Roddy, Barry, and Holly are waiting on the front porch the next morning shortly after Monroe comes downstairs. He can make out their silhouettes through the stained glass door and vaguely wonders how long they've been standing there waiting for him. He opens the door and ushers them inside, glancing out at the street out of habit before closing the door and locking it behind them. He knew first hand how some of the other Grimm creatures felt about his association with Nick (a brutal beat down at the hands of the Reapers sank that idea in pretty quick) and he didn't want to get the kids involved anymore than he had to in case someone was watching. He knew they wanted to help Nick but until they found their wayward detective, it was his job to keep everyone safe.
It's very shortly after 8:20 in the morning but all three teenagers look like they've been up for hours. They'd promised not to do anything the night before and start searching with Monroe the next morning but Monroe knows it wasn't a mutual decision. Holly and Barry have this wild animal look in their eyes and it looks like the only thing that's keeping them at the table and not running for the door is the fact that they have no idea where to even start searching. Roddy is looking at Monroe with calculated scrutiny the way he does a new sheet of music like he's trying to figure out every possible secret it could be hiding. They're all waiting for Monroe's advice, his approval, and he'd be more than happy to give it to them if he had even the slightest idea of what to do first.
He'd spent the better part of the night combing through every old storybook he had regarding Nachtkrapp while trying to determine where they might have taken Nick. In the few stories he'd heard growing up, he knew that Nachtkrapp acted more as hired muscle than on their own. It wasn't uncommon to see them in the ranks of gang leaders and mob bosses because their work was quick, efficient, and most of all unseen. That didn't narrow down a location though and that was the main thing he'd been looking for. He knew he stood a better chance of finding some answers by visiting Marie's trailer but Nick was the only one who had a key and to be honest it kind of freaked him out to be in the trailer by himself. It was like walking into a serial killer's pantry of horrors. His grandmother had told him enough stories about all the terrible, mutilating weapons Grimms tended to carry around on a daily basis and he'd only just scratched the surface of the crazy shit Marie had in the few times he'd been in the trailer with Nick. The idea makes him shudder; the thought that Nick was related to her, to a woman as well known and deadly as Marie Kessler, and yet he could be so entirely different. Nick was nothing like his aunt and Monroe had accused him of being worse than her…
He shakes his head to pull himself out of his darker thoughts and looks back at the teens surrounding his table. Holly is absently chewing on her thumb nail, knee bouncing like she's ready to come apart at the seams, Barry is looking out the window at the backyard next to them, and Roddy is still staring at him like he's waiting for instructions from a drill sergeant. Monroe has no idea where to send them; he knows splitting them up will cover more territory and probably narrow down a location faster but he's not too comfortable with the idea of them being alone. It's not that he thinks they can't handle themselves, quite the contrary in fact. He just knows that young creatures, especially predators, are usually much more prone to violence than their adult counterparts. Holly and Barry, though civil enough right now, would probably fall back on their more animal instincts if they found a lead and there wouldn't be much holding them back. Monroe's biggest concern is that they'll find someone with information on Nick and accidentally kill them before the information can be given. Still, they don't exactly have the luxury of time and every second they waste puts them another minute away from finding Nick. He sighs and looks back at the kids, coming to a decision.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Barry, I want you and Holly to take the woods and see if you can pick up a scent there. If you find something call me immediately. Do not try to handle it yourselves, understand?" He looks at them carefully, putting as much Alpha wolf power into his voice as he can without changing completely. Holly nods so quickly her hair bounces and Barry gives him a single nod to indicate he understands. "Good," Monroe says before turning his attention to Roddy. "I want you to search around the streets a bit, use your rats if you have to, but just stay under the radar. We don't know where Nick is or what whoever took him wants him for so we want to find him as quickly as we can without drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves, got it?" Roddy nods and Holly follows suit.
"Where are you going?" Barry asks and both Roddy and Holly are immediately looking back at Monroe, asking the same question with their eyes.
Monroe sighs and figures its time to give them a straight answer. "I know what took Nick from his house but I don't know where they took him afterwards." The kids are looking at him like he holds the fountain of knowledge in his hands and he has no choice but to continue. "Nick was taken by Nachtkrapp."
Roddy immediately bristles and Barry growls low in his throat. Holly's eyes flash darkly and there's a hint of red in them. "Filthy birds," she snarls and her teeth are just a little bit sharper than they were previously.
"Easy guys," Monroe says, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "We'll find Nick first and we'll deal with the Nachtkrapp later. I'm going to check out a few places around town that are not exactly kid friendly which is why I don't want any of you coming with me. The people I'm going to see are dangerous and I want you all to stay as far away from them as possible, alright?"
None of the kids look very happy about Monroe's decision but they know better than to question him. They all want the same thing: to find Nick. If that means delving into some less than respectable places during their search then they're all willing to take that risk.
