If you recognise it… I don't own it.
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The members of the Sovereign Nation of Hawaii had the captives lined up and waiting when everyone emerged from the tunnels.
"Do you mind if I have an unofficial word with them?" Nick asked Chin, "I promise I won't kill them."
"It's fine with me," Chin agreed, "Bumpy, Kawika, Nick here wants an unofficial word with them. No blood."
"Fine with us." Kawika shrugged, after glancing at Bumpy.
"I never promised no blood." Nick remarked as he stepped forward.
"Listen up!" He addressed the rag-tag group, "I want to make something very clear to you."
"You have no place in this Haole!"
"Go back to the Mainland, Cop!"
Nick pulled his badge off his belt, removed his gun from its holster and casually chucked both to Hank's waiting grip.
"I'm not a cop right now." Nick shrugged, "I'm not here as a cop. I'm here to make one thing very clear to you… This behaviour is unacceptable. You could have exposed Wesen culture to the world. Your culture."
"Wesen?" One of them frowned.
"Shifters." Nick supplied a different word, "That is unacceptable. It is forbidden on pain of death. The Code of Swabia."
"Such Codes don't apply to us! We are the Ali'i Kono!" The cry was quickly followed by a Woger.
Moments later the whole group was flinching back.
"Make. Make! Make!" The cry came from multiple throats as they cowered.
"Personally, I prefer Grimm." Nick shrugged, "But I'm whatever you call me. Grimm, Decapitare or Make. I have a duty. Given to me by my Aunt, Bloody Marie. I go after the Bad Ones. You aren't good. You have put yourself into my territory."
"This isn't your land!"
"It doesn't matter. A Grimm goes where they will. When they will. They find the Bad Ones. And they stop them. My territory is the Bad Ones. No matter where they are." Nick stated, "Right now, we can do this within the confines of the Law. You are going to prison. Nothing you can do about that. But if you do anything like this again… You will die. And maybe it won't be me who kills you. But Grimms talk. I can send Grimms to these Islands that you won't spot until it is too late. We know how to walk amongst you unseen. Next time… Next time, we won't be so nice. Next time, we won't be swayed by heads older and wiser than yours. We won't listen when they say that you are just dumb kids, egged into this by a Shadow King. A Puppet-Master with his own axe to grind… Next time, heads will roll."
Nick slipped his shades on and reclaimed his symbols of office from Hank.
"Get them Booked." Hank instructed.
"I've got HPD on their way." Chin stated, "But I think we need to talk to this one first. Kono, take Steve to the Hospital. I'll meet you there. Danny, take Grace home. I'll take this one to Interrogation."
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"So," Chin leant against the wall, "Uilama Hiram. It took me a while. But I finally managed to place you."
"You're a traitor to your blood!" Hiram yelled, even as he strained to try and move the interrogation chair.
"Noisy, isn't he?" Nick snorted, from his position next to Chin.
"Always was." Chin shrugged, "But we all thought it was just noise."
"When did you know him?" Nick asked.
"He went to school with Steve," Chin stated, "I remember him from the Football Games I used to watch. Steve's dad used to take me to watch them when I was his partner."
"So you don't think this is anything to do with Blood Purity?"
"No," Chin shook his head, "He never cared about anything like that. He was just an angry kid. Angry and furious and jealous of Steve."
"Why?"
"I should have been Quaterback!" Hiram snarled, "Not him. He didn't belong. He never belonged! He got whatever he wanted, just because his granddaddy died at Pearl Harbour. Well, boo-fucking-hoo! So what? He didn't deserve it."
"All of this comes down to a school-kid jealousy thing?" Nick blinked, "Well, I knew he had different motivation from the kids. Not too hard to lead children like that all filled with fire and fury. Not hard to persuade them into acts that go far beyond what they were capable of. Not hard to talk them into things."
"Seen it before." Chin agreed, "Kids like that are easy to control."
"Easy!" Hiram scoffed, "You call it easy? I had to spend months working my way into their trust. Months to become the power behind the throne. Months building them up to this. Do you know how long it took to get them to kill someone? They're all talk. No fire in them really. It's all just a show. I was working on them, even while I was working with the other ones. You know I really thought they would manage it for me. I built them up."
"What are you talking about?" Nick frowned.
"I wanted Steve to hurt. He took everything from me. I was always better. But no one ever saw that. I was the better Football Player."
"No, you weren't." Chin countered.
"I was. I got better marks in school."
"Through cheating." Chin corrected.
"I never cheated. That was all lies! Steve stole everything from me!"
"He reported the cheating." Chin declared.
"It was all his fault! I would have gone to college if it wasn't for him! I would have been a Professional Football Player!"
"You weren't that good."
"I was the best! But Steve took all that from me. It is all his fault. I wanted him to pay. I wanted him to suffer!"
"But you didn't try to kill him."
"I didn't want him dead. That was too easy for him. I wanted him to suffer! I watched. I waited. Best way to make him suffer was to kill someone he cared for. I couldn't go after his sister, she was too far away. His suffering would be there. I wouldn't get to watch. He might care for that female sailor, but he wouldn't suffer the way I wanted him to. So I looked for others. Then I saw the Haole cop. I saw how he cared for the little girl. How he would do anything for her. Loved her as if she was his own. That would make him suffer. If she died. In front of him. When he couldn't do anything to stop it. That would hurt him. He'd never get over that. Only those stupid kids wouldn't go for killing her. No matter what I said. They thought they were above that! That it wasn't the right way! Stupid idiots! It doesn't matter the age. A death is a death. But I didn't care. Only reason I didn't kill her was that I wasn't sure which would hurt him more. Having to tell Williams that he let his daughter die. Or having to face that little girl knowing that he could have prevented her father's death."
"Got enough?" Nick asked.
"I think so." Chin agreed, "Think we ought to play this to the idiotic kids? Let them realize exactly what they got wrapped up in?"
"Reckon so." Nick nodded, "Might put them back on the straight and narrow. It'll paint a target on his back though."
"I don't have any issues with that." Chin shrugged, "Let him reap what he has sown."
The two of them left the room without a further word, ignoring the yelling that had started up behind them.
"Now what?" Nick asked, "I presume you have a plan?"
"Yes," Chin was firm, "You are going to help Kono and I write this whole thing up, so that it doesn't reveal anything."
"Ah, yes," Nick grinned, "That's truly a skill that's important to learn."
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Steve had settled into the hospital bed with surprising docility; normally he'd have already left, but he couldn't bring himself to get into an argument with the nurses and doctors. The quiet was also helping, it was allowing him to try and get his thoughts in order.
He'd sent Kono away, almost the moment he'd been checked in at the hospital. Normally, by now, Danny would have turned up and kept him company, but he'd asked the nurses not to let the New Jersey Detective in.
He couldn't deal with Danny right then. Not with all the secrets and lies.
"Knock, knock." A call came from the door, as Hank entered.
"Why are you here?" Steve frowned.
"I'm here to help." Hank shrugged, "I've been there, man."
"Been where?"
"Where you are. Where nothing makes sense. Where all the lies and the secrets seem to pile up on you and spill over. Where you're wondering if any of it was the truth."
"How… Nick?"
"Sort of. He knew and never told me. But he's not… He's not like Danny."
"What secret was Nick keeping?"
"That he can see those like Danny… Nick's human. He's just a little more. He's what they call a Grimm. Also known as a Dicapitare or, round here, Make."
"Death?"
"Yeah. Grimms traditionally hunt and kill people like Danny and Grace."
Steve felt protectiveness well up inside of him. A desperate need to ensure that Danny and Grace were safe from the Portland Detective.
"Easy there. Calm the Death Face." Hank laughed, "Nick's not like that. He only goes after those who break the law. Or are immoral, because sometimes the law doesn't provide protection, because it doesn't know the possible crimes out there."
"How long?"
"Nick kept it from me for about a year. But I still get it. My best friend for years… I mean I'm his daughter's godfather… He never told me he was Coyotl. She was seventeen when I found out. And I nearly shot her. She changed. Right in front of me. I thought I was crazy. And I was trying to kill her. Nick stopped me. Still don't know how. Because while I was trying to kill Carly, she was trying to hide from Nick behind me. Because she was that scared of him."
"Why?"
"When Nick sees them, they see him. And he's their boogeyman. Their monster under the bed. Go to sleep or the Grimm will come for you. Eat your veggies or the Grimm will come for you. They're conditioned to be terrified of him. Generally they come in two types. Flight or Fight. Mostly flight."
"He never told you?"
"Jarold? No. Nick only told me, because he had to. Because I thought I was going crazy or I was crazy. I'd seen some stuff before then. But put it down to my mind playing tricks. I put three bullet holes in my closet and nearly hurt my therapist. Most people who see what we've seen? They end up in the Psych Ward. Because they can't explain what they've seen and crazy is the only explanation that makes sense. Nick had a hard time himself when he started seeing it. We're just lucky he found someone crazy enough to explain it all to him."
"Crazy?"
"When the standard reactions from a Wesen upon meeting a Grimm is fight or flight; a Blutbad being willing to stop and explain things to a Grimm, especially one sneaking around his house at night… Well, crazy is the only definition that works."
"Wesen? Blutbad? Coyotl?"
"Wesen, all of those that change are Wesen. It's like the term human for us. Blutbad and Coyotl are different types. Different races, if you like. Your Danny and Grace are Blutbaden. Or Big, Bad Wolf, if you go by what the Grimm Brothers used. Those stories weren't stories. They were warnings."
"Danny's not that big." Steve's voice was quiet and shocked.
"You know everyone keeps saying that. Thing you've got to realize is that Danny is only one type of Wesen. There are many out there."
"Why haven't I heard of them?"
"Because they know it's not smart to be identified. The Salem Witch Trials? Wasn't witches they were hunting. The Wesen community know the risks. They have been persecuted and attacked through the ages. I'm talking torture and live embalming to create Anubis Mummies for Pharaohs. Once they were Gods. Then Demons. It's safer to be a fairy story."
"Why didn't Danny trust me? He trusted Chin."
"From what Chin told me, Danny didn't have a choice. Chin figured out just enough to be dangerous. Danny had to tell him, so that Chin didn't get Danny killed."
"What?" Now there was more than a thread of danger and protectiveness in Steve's tone.
"You Islanders are highly protective of these Isles. Your native Wesen population are all the same species. And they don't like outsiders. They don't like Haole. Non-native Wesen aren't allowed to stay. From what Danny said, they actively drive off the Invaders, as they call them. Killing them is seen as the last option, but it is an option they utilise occasionally. Danny said he'd gotten some Mainlanders out of your Prison and into Mainlander Prisons, for their own protection."
"They wouldn't dare touch him."
"I don't know." Hank shrugged, "Don't think Bumpy or Kawika would. But hotheads? I don't know. They're everywhere, you realize. A whole group of the police ones tried to stop Danny from coming after you."
"I…" Steve tailed off, as the realization that Danny had kept secrets from him hit once again.
"You're confused." Hank snorted, "I get it. The question you have to ask yourself is this… Is Danny the same guy you knew yesterday as he is today? Has anything actually changed? Because when I had this… I realized nothing had really changed. I just knew more than I did before."
"He didn't tell me."
"Either get over it," Hank was firm, "Or walk away from him. Those are your only options. I'll leave you to think about it."
Hank rose to his feet and headed towards the door, stopped at the last moment.
"One thing to think about," He called back softly, "If that guy had killed Danny today, would you even care about all of this?"
The words were like a physical blow, knocking Steve around the face.
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Please Review. Thank you to my reviewers for the last chapter:
DaemonWolfe – Grace is awesome.
Thank you for reading.
