Nick realised from the moment he walked into the building, something was very, very wrong. As the chain dropped over his head from behind and began to choke him, Nick thrashed to restore his blood supply but was effectively immobilized by the suspect he had been tailing.
"I'm gonna make you scream, freak," a hoarse voice spat in his ear. Nick wished the lunatic would just do something to knock him out but he wasn't so lucky. He was awake as the suspect and a lackey shackled him by the wrists to the rafters of the warehouse.
He spoke as he hoisted Nick in place and it was so obvious that this man had a personal vendetta against Nick. Against Grimms.
"You know Grimm," he grunted as he secured the chains to the pulley. "It took me a while to find you. I've been hunting Grimms for years now and I've combed Portland four times. So when rumour has it that a Grimm with a badge is knocking around here then I was one surprised guy."
He gave one final yank on the chain and Nick cried out as he felt his shoulders stretched up.
"Especially when the grape vine had it that you were friends with a Blutbad, a Fuchsbau and an Eisbeeber. You may have fooled those idiots into a false sense of security but it's time for your reckoning Grimm. It's time for your punishment."
Nick attempted to school his breathing into a proper form but he couldn't suppress the fear flooding his veins. He had no back up, this early morning search was off the books. He would be lucky if they found his body in the next few days.
"The only wesen I've ever hurt have been criminals, criminals. I'm friends with those guys because they are good people, they are my friends," Nick groaned as a metal pipe connected with his side. He yelped and shifted to regain his balance fruitlessly.
"I'm going to make you scream, Grimm!"
"I haven't hurt anybody!"
The beating continued. Swing after swing in the same spot until Nick was sure the ribs in the surrounding area had completely splintered, or at least it felt like that. He refused to let out the scream that the man so wanted. Instead he cried through closed teeth, heaving in gasping breaths.
He lifted the pipe to raise Nick's chin before sharply swinging across the detective's face. A smile lifted to his lips as he watched the blood stain the lower half of Nick's jaw.
"Grimm's are ugly creatures, but watching you bleed, it is a beautiful, beautiful sight.'
"This won't change an'thing," he groaned.
Laughter erupted from the suspect, "the more Grimms I kill, the narrower the bloodline comes. And the day will come, when they will no longer exist. Meaning that Wesen will begin to take over and the non-wesen...well they won't either."
It was almost choking, the fear filling him up. Nick was almost choking on this man's intentions.
"You can do this, you can't."
Behind the man, his lackey approached him, a chef's knife wrap on hand. Removing a small paring knife, he approached Nick.
"Jason here has been helping me with my mission and has become particularly fond of 'ling chi' or slow-slicing. A method that has, in the end, undone even the toughest Grimms."
His heart trembled in his chest as Jason stalked closer, the knife may have been small but it was carefully sharpened to a point. Nick was familiar with knives from his time as a uniform at the beginning of his career (and recently as he dealt more with the wesen world.) He clenched his teeth as Jason carefully took the knife to his skin.
He was testing the waters, Nick knew that. He was trying to find Nick's turning point. But the more fine lines he drew the more he tested Nick's psychological resolve. With no warning he plunged the knife, all five inches into Nick's shoulder socket. He gasped and cried out but every part of him was willing to not scream.
With a twist, Jason found Nick's turning point. The muffled scream turned full fledged as the criminal twisted the blade into the tendons and tissue. He panted and tried to stop the horrific and blood curdling cries from escaping him. The sound reverberated around the concrete floor and metal walls.
He tried to stop screaming, but the damn was open.
"...easy Nick…"
"You're okay….just relax…"
The voice was...familiar but never in this tone before. It had never sounded this gentle or cautious. He couldn't quite place it, not like this, not with this much pain and fatigue. Nick thrashed against the hands that lay against him, no hands were safe any more.
"Calm down Nick, you're safe."
His chest shook with silent sobs from the excruciating pain. Eyes cracked open and a face loomed in his vision.
Sean Renard.
When Nick finally awoke it was in the hospital, Renard at his bedside. His typical tan coat over the back of his chair. The police captain was flicking through various things on his phone but at the first twitches signalling Nick's consciousness his eyes drifted to Nick's bruised and bandaged form.
"Renard?" Nick croaked and swallowed harshly.
"Nick, how are you feeling?"
The detective took a moment to assess himself, before mumbling. "Like I got dragged behind a truck."
A mirthless smile spread across Sean's face. "What happened Nick? How did you end up in the hands of a Drang-Zorn and Blutbad?"
Nick looked away from Sean, unable to meet the man's eye. "I followed something up off the books and I was right but I got my ass handed to me. The Drang-Zorn was insane, and had the whole thing about making Grimm's pay. The Blut-Bad, Jason, he was just a lackey."
Sean gestured to Nick, "is he the one that did this? The shoulder, the cuts?"
"No, the other guy did the number on my face and ribs." Nick shook his head, eyes glued to his hands. "He just wanted to hear me scream, that's what it was about. The screaming, the breaking. He called it my reckoning."
Sean watched the ghost flicker on Nick's eyes painfully. It seemed to keep him frozen in place, reliving the experience with fear.
"He was trying to kill off all the Grimms so the bloodline would shrink, so it would disappear and the world would become run by wesen. It was a game, it was a game, it was all a game."
"Nick," Seans firm voice broke him from his thoughts. "Nick, you are safe."
He nodded, Nick trusted him.