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To say that Reed Pena had a complicated life was a huge understatement. He was from a branch of one of the most powerful families in Massachusetts, if not the entire United States, and was rubbing elbows with people who had more money in their bank accounts than 99.999% of the United States would earn in their entire lifetime. Money didn't matter to him, he had grown to not care about it or what it bought. Born the unwanted and unloved third son of Kevin and Penelope Clarence, he was abused, neglected, and forced to live on his own for three months before nearly dying in a house fire. To make matters all the worse, he wasn't alone: he had to look after his sister Kylie, a transgender girl who was the constant source of the abuse that Reed endured. The two were saved in time, but their lives changed. The duo were fostered then adopted by a couple looking to foster or adopt, with the two finding that the kids were exactly what they needed to make their lives complete. Kennedy Pena was transgender like Kylie while Willie Pena was the antithesis of what Kevin and Penelope were. The two gave them all of the love and affection that Reed and Kylie needed and showed that there was nothing that either could do to upset them let alone earn abuse- not running away, not making them targets for bigotry. The Penas were thrown for a loop when Willie was asked to be adopted by the couple who had helped to raise him, giving Reed even more family as time went on. These family were the most powerful of families and through them Reed found support, friendship, and even love. And as if that wasn't enough, they also brought him a younger sibling who gave Kennedy a baby to raise as her own! Kylie thrived under the Penas, becoming everything that Reed hoped that she could be and giving their mother a daughter to love and teach the ways of womanhood as well as be an ear for the frustrations that being a transgender girl could bring. She developed into a beauty, found love early on with a young girl named Jordan King, and eventually became a mother after college. Jordan and Reed understood a lot of what what happening with her and became close despite Jordan struggling with being a lesbian and having a male close to her who didn't see her as a sex object- just Kylie's beloved lover. Reed's baby brother grew up to follow in their father's footsteps, taking after Willie the same way that Kylie and Reed took after Kennedy but without the abuse. Reed was proud of the little boy but never told him as the two were often at odds due to their age difference and differing personalities. Billy, his brother, took his moving out and marrying hard and cried for hours over Reed leaving him to which the young boy found out just how much Reed cared about him: he didn't want him to be burdened by being around all of the time and wanted Billy to grow up to be himself and not trying to act like Reed like he had done since Billy was born. Over time, Reed found a career in accounting and financial analysis earning him a steady paycheck as well as a job with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office as an analyst. He earned an accounting degree, financial analyst certifications, became a Certified Public Accountant, and took part in multiple investigations into corruption and fraud. He was the go-to for finding hidden money as well as ways of getting cases locked down to the point of guaranteeing convictions. Being so successful bred anger and jealousy from the prosecutors which led to Reed taking nighttime classes in law to earn a law degree so he would be able to prosecute the very cases he investigated. It was a long time, but he managed to earn his degree and pass the bar earning a promotion and seeing his worth to the Attorney General soar over all others. His rapport with the Massachusetts State Police and the local officers in multiple jurisdictions added to that giving him one of the most coveted jobs in the entire office: lead prosecutor, the face of the state in major cases. Reed's professional life was only matched by his private life as he married his longtime girlfriend and crush Jessie after she graduated high school in 2022. Reed spent a year off from school working for the Attorney General's office and in Jessie's aunt's accounting firm giving Reed a lot of experience as well as allowing him to be around Jessie without temptation. The two were madly in love and it was only a piece or paper to anyone who knew them as they were all but married before then. The couple endured as Jessie earned a degree in physical therapy then her doctorate, with her taking the long path to earn as many certifications as she could to allow her to maximize her ability to help with the recovery of patients. She had issues at times with clients, especially when interning with the Boston Bruins, as she suffered sexual harassment then a local media firestorm as she became a pariah for doing as she was required to do in reporting the incidents. She won a hefty lawsuit against the team and saw a big increase in patients coming to her from rival therapists, but didn't let the money go to her head. The two spent a long time working until parenthood caught them by surprise. Then it hit them again as the couple had another child. Lee Pena was born in 2029 and Gabrielle born in 2030, with the two kids changing the couple forever as they moved out of their small apartment and into a new house- one that was owned by neighbors who had known Reed for years and who left the house to the Penas as they were the closest the couple had to children. It was three houses down from Reed's parents and perfect in every way, even if it meant that the kids would be spoiled rotten by their neighbors across the street. Reed loved life but knew that one day his luck would run out and he'd have a crisis on his hands, one years in the making and manipulated by outside forces. He feared the day when his mother would be forced out of her job, with Reed forced to follow her into the unknown world of law. He hated to think of what he'd do without the Attorney General's office, but it was something that was fast approaching. December, 2037 Reed paced his office as he read the news that he hated to see: the current Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts wasn't going to run for re-election and was leaving politics. He left a gaping hole in the office as he was being pushed out for reasons unknown to most but to him the truth was known- he was caught one too many times with his hand in the cookie jar and had to pay the price by going away so that he didn't hurt his political party anymore. He knew that he wouldn't escape any of the charges thanks to the federal government leading the case, so he opted to quit while behind. The news saw sharks circling to position themselves as the next one to win the coveted position. It was one that had been refused by Reed's own mother multiple times over the years despite her right to jump in as the acting Attorney General as per the state constitution. She hated politics with a passion despite working in a politically charged job, she refused to be a pawn of political parties or electioneers. Once work was done for the day, Kennedy took her son aside and asked him to go over her house to talk about things in private. Reed knew what this meant: she was going to start looking for someone to run and hopefully win the office. She did it several times before, sadly losing twice but each time it proved to be the better choice to all than the one who had actually won the job. This time was different, this time she had a sense of dread that belied her true intent- one that she rarely ever let show but an intent that those who truly knew her knew was going to end up changing the life of whomever she was focused on. He hated to think that it was going to lead to her full retirement, but all signs pointed to Kennedy being fired by the new man in charge despite years of experience and respect of hundreds of court and state employees. Many had tried to fire her in the past to get their own people in the job, with those who did ending up losing respect, clout, and credibility that was sorely needed in the state to sustain their political base. At home, Kennedy laid out her plans: Reed had to run for the position. He was the best person to run as he had years of experience, the highest conviction rate among court cases brought to trial, and had the full respect of all of the major law enforcement agencies in the state. Few could top his resume. Reed refused. He outright refused to do it. He laughed at the idea and walked out of the room. A few minutes later, he returned to find his mother crying then through tears told him, "You are the only person who can beat Lionel Rice. He will win the nomination easily, but he can't beat you. He knows it. He hopes that you hold true to our refusal to enter politics. If you don't run, I'll be fired. All of the hard work that we have spent years building will be demolished- all so his backers can do as they please. I don't ask for much, but I beg of you to please run against him. Only you can beat him." It took all of his might to not refuse, all he could do was say, "I'll think about it. I make no promises and I won't run unless I get Jessie's approval. This is going to involve both of us, if she refuses then I won't run no matter how much you beg me." Two houses down, Reed entered his house and explained what was going on to his wife Jessie. She had a knack for being able to sense what was really going on with her beloved husband and forced out what was really eating at him, making him scared and preventing him from agreeing to do what he needed to do. No matter how hard he tried, she could always get the truth from her husband. Sighing, he told her, "Mom, dad, Kylie, Billy, Jaimie, Uncle John, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Jake, you, Amy, Donald, Francesca, Michael, Pop, Will, Claire, Ma: all of you will be thrown out in front of the state. All of what happened to us in the past will be brought up. We can't hide from it nor lie about it. I don't want you hurt. I don't want what happened to you at the Bruins training center brought up so everyone can go after you again. I don't want old wounds reopened. You are all my family, you are all I have in the world. I don't want anyone hurt because I chose to run for political office." The truth was out there. Reed was afraid for everyone else, just like he always was. It was one of many traits that Jessie loved about her husband, especially as it made him a better person than anyone else. Smiling, Jessie looked him in the eye and told him, "We can take it. It's nothing new. What happened to me was a long time ago and the team got slammed hard by the state for what happened. What happened to all of the others was years ago. Uncle John doesn't care one bit about politics, neither does Jaimie or mom and dad or Michael, Claire, or Will. We are family, we will support you through thick and thin. If anyone tries to go after us, they'll see just what our family will do to protect one another. It's the same as always, we are targets to anyone with an agenda. That Rice guy won't last, you are better than him in all ways. You know his weaknesses and his dirty secrets. He won't win, he never had a chance." The next day, Reed read the announcement in the newspaper of Lionel Rice announcing his candidacy. Rice had several major supporters lined up, but to anyone who had insider knowledge it was clear that Rice was just their patsy as they were hoping to use him to get away with criminal activities. Reed shook his head at the list of names, all of them were under investigation by him at that moment and by that time next year they would be in jail or awaiting trial. January, 2038 Reed waited two weeks before announcing that he was running for office, with most of the staff at the office in support of him even if none would dare say that they wanted Reed to win. Rice had eyes and ears in the office, he wouldn't hesitate to go after anyone who voiced support but it was clear that Rice wasn't getting any support from anyone in the Attorney General's Office officially. The media didn't give the story any traction, but Rice was furious. Reed was the one person whom he feared, the only person who could run for office and beat him and do so without having to try. Reed had a mountain of support from all corners of the state, Rice only had political support from key figures and who were owed favors to Rice for deflecting investigations until Reed intervened to redirect them. Rice's support was also localized in only a few key people, each of whom had an ax to grind regarding Reed and Kennedy. It didn't matter that Kennedy wasn't running, she was the one who oversaw all of the cases in the state and who did most of the actual work while the Attorney General was a figurehead for all of her hard work. It was something that she had done for two decades and was what kept her in power as it was her support that would make or break you as Attorney General. Rice getting rid of her would blow up in his face but it would only last until her supporters were fired or transferred to new posts. His supporters had to be subtle in how they managed Rice's removals, he'd be under scrutiny for a while but if they timed it right he could overhaul the office in a year while they were able to solidify their power behind him. Kennedy was the only one who could stop them, Rice and she would never get along and she'd ensure that none of his plans saw the light of day. Careful media manipulation caused Reed's announcement to get relegated to a single short paragraph in both Boston newspapers, with the local news broadcasts ignoring it completely. Reed was fine with that as it was too early to do anything and he had a lot of work ahead of him to get his campaign going. His first order of business was hiring a campaign manager, one who had experience with uphill battles but who wasn't afraid to force their candidates' views out there. He listened to multiple people from the governor, Angela Victor, to US Senator Paul James, neither of whom had a clear idea as to how to do it without upsetting Reed but tried to give advice to him anyway. The two were veterans of the political arena and who had won tough battles, but who had never had such an uphill challenge as Reed. After two weeks, Angela's campaign advisor suggested Virginia Elliot to Reed. Virginia was a veteran of a dozen statewide campaigns and who had won each of her candidates elections including several upset victories over heavily favored ones. She was the best of the best and came at a cheap cost- only being paid if the candidate won. Reed was forced to hire her, there were few options and the longer he held off hiring a professional the less his campaign looked to be authentic and the more he looked to be just a wannabe who couldn't do the job without someone holding his hand and directing him: someone like Kennedy, Angela, or Paul. Reed had no choice but to hire her despite Kennedy feeling as though there was something off about the way she just happened to be available at the right time and not latching onto one of the state's many US Representatives, all of whom had better chances of winning than a green candidate like Reed. Despite Kennedy's suspicions, Virginia seemed like a good choice but told Reed to keep a close eye on all emails, financial transactions, meetings, and hiring of campaign staff as Virginia could easily be a covert operative for the massive political machine that dominated state politics and who were the ones backing Rice's campaign. Reed agreed to do so, but hoped that it was Kennedy being overly cautious. It was rare that she was wrong, so he felt the need to err on the side of caution just in case. February 2038 Lionel Rice was struggling financially to get his campaign off of the ground. Try as he might, nobody in the state was willing to donate to his campaign without first getting something from him. It was the way things always worked in the state, Rice had made a major blunder in forgetting that rule and as he had nothing to offer them except empty promises he had little in the way of monetary support. After weeks of struggling, he made a deal with two large donor groups under investigation for their roles in extorting money from state agencies. Rice a would, "Have a talk with the lead investigator" so the case would hit a brick wall and end up getting, "Lost in the shuffle" but first they had to donate to Rice's campaign in a way that didn't look like they were actually donating to him. The two donors happily gave him $500,000 each in the form of money paid to a company that happened to be run by Rice's wife and brother-in-law, with Rice finagling the records so that it looked like it really came from multiple people instead of just the two people and that his brother-in- law was the one to blame for it. Reed didn't have that problem as he chose to loan his campaign money from his personal bank account as well as set limits for how much he was going to spend on TV, radio, internet, mailing, and billboard advertising regardless of what had to be done. That was a start, Virginia got him contributions from various donors and set up fundraisers across the state to get Reed some visibility as well as allow him to interact with the general public more often. She was able to get him out in the public and visible to the point that he was in a different city each day after work, talking to the public about the problems of the state while listening to gripes about anything and everything- something he was used to thanks to his years dealing with Kylie and her hormonal imbalances and Jessie's pregnancies. Rice saw Reed's actions and laughed, but the newspapers were eating it up and touted him as what the state needed most: a down-to-earth candidate who listened to the people and who had actual solutions to problems that the public wanted solved. Rice was an elitist who had no intention of ever listening to anyone who wasn't going to get him a better job or more power, especially as it wasn't his job to do that. He viewed the Attorney General as just a figurehead political position, one that he would use to springboard himself to the Governorship then finally to Presidency. April, 2038 Reed was split between campaigning and working hard on the cases at hand while Rice barely worked and pawned off much of his cases on younger staff while, "Taking the lead" on cases ready to go before a grand jury for indictments. His actions upset many in the office while Reed ignored Rice completely. Reed had a job to do and would do it even if it meant less time traveling around the state. Virginia picked up the slack for Reed by hiring young interns to do a lot of the mailing and many of the phone polls. She was good at coordinating those things and had Reed's name out there and in the eyes of anyone who opened their mailbox. He hated doing mailings but Virginia talked him into it as it was hard to get his face out there without being part of big cases or seeking endorsements from people that he hated having any kind of interaction with or owing favors to. Rice did the opposite, he rarely showed his face in public and had his staff do much of the actual work while he took meetings with multiple politicians in private and away from prying eyes. These were the usual, "Backroom deals" meetings and saw him agreeing to do whatever it took to get his way even if it was illegal and immoral. All Rice cared about was getting the coveted job and if it meant that he had to make a deal with the devil then he would sell his soul to the man to get the job. The two were never seen together at work, which was odd to staff as Rice had to report to Kennedy for a weekly meeting which was held next door to Reed's office. Rice was rarely in the office at all, with it known to many that he was ducking work to meet with donors and putting his name on the work done by his colleagues. Kennedy wisely let it slide, with Rice's division head knowing that she had a plan in the works that would lead to his slip-up and firing with justification. Two days before Patriots Day, April, 2038 Reed was doing something that he hadn't done in six years this year: he was running a marathon. Reed was asked by his sister to run as part of her group in an effort to raise money for sending the kids on a trip to Orlando, FL and give them a chance to unwind away from the city. It was nothing much to him, he'd run the course several times over the years as part of bragging rights among both his college and his high school cross-country teammates then the office's investigators so he knew what to expect. Virginia was upset that he was doing it, especially as the press got wind that he was running for them without consulting with her and doing so without any endorsement from the group. He scoffed at her, it wasn't needed nor would he ever demand that they help him out. The group's directors were all part of his family and voting for him anyway, and it was the family's rule to never endorse politicians even if they were closely linked to the family such as Angela and Paul or longtime patriarch, Louis Reagan. The two had a heated argument about his choosing to run for charity without a proper press package to exploit the fact that he was running for charity at the request of his sister. He growled back, "I won't be running for anything other than raising funds for the group regardless of how much press I'd get. This is my sister you are talking about exploiting: she's off limits to you and everyone. She asked for my help and I intend to help her regardless of what it might have brought my campaign. She stays out of politics and I don't try to use her group for publicity. I don't need it in writing, I told her myself at the start." She growled about him missing parades, he countered fiercely, "I'll make the parades later. The ones I'm going to miss are ones that are in places that I already have a strong foundation: Kensington, Malden, Arlington, Lynn. The ones that I should be going to are this afternoon and tomorrow. I'll make those and I'll gain enough attention to counter whatever I might lose by not going to those other parades." She looked at the numbers that she had and scowled: he was right, he would actually gain a lot more in his going to the other parades than going to the four local parades. He was popular in the cities around his hometown as he knew many firefighters and police officers and frequently shopped at small stores in those cities as they were favorites of his family. He also knew many of the key people in those cities through his grandparents, which was strong enough to get him hundreds of votes without any help. Rice was fuming about the news that Reed was running in the Boston Marathon for a small charity that Rice couldn't exploit for an endorsement to counter the publicity Reed brought to them. Reed was a known athlete who had won several titles in high school and college and who turned down the chance to train for the 2024 Olympics because he wanted to focus on college courses. He was considered to be a legend to all of the state's athletic figures and had gotten support from several major local sports stars who were happy to spread word about voting for him to friends and family on the condition of them not making their support of him public- done so at Reed's own request. Rice saw Reed's running as a publicity stunt but the more he tried to play it off the worse he looked to a growing number of supporters as well as his campaign staff. There was no way that Lionel Rice could get back that lost support, especially as it came with warnings about what would happen to him if he did the unthinkable and threatened them. He was playing with fire and would get burned badly by those same people he tried desperately to court: high-priced political operatives who weren't above going at a person from all sides while keeping their own indiscretions hidden from the public. Rice had to have an emergency meeting with his campaign manager, Patricia Parker. Patricia set down a list of ground rules that Rice had to adhere to from then on if he hoped to win the election, with Rice in a downward spiral toward irrelevancy and alienation if he didn't cool his jets and work the system to his advantage again. He was already ahead in the polls and had the strongest support base, Reed had the tougher job of trying to get support and funding outside of his personal wealth which Rice had gotten taken care of months before with his shady deals. Parker hated to use those il-gotten funds, but she didn't like to lose and if she was going to make things work she had to work with what she had at hand while keeping herself clean from any law-breaking and rule violations. Rice was sitting on a large stash of money that would make him a household name by the end of the summer, but he had to hold off Reed until the time came to use it. Reed simply needed to hold out until the debates, Rice's biggest weakness as Patricia had already pointed out to Rie. The marathon was great fun for Reed as he heard people cheering for him as he ran by and got attention for his sister's charity that they sorely needed while also giving his own campaign a boost by showing it wasn't about him running for office- the marathon was about his sister and her own hard work. He had a big boost in popular opinion and cut down Rice's lead by 10 points, but it was still a hefty margin to overcome and would take a long time to bridge. He drove home, showered, then walked two parades that afternoon. Both parades were short in length but the fact that he was walking them after running 26.2 miles got him huge publicity from each of the local TV stations as well as both major newspapers, with the local officials quite happy to see that their parades had made the news that night for something positive. Reed simply told reporters that he made a commitment to march in the parade and honored their requests even if he was physically exhausted. Rice looked bad in comparison as he came off as aloof and barely interacted with crowds at any of the four parades he marched in. It was only made worse as he ignored photo ops at the end of the parades to get to the next parade, something that officials complained about to Patricia and something that only made her angrily tell him to not do again. He scoffed at her, but she countered that Reed had spent a lot of time at the end of the parade routes taking pictures and ensuring that he was noticed, with Rice being caught on camera rushing away and refusing to take a single picture with the mayor of Chelmsford. Her hunch was right as the news had the snubbing countering Reed's smiling face as he joked with the mayors of Billerica and Boxford. Rice was ridiculed by radio hosts the next day, while Reed received a rare bout of praise from the notoriously anti-Finn Family Boston media. It was further exacerbated by the fact that Rice wasn't at any parades the previous two days while Reed marched in four parades as well as attended meet and greets with young voters at UMass-Lowell. Memorial Day Weekend, 2038 Reed suspended campaigning for the weekend out of respect for family and friends. He was adamant that it was a time of reflection and respect, with Reed telling anyone who asked him he had plans to be with his family and pay respect to the graves of four elders of his family. The fact that each was known to the media through their children and grandchildren only gave his claims more of a feeling of respect. He wasn't lying, he drove with the other members of his extended family to visit four men who had the biggest impact on the Finn Family: Walter Gorman, Austin Woods, Sean Kelly, and Brent Finn. Four of the most respected people in Winnisimmet, MA history and four people whose impact on their family still lingered decades later. Brent Finn alone had caused his the large family to come together as one in a roundabout way, all because he wanted his children to be good people and help others. Reed's hug and kiss of his wife followed by laying flowers at their graves while the other members of the family watched made the news but saw Reed emailing the stations with a scathing response to the invasion of privacy after he asked for them to stay away from the private show of respect. That was just the start as other complaints followed suit as military veterans and people who knew the four men gave their own complaints leading to an on-air apology to Reed and the entire veteran community while the videographer who captured the footage sold to the stations was blacklisted by those same stations. Rice tried to claim that it was all a publicity stunt but had to back away when Junior Kelly, Sean's now tall and strapping grandson, publicly called out Rice for insulting people who understood what it means to be a military veteran and the price that you pay for serving your country. Junior then told the reporter who was acting as Rice's personal sound- byte machine that Rice had nobody in his family who served and had steered clear of the military so had no idea about the sacrifices that they made nor what it was like living with the horrors of war- Reed not only had a father who was a veteran, he had a brother who was in the Navy and who had been in danger and seen his colleagues perish around him. Junior, in full uniform of a captain in the United States Army, sported multiple badges and medals that showed that he wasn't someone who was a coward and who had been to war and been decorated for it. Rice cowered in fear as Junior walked away, with the reporter trying to play it off as no big deal only to see the videographer telling him, "Rice is going to get you pushed out of New England and reported on the corn crops in South Dakota if you aren't careful. Don't let him use you again!" Junior's rebuke was played nationally as Rice had to back away from the public eye until things cooled down. Junior loved Reed deeply and looked up to him, with Reed happy to be the big brother to him as well as Junior's brother. The two had a lot of shared history that only the other understood, even if they had parents who were able to talk with them it was easier at times to talk to one another than parents. July 4th, 2038 After a tense six months of Rice preening and making snide remarks behind Reed's back, he was let go by the Attorney General's Office after being caught by state troopers speeding and making basic lane violations along the Massachusetts Turnpike when he was supposed to be back in Boston in his office working on a case. The troopers had a strong interest in him, they suspected that he wasn't honest with his supervisors and had not actually been working for quite some time despite his name being put on several indictments. This was further strengthened when debit card payments on a state debit card were found to have been made during times he was supposed to have been in the office yet were for gas and food at places miles away such as Worcester or Newburyport. Rice was called into the office to speak with troopers about his whereabouts for the past six months as a string of receipts and expenses made to the state were called into question. His expenses showed a pattern of Rice, "Working" but in reality was miles away from the office and was within a mile of home. He was ordered to repay every penny he had spent and had to endure heavy questions from reporters. Rice played it off as a conspiracy to get rid of him and ruin his candidacy, especially as he had been so vocal about Kennedy's handling of the office. Rice got the traction that he needed as Kennedy refused to answer any questions while Reed ignored the issue altogether. Reed took the hit, it was going to hurt his actual cases if he spoke as he was the one who ended up picking up the slack from Rice's firing. Virginia tried to turn things around for Reed but he told her to let it go, it was going to harm them no matter what he said. He chose the high road and refused to answer questions, while letting Rice do a song and dance about being the only person who could end Kennedy's reign of terror. Reed wasn't one to play those kind of games, the job mattered most and not speaking was helping him in the long run. Rice fumed about his firing falling flat after a few days, especially as the state police refused to admit it was a targeted probe and would only state the classic, "It's an ongoing investigation and to speak about it would violate his rights as well as harm other cases." He had no idea what was actually going on in the office, none of his moles would talk about it and whenever they tried to ask about the investigation they had to answer questions about why they had a keen interest in it. He finally realized that it was too toxic to touch, finally moving on to other things. The 4th of July normally brought cookouts and parades, but Reed again chose family over marching in one of the many parades being held around the state. Once again, Virginia was upset at his refusal to do publicity especially regarding being around his family. She tried to get the media into the Pena family cookout but was herself kicked out by Willie Pena after seeing her appear in his backyard. Willie angrily told her to back away from the family or her dirty past would be aired for all to see. His sly grin told her all that she needed to know: he knew the truth and would break her career. She backed off but told him that he'd pay for his threats. Willie shook his head and angrily told her, "You aren't working for Reed, you are working for Rice. He's not as smart as he thinks, having you spy on Reed and do whatever it took to take him down wouldn't work no matter how hard you tried. Reed is his own man, he knows right from wrong and won't do any of the dirty tricks that Rice will be pulling and will counter them all just by being open and honest with the press and voters. You have been very lucky so far, but you can only do so much more working for Rice before it's clear to Reed that you are a total and utter fraud. Take this piece of advice: quit now and save your reputation because once he finally finds out your true colors and fires you publicly there won't be anyone in the country who'll hire you. You're dead politically, if you mess with Reed you will regret it. His silent supporters will come out of the woodwork when the time comes to protect him." She scowled at him, Reed entered and told her, "You're fired. I'm calling my cousin to change all of the passwords and having my uncle change the locks. You violated your contract so won't get anything out of the work you've done so far. My other cousins will be alerting the media about why you were fired, so don't try to run to them for help. Not even Channel 7 will listen to your story." She stormed out, with Reed sitting down and looking upset while Willie offered him a soothing, "She's a plant. Your mom knew it all along and used her to get at Rice. He's been making constant mistakes due to your mother's maneuvering of your staff to work around Virginia's actions. She never had a chance of harming you, you had help from above and below. Rice made too many mistakes and his people are going to run. He's going down for campaign finance violations along with theft of public money. Rice thinks that he's secure, but he's playing against people who have been at the game longer than he's been alive and with deeper pockets and more power behind them." Kennedy spoke up, "I can't tell you anything further, but he chose the wrong people to back him. He's in a heap of trouble and will be lucky to avoid jail. I doubt he can get out of it once the feds get wind of it and bring their own charges. His campaign is toast, he just doesn't know it yet. He won't win, he'll fight until the end but he won't win- not with a guaranteed prison sentence looming over him." Reed went outside but hid his frustrations. His son Lee and daughter Gabrielle hugged him tight, both knowing that he needed one and calming him while his sister Kylie, sister-in-law Jordan, and nephew Ivan and niece Yvette all kissed him. He couldn't help but feel better, especially as Ivan wasn't one to kiss anyone and Yvette rarely put out any emotion towards him. The family enjoyed a quiet day together, punctuated by Reed's brother Billy calling from his ship. He was happy to see them all together and couldn't help but smile at them trying hard to not ask about the ship and what he had been doing overseas. Reed knew everything already, he kept tabs on his brother in the off chance that someone would use Billy against him so he knew they'd been to Europe. Rice struggled with getting himself noticed throughout the day. The parades that he chose were flops as he wasn't in a key position to get noticed and when he finished he was apathetic to the local politicians earning their scorn as well as rebukes from a few of his biggest supporters. He ended up worse off that day than he had been, especially when word got around about the lost supporters. Rice's day got worse as word reached him that the state was investigating his campaign for violations of the finance laws as well as fraud claims by multiple contractors. The truth was even worse for him: it wasn't going away and the amount of dirty laundry that he'd have to air against certain people to get the charges dropped or pushed until after the election would bankrupt him financially and politically. He had to make a tough decision: fight the charges publicly or use every resource to get around them. He chose the latter, telling Patricia, "Use all of my remaining funds to pay-off the heads of the financial and public integrity divisions. Send word to the hitmen that they have work to do regarding Reed Pena and make sure that they leave no stone unturned. Get everything on him possible no matter how badly it will hurt us. I'll sustain the hit, he'll be dead in the water with no chance of recovery. I don't want to take any chances, get everything possible that you can get then pay the hitmen to dig even deeper." Patricia reluctantly complied with his orders, but told him that she wouldn't lie to either the State Police or FBI when the time. He scoffed at that, but knew that she'd kill his campaign and likely cost him his freedom if she talked. Patricia was of the belief that you played dirty but didn't cross the line- she made that clear from the start and he was jumping over the line bigtime. Late July, 2038 It took a week, but Rice had his needed information. What he got was pure gold, enough to bury Reed and make his entire family out to be dangers to the public. A long list of crimes from murder, extortion, kidnapping, civil rights violations, larceny, tax fraud, and other serious crimes. He didn't notice that there was a common element to all of those crimes: none of those crimes had been done by anyone who was in contact with Reed. The fact that his adoptive parents were two upstanding citizens with a long list of supporters and who had caused most of the people on the list to end up going to prison caused that information to be moot. Reed's past was known publicly through the trials of his birth family and he openly admitted to the press that his birth family had a string of run-ins with the courts and of the incidents that his adoptive family were involved in none of them were the fault of the family and those who harmed the family had already paid for their actions civilly and criminally. Patricia read the files and shook her head at the information uncovered. She compiled a long list of just who were involved in each of the cases and how much money they had to their name after the results of the lawsuits and inheritances and who they had supporting them. The amount of money inherited and won in court was massive, and the people involved were too overpowering for them. She cleared Rice's schedule and locked the door to his office, then loudly told him, "Read this. Don't be stupid and give it a cursory glance: READ IT! This is your 'make or break' moment. If you ignore this memo, we are done. I refuse to destroy my life for your arrogance. They won't hesitate to go after me as well as you. I won't lose my home and family because you want to take on THE FINN FAMILY!" He angrily shot back, "Don't you dare tell me how to run my campaign! This is gold! I'll destroy him and that family with this! I don't care what happens to you, you are just a cheap slut in a business suit. I can make you or break you with a snap of the fingers! My family built this state, I'll do as I please and if you have a problem with that then you'll see just how powerful I really am!" She gathered her things, walked out of the office, then went directly to the State Police detectives to tell them everything that they'd need to bring Rice down. She didn't care that she was toxic to politics, she wanted to ensure that others were protected from Rice and the people supporting him. She hated that it was a deadly game where only the most connected and rich survived, but she had to play it and hoped that the Finn Family would do the right thing and see that she wasn't trying to hurt them- unlike Rice. Rice kept a lid on Patrica's resignation, but sent out feelers to find a new campaign manager to replace her. Virginia was a surprising contact, with her telling him that she'd ensure his victory even if she had to torpedo the other candidates in the process. He liked that, especially as he had plausible deniability about her role as well as making her out to be the scapegoat if things blew up on him. Virginia was secretly working behind the scenes for months to get Reed's campaign shut down, but he'd been too tough to derail and never made mistakes and wisely chose his words whenever he was out in public talking to the public or the media. The issues that she tried to cause his campaign only ended up working in his favor, with the parade and Memorial Day antics bolstering