Chapter 14: Chapter 11
"You have been aiming for my face. It's annoying!" Menace shouted in annoyance, tightening her defense on her face as Meisner aim for it once again.
His solid fist collided with her arms as she block her face from taking any more hits. Groan slipped her lips when she felt the throbbing pain it causes. She felt like she was hit by a boulder, and was sure that the spot would bruise.
Menace tilts her head to her left when she notices Meisner's fist aiming straight for her. Channeling all the strength she still has after hours of sparring with him, she then swings her right fist to her side, coming from below and aiming for Meisner's chin. But the man wasn't unguarded as he initially seems. Not at all.
To be precise, he was waiting for it. The moment he saw Menace's fist, he lifts his right leg and made a solid impact on Menace's left torso. The latter stumbles backward, clutching her side as she gasps for air, which was very hard. Every time she inhales, she feels like something is stabbing her lungs. It was painful, but it was not unbearable.
"You're still full of openings," Meisner muttered, turning on the lights inside the room, and opening the door.
Trubel was waiting outside with two towels and two bottled of water in her hands. She looks at Menace, giving her a small smile as she hands everything to Meisner, before turning her back and walking away. Once she was out of sight, Meisner toss one towel and one bottled water to Menace. She caught both of them, wincing upon feeling the pain on her side.
"I thought you told me to rest. Now, you're beating me up again?" she said, sneering at him as she take a sip of the water, and tossed it aside once she was done.
"That was weeks ago," he replied, leaning his back on the wall beside the door, his arms folded across his chest as usual.
He didn't bother drinking the water or using the towel to wipe his sweat. He just remains standing there, staring at Menace, who of course noticed.
Smirk playing across her lips, she then started taking off her tank top, followed by the jeans. Unbothered about the fact that Meisner was watching her or the fact that he locked the door. She stands there with her back on him, with nothing but underwear.
She went on to grab the new set of clothes lying on top of the bed in the corner of the room and changed into them without saying anything. She remained quiet, and so did Meisner. His eyes were glued to her figure.
He look calm, but he wasn't at all. His jaw is tight as he clenches them, stopping himself from marching towards Menace and grabbing her. He might not be interested in a relationship or any such thing at all, but he couldn't deny how captivating the woman was.
She's feisty. A woman that can kill a full-grown man without batting an eye. She's strong, charismatic, and gorgeous with a body that is a sight to behold. Any man would be captivated, and he might not want to admit it, but looking at her almost bare-naked body makes him feel something different. Something dangerous to let loose.
"Are you done?" he asks, a subtle growl lying under his tone, almost inaudible.
Menace turns to him as she pulls on a new shirt, grinning upon noticing his tight jaw.
"Yes," she answered, an amused look on her face as she watches him open the door and walk out first.
∆
"You sure Adalind doesn't know about it?" Menace asked as she followed Nick through the wall where an underground tunnel was hidden.
A tunnel that was probably used back in World War II. Of course, she wasn't sure about that.
"Yes. I told her that Monroe and I found nothing when we went searching for the treasure and hid the box here when she was asleep." Nick answered, showing her the box he hid inside the brick wall he dug from inside the tunnel.
Menace nodded, shining the kerosene lamp around the dark place. It truly was a tunnel, and ahead is a damp path. The sound of dripping water echoes throughout.
"Is there another way out of here? 'Cause, this can be used as a means of escape when it is needed," she stated, glancing back at Nick who was putting back the bricks he took out to show Menace the box.
"This is a really wide tunnel. I check every corner every night and still found nothing. I'm gonna keep doing it, and I'll tell you once I find an exit." Nick replied, dusting his pants as he stands up.
Menace hands him back the kerosene lamp and follows him back up to the loft where he and his family lives.
"How have you been these days?" Nick questioned the moment they step into the loft.
"Kinda busy. I've been sparring with Meisner. That man doesn't know how to chill." Menace answered, marching to the open kitchen and pouring water into the two glasses on the table, handing one to Nick before drinking the other one.
"Yeah, I can see that," Nick muttered, glancing at the bruises on Menace's cheek along with the cut on her lower lip.
"So, where's Adalind and Kelly?" she asked, asking for Adalind and their baby. The cute baby boy whose smile always brightens her day, especially, when she's pissed off by Meisner.
