When the Royals discovered that the grimm Nick Burkhardt had been in Germany and that he had been seen at the ruins of an old church, in the company of a blutbad, a fuchsbau and two hexenbiest, who looked to be mother and daughter, they knew he had possession of the long searched for treasure and the powerful child.
Victor, who was reigning as king ever since Meisner threw Fredrick out of the helicopter, decided to plan a much quieter attack than had previously been implemented.
Instead of having anyone arrive near Portland, or even in the state of Oregon, he had his men fly in through airports in Canada, then have have them drive to Portland.
First though, he had a lawyer of his hire a private investigator to follow Sean Renard and Nick Burkhardt, and the investigator was to simply discover any weaknesses and or patterns the men had.
From the reports, it was realized that Adalind Schade, the mother of the powerful girl, was living with Nick Burkhardt and that she had another baby. It was easy to presume that the second child was between Nick Burkhardt and Adalind Schade.
"The child of a grimm and a hexenbiest might prove to be very special." Victor theried. "I wonder if the mother of his child has become precious to Nicholas Burkhardt?"
Victor decided to use the woman and her children as possible leverage against the grimm and gave his men orders to watch and wait for an opportunity to take Adalind and her two children.
He knew that after the way the royals had treated her, Adalind would never be willing to trust any of them again. But if they had control of the children, then Victor believed she could be forced into revealing where the grimm hid the artifact.
He gave his men orders to grab the woman when she was out running errands. But his men acted too quickly and did not wait to make sure she had her daughter with her.
Six men waited in an unmarked white van. Once the spotted the blonde putting her purchases in her car, they pulled up alongside her vehicle were five men jumped out, injected her with a heavy sedative, grabbed the baby and hurriedly jumped back in the van, where the sixth hit the gas and sped away. The whole thing occurring in a matter of seconds and allowing no time for Adalind to use her powers or for any witnesses to interfere.
They took mother and son to a place purchased and in the name of the lawyer Victor hired. As ordered, they kept Adalind sedated by setting up an intravenous drip, adding the needed drugs every couple of hours.
Victor became furious when he arrived in Portland and discovered the powerful child was not in there. But he felt the plan could still be carried out. He would just have to include Diana when he made his demands in exchange for giving Nick back his son.
Not that Victor actually had any intention of returning anyone or allowing the grimm to live. It was all really one clever trap to lure the grimm to where the royal wanted him.
Or so Victor thought.
The moment Adalind and his son were taken, Nick felt a painful lurch in his chest.
He knew that something was wrong. Every fiber of his being was telling him that there was a threat to his world.
Nick's first instinct was to call Adalind and his worry grew when she didn't answer. He left her a voicemail to call him back and sent her a text to let him know where she was, but something deep inside told him she wouldn't reply.
He then called Rosalee, hoping she would know where Adalind was.
"Diana has her history lesson with Monroe right now." The fuchsbau said. "Adalind said she wanted to run a couple errands. She should be back any minute."
"I called her phone. She didn't answer." Nick informed her. "I think something's wrong."
Rosalee knew to never doubt her friend's instincts. She also knew how in love Adalind was with Nick, and that she would never miss an opportunity to talk to him.
While Nick was on the phone with Rosalee, Wu came up to him with a dark and somber look.
"A call came in reporting seeing a woman and her baby grabbed and thrown into an unmarked van. Uniforms checked out the vehicle the witness claimed the woman was loading her stuff into and discovered who it belonged to."
The sergeant didn't need to say it. Nick knew the woman and child taken was Adalind and Kelly.
He barged into Renard's office, and without waiting for a reaction, let the captain know what had happened."
"Somebody took my family. Whatever connections you got in the city, I need you to call them. I got you your daughter back, now I need your help getting back Adalind and my son."
Without a word, Renard reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a cell phone.
"If you find out anything, call my cell. I'm going to look into other sources for information." Nick said as he walked out of the office.
Still having Rosalee on the phone, he let her know he was on his way to the spice shop and was going to call Trubel and the agent in charge of the secret government wesen task force to see if they could help. Hank and Wu overheard everything and followed close behind. Loading their own vehicles with weapons and then heading to the spice shop.
The moment Trubel heard what happened, she assured Nick that she was on her way.
The government agent promised to look into her sources and see if they knew anything, then notify Nick the moment she had anything.
Moments after hanging up with agent Chavez, his phone signals a call from Sean Renard.