"Good. Everyone knows what we're doing right?" At the wave of nods, Monroe continues. "Okay, if you find anything, anything at all, I want you to call me immediately. Don't try to handle it yourselves," he emphasized again with a look at Barry and Holly. "And don't try to get into anything you can't get out of." He glances at Roddy as he says this before pushing away from the table. "We will find Nick but we need to do this correctly, understand? If we don't then he's going to be even worse off than before."
That dark bit of knowledge sinks in pretty quickly and the teenagers nod somberly. After their acknowledgement, they all stand and follow Monroe to the door, stepping out into the cold morning and walking down the sidewalk. Once they reach the mailbox, Holly and Barry walk across the street and disappear into the trees. Roddy turns right and makes his way back toward town, hands dug deep in his pockets and shoulders squared in determination. Monroe watches them all go before pulling the keys out of his pocket and walking over to his car. He was going to find Nick if he had to search every drug den and gang hideout in Portland.
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Monroe gets the call shortly after 2 o'clock and he nearly flinches as his cell phone vibrates incessantly against his hip. He's standing behind a barber shop in downtown Portland, or at least it's painted to look like a barber shop. The shop doubles as a store front and a meeting place for a well known criminal organization that trolls the back alleys of the city. They're well known throughout the city though Monroe is pretty sure not many people know the gang is composed of entirely non-human members. He'd met the boss once and it had been one of the most awkward and terrifying moments of his life. The man had come to him to fix a clock for his mother and had paid Monroe very well to keep his silence. There was no issue there, Monroe is pretty sure no one would believe him even if he did say anything. One of the most well known crime bosses in the city coming to his house to get an antique clock fixed for his mother? Yeah, that's believable.
The man, Lorenzo, had been pleased with his work and had very calmly told Monroe before he left that if he ever needed anyone "taken care of", to come find him at the Barber Shop downtown and that his problem would be resolved very quickly. He'd also made it very clear that now that he knew where Monroe lived, it wouldn't be hard to find him again. The message had been clear: don't fuck up and we won't have a problem. Monroe had gone down the hardware store very shortly after Lorenzo left and bought two more deadbolts for his front door.
He needed information now though and Lorenzo was one of the only ones he knew that might have it. He'd met with him in the back room of the Barber Shop, behind a heavy metal door that had an "Employees Only" sign bolted to it. Lorenzo was reclined in a high back leather chair that looked like it cost more than Monroe's entire house and he smiled in a very reptilian way when Monroe sat down across from him. Monroe isn't entirely sure what he is, a chameleon or an iguana, he can't decide. All he knows is that appearances can be deceiving and Lorenzo could make the order to have him killed before he could blink.
Their conversation is amicable enough and Lorenzo answers Monroe's questions without so much as a raised eyebrow. Monroe is careful to leave Nick's name out of the conversation because he's pretty sure that, Grimm or not, dropping the name Nick Burkhardt in front of a crime boss wouldn't be the best idea. He asks for information on the Nachtkrapp and if he knows of any that might be in the area, any that might have done a job recently.
Lorenzo denies any knowledge of the Nachtkrapp and Monroe believes him partially because he sounds like he's genuinely telling the truth and partially because he's a bit terrified of him. Lorenzo makes it clear that he doesn't associate with Nachtkrapp unless he has to and he calls them a particularly nasty name that makes Monroe's eyes widen. If he'd ever used that kind of language growing up, his mother wouldn't have just washed his mouth out with soap, she might have straight up disowned him. He tries to ask for more information but their meeting is immediately cut short when a wiry man with a face like a hyena comes in and makes some kind of gesture that only Lorenzo can understand. The boss stands and apologizes to Monroe for the interruption, leading him to the door and telling him he has some other business he needs to attend to. Monroe doesn't argue and lets himself be led out to the alley behind the building before the door slams and locks behind him.
He stands motionless for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons of trying to go back inside and weasel some more information out of Lorenzo or keeping his head neatly on his shoulders. He needs to find Nick, he needs to get some kind of lead other than the Nachtkrapp, and right now he's back to square one. He's just about to whirl around and go bang on the door again when his phone buzzes in his pocket. He feels his heart double time, both out of surprise and apprehension. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, seeing Roddy's number scroll across the screen. He accepts the calls and brings the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Monroe, hey. I think I found something…" There's a hesitation in Roddy's voice that makes Monroe uncomfortable. He wants to demand answers from him then and there but he knows here is not the place to do it. He sighs softly and forces himself to calm down.
"Okay, where are you?"
"I'm heading back to your place. I've already called Barry and Holly so we should all get there at the same time." Monroe can hear the pass of traffic as Roddy walks and he knows he can't be too far away from the main part of the city.
"I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."
"Okay, be careful and I'll see you there." Monroe hangs up the phone and takes one last look at the Barber Shop before walking across the street to his car.
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Roddy is standing on the porch when Monroe pulls up, bouncing on the balls of his feet and looking like he's ready to burst if he doesn't talk to someone in the next five minutes. Monroe is walking up to the porch just as Barry and Holly appear a few feet up the sidewalk, walking quickly to catch up to them. Once everyone had made it back to the house, Monroe opens the door and lets them all inside.
"What did you find?" Barry asks once they're all back in the kitchen, looking at Roddy intently. Holly is right beside him, dark eyes flicking up and down like she's looking for anything he might be hiding.
Roddy reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lime green flyer, handing it to Monroe first and watching as Barry and Holly hover near his elbow to read it. The black writing is painfully bold against the bright green background and it displays a collection of "Novelties, Oddities, and Commodities All in One Location!" Monroe frowns and reads it again, eyes scanning up and down the page.
"What is this?"
"It's a flyer for a traveling circus," Roddy answers slowly, weighing his words like they're too heavy to speak. "It's completely non-human and designed for non-humans; my dad took me once when I was about five."
"How does this help us find Nick?" Barry asks, glancing over the page again like he's looking for something he's missing.
Roddy looks distinctly uncomfortably now and he nods toward the flyer. "Flip it over."
Monroe does as he's told and flips the flyer over, reading across the back of the page. It's an advertisement for an onsite side show, a house of horrors in a way for the younger kids that come to the circus. There's a large, bolded box at the bottom of the page that causes Monroe's eyes to widen. The text in the box reads: "Limited tickets available to see a REAL LIVE GRIMM. Buy your tickets now to come see this once in a lifetime experience!" Monroe reads and re-reads the page about three times before it finally sinks in. "They have Nick locked away in some freak show?" He demands, unable to keep the growl out of his voice.
Roddy nods hesitantly, trying to explain the situation without making it worse. "It's the best lead we have and that circus isn't very far away, its right outside of Seattle. Nick has only been missing for a few days so I think there's a good chance he's being held there."
"But why would they put Nick in a side show?" Barry asks, frowning at the page darkly. "Why wouldn't they try to kill him like any normal creature?" Holly snaps at him, baring her teeth at the suggestion, and Barry holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"Hey, it was just a question. You know I'm right," he says, glancing between Holly and Roddy and finally Monroe. "Most Grimms aren't known for the friends they make in the creature world and yeah, Nick may be the exception but that doesn't mean everyone else knows that. My mom used to tell me that the only good Grimm was a dead Grimm and I'm pretty sure she wasn't the only one who believed it."
"Dude, think about it," Roddy says, looking back at the green flyer hovering between them. "Catching a Grimm, a real, living Grimm, is like finding a unicorn or a leprechaun wandering in your backyard. Most people have only heard stories of Grimms, they've never actually seen one in person, so whoever is holding Nick captive is using him to clean out the pockets of whoever is curious enough to come by to see him." Roddy snatches the flyer away and points to a line of text right below the bolded box. "The tickets for the side show alone run $15 a piece and I could probably lay money on the fact that everyone who buys one is getting it to go see the Grimm, or in our case Nick. Right now, Nick is more valuable to them alive than dead."
"Okay, so let's assume you're right about this and Nick is locked away in some cage at a freak show," Barry says, looking between the flyer and Roddy. "How are we supposed to get him out?"
Roddy shrugs a bit, looking at Monroe helplessly. "I haven't really figured that part out yet."
"Nick is in a cage?" Holly asks softly, her expression somewhere between horror and fury. She clenches her fist, sharp nails digging holes into her palms.
Monroe places a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from hurting herself or losing her shit completely in the kitchen. "I'm sure he's fine, Holly," he tells her as calmly as he can but he can't escape the sick, sinking feeling in his stomach. The idea of Nick locked up in a cage does all kinds of horrible things to the wolf inside and its raging against the mental images that keep popping up in his head.
If Nick was locked up…if Nick was injured and locked up in a cage…He shakes his head and looks back at Roddy. "Where did you find that?" He asks, nodding to the flyer in the teen's hand.
"I found it on my door," Roddy answers with a small shrug. "A friend of mine leaves stuff like this on my door all the time in case I ever decide to bring Retchid Kat back and need a venue to play for." At the looks from the others, he elaborates. "He doesn't know about Nick or anything. I think he was just leaving the flyer in case I decided to go."
"Wow, usually the only flyers I get on my door are for Chinese take out," Barry mumbles, taking the flyer back and reading the directions at the bottom of the page. He flips it over once and hands it back to Roddy.
"It is the best lead we have," he admits, looking at Monroe for confirmation. Holly is looking at him as well and Roddy's eyes haven't left him in almost a minute. They all want his approval, his confirmation that this is the right place to start and Monroe has to admit that he doesn't have anything better to go on. If Nick is locked away in a cage somewhere, being held and put on display like an animal, then they need to find him and bring him home before it's too late.
Monroe takes the flyer from Roddy's hand and folds it, tucking it into his pocket. "Looks like we're going to the circus."