"They're at the shop, visiting Rosalee," he replied, tossing an apple to Menace who easily caught it.
"Thanks," she muttered, taking a bite, ignoring the sting she felt from the cut on her lip.
∆
"Okay! Wait! Whoah! Back up. Are you telling me that our AI-like friend, Eve, slept with a woman after she turned into Renard using some kind of potion?" Menace asked in bewilderment, sitting in the backseat of Nick's car as the latter drove to a crime scene they were called in.
"Yes. Hexenbiests can do it with the right potion. Adalind once used it to pretend to be Juliette, who's Eve now, which is another long story for another day." Nick answered, understanding how absurd it sounds, and wouldn't believe it too if he hasn't experienced it first hand.
"Wait. So, what do you call it when a woman had sex with another woman, but with a body of a man?" Menace questioned, leaning forward in between the seat of Nick and Hank.
Hank turns to her with a raised eyebrow and laughs.
"Is that really what concerns you out of all the things he said?" he asked, amused that she doesn't care about the fact that Nick told her about Renard, their Captain, being part of the Black Claw plans, and that Sean Renard is running for Mayor now after his friend, Dixon, the initial candidate was assassinated, which also was all set up by the Black Claw so they can have him take his place in the candidacy.
"There's something on your face, Hank." Menace grins, noticing the bright smile Hank has been wearing since she saw them this morning back in the precinct.
"Really? What?" Hank genuinely asked, touching his face and even looking at the rearview mirror to see what Menace was talking about.
"She was talking about your smile, Hank," Nick commented, also grinning as he glances at his friend on the shotgun.
"What? What's with my smile?" Hank asked, his smile widening upon remembering a pleasant scenario.
"You haven't stopped smiling since this morning, and you have this look on your face that makes you appear like you're in some faraway fantasy land. Did something pleasant happen to you?" Menace stated jokingly, leaning back in her seat.
"Well, our friend over here, was asked out last night by a Wesen woman who once rejected him because she doesn't want a Wesen-Kehrseite relationship," Nick explained, earning a weak slap on the shoulder from his partner.
"A Wesen-Kehrsh, what?!" Menace questioned, frowning upon hearing the term for the first time.
"Oh. Kehrseite is what Wesens call normal humans. So, Wesen-Kehrseite is a term used by them to describe a relationship between a Wesen and a human." Hank explained this time, the smile not leaving his lips.
"That makes sense," Menace muttered, nodding her head. "Well, have fun on your date," she added, leaning forward once again to pat Hank's shoulder.
Wu greeted them when they arrived at the crime scene. He explained a few of their findings as he leads them to the victim's body, which was a sight no one have expected at all.
It was a man covered in blood with a body that looks like it was flattened by a huge road roller or even iron if there was one as big as a human.
They all crouches beside the body, wearing blue latex gloves as they observe the victim keenly. Menace watches Wu with a creased forehead as he pulls the dead man's hand to scan his fingerprint on the biometric fingerprint analyzer. The hand stretches like a strong rubber band, making Hank frown at the sight.
"Okay, I have no idea if we're gonna get any usable fingerprints. These are gonna be pretty distorted. There is no bone in the fingers." Wu stated, still trying to scan the victim's fingerprint.
"Those are tire trucks. It looks like he was run over," Hank commented, looking at the tracks ahead.
"Yeah, more than once," Nick added, watching Menace stands up and take off the gloves she was wearing.
"Then somebody took off his wallet, keys, phone, and bones. This is one sick dude." Wu said, grimacing as he let go of the hand.
"Well, let's see if we can get an ID on the vic and send him over to the ME," Nick muttered, following after Menace who started walking back to their car first.
∆
They got another victim the next day, which turned out to be Pinky. The homeless guy Hank knew, and the same guy they interrogated yesterday after claiming he saw the first victim in the park.
After they checked his body which look the same as the first one, they head off to the shop where Rosalee and Monroe's already waiting for them on the ground floor with the books open on the table.
"They stalked places of death, battlefields, workhouses, and slums." Rosalee started, reading what it says on the page open.
A picture of a face resembling a bird with its huge beak was drawn on one of the pages in the book laying open on top of the table. Nick sits in front of it and reads the name of the Wesen species.
