Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Title: Conviction

Chapter Three: Regrouping

Notes: Thank you for the reviews and follows!

Hank and Monroe where watching Nick get patched up. The doctors said he had a concussion, bruising, several cuts and lacerations; the only thing broken was his nose and no significant internal bleeding. The injuries seemed to be focused on creating pain with the fewest major injuries. Eric did seem to plan for Nick to be beaten for a long time; it would have spoiled his fun if Nick passed out or died too quickly. Nick hadn't told Hank much over the phone, just asked him to get Monroe and meet him at the hospital. That he had been attacked the only people that should know about it at this point were the two of them. They also ran by his house a checked that Juliette was safe. She was asleep in her bed like everything was alright so they left her that way.

Finally, the doctors and nurses seemed to be finishing up with Nick.

"You can talk to him, just don't rile him up." The nurse said, "We want to keep him awake to monitor his concussion. So don't let him sleep, and if he can't stay awake or starts slurring words alert us immediately. A nurse will come by periodically and access him. I think he'll recover quickly, but brain injuries aren't something to be messed around with."

Hank and Monroe nodded to the nurse then approached the battered Grimm, and closed the door to the room.

Monroe opened, "Dude, what happened?"

"Royals." Nick answered with a peculiar look on his face.

"You finish them off and get away?" Monroe continued.

"No. The Captain showed up and got me out."

"The Captain? Does he know?" Hank asked surprised.

"He...Yes." Nick didn't know where to begin explaining. He didn't even know if he understood enough to explain it to anyone.

"The Captain, he's a Royal."

"What?!" Hank exclaimed at the same time Monroe breathed out a, "Dude!"

"But there was this other Royal, Eric, a prince. Eric, he's the one that did this to me and apparently the Captain's brother, well half-brother. Eric he yelled at the Captain for 'protecting the Grimm, against orders' then threatened to kill him unless he killed me, as a show of 'loyalty'. Instead he got me out of there."

"So the Captain's on your side?" Hank asked hopefully, and Nick's only response was to shrug with no good answer.

"I don't know man." Monroe said shaking his head. "It could be a power struggle. If they're half-brothers there could be a question as to who's next in line, especially if their father's a King. If your Captain is able to claim Grimm pledged to serve him; it would boost his power. Back in the old days the Grimm were knights to the Royals. He could be trying to gain your loyalty for those ends."

"Yeah that's what I'm thinking. I wouldn't say the Captain is someone I trust anymore. He could be dangerous. I just don't understand why he didn't just tell me right after becoming a Grimm. If he wanted loyalty I would have jumped at anyone who knew something about this world and offered to help me."

"No kidding." Monroe broke in with. "Maybe that has to do with the 'against orders thing'."

"I don't know what to think. Oh and Adalind is back in town she was taking orders from Eric until they had a bit of a spat and she stormed off. We should find her."

"I'll put out an BOLO." Hank volunteered.

"Good. Say that I said one of the people who beat me up said her name and that I think she hired them. It's close enough to the truth but not clear enough that the Captain will know you know. Unless he already knows you've figured it out."

Nick leaned back in his hospital bed and stared up at the ceiling before taking in a deep breath. Turning to Hank and Monroe he started, "Look, guys... This... this is all going to get messy. Messier than it already is. I don't even know if I stand a chance. This isn't your fight, you both should consider leaving town, I don't want to drag you down with me." And he certainly wasn't going to mention the Key.

"Nick, I'm your partner. I've got your back. I don't know what I can do against this stuff but I'm not backing down."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm sick of these Royals coming around and messing with us, I say lets give 'um hell." Monroe said.

"Thanks, really I'm not sure what I'm up against."

Hank breathed in, "I still can't quite wrap my head around the Captain being involved in all this. Hell Nick, we've both known him for years. He worked his way up the ranks, he went to High School in Portland; I remember Old Captain Peterson used to harass him about playing on the same high school basketball team as his kid. Are you sure?"

"I know it's crazy. This Eric guy was titled as a 'Prince', he's European, French I believe and said he was the Captain's brother. The Captain didn't deny it and he referred to me as a Grimm." Nick said, "I need to talk with him at some point, I just don't even know where to begin. I would rather be in fighting form to do so. I don't even know if he had something to do Juliette's memory loss or her waking up."

"I can go with you when you do talk with him." Monroe volunteered.

"No. I don't want the Captain to know."

"Dude, the Royals put out a hit on me, I'm pretty sure they know about me. Besides I might be able to smell if he's brought back-up to this conversation." Monroe firmly stated, indicating his opinion would not be changed on this topic.

