Northern Downpour

Part 13

A car was parked outside the foundry when you and Bigby got there. You tried the door of the foundry, but it was locked. Bigby forced it open, and you went inside.

Neither of you had said a word after you left the club. You didn't want to talk, and Bigby didn't seem to have anything to say. You could tell he was worried about you. You wanted to tell him you were okay, but you didn't have the energy to lie at the moment.

From the outside, the foundry didn't seem to be running anymore. Now that you were inside, you supposed that was exactly what the Crooked Man had wanted, because this place was definitely still in working order.

Trying to find a way down to the bottom floor was a bit of a bitch. There seemed to be no ladders or stairs down from this point of view, just a bunch of machinery. The lights hanging from the ceiling provided some direction, though the glow they casted was dim.

You came to a chalkboard standing by a table of weapons. On the board were photos, mostly of Faith, Lily and Nerissa. You noticed a few of Bigby as well.

You narrowed your eyes at one in particular. A photo of you and Faith, the last time you had seen her. You remembered that day clearly. You'd gone out to lunch at a cafe. You hadn't talked in a while, yet as soon as you got together, it was almost like no time had passed. Catching up was needed, and it was done in great detail, like the two of you were exchanging campfire stories.

You blinked, bringing yourself back to the present. You wished you'd gotten together more often. You felt Bigby's eyes on you, no doubt having seen the photo, no doubt worrying about you even more. You took the photo off the board and stuck in your pocket. No one else was gonna have that day except you.

Eventually you turned into a room. There was a workbench against the far wall. On it were bullets and the molds to make them. The bullets were silver.

The hairs on the back of your neck stood, and something grabbed the back of your shirt collar and yanked you up and back. You gagged when the front of the collar pressed hard and tight against your throat. Whatever grabbed you let you go just as quick, and you landed on your feet a few feet away from where you'd been standing.

"It's about time you showed up," Mary drawled. She was standing between you and Bigby. At least she didn't have an axe this time.

You instinctively rubbed at your neck, and he glanced at you. You dropped your hand and nodded. You were fine.

Footsteps behind you made you turn. The Crooked Man stepped into the light. "I see you've both made it here in one piece. I do apologize, but I have some business to attend to. I leave you in the capable hands of my associate."

He turned to Mary. "Come find me when you're finished, dear."

"Don't worry," she replied. "This won't take long."

"Cut this shit out," Bigby growled.

"Aw, he doesn't wanna play."

"I'm sure you'll persuade him," the Crooked Man said, leaving the room.

Your first instinct was to follow him, but you really did not want to leave Bigby alone with Bloody fucking Mary. Bigby caught your eyes, and something passed between you that told he would be fine.

Mary's back was turned to you. You ran for it, frantically looking around for wherever the Crooked Man had gone. There was no sign of him.

Bigby shouted your name, and you whipped around. You barely had time to react as Mary tackled you over the railing of the walkway. She had shifted forms, apparently, and now had glass shards sticking out of her.

You landed hard on top of a giant hanging tank, her on top of you. You held your arms up in front of your face, and her nails raked down your skin. You grunted and kicked your right leg up, kneeing her in the back. You punched her in the face as she lurched forward, grazing your knuckles on one of glass shards. She shrieked and disappeared.

You scrambled to your feet and looked around. You could hear her, but you couldn't see her. You couldn't see Bigby, either.

Something suddenly scratched your back. You yelped and turned, but nothing was there. You heard Mary from behind you, and you whipped around, guarding your face. She scratched your abdomen. Fuck, she was fast.

You heard her again, but before you could turn, she grabbed your left ankle and threw you. You screamed. You braced yourself for the impact that would surely break every fucking bone in your body, given how hard she flung you, but it never came. Instead something caught you in midair, and set you down safely on the ground.

You didn't have time to thank Bigby before Mary was on top of you again, though not literally this time. Then there were multiple Marys. As in, more and more kept materializing out of fucking nowhere, and you couldn't figure out which was the real Bloody Mary. All the fake ones shattered like glass when killed, but more were quick to replace each other.

You were quickly pinned. At least five of them were holding you down, scratching and clawing at you, and you couldn't get any of them off. Suddenly they let you go. You scrambled to your feet, and your jaw dropped.

Bigby was a giant fuckin' wolf. You had never met him in the Homelands, and before you started working together, you had only seen him as a human around town. No wonder all the Marys were attacking him now instead of you.

You probably wouldn't tell him your first thought was "big puppy."

When he started sucking in air, you ran for cover behind one of the tanks. And when he blew all that air back out, you figured the cigarettes definitely were not fucking up his lungs that bad. Dozens of fake Marys blew past you and shattered. You peered around the tank when it stopped, and saw Bigby leap into the air at the real Mary.

She met him halfway. He closed his jaw around her, and she shattered. He landed, and roared. You couldn't help a small, proud grin. You noticed clothes laid out nearby, and ducked back behind the tank as he shifted back to a human to give him some privacy.

He called you, and you came out. His eyes were still yellow, and he almost seemed nervous.

"That was awesome," you breathed.

He straightened a little. He looked up behind you, and you turned.

The Crooked Man was watching from a room above you. Once he noticed you watching, he went away from the window.

"That's just fuckin' creepy," you muttered.

Bigby started for a nearby ladder. When he noticed you weren't following, he stopped.

"I can't go up there," you said quietly, still watching the window.

"Why not?" He asked.

You looked at him. "Because if I do, I'm gonna kill him."

He didn't reply. You didn't continue. Bigby nodded, and went up to get the Crooked Man alone. Once he was inside that room, you climbed up the ladder and waited.

Only a few minutes later did he come out with the Crooked Man in handcuffs. You followed them out, wishing the Crooked Man would do something, anything to justify you ripping his throat out. But he didn't.