The night stood still, as the two fierce men locked eyes.

Bigby Wolf, with Prince Charming still squirming in his grasp, stared daggers at the living myth above him. He knew that the Bat was real, but he never thought he would see him in person. And if even half of the stories Bigby heard was true, he was in trouble.

Meanwhile, the perched Caped Crusader stared right back at the fable. He had met him earlier as Bruce Wayne, but now the rules were different. A stiff breeze came through the air, making his cape wave slightly in the air, white slits narrowed at his prey.

"I'm asking once," Batman said. "Let him go. Now."

Bigby frowned. "This...'man' and I go way back," Bigby responded. "This doesn't concern you. Let me leave, no one gets hurt. Deal?"

Batman didn't appear impressed. In response to Bigby's deal, the Dark Knight practically flew off the gargoyle he was on top of, and quickly booted the Sheriff of Fabletown in the face, knocking him and Charming over the railing, and making them fall about 15 feet towards the ground. Still trying to figure out what exactly hit him, and dealing with the screams of Charming assaulting his ears, Bigby had a hard time thinking straight as he plummeted towards the earth.

The two fables hit the grass hard, the two rolling slightly along the ground, with Bigby ending up with his face in the dirt. He looked up, and sputtered slightly, to see that he was in the backyard of Wayne Manor. The large area of grass was decorated with various walkways, bird fountains, and other fancy objects that Bigby thought was more than a little tacky.

Ok, maybe this wasn't the right time to criticize a man's decorative choices. He was fighting a 6 foot man in a bat costume.

He groaned, as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. He looked over at Charming, the handsome brunette looking out of it from the fall. Bigby made it to his feet, before turning around, only to meet a surprise fist from the Batman.

The hard hit cracked open Bigby's noise, streams of blood starting to flow down his lip and into his mouth. If he had a dollar for every time he tasted his own blood.

Bigby, with a cry, charged at the protector of Gotham, throwing a haymaker, only for Batman to dodge it with ease, before grabbing the hand and flipping Bigby over him. He still held on to the Sheriff's arm, before bending it at an unnatural angle, making the arm pop viciously, breaking it.

Bigby howled in pain at the unexpected and fluid attack, as he fell to his knees. He couldn't believe it. There was no way this was a regular mundy. No mundy could do the things he was doing. Moving silently, moving quickly, attacking with such strength, and having the wherewithal to know how to do it. He didn't have a chance in this state. He had to go all out.

"You're going to answer some questions for me," the Dark Knight stated, as he walked up to the man from behind. "Why are you after Charming? Who wrote the note?" After getting nothing but silence from the unknown thug, Batman grabbed the shoulder of the broken arm. "I said-"

He was cut off as Bigby's good hand quickly grabbed him, and whipped him a ways across the lawn. Batman rolled along the ground for a few moments, before recovering. When he looked up, his eyes widened in surprise.

Bigby got back to his feet, changed. Brown fur started to cover most of his face, his broken nose now transformed into a snout, blood still coming out of it slightly. His hands turned into claws, with long, sharp nails at the end. He bared his sharp teeth, as his eyes turned yellow, narrowing at the sight of his enemy. The fable showed some of his true nature, now half man, half wolf.

"Alright," Bigby snarled, ripping off his coat and showing his slightly more hairy arms. "You want to go?" Bigby then snapped his broken arm back into place, rotating his shoulder, cracking it slowly. "Then let's fucking go!" He roared, as he ran at the caped crusader faster than he could of before.

Before he could react, Bruce felt the sharp pain of claws scratching across his chest, ripping the bat symbol and exposing the Kevlar underneath. His claws went through his armor. Bullets couldn't do it, and this man did it without even thinking about it.

The Big Bad Wolf kept slashing away, as Batman tried to back away, defending himself by throwing his gauntlets in front of his face, having them absorb the brunt of it. Batman then kicked Bigby hard in the gut, slowing him down enough where Bruce was able to flip over him, and deliver a hard elbow to the back of the skull.