"I'll try not to let it slip that I know about the Wessen world. It might let me watch the Captain more closely. But if he's hidden for this long, I don't know if he'll let much slip." Hank said, the tone of his voice colored with uncertainty. He had known Nick and the Captain for years; it had never occurred to him that the two could ever be so far apart and so far outside the law. Not that the law could cover the situation they were in now. The room grew silent as it's occupants considered this new reality.

"Hey Monroe, what do you know about Gargoyles?" Nick couldn't remember reading anything on them in the books. However he didn't have a reason to be looking for them before now.

"I'm guess this is a Grimm-o-pedia question and not a sudden interest in architecture." Nick nodded and Monroe continued.

"Gargoyles also known as Hüterin Geflügelten, a winged guardian. Not a Wasserspeier like the German for a gargoyle you would find on a old church. A Wasserspeier, or a Water Spewer, is a kind of an Archer Fish Wessen that can split at you hard enough to temporarily blind you, good swimmers too. A Hüterin Geflügelten, as in gargoyles are super rare and super strong. Dude, that is not a translation error you want to make. If you think you're showing up to go against a Wasserspeier and Hüterin Geflügelten shows up, dude just run. I don't know if a Grimm can take one of those out. And if it catches up to you just curl in the fetal position, they tend not to kill things that surrender. If you've pissed it off it'll probably still beat the shit out of you, but it might drop you at a hospital once its done." Monroe paused, "Dude, that's not what happened was it?"

"No, it...she, didn't hurt me."

"Oh, good. I would be a little surprised if one was working as an enforcer for the Royals. Not impossible but they tend to be good guys, which is why you see statues of them on churches and hospitals. They kind of famed for protecting kids and the helpless; hard to kill too."

"Have you ever met one?" Asked Nick.

Monroe swallowed and examined his palms a little guiltily. "Yeah, it was before I had the whole Wieder thing completely down. It not portion of my life that I'm proud of. I wasn't hunting humans or Wessen, just rabbits and deer; but control runs a little thin when hunting like that. And after dinner, sometimes, I kind of, would, you know..." Monroe finished off quickly, "chase people through the woods and rough them up." Clearly uncomfortable Monroe pushed on. "They could always walk away, well most of them ran away, some could only limp off. Well on one night this Hüterin Geflügelten saw me go after someone, and stopped me. Scared the shit out of me, said that she would not allow what I was doing to continue. She gagged me with my own shirt and dragged me out deeper into the woods. A mile in or so she released the gag, and I started apologizing, promising that nothing like this would ever happen again. That this was the first time I had ever done something like this. Well... she knew that was a lie, she had been in the forest that night looking for me. Said that there had been a cluster of reports in the area about what I was doing. And that it was time for me to see how fun my 'hobby' was from the other side of things. She yelled at me to run for it, and I was too afraid to not to run. She chased me a couple of miles, landing hits and herding my sorry arse even deeper into the woods. After it felt like my legs where about to fall off, she pinned me down a just started wailing on me. I mean really she was holding back her blows, otherwise I would have been soup, but at the time I thought she was going kill me. She didn't even break anything, more than anything she was just giving me a good scare. Then she let me up to run off again."

"She let you go?" Nick prompted.

"I thought she had, but no, not really. It took me the rest of the night and into the morning to stumble back home. Walked through my front door, locked it behind me, breathed a sigh of relief and then just froze. I could smell her in the house, I looked over to see her sitting on my couch just waiting for me. Never noticed her taking my wallet. She told me to sit down, unless of course I felt up for another chase. I really didn't want a repeat. Also I was basically resigned at the point, I knew what I was doing was wrong and that there was nothing I could do to defend myself against a pissed-off Hüterin Geflügelten. So, I just sat down with my head in my hands waiting to find out what she would do to me. She just talked and asked questions, and hour later or so got up to leave saying she would be back to 'check in' on me. After that I only really screwed up once, and caught it pretty good. Even with that she was pretty decent to me. She would check in on me periodically, we'd talk about if I was having any control issues. She set me up with a good group, introduced me to Larry and the guys. Really she helped me a lot, and any stupid urge I got to chase or attack anyone I would remember right away how it felt on the other side of that kind of thing. She helped me talk through things too. And there's nothing that works to keep you on the wagon like a winged demon who can and will beat the shit out of you if you mess up." Monroe finished with a bit of uncomfortable laughter.

"So you're afraid of her?"

