Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Title: Conviction
Chapter One: Latvian Gambit1,2
Notes: First 'long' story. Footnotes at the end for clarity. Here it goes...
Nick had always loved the river, it would be a little disappointing to die on it. Now here on a container ship floating just outside of Swan Island Basin, beaten and tied-down to a chair, death was a true possibility. He didn't know why these men hadn't killed him yet. They had ambushed him as he took the trash to the curb, stunned him with a blow to the back of the head and thrown him into the back of a moving truck. There were at least a dozen of them and he had seen at least three separate scythes during the fight. He thought he had made some good hits, one or two were probably dead or badly damaged. But against so many it wasn't enough to get away and now they had The Key. After the first few furious minutes, it wasn't much of a fight more like a beat down. He didn't know which was worse his ringing head or the sensation of swallowing the blood that kept collecting in his mouth. He was attempting to keep his thoughts positive; focusing on all of the ways that things could go wrong could rob him of the time he needed to think a way out of this.
Nick focused on trying to loosen his rope bindings, but couldn't seem to make any progress. How long had it been since he was taken? Did anyone even know he was gone? Juliette had headed upstairs for the night. He would need to assume that no one was coming. When the guards seemed to stiffen and then straightened, Nick paused. Two sets shoes were approaching from behind, the click of dress shoes and high-heels ringing against the decking.
"Hi, Nick remember me?" The phase drifting over to Nick in the sickly sweet tone and pretending purity of Adalind Schade. Nick snapped his already injured head up to glare a her, and his vision swam. "How's Juliette?" Nick glare focused and intensified.
A deep mocking chuckle drew Nick's attention to the man Adalind had entered with. Between the head injury and a his anger he hadn't even considered him yet.
"So this is the Grimm that has been such an irritant. He looks intense but not particularly that threatening." He sounded European, was this the Royal a the heart of his problems?
"Well he doesn't typically go around decorated with his own blood or tied-up." Adalind gleefully added in. The Royal considered the area around him and seemed to judge it as below him, filthy.
One of the suit clad thugs stepped forward. "Sir." The thug handed The Key over to the Royal. "He killed three of my men, sir. May I claim my revenge and have the honor of cutting off his head?"
"Three? Against all of you, none of your men should have fallen." The thug took the dismissal for what it was, stepped back into place with a final glare at the Grimm. The Royal briefly considered The Key before wrapping the object in his handkerchief and placing it the side pocket of a very expensive looking suit. The Royal's eyes scanned across Nick's features, evaluating him anew. "Three, even for a Grimm that's...not bad. There are those who seem quite impressed with you." The Royal drew in closer just off to Nick's right, so Nick's eyes narrowed and he shifted back to the left away from the man. The Royal seemed to enjoy this reaction.
"Eric..." Adalind warned, the guard stiffened and Eric causally waved them both off.
"I would so enjoy transforming your expression into its proper form of fear." Nick drew back farther, and Eric followed, further mocking. "But alas there just isn't enough time on this trip for both business and pleasure. And I would hate to ruin the surprise for I have planned for you."
Nick's eyebrow twitched upward, and Eric's expression didn't even have enough time to change before Nick slammed his head forward. Contact was made and followed with the wet sound of a nose being broken; next where the sounds of a less than dignified yelp of shock and a Royal backside connecting with the deck. The guard came forward but not before Nick split a load of collected blood and saliva onto the splayed out form before him. Sending the man skittering, crab walking backward to safety, wide-eyed and covered in blood. Two guards helped Eric to his feet.
"I told you he was dangerous." Adalind haughty chimed in. Eric's reaction was quick, violent and born of hurt pride. From his not yet completely upright form he twisted and back-handed Adalind sending her shocked and crumbling to the floor.