"Barbatus Ossifrage?" Nick reads, unsure if he said it right as he looks at Monroe.
"Yeah, they prey on the mortally wounded," Monroe answered, walking towards the back of his wife, hands on his hips.
"So, they kill the already dying?" Hank asked this time, frowning at the information.
"Exactly. So, technically they're not killers. They sort of serve the same purpose in the ecosystem as, like, vultures providing clean-up and recycling of dead bodies, which, in turn, prevents the spread of plague and pestilence." Monroe added, pacing back and forth as he relayed the information.
Menace pulls out her phone from the pocket of her jeans when she felt a vibration. The name 'Brooding Man' is registered on the caller's ID, showing up on the blinking screen.
It was Meisner.
She look at Nick, and when he turned to her, she waves her phone, and the latter just nodded. After all, he already knows who's calling.
"You haven't been coming here." A deep voice resonates through the speakers of the phone, and Menace grins.
"Why? Did you miss me?" she jokingly asked, running up the stairs to the main shop, before grabbing a sit on the chair behind the counter.
"You've been skipping your training," Meisner replied in his usual serious and uncaring tone.
Menace rolled her eyes, annoyed by the fact that the man doesn't seem to know what joke or sarcasm is.
"I'm not skipping my training, okay? I'm just helping Nick with a case," she answered, the grin gone from her face.
"Make sure to drop by here when you can," he stated, ending the call without even waiting for a reply from Menace.
Menace stuffed her phone back in her jeans with an annoyed huff. Pissed off about being ordered around like a pushover.
"We'll go get our guy tonight."
Menace turns to the voice just in time to see Nick stepping out of the door with Hank, Monroe, and Rosalee behind him.
"Do we have something to do immediately?" Menace asked, grabbing her coat on the counter after she left it there earlier.
"For now, Rosalee will make something that'll attract the Barbatus Ossifrage so we can catch him or her in the act," Hank replied, stepping past the counter and into the shop's door.
"You're not coming with us?" Nick questioned, watching as Menace starts to put on her coat.
"I'll be dropping by on the HW. Call me when it's time?" Nick only nodded at Menace as they all step out of the shop, separating on the way as Menace headed in HW's direction in her motorbike, while Nick and Hank head back to the precinct in their car.
∆
"Shit!" Menace muttered, spitting out the blood in her mouth, wincing as she softly massage her throbbing jaw.
Meisner landed a solid hit on it with his elbow, and Menace felt like slumping down, but she was too prideful to do so.
She tilts her head from left to right, sighing as she felt the satisfying crack. The completely dark room is spinning around her, but she ignores it, shaking it off as she lifts her fists up once again.
She grins as she waited for Meisner to attack. They both remain in complete silence inside the darkness, each waiting for the other to make a move.
Meisner did first.
Menace waited until he was near her before crouching on the ground, sliding her right leg across the floor with all her strength and sweeping Meisner off of his balance.
Of course, it was not enough to knock him down, as he regains his composure fast, but Menace was expecting all of it. Before Meisner can fully stand upright, Menace uses both of her hands to support her weight as she leans back, throwing a kick this time and landing a solid hit on Meisner's abdomen.
He let out a grunt as he stumbled backward. It was only for a short moment, but it was all that Menace needed.
Pushing herself up, still in complete darkness, she then throws a roundhouse kick at Meisner. Her foot collided with his face, knocking him off his feet and falling into the cold cemented floor with a loud thud.
Meisner let out a grunt when Menace presses her right foot against his throat, restricting his airways for a moment until she pulls back her foot.
All the while feeling like her eyesight is much more clearer than in the day.
"Yup. I'm definitely missing my training," she stated sarcastically, a large grin painted on her face.
Meisner let out another grunt as he pushes himself up, turning the lights on to see Menace properly.
His scowl dropped the moment he sees the already bruising patch on her jaw, probably from the elbow he gave her earlier. He wanted to say something but stops himself. Unsure whether it's the right thing to say, or if he should even say anything at all.
"Go change. Nick might call you anytime now." he started, opening the door and stepping out of the room that had been their training room ever since Menace stepped in the place.
"You can look at me longer, you know," Menace muttered under her breath as she follows him.
Meisner heard it but ignores it. Deciding that the woman is just letting out her usual antics.
He doesn't know just how wrong he is.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone