The twins found Katherine stopped right outside of Jacobi's Deli, glancing through the window at a group of newsies sitting around some tables. The newsies' eyes were fixed on none other than Jack Kelly, the boy who had flirted with the girls the day before, and the boy who had drawn Katherine that portrait of herself that night.

Elizabeth stopped at Katherine's side, looking in the window as well at the group of boys. "This is your plan? Writing about the newsies strike?" she asked her friend.

"If they'll let me, which I'm pretty sure they will," Katherine responded, then started towards the door. The twins stayed in their place at first, though, and the other girl noticed it. "You two can come, you know. You could help me get some information from the other boys, maybe."

"Wouldn't we just slow you down? We don't know the first thing about reporting," Elizabeth pointed out, shifting slightly on her heels as she stood on the sidewalk.

"Yeah, you make it look so easy, but I doubt it really is. There's probably tons of rules and things that you know that we don't, so we'd just mess you up, wouldn't we?" Rebecca added. "Maybe it'd be better if we stayed out here."

"Nonsense!" Katherine exclaimed, going back over to her friends and wrapping an arm around each of them. "You have nothing to worry about. Just get the facts, some testimonies, and put it into a story. Interview some newsies and get their stories. I'll handle the rest, okay?" The twins hesitated, considering this, but Katherine kept speaking, trying her hardest to convince them. "Come on. I know you two would be great. And we'd get to work together on a project for the first time in forever. Maybe you'd realize you want to be reporters too, and you can work with me for real. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

After a little bit more hesitation, Rebecca spoke up for herself and her sister. "Alright, fine. But only because you're our friend."

Katherine grinned, squeezing their shoulders. "Great! Then let's go!" she exclaimed before she guided the other two girls to the door, excited to get started.

Inside, Jack was ordering the boys around to various neighborhoods as the girls entered, but nobody noticed the door open and close. He was clearly the leader of this group, just by how he was able to direct everybody with such ease. Nobody questioned him as he directed, "Specs, you take Queens. Tommy Boy, you take the East Side. And who wants Brooklyn?" he asked. Now, everybody didn't question him, but that didn't stop other newsies from not seeming very enthused at all about the suggestion of going to Brooklyn. In fact, all of them looked away from Jack instead, hoping that by not meeting his gaze, they wouldn't be volunteered for the task. "C'mon, Brooklyn. Spot Conlon's turf. Hey, Finch, you're tellin' me you're scared of Brooklyn."

Finch, a dark-haired kid who was probably around the same age as Jack and many of the others, spoke up, trying to seem confident with his words. "I ain't scared a' no turf," he declared. Then, his face fell and he ran a hand through his hair, not meeting Jack's eyes. "Just...y'know, Spot Conlon makes me a little jittery."

The rest of the newsies nodded in agreement, and Jack sighed before nodding. "Fine, me and Davey'll take Brooklyn."

A boy in a white shirt and tie lifted his head, surprised to hear his name called. His appearance was a striking contrast to the rest of the newsies, as his clothes and body looked as if they were regularly cleaned. That wasn't something that could have been said of most, likely all of the other newsies. "Me?" Davey asked, pointing towards his chest. When Jack nodded, he spoke up. "No, I-," he began, but was cut off by Rebecca's comments as she made her, and the other girls', presence known.

"Why is everyone so scared of Brooklyn?" Rebecca asked, strolling forward into the room and taking a seat in an empty chair at a nearby table. "What's the problem with that place? It's just part of the city."

Jack didn't even notice her, though. Instead of looking at the girl who spoke, his eyes immediately fell on Katherine, who walked in behind Rebecca and remained standing. "What are you doin' here?" he asked her directly.

"How about you answer my friend's question, then maybe I'll respond." Katherine had a hand on the notebook she always carried, tilting her head as she waited for the response. While she spoke, Elizabeth took a seat next to her sister.

Jack crossed his arms, then turned to Rebecca and answered her question. "Brooklyn is the 6th largest city in the entire world. You got Brooklyn, you got the motherload," he informed her, before his attention returned to Katherine. A smirk played on his lips as he addressed her. "Say, as someone who works for The New York Sun, you are spendin' an awful lot of time around The World. What's that about, huh? You followin' me?"

"The only thing I'm following is a story," Katherine responded, confidence clear in her voice like the other morning. "A rag-tag gang of ragamuffins wants to take on the kingmakers of New York. Do you think you have a chance?"

Jack's smirk, if at all possible, deepened. "Shouldn't you be at the ballet with these friends of yours?"

"For what it's worth, I hate the ballet," Rebecca pointed out, lifting her hand up to get the attention of the others.

"You hate everything ladylike," Elizabeth reminded her sister with a small laugh. "What else is new?"

Katherine took the attention back and started a little staredown with Jack Kelly. "Aw, is the question too difficult? I'll rephrase. Will the richest and most powerful men in New York give the time of day to a gang of kids who haven't got a nickel to their name?"

From the other side of the room, Crutchie spoke up. "Hey, you don't gotta be insulting. I got a nickel," he said.

Elizabeth peered around Jack to see him sitting there and she smiled, getting up out of her chair. "Oh, good morning Crutchie," she called. "Good to see you." She strolled over to the empty chair beside him. "Do you mind?"

"G'mornin', miss. And not at all," he replied, a matching smile residing on his own face as Elizabeth sat down beside him.

"So, could you please explain to me what happened? All I know is that you all went on strike for some reason, nothing about what happened to lead up to it," Elizabeth inquired. "I mean, we have an idea of why, but we want to hear it from you all."

"Weasel's chargin' us sixty cents per hundred on the papes 'stead of fifty. T'sa lot of money to pay for the same amount of papes, so we's strikin'. Was Jack's idea." While he explained all this, some of the other newsies were looking at them curiously, but they didn't have enough time to ask a question before Rebecca was on her feet as well, addressing Katherine.

"Looks like you were right about what you predicted," Rebecca commented, giving her friend a smile. "Maybe instead of writing, you should go be a psychic in New Orleans."

With a smile on her lips, Katherine replied, "Very funny. And you should be a comedian."

Rebecca's eyes lit up at the suggestion, as the idea of a little rebellion against her father sounded quite appealing. "Oh, you know, I like that idea, actually! It'd drive Father crazy," she murmured with a grin on her face.

Elizabeth muffled a laugh with her hand, then removed it to comment, "Everything you do is all to upset Father, isn't it?"

"Of course. Life's much more fun that way, especially with someone as strict as him," Rebecca replied, leaning back slightly in her seat as she spoke.

"Anyway," Katherine began, bringing the attention back to the situation at hand, "it looks to me that you're a couple of Davids looking to take on a Goliath."

"We didn't say that," Davey pointed out, looking at her with confusion in his eyes.

Katherine, with a grin on her face, replied, "You didn't have to. I did."

Elizabeth heard this and her eyes widened. "Ooh, that's good. You've got to use that when you write this thing, okay?" she told her friend, who nodded in agreement with a proud smile on her face.

"Write what? Hard news? Ya know, I've read a lot of papes in my day, and I never noted no girl reporters writin' hard news," Jack stated, strolling over to Katherine as Rebecca stepped aside towards that Davey boy.

"The game's changing, Mr. Kelly. Wake up to the new century," Katherine told him.

"Yeah. For all you know, tomorrow there may be a woman as a top doctor, taking care of you when you're injured at the hospital," Elizabeth stated, a smile on her face as she thought about it. Hopefully, she'd be that top doctor someday., but she was getting ahead of herself.

"We can't afford no hospitals, though. We ain't gettin' treated by no top doctors, boys or goils," another boy, blond and boisterous, commented.

Elizabeth turned to look at the guy, smiling at him. "Well, you never know what may happen. Maybe someday you will be able to afford a hospital, and a female doctor could be taking care of your injuries. It's possible...what's your name?"

The boisterous blond leaned back in his seat, twirling an unlit cigar between his fingers as he replied, "Race."

"Well, it's certainly possible, Race," Elizabeth told him with a smile, to which Race shrugged, but nodded anyway.

"What about women as people in business? They could run companies, newspapers, local shops..." Katherine pointed out.

With a grin spreading across her face as she looked at the others, Rebecca exclaimed, "We could even have a woman as president one day! Victoria Woodhull ran, and Belva Ann Lockwood ran only fifteen years ago."

"Can women vote?" Jack pointed out, his arms crossed as he addressed the three girls.

"You're not twenty-one. Women can't vote, but neither can you," Elizabeth challenged him.

As he strolled right up to Katherine, Jack asked, "What was the last news story you wrote?"

"What's the last strike you organized?" Katherine retorted, getting right up in his face. The girls grinned at this response, and the other newsies apparently loved Katherine's response, because some of them were smirking and laughing.

Davey looked between the girls, then at Jack. "I'd say we save any exclusive for a real reporter," he told him.

"Ooh, bad idea to challenge her, mister," Elizabeth murmured as she rested her chin in her hand, settling in her seat. A small smirk played on her lips.

Rebecca was quickly on her feet, looking over at Davey as she declared, "Who said she isn't a real reporter? What classifies being a real reporter to you all?" When he looked at her to hear her words, she continued to speak. "She's got a job at a real newspaper, and she writes real columns that people can read in print. She gets paid for it. In my opinion, that classifies being a real reporter. Am I missing something?"

Davey looked at her, slightly surprised, but shook his head. "I guess you have a point there," he commented softly.

Katherine pushed past Jack and went to the center of the room, in front of all of the newsies. "Besides, do you see somebody else giving you the time of day? One of your other so-called 'real reporters'?" she asked, looking between the boys. There wasn't a verbal response, but there were some blank stares, as if she was speaking some other language. That didn't stop her from continuing to plead her case. "Well, alright, so I'm just busting out of the social pages, but you give me the exclusive, let me run with the story, and I promise I'll get you the space." She glanced back at the girls and smiled. "We'll get you the space."

Elizabeth and Rebecca gave Katherine a look, surprised that she was being so specific about them being involved in this. But, they both nodded in agreement, smiling at their friend. Whatever it took, they'd be there. Besides, this could be a part of history they could be involved in. Making a difference like this, who'd pass it up? Maybe they wouldn't actually help her write a single word in her article, but they could still help to make a difference in these kids' lives, right?

Crutchie's face was full of hope. "Hey, you really think we could be in the papes?" he asked, mainly directed at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked over at him, smiling. "Shut down a paper like The World, you all make the front page. You'll be major news, boys," she responded.

"Did ya hear that, fellas? Major news!" Crutchie exclaimed, his eyes full of awe. A lot of the other newsies started chatting with one another, buzzing with the idea of being front page news for a major paper. Wouldn't that be something? Being on the front page, with a headline made about them instead of being made up by them. It'd be incredible.

Jack got everyone's attention, snapping everyone out of their daydreams about what they were doing. "Alright, you want a story? Be in front of the circulation gate tomorrow mornin' and you'll get one. Oh, and uh, bring a camera 'cause you'll wanna snap a picture of this!"

Katherine's face lit up at Jack's words. She could tell this story was going to be something big, and she was ready for the challenge. "We'll be there," she told them, gesturing at the girls as she spoke.

Before anybody else could speak up, Mr. Jacobi himself came over and broke up the group. "Let's go, boys. Play outside. I gotta set up for dinner and I gots payin' customers that need the tables," he told them, and the group was up on their feet quickly.

Finch grinned at the group of guys who had been assigned boroughs. "Come on! We got newsies to visit!" he called out, and started shepherding the group of boys who said they would take a neighborhood out the door.

As the group strolled out, with the ones who had been assigned places in the front, Race grinned back towards Mr. Jacobi, hanging back for a second to tell him something. "Yeah, you won't be shooing us off when we get our mugs in the pape!"

Jacobi just shook his head and shooed them out. As soon as they were out the door, however, he couldn't help but smile and silently root for those kids.