Reed's standing among many voters while the 4th of July family event caused him to be seen as a true family man especially as his well-document extended family was mentioned by analysts. He was never caught in any compromising positions nor had he said a bad thing about Rice causing her frustration- he was, in essence, running the cleanest campaign the state had seen in years. Virginia hated it, but couldn't go after Reed directly due to it looking exactly like it was: her trying to harm him for firing her. She was stuck doing her best to get people to take down Reed from within the campaign while funneling information to Rice who'd be the one who'd end up on the hook when the truth about things came out. She was no fool, what she was doing was on a level not seen in decades and would destroy Rice if not send him to jail. Patricia's sudden resignation sent shockwaves through the media as Rice was left to explain why she had departed after seemingly being on good terms with him. He lied and told them that she wasn't a good manager and had mangled several endorsements, ones that he knew were never coming but had a strong-arm against the politicians for previous favors that saved them from investigations. Most of the state politicians saw what he was doing and kept their distance from the story, Patricia still had dirt on the lot and wouldn't hesitate to go to the Attorney General or US Attorney to take them down. She went directly to the Attorney General anyway, speaking with him about Rice and what he had on Reed while showing that she warned him not to use any information illegally obtained. She was cleared of any wrongdoing, but had to give testimony about Rice's campaign during the time he was working at the office. She had every email saved and every meeting logged, with Rice seeing himself getting most of his paycheck and expenses forfeited to the state with requirements to repay the state what he stole. Patricia talking to the state was leaked to Rice but he had no way of going after her directly. Kennedy, as the state's representative, discretely told him to leave her alone or he'd be arrested for extortion and for hindering a state investigation. He had no intention of letting it go and sent feelers to those who could do the retaliation for him without him getting blamed- ones known already to Kennedy. Kennedy spoke with Patricia after she testified, with Patricia cautioning her about just what Rice would do if given half a chance to have any power if elected. Kennedy smirked then shot back, "He's never in a million years getting elected. He has no chance, he has no actual support. His sycophants are all going to run when he gets indicted, they'll try to go to my son but they made their intentions known already. I know he'll make a huge mistake, scum like him always do. We're ready, he doesn't have anything on us that can't be diminished by Reed's way with words. Bigger people than Rice have tried to go after him, he knows the facts and won't hesitate to counter whatever Rice has against him." Patricia left, impressed by the formidable woman who had been a thorn in Rice's side for the past seven months and who had caused him hours of rants and raves as she undermined every one of his plans for the campaign simply by ensuring that he had to work at the office then had him fired for lying about his working from home or from a regional office. She was the antithesis of Rice: unafraid of change, not in debt to anyone, and backed by people with true power. If Reed was half as good as her, Rice wouldn't have a shot in hell of getting elected let alone doing any of what he wanted to do in office. Late August, 2038 Rice's staff was in crisis and getting worse. He ran the office with an iron fist, frequently battling with a skeleton staff of hired help while trying hard to keep the turmoil from the media. With Patricia gone under dubious circumstances, the media were smelling trouble in the campaign. Patricia spoke with an Assistant US Attorney about Rice's campaign and was told to keep her mouth shut or else it would get out that she lied to the state about what was going on. This was countered by the US Attorney herself countering the order and firing the AUSA while telling Parker to lay low and keep from speaking to the media as it would jeopardize the case against Rice. The state might be trying their hardest to slow the investigation into Rice, but the federal government were keenly interested in it. Rice's moles knew that he was under fire from the state and likely to get indicted, but had no idea that it was much worse than just the state going after him. He was likely to face prison, the state would give it a slap on the wrist but the federal government wanted a pound of flesh. It was his own fault: he had the nerve years before to betray the US Attorney when she was in the same law firm as him, costing her the promotion that she had earned but unintentionally getting her set-up for a bigger job thanks to getting the notice of key people: the next choice to be the US Attorney for Massachusetts. Rice's power was eroding faster than he could counter it. Reed's support base was small but powerful, it was hard to get around them and even harder to deny that getting on their bad side was fatal to anyone if they wanted a job with the state. Even if he didn't do a thing, he had won the majority of support of the real power players in the state- with not one of them asking for a favor in return, no less! Rice had to take a meeting with his backers, with them bluntly telling him to end Reed's campaign or it would get nasty for Rice. They weren't fooling around, they had a candidate ready to challenge him in the primary with all of their support going to the new guy and all of their money being recalled from Rice's secret bank accounts. He was stuck in a bind, he had to abide or he'd lose everything. Rice decided that it was time to go after Reed directly, even if it meant that he would have to get dirty and use his il-gotten information. It was dangerous and could send him to prison, but he would blame it all on Patricia and ensure that she took the blame for getting the information in the first place. He didn't know that the state had the information already and knew who actually got it for him, she wasn't going to get blamed and Rice himself would be the one behind bars for obtaining it. Late August, 2038 Rice grew desperate in his attempt to keep his campaign alive. He had an ace in the hole but it'd be deadly to him if he didn't win the election. He had no choice, he had to go dirty and get at Reed where he hurt the most: his family, especially his birth family. For 21 years, Reed had been a Pena. But the previous 13+ years, he had been a Clarence as well as one of the branches of the large Castillo family. It was a mix that was the single most polarizing in all of Winnisimmet and one that few dared to bring up. It was well-known to the city that Reed was part of two families that were full of criminals, but to anyone who lived in the city during the time where both families were reeking havoc that fact was overruled by the good that Reed, Kylie, Billy, Willie, and Kennedy had done for the city. Rice sent one of his loyal operatives to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution(MCI) Framingham then on to MCI-Cedar Junction to get meetings with the Clarence family and to gather dirt on Reed and Kylie. Billy was untouchable, he had never met his, "Real" father and was only in his, "Real" mother's care for three short months. There was little that they could get on him anyway, thanks to his being an active duty sailor who just so happened to be in a job rating that dealt with a lot of higly classified information making anybody making inquiries into him receive visits from Navy investigators. The Castillos were a no-go as they were more in fear of Reed's adoptive grandfather's reach than of what they'd get in exchange for helping Rice's campaign. No matter how much Rice's operatives tried, they would not speak about Reed nor take any of the deals offered to them. Due to that, the entire attack on Reed hinged on the information obtained from the Clarences- especially Reed's brothers. The Clarence family weren't fools, they used Rice to get themselves freed from prison while also trying to enact revenge against Reed for putting them in prison in the first place. Kylie was too young and too manipulated in their eyes, so everything that had gone wrong that they had been accused of had to have come directly from Reed. The facts didn't matter, they blamed Reed for everything regardless. Once released by the parole board at Rice's demand and acting as their personal lawyer, the Clarences went for the throat and accused Reed of lying to police, falsifying evidence, and coercing his brother in an attempt to get back at his parents. They ignored that Kylie had been transgender and diagnosed long before the family had been sentenced to prison, they called Kylie "Kevin Jr." and claimed Reed had lied to doctors to get them in trouble and lied to the state to get their parental rights revoked. That was picked up by the media who immediately tried to go after Reed, only to be hit by a roadblock as the Clarence family's long history of criminal activities were exposed. The startling fact that Kevin Sr. Albert, and Vincent Clarence having been convicted of attempted murder of Jaimie Finn and the brutal assault on Nichole Smith, Reed's two 2nd- cousins, resulting in Nichole undergoing immediate sexual reassignment surgery brought the hounding of Reed to a halt while Rice had to backpedal over his support of the Clarences as well as ignoring facts about the family that were easily searchable to a lawyer of his caliber especially as Reed had been brutalized by the Clarence family in the months prior to the trio being arrested for the brutal assault/attempted murder. Penelope Clarence was the worst possible person to help his cause as she went on a homophobic, racist, transphobic rant attacking her children and thanking Rice for springing her so she could kill the trio for costing her 20 years of her life behind bars. It led to Penelope being arrested for trying to hire someone to murder Reed while also seeing Billy send a restraining order to her new apartment with instructions on what would happen to her should she dared to try to go after either him, Kylie, Reed, Jordan, Jessie, or their kids. To make matters even worse, it was delivered by several men in US Navy uniforms and sporting familiar special operations insignias- men who were more than happy to allude to what would happen if she went after Billy again and just how painful they'd ensure it was. That fiasco was then followed-up by Rice having to disavow members of his staff and claim ignorance of what was going on, but that backfired further as the memos from Patricia came out. Being the mama bear that she was, Kennedy leaked the memo to the press and ensured that Rice was on the defensive for the next 10 weeks as the state gunned for him for crossing the line. He thought that it was safe, but his arrogance was his undoing in the eyes of those whom he had wronged so often in the past. Early September, 2038 The primaries hit Rice hard as he was forced to debate his opponent, Charles Noble, in a series of long and tough debates throughout late August right when Rice was reeling from the loss of Patricia and the bad publicity that the Clarence Family had caused his campaign. Noble was running as the darkhorse candidate, one who had hoped to use Rice's past as a questionable member of the Attorney General's Office to get the nomination and steal the election for himself. He had no record to run on, he was the face for multiple people who didn't want either Reed or Rice to win yet had an interest in someone in the office being in their pocket. Rice struggled with the debates, coming off as annoyed and ignorant while Noble came off as too green and easily misled by other people. It was a terrible debate series for all involved, one punctuated by the moderators chastising both candidates for being unprepared and unwilling to compromise on issues. Rice was the laughingstock of the state as his poor performance was mocked by local analysts as well as major national comedians for weeks. Rice won the primary in a close one, with Noble angrily conceding and vowing to fight on until the end even if he had to run as the opposing party's candidate. He filed the paperwork to run as an independent and made it onto the ballot in most cities and towns across the state, but wasn't on several key ballots due to Rice getting the clerks to refuse to allow him on the ballot due to some questionable technicality. Noble was furious and sued, winning in court forcing the clerks to resign then went on a long diatribe about Rice while completely ignoring Reed. This was a huge blunder as Reed was gaining on both to the point that he was almost tied with them, with none of them having any real lead anymore. It was Rice's worst nightmare: a split vote between three viable candidates and a weakening support base and a slowly eroding coffer that wasn't likely to be refilled. Noble brought with him several of Rice's supporters, but saw others move on to Reed and the hope that Reed would be able to cadge them deals with the state in exchange for their support. He refused to play along with them and publicly exposed their attempts, causing him to gain a stronger standing while also getting Noble to see that he had underestimated Reed to the point that he had no shot at beating Reed without a lot of help from Rice and some of Rice's dirty tactics- albeit, done much better than Rice. Rice saw the writing on the wall and was forced to stop playing fair and use the Clarence family to his advantage. He had Penelope make the rounds of the media proclaiming Reed sexually assaulted Kylie and had been caught by his school with multiple boys and girls over several years. It was gold to them, but it was also going to lead to scrutiny from investigative reporters who were itching for a story like it. Penelope's claims were taken seriously and kept the story in the spotlight for three weeks. Reed had to cancel multiple appearances while doubling-down on his work in the office. Virginia stoked the fires by telling the media that Reed was planning his next move and hinted that the allegations may be real and that he would address them at some point with a lean towards him dropping out. That was a blatant lie and saw Reed stand before the media and confess, "The woman who gave birth to me is a convicted child abuser who herself allowed a sexual assault of my sister to happen in school on multiple occasions and was caught in the act allowing said sexual assaults to take place by classroom cameras installed for that very purpose. She lied to you all. I have not now nor have I ever hurt anyone sexually or physically. I have defended myself countless times from assaults by bullies and people who were trying to get me arrested and from muggings taking place in Boston as I walked home from class while in college. I have never once hurt another with the intent of harming them, I defended myself and others from assaults as any person would do. My sister isn't running for office and has no interest in politics, Penelope knew this and used you to get revenge on us for telling the truth in court at her trial. We refuse to let her drag us down and won't let her or any of the Clarences take advantage of my running for office to get revenge on us for standing up to their abuse and telling the truth." He moved aside and a younger version of Reed stepped forward, with the young lady smiling at all of the cameras then proclaiming, "Penelope Clarence is a noted liar. This isn't the first time that she has done this sort of lie in an attempt to take down an innocent person. She abused my brother and I over a period of three years, all due to being humiliated for trying to get a transgender student run out of the city's middle school. She got her own son to lie to the police and principal about a sexual assault that never took place, one claimed to be against none other than his own niece. She had no idea that all of the claimed times were recorded and the supposed witness wasn't anywhere near where it supposed to have happened. You are in such a rush to get dirt on my brother that you ignore just who is making the claims: a convicted liar and serial abuser. You are going after the victims and helping the abuser. You don't care about the truth: you only want a juicy story. The truth is that you are fools who don't deserve to be called reporters as you fail to do the most basic parts of your job: reporting the facts." Kylie's response caused an uproar in the media as the few reporters who were going out of their way to go after Reed were in a war of words with their colleagues who were trying to report the facts of the situation and who saw the truth in both Kylie's and Reed's words. Penelope being used as a source of any information about Reed was examined and laughed at as she had no contact with any of the Pena children since her arrest 20 years before. The fact that she had a history of lying to anyone about them was scrutinized and after three days the truth about why they were so quick to believe her was found: she was working with Rice and was being paid by him to talk to the media about Reed's past. The state was set for Reed and Rice to debate, with Noble being added at Reed's request as he was too big of a wildcard to ignore and would counter the two on multiple levels. Noble had no choice but to be there, if he wasn't he had no shot at keeping his campaign alive and as he was also an independent he'd lose out on valuable advertising time for his campaign. Rice hated that Noble would be there as the two were so alike that Noble watered down what Rice tried to say while also getting Rice's blood pressure to rise as Noble's barbs were on-target and hit hard. Early October, 2038 Rice was struggling to keep Noble and Reed behind him in the polls. He couldn't counter any of their momentum and was constantly on the defensive as Noble went at him from any angle. No matter what he did, Noble had a counter and could make him look worse while Reed got off without any notice. That was just the start, things got worse as Noble started to drop hints about Rice getting indicted by a grand jury for actions he had done while he was a lawyer for a notorious political family. It was all true, but Rice wasn't actually the one being targeted by the grand jury and had been forced to testify about a lawsuit he was part of that the family successfully defended. Rice's name started to cause issues for event organizers as his behavior became more and more diva-ish to the point that he was told not to bother with several fall events. The biggest event that he was kicked out of was the annual East Boston Columbus Day parade, one that both Noble and Reed were touted as being part of and one that would get a large amount of votes as it always made the six news channels. Rice tried to claim that he was blackballed due to the other candidates, but parade organizers told the media that he demanded to be paid for appearing and refused to adhere to any of their requirements for number of supporters marching and what could be given out. Rice was left to apologize to the parade, it was a blow that he couldn't afford and went a long way to showing that he was of the typical, "What's in it for me" mindset that Reed had been running on stopping. The parade was fun for Reed as he had to constantly stop as his extended family and friends were all at the parade and the kids hugged and kissed him. His nieces and nephews caused him to blush, especially as they picked the perfect time to hug and kiss him as cameras were on him filming him for the evening news reports. His picking up and deeply hugging his niece Quinn as she jumped out at him was one of the highlights of the parade as it was a genuine reaction from her. The image made it across the country as the beautiful little girl and Reed made for a perfect image as it was so non-politician-like of Reed causing him to shoot ahead in the polls while making his image as a family candidate stronger. When the fact that Quinn was the granddaughter of John Finn was revealed, it got even more press as the little girl being part of one of the richest families yet looking "normal" and acting "like any other person" and making her uncle blush over her kisses made many rethink what was said about the family and the kids in it. Rice spent the evening screaming at staff and tossing things at walls as Reed was the talk of the media. It was punctuated by the police being called to the office and issuing a citation for his actions, followed closely by Rice's staff quitting en-masse as he threatened them over the day going against him. Things got worse as new polls showed that it was a dead heat, with Reed gaining ground to the point that he and Rice