Bigby felt his blood boil, when he saw his own son as a wolf. This is pretty much one of the things that he didn't want to happen. To see Shadow in his full wolf form. And now here he was looking at him, Maria and Garry without even recognizing any of them; all he was giving them was a look to kill. He growled at them as he looked at them; eyes filled with hate towards them all while letting out a low growl.
The Crooked Man pet him on the head, and almost immediately he had ceased his growling; He sat down just beside him.
"You've come a long way." Crooked Man had said to Bigby, "You must be tired. And if my envoys are correct, you haven't had a lot of rest recently."
Bigby just continued to glare at him, while Maria and Garry both stood there in shock, still not believe that Shadow was wolf right in front, sitting next to their worst enemy of Fabletown, and also at the fact the teenage girl from the Pudding Pie, named Chris, sitting beside the owner himself Georgie Porgie.
"Please all of you." Crooked Man had said, "Relax for a moment will you? Would any of you like anything to drink? Something to eat? Vivian makes a very nice… It's elegant, really, her carpaccio. It's lobster, sirloin."
The two young teens turned to Bigby, wondering what he would say exactly. Bigby taking a exhaling a puff of smoke asked, "Got a scotch?"
"Only Tennessee Whiskey, unfortunately." The Crooked Man replied.
Finished with the cigarette in his hand, he dropped it to the floor to crush. Jersey drew his gun arming it, taken Maria, Garry, even Chris by surprise. "What do you think you're doing?" Crooked Man asked him.
"He's gonna-" Jersey tried to explain before the Crooked Man said, "Mr. Wolf is guests. And I have every right of cooperating. So don't waste the silver. Sit down Jersey."
Jersey put the gun away and sat back down.
"Well Sheriff." Crooked Man said, "For the sake of transparency, why don't you tell us why you and your assistants are. It would settle everyone's nerves I think."
"You know why we're here." Bigby said, "You killed those women."
"And you kidnapped our friend!" Maria added.
"Women? And your friend?" Crooked Man said, "Whatever are you talking about?"
"Faith, Lily!" Bigby clarified for him, "The girls who worked at the Pudding 'N' Pie, and my son Shadow! The wolf you have right beside you!"
"I won't deny the fact that I took your son from you, but did I really kill those women now?" Crooked Man said, "I'm assuming by your confidence in accusing me that you must have some proof yes? Some allotment of evidence? A witness perhaps?"
"Of course we do!" Garry said before pointing over to Jersey, "Your so called servant over there told us himself that you did it!"
"That's a fucking lie!" Jersey immediately denied, "I didn't say anything like that!"
"It's fine." Crooked Man said.
"All I said that this was your town and nothing would happen without your approval! Alright? That's it!"
"If only that were true."
Crooked Man turned back to three of them. "Those women, I don't relish telling you that the killings were perpetrated by an employee of mine."
"An employee of yours?" Maria said questioningly.
"Yes." Crooked Man said to her, "It's a very unfortunate bit of business, but I promise you that the matter will be dealt with. Internally."
"An unfortunate bit of business?" Bigby said, "You're gonna tell us right now who killed them."
"Sheriff I have complete respect for you and your job." Crooked Man said, "I hope you know that. But I simply can't divulge that information. You really shouldn't worry yourself. As I've said, I've got this under control."
"No." Bigby said, "I'm gonna deal with it. RIGHT. NOW."
"Yeah right." Jersey said after he scoffed.
"What do you think this is?" Dee said, "Some kind of negotiation?"
Bigby turned to him; glaring at him instead.
"Um, I'm sorry, I thought that's what was happening here." Garry couldn't help but say to him.
"The man said, he'll take care of it." Dee said, "So why don't you just take the hint, and get out."
"Tweedle Dee, please." Crooked Man said.
All Bigby did was give him a stern look; his face was an easy read to the Crooked Man's goons. "He's not gonna leave so just give him up already." Jersey said.
"No!" Dee said, "If he think he's gonna come in here act all tough, and we're just gonna-"
"That's enough!" Crooked Man said.
Shadow growled over at Dee, basically telling him "Shut up if you don't want to feel my fangs sink in your skin"
With that Dee held his tongue.
"If you didn't kill Faith and Lily than who did?" Garry asked him.
Crooked Man sighed and replied, "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this but… in the interest of preserving our alliance… If you all must know… It was Georgie."
All of their eyes widened in shock. Each of them turned to look at Georgie in disbelief, and Georgie couldn't help but smirk. Chris on the other hand turned her head to the side, having a look of guilt in her eyes.
"However like I said… I'll be handling the matter if you don't mind." Crooked Man said.
"Georgie." Bigby said, with anger in his voice.
Jersey got up from his seat, "You got what you wanted so just-"
Shadow let out a growl again, baring his fangs, cutting Jersey off. Jersey sat back down hesitantly.
"It was you?" Maria asked him still not believing it, "You did it?"
Georgie replied without hesitation in his voice, "Yeah, I killed 'em so what? You all should've kept your nose where they fucking belonged."
"Why did you do it?" Bigby asked him, "Why did you kill them?"
