Meet Nick 3 Months ago
O 2 days after the Crooked Man's trial
It was cold and dark outside but it was warm and bright on the inside, not to mention the loud sound of the jukebox, the thick combined smell of seawater, alcohol and cigarettes and the loud rants of dozens of dock workers all enjoying a typical night at the pub. Welcome to the Scottish Arms.
The pub was quite spacious on the inside; there was one bar at the back and it wasn't overly big but there were chairs and tables scattered around the place along with a pool table, a dart board and surprisingly enough a boxing ring in the middle of it all. The jukebox was playing a varied mix of songs by a number of rock artists like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motorhead etc and no one was complaining about it; except for one.
Sitting at the bar were two very large men in matching suits, one with a brown fedora and the other with a green cap; next to them was a pot-bellied middle-aged looking man with receding ginger hair and large rimmed glasses and next to him was an elderly women in homemade clothes with a birdcage containing a crow in front of her.
The Tweedle brothers, Jersey Devil, Aunty Greenleaf and a morphed Crooked Man were all sitting at Nick's bar waiting; waiting for HIM to show up and do whatever it was he was going to do.
Greenleaf was complaining about the horrible music the jukebox was playing but no one was really paying attention as they were all scared out of their skin at the thought of Nick seeing them like this: they would have to beg for a second chance and they were none convinced that he would give it to them.
As if on cue the man in question appeared from out back and Nick was a real sight to behold: he was standing at roughly 6'3 and had a body carved from solid rock, his muscles were big and toned and he looked as though he could lift a car with ease, the only way to describe him facially would be to call him 'a handsome devil' that was all you could call him; rugged wasn't enough as he trimmed his facial hair into a moustache and goatee and didn't necessarily look gruff, but cute certainly wasn't enough either as his face showed ageless lines and he possessed a defined scar over his right eye and what looked like a large crow's feet scar on his left cheek; he had jet black hair that went down to his shoulders and it swayed as it pleased.
He was wearing a tightly fitted black t-shirt with the ace of spades on the front and back of it, the shirt left nothing of his impossibly tough physique to the imagination; lower down he was wearing dark blue jeans with a chain on the side and black Amy-issue combat boots. He had large tribal tattoos covering his arms and was wearing a shark tooth necklace. His eyes were the most interesting though as his right eye was a deep hazel colour and his left eye was sapphire blue. When he spoke he spoke with a very deep and gravelly voice and a thick Scottish accent like he was from Glasgow.
"So, I hear that you lot failed quite miserably."
The 4 Fables didn't dare to look him in the eye for fear that they would change colour to a piercing yellow, a telltale sign of Nick's rage and power.
"Well one of you better speak up or you can all get the fuck out"
Jersey spoke up "Nick, we tried to get the Wolf off our backs-"
"Bullshit Jersey, you buncha whelps didn't do shit right, the only person that actually made an attempt was ma girl Mary"
A few of the dock workers casually left the bar at the sound of Nick's voice raising ever so slightly; Nick noticed this and rose up his right hand before loudly snapping his fingers. On cue the entire bar emptied and the jukebox stopped playing; there was nothing but pure silence and privacy now.
Nick had started cleaning empty glasses with a cream-coloured rag; this meant that they had a chance to speak.
Jersey continued "The Wolf caught wind of what we were doing cuz Georgie fucked up alright, but he's been taken care of now and plus the Crooked Man's right here" He gestured towards the now restless crow.
Nick eyed up the bird and let it out of its cage before looking intently at Greenleaf "You got the tube for him?"
Greenleaf nodded and brandished the glamour tube, opening it. There was a distinct flash of green and a straining sound like rope being stretched, in the aftermath the Crooked Man was standing next to Greenleaf in the same suit he was wearing when he was transformed only days ago.
The Crooked Man brushed himself down and composed himself "Thank you Greenleaf, you did well" He heard Nick snort mockingly from behind the bar but paid no attention to him.
Jersey and the Tweedles were shocked, Jersey spoke again "Wait, you planned for this to happen!?"
The Crooked Man took a step towards Jersey "Not necessarily; I had Greenleaf come up with this plan in case I got captured by the Wolf, I was planning on him bringing me to the trial and impressing Miss White and the others enough that he would go for the option of not killing me in order to prove his reformation was true."
Greenleaf then perked up "Alright Crooked Man my debt to you is paid, now let me go."
Dum then spoke "What debt?"
Crooked Man eyed Dum "I got Greenleaf's tree back only under the condition that she help me escape death somehow in the future; but yes Greenleaf your debt is paid, you can go now"
Nick didn't even look up "No, you can't"
Greenleaf stared at Nick "Excuse me?"
