Bane of His Existence

Chapter Thirteen

Gold pulled up outside of Roni's bar and took a few moments to sit in another detective's car to try to think how to tell the women he expected to be there about Rogers' abduction, as he knew they would be angry and believe he had let their friend down when the younger detective needed him most. If truth be told, he blamed himself for his partner being taken too. Since learning what had happened to him, Weaver couldn't help but wonder if he made the right decision to call Rogers to have him meet him at the location and immediately regretted he had.

He walked inside and upon seeing the Dark One enter, Regina quickly stepped out from behind the bar with a bottle of whisky in her hand and strode towards him as she angrily called out, "Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for the last hour. Do you have any idea what happened to your partner? Someone's done a hell of a frame job against him. I saw the news footage over and hour ago thanks to one of my patrons talking about seeing on the news that some cop had killed a doctor at the hospital. Wasn't that the murder you went to with Rogers earlier? Where is he?"

Weaver groaned in frustration as Zelena walked out from the room in back upon hearing her sister raising her voice, then gruffly answered, "Perhaps if I could get a word in… I've been busy. A lot's happened. Unfortunately, I fear that Rogers has been… abducted. By Gothel and her sister witches whom Rogers has inadvertently helped her to wake."

"What?" the Queen uttered fearfully while she stared at Gold in disbelief. "What happened to you trying to protect him?"

"Believe me, I have tried," Gold responded somberly while he looked between the women until he collapsed into a chair at one of the tables beside him when a wave of pain from being blown into a car's windshield earlier by the bomb. "But you're right. I haven't protected Rogers well enough."

Upon examining the filth and grime covering him and seeing how stiff he was carrying himself, the former wicked witch replied, "Something tells me he's not wrong, Regina."

She then turned back to him while she quickly asked, "What happened to you?"

"After seeing the footage for ourselves earlier at the hospital before someone had released it to the press, I told Rogers to take my car and hide out at my apartment and assured him that I believed him to be innocent," Weaver answered wearily, then looked up between the two women now standing above him again until Zelena knelt down to try to check him over for any wounds and found his chest was covered in bruises. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I still heal quickly. Anyways… I told Rogers to wait for me to call before doing anything. It wasn't long after I saw the footage of the doctor's murder on the news myself that I received a call from Gothel and she told me she had been responsible for drugging him early that morning, which allowed for her to manipulate Rogers into committing the murder, under a trance he had fallen under. He had no memory of killing the man thanks to her. Gothel wished to brag about what she had done, not only to my partner, but that she planned to bring Anastasia into the witches' coven tonight. Luckily for us, her plans were thwarted thanks to Rogers. Only, I'm afraid that by doing so, it allowed for her to abduct him as well. I was able to trace her call so I could get a location on her, then called Rogers to have him meet me there. I told him not to go in without me there to back him up, but he must have heard either Victoria or Ivy scream and felt he had no choice but to try to help them. They were about to become human sacrifices you see."

"That doesn't answer my question about how you winded up getting hurt, or why you called Rogers in at all when he was already in danger thanks to that evil witch, who gives us good witches a bad name," Zelena responded snidely when she stood again beside her sister.

Gold sighed again and then continued, "I hoped that perhaps if Rogers saw the truth about who Eloise really is, then maybe it would be enough to awaken Hook. By seeing her performing an act involving witchcraft that is. Or at the very least… that it might help him to rid himself of his uncontrollable obsession with Eloise Gardener. Unfortunately, I was held up when a bomb planted within Rogers' car, which I was driving as Rogers had mine… blew up and rendered me unconscious for awhile. When I came to, I got myself to the location to meet up with Rogers as soon as I could, but by the time I arrived, the old subway tunnel was on fire and my partner was already gone. Victoria and Ivy both admitted that Rogers had rescued them and helped them to escape, which they did. Rogers wasn't as fortunate. I found them there are the scene still as they were being treated by paramedics. According to them, the witches were about to kill them in a ritual that would have severed all ties between them and Anastasia so she could become one of them and in time… the Guardian as well."

Regina let out frustrated sigh, then she urgently replied, "We have to find Rogers. Where would those