were even while Noble was barely hanging on but had enough support to tip the balance to one or the other should he choose to support one and drop out entirely. Rice was forced to take drastic measures and called Albert and Vincent Clarence. The two needed help as they weren't able to find jobs and would do whatever Rice wanted so long as they got paid. Rice had a grin as he heard their costs, they wanted enough to get new identities so they could get away and start over- they had no chance of doing so in Massachusetts thanks to the Penas and Finns looming close by. The two spent a week observing Reed and Jessie. After two days it wasn't worth watching Reed but the two hit paydirt watching Jessie at her physical therapy studio. The studio was nondescript and looked as if it was for other purposes, which the duo hoped to use against Reed by making up lies about what was going on inside. They didn't know that it wasn't fully owned by Jessie, it was owned by three other people- ones who were close to Reed through his family and friends. Rice smirked at seeing the possibilities: he could go after Reed through Jessie by making-up claims of it being a front for prostitution and molestation. The facts didn't matter, such a story would destroy the studio and tarnish Reed. He'd get what he needed in Reed being forced to withdraw at the last minute to save face while his wife ended up getting her license suspended, "Pending investigation." Rice's Achilles Heel was always his arrogance and like so many times before, he failed to investigate the studio and just who owned it and what their connections were to Reed besides Jessie. If he had done so, he'd have seen it was also owned by the daughter of a police office, the son of a federal agent who also happened to be Reed's cousin, and the son-in-law of the most famous resident of Winnisimmet and a former New England Patriots player: Mitch Gibson. In fact, all of the owners were related to John Finn directly through his cousins, daughter, and his wife with Rice facing the one person you never want to upset in John Finn. Rice reported the claims to to the state causing the clinic to be shuttered for a day as the state sent in a few investigators to sniff around for proof while having the licensing board force the four owners to be at a meeting in Boston regarding the clinic and what was going on in it. Rice leaked to the media that it was in regards to prostitution and drug abuse, with the media seeking anyone who were employed there or who were patients there. There was nobody who said anything useful against Jessie and any of the other owners, it was nothing but praise for their abilities at getting people healthy again. John Finn did his own investigating via his favorite private investigators and found the truth in minutes, with Rice having to explain to the State Police why he lied to them and the licensing board about what was going on at the clinic. He tried to blame it all on Vincent and Albert, but both had already spoken to the investigators and troopers and confessed to being paid by Rice. The State Police closed their case and told the media just what was happening and why and saw Rice immediately have to sequester away from anyone until the firestorm against him died down. Rice ended up in worse trouble as he faced a lawsuit from the four owners of the clinic. Mitch wasn't in a good mood and went after Rice every way possible, especially as he was the most famous and had the clout to get attention their way and make Rice out to be the fraud that he was. Rice had to quickly settle with the clinic in the hopes of it not hurting him anymore, but Mitch allowed the amount paid to them to be leaked with the clinic being paid $2 million from Rice's campaign causing questions about how it was able to be paid if Rice was crying foul about campaign costs and not doing much fundraising. Noble tried to use Jessie's investigation against Reed in a hope that Reed would be forced out. What it did was cause Reed to double-down on his campaign and show just why he was running: to prevent the same thing from happening to other businesses and keep competition fair. Noble and he exchanged the most noted online exchange in decades as the two debated and had Reed again coming out on top as he pounded out why he was running and showed that Noble only had his own interest at heart- not anyone else especially not the general public. Reed had no idea that the debate would go viral, but he was glad to see that people sided with him in it and Noble had to backtrack for much of the battle and agree with all of Reed's points. The truth was the two were so much alike that Noble was actively trying to imitate Reed while presenting ideas that were his own and failing. Noble's candidacy was over then and there, he couldn't survive the true debates but would participate just to cause Rice and Reed issues with credibility and gain political points. Mid-October, 2038 Rice got desperate and tried to pull an "October Surprise" maneuver on Reed by exposing several long-held police reports regarding him. Each report was from when he was in high school and included an arrest warrant, complete with claims of assault and lying to police. Rice had held on to them for months but with things getting tighter he had no choice but to leak them. When the media looked into the story they were shocked by the allegations that were levied against Reed, but unlike what they had done in the past they actually investigated the claims and showed that they were all linked to the same group of people who were both arrested for and convicted of their crimes. Reed was actually the victim in the incidents, with the arrest warrant being quashed because of there being a preexisting police report that refuted the claims taken directly by higher officers on scene at the time and backed by several other directly related police reports, court documents, and lawsuits. Rice's, "October Surprise" turned on him as Reed was shown to be much more mundane and human as he was like so many others: a victim of abuse by those with power and who fought back against his abusers and actually won a hefty amount of money for those abuses. Rice fumed for days after his actions were turned around on him making him out to be someone who'd do whatever it took to win and who just didn't care about the situation so long as he got what he wanted from others: in essence, the truth about him. What stung worse was that Rice had to explain where he got the information from as it was a case involving multiple minors that was sealed per order of the courts and supposed to be expunged causing him to have to lie and deflect forcing the media to seek answers that were not readily available and only led to Rice looking worse to them. He was down to just a few supporters as the media all but refused to listen to him or give him the time of day anymore. Times got rough for Rice as Noble refused to give up and toss support behind him, with Noble telling him, "I'm in it to ensure that you lose. I don't care about winning anymore, only that you lose. I hate that Reed Pena might win, but I'll be damned if I let you get the job. He'll be dealt with soon, you're done." Noble met with several people who could make his words come to fruition, having a late night meeting at Noble's aunt's house in rural Byfield to discuss the situation and what to do about Reed and his large meddling family. He was all business, telling the group of six that he wanted any dirt on Reed and find whatever they could no matter the cost. This was beyond payback, this was now a fight for survival and Noble wasn't going go down without a fight. The group chose to strike at Reed's campaign office then hit the Attorney General's Office. They had a clear idea of what they wanted: memos, expense reports, emails, pictures- anything of value that wasn't available to the general public and damaging to Reed. They wanted everything possible, no matter how minute it was and how much it might hurt Noble in the end. What they didn't know was that the offices were monitored 24/7 by high tech cameras and Reed was of the belief that you kept no secrets from your staffers. This believe meant that he had no memos, nor any emails, nor any secret expense reports, and especially no pictures that weren't available already. What he did keep locked-up was pictures of his children and of his wife, he didn't want anything to happen to them and it helped center him while in the office. After adjusting the plan to the minute, two teams hit the offices simultaneously. This was one of their few mistakes as the groups caused an immediate alarm that caused the State Police to respond to the two offices forcing the local officers away from the campaign office as the detectives weren't about to play with fire. Their hunch was right as the men were caught inside both offices and found to have been the relatives of the responding local officers making the whole response planned form the start. Reed was alerted to which he asked them to review the security footage of the past few hours, with the men caught talking about all of their plans loudly while Noble's name was tossed around and had even featured Noble himself calling and heard telling them what to find in the offices. Noble was arrested and charged alongside the groups, with the media going after him hard for breaking one of the most sacred rules of politics: no burglarizing offices. The rule was in place for 66 years, Noble knew it well as he joked about it in the past. Reed spoke to the media in the morning and told them that he was disappointed that Noble would stoop to such desperate measures but wasn't surprised. He turned his attention around to Rice and demanded that Rice run a clean campaign as this was beyond dirty. Rice had to back off of his plans, Reed hit the right chord with the media and voters causing Rice to have to rely on the debates to get him over again. Rice was forced to back away from his tactics, with money being spent on advertisements that tried to portray Rice as someone who could make deals and protect the public while showcasing his education and long history of working for the people. What was lacking in the advertisements were the true facts about his life: he was from, "Old money" and had been expelled from his boarding school thus had to go to a local public high school, he was accused of cheating in college and nearly expelled but a discrete payment by his parents to the college to pay for a needed renovation to the dorms saw him transfer to a state college, and finally his work "for the people" was mostly as an assistant in a "show up and collect your check" job and he didn't actually work, "For the people" until after Reed was hired right out of high school. In essence, he omitted key facts that would come back to haunt him at the debates. Reed's advertisements were a stark contrast, showcasing his actual work with the state while focusing on a variety of issues that impacted voters that he was directly responsible for. Quotes and sound-bytes of his work were backed by endorsements from key politicians such as Governor Angela Victor and the beloved Senator Paul James and his father, former governor Christian James. Reed didn't ask for their support, but the trio refused to let him go it alone and used their own resources to get him help from those who'd been helped by him in the past and who actually could turn the tide in his favor. Reed attended multiple functions with both, with the State Police escorts happily talking with Reed as the group waited for their cue to enter. His being able to talk about things that had nothing to do with politics while sharing jokes about colleagues that they knew showed that he was truly close to them as it was almost friendship in appearance. Given that they knew multiple people including two troopers who happened to be related to Reed through John Finn and had worked with Reed on occasion when Reed was just a financial analyst for the state showed that he hadn't changed as a person since running. Endorsements from such powerful people, done without backroom deals and a quid pro quo agreement, upset Rice to the point of lashing out at the remaining staff. He tried to retaliate against Angela and the James family but ended up in a forced meeting at a neutral location to talk about what he was doing and why it wasn't wise. He thought that he was getting his way, but things weren't as they seemed to him. Inside, Christian laid out the mistakes that Rice had made and how many of his party's key people had decided to abandon him now that he was showing that he was weak and facing insurmountable odds as a candidate. Rice had no true support and those that still supported him were only doing so as they had a financial stake in Rice succeeding. He was fading fast, the latest poll numbers showed a lead that was widening with Reed now more than five points ahead of Rice and likely he'd end up in third place if he didn't stop his antics and see that he was going to get trounced. Rice thought that he could intimidate them by going after the fact that Angela was divorced, single, and a mother to a young boy. Then he went after Paul by mentioning his illegitimate lesbian daughter and a daughter who he only adopted after she birthed him three kids- kids he alleged were hers, not his wife's as had been claimed for years. That was then followed-up by going after his nieces, ladies with more money in their bank accounts than Rice's entire family combined and with stronger connections than Rice would ever have in his lifetime- political and non-political. When he was done threatening Paul, Paul countered, "You just made a fatal error there. My daughter, a young lady that I had no idea was my daughter until years after I took her into my home out of need, is not now nor has she ever been involved in politics and to go after her is beyond dirty. But you knew the truth, you were hoping to spook me but that won't work. My youngest daughter lived a tough life and I fell in love with her for doing a tough thing so that she could better her life. She is not the mother of my three sons, she was their surrogate. But you knew that as well, considering that the only way you could have known that about them would be by reading their medical records. That's going to be rectified and you will endure the hell that you deserve for breaking into their records. Be glad that my wife isn't here or you'd endure her wrath as she rips you to shreds in federal court, but I think you'll end up there as the men behind you heard the threats and have already told the FBI about your actions." He smirked as Rice watched Angela's State Police detail flex their handcuffs while Angela's assistant came in with an awaiting FBI agent who happened to be listening to the discussion just in case Rice did as they suspected he'd do. Angela happily told Rice, "You made a fatal mistake there by threatening a Peterson. Sheila Bailey hasn't been involved in politics but that'll change- you went after her family and crossed a line that you can't uncross. The Petersons have kept out of the race but that just changed. This is a war now, one that they'd spend millions of their billion-dollar fortune to win. All to get revenge on you and ensure that the right person wins the election- FAIRLY." Rice scoffed at that, to which Angela shot back, "Reed Pena is Avery Porter's cousin-in-law. Surely you know that she's a James through Paul's sister, and just so happens to be Sheila Bailey's younger sister. Both are members of the Finn Family through Jorge and Victoria Castillo, Reed's grandparents, which means you just went to war with six billionaires with John Finn not about to let his family get hurt because you chose to do the dumbest thing possible: hurt his family. Wealth is but an outlet for him, he doesn't need the money coming in through his movie and TV productions this week to offset the money he's going to spend obliterating your campaign. What happened to Noble is just a taste of what he can do to you, you made a huge mistake in springing the Clarence family already so this will only make what he does to you all the more justified." Rice was led out in handcuffs while Angela and Paul called John to talk about what happened. It took a long three hours, but John chose the high road and had the duo do most of the work of dismantling Rice's campaign through political channels so that John wasn't dragged into the mess directly. He wasn't afraid of getting dirty politically, but neither wanted his charities harmed due to Rice's stupidity. The Debates, Late October, 2038 Rice's arrest was kept quiet by his staff and the media, with Rice calling in every favor to reporters and old friends in the Attorney General's Office, Worcester County DA's office, and US Attorney's office. It was felt by the state that things should be kept quiet until after the debates as Reed would be hurt just as much as Rice and would invoke the wrath of John Finn alongside other high-profile people who'd be trying to make money from the issues of the state. Rice wisely kept his head down but knew that he'd be on borrowed time if he did actually get elected as there was no way he'd escape unscathed. Reed was made aware of the situation and agreed to not make light of it unless Rice stepped over the line again, but had his team prepare him for the debates with the focus on Rice attacking him to make a mistake that would cost Reed the election. He spent two weeks preparing after he finished work for the day, with his staff loving the chance to trip him up while giving pot-shots at him without fear of being fired nor blackballed. Reed actively encouraged the insults and barbs, especially as Rice would do a lot of the same insults and barbs in the actual debates. His new chief of staff cautioned him about overpreparing for the debates, but she was also doing so for her own reasons: she wanted him to lose and told Virginia, who then told Rice, just what Reed would be doing and why and how to get at him so that Rice was on the offensive while Reed would be stuck looking like he wasn't ready for the job. Rice could BS answers with the best but Reed was one of the best counterattack specialists in the Attorney General's Office so he would counter whatever Rice had while Rice was left to look unprepared and ignorant instead of Reed. Virginia's plant wasn't as smooth as she thought, her leaks caught up to her as she was caught by junior staffers talking on the phone with Rice's new chief of staff. Reed was immediately told and asked that they not make light of it but met with the woman first thing in the morning at the office. She knew that something was up immediately, Reed never went to the office before 4 PM especially as he didn't want to put off work and couldn't afford to bungle any investigations. Reed told her to sit down then dropped a file in front of her, telling her to read it over before saying any of what she was about to say. She read it, turned white, then looked up at the outraged face of Reed. He looked her in the eyes and angrily announced, "I hate to do it, but you are terminated immediately and I will have to tell the press exactly why you were terminated so close to the debates. You are lucky that I refuse to forward this to the Attorney General, but you are done in this state. The media will eat me up but it's nothing that I can't withstand. Rice is worse off than ever, you killed his campaign!" She growled back, "You are nothing without me! I made you, I'll break you! I own your ass!" He smirked then countered, "You didn't do anything for me, you've been working against me from the start and have openly tried to harm my campaign. I know damn well that most of the ideas for ways of getting over Rice's lead came from others, you have been quick to pounce on them and pass them off as your own- it's what got you promoted before I saw the truth about you. You have done no actual work in the three months you've been working as my chief of staff, you haven't done anything that wasn't done by others. It's no wonder you went to Rice, you are just like him in every way!" She left in disgust while Reed called several contacts in the media to alert them regarding what Virginia had done to his campaign and who both were secretly helping. As expected, he had to explain what he was going to do now and who would be in charge of things. He didn't have an answer, instead he chose to focus on the fact that his staff were able to handle things on their own and had shown to be the real brains of the campaign so far as both of his chiefs of staff were only really figureheads. That evening was the first debate so Rice had fuel to burn Reed. The problem was that the person who was chosen as the moderator was known for being one of the toughest reporters in the state and who'd battled Rice and Reed before and wanted to get retaliation against both. Reed was prepared for this, but Rice had no way of countering whatever was brought against