Menace left the shop, and went back to the precinct through a cab. Nick didn't show up. Something urgent might have happened. Menace thought that if she's staying, Nick being too busy is something she needs to get used to.
"Looks like Nick didn't show up." Hank greeted the moment Menace got close to him.
"It's okay. It looks like he has a lot of things to take care of." Menace answered, glancing at her car on the opposite road.
"Here." Menace looks back at Hank, then down at his hand. He is handing her a detective calling card. "If something urgent came up, call this. That's Nick's number."
"Thank you, Hank." Menace smiled at him, taking the card from his hand.
Hank nodded before going back inside the precinct building. Once he was out of sight, Menace runs to her car. The first thing she check was the folder on the passenger seat and was glad to see it still there. She let out a relieved sigh, before starting the car.
It didn't take long for her to reach the apartment she was staying in. As she was about to climb the stairs to the second floor, she notice the owner behind the glass window on the counter. Menace planned to greet him, but notice that he is slumped on the chair. His eyes close. She shrugged the sight off, thinking that the owner might have fallen asleep while reading the folded magazine on top of his chest.
She rushes to her floor, about to put the key into her room, when she notices something. The white paper she folded, and stuck into the top of the door before closing it, was on the floor. Someone had entered her room, while she wasn't there.
It couldn't be the owner because the man made it clear himself that no one checks any room. There weren't even any cleaners because every tenant was made sure to do their cleaning. Gritting her teeth, she lift her jeans a bit, before pulling out the knife strap on her leg.
If she didn't leave anything inside the room, she would've left at that moment, but along with her clothes was the gun she had when she was still a police intern and the money she was able to pull out from some savings her adoptive parents had. There was also the book the Director of the orphanage gave her adoptive parents when she was taken in. The same book her biological mother gifted her, the night she was left in the orphanage. Menace knows the other things weren't worth her life, but that book does.
After all, it wasn't just any book. It is a book worth killing for. Especially, if the person who gets their hands on the book is Wesen, then it's another matter that needs to be taken care of.
Gripping the knife tightly in her hands, she put the key on the doorknob, twisting it before kicking the door, sure that someone is hiding behind it, ready for an ambush.
She was right.
The man groans upon the impact. He drops a gun with a silencer. He tried to pick it, but Menace was faster. She kicks the door again, before storming in. Pushing the knife into the man's throat, and as he gurgles blood, his hands trying to push Menace away, she pulled out the knife and stab the man's neck once again. Blood squirting on the wall, and her clothes.
Blood sputters across the floor as the man collapse. Menace duck her head as bullets head her away. Missing her by inches, and hitting the walls behind her. She grabs the gun the dead man dropped earlier, before sliding across the floor. Shooting the man standing on the side of her bed in the chest, neck, and head. Then someone grabs her from behind, knocking the gun out of her hand. She can hear growling coming from it. She looks into the mirror hanging on the wall across the room and sees their reflection.
A Hundjager, hound dog-like Wesen, grip her body with his arms. Menace groans, gritting her teeth before slamming the heel of her shoes into the man's foot. Particularly, his biggest toe. The man groans in pain. Menace took the chance to slip away, but the man was able to grab the end of her jacket.
Menace swings her left arm, hitting the man's jaw with the back of her hand, before kicking him. The man staggers backward, colliding with the bathroom door where he probably hid earlier. Menace picks up the gun once again, closing the gap between him and the man, before standing above him.
The Hundjager tried to stand up, growling as he swings his arm, but he was too late as Menace put two bullets in his head.
Menace rushes to close the door before anyone can see what happened inside. She quickly grabs all her things from the room. Luggage, and backpack. Leaving no trace that she was even there. She wipes the handle of the gun she uses before putting it back from the first attacker's hand. She also pulled her knife from his neck before leaving the room, wiping the blood off it on the man's suit, before tucking it back into the strap on her leg.
Locking the room behind her.
She curses under her breath, as she runs down the stairs. She left her things at the end of the flight, before storming into the apartment owner's office. The door was unlocked, and the owner didn't move an inch from his seat just like how she saw him earlier. Menace let out a relieved sigh when she felt hot air from the man's nose, after putting her finger below it. He's alive. But whatever was in the coffee on the table in front of him, contains something enough to knock him all out.
Thankfully, the apartment was too old that the owner didn't bother putting any cameras on. Once Menace finished making sure the owner was alive, she fled the place.
✓
"May I know the name of the woman who rents room 203?" Hank asks the owner of the old apartment building. He glances at Nick, trying to discern on Nick's face if he's seeing anything.
But Nick just subtly shakes his, looking at the man in front of them. The owner looks high with his bloodshot eyes. He keeps wringing his neck from side to side, rubbing his hand on his nape. There was a bit of slurring in his words, but it was understandable. The man is using drugs.
"I don't remember since it's only been two days since she rent that room, but I made sure to make every tenant write their names and numbers down the day they arrive." the man answered, rushing to his office and grabbing the notebook on his desk.
He flip the pages until he got into the recent ones. He then hands it to Nick, who gladly takes the notebook. Ran his eyes across the lines of names, before stopping right at the name across Room 203.
"Melanie Martinez." Nick read, letting Hank peel over his shoulder for the number. The man then dialed it, waiting for an answer but nothing came. The call just automatically ended the moment it started.
"Not answering. It's either she already broke the sim and throw it, or she was using a burner phone." Hank explained, putting back his phone in the pocket behind his pants.
"Can you describe the woman?" Nick asks, looking around for any hint or evidence leading to the supposed woman renting room 203, where three dead bodies were found early in the morning.
"She's beautiful. Have that unique face that isn't easy to forget. Dark brown eyes, brownish hair that reaches the mid of her back, and a slender body. She's not that tall, probably 5'5 or 5'6. To be honest, I don't think she could've killed those men, but how would I know, right?" the man explained, rambling at the end of his statement
"Did you see her drive any car to get here?" Hank asks, standing beside Nick.
"Yeah. Saw her drive here the day she rented. I'm not good with cars, okay? So, I don't know what kind it was. Just that it was a black shiny one with flame stickers on both doors."
Nick notices the short glance that Hank gives him, a recognition plastered on his face.
"Remembered the plate?" Nick asks the man again, waiting for things to finish so he could hear what Hank needs to say.
"I'm sorry. Didn't memorize. Felt like I didn't need to." the man shrugged.
"Okay. I'll hand you to Officer Wu. Tell him anything you remember. Anything you think can help in the investigation."
"Okay, come here," Wu answered, leading the man to the side as Nick and Hank walk outside.
"What is it?" Nick started the moment they were sure no one can eavesdrop.
"Remember Menace's car that she left in the place where we caught her? The one I had someone to tow and brought to the precinct? That's the same car the man described. I remember the flame stickers." Nick look straight at Hank, clearly not expecting what he said.
"Do you still have her number?" Hank quickly pulled out a notepad from the back of his pants, handing it to Nick who started typing the number on his phone.
But before he can finish, someone started calling. He quickly answered when it registered as 'Monroe'.
"Monroe," Nick answered, waiting for a response.
"Nick. We need you here in the shop. Menace is here asking for you."
"Okay. We'll be there." Nick answered, ending the call before rushing to the driver seat of their car with Hank after him.
"What happened?" Hank asks, tucking in the seat as Nick starts the car.
"Menace is in the shop. Waiting for us." Nick then stepped on the accelerator.
Ready to get answers to what occurred last night in the apartment, and Menace is the only one who can give them.
✓
To say that Monroe and Rosalee were surprised was an understatement. They both woged out the moment they smell blood inside the shop upon entering at the break of dawn. Almost attacking Menace when she steps out of the other room.
Turns out, she broke in around midnight. To why, they're about to find out when Nick and Hand arrive at the shop.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Rosalee asks once again, the same question she's been asking for hours.
