For the first time in a long time…Bigby Wolf was worried and he didn't like it.

Running out of the 'Lucky Pawn' he was of half a mind to run to the butchers when he seen a taxi coming around the corner. He practically lunged at the taxi and almost gave the Mundie driving the cab a heart attack, "The 'Cut Above' butcher shop!" he said quickly, jumping into the back seat, "And put your fuckin' foot down!"

His mind raced as the cab sped down the streets and he couldn't help but feel apprehension at what he would find when he got there. Bloody Mary liked to have 'fun' with her prey…he just hoped that they would try to use Red as leverage…if they had done something to her…

Shaking his head, he was relieved when they neared the shop and threw some money at the driver, jumping out before the car had even stopped. "Yeah, your welcome mate!" the cab driver shouted out the window as Bigby disappeared into the shop, "Fuckin' foreigners."

As Bigby burst in through the door, he hated how he was greeted with silence. Listening carefully, he heard distant mutterings and even a dry sob but it was male…not female. Sniffing the air, he could smell the carcasses and death but he couldn't smell Red.

What he did smell was blood. Fresh blood.

Slamming the door open, Bigby didn't even care that it was starting to come off its hinges as he headed through the back. Pushing the carcasses out of his way, he stopped when he seen a bruised and beaten butcher sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.

"Johann, where's Red?" Bigby asked quickly, walking over to him.

Looking up, he seen that the butcher had a nasty cut on his lip and a black eye, "They…took her, along with Crane…Mary…she-she did this to me," he said shakily, pointing at his face, "I tried to stop them…but it was no use."

"Fuck…" Bigby felt his anger grow and kicked a box hard, venting out his fury "FUCK!"

Johann flinched but looked like he was going to start crying, "She tried to fight back…but Mary and Tweedle Dee beat her bad…shot her in the knee and forced a potion down her throat…she passed out after that," letting out a dry sob, he hid his face in his hands again, "I should have tried harder!"

Storming past the butcher, Bigby headed into the hidden room at the back and seen that the tall chalkboards had strange code on them and there was nothing to indicate where Bloody Mary had taken Crane and Red. He sniffed the air again and seen a large pool of blood on the ground and to his dismay he realized it was Red's…this is where they had shot her.

"What were they doing through here?" he asked Johann who was slowly getting to his feet, "Why the fuck are you helping Bloody Mary and the Crooked Man?"

Johann's one good eyes widened in fear, "I can't say…she'll kill me…she'll fuckin' kill me Bigby!"

"If you don't talk, I might just have to do that! Is that what you want Johann?"

Holding up his hands terrified as the Sheriff approached, Johann shook his head quickly, "No, no…please! You don't have to do that!" his head hung down in shame as his shoulders slumped "I'm dead…either way…they said to me 'Johann, you can keep your life and lose your shop, or lose both'…what would you have done, Sheriff? If you were me. It was a simple choice to make, in the moment…although Ruby kept telling me to stand up against them…"

"They?" Bigby repeated, frowning a little "Do you mean Mary? Bloody Mary?"

Johann nodded miserably "This isn't my shop anymore! That crew took it from me a long time ago-!"

"Crew?"

"Fuck…" Johann sighed and looked at Bigby "The Crooked Man's people."

Bigby folded his arms, "Just tell me who I'm dealing with."

"Jersey Devil…Dee and Dum…and that mental case Bloody Mary," Johann explained quickly, "You wanna talk about the real butcher? It's her, not me. This is her place. I'm telling you, they muscled in on me. Took over my storage and delivery a long time ago. All cause of that heat wave…" he continued to talk as Bigby started to search the room for any clues "I let Mary and those porkers stay cool in the meat locker one day. Playing cards, having a great time. I guess they were sizing the place up. I-I'm just a victim in this," he said pleadingly as Bigby's gaze settled on him, "I never wanted anything to happen to Ruby or her granddaughter…"

Even though Bigby was worried about Red, he shook his head "I believe you Johann," he stopped as he spotted something under the table and realized it was Crane's jacket. Reaching down, he picked it up and began to search the pockets – finding a large wad of cash and a picture of Snow…Bigby felt relieved when the missing shard of the mirror was in the last pocket.

With this he could find the Crooked Man.

As he walked by the chalkboards, he noticed another board behind it and slowly pushed it to one side to reveal almost every Fable in Fabletown's name written on it with a code beside it. Looking at the raw ingredients on the shelf behind him – Bigby realised what was going on.

"Fuck…don't you see what's going on here?" he said out loud, glancing at Johann, who simply looked confused "All these Fables…getting magic from him. Business is booming. He's got all he needs: the raw materials and all this gear," he said indicating to the table, "looks like they could make just about any kind of magic, even-" his eyes widened as he realized it was the Crooked Man who turned Red into a wolf as her words came back to him…

"Grams got in touch with me, said it was an emergency and she needed to talk to me right away and when she got there, she started freaking out about this package left on my doorstep. I brought it in and ignored her and opened it and-and…" she let out a shaky breath and looked close to tears, "inside was this… this potion and Grams tried to tear the box off of me and I fought back and it broke and… and…"

Now they were in his apartment, with no other smells, Bigby realised what the smell was and why her eyes were a different colour. "What happened next?" he asked slowly.

"The stuff inside sort of gave out this mist and I breathed it in, and next thing I know I'm lying on the floor and there's these person standing over…Gram's body and laughing and I got up but there wasn't anyone in the room and…and I looked in the mirror and saw I was…a wolf…"

Bigby glanced down at the shackles and frowned, "It's the Pudding n' Pie girls with the ribbons…whoever he's got in here in these chains…he's-he's enslaving Fables…on my fuckin' watch!" he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at the thought of the helpless Fables who had been in this room, "People just don't know the real cost of getting something cheap."

"You don't have to tell me," Johann said quietly.

Bigby felt rage surge through him as another realization hit him, "And that fucker Crane knew all about it!" he shouted, slamming his fists down onto the table and making all the vials clatter.

"Do you think Crane was…helping him?" Johann asked suspiciously "Crane said he knew where everybody is. I don't know how but he's got some way…"

"I know how he does it," Bigby muttered, patting the shard in his pocket "and now I'm gonna do it to find the Crooked Man…"

As he began to walk out of the room, Johann stopped him quickly "Hey! Hold on!" he called out "Well, I'm real happy you found what you're looking for, Bigby, but what about me?"

"I have other priorities now…" Bigby said, thinking about Red especially.

Johann frowned a little at him, "Do you really think this is gonna be all right?" he glanced at the packages littering the room, "Of all the stuff in here, I do know one thing. That's his icon. His symbol. What kind of a guy uses a torture device as his icon? The kind of guy who isn't going to be understanding about Bigby Wolf showing himself in. So tell me this…What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"You won't have to worry Johann," Bigby said darkly, taking out his box of Huff 'n Puff's and putting one into his mouth, "I'm gonna take 'em down."

Looking relieved, the Butcher nodded "Thank you…thank you, Sheriff."

Bigby lit his cigarette and headed towards the exit, "You might wanna lay low until this is over," he said over his shoulder "I can't promise anything."

"Sheriff…just make me one promise...that you'll bring Miss Hood back safe," Johann's face crumpled a little as Bigby stopped to look at him, "I couldn't stand it if she suffered the same fate as….as Ruby."

Bigby said nothing but he gave Johann a curt nod as he exited the Cut Above but inwardly made a promise to bring Red back safe.

No matter what.