Chapter Nine
Trubel had been in London for a few days and was no closer to finding the Wesen who were robbing tourists while appearing in full Woge. All she'd been able to accomplish so far was obtain the local police reports by using what she initially believed to be fake Interpol credentials. She was now beginning to wonder if the credentials supplied to her by HW were, in fact, real and perhaps she really was an officer of Interpol as her identification seemed to be working too well. However, she knew better than to question it.
If anyone had been watching her the past few days, they'd think she was having the time of her life. She'd located the areas where the robberies had happened and had been going to surrounding bars and clubs, dancing and pretending to be an intoxicated tourist. The pattern of the robberies seemed to suggest that the Wesen were targeting drunk Kehrseite college students who perhaps were spending their parents' money.
Far from having the time of her life, she was missing Nick and Samantha. More than once, she'd had to fight the urge to actually consume the alcohol at the clubs and bars because she was feeling homesick. An emotion she'd never experienced before. Made worse by the way Nick had so casually said to her that he loved her and told her to be safe in London. She'd always struggled to make connections in life, in part due to her being a Grimm and not understanding that the things she was seeing were real, as she'd been in psychiatric care longer than she cared to remember. Another reason for her inability to make attachments was growing up an orphan. She spent much of her life being transferred from home to home, making the act of forming connections that much more difficult. It was something she had come to terms with years ago. She didn't like it, but she had accepted that having a family and a home was simply something that would never be in her future. But now, she has a father and the makeshift family he'd introduced her to.
Hearing him say he loved her so sincerely and with so much ease, just as someone might have been commenting on the weather, something that most people take for granted every day, made it much more difficult to let him go. She wanted this assignment over with so she could go back to Portland.
The information she'd obtained from local police included a few sketches made by a couple of the victims. They weren't very detailed, but based on her experience, she thought she recognized a Bauerschwein, a Weten Ogen, a Stangebär, at least two Reinigens, a male and a female, and a Lausenschlange. They weren't all present at every robbery however. It seemed to be somewhat random. The local police believed they were all the same people just wearing different masks on different nights.
Since she'd been in London, she'd seen several Wesen at random times but none had tried to even speak to her, let alone rob her. Trubel had made the extra effort to always keep on a pair of sunglasses when she walked around during the day. At night, she'd found an old pair of 3-D glasses that she felt could help her blend in when she was dancing in the clubs while pretending to get drunk that also effectively covered her eyes. Covering them made it more difficult for Wesen to recognize that she's a Grimm.
Each night she'd been in London she'd repeated the same pattern. Visit various clubs and bars, pretend to drink, spend money, dance, then leave and attempt to appear vulnerable to attack by walking around alone.
The club she was dancing at now was ridiculous with its flashing lights and bass so loud that it was hurting her ear drums. After being approached at different times by various men hoping she'd show them some attention and, moreover, some affection, she'd decided she'd spent enough time in this particular location. Perhaps she could find a quieter venue that would ease the headache that was beginning to form in her temples.
Trubel tossed the drink she was holding into a nearby garbage bin and picked up her backpack from the coat check. She stepped outside and looked around to see a few people coming and going around her. A couple of bouncers stood by the entrance. She stepped further into the street and felt the chilly air against her skin which wasn't pleasant, but the silence was divine. She let out a deep sigh savoring the quiet around her.
There was no rush to get to the next bar or club. The goal was to be a target and being outside was a large part of that plan. However, she wasn't sure how much longer she could put up with pretending to be prey. For all she knew, the perpetrators were nowhere near the area any longer or had moved on to other criminal activities. Or perhaps, even worse, they could be mugging an entirely different person.
She walked past a bus stop and turned down an alleyway. Trubel knew it was best to appear inebriated but also did what she could to not go over the top about it. She stopped, arched her back and let out a yawn. It was then that she heard the scraping sound. At first, Trubel chose to ignore it. She knew what was happening. Someone behind her was attempting to get her attention. But it was too far away. She wanted them closer before she turned around.
She chose to walk forward again with a staggered gate. She couldn't be certain without looking, but she felt whoever was trying to get her attention was getting annoyed. She heard a sigh and then the scraping sound became louder. Rather than react, Trubel adjusted her backpack and her coat as she walked further into the alleyway. Whoever was behind her picked up their pace. The scraping sound getting audibly closer with each passing second. Trubel waited and waited until it reached a volume that was impossible to ignore. She then pivoted on her feet to turn around and shout, "Finally!"