him as he hadn't anticipated it. The drive out to Worcester was tough on Rice as his staff was hurrying to find notes on the moderator to use to unsettle him, while Reed's drive was one of worry as his children were upset at him for being away from them so often. He understood their anger, they heard a lot of things about Rice that they had an issue with and wanted Rice to stop hurting Reed. The debate would be held in a "neutral location" at the fabled Hanover Theatre, a place that was in the heart of Angela Victor's support base and a place that had been rebuilt thanks to Reed's help 20 years before when he was just a junior in high school. His cousin had accidentally gotten the city exposed as being under the thumb of a ruthless criminal property developer, with Reed finding all hidden assets of the man then helping to show that the city was benefiting from removing the man's influence. Hundreds of people owed their homes, jobs, and livelihood to Reed's accounting work on the case, with many of them in the audience as part of the city's attempt to have locals there to cheer or jeer the candidates. The debate was your typical debate, but done in a format that wasn't typical: the two faced one another directly, with the moderator between them on camera every second. It was agreed to by Reed simply to get the moderator to back off of him, while Rice was upset that his reactions were visible to Reed so it was hard to get him by surprise as every twitch would be observed directly. Reed was a keen observer and through his taking of classes on body language in college and law school he was prepared ahead of time for the damaging questions while Rice had no way of knowing what Reed would say to him. The moderator was happy to get the spotlight entirely on him and used it to his advantage by hosting a preshow for the local media with the moderator hinting at the kind of questions that he would ask of the candidates. He loved the spotlight, but had to hold off revealing too much which caused speculation he had something up his sleeve that would cause both candidates to need to work on the fly. The truth was that he was showboating and had nothing prepared beyond standard questions and knew that if he tried to make himself into the star he'd get lambasted by his colleagues and never moderate another debate. The whole setup for the evening was one of going through the history of both candidates and of trying hard to find differences between them that would make them stand out while countering what the other wanted to do for the state. It was a brilliant idea, but it wasn't the moderator's idea: it was all Reed's campaign who had asked for that format, with Rice forced to agree to it as he had no counter-offer. Things got ugly soon after as Noble appeared and tried to get in on the debates, with dozens of his paid supporters demanding that he be allowed inside as well as threatening to sue the state for not allowing him to participate despite it being a clear conflict of interest for him to run while being out on bail for his actions against Reed even if Rice himself was also under that same issue. Noble was only there to cause trouble, with the moderator forcing the State Police to let him into the debate or else he'd shut the whole debate down. He was bluffing, but that was enough to make them move aside as Noble was led to a dressing room to get ready. Reed expected it and told his staffers to not go anywhere alone and to not talk unless necessary as there was a reason Noble was there and it wasn't because he wanted to actually continue his campaign. Rice tried hard to complain about Noble's presence but Reed's team sent him a memo that said bluntly, "He's here for himself and is only hurting his case. He knows he's going to prison, he wants to take both of us down. Giving him fuel will only blow up in your face, let him crash and burn on his own." Rice didn't have to be told what Reed really meant, Noble was playing with fire and Reed was a master of manipulating you into confessing to crimes as well as getting you to contradict yourself to the point of the truth coming out regardless of how buried it was supposed to be. Noble was playing a game that he couldn't win with two people who were dangerous: one criminally, the other psychologically. Reed was one of the few people you could go up against and lose before you even started, a trick learned from his beloved mother Kennedy and one unable to be taught as it took years of knowing her to learn. Rice fumed but couldn't fight the truth: Reed was going to win and no matter how hard he tried the end was close. He ignored the signs for too long and made numerous mistakes, he could have salvaged his career if he had bowed out back in August but his arrogance and ignorance caused him to cost himself his future. Reed was going to annihilate both of them in the debates, so the only thing left to do was hope that that the moderator let Rice get away with his planned tricks and hope that someone out there had the guts to take on Rice as a partner at their law firm, if only until he got back into the game. Mid-October, 2038 The First Debate Noble being there angered the moderator but not enough to show on camera. He had his target for the night and would deflect the venom he had towards Reed into Noble. He was gambling on Reed being a greenhorn and making mistakes, but he had no idea just how prepared Reed was for him. Rice's contempt for all three was apparent from the start as he refused to shake hands with either of the two while sneering at the moderator. Reed shook hands with Noble as well as the moderator and looked like he was set for action, while Noble looked like he was in fear as Reed's reaction to him wasn't what he wanted nor was he able to rile him with his subtle jab not picked up by the microphone. Taking their places, the moderator explained the last minute change and seemed to grow upset that the back of his head would be in the shot showing his bald spot on camera the entire night with Reed in the position he was supposed to be in at the center of everything and visible from all angles due to it being clear that he'd be the target of both Rice and Noble throughout the evening. Reed looked to be standing tall over the others, with the moderator appearing small to the point of being almost as if he was a child looking up at his elders. It was a striking image, made worse by the moderator's way of conducting the debate and unable to get any ground on the trio despite his preparations. Right off the bat, Noble went after Reed. He quickly called Reed a rapist, sexual deviant, and from one of the worst families in the state. He brought up every piece of dirty laundry he could find on any of the family members, with Reed not giving him the outraged or shocked reaction that Noble had wanted. When Noble was done, Reed took a deep breath then explained, "I see now why you demanded to be part of this debate. You have no interest in being Attorney General and certainly do not have the people of this state at heart. You tried this tactic before and it failed. My sister, mother, brother, father, cousins, 2nd-cousins, grandparents, aunt, uncles, nieces, and nephews aren't running: I am. They have not said or done one thing in their lives to warrant your assault on them, they have refused to be involved in this race at my demand and have never met you let alone said a bad thing about you." He took a breath then shot back, "My sister was brutally assaulted by boys after being kidnapped by a group of men. She was raped and assaulted so badly that surgery was the only option for her to have a normal life. It was the most horrific event in our family, one that we wish had not happened but it did. I don't deny that she was given a gift from doctors, one that normally isn't given. But the fact was it was felt by all to undergo the procedure and in doing so it allowed her to live a normal life. How dare you bring this up, you don't know the facts nor do you care: those boys and men are rotting in prison to this day for what they did to those seven girls! Yes, seven. I noticed that you didn't mention that my sister was among a group of seven kidnapped, nor did you mention that the men who organized it are all in prison for crimes directly related to those kidnappings and much worse crimes. Three girls were forced to undergo that surgery for the same reason that my sister did, with one being beaten so badly that she almost died! So before you spout off about mutilation and breaking laws, learn the facts first!" He calmed himself then added, "As for 'sexual deviant' and 'rapist', those are bold words yet they aren't backed by anything except the venom of a group of liars who manipulated stories of people who were actually commuting the crimes against members of my family. The 'rape' you are talking about was a series of sexual assaults against my sister by her kindergarten teacher because she was transgender, one perpetrated with the support of a woman who allowed the same crimes to occur in another town with the town allowing her to go free so their image wasn't tarnished. This same town was forced to declare bankruptcy after the victims of that man's actions came out and sued, with the Attorney General going after both the town and the former principal for their crimes. There was no sexual assault, just more of your twisting of stories to go after my family." Reed had a look of anger and focus, but had come off as strong and supportive. The moderator let it go but asked Rice about his reaction to the events. Rice countered, "Reed Pena has shown that he has no qualms about letting established medical rules go by the wayside if it benefits him and his family. His parents should have been put in jail for mutilating their son and letting him get kidnapped in the first place. This is more of the typical work of massive cult-like family that the state has turned a blind eye to for over 24 years, a family who will finally get what they have earned when I am elected as Attorney General of this state." Rice made a huge mistake in his choice of words, Reed pounced on it by countering, "Your word choice here belies your true intent. My sister is transgender, we have never denied that. She was diagnosed in third grade and lived as a girl since then and until that brutal kidnapping and sexual assault had not once encountered issues involving any people other than those who, like yourself, have issue with transgender people. Your words show that it is a danger to transgender people to have you elected to office as you don't care about their rights or the facts: you only care about image and what you believe to be what is right. You don't care about the suffering that people go through nor the abuse that they incur: all because they are different and want to be normal, to be like everyone else." He took a deep breath then added, "You claim established rules were broken, well you were wrong. It's a rare instance, but surgery is allowed on those under 16 if there are circumstances where surgery is the best option for the patient. Sadly, this has happened four times to those I know and care about. A fifth time was done in another state and the unfortunate victim chose to wait as she didn't want to risk people such as yourself going after her parents for allowing her to undergo the surgery. One young woman was kidnapped and was going to be murdered after her male anatomy was mutilated, another saved the life of her cousin but in doing so was mutilated by the attack, a third was nearly killed and left with little between her legs. They had the surgeries, but at a cost to them. We'd give anything to prevent what happened to them but none of them will let the past get changed." Rice grew red as the crowd cheered, the moderator realized that he was losing the crowd and Reed had an audience that overwhelmingly supported him and tried to change course to Noble who was asked if he would make changes to the office. Noble grinned and proclaimed, "My first order of business is to let the Deputy Attorney General go. That woman has created an office of fear and paranoia and uses it as a personal vetting agency where only cases that she wants gets prosecuted while investigations into those she doesn't like or who are politically convenient to her are undertaken costing us valuable money." The moderator knew exactly who was targeted so went to Reed for a response. Reed had to hold back a sneer but countered, "As much as you hate Kennedy Pena, you intentionally omitted why you want her to be removed: you are under investigation by the state for threats, stealing medical information, trying to extort staff at the office, fraud, tax evasion, tax fraud, and a variety of other crimes. Your real intent is to use the office as a way of enacting revenge as well as sanitizing your past so you don't have a past to show that you have broken the law countless times in the past decade in your attempt to rise to the top in state politics. That would only help you with charges being brought by the Attorney General's Office, that wouldn't prevent county State Police investigators or the US Attorney from prosecuting you for charges for state and federal crimes that your office has a conflict of interest in prosecuting or that you have no way of stopping. You haven no interest in what the office can do for the people, your only real interest is in protecting yourself." The crowd cheered as Reed had hit Noble with a near-fatal blow to his candidacy, especially as Noble had already been arrested by the state on multiple criminal charges. Rice had the counter to that but made a mistake in saying, "Noble is of the belief that he can do whatever he wants while in office, but he can't hide from his criminal deals. He has paid-off multiple donors for favors that have been tracked back to criminal cases that we have a strong hand in prosecuting. He wanted money for support at the expense of charges against multiple senior state representatives being dropped. If elected, he would be a patsy for corrupt politicians and donors trying to get around state laws." Reed quickly pounced on this and added, "Rice has a point but where exactly did you get any of that information? These cases are confidential at this point and currently in front of sitting grand juries. You have just shown that you are unworthy of the office as you have purposely poisoned the jury pool by mentioning active investigations that you have no legal right to know as you are not employed at the Attorney General's Office and aren't prosecuting the case. You have done just as you claimed Noble would do, only you did so with information that nobody outside of a select few is supposed to have and only certain people have access to!" Reed gave a look to the moderator to tell him to end the debate while State Police troopers were at the ready to place both Rice and Noble under arrest. The moderator paused the debate and cleared the stage as the troopers moved in to arrest both while Reed stood tall over the moderator. Reed didn't need to say anything to him, he had said everything already and any one-on-one would cost the moderator. When the break ended, Reed stood alone and proclaimed to the moderator, "The Commonwealth is not to be used by anyone as a way of getting retribution nor extorting from others. We are a state that has a strong history in both the justice system as well as the political system, but times have changed. We are at the crossroads of history and the past needs to be left in the past. The 'good old boy' system is dead, it was replaced by a system where the people's interests come first and always. My counterparts are the last of the dying breed and for their attempts to circumvent the election system have paid a high price. I don't like that they have been arrested for theft of information and violating confidentiality laws, but it was their choice to do so. Our office has to have integrity and the trust of the public, actions by the two are exactly what the people are trying to prevent." Reed walked off as the moderator was left without a retort. The feed was cut and the two being arrested by State Police replaced the image of the moderator sitting alone on stage in a darkened theater with the crowd applauding Reed's speech. He had no response and looked upset at being told-off, the powerful man who made or broke careers was broken by a newcomer with a gift for saying the right thing. The nightly news was rampant with reactions to the debate as Reed's responses were praised by most of the analysts while the state was vilified for arresting two candidates after a debate despite both breaking the law in revealing what they revealed. Reed didn't answer his phone for the next two days and had to work from home to avoid reporters, with Jessie kissing him deeply as she took the kids to school. He holed-up in his attic office and cried for much of the day, regretting running for office and hoping that things would go back to the way they were before he was drafted to run. Over in Worcester, the Attorney General made a rare public court appearance at the arraignment of both Rice and Noble. He looked them over and shook his head, silently cursing that Reed had just won the election because the two were so intent on beating him no matter the cost that they put themselves out there in a way that he and his friends couldn't protect them. He had to act, it would kill him publicly but he had to protect the election and hope that Reed took more flak and ended up losing. As the arraignment started, the judge looked over the charges and told him, "Charges against Charles Noble and Lionel Rice are hereby dropped as I believe them to be politically motivated. I admonish the Attorney General's Office for interfering in an active election by arresting two candidates for the office. I hereby order all investigations into candidate to cease." The judge would take the fallout but the damage was done Reed's lead was eroded while Rice gained a stronger foothold. The judge met with the Attorney General after court and told him that he expected an offer of a higher posting soon or he'd personally ensure that the outgoing Attorney General was before him for "lying under oath" on crimes that didn't actually exist yet. The threat was real, but that didn't stop the federal courts from going after Rice and Noble for their crimes despite the warnings. The US Attorney was outraged that the state judge had all but claimed that the investigations were just a political ploy and found a new route for her investigation- one that proved fruitful. Judicial support now explained how Rice was able to do so much of what he did without fear of backlash and how he avoided being put in a jail cell after violating bail multiple times. Rice was flaunting his connections, but might have just had it all severed thanks to the judge and Attorney General overplaying their hands. The election turning ugly hit the national news throughout the day as Reed's lack of falling for any of the intimidation tactics and the fact that both Rice and Noble went after his family, particularly Kylie, hit a sour note with most of the networks. He came off as sympathetic and a good person for not being as dirty as the others and for keeping things about the people and not about himself. One network decided that Reed was a threat and lambasted him throughout the day. It wasn't a surprise to anyone, they were a longtime operative for Rice's political party and had a strong hatred for the Finn Family since the family had made the network look foolish for years. They had also lost millions due to lawsuits thanks to their reporters and videographers constantly harassing the family, with one reporter ending up in jail for assault after grabbing one of the Finn grandchildren at a park during an attempt to get a story on her mother for one of the network's hit pieces on the Finn Foundation. The child chosen was Abigail Finn, the 2nd child of Michael and Courtney Finn, Reed's 2nd-cousin and Jessie's sister and one of the few in their family who followed in their parents' footsteps. She was a red belt in jujitsu and was one of the top athletes in the state, so caused the reporter to break an arm after he grabbed her. The videographer tried to lie to the police and demanded Abigail be arrested, but had to recant his claims after the video of the reporter trying to grab her was shown- one he himself took. The network wanted blood and sent their best reporters out to get it, but none of them could find any dirt on the family- all that they could find was dirt on people trying to do the same to the family and the ire of every major company, charity, college, and politician in the Northeast. The Finns, particularly the Pena branch, were almost saints and revered by those who actually met them. There was a lot of hard work, but eventually the network would hit gold and use it against Reed. The network went all-on on Reed and found out immediately that Reed had a lot of