"Rosalee, I swear I'm fine. None of those blood was mine. It was from that man who attacked me first, last night." Monroe hands her the glass of coffee he made, before standing beside Rosalee.
"Can't you tell us what happened last night?" Rosalee insisted, confused at the same time for feeling worried over a girl she just met yesterday.
"It's not that I can't. I just want to say it when Nick and Hank get here, because I figured out they need to know what happened, and that I want to tell it in one go with everyone here."
Monroe rubs the shoulder of his wife soothingly, trying to calm her nerves down.
It didn't take that long before a car stopped in front of the shop. Nick and Hank enter, and their eyes immediately settle on Menace who is sitting on the chair near the door.
"So, I think you already know why we're here." Nick started, closing the door behind him, before turning the open sign into the close.
Menace let out a sigh, took another sip of the coffee, then put it down on the counter.
"Yeah. After all, I was the one who asked Monroe to call you."
"Why didn't you just call Nick? I gave you his calling card." Hank chimes in.
"Can't risk them tracing Nick on my phone when I get caught. It's better to be sure and safe than risk you all getting exposed because of my mess." Nick stares at her for a moment, folding his arms across his chest. Thinking that Menace knows what she's doing.
"Tell us what happened."
"Well, I waited here in the shop for you till late at night like what you told me. I got tired since I haven't gotten much sleep for a few days now. Hank called me that my car is in the precinct, so I called a cab. Hank greeted me when I arrived. I didn't go anywhere after that and went straight to the apartment I was renting. I saw the owner on my way up. Thought he was sleeping, so I head up the stairs. You see, I always put folded paper on the doors of the apartments I rented every time I leave. I did the same thing on the door of that room. When I arrive in front of it, the folded paper was already on the floor. So, I grab the knife strapped to my leg. I believe you saw the bodies, then you already know what happens."
Hank and Nick glance at each other. Hank shrugged, before both of them looked back at Menace.
"Do you know any reasons why someone will try to assassinate you? There were three of them. Too many for one woman, don't you think?" Nick asks, assessing Menace for any wounds. But there was none.
That made him frown. One lean woman, against three grown men. But then he remembered that the woman in front of him isn't just any woman. A Grimm.
"Well, this is where it gets interesting. One of them was a Hundjager. I think the others are too."
The room became silent. Nick clearly remembered something as he made a small gesture of shaking his head.
"Just wanna get this out of my mind, but how do you know what Wesens are? What kind they are? Like, do you have any Wesenology dictionary or something?" Monroe steps in, staring at Menace with a silly grin.
"My Uncle who took me in after my adoptive parents were killed by a Manticore, is a Hundjager. He taught me every basic thing I need to know to survive an encounter. I also asked those Wesen who attacked me what kind they are before killing them."
"Oh... Uhmm... Yeah. That's great to know." Menace raises a brow at him when he subtly takes a step back. "I mean, a Hundjager teaching a Grimm her job that usually involves his kind getting beheaded, makes sense." He rambled. Rosalee only shakes her head at him before looking back at Menace.
"He spoils me." Menace remarks jokingly, shrugging off the stares they gave her.
"The three Hundjagers who attacked you, did they attack you because they saw you as a Grimm?" Hank chimes in, trying to fill the awkward silence.
"No. I haven't encountered them before or anything. But I know why they did attack me." Menace took her phone out of the pocket of her jacket, handing it to Nick who takes it with a confused look etched on his face. "Once I was away from the apartment, I received a call from an unknown number. It was a man. Told me that I passed the test and that he'll keep in touch. That was all. I tried to call the number again, but no one was answering anymore."
Nick pulled out his phone, checked a number, and compared it to the last number on Menace's call log. It was the same.
"Looks like we have some things to discuss if you want to catch up."
Menace stares into Nick's eyes. Her resolve to stay is stronger than any emotion at the moment.
✓