A Fuchsbau had stopped in his tracks. It was difficult to be certain with his Woge but Trubel guessed he was likely in his late teens or early twenties. Not much taller than she was, though he was quite broad in the shoulders. He had been dragging the claws of his hand along a brick wall as a way to get her attention but also as an attempt to intimidate her. Trubel turning around and shouting at him had confused him and he wasn't sure how to react. That was exactly what she had been hoping for.
Standing a couple feet away from him was a Bauerschwein. Short and portly. Trubel estimated him to be in his thirties.
She waited a few moments. Before she said anything more, she wanted it to sink in that she wasn't in the least bit afraid of what she was looking at.
The Bauerschwein glanced up at the Fuchsbau, it was obvious he was looking for some sort of instruction. After a brief pause, the Fuchsbau returned the glance and that's when Trubel reached back over her shoulder and placed her hand into her backpack. She'd left an opening in the zipper just large enough for her hand to fit in and, more importantly, large enough for her machete to slide out. She gripped the handle with her hand and as she slid the blade out, she used her free hand to remove her 3-D glasses from her face and stuffed them into her coat pocket.
The Fuchsbau was the first to look back at her and recognize, even the dimly lit alley way, the darkness in Trubel's eyes that signified to all Wesen that she's a Grimm.
The Bauerschwein recognized the fear in his cohorts eyes and turned to see what had shocked him only to widen his own eyes in surprise.
Trubel was glad she could potentially get all of this over with. She spread her arms wide, holding the machete blade upright so that it was clearly visible, "Thank you for finally taking-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the Fuchsbau turned and ran back out of the alleyway.
The Bauerschwein, having been abandoned, looked at Trubel, then whipped his head around back in the direction of his partner in crime, then, just as quickly turned his head back at Trubel again. It seemed the realization struck him that perhaps running wasn't a terrible idea. He turned and ran as fast as his legs would take him.
As he was about to make it out of the entrance of the alleyway, Trubel caught up to him within a few strides and with her free hand, grabbed the back of his jacket. Rather than pull him straight back, she twisted and spun him in a circle once, and then once more for good measure, using the built up centrifugal force, she launched him back into alley. He tumbled and rolled, his limbs doing little to cushion his fall. He lay on the ground for only a moment before he managed to get to his hands and knees and attempted to get away from the Grimm with the machete.
Trubel walked up to him and kicked him in his stomach with enough force to flip him over onto his back. She then climbed on top of him, pinning his arms to his side with her knees.
The Bauerschwein removed his full Woge and Trubel saw she may have been correct in her age estimation. A man with a ginger beard and a receding hairline was looking back at her, completely petrified.
She held her machete above his face so he could see the metal shining in the street lamps. With a near toneless inflection she asked, "Have you ever had something that worked even better than advertised?"
The Bauerschwein was terrified but the question had thrown him. He didn't understand what she was talking about, "Wha-"
She interrupted, "That's what this machete is to me. I got it from my dad. I mean, he didn't so much as give it to me, so much as I took it and he's never asked for it back, but he knows I have it. I'm sure by now you know that I'm a Grimm and Grimms typically have lots of bladed weapons. But there's nothing in my collection that holds an edge quite the way this machete does. I mean, look at it." She twisted and turned it in his field of vision, "You can see how old and beat up it is. I've lost track of the number of times I've had to repair the handle. It's been used the traditional way someone might use a machete, to cut through brush in forests. But also," she slapped him gently on his forehead with the flat of the blade, "the traditional ways a Grimm would use a blade."
The Bauerschwein understood the not so thinly veiled threat. He grimaced as he said softly, "Oh God, oh God, please don't kill me."
In the same toneless inflection, Trubel continued as though he hadn't spoken, "But it's sharp. Sharper than what makes sense. I can't count the number of heads this blade had taken off. The number of hands too. Funny though," she paused and did a mental tally and then nodded as though she were agreeing with herself, "I can count on one hand the number of legs I've had to cut through with the blade. You know how Wesen are. Attacking with their claws or their teeth. Not much kicking involved with most Wesen.
"I'm here because I caught word that there was, I don't know, a gang maybe, of Wesen robbing tourists in full Woge. I mean, full Woge!" She smiled with delight, "It's like you were giving me a hand written invitation.
She stopped smiling and leaned forward, her face just a few inches from his, "Believe it or not, given the circumstances, this is your lucky day." She slapped his forehead with the flat of her blade to the rhythm of her next words, "You get to live."
The Bauerschwein's whole body relaxed under her weight as he began repeating the phrase, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
She shifted her weight to apply more pressure to his arms so that he understood he wasn't going anywhere quite yet, "A member of the Wesen council has asked me to resolve this matter without a loss of life."
As frightened as the Bauerschwein was, he couldn't help his puzzlement and confusion. He failed to hide the disbelief in his tone of voice, "You work for the Wesen Council?"
This time Trubel slapped his forehead with the flat of her blade hard enough to leave a red mark. The Bauerschwein yelped in pain.
"No, I don't work for the Wesen Council. Let's just say we're on friendly terms. They want you to stop breaking Wesen law. If you want to mug people, that's between you and the local police. You start doing it in full Woge? Well, that gets me involved and the Wesen Council obviously has an interest in you stopping."
Again, the Bauerschwein had trouble hiding his confusion, "I thought there wasn't a Wesen Council anymore."
"That," she slapped him gently on the forehead with the flat of her blade again, "is another reason you get to live. I assumed that you wouldn't know that the Wesen Council has been reformed. I'm gonna need you to spread the word." She leaned in close again, "I mean, you can't tell anyone there's a Wesen Council who is friendly with multiple Grimms if you're dead, right?"
The Bauerschwein sputtered a bit, "Multiple Grimms?"
Trubel smirked a bit, "Oh yeah." She slapped his forehead once again for good measure, "Remember, we don't work for them. But when our interests align, we'll help one another. I've seen the police reports for these muggings and there are far too many of you and too many different types of Wesen. So I'm going to guess that you have a leader?"
The Bauerschwein hesitated but nodded his head.
"Excellent. I'm gonna let you up now and you're gonna call that person and set up a meeting right now."
She carefully stepped off of him. She was confident that he wouldn't try anything stupid but knew better than to give him the opportunity to prove her wrong. As the Bauerschwein stood, he rubbed vigorously at his forehead, "What do you want me to say to him? To meet me?"
Trubel returned her machete to her backpack, "Tell him you're gonna be meeting him with a Grimm. He can bring backup if he wants. I don't care. I'm assuming the Fuchsbau has already called and told him I'm in town."
To anyone else, that would have sounded like the dumbest thing a Grimm could do, to invite an unknown number of hostile Wesen to a location to meet a single Grimm. But Trubel knew that this was psychological. She needed Wesen to see her and she needed them to hear that there was a restored Wesen Council and that death was a real possibility for those who broke Wesen law.
Trubel walked with the Bauerschwein as casually as though they had been friends for ages. They even stopped for a snack at Trubel's expense. She learned the Bauerschwein's name is Teddy. As much as a Grimm may rely on fear tactics to get their way, Trubel learned from experience that it could be better for her in the long run if she made him feel safe. That it would be better if whatever fight-or-flight triggers that were going on in his mind had subsided before she had her meeting with whatever big bad boss he was taking her to meet. Buying him something to eat was more for her benefit than for the Bauerschwein's.
When they arrived at what appeared to be some sort of storage facility in an industrial section of London, Teddy hesitated at the door. Trubel didn't say anything, she lifted her eyebrows and jerked her head at the door as if to say, "We doing this or what?'
Teddy let out a sigh and opened the door. When Trubel stepped inside she found it to be a dirty warehouse with boxes stacked against the walls. On the opposite side of the building she saw garage doors and next to them were carts with tourist memorabilia on them. Things like keychains and hats with the British flag symbol imprinted on them. She extrapolated that each morning, someone pushes the carts to areas with high foot traffic to sell as much tourist junk as they could and then they bring the carts back each night to be restocked with whatever merchandise was in the boxes.
In the corner of the warehouse was a small area walled off to make an office. The light was on but Trubel didn't want to assume that's where the person in charge was. She looked at Teddy and said, "Call out, let them know we're here."
Teddy did as he was instructed. After a few moments passed three individuals stepped out of the office one-by-one.
Trubel made a mental note that none of them were of the right body shape to be the Fuchsbau who'd gotten away, though he could easily still be in the building somewhere.
The one who appeared to be in charge stopped several feet short of Trubel. He was of average height, brown hair, brown eyes, a mustache and was wearing a black wool coat and a black flat cap on his head.
He smiled broadly. Trubel had difficulty keeping a straight face. She knew the smile was intended to be more menacing than friendly, but it wasn't working. Perhaps she'd been doing this too long and was becoming jaded? Or maybe it was the mustache.
He was looking directly at Trubel but he addressed Teddy first, "You actually brought a Grimm here? When you called I thought to myself, maybe he's taking the piss. Maybe you're just having a bit of a laugh at our expense. But here she stands."
Strictly for validation, he Woged. Trubel wasn't surprised to see he was a Klaustreich. An alley cat like Wesen that can be quite vicious but also quite charismatic. They tend to use their charm to get others to do their bidding. Once the Klaustreich saw in Trubel's eyes that she really is a Grimm, she saw the grin he was attempting to hold falter a built.
The two men that were with him had stopped a few feet further back and there was no mistaking it, they didn't want to get closer than they had to.
Their leader removed his Woge and sarcastically asked, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
Trubel took a quick step forward and stopped. All three of the men in front of her took a reflexive step back. There was several feet between herself and the trio, so the step was meaningless except that she wanted to gauge just how jumpy they were. As it turned out, quite a lot. Their leader was visibly embarrassed that he'd been so easily intimidated. He clutched at the collar of his coat and straightened it while he stood a bit straighter himself.
Teddy remained where he stood by the door, not knowing what to do or say he leaned against the wall and waited to see how things would play out.
Trubel looked around the warehouse exaggeratedly, "This is all you brought? Two other guys? I gave you an invitation to bring backup and this is all you could get? Let me guess. You tried to get help and maybe some of them even said they'd be here, but no one except these two were willing to go up against a Grimm with you?" As she spoke she could see the reaction in the Klaustreich's eyes and assumed that her guess wasn't far from the truth.
He nodded a barely perceptible nod as he said, "To be fair, the whole concept was rather ludicrous. A Grimm inviting us to a meeting? I'm sure many didn't believe me."
Trubel shrugged. That was his problem, not hers. She wanted more people there because she wanted witnesses, though there was the obvious risk to her life even with just those three, with the addition of Teddy standing behind her.
She tilted her head from left to right, making audible cracking sounds from her neck as though she were getting ready for a fight, "Normally, when I travel to places like this, to meet people like you, things usually end in blood shed one way or another. While I'm more than willing to go that route, a member of the Wesen council has requested that I try to avoid it if possible."
Just as before with Teddy, the Klaustreich was confused. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "You work for the Wesen Council?"
Teddy pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on and with wide eyes quickly ran his fingers past his throat a few times at the Klaustreich, trying to warn him that this was a touchy subject.
Trubel saw the Klaustreich's eyes glance at Teddy, she turned her head just in time to catch a glimpse of the attempted communication. Teddy quickly averted his gaze. Turning back to the Klaustreich she said, "No. I don't. They've asked that I avoid bloodshed, but I have complete autonomy."
She took a few steps forward, reaching into her backpack for her machete as she did so. Just as the blade caught the light in the room, her cell phone began buzzing. She stopped walking, dropped the blade back into her backpack and took her phone out of her pocket. Only a few people had the cell phone number so any call made to it could be extremely important. She saw on the caller ID it was HW. Her actual employer. She held up a finger to the Klaustreich to ask for a moment to answer her phone. Then she turned her back to him.
He was dumbfounded that she would do that. A Grimm turning her back to three Wesen? He turned to look at the men behind him, gesturing at her with his hand, 'Can you believe this?'
From there, communication was made using facial expressions and body language. One of the Wesen signaled to the Klaustreich by pointing to the rear door that he intended to leave. The Klaustreich was furious. He pointed at himself, the man intending to leave and then the man standing on his opposite side and then finally pointed at Teddy. He then held up four fingers on his hand and then pointed at Trubel following up by holding up just one finger. Signaling, 'There's four of us and only one of her. We got this!'
Trubel's phone call hadn't been good. It was abnormal for HW to reach out to her when she was already on assignment. Typically they trusted her enough to leave her do what needed to be done. When she answered the line, she fully intended on pointing out that she was in the middle of something and would have to call them back, but she didn't get the words out. Teddy watched as her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "What?! No! When I left everything was fine. I hadn't heard anything like that. Where are you getting this intel? This is all news to me. Let me finish up what I'm doing now and I'll fly back and let you know what I find out."
She disconnected the line and turned around to face the Klaustreich. Whatever pretense she had of being, if not friendly, at least cordial, had vanished. Something was happening in Portland and her family could be in danger. She began walking towards the Klaustreich at double speed, grabbed the blade out of her backpack and in one fluid motion she had put herself in front of him with the blade held in front of his neck.
