max's face was expressionless. He never said anything to Frida since they left the courthouse. Frida then said to him "Oh Max. I know I should have told you all that. But I love and care for you so much, that I was scared you'd think so less of me and lose respect for me, if I did."

After a brief moment of silence, Frida panicky blurted out "MAX?" to him.

After not saying anything, Max then told her, "Frida...the way I see all this is...you were just living your life the best you could. It would be stupid of me to judge you for that. I'm not interested in what you did before, Frida. I'm interested in you, right now." Max then cupped his hands to Frida's face and said to her, "I love you so much, Frida. That will never, ever change."

When Frida heard that, she cried out "OH MAX!!!💓💕💖💗💘💞" And hugged him tightly and kissed him deeply, as tears were rolling down her face, like an entire weight was lifted off her shoulders.

As Max and Frida were still kissing each other hard, Bob blurts out "Yeah, dat's all nice n' sweet 'n stuff. But dat ain't gonna git Frida's lil' girl bock in'er muddar's arms. An' aftah t'day, doze chances r' gittin' smallah n' smallah!"

"SO WE'RE JUST GONNA GIVE UP, IS THAT IT?!!" blurted Victor, as he was standing on the pool table. "'Oh, things look SOOOO so bad for us, we're all doomed, we're not gonna win.' Well that's EXACTLY what they said about the United States hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, as they were about to face off against a vastly superior team in Canada. But they went out and kicked those canucklefucks right in their maple leaves an' sent 'em back to the not so great white north, as they went on to win gold for a very grateful nation!"

"Ah...pardon et moi, miseur!" Paul interjected. "But you seem to have badly and incorrectly mistook Canada for Russia!"

After staring at Paul for a moment, Victor blurts out "Russia, Canada. You say Putin, I say poutine, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?!!" Paul was going to say something about that, but, at the last moment, decided not to, for fear Victor's response would be stupid.

"My point is this..." Victor continued. "Nobody expected the Americans to win that game, but they did! Just like nobody's expecting Frida to win this case as it stands, so we need to get down and dirty here. That bum Sanders has declared war, and if Frida ever has a hope in hell of getting Angela back, we need to fight fire with fire, and burn that bum's ass!"

After the Gang took all that in, Max, crossing his arms, says to Victor "And just HOW are we going to go about fighting fire with fire, shellface?"

Victor puts his claws together and moves them about, like he's in a maniacal glee, and, with a sinister smile on his face, tells the Gang "You just leave everything to Ol' Vic!🦀😈"

***

Evening at Archie's place, and all is not well.

Archie had just given Angela a horrible spanking for her running into her mother's arms in court. He's dragging her to her room to stay for the rest of the evening. As he shoved her into her room, Archie told Angela, "NOW GO TO SLEEP!!!" and then slammed the door. Angela was crying her eyes out over what her father had done to her.

But then, Angela heard a voice.

"Angela!" it said. Angela stopped crying enough to listen. After she said 'whuh?..' it said, "Don't be scared. Just look under the bed."

Angela peeked under her bed to see Victor staring at her with a big, cheesy grin on his face. Victor then said to Angela, "Hiya sweeeee-tee!🦀😁"

"VICTOR!!!" Angela said to him, so happily. Victor crawls out from under the bed, where Angela picks him up to give him a big hug. Angela then says to Victor, with tears coming down her eyes "I missed yew, Victor!"

"I missed you too, sweetie!" Victor told Angela. "And your mommy misses you so badly. And so does Max and everyone else. Everybody wants to see you back with her, so..." Just then, Victor's crabby senses kicked in, and said to Angela "QUICK! Put me down, now!" Angela obliged, and Victor scurried back under the bed.

Then, Archie opened the door, and yelled at Angela "WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?"

Angela just meekly said to her father "...nuttin'."

Archie then scowls and points his finger at Angela, then slams the door shut when leaving.

Angela was just sitting there looking sad, while Victor came out from under the bed with his claws out and snapping them in anger while muttering something under his breath as to what he wants to do to Archie.🦀😠😠😠😠😠

"I don' wike it here, Victor. I wanna go back t' mommy!" Angela says to Victor, sounding like she's ready to cry again.

"Well, don't you worry about that, sweetie!" Victor assures Angela. He crawls back under the bed to get something. He comes out with a crab sized duffle bag filled with tiny microphones. "I'm gonna put these all over the place, so that we can record what your daddy is sayin' and use it against him. We'll see to it that you're back in your mommy's arms again!🦀😉😁"

Angela makes a little smile at Victor.

***

At Max's apartment, Izzy, who was invited over to join Max, Frida, and the Gang, was listening to some of what Victor had recorded over at Archie's place. And it was quite revealing.

Everyone could hear Archie's father screaming at the end, "THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, BOY!!! IF YOU FUCK THINGS UP WITH THIS CASE, IT'S OVER FOR YOU, UNDERSTAND?!! WE'RE PAYING THAT HARVARD LAWYER A SHIT TON OF OUR MONEY FOR YOU, AND THERE HAD BETTER BE SOME FUCKING RESULTS FROM THAT!!!"

The recording stops, and after a moment of taking all that in, Victor responds "And there. It. Is! The real reason Archie went and took Angela! He needs her if he hopes to remain in his family's finances. If he doesn't marry his overripe squeeze, and have Angela in official custody by his 30th birthday - which, SPOILER ALERT, is fast closing in on him - daddy kicks him off the gravy train, for good!"

"Holy fucking shit!" Max blurted out. "That jerk is far more pathetic than anyone could imagine!"

"I KNEW IT!!!😠" An enraged Frida screamed. "That asshole never cared for Angela! He just cares about his daddy's money!"

"While Angela is at the mercy of an obnoxious oaf!" Sam chimed in.

"Well, no worries, now!" Victor assures everyone. "Once that judge hears all that, he'll have no choice BUT to hand Angela over to Frida."

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?" Izzy yelps out. "We can't enter that as evidence under ANY circumstance!"

"Huh? WHY NOT?!!" Victor demands while being dumbfounded over Izzy's comments.

"That evidence was obtained illegally." Izzy explains. "If the court hears that, Sanders' lawyer is going to demand how we got it, and we'll have no choice but to tell him the truth, under oath. And once we do, that judge will immediately dismiss that evidence, and Frida will be in a much bigger hole than before!"

"Well then NOW WHAT?" Max snaps. "That evidence is the key to getting Angela back! How are we going to present it to that judge without harming Frida's chances?"

"Well..." Frida starts to say. "If there's one thing I know about Archie, it's that he's sooooo stupid. Perhaps if Izzy can find a way to make Archie slip up and speak the truth, then maybe that recording won't be necessary."

After a moment, the Gang is looking at Izzy, wondering if he concurs with what Frida said. Then, after thinking about it, Izzy said, "Well...it's worth a shot!"

Coming up: Barclay Davis - Angela, Friends Like These