"You forget yourself, you spayed bitch. Even a fixed hexenbiest touching and fawning over me makes my skin crawl. Did you honestly think I would repeat my Father's mistakes." To be made to look like a fool among these his men like this was not acceptable. The Grimm was one matter, but that tone from a subordinate was unacceptable, Eric was confident that this correction would improve her attitude greatly. Furthermore, Adalind's pain and humiliation would shift focus to her and away from his pained voice and bloodied form. Adalind glared up, but quickly averted her eyes.
"Nice friends you have." Nick added in, "Even when I knew you attacked my Aunt, I never treated you so poorly." This hit Adalind worse than Eric's blow. What Nick said was truthful, an attempt by him to turn her against Eric. An attempt so obvious to her that Adalind couldn't even pin him with manipulation. Nick was just speaking his mind. Adalind seemed to have an attraction to powerful men that were only interested in using her as a pawn. She blinked to stop tears from forming in her eyes. She was supposed to be manipulating Eric into doing what she wanted. Into carrying out her revenge. But all he wanted was The Key and to entrap his brother, she was a just a means to an end. Now that he has The Key her use was at an end, Eric would just toy with her now maybe even kill her. Nick only did what was needed, he didn't humiliate those he bested. He'd kill her if he had the chance, she had proven herself too dangerous. Perhaps this was something Eric needed reminded of.
"Not that you have completely outlived your usefulness, Adalind." Eric bit out, in that mocking tone she once found playful and now found infuriating. "I appear to be in need of a new shirt, I have Grimm all over this one. Go fetch my bags." Eric needed to learn not to play with his food. It would be suicide to do anything too direct or too violent, but that didn't mean she needed to accept this.
She rose feinting wantonness and hurt to cover the rage she felt, she rose and approached him; "Eric, there are many uses I have left. Uselessness is something I will never surrender to." Adalind moved in close to Eric and shamelessly groped. His shock and disgust at the display over-whelmed him, the audacity! The only person who noticed Adalind's other hand was Nick. Eric certainty didn't notice his load lighten by several significant grams.
"LEAVE! You will never touch me again! If I ever see you again from this night on, I'll have you gutted."
"As you wish my Prince." Adalind curtsied and the crowd on the deck watched as she left the ship and walked down the dock to the parking lot out to the car that Eric and she had arrived in. She asked the driver for help removing bags from the trunk. As the driver exited the car Adalind stabbed him with a sedative, and he crumbled to the ground. She closed the trunk, stepped over the driver's prone form and took his seat. And drove off; it's hardly as if Eric could report the car as stolen.
"You two go collect those bags. Now!" Eric raged at two goons standing next to him. And then mostly to himself, "Gods I hate Portland."
Two weeks before Nick's capture and an ocean away there was a small gathering engaged in a terse conversation. The crisis time was approaching, and they were having to accelerate their time-lines. The Läufer3 had been planning this action for over decade. Blood split, small operations, insurrections, scraps of information gathered and held; all built toward the moments to come. And now there was only rushing, they were running out of time. The Royal families were beginning to come together, consolidating their power and focus behind Prince Eric. Information was that within a year Eric would arise to the throne; if not by the health of the King then by regicide. While the father was no more loved than the son; the elder never held the same level of ambition and shear psychotic enjoyment in causing fear. Eric referred to fear as the mortar of power. He would work at extracting it from the unfortunate souls trapped in the castle dungeons as some would a hobby. Information was needed for Eric's goals; however information gathered this way is notoriously inaccurate. Eric knows this, so rarely uses the information without additional confirmation.
The Verrat4 were also bearing their force on the Wessen5 world in an attempt strike fear into any who would think to oppose them and Eric's new world order. But as such efforts often produce, it offered an increase of support for the Läufer efforts. The money helped, but the new recruits were more of a drain on resources then anything else. No one new could be risked to even know that there was a big plan in the works. They were good to send on a constant raids. However nothing they could brought back could be trusted. All this did was keep the Verrat busy, believing that they were unorganized and desperate.