Georgie simply said, "Does it matter?"
"Of course it matters!" Garry said, "You killed two people, two innocent people and we wanna know why!"
Crooked Man had then said, "Look, the fact is that… Georgie here misinterpreted one of my instructions..."
At this point, both Georgie and Chris were equally shocked to hear what the Crooked Man said.
"WHAT!?" Chris exclaimed.
"MISINTERPRETED?!" Georgie had also exclaimed.
"And I want to make things right." Crooked Man said, ignoring their reactions, "So… Let's work something out."
"What's there to work out!?" Georgie asked him, "I'm protected aren't I?!"
"You're protection has limits." Crooked Man said, "And I think you have far exceeded yours. That you could murder someone in cold blood like that…"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ASKED HIM TO DO THIS!" Chris shouted to him standing up from her seat, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO TOLD HIM TOO-"
"And than have Chris attempt to blame me for it!" Crooked Man said before she could finish, "You will be silent! While we discuss what to do with him!"
"This is right bollocks this!" Georgie said angrily.
Chris but grit her teeth at this; Maria and Garry were both wondering why she was so angry and defensive about Georgie being turned over; or for that matter what was her relationship with him.
Chris turned to Dee and Jersey. "You're not just gonna let them do this to him are you!?" Chris said to them with rage in her eyes. Jersey and Dee turned away from Chris; that pretty much answered her question. "You fucking cowards." Chris mumbled to them.
"So what do you say Sheriff?" Crooked Man said, "Can we discuss terms? You can have Georgie… Consider it a gift. Ensuring our continued cooperation."
"What the hell!?" Vivian said.
"Take this fucker! Take all of them!" Georgie said, "I didn't fucking start this!"
"Don't make any trouble Georgie." Jersey said.
"You can't just throw him… Throw us under the fucking carriage!" Chris said to the Crooked Man, "After all the shit he's done for you, after everything I had to go through in this fucking life, you're just gonna throw it all out the fucking window!"
Bigby had said to the Crooked Man, "I think we'll be taking the both of you."
"You're not taking me you fucking ponce!" Georgie said to him. Georgie turned Crooked Man, getting up from his seat.
"What the fuck is this shit!?" Georgie said, "You said you'd cover for us!"
"For minor infractions." Crooked Man said, "Not murder."
"Just go with him Georgie, you're gonna sink us all." Jersey said.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Vivian said, "You're really just sell him out just like that?!"
"You can't fucking do this to us!" Chris said to Crooked Man; She backed up when Shadow bared his fangs to her when she approached him.
"You think I give a fuck if I'm the one who-" Georgie said before shouting, "WHO THE SHIT DO YOU THINK YOU FUCKERS ARE!?"
"Just get the fuck out of here!" Dee said to him.
"I do apologize Sheriff." Crooked Man said, "But I think it's best for you and your assistants to leave now."
"THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING WITH HIM!" Georgie shouted, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"
"Things are about to get unpleasant, and I'd rather if you weren't here to watch." He said.
"YOU CAN GO JOIN THAT WHORE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE FOR ALL I CARE!" Georgie shouted, "BUT HE'S NOT TAKING ME ANYWHERE!"
"What are you saying?" Jersey said.
"Yeah, what the fuck?" Dee said, "You're gonna make sure that we're gonna go down the shitter with you?"
"IT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR STABBING US IN THE BACK!" Chris shouted to him.
"Hey!" Bigby said, "I said it before, and I'll say it again, we're not going anywhere!"
"Yeah, not until we get what we came for!" Garry added.
Crooked Man rubbed his forehead, and shook his head in disappointment. "This could've gone so well." He said, "To speak the truth, I've never been a good mediator. Why negotiate when you can just decide?"
He turned his attention to a mirror, that wasn't noticed by Bigby, Garry, or Maria until now. Maria's eyes widened in horror when she saw a certain someone was in the mirror, as did Garry. Bloody Mary stepped out of the mirror, casually and smiled when she saw the people standing in the room.
"Did I miss anything good?" Mary asked after letting out a chuckle. She noticed Bigby who had his glare directed at her. "Well look at you all fixed up." She said.
Georgie picked up a wooden chair from behind and hit Bigby on the back with it; Mary kicked him and he fell to the ground.
"BIGBY!" Maria and Garry shouted.
Bigby got up from the floor, his eyes changing to yellow coated with black; his claws started showing as did his fangs, and his body growing slightly hairier. Before he knew it he was being ganged up by Tweedles Dum and Dee, and Jersey who was now in his true form Dee charged at him but Bigby punched him to the groaned. Jersey attempted to bite his face off (Again) but Bigby with all his strength picked him up and tossed him to the side knocking a chair over.
"TAKE THIS!" Dum shouted to his brother, throwing a pistol to him.
Bigby managed to hit the gun away, which accidently made Dee pulled the trigger. Georgie forced Chris to duck and the bullet ended up shattering the stained glass behind him, her and Vivian. There was the familiar white abyss when the stain glass broke.
Before they could help him out, Shadow jumped right in front of them, stopping them in their tracks. He growled at them, baring his fangs as he did. They backed up from him as he approached them.