Bigby stumbled forward slightly, and with a growl, he whipped around, backhanding the Dark Knight in the process. Bruce quickly responded with another right hook to the jaw, before Bigby charged at him, picking him up and tackling him down brutally on one of the brick walkways, cracking it in the process and knocking all the air out of Bruce.

Bigby threw his hand back, getting ready for another blow, before the World's Greatest Detective pushed him away with his powerful legs, making him land near a bird fountain in the grass. Bigby quickly got back to his feet, only to have two batarangs impale themselves into his shoulders. He tore them out, staining his white dress shirt with crimson.

When distracted by the weapons that stabbed him, the Wolf didn't realize that there was a small pellet by his feet. He looked down, only for the pellet to break open, covering his immediate surroundings in smoke.

Bigby snarled at the cloud, before realizing that he was blind to the Bat. He focused his hearing, trying to pinpoint where he was, but couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, a hard kick connect to his head. Bigby quickly swiped at the direction it came from, but didn't hit anything. He tried his sense of smell this time, only to realize that the smoke diluted it.

He felt a rope tie itself around his ankles, before it dragged him off his feet, and onto the ground. He grabbed along the lawn, trying not to be dragged away, knowing that the Batman had laid some sort of trap for him.

Bruce, right outside the cloud, was pulling the rope with all of his might, trying to get him out in the open so he could follow up with the one tool he had that could end this fight quickly. A sonic batarang. If his senses were as acute as a real wolf's, then placing it on him would drive him unconscious.

Finally, Batman got Bigby out of the smoke cloud. However, before he could react, the fable smashed a bird fountain across his face, knocking him back, and making him let go of the rope. Now free, Bigby quickly untangled himself, and pounced over towards the Bat, who now had blood covering mouth, his lips busted open.

Bigby was ready to strike again, before he looked out of the corner of his eye, realizing something.

Charming had ran off during the fight.

"No!" Bigby growled, as Batman looked over to where the Sheriff was staring at.

"Pity," he coldly remarked, before smacking him hard across the face, knocking him off. "Your target got away."

Bigby was about to retaliate, but was quickly pinned down by a pair of solid knees to his shoulders. "Let me go!"

"Tell me what you know!" Batman yelled. "Who are you working for!? Why are they after Charming!? What did he do, who is he, and how did you get involved!?"

Bigby's mind was going into overdrive. He was involved in...whatever this is. He was looking into it. He could put everything at risk. Bigby had to get out of there, he had to-

He noticed another one of those pellets hanging from the Caped Crusader's utility belt. Bigby quickly stabbed it with his claw, causing it to explode another cloud of smoke. Taking the Bat by surprise, Bigby was able to slip away from him, connecting with an uppercut on his way out.

Bruce was stunned, and before he could scan his surroundings for his opponent, Bigby had made his escape. The smoke cleared, and Batman was alone. He frowned deeply, no further along than he was before.

He placed a finger to his ear. "Alfred?"

"Hello, sir," His faithful butler chirped in response. "The last of your guests are filing out now."

"Good. Prepare the medical bay. I have a few injuries that need to be patched up."

"I assume you didn't have any luck with the prince?" He dryly asked.

"No. And we have a new player on the field," he said, as he picked up the coat that was discarded earlier. "We have a wolf to catch."

Bigby was frustrated beyond belief.

Now back to his human form, the fable silently growled to himself, as he walked along the sidewalks of Gotham at night, his nose still bloody.

He pinched his broken nose, doing this enough that he knew not to look forward to the next part. He quickly snapped it back into place, making it crack in protest as it sent a sharp pain throughout his face. "Yep, that smarts...ugh..." he groaned to himself.

To recap, he lost Charming, got into a fight with the legendary Batman, revealing himself in the process, and now he was even worse off than square one. Charming knows he's after him, and since that bastard is hiding something, he's going to be on the run.

While it felt much better than he cared to admit, Bigby wasn't overly found of bringing the wolf out at all. Whenever he did, he had a hard time controlling his instincts. He felt more like running through the woods and devouring a deer than to actually solve this. But he needed to find Charming, now.

Apparently, Bigby wasn't the only one looking for him. At least that was what he was able to piece together. Charming said something about a trade? A trade of what? Charming wasn't terribly rich anymore. In fact, he was economically average to mundies. That's why he had to survive off of nothing but his charm for so long.

So, cross off money that he traded. Bigby was getting a pit in his stomach. He quickly placed a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it, puffing it slightly before reaching for his phone in his pocket. He took it out, only to see that the screen had a large crack in it.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "Don't think the warranty covers being kicked off a ledge by Batman..."

He quickly typed in a number on the damaged screen, and brought it to his ear. After a few rings, the other end picked up.

"Business Office," a feminine voice answered.

"Snow, it's Bigby."

"Sheriff!" Snow White greeted, a bit surprised by the call. "Did you find Charming already?"

"Sort of. He's definitely in Gotham, and he's definitely doing stupid shit," Bigby grimly told her.

"Great," she grumbled, frustrated. "What did you find out?"

"He said something about people being after him, but they shouldn't be after a trade he made."

"Trade?"

"Exactly. Get Bufkin to see what mystical items were assigned to him," he said, as he took a drag of his cigarette.

"Of course," Snow agreed. "Wait, how did he tell you? I thought you said you don't have him."

"I don't. I caught up to him at some rich boy's party, but he got away. Batman showed up."

"Wait, what!?" She asked, suddenly worried.

"Yeah, Batman," Bigby growled. "He knows about Charming somehow."

"Does he know he's a fable?" She asked. "Does he know you're a fable?"

"I don't know, but..."

"Bigby, what did you do?"

"I had to go half-wolf," he told her. "Hopefully he just thinks I'm another freak."

"Bigby, how could you be so-"

"Look, it was either that, or he ships me off to Arkham," Bigby interrupted. "Batman isn't just a regular mundy. He's...he's something else."

"And you beat him?" She asked, skeptically.

"Well, I'm no Superman, but-"

"Bigby-"

"I was able to get away from him. That's it," Bigby said.

"Well, that's great and all, but-" Snow then cut herself off, as Bigby could hear her talking to somebody off the phone. She sounded incredibly displeased, almost panicked.

"Snow?" Bigby asked, concerned, as the brisk autumn air whipped past him.

"Bigby, they..." Snow tried to find the right words. Bigby was immediately concerned. It had been a while since the distant Deputy Mayor actually called him by his first name. "Bufkin didn't find any items assigned to him, but he found a notice for a item that was missing from the witches on the thirteenth floor."

"What was it?" Bigby asked, not liking the sound of this.

"The spell book the Wicked Witch," of she stated.

Bigby's eyes widened at the news. "What!?" He almost yelled. "Are you sure!?"

"I'm positive. Charming must of-"

"That god damn idiot!" The Sheriff cursed. The spell book of the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't like any other spell book. The person wielding it didn't require any knowledge of magic to even use it. Inside the book were spells that helped the Witch keep a hold of Oz for years. Spells that could be used to crush entire civilizations. Even worlds.

And Charming gave it away to cover his own ass.

"Bigby, you need to find him, and find him now," Snow ordered. "We need to get that book."

"Right," Bigby said. "I need to find a way to track him. If I can just..." Bigby trailed off, as he looked at a strange stain on his pant leg. "Snow, I'll call you back."

"Right," she curtly said, as the Wolf hung up.

Bigby quickly put his phone back in his pocket, and dropped his cigarette before crushing it under his foot. He touched the stain, and then brought his finger towards his nose, sniffing it a few times.

Cologne. 'Women's Desire'. Charming's favorite. It must of spilled on him when the two fell off the balcony. Suddenly, Bigby could smell it halfway across town.

He quickly walked on the trail. He found him. And this time, there was no way he would let him escape.