Nick and I arrive near the house that Gilda and Rocky broke into that belongs to Jagerbars and where the kid Rocky disappeared.
"So they're going to hunt this kid for sport right?" I ask Nick for clarification even though I know what the Jagerbar teenagers are planning at the behest of the one boy's mother…that's a little too obsessed with tradition.
"Yes." Nick confirms and looks at me with a frown starting to form on his face.
"We should probably expect things like pitfall traps, snares and the trap where they tie a punch of sharpened sticks to a branch under tension that impales whoever triggers it…and probably a bunch of other nasty shit. So that means we should take our time and move slowly through the woods. Maybe both of us find a long stick to hold out in front of us and tap the ground with, before we walk over it." I say to Nick and he takes on a look of confusion.
"Look, you ever watch Predator with Schwarzenegger?" I ask Nick and he nods.
"Okay, then think of these Jagerbars as a mix of Dutch and a Predator…they not only know this land and can move in ways inhumanly possible but they can set traps as well." I explain my thoughts to Nick who nods slowly.
"You're probably right, good idea Mason." Nick says to me with a small smirk on his lips.
"Has anyone ever told you…that you have a very punchable face?" I ask Nick while chuckling and getting out of his suv evidence bag in hand I summon a locator potion to me from my inventory and take out the locator potion and drink the potion, knocking my stock down to six locator potions.
Closing my eyes I focus on the hat and the kid.
A long winding path through the woods flashes through my mind and ends at a cave, accompanying the images is a sense of where to go.
Opening my eyes I nod to Nick who has two large sturdy tree branches held between his hands and I take one from him.
"Alright so there's two options we can use here we can either get this show on the road…by searching the woods or I can teleport myself to the cave." I partially joke, and Nick chuckles but nods seriously.
"There's no guarantee that the Jagerbars will be there when you arrive and you could end up getting trapped inside and I'll have no idea where you are and will have to search the woods on my own without your guidance…" Nick expresses as he seriously considers what I just offered and how insane it really is.
"Right so walking it is." I say back to Nick and walk into the woods with him a few paces ahead and him a few behind and a few to the left.
As we're walking into the woods, "Hey uhh…thanks for your help with finding Robin, and thanks for coming to help me today, So by any chance do you know a woman named Marie Kessler?" Nick thanks me and he comes off a bit awkward but genuine.
"Ehh, I was happy to help you in finding the kid, and I don't mind helping you find this kid...but I'm not a member of search and rescue…volunteer or otherwise, Nick. I mean I don't mind helping you out but I need to find work that pays."
"I'll see if I can't get a slush fund from the Captain to pay you off the books for the most part…if you play a big role in a big bust though you may need to testify."
"You didn't answer my question about knowing Marie Kessler.."
I shrug, "I'm not all that great with names to be honest, is it possible I know or have met this woman…maybe. I'd have to see her or hear her voice or a combination of the two to really give you an answer."
"Where are you from…what brought you to Portland?" Nick pushes like I'm being interrogated and it makes me feel a little annoyed.
"Am I being investigated?" I ask Nick a bit testily.
"No…it's just when I went to see my Aunt Marie in the hospital this morning she told me to only trust you and myself…I guess…I'm just trying to understand why…could you at least tell me where you're from, and maybe a little bit about your family?"
"Can tell you where I'm from, I spent most of my time in upstate New York, not New York City…as for family I was a long term foster kid until my foster parents had their own kid. Then I spent some time bouncing around between group homes and other foster homes, when I got my high school diploma, and after saving up enough money from whatever jobs I could work. I bought my RV so I would always have a home. As for what brought me to Portland…photos of the scenery." I say to Nick and feel a bit of tug near my abdomen so I make a little alteration to our course.
And just as Nick's about to say something his phone starts ringing, 'Huh…I'm surprised he even has service out here.' I idly think in surprise.
"It's the precinct." Nick mutters and answers his phone.