"Shadow!" Maria said, "You've gotta listen to us! We're your friends!"
"Yeah it's us!" Garry said to him, "Maria and Garry! Don't you remember?!"
Shadow had tackled Garry down to the ground, causing Garry to grunt. He saw himself staring into those red eyes coated with black. "Is that a no?" Garry said nervously.
Maria tried to pull him off, as she did she said to him, "SHADOW PLEASE! THIS ISN'T YOU! YOU HAVE TO FIGHT WHATEVER IS MAKING YOU DO THIS!"
Just as he was about bite off Garry's face, Mary whistled to Shadow, getting his attention. "Let's go!" She said, "We're pretty much done here!"
Shadow let out one last growl to Garry before knocking Maria off of of him and running over to Mary and the Crooked Man. "SHADOW!" Maria and Garry shouted as they saw him go through the portal with them.
Georgie grabbed the knife from the floor. "You're done Wolf!" He said.
Before Bigby could attack, Dee grabbed him from behind to restrict his movements in his arms.
"I'd like to say it was nice knowing you, but I'll be glad to see your insides turned out!" Georgie said.
Georgie attacked him with the knife; but managed to move himself out of the way, and Dee ended up getting stabbed instead; he fell on his side and Dum ran over to him.
Georgie went to stab Bigby again; He caught his wrist and they both struggled. Bigby then grabbed the knife in his hand, and then stabbed right in the stomach, causing him to back up. He removed the knife from his stomach but fell to his knees.
It was then they heard Chris exclaim as she ran to him, "DAD, NO!"
"Dad?!" Maria and Garry both said aloud.
As Bigby and Jersey fought between one another, Chris helped Georgie up off the ground, and Vivian lead them both through the portal. Bigby soon grabbed a golden coat hanger nearby and used it to hit Jersey with it, knocking him.
"Boss!" Garry said, "Shadow just left with Mary and the Crooked Man! We've gotta go after them!"
Bigby didn't say anything to them and just went through the portal, with Maria and Garry following behind.
When they got out they saw, Chris and Georgie get into the back seat of the car. Vivian spotted them and quickly got into the driver's seat. Bigby ran straight for Georgie's car, and grabbed the bumper. Vivian saw Bigby in the rearview mirror and stepped on the gas pedal. Maria and Garry saw the fabric of his shirt start to rip apart as he started to change. In the matter of seconds he was a werewolf.
The car drove off as the bumper ripped off. Bigby sprinted after them.
"Now what do we do?" Maria asked.
Garry spotted an abandoned car that said for sale across the doors. He saw that the window was rolled down "Come on!" Garry said running to the car. He reached in and unlocked the car and went inside the driver's seat, and started to hotwire the car; Maria went into the passenger's seat as Garry managed to get the car started. With that they drove off after Bigby.
The car Bigby ran after sped through the streets nearly hitting other cars and cabs. Bigby ran not to far behind them dodging the cars that were about to hit him. He didn't even care how many Mundies saw him as a werewolf, he just wanted to catch either Georgie or the Crooked Man, whichever came first.
He eventually ran into a building and up to the roof. He started to jump from roof to roof. He jump to a highway and ran across, almost getting hit by the cars that drove by. He jumped from the highway and spotted to cars. The car that Georgie was in and a limousine. Ultimately he landed on the car Georgie was in and looked to the limousine. He caught a glimpse of the Crooked Man, and Shadow before the limousine turned the corner.
Bigby cursed himself in his thoughts but decided to focus on the matter at hand. He slammed on the car roof, and then broke the windshield. That was when the car started to weave trying to get him off the car.
"TAKE HIM OFF!" He heard Georgie shout.
"I CAN'T!" Vivian shouted back to him.
Vivian hit the brakes and Bigby flew off. She drove into the alleyway and Bigby followed. The car pulled up and Bigby blocked their path.
In the car, Georgie had told Vivian, "Gun it!"
"Are you sure?" Vivian asked.
"Do it!"
The car drove straight for him; he still didn't move.
"He isn't moving!" Chris said.
"Just keep going!" Georgie told Vivian.
When the car looked as though it was about to hit him, he jumped out of the way; he climbed up the side of the building of and climbed up to the roof. He ran across the rooftops again trying to pick up on either the Crooked Man or Georgie's trail.
Soon enough he heard someone call out to him.
"BOSS! HEY DOWN HERE!"
Bigby looked down the building and saw Garry and Maria waving over to them. After spotting a shirt he could put on at nearby clothes line nearby, he climbed down to join them. Fixing up his collared shirt he had asked, "Did you see where the Crooked Man went to?"
"No." Maria said, "But we saw Vivian and that girl go back to the Pudding 'N' Pie. They took Georgie their."
Bigby growled slightly at the mention of the name. "I guess going after Shadow and the Crooked Man is going to have to wait." Garry said to him.
"Yeah, it's gonna have to." Bigby said before walking to the club, "Let's get some answers."
They nodded their heads to them and followed Bigby to the Pudding 'N' Pie.