"My cousin Victor has sent men to take Diana. He might try to offer an exchange."
"We both know I won't agree to his terms."
Sean did. And not only because of the trust me knot spell. Nick would never separate Diana from the people she knew and loved. He could never put a child through that kind of trauma.
"What are your plans for my cousin?" Sean asked, believing he already knew the answer.
Nick replied, "I hope whoever's next in line is wiser than the ones before."
"I'll make sure your covered. Victor should have known better than to come to Portland again."
Nick fully agreed with that statement and hung up. He was seriously considering what it would take to remove the royals from existence. They had been causing nothing but trouble for him and his friends for too long.
When Nick got to the spice shop, his first concern was how he was going to explain to Diana where her mother was.
But as it turned out, the child, like him, had sensed that something was wrong.
"Mom and Kelly were taken by bad people." Diana said the moment Nick walked into the spice shop.
Nick knew not to try to deny it.
"I'll get them back." he said instead. A stealy tone of determination in his voice.
His phone signals again, this time it's the head of the wesen task force. "Our sources tell us that certain members of the royal family wish to take control of your children." The female agent, Chavez, told Nick. " They also seem to think you have an artifact that may be of great importance to them. I won't ask you if that's true or what that object might be. By your reputation I trust you will handle things the way you see fit. But I'm sorry we didn't have this info sooner or we might have been able to warn you and prevent the kidnappings altogether."
Chavez realized that if she attempted to threaten the grimm into telling her about whatever the royals wanted, she could make an enemy out of him, and that was the worst thing that could happen. Especially now that his family were in danger.
Her decision was wise, because Nick's rage was growing. And in his mind, the royal families had signed their death warrants.
"We're trying to find out where the royals could be holding your girlfriend and your son, but they seemed to have covered their tracks well." Chavez explained.
"I can find them, NIck" Diana insisted. "I can talk to mommy and see where she and Kelly are."
Nick knew how powerful the little girl was, and knew not to underestimate her abilities. His entire being was also consumed with getting his family back, and he was willing to trust Diana to help him make that happen.
He told the agent he and his friends would handle everything themselves.
Chavez had a feeling just how the grimm and his people would handle everything and decided the least she knew, the better. She wished Burkardt well with his plan and said goodbye, thinking the Royals wouldn't be a problem for the wesen community much longer.
"I guess they proved that just because you can afford the highest education, doesn't been you have the wisdom to make intelligent decisions." She thought to herself.
When Trubel arrived at the spice shop, she witnessed Diana in the side room. Her eyes glowing a vivid violet.
Diana was easily able to reach her mother. She saw her in a room with grey brick walls, and tied to a chair. She noticed red marks where the ropes had chafed the skin and grew angrier at seeing her mother injured.
"There's a man with her." Diana said out loud. "I know him. I saw him in a long car."
Nick realized she must have been talking about Victor and the time he had Diana for a short time when she was a baby. Before him and his friends pretended to be on the resistance and stole her away.
"He keeps asking her what you guys found in that old church in Germany and what you did with it." Nick could see how upset the little girl was as she continued. "He gave her something that is making her act strange. She is half asleep and talking funny."
"Victor must have drugged Adalind to keep her from using her powers." Rosalee observed.
"It also might make her reveal where you hid that stick." Monroe pointed out.
"That's not a problem." Nick sead. "I keep it with me at all times."
Monroe's eyes widen in shock. "Dude, do you think that's wise? We don't know that that thing is capable of."
Nick gave Monroe a pointed look and said. "Considering the Royals are willing to kidnap my family to get it. I think my decision makes perfect sense."
Monroe couldn't really argue with his friend on that part and decided they had more pressing matters to attend to anyway.
"Can you see where they are?" Trubel asked.
"In a house in the middle of the forest." Diana's eyes return to their normal blue and the little girl said. "I can show you where they are."
"It's too dangerous." Nick spoke gently. He didn't want to risk the child getting hurt. "Victor wants you. That's why he took your mother and your brother. He's planning on forcing me to trade you for Kelly."
"But you wouldn't do that. You love me like you love Kelly." Diana spoke with complete confidence.
It made Nick feel a great deal of pride hearing her say that. It let him know he was doing his job as a father and as a man.
"Still, sweetheart, I don't want you anywhere near them."
"Ok Nick." Diana nodded, understanding he just wanted to keep her safe. "I can show you by sharing with you what I see and feel. Even while I stay right here and go to mommy."