"Yeah, it's Burkhardt." Nick says and I cringe as we're in the woods with Jagerbars who I'm almost a hundred percent certain have great hearing and here he is not putting his phone on silent, and also taking the call but speaking loudly as well.
I try not to eavesdrop but I can still hear some of the conversation.
"Hey, Nick. This is Captain Renard, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"I'm kinda following a lead on mine and Hank's case, sir?" Nick says, sounding somewhat self-conscious.
"Alright I'll make it quick then…listen Nick, I had to pull the guys guarding your aunt from the hospital."
"What?! Why?!" Nick asks a little bit too loudly and enthusiastically.
I can hear Sean Renard the bastard prince sighing, "With no hard evidence of a second attack, I can't justify the expense to the chief without it looking like we're giving preferential treatment to police families." I turn to look at Nick who is looking at me with a conflicted expression.
"There's nothing you can do?" Nick asks his captain while looking at me.
"I'm sorry Nick, but my hands are tied." Captain Renard says and hangs up on Nick.
Nick goes to put his phone in his pocket and I can tell that he's unsure of what to do, "Go, go look after your family." I say to Nick and he makes a face.
"I can't just leave you out here, to deal with Jagerbars and the Roh-Hatz." Nick expresses and I roll my eyes at him.
"Nick, go take care of your aunt. I can handle myself in a scrap." I say to Nick and summon my knives to my hands making Nick jump.
"Woah…" Nick gasps and I send the knives away.
"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome."
Nick is still uncertain, but I can tell he's going to cave, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure…hey uhh…why is your aunt in the hospital?" I ask Nick just as he is about to leave the woods.
"She's dying of cancer…why do you ask?" Nick asks me while frowning suspiciously. "I have something for that." I say to Nick and summon my potion's bag and take out the healing potion and hand it to Nick, "If she drinks this the cancer will be cured…or at least greatly reduced depending on how severe it is she may need more treatments but with enough of them and all the damage the cancer and the chemo or other treatments have done will be healed…best leave the hospital first." Nick takes the potion disbelievingly.
"This will…?"
"I got no reason to lie man, it's not like I get off on giving people false hope and seeing the utter defeat in their expression when something fails."
Nick, not knowing how to reply to that, just nods and turns to face the general direction that we came in and leaves me alone in the woods…
'I might have just fucked myself with that one…' I think as I take an invisibility potion from my inventory, drink it and continue to move carefully through the woods towards the cave where Rocky is being kept.
I pause midstep as I hear a scream up ahead of me, it sounds like a girl's scream.
I start moving again and reach the cave. There are three shirtless teens built like male fitness models…that also glimmer like they're covered in baby oil getting ready to star in a porno.
'Not a mental image…I want…right now.' I think as I look at the tied up and gagged Gilda.
Watching from the group of teens who are now standing around a fire marking themselves with paint, while one takes out a knife, "This is gonna be awesome." One of the kids say in an A-typical bro personality.
Pulling out a knockout potion I chuck it at a wall the vial explodes and releases a cloud of knockout gas.
I give the cloud a few seconds to disperse before heading inside. Gilda is on the ground looking pitiful, hands tied behind her back, her top partially ripped open revealing a cream colored bra, her jeans are pulled down just a little bit lower than is respectable, showing off pink lingerie.
A dark thought passes through my mind that maybe the Jagerbars weren't just going to hunt her for the thrill of the kill…I mean she's gorgeous…it'd be a waste just to kill her.
'These guys would make bombass potion ingredients…should I?'
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3rd PoV end
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Nick can be seen leaving the Hospital with aunt Marie in a wheelchair, aunt Marie is rolling the vial that will save her life and make her strong again between her fingers.
"Nick…there's something you should know…Mason is…"
"My brother?"
"No…your mother and I had a sister…she was special, an Alchemist like Mason is. Alchemists are rare and only born from Grimm families…there used to be eight separate Grimm families with specific abilities, besides the ability to see Wesen which they all shared. Over time and intermarrying there became one family of Grimms, and as a whole the Grimms became stronger even though our numbers decreased."
"What's up with the history lesson Aunt Marie?" Nick rudely interrupts, which makes Marie sigh.
"To understand the origins of the Alchemists you have to know that there was once a pair of twin brothers born in this United family of Grimms. One brother was incredibly strong…with his talents as a Grimm. While the other was incredibly weak and lacked even the sight ability.
Though the twins had a good relationship when they were young, the ostrichization the weaker one faced pushed him to the edge.
The last straw was when the stronger of the two twins married the girl the weaker brother was in love with who had claimed to love him, then on the wedding night his brother told him she could never love a weakling like him.
Enraged and hurt by the betrayal of the woman he loved and the way his family had always treated him, the weaker brother started delving into the magic of the Hexen and Zauberbeists.
In doing so he created a specific type of magic named Alchemy, using his thin Grimm blood and Wesen as ingredients. It's shrouded in mystery on the how but what we do know is that the once weaker brother returned home stronger, faster, and more durable than his brother and started a war amongst our ancestors.
In the end both brothers settled their differences and had to rebuild the Grimms by intermarrying their sons and daughters, leaving Grimms far weaker than we should be, but ever since than an Alchemist has been born into every generation of Grimm, most times the alchemist will align themselves with the Grimms for protection and supplies other times they will partner with Wesen against the Grimms.
When…that happens…well you've heard of the dark ages, Nick we must keep Mason safe and on our side. If you feel that he's going to turn and join the Wesen or worse the royals for protection…he'll need to be put down." Aunt Marie says as Nick helps her up into his SUV and drinks the potion Mason sent with Nick.
Nick feels his stomach twist at Aunt Marie's words and can't help but wonder if it was a mistake giving her the potion Nick gave to him.
"Aunt Marie, if you knew about Mason…why didn't you adopt him? Nick asks as he looks on in awe as it seems like Aunt Marie is aging twenty years in reverse. Age is just melting away from his Aunt returning her to the vibrant forty year old woman that she is, long glossy black hair cascades over her shoulders.
Nick's phone rings, "Detective Nick Burkhardt, here."
"Uhh, yeah…I used his help to locate Robin Howell, Captain Renard he's really good at finding people, he found Gilda and Rocky good good…am I being placed on leave pending an investigation?" Nick replies like someone getting their ass chewed out.
Nick shivers as he feels his aunt's cold gaze on him as he hangs up the phone, the relieved breath that was about to leave him at being told he would not be facing an official inquiry at work, dies on his lips.
"You left one of the greatest assets in our world alone to fend for himself against not one but three teenaged Jagerbars and possibly six parents?" Nick shivers again in the voice that says this is even worse than the cops bringing him home at six o'clock in the morning on a Monday morning after he disappeared to a Limp Bizkit concert with a couple of high school buddies for a weekend.
"He told me to…" Nick mutters weakly.
"I would have thought you'd have grown up by now, Nicholas Issac Burkhardt. I can't even begin to express how disappointed in you I am." Marie starts ripping Nick a new one.
"And another thing, what were you thinking about when you asked a Blutbad to help protect me? Do you understand how foolish that was?!" This makes Nick perk right up.
"Monroe is a friend not only to me but to Mason too, he's done nothing but help me, and try to help me figure things out, I won't let you talk badly about him Aunt Marie." Nick grows some balls shocking Aunt Marie but little does he know mostly because she looks away from him Aunt Marie is smiling.
'You're growing Nick…that's good, don't repeat our ancestors mistakes not all Wesen were created equal there are good, decent, bad and evil ones just like normal people…that's something your mother has never understood…it's something I've struggled to come to grips with as well…'
"And don't try to avoid the question Aunt Marie why did you abandon Mason and why have I never heard of this other Aunt?" Nick glares at his Aunt, while asking his questions in an accusatory tone.
"He was already safe with an adoptive family by the time I learned mine and your mother's older sister Claire had been killed…I didn't want to take him away from a stable home."
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3rd PoV end
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(To harvest misguided teenaged Wesen for potion and enchantment ingredients or to not to?)