The Klaustreich wasn't impressed. He still had the backing of three other Wesen and wasn't overly concerned. The confidence in his eyes angered Trubel far more than what was reasonable, because now, she was in England when she needed to be in Portland and the man in front of her had caused this problem and he, for damn sure, was going to be the solution. Voluntarily or not. She twisted the blade away from him and instead grabbed his collar and before he could react, she twisted her body and flipped him over her shoulder. He landed hard on his back and he let out a shout in both pain and surprise. The men he thought of as backup, weren't much backup at all. Once they saw his feet leaving the ground they all rushed forward but before they could get their hands on Trubel she had climbed on top of him and placed the blade of her machete against the Klaustreich's throat. The blade was pushed up against his skin all the way up to his right ear. The two men, plus Teddy stopped in their tracks.
The two unidentified men Woged briefly out of reflex. Trubel saw that one was a Heftigauroch, a very strong and formidable bull-like Wesen. Typlically, their kind were pacifists. The other was one of the Reinigens, a rat like Wesen, she already knew about. Neither were the best to bring to a fight, but neither should be underestimated.
She spoke low, but loud enough for all in the room to hear her, "You will stop mugging people and if you do mug people again, you won't do it in full Woge anymore. If I have to come back to deal with you, there won't be a warning. There won't be a meeting. One moment you'll have your heads and then the next, you won't. Do you understand?"
The blade was pressed so closely to his jawline he had to speak carefully through his teeth, "Yes."
She looked up at the men surrounding her and shouted, "Do you understand!?"
The men nodded their heads. Teddy knelt down beside her and said, "We all promise no more full Woge. We'll follow Wesen law." He made eye contact with his now former boss, having decided to take advantage of the situation, he said, "And you'll never contact any of us and bully us into doing this stuff, right? Cause when I leave here, I'm not coming back. I know several of others who won't as well. This is done. We're done. Agreed?"
The Klaustreich was so angry he couldn't respond at first. Trubel shouted, "It's agreed, right?!"
The Klaustreich relented, through his teeth he confirmed that at the very least Teddy and perhaps some others would no longer be involved any longer.
She looked at the two men that were supposed to be acting as backup but had ended up being nothing more than statues as she made her demands. She chose one at random and instructed him to reach into the Klaustreich's pocket and pull out his wallet. Trubel had to shift her weight to allow the man access, all the while carefully keeping the blade in place against the Klaustreich's neck. At first, the man tried to hand her the whole wallet but she shook her head and said, "No, just get his ID out of it and hand it to Teddy."
The man did as instructed, though Teddy wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with the ID. He stood there awkwardly holding it between his fingers.
Trubel looked the Klaustreich in the eyes and said, "I'm standing up now. Then, we're gonna part ways and never seen each again."
She slowly got to her feet, yanked the ID out of Teddy's hand, looked at it and said, "William Goldsmith. London address. If I hear of anymore full Woge robberies, I'll be stopping there first." She put the ID in her pocket and without looking at the others she turned to leave the warehouse.
She was nearly halfway there when William got to his feet. He put his hand to his neck and when he pulled it back he could see a small amount of blood. The humiliation was infuriating. He wasn't letting a Grimm come to London and tell him what he could and couldn't do. To make it more insulting, there she was again, turning her back to him like he was nothing. Nothing!
He Woged. Teddy saw the anger in William's eyes and attempted to put himself between William and Trubel but William sidestepped and charged towards her. She heard his shoes scuffle on the floor and glanced back just in time. Recognizing the immediate danger she was in, she dropped to her knees, putting all her weight on one knee, she spun around. She shifted her weight rotating onto her other kneed to continue her spinning momentum ducking just in time under the Klaustreich's claws. She extended her arm holding the machete and the blade collided with the backside of his knee. Slicing cleanly through bone, muscle and tendons.
The Klaustreich collapsed and landed hard on his face. It took him several seconds to get his bearings and realize what had happened. Laying on the ground he looked at what was now the bloody stump of his leg. His eyes filled with panic and he began to hyperventilate. Trubel stepped to him quickly and punched him in the face with all the power she could put behind it, knocking him out cold and forcing his Woge to vanish.
She stood upright and turned to face the others in the room, "Put a tourniquet on his leg now and get him to a hospital. Maybe they can reattach the leg, I don't know. Whether he lives or dies is more up to you now. Regardless, spread the word that the Wesen Council is back, they're friendly with Grimms and we're not issuing anymore warnings."
She looked directly at Teddy and pointed out almost whimsically, "Now it's gonna take two hands to count."
At that, she turned and walked out the door. She had a plane to catch.