hidden support as it was a hot topic online across social media platforms as the young voters got behind him while those in the know countered all of the claims by the network's hitmen. Reed was seen as a breath of fresh air in politics and a rare candidate who was running for all of the right reasons and had been honest from the start. His campaign was seen as a model for what to do as a candidate, especially in a tight race. Reed found himself getting numerous endorsements from groups throughout the country, particularly from groups that dealt with child abuse, transgender rights, gay rights, and adoptions. He was exactly the kind of person that they wanted to support- one who was a survivor and supporter without any kind of intent on exploiting them for his own needs. The fact that many of the groups had worked with many of his family members, including Kylie and her wife, was just added fuel for helping his campaign. October 31st, 2038 The next two weeks were filled with ads for Rice and Noble, with all of those ads coming from groups known to support proxies. Rice steadily lost ground while Noble fell out of the polls and was seen as a spoiler for Rice. In reality, he wasn't helping anyone except himself and was only still in it because for him to end his campaign meant he'd be back in jail for violating his bail conditions. Rice got desperate to the point of trying anything to get at Reed. His chance to act was Halloween, the one night where his thugs could go after Reed without fear of being noticed and have an alibi as they'd have masks like hundreds of others in the city. The problem that they would soon discover was that he wasn't alone and those around him were keenly aware of the goings on of people in the neighborhood as well as around the city- folks who grew up there and knew most of the residents. Reed's family went trick or treating but had to adapt plans when Billy Pena's ship came into port for an emergency repair that couldn't wait until they reached Norfolk, VA. Being local, he was drafted by the crew to help coordinate liberty and also visit his hometown and family. His closest friends were home so it was an impromptu reunion for the young foursome. Billy met with Nigel Smith Jr. Benny Herman, and Jack Bollinger for lunch after the captain gave the crew the blessing to disembark and Billy got the proper people contacted to help with transportation. It was a tearful reunion as the four friends hugged deeply and featured Benny and Jack's wives kissing the unattached Billy on the cheeks until he turned red from embarrassment. The crew laughed at them as it was done intentionally, with Billy smiling as the ladies cried into his shoulder over seeing him again. Billy's arrival home caused plans to go after Reed to change as he immediately spotted the group trying to hide in plain sight but sticking out to the lifelong resident of the neighborhood. He subtly looked to the trio who all agreed that they were up to no good and casually walked by them to listen-in on what the group were saying. It was tough to not say something but it was clear that they were looking out for Reed, Jessie, Lee, and Gabrielle and were hoping to grab Reed when he least expected it. They made a major mistake in waiting out in the open, Billy casually called the police and had them removed while walking on to Reed's house to tell him what was going on. Jessie gave him a big hug followed by Gabrielle and Lee, with both kids begging for presents from their uncle. Billy couldn't answer without upsetting them, but Jessie did tell them that he was there because his ship was broken and not because he was on leave like he usually was when he returned home. Billy led them out so Reed could make some phone calls, with his father Willie telling him to keep on with his plans as it would show that he wasn't rattled. Jessie was told to act normally, but keep the two kids close just in case someone tried to use them against Reed. Billy smirked as he was told that, it'd be tough to grab the kids if they were with him and his shipmates- who just happened to be willing to lend a hand to someone who had gotten them some great treats while underway. The family went out trick or treating then returned home to find their home had five men inside, all in masks and carrying weapons. Jessie called 911 while Reed nodded to Billy to record what was said and to hold off unless they tried to strike at the kids. Reed then told the men to leave or he'd call the police, with him adding, "Pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth I'm recording whatever is said and it can and will be used against you in a court of law." The leader ignored Billy and told Reed, "We have a message from Lionel Rice and Charles Noble. We're here to implore you to quit the race and take a cushy job at Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe or your family will have an 'unfortunate accident' tomorrow on the way to school. They're done playing softball, it's a rough time of year, surely you understand accidents happen especially to mothers with annoying kids in the backseat of their car on the way to school." Reed growled back, "You just threatened my wife and kids. I don't care about this race anymore, those two are going down and hard. I have never brought up Rice's parents' convictions for tax fraud nor did I bring up Noble's brother's gambling habits and association with mobsters. I don't play dirty, but if that's the way they want to play then I'm not above fighting back with all of my family. I held them back until now, but you crossed a line that can't be uncrossed and brought down the full wrath of us." Billy was told to leave, this didn't concern him anymore. He ignored them, stood tall over them, then shot back, "Just who in the hell do you think you are to tell me to get out of my brother's house? I was invited here to enjoy an evening with my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew while you five are here uninvited and clearly broke in as this house was locked when we left earlier. I don't know whether to laugh at the gall or pity the stupidity of your actions but you five are going to jail tonight." They tried to make a lunge at him but ended up on the floor as he kicked out the knees of two, grabbed a chair and hit two in the head, then punched out the fifth. He had them in zip-ties before the first of the police officers came inside. He grinned, showed his Master-At-Arms badge, then told them that he had to speak with the State Police as there was a conflict of interest due to his father being the police chief. The officers laughed and relayed the information to dispatch, with five troopers responding to take the five thugs into custody. A detective secured the recording as well as told Billy, "We have to tell the head honcho about this, hopefully the captain understands why you got involved. I think we can chalk it up to a bit of training on your part, surely he'd love knowing that one of his guys gave us a training story." Billy blushed as the troopers called the US Navy representative then had Billy speak, with Billy having to explain in full followed by him sighing and agreeing to return to the ship for his own safety. That led to the troopers telling the captain that the state would look down upon the Navy if any action was taken against Billy especially as he had done something that was within the bounds of his duty as a federal officer of the law and acting in self-defense. That caused a sneer but it did the trick- Billy would have to be left alone and anyone who retaliated against him was in serious trouble. The captain was then handed a note that caused all color to drain from his face and scowl as the trooper in charge casually told the captain, "A Senator, the Governor, and multiple people that you have to meet with tomorrow are aware of what happened tonight and were expecting Wilfredo Pena Jr. to be at the big welcoming ceremony honoring local sailors on your ship. It would be a crime for all of them to be in a terrible mood over your disciplining a sailor for protecting his family from armed intruders." Billy was let go without any action taken against him and a note in his records recommending him for an award. He shrugged it off, it was par the course for his family and he was glad to be part of their big group of family who held off people trying to harm them. It was a long list, but he had one over on his big sister now- she never had to do what he and Reed had done." Onboard the ship, the captain was told by the executive officer, "You can kiss being promoted goodbye, the family is too well-connected and this will get out. The troopers had to alert NCIS and your response is noted. You may not like his sister or mother but you don't have the right to use your bias against any of the sailors under your command. The only thing you could do worse than that was send NCIS after him, but even then he had protection from too many for those weasels to dig any false charges up on." Reed's night got worse as the press were told by Rice about Reed being arrested by State Police. There was a fracas as the State Police wouldn't comment until given the all clear, then told the media, "Earlier this evening there was a break-in at the home of Reed Pena, candidate for Attorney General. Five men broke into his home and threatened him, telling him that if he didn't drop out of the race his wife and children would be killed tomorrow in a staged traffic accident. During this time they noticed another man with the Penas, Reed Pena's younger brother Wilfredo Pena, Jr. The men tried to assault him in an effort to remove him from the home so they could assault Reed. When they advanced on Wilfredo Jr. he defending himself and in doing so disarmed and dropped all five to the floor and detained them until police arrived. As the Penas are the sons and daughter-in-law of Winnisimmet Police Chief Wilfredo Pena Sr. we were asked to investigate and arrest the five men. We have secured the audio recording of the altercations as well as the videos of the five men breaking into the Pena home. Chief Pena has put his full faith in our department to thoroughly investigate this crime and ensure that all involved are brought to justice. We know that it is close to the election, but we are not going to let the guilty parties get away with perverting justice or intimidate citizens for their personal gain." Reed was vilified again for his involvement but it was turned around on the complainers as he wasn't the one who broke into his home and wasn't the one to threaten the wife and children of candidates. The worst complainers had their whining turned around on them by their colleagues as their own past with both Noble and Rice were exposed, especially one who dated both and another who had been friends with Rice since childhood and who was owed money by Rice. Any further complains were drowned by the revelations, with Reed seen as a hero for holding himself together despite dirty tactics used. The next day, Reed was forced to attend a meeting with the US Navy regarding what happened at his house. He hated missing work, but his mother refused to let him get out of the meeting and seemed to know what was going on more than she let on. She should have known, she was the one who organized it and ensured that only a select few were in attendance. He was met by Billy, Kennedy, Willie, Jessie, Kylie, Jordan, their grandparents, aunt, and uncles. It was a mini-reunion, with his cousins and their children missing but knowing exactly what was going on and why. Reed didn't dare make mention of what was going on, he wisely kept quiet. As they entered the conference room, Reed noticed there were a couple of admirals seated followed by several men in suits. Billy looked concerned but Willie greeting the men in suits and the admirals both giving him a handshake after he saluted them showed that it wasn't what they thought it might be. The entire situation changed dramatically, it was something Reed hated but knew would happen. The chief petty officer assigned as to the admirals called the meeting to order and saw the admirals ask Billy to stand forward. He moved toward the front and was asked about the night before, then asked if he would do the same thing again knowing that he risked being disciplined for what happened. It was a setup question, he knew that they wanted to know what happened from his perspective and not from the sanitized and likely inaccurate to the point of cringe-worthy report that the captain had filed. He told the truth and awaited his fate. He was caught off guard when asked if he'd do it again. He took a deep breath and shot back an strong, "I was raised to defend friends and family and I'd gladly do it. It was five men against my brother and sister-in-law, with my niece and nephew cowering in fear in their rooms. I have trained to take down thugs like them since I entered the Navy. My brother is no pushover but it's my job to stop armed people from attacking my ship and detain them for prosecution. I did what I was trained to do and would gladly do it again regardless of the cost to my career." The admirals nodded to one another with the lead admiral telling him, "Your act of heroism in the face of danger was above and beyond the call of duty. You are hereby awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for your act of heroism. You chose to protect family instead of run from it, despite being trained you were also unarmed and at a disadvantage. Congratulations Master-at-Arms 3 Pena." Billy was speechless but endured the dog and pony show for the admirals, with him being shown to the media as a hero for stopping a home invasion while his brother was simply left alone as the Navy were too tough to badger and wouldn't let the facts get twisted especially as NCIS verified the story as truth and had started disciplinary action against the captain for lying on his report and trying to use them as a way of getting at Billy due to his family instead of for actions he might have done on ship. Reed left for the office and worked in silence on multiple cases that needed his attention, with the division heads all knowing that he was focused on the next day. He was in for a fight and it would turn ugly, Rice wasn't out of the race yet and still clung to the hope that people would use their inherent bias against Reed while Noble held out hope that his people would stuff the ballot boxes with enough votes to destroy both Reed and Rice. Election Day, November, 2038 Reed was awoken early by Gabrielle and Lee, with the two smiling brightly at him as they insisted on him eating a big breakfast before heading out to vote before heading into work. Jessie had to rush them off so he could shower and dress, with her smiling brightly at him to show that she was fine. Despite all of the issues that they'd had so far with the election, it was her smiling face that drove him forward and kept him centered on what mattered most. Jessie voted alongside Reed and the rest of the family who lived in the neighborhood, creating a mass of people at the polls and giving a strong showing for Reed despite it being a bit misleading. The fact he was among several known faces such as Mitch Gibson and the Finns made the image stronger as it was tough to not feel like he was backed by real power and not political power. Reed talking with them as he awaited his turn to sign in was one of the most replayed scenes of the day, especially as the ever popular Mitch was never involved in politics and refused to tell who he voted for but showed just who he was supporting simply by laughing and joking with Reed. When he left, Reed was asked what he was going to do that day. He happily told the reporters, "I have to go to work. I might be running for office but I still have work to do. There is always work to do for us even if it's an election day. I know that my counterparts will be out and about, but I have work left to do. The people of this state entrust us with investigating on their behalf and protecting their interests, it doesn't stop because it happens to be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November." Reed's retort was seen as a shot across the bow of Noble and Rice, but his words hit hard with voters as he had one of the best responses in political history. Throughout the day voters started to flock to polls and support Reed, with handmade signs being made across the state by voters trying to support Reed. It was captured on multiple newscasts with Reed surprisingly getting votes in areas that he hadn't tried to get votes from yet who had found something in him that they supported. Rice tried hard to stop the momentum Reed had been building during the day thanks to his soundbyte so had local drug dealers sabotage buses used by cities to get the elderly and poor to the polls. Reed's staff worked quickly to hire buses from wherever they could and brought in security in the form of retired police and military veterans- all of whom supported Reed. It didn't matter if voters weren't going to vote for Reed, they wanted as many people as possible to get the opportunity to vote even if they voted for Rice or Noble instead. When the buses made it to the polls Rice had several hate groups stage protests outside of key polling places in the hopes of scaring voters. This backfired as the groups went up against voters who called out their rants and showed that they were nothing but frauds who were protesting just for attention. The fact that they had connections to Rice only worsened his already shaky foundation as they went after his largest strongholds and were battling his biggest supporters causing a large number to vote for Reed instead blindly voting for their party's candidate as they normally did. Reed was oblivious to the situation and spent much of the morning and afternoon planning cases for the next two months, with the intent on his replacement taking over- be it for his firing or for his winning. After work, he drove home and fed the kids then went out to campaign in several key cities for two hours before he had to return to Winnisimmet to await the results. The trip took a toll on him as it was tense, especially as he was mocked by Rice supporters for his working all day while Rice met voters. There was a war of words from Reed's supporters, who far outnumbered Rice's and who were getting vocal about their candidate's actions. The fact that Rice's people were from out of town an all paid to be there while all of Reed's supporters were volunteers and all locals who had met Reed multiple times did a number on Rice's supporters. Reed ignored them, letting them look foolish while standing tall. Each visit caused more and more people to cheer for him and showed just how much support he truly had as the lines for the polls were longer than expected and featured a wider array of people voting. It was an eye-opener for all as Reed had done the unthinkable: gotten people out to vote who avoided the non-Presidential elections. Even Angela Victor and Paul James had to give him credit for what he did even if he had no idea that his race was affecting all other races that day. That evening the polls were forced to stay open another hour as the lines were long enough in many of the cities to warrant an extension. Rice cried foul while Reed kept quiet, with the Attorney General in hot water as he agreed with Rice about closing the polls at 8PM despite the lines. Angela Victor went to the Supreme Judicial Court and got an extension order forcing the Attorney General to back away as it was out of his hands and given his support for Rice it was deemed a conflict of interest to intervene. Reed went right to his small office in the rented function hall to await the results after the final polls had closed. It took a half hour for the numbers to start to show that Reed had done the unthinkable: he had won. The numbers were from major precincts that were quick to tabulate their votes and quicker to report but based on documented history, they were also the biggest harbingers of things to come. Rice was screaming as he read the numbers, with Virginia Elliot calling him to tell him that there was no way he could change the outcome as all votes were under strict security. She herself tried to get at a few of the precincts, with officers inside escorting her away and telling her to stay away from all polls or she'd answer to the US Attorney. She was finally caught with a ballot box in one of Reed's strongest support bases, Kensington, and arrested on the spot with her phone confiscated by officers as evidence. The officers laughed at her as she swore she'd get them back. Kensington wasn't one of places that Rice had support in any form, so threatening them only led to her getting arrested instead of tossed out on the street. The officers happily had her phone examined and called the State Police to take over as they recognized Rice's handiwork then alerted Reed that there was something fishy about Virginia's actions. Virginia spent the evening in isolation while her home was searched then saw her office checked. When the troopers finished they had enough to charge her with extortion, fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud, and a slew of other crimes all related to money and information exchanges between Rice and her. Despite her being fired, she kept accessing Reed's campaign funds through a hidden bank account that was directly connected to Reed's finance account and had drained several hundred thousand dollars from it. Reed was told the news and just shook his head at her finally getting what she had earned. Nobody had caused her to steal from his campaign and nobody had caused her to lie about her finances. She tried to harm him and his family, she earned her prison stay and would pay the price for her actions. Jessie comforted Reed about the betrayal by Virginia. She happily told him, "She really didn't know who she was up against. I know that Rachel, Hugh, and Margaret will be ripping into her computer as soon as it's available, with Rachel going at her for hurting her family. This is what she lives for, for Virginia to not know who Rachel Sylvester, Hugh Smith, and Margaret Kelly were is a failure on her part. They are family and even if Hugh is still new he's still family to us and will rip her to shreds." Hugh Smith was Reed's 2nd-cousins' 4th-cousin and living with the Smith family until he was 18 due to being a child prodigy/college student, Rachel was Reed's 2nd-cousin and Jessie's longtime friend, and Margaret was his 2nd-cousin's wife/Kylie's close friend/godfather's daughter. His family was extensive and had a lot more members than many towns, but also were close and each of the three had a personal stake in helping him out. Rachel alone was the most dangerous person to Virginia as she was more than happy to rip into computers to extract every bit of usable information- legally or otherwise. Rachel appeared after an hour delay, grinning as she sauntered over to Reed. He shook his head and let loose a somber, "Didn't do her research, did she? I should have warned her not to break the law or try to hurt us, but she'd have done it anyway just to upset me." Rachel countered, "She kept extensive records that date back a decade. You aren't the first who she has done this to and likely weren't going to be the last. She's a deep-cover hitwoman, someone who tries to make chaos in candidacies while working for the opposition. This time she shot herself in the foot since she stole from you. Every penny was recovered and you have a hefty check coming- every penny you loaned will be paid back. It's legitimate, the campaign owes you and the donations from people to your campaign will be seen as actually working instead of your buying your way into office. Miles laid out the expenses and it's one-to-one for donations, any excess can be donated or rolled-over for next time." He looked at his staffers and shot back, "Bonuses to the staff after paying volunteers for their time. It's all found money, I never expected to be paid back. I'd rather they receive something for their hard work and enjoy the fruits of their labor even if it's just a few dollars each." Rachel grinned to which he shot back, "It's several hundred dollars, isn't it? She stole everything and did the whole 'we're broke and need your help' bit to get more money. They earned it, I won't take anything back. They did the hard work, all I did was show up where they told me to." Reed's retort was picked up by news microphones who were setting up for Reed's speech and had more of a story than he realized. Word spread about what he was going to do with what was stolen from him for his staff and the fact that he was basically paying out of his pocket for their work won more support from the public as many of the workers had been part of his campaign for months working for nothing. The usual complainers went after him for taking donations from supporters, but the fact that Virginia was behind the theft and had also coordinated the fundraising before her firing showed that they were only interested in take shots at Reed instead of commenting on what was happening. Reed walked out and greeted his friends, family, and supporters and told them that it would be a long night and put the kids to bed. Gabrielle and Lee were allowed to stay up but were hugged by their big cousins who happily told them to be good. The Finns happily hugged and kissed the two kids, showing them that it was going to be alright and it wasn't another dangerous group trying to hurt Reed. The results started to pour into the hall and saw Reed seeing something that most didn't see: he won in a large number of places that he hadn't expected to win. It was a harbinger of things to come as more of the same held true with Reed winning several key cities by a large margin over the other two. Rice had a bad showing, so much so that he was behind everywhere except his hometown. Rice looked over the numbers and screamed, with the news cameras catching his rants and screams on camera with the reporters assigned to his headquarters trying hard not to speak over him. He looked as if he was going to have a meltdown any second, with him tossing out the media when he lost in several neighboring towns by a wide margin. It was made worse as his party called him to tell him, "You lost. It doesn't need to be finalized, you lost big. You are done, we won't help you anymore." He screamed at them, threatened them, then left in a hurry to go to Reed's campaign headquarters to get Reed to concede the election and give the job to him. Rice was followed by State Police who weren't in the mood to let him destroy anything, Rice wasn't the right mind and if he made it to the function hall he might actually hurt someone or himself. Rice didn't go there, instead he went to Reed's actual office and broke the window before going inside and destroying several computer monitors before trying to tear open filing cabinets. Rice was arrested for vandalism, breaking and entering, burglary, and sent to the hospital for help for the wounds that he received. At the hospital, he was in dire need of mental health help as he flung the nurses and doctors aside causing him to need to be sedated while being placed in restraints until there could be a mental health evaluation held. It was the worst thing for him, he had completely broken and was facing media inquiries about his health and well-being causing him to be laughed at by the media. Several miles away, Noble was holding a huge bash to celebrate his impending victory. When numbers started to pour in he still held the party and let loose alcohol to keep his supporters happy but knew that it was only temporary. The wild party that it devolved into ended up making him look worse as many of the media had to leave to do their broadcasts from outside due to the people openly drinking, having sex, and even tossing around swears making any reporting hard to do without federal indecency issues. In stark contrast, Reed's headquarters was laid back and featured music but no alcohol. The staffers had gathered for the announcements and saw Reed telling them his plans no matter what happened. As they had expected, the staff cheered and Reed was hailed as a great person for giving back to them. When it was clear that Reed was going to win, the staff cheered and the media started to make inquiries about Noble and Rice conceding. Rice's arrest caused a stir, while Noble had lost control and had to be take away before his party turned ugly on him. Noble refused to concede, and told the media, "I'll fight until my last breath to ensure the Reed Pena loses. I don't care if he wins a majority, he won't serve a day in office if I have anything to say about it!" That caused the media to question just what he would do as he was facing trials for his actions on the campaign trail and had no support, nothing to use against Reed, and no money. He clammed-up but he had caused himself to fall into yet another trap as there would be another investigation into his life and money as there was clearly more to him than anyone had been able to find so far. At 10PM, Reed received word that his mentor Angela Victor had won handily in her election and was on her way to the party to show her support for him and tell him that he was going to be appointed as the temporary Attorney General. When she arrived at the party, he was told that the current Attorney General had resigned in disgrace over his connections to the campaigns of both Rice and Noble as well as working with the Worcester County judge who tried to toss out charges against Noble and Rice. She had gotten the charges reinstated after appealing to the Supreme Judicial Court after State Police found evidence that they were coordinating with Rice and Noble to get the charges dropped allowing her to go before the legislature to seek his removal as Attorney General. Reed asked about his mother, to which he was told, "She said no. You know already she won't take the job, and with you winning it was an easy appointment. It gives you a year added on to your pension so you'll officially have been employed in the higher-paying job for 6 years when the term ends in January 2043. It's a sneaky perk but it works in your favor." When Angela arrived the news of just how much Reed had won started to hit home. He not only had won outright, he won in 300 of the cities and towns in the state! Rice won just one town while Noble "won" 50 but had only a slim "win." It was a shock to Reed as many places he hadn't had the chance to visit such as Cape Cod and the islands but he won the popular vote in those places by a wide margin. The biggest shock was that Noble topped Rice and both ended up falling a distant second behind Reed: 66% for Reed, 20% for Noble, 14% for Rice. The two were so intent on beating Reed that they ended up costing one another a chance at votes leading to Reed outright beating them and humiliating them in the process. It was one of the worst defeats by established parties in decades, one that hadn't happened since 2010 and even then the candidates didn't hurt themselves as the duo had done. The breakdown was staggering as Reed had support from all of the major groups of voters and had the support of the elderly and youngsters. Noble had some hardcore support but that was only due to his name and supporters being old-school political hacks. Rice really had no support, despite winning the party's nomination he had seen all support vanish and what support he had was only due to the party having to give him support due to their own bylaws. Reed had won the 2nd-highest elected office in Massachusetts, one that hadn't been a political pawn for two decades and one that was important to the family as it meant that they could continue doing what they loved to do without fear of the state forcing them to shut down because they wouldn't bow down to the political ambitions of those who would harm others. It was a first for the main branches of the family, it was a break with tradition of not running for political office beyond Winnisimmet. Reed had broken the mold as a teenager, but this shattered the mold and put them in a new light for all. Reed won big and ensured that he was remembered for all time by politicians as both a warning and as a beacon of hope that "average people" can win office and the political machines could falter. The old stalwarts were becoming long in the tooth and their lack of actual help to Massachusetts except when it was politically convenient was readily apparent and showed that the public was sick of their apathy and self- serving actions. Reed was the first of many who'd win, only he'd done so in a dramatic fashion. He had a huge impact on the national scene as his win showcased a changing of the guard for politics as the public wanted someone who was strong yet lenient, apolitical, ran on the issues not on names, and wasn't afraid to be honest. He was sought by the three major cable networks, with him declining as he refused to be a pawn of either major party nor did he want to play games with hosts who were just trying to regain their status in both parties or who had axes to grind against the Finns for past actions. It was almost comedic how two networks fought one another over who could bring down Reed first, with neither looking good and showing to shareholders that the networks were trying to harm anyone who broke their unwritten rules by refusing to be exploited by them. The following morning, Reed did several national radio and TV broadcasts to appease the networks and stop the demands for interviews but refused to talk about his family, his job, or his opponents. He had all but forced them to ask pointed questions that Reed was ready for and any attempt to move to one of the banned topics ended up with him making the host look bad while giving Reed more support as his family, the frequent source of those questions, were out of the spotlight and what could be asked about was in the public domain already. He had, in essence, forced the hosts into a corner that they couldn't escape from without admitting that they were trying to cause issues. The Attorney General being indicted by the state and federal courts then being forced to resign caused a huge uproar, especially when the reasons for his indictment were listed and included using the office as a campaign headquarters, using staff as campaign workers, forcing members of the office to donate to Rice's campaign, then threatening staff with assaults if they talked to the US Attorney after a leak was exposed and forced the US Attorney to act quickly to plug the leak. It was nothing new in the state, but it was the first time it had hit with such intensity and directly linked to a campaign continuing forward. Rice had little actual support, what he had came from the Attorney General's covert actions. Reed happily told the hosts that he couldn't discuss active cases and he had only taken the appointment as Attorney General due to Angela Victor asking him to do so after his mother had once again refused to take the job even if it was only for two months. He was asked about that, to which he happily told the hosts, "It's her choice, I'm happy to take the job early with her blessing." The next day, Reed was sworn-in as Attorney General of Massachusetts and immediately fired several of the staff who were only there due to political pressure and who had openly impacted investigations into their benefactors. His swift work raised the ire of many on Beacon Hill, but Reed's response was a classic:, "Those who were fired were openly and actively working to further criminal activities and who have a track record of interfering with investigations. They were only employed as favors to those who were being investigated and who served no useful purpose to our office except to force their views on others and use our office as a way of enacting revenge against those who would harm the public. I refuse to allow this office to be a breeding ground for criminal activities nor used as a bullying platform for investigations that have no reason to occur nor accomplish anything except political blackmail." It took a week but the office started to return to normalcy and saw Reed hiring more staff who could be used in a more useful area while repositioning those who had strengths in certain fields that were useful to the office as well as help investigations. He did for the newcomers what his own mother and Angela Victor had done for him, with his own background as, "The accountant" raising hopes that they might earn promotion some day above simple investigations. It was something that had been missing for years: hope for advancement without key political support. At home, Reed was drained but enjoying the job. Jessie was glad to see that he was feeling up to the job and wasn't going through the motions. He had to admit that it was different but it was challenging and worth the fight. He'd make it work even if it would be tough at times. Gabrielle and Lee were thrilled that their father was on TV and in the newspapers and was doing good for the world, with the two trying hard to be on their best behavior so he didn't get upset. They were the spitting image of their parents, with Lee looking very much like his mother while Gabrielle shared a strong resemblance to Kylie, with Reed having to hold off tears at times as she was what he pictured Kylie to be if she had been blessed to be born as a genetic girl. Jessie eventually suffered the usual issues with being the wife of a politician as people tried to use her as a way at getting to Reed, only to find out that her partners weren't easily intimidated and Reed kept a strong distance from her business at his own insistence. She wasn't afraid to sue those who lied to the state about her studio being a danger or who tried to plant evidence of health issues while her partners happily used their own resources to ensure that the extortionists were met with court dates and visits from police over their criminal activities. Those who didn't get the message saw themselves losing all in court while finding that the people who had hired them were taken out politically through both Paul James and Angela Victor with the message sent to others to back off of Jessie once and for all. Reed showed his worth to the state as he made changes to the state's handling of transgender rights as it entered the next phase in transgender rights: full acceptance and accommodation. He had no problem telling his staff that their views didn't matter, they had to uphold the law and if they couldn't set aside their personal feelings then the Attorney General's Office wasn't the place for them. He wasn't afraid of the political fallout, he argued long and hard with many politicians about the laws and rules and wasn't about to let anyone force him to ignore the rights of others just because it might offend a tiny minority. When Reed's personal connection to transgender people was tossed out at him, he happily shot back, "I have never denied a connection and I have no issue telling anyone who asks what my personal views on their rights are. I am upholding the laws and prosecuting those who feel that the laws don't apply to them: be it because they have money, power, protection, or enact the laws themselves. My personal feelings are set aside as it is the rights of all that I am fighting for- not for a select few who choose to force their views on all." Kylie spoke out in defense of her brother, making her presence known for the first time and telling the media, "You have some nerve claiming that my brother is using me as the basis for what he does. If the upholding of the law and prosecuting those who break it is wrong because his family is among those who have been victims of those same illegal actions, you are wrong. This is who he has always been: a person who stands up for those who can't stand up for themselves. He suffered abuse protecting me and he is enduring criticism and outrage for protecting boys and girls like me. He is who he is, he is trying to ensure that those boys, girls, men, and women can be who they are without fear." She walked off instead of letting the vultures pick apart her statements but what she said hit hard as the few who didn't bother with the facts ended up looking foolish as Reed's history of being the victim of abuse was put into a new light and showed him to be just what Kylie had said: the champion of those who couldn't protect themselves. The man who endured hell for years was now trying to help those in a living hell and standing up to those who only saw them as pawns in a game. She didn't have to do much more than admit the truth and had ended much of the complaining against Reed's actions. Reed's actions as Attorney General were making waves for all of the right reasons as the state started to see a changeover in politicians as the old guard were forced out due to fear of Reed and his staff going after them. Within the year, 20 would be forced to resign in disgrace over being indicted or having to be in front of grand juries targeting colleagues while those who didn't resign were forced out in the next election cycle due to inability to garner support anymore from local voters. Having Reed sending one of his staff to your office with subpoenas, search warrants, as well as State Police escorts was akin to a death sentence politically, especially as they were unable to be bought-off. Rice and Noble stewed for months while Reed made his mark on the political world. No supporter for either man was willing to go to bat for them and their former staff were more than happy to tell both the FBI and State Police about their actions as well reveal where both hid money stolen from donations intended for their campaigns. They believed that their supporters would get them out of jail with just a slap on the wrist, but that faded quickly as the US Attorney refused any deal attempts while Reed did as expected of him and handed off the case to a neighboring state to prosecute on his behalf. Patricia Parker was the key to both Rice and Noble as she had kept all of the needed information about both including incriminating emails that the two sent to one another threatening each then intending to use against Reed. Her defense of Reed was something that caused a stir among the staff members as it wasn't known just how much she respected Reed and went out of her way to protect him from Rice and his thugs. Without her calling off attacks on Reed's family and friends things would have gotten uglier a lot sooner than the debates, especially as she had to use their dirty pasts against them to stop the attack. When asked why she protected the vulnerable Reed, she growled at the Assistant US Attorney, "I know of his family and have read what he's done as an investigator and as an Assistant Attorney General. He's the polar opposite of Lionel Rice and Charles Noble. I am good at what I do and work for whomever is able to afford my contract, but I have standards and everything that I read about Reed Pena showed him to be someone who is dangerous to go after but is dangerous for the right reasons: he stands by what he believes in and fights back with support from people who aren't intimidated by political clout." She had unknowingly showed that she had been working against Rice because of her personal interest in him and had caused her boss to lose due to that conflict of interest in herself. She had just admitted to breaking the cardinal rule of working for politicians: never help the opposition even if you have to take a bullet for your candidate. She chose to rat on Rice, and in doing so ended all chances of being hired for any future political campaigns. After finishing her testimony, she was asked to head to Reed's office for a meeting then was told point blank, "You are toast politically and have few prospects for the future. You have skills, ones that are able to be used by my office. I need a chief of staff that I can trust, one who isn't afraid to do what's right for the people. I'd rather be told off for doing wrong than have someone blindly follow orders only to later stab me in the back when it was convenient. It's the same job that you were told that you would do for Lionel Rice, only I fully intend to give you the job. He lied to you, you were getting tossed aside when he got elected and would be forced to flee the state or face his wrath." She asked to think about it, with Reed not taking offense to her not accepting right away as it was a tough request. At home, she talked with her kids about the job and was told, "Take it!" by them. It was easy to listen to them, the kids were of age to know the truth about people and what they heard from their mother was all good news. She sighed and realized that there was no way that she could refuse the job as it was the only job she'd get for years. She needed the money, so had to accept the job. It was humiliating to know that there was no way back from what she had done, despite being right she was never working in politics again. The next day, she called Reed. He asked for her details then told her that she had childcare available for her from his family's daycare centers and afterschool programs if she so chose. It was a godsend to her, especially with it costing her a lot already to pay sitters to care for the kids. Reed was thorough in looking into her background, with the fact that she was a single parent without a support network being a major reason for trying to help her just in case she refused the job offer. She'd have a job with Paul James or Angela Victor if she refused Reed's offer, but he didn't have to use that as a fallback. Both were happy to have 2nd-shot at her, she was what they wanted in a senior staffer. Reed met with her and hammered out her employment. She'd run the four offices and coordinate with the press secretary all interviews and meetings. When not doing that, she would be meeting with Reed to discuss hiring, policies, and legal issues with Reed having final approval but her implementing them. As the week went on she met with Kennedy and refused to believe her past, especially as few believed that she wasn't a "real woman" despite never once claiming to be transgender. Kennedy simply told her that it didn't matter to anyone except those who had an issue with, "People like her" and the fact that she herself had not believed it made her past irrelevant. Patricia got the message and was glad to know that she hadn't offended Kennedy, especially as she was jealous of her looks. Kylie was asked about as she rarely appeared with Reed and whenever she did appear it was hard to tell anything about her except that she looked a lot like her brother but with two large apparent differences. Kennedy smiled and happily told her, "She's her own person and is happy to live her own life close by but without the issues of being close to our family. Her in-laws have retired and help a lot with the kids, she works hard alongside her wife as pharmacists and tries to keep away from notice just in case one of the usual scumbags tries to claim that they're dealing drugs or fake pills to customers." Kennedy saw the look of wonder as the information sunk in, she happily told Patricia, "The two met and fell in love at first sight. I swear they have never been apart for more than a couple of days since they met. Even on vacations apart they talked each night. The biggest blessing that came from the assault on Kylie was that she couldn't impregnate Jordan without our help, they'd have ended up teen moms with the way they have been hot and heavy with each other!" Kennedy then turned things around and asked her what she wanted to do with the office now that she'd be the one who did the bulk of the heavy work as Reed dealt with the governor and those who wanted a go at them for their needs. Patricia was blunt, telling her firmly, "Remove excess weight, reorganize so it isn't bloated in certain areas. Refocus our resources on what we can do to actually help the public and not vanity projects for publicity that wastes more money than it brings back to the public." Kennedy nodded in agreement and asked who she had eyed for a replacement for herself. Patricia had a look of concern, to which she told Kennedy, "I had hoped that you would stay on until we found just the right person. If you leave after the 3rd, we'll have campaigning for the job from division heads as well as the unsolicited recommendations from the legislature with the usual veiled threats of budget cuts as well as subpoenas to testify at hearings that have no reason to be held except to cause chaos. Reed knows who he wants to head each of the divisions, but the deputy job has to go to the right person." Kennedy grinned, then shot back, "He found her. You. You are the right one to do it. He's getting rid of a few unnecessary roles, with his personal staff being removed as there's no need for a separate staff just for the Attorney General himself. It's a lateral transfer, and all of the duties are exactly the same only it comes with true power: the only one higher than you is Reed. It's a nonpartisan job, with your political career being toast it's the perfect job for you. You have a background in law even if you rarely had the chance to practice law, it's no different than myself. I rose up through the ranks and only took the job as a way of keeping it out of the hands of unsavory people, it's powerful and needed- like you." She hammered out plans, with Kennedy happily retiring after a full 32 years employed with the state. It was going to be the end of an era, but it wasn't the end of her legal career as she'd still help out when it was needed. She was taking a job as a law professor at her old law school, working to help those who'd be the next generation of legal scholars and those unafraid of changing the legal system. As December wore on, Reed and Patricia worked to clean house and put in place new division heads as well as hiring replacements who were unconnected politically and unafraid to fight back against what they were suppose to fight against: those harming the citizens of the state. Patricia's finds were some of the best legal minds in their particular areas of law and proved to be what Reed was looking for from a staff. It didn't matter one bit that they were gay, single parents, and in the case of one- transgender and highly afraid of being open to anyone about that fact. Reed crafted what would have made the old guard cringe: a group without ties and who had experience to go toe-to-toe with anyone inside a courtroom or a conference room. Reed didn't hesitate to promote any of them, he happily told them before the office closed for Christmas break and ensured that they all had a clear picture of what he wanted them to do. The single transgender division head wept as he told her that she was a lot like Kennedy in her abilities, which to her was high praise as Kennedy had been her idol since the moment she was hired to work in the civil rights division as their token "tranny" hire. Reed invited Patricia's family over for Christmas, with the kids getting along and Patricia meeting with the kids' new daycare owners. She asked if it was a conflict of interest to offer such a low rate to her, to which she got a laugh and had Jessie explain to her, "It's all legal as it's a special rate given to all public employees. The only ones who have had issue with it were those who weren't able to use it or whose children were kicked out of the preschool due to issues that their parents' influence caused. It's easy to file complaints against the owners, they don't like it but have to vet a lot of parents." The kids were quick friends and saw Patricia smiling as her daughter and son were forced to meet Lee and Gabrielle's various 2nd and 3rd-cousins and friends and set up playdates for later on. Patricia got to meet many of the legendary Finn Family members, people who she had heard of but had never thought of ever meeting let alone talk with for hours as the kids played in the yards or parks. Reed being one of the core members due to his grandparents made it even more special as the infamous John and Valerie Finn were two she was often forced to spend time with as their grandchildren enjoyed playing at the family's large and unassuming house directly across the street from Reed's own smaller, yet still large and comfortable house. The more she was around the Finns, the more Patricia opened up and started to become whom she had been all along but had suppressed due to the needs of her job. She was politically keen yet had a strong sense of right and wrong and wouldn't hesitate to disagree with Reed or Kennedy over what needed to be done. She was enjoying the role, especially as Reed listened to her and would adjust to what she had said without the intimidating threats to her future or need to show that he was, "Better" than her as boss. January, 2039 Inauguration day came and Reed assumed his full term as Attorney General. Right off the bat, he fired a large portion of the senior staff as well as those who were extraneous or harmful to have around. The clearing of longtime employees as well as younger staff caused an uproar in the media, but Patricia and the press secretary explained just why he was doing it and why there were changes coming. The fact that the office was being reorganized to be more efficient and less of a breeding ground for the legislature to manipulate won support from the public while longtime politicians complained that it was weakening the office. When the first indictments came down after the official reorganizing and many of the complainers were among the names on the list the complaints were put into a new perspective. The fact that many had forced the office to allow them to break the law didn't sit well with voters and was cause for each of them to resign in disgrace over breaking the separation of powers. Reed was highly popular with voters and remained popular as he went after anyone who had wanted to hurt the public through the state even if it was done by popular politicians in popular political issues on behalf of the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives. He chose the right causes to go after, while letting his staff do the day- to-day jobs that Patricia and Kennedy had been funneling to them that had been held back by the previous Attorney Generals. The list was long and fruitful, with the public loving that there was a lot of money that was recovered by them through pursuing those cases. The Clarence family wisely kept a low profile after their being used by the trio to see Penelope have her parole revoked and Albert and Vincent move away to stay with distant relatives, with the two now in debt to Reed's grandfather Jorge Castillo. The two were forced to get jobs and keep clean, fear of the wrath of Jorge caused them to stay on the right path and leave things in the past. Penelope was outraged that her sons had abandoned her, but her uncle Jorge sent her word that she was all alone and there was no way she'd ever get out of prison alive if she screwed-up again. The Clarence family were seen as tragic people whom Reed tried hard to avoid but he eventually told a reporter that he couldn't hate them no matter how much they harmed him. His brothers were trying to redeem themselves, they would never know that he asked for them to be given help and neither would believe that their scrawny wimp of a brother would lift a finger for them after what they had done. His trying to do the right thing got Reed some sympathy and support, especially as the brothers had been on the right track all fall and were no longer a threat to Reed now that they didn't owe anyone anything. Kevin Clarence didn't fall for Rice's or Noble's enticements and once released fell off the map. He tried to run but was caught by Jorge's informants and brought back to Massachusetts to be sent to prison for violating parole. He didn't care one bit about revenge nor harming Reed and Kylie, he chose to run to try to start over without the baggage of the Castillo family and Clarence name. Reed took no pleasure in seeing Kevin brought to justice when US Marshals dragged him back to the state to finish out his prison sentences. Kevin pleaded for help but Reed refused to humor him. Kylie and Billy both told him that he was beyond help and would never get out of prison, with the large and intimidating Billy showing that he was everything that Kevin had hoped for in a son but who was the antithesis of Albert and Vincent in how he acted and what he was as a person. Billy happily told Kevin that he wasn't a father, he might have sired five kids but he had never been a real father to any of his children. He angrily told Kevin, "You gave them a name, but Reed and Kylie are no more your children than I am. I never knew you, and I'll never see you again. We are the children of Wilfredo and Kennedy Pena, two of the best parents anyone could ever hope for. You and Penelope are the worst parents to have and I'm glad that the three of us turned out far differently than we ever could be if we had been forced to be raised by you. Rot in hell, because you have a special place awaiting." The new year brought Noble, Rice, and Virginia Elliot's indictments and arraignments for both state and federal crimes and saw Reed reluctantly listening to the pleas of their lawyers as they tried to get a lesser sentence for their crimes. Reed refused to agree to any deals, with Patricia and Kennedy taking the bulk of the meetings with, "Interested parties" followed by key executives in Rice's political party. Neither would force Reed to accept plea deals, with the US Attorney not taking deals either forcing the trio to plead guilty and hope that the judges gave them light sentences or charges were dropped. The gamble with the judges didn't pay off as the nation had eyes on the outcome as Reed was seen as a new voice in politics and the cases were his biggest ones yet making it tough to ignore the attention. It was the same with state charges as the superior court judge went hard on them, only he didn't have the weight of the nation on him- he was acting as he always did. Their gamble ignored the fact that they had been placed in front of a no-nonsense judge who had a strong anti-corruption record making them have to endure the full might of the judge's words and a longer than normal sentence. Virginia Elliot received 10 years total in federal prison while being sentenced to five years total in state prison. Charles Noble received 25 years in federal prison for his various crimes and another five years in state prison for state charges. Lionel Rice received a hefty 30 years total in federal prison for all of his federal crimes and another 15 years in state prison for his state crimes, plus had to pay back all of the money stolen from his campaign as well as pay restitution to Kylie, Jordan, and their friends for the thefts of the medical records and accusations made against them during the debates. Reed released a short statement after they had all been sentenced, all he said was simply, "Justice was served to Charles Noble, Virginia Elliot, and Lionel Rice at their request and while the public didn't get to hear the full extent of their crimes the public got to see a side of politics that should never happen yet still occurs far too frequently. We are upset that some believe that those who aren't running for office are fair game, with lies and accusations flung about them without facts or the chance to respond. My family and friends are happy to be done with this sad chapter and hope that the state can move on and away from such historical issues and continue on into the new era of politics." He had a way with words and it worked as Reed remained popular with the public, so much so that he was seen as a potential Senate candidate once Paul James retired. Reed refused to run, he swore that he would only run for reelection and would refuse all attempts to draft him for higher office. It was also a sign to Paul that he wanted Paul to run again before retiring, with Paul knowing that it was meant to be his way of getting in at least two terms before retiring from the Attorney General's Office for good. Patricia worked hard as chief of staff then when Kennedy finally retired Patricia quickly and seamlessly slid into the role as Deputy Attorney General. Kennedy was missed at the office, but Patricia easily filled her shoes and showed that she was a perfect fit. She worked hard and advised Reed whenever possible, all while she kept the offices in line with what Reed wanted of them and kept wolves away as politicians started to quickly see that she was someone to stay away from. Over time, she became almost as feared as Kennedy and showed that she was the right choice to lead as well as work with the next generation. She never made choices based on political fallout and when she had to choose she always chose the greater good than the publicly supported. She was happy to lead the office and enjoyed earning a hefty paycheck alongside job security that came with the role. Reed did retire after his second term, with a total of 25 years as an employee of the Attorney General's Office. He handed off the reins to a trusted successor, with Patricia being kept on in the role of Deputy until she chose to retire. Patricia kept on for two years and opted to simply retire and go into business for herself, with her accepting an offer to join Reed's law firm as a partner. Reed's retirement saw him joining the Finn Family's law firm, one made up of several elders related to Reed: his uncle, his cousin's father-in- law, his 2nd-cousin-in-laws, and his 2nd-cousin-in-law's mother. Reed wasn't a specialist like they were but he gave them a second set of eyes on criminal and financial law, mundane work but work that was with people that he loved and was happy to be around. It was a lot, but he enjoyed it immensely and almost wished that he had done so years before. Patricia joining them was another great grab by the firm as she was basically one of them already and as her children were always around Reed's and his cousins' children it was a help to each of them. She took a while to get adjusted to the slower pace of the work but the volume of it made up for the hours she spent in the office and courtroom. She loved it, and felt bad that she wasted so much of her life as a political operative instead of doing legal work that she had originally set out to perform. The two talked a lot and enjoyed watching the state go full circle again and again as politics changed yet stayed the same. They were unique among the people around them, they saw politics for what it was and could use it to their advantage even if it was looked down upon by others. They were the last of a dying breed, but they endured while others fizzled and burned out from all of their dirty tricks. The End.