"Not really. I mean if she's pissed off at me, hell yes, that is not going to be a pleasant evening, but there's trust there too. I wanted to be Wieder before she showed up, she just helped me get there. After the first few 'check ins' all our interactions were all friendly. I'd be happy to bump into her somewhere. The drop in visits decreased over the years, until she just never came by again. I don't know if she died, moved on or what. She wouldn't tell me much about herself."

"You didn't think that was weird, her not sharing about her life?" Hank asked.

"A little, but it was a little like not knowing a lot about your shrink's home life. She just said that her childhood and home-life were complicated and she preferred to keep her personal life personal."

"Do you think she the same Gargoyle?"

"They're rare so its possible what does she look like? Do you know her name?"

"I didn't catch a name. She had dark straight hair, about 5'6" to 5'9", 30s, green...eye. The other eye looked like it had been gouged out, recently. She looked pretty roughed up. But she was able to carry and glide me and the Captain across the River."

"Wait she carried you and the Captain and flew you across a River?" Hank blurted out.

"They're strong. One could probably glide a car packed with people." Monroe said as Nick nodded his head. "I don't know, that could be the same Gargoyle, but maybe not. The one I knew basically matched that description, except for having both her eyes. But there are a lot of people who would fit that description. The one I know her name's Kay but I really can't see her working for the Royals."

Eric stood drink in hand observing the river. He was drunker than he should be, but he hated waiting, and with his female companion absent drinking was the best way to pass the time. It made him morose and reflective, which he hated. Remember the past was never pleasant for him, however right now the present wasn't particularly inspiring either. Eric's plans had turned into sand in his hands. He had the Key, the Grimm and leverage over his brother. Then short minutes later the scales sifted against him. The Grimm would have more reasons to pledge to his brother now, if he got the Key as well; his supporters weak-willed and fair-weather would flee him. Eric had most of his people out searching for Adalind, but he was at a steep disadvantage. This was his brother's city, Sean had resources here, also he knew better how Adalind would react and where she would go.

Furious calls back home had confirmed Kay's escape from his dungeons weeks ago. The idiot he left in charge had apparently hoped to find and recapture Kay without his Prince finding out she was ever missing. He would be taking her place in the dungeon when he returned. It took a lucky break and a small army to capture her last time. If she was returned to strength, she was a dangerous Wessen to have as an enemy.

Unbidden the memory of her bound in chains, in pain and looking at him presented itself. The look wasn't rage or fear, it was betrayal and condemnation, and it burned something in Eric he couldn't name. He tried gouging the stare out, quite literally. Which only seemed to cause the image to haunt him that much more. She and Sean left him, betrayed him, not that he needed them. Just like when he six and had the flu, he didn't need her to stay up with him. He didn't need her lemon ginger tea, cold compresses, horrible singing or menthol chest rubs. Once she left and he was nine and sick again, no one even bothered with such frivolous motions. Condemnation from a former slave, indeed, it was absurd, he hadn't done anything outside of his Royal right. In a rage he threw his drink at the nearest wall. The shattering glass was never as satisfying as it should be.

Adalind had just left the house in the suburbs her mother had purchased years ago as a back-up, she took the cash stored there to run again. South America sounded like a lovely place to visit and plan her next move. About two minutes after leaving the house; red and blue lights showed up in her rear view mirror. Sean couldn't know she was in Portland yet, could he? There is nothing for it. If she runs for it she'll more likely then not end arrested and get easily transferred to his precinct. She pulled over to the berm, calmed her beating heart and got ready to plaster on her best welcoming innocent smile. She rolled down the window and waited.

The officer approached, "Good Evening... miss. Please take the keys out of the ignition and place them on the dash."

"Of course officer. What seems to be the problem?" Adalind said turning on her smile and complying.

The office returned it, "Just a break light out. I still have to follow the full procedure, I should be able to get you out of here quickly. License and registration please."

Adalind undid her seat belt and leaned over to get the rental papers out of the glove box, her fear retracting. Of all the times for a light to be burnt out. The fear and panic slammed back into full force as her door was opened and a taser was pressed against her back.

"Now you can cooperate and step out of this vehicle, or I can pull the trigger on this taser until you pass out; your choice."

"Yes, sir." She said as she backed out of the car. This wasn't good, and a very bad day to be wearing heels. Once she was out of the car, she tried bolting for it out of desperation. She got a step away before the leads of the taser launched into her backs, collapsing her to the ground. Adalind first thought was"Shit!", her first question launching it self into her mind was, "Who was screaming?" As she realized the screaming was coming from her throat, the blackness crept in and a moment later she passed out.