Nick beamed at her, "That's a good plan." He then looked at Monroe and Rosalee. "Would you guys stay here and take care of her?"
"Of course, Nick." Rosalee answered.
"You sure you don't want my help?" Monroe asked.
"I'd feel better if you stayed with Diana, just in case Victor sends somebody after her." Nick assured his blutbad best friend.
The rest of the group loaded into their vehicles and headed in the direction Diana guided Nick.
They soon reached a house deep in the forest, where Diana said she could sense a dozen men walking around. "And they're all carrying big guns." She projected to Nick.
"Allright Diana, I am very proud of you." NIck said. "Now I need you to do me a favor and not look at what is going on anymore. Ok." He was concerned about the little girl witnessing the violence that was about to happen.
Diana agreed not to look and Nick promised to get her mother back to her.
Then Nick, Hank, Trubel and Wu got out of their cars and crept carefully to the house.
Trubel announced she had a plan for a distraction, she then moved swiftly to an area on the opposite direction they were approaching and set of small amount of explosives.
Four men went running to see what was going on, leaving the fifth standing guard at the door.
Nick shot him with his crossbow.
They slowly opened the door, Nick used his special hearing to discover where the others were.
He then motioned to the direction where he heard the other guards.
"Diana said she saw her mother in a stone room, which might be the basement. I need to find the door that leads down there."
The others nodded and spit up to find the entrance. Hank and Wu each taking out a guard in their search. Trubel taking out two.
Nick found the door and moved quickly down the steps, encountering three hundjager. Two grabbed his arms and the third approached his front, claws coming out to slash at him. Nick kicked that one hard in the chest, sending him backward and pulled the other two forward, making them knock their heads into each other. The third got back up and went after Nick again, only for Nick to grab him by the neck and sam him hard into the ground, knocking him out as well.
Nick stood straight up and was met with three gunshots to his chest, the firearm held in Victors hand.
The royal smirked triumphantly and turned back to the drugged hexenbiest, who had witnessed the man she loved fall to the ground and had tears flowing from her eyes.
"Now, are you going to tell me where he hid the artifact?" He asked the weeping witch.
The his smug demeanor turned to confusion as he saw her eyes widen in shock then happiness.
He turned and was shocked to see Nick Burkhardt advancing toward him in a rage. The last thing the royal saw and felt was the grimm hands reaching for his neck.
Nick snachted the royal and slammed him to the ground, stomping on his skull, crushing it.
He then turned with a tender gaze to Adalind, approaching her slowly and gently removing the intravenous drip, as well as the ropes that were binding her.
The others run down the stairs at that moment, having heard the gunshots and fearing the worst.
Trubel, happy to see Nick alive and seeing the unconscious, tied the wesen up with rope and called the wesen task force.
"I'm sure Chavez and her people will love to talk to these guys." Trubel said. She then looked at Nick and said, "I found Kelly sleeping soundly in the bedroom here. I thought it best to let you pick him up."
Nick looked up at her and said, "Thank you. Adalind is still weak from the drugs, and the four who ran off after your distraction should be coming here soon."
"No they won't," The she grimm as a mischievous grin on her face. I set another explosion to go off once they were in the area."
"Very clever." Wu commented.
Nick thought so too. He was grateful that she could focus on getting Adalind and their son out of that place.
He carried her up the stairs and to the bedroom Trubel indicated Kelly was. He laid her gently on the bed and then went over to check on his son.
A wave of relief washed over him seeing his family safe and sound.
He called Diana and told her everyone was safe and that they would be home very soon.
He then called Renard to tell him his cousin would never be bothering Portland again.
Renard felt no grief at the information.
Nick turned back to Adalind, who was looking much more alert. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips deeply.
Then smiling brightly, he placed Kelly in her arms and scooped them both up in his arms, carrying them to his car and nestling them safely in the back seat.
On the way to the spice shop, he kept staring at the both of them the whole time.
He had almost lost them, and he had a glimpse of what it would be like to be without them. He had felt like a man possessed. He had wanted to tear anyone who laid a hand on his family limb from limb.
Back at the spice shop, as Rosalee was looking Adalind and Kelly over and Diana was placing hundreds of hugs and kisses on her mom and baby brother, Nick thought to himself how he could never and would never want to live without theses people.
Adalind, Diana and Kelly were his family. And he loved them with all of his heart.