Key members of the Resistance were in peril and portions of the plan at risk, one was captured and the other compromised. Ian Harmon and a small trusted team were on their way to rescue the first member; then the group will continue to Portland for the second. Eric was beginning a long trip build his power among the families, at the same time his father would be vacationing with his latest mistress. Their absence would automatically reduce security in the castle, human nature would reduce it even more. After four months stuck Eric's dungeon even a gargoyle would have a hard time recovering quickly enough. Physically there just wasn't enough time for her to be 100% even with quick healing to recover. She would be in charge of protecting key assets in Portland until the operation was done, ideally she wouldn't even need to fight. But Kay has always resilient, she knew the stakes; if anyone could hold off the break-down, it was her.
The pivot point of the plan rested in the fact that the Verrat and Royal families hadn't advanced with modern times. Considering their fanatical focus on the old ways this is hardly surprising. But even they began using the internet. Not for any of their high-level planning, just for their banking, real estate dealings and travel; from which a wealth of information could be mined. The Mellifers6 were masters at this. Allies, enemies, mistresses and liabilities have been determined. Who they were financing and where; the why was never stated but could typically be implied or found out by those working on the inside. They have been able to identify the locations and the habits of the Verrat high command, and several training bases. The plan was to execute a segmented attack where any one action could be a success without being dependent on the success of another operation. The idea was that if all these small teams attack strategically, the temporary confusion will increase the likelihood of success of all of the units. However any unit, or handful of units failing would only stop a small portion of the plan. With the exception of Portland unit, of course, however that attack would be unlike anything the royals have seen before. The operation would be a combination of direct attack, sabotage and internet warfare. They were set to destroy or transfer approximately 75% of royal held liquid wealth; all over lines of bandwidth. Some of the monies transferred out to support the resistance, some currently tied up in Ponzi schemes and boiler room stocks will be locked down and rendered valueless. The same royal families that directly bank roll the Verrat, would begin to have payroll issues. The Verrat would be injured by the attack as well, critically so if at least 12 out of the 20 members of the high command could be assassinated. They mostly likely wouldn't implode, but with a crippled command and reduced financial support their power would be greatly reduced. It would be the single greatest victory since WWII, if; if they get it to work.
Most lands and physical assets were still out of there ability to disrupt but in the current financial market these would be cumbersome and sold at vast discounts. Hopefully these combined losses alone would cause some of the Families to shrink back from Eric. Eric's land and assets would be given special attention. Already a population of endangered brown bears had been established on some of his lands, any attempt to sell would be wrapped up in legal battles and red tape for years. He would come to find his other properties with problems ranging from sink holes, to veracious termite infestations and newly found unexploded ordnance from WWII; which had been gingerly moved in years ago. His prized collections of cars and paintings; have been either been replaced with forgeries or would be burnt. They would make an example of the worst of the Royals. Hopefully this would cause the others families to flee from Eric. While attempting to completely destroy them all was tempting, leaving your enemy no path to retreat was foolish. The mistakes of previous revolutions would not be repeated here, they would take the lessons of history and apply them. Giving the other families a way to retreat would save lives and fracture cooperation within the Seven Families. Furthermore the Families would be less willing to break the terms of any brokered peace housed in the comfort of their mansions then they would cornered in bunkers. So the central members of the Läufer would push on with sleeplessness, excitement, stress and hope.
1 The Latvian Gambit defined by Wikipedia: The opening (in chess) has the appearance of a King's Gambit with colors reversed. It is an aggressive but dubious choice for Black which often leads to wild and tricky positions.
2 Gambit defined by Wikipedia: A gambit (from ancient Italian gambetto, meaning tripping) is a chess opening in which a player, most often White, sacrifices material, usually a pawn, with the hope of achieving a resulting advantageous position.
3 Läufer – The Wesen Resistance movement against the Verrat and the Seven Royal Families.
4 Verrat – Royal enforcers, charged with maintaining order in the Wessen world. Historically they have common ties with the German SS; and have executed Wessen for marring outside of their race.
5 Wesen – Have you ever watched Grimm? Basically all of the 'monsters'.
6 Mellifers – Bee Wessen adept at communications and manipulating the digital world.