Nick looked her in the eye and she instantly regretted back-talking him "I said you're not going anywhere, witch"
Dee then spoke up "Come on Nick, we were doing fine until Georgie fucked up; if you give us a second chance we can make it work, we'll even kill the Wolf and deliver his head to you!" He was desperate and he sounded desperate.
Nick set down a glass and threw the rag over his shoulder, he was chuckling lowly now "No Dee; you all fucked up, you had so many opportunities to deal with the Wolf and make everything go away a lot quicker but instead you had to go and play your little games and bide your sweet fucking time."
He leaned up against the bar and the others backed away slightly, he pointed to each of them with two fingers "Dee, you broke under the most basic form of interrogation: not thinking before you speak. Dum, you had a chance to shoot the Wolf dead but you tossed the gun over to your useless brother instead. Jersey, you got too confident and when the Wolf had you by the balls you told him how to reach the Crooked Man and you even insulted ma girl. Greenleaf, you told them about Crane, not that I really cared for the sick little shit but still. And you, Crooked Man, well I gave you everything and now you've gone and lost it all... and I ain't gonna give it back to ya."
Jersey stood up and pounded his fists down on the bar "You know what Nicky boy, fuck you! We don't need you anymore and we aren't about to be made your property to do with what you want, so are you gonna let us go or are you gonna make this difficult?"
Nick looked at Jersey for the longest time before clicking his tongue and moving away from the bar; he reached underneath it for something and Jersey instantly removed his glamour and got ready for a fight. When Nick stood up again he had his hands down by his sides and no one could see what he was holding. "Sorry Jersey, but you fucked up and now you gotta pay the price"
As Jersey went to lunge, there was a deafening bang that echoed throughout the bar and made everyone except Nick and Jersey jump in shock. Jersey looked down to see a gaping hole through his stomach; he looked up again to see that Nick was holding a sawn-off double barrel shotgun with a steel body and ebony-coloured wood grips in his right hand. Before Jersey could do anything else, Nick fired again and shot the other barrel into his chest, creating yet another hole that went clean through without moving him.
Then the blood started pouring out and Jersey staggered back before falling to his knees, exhaling deeply but not quite breathing in. As he staggered, Nick moved from behind the bar and broke the barrel to remove the empty blue shells before coming up behind Jersey and placing the broken breach under his chin and snapping his neck with it effortlessly. Jersey fell limp but Nick wasn't done; throwing the weapon back behind the bar Nick grabbed Jersey's head with both hands and planted a size 10 boot to his back and ripped his horse head clean off.
Nick briefly admired his trophy and set it down on the bar; Dum came up behind Nick and smashed a chair over his back, he didn't even flinch. Nick turned around and picked up Dum by the throat before slamming him down into the ground, as he lay there squirming Nick quickly turned and punched Dee in his still-healing knife wound and he too fell to the ground crying in pain. Turning back around to Dum, Nick brought up his foot and smashed it down onto Dum's head, crushing it into a disgusting mush of bones and brain matter.
Dee had dragged himself back up to his feet and punched Nick in the face, but his fist bounced off his skeleton and Nick gave no indication that it hurt at all, while Dee was shaking out his hand and moving backwards as Nick stalked towards him.
The Crooked Man then spoke "Nick, stop this! This isn't the way to-" The Crooked Man was met with Nick's left hand around his skinny throat and in one swift motion, he squeezed tight and the Crooked Man's head popped off his neck and fell to the floor with a thud along with his lifeless body.
Dee gulped audibly and began trembling in pure fear as Nick grabbed him up by the scruff of his collar and raised him up to his eye level with both hands. Nick opened his mouth wide and breathed a disgusting black and green mist into Dee's open mouth; he dropped Dee suddenly and the large man began choking out a combination of the mist and his own blood, eventually he fell to the floor limp and it became clear that the mist was toxic and was killing Dee from the inside.
Nick turned back around to see that Greenleaf had rushed out the door; he just grinned and followed her. Outside Greenleaf was merely feet away from the Tweedles' car before she felt something hit her in the back and she fell to the ground in pain, Nick had thrown a brick at her.
The dock was quiet and empty, just the way Nick liked it when he did this sort of thing. He grabbed Greenleaf by the hair and pulled her towards the car door, he opened it and placed her head inside before slamming it to, Greenleaf was till groaning slightly afterwards and Nick merely tilted his head to the side in amusement before slamming the door shut completely with his boot and Greenleaf's head was no more.
Nick went back inside his bar and quickly hung up Jersey's head on his wall and reloaded his shotgun before downing a pint glass of aged whiskey. He sighed and then leaned back as 5 white spirits all came and melded into his body, the 5 spirits belonged to the 5 Fables he had just killed.
So yeah, Nick is a complete psycho but he will hopefully become an interesting one as the story progresses
Next time: Bigby goes to relax at the Trip Trap, Cindy investigates the docks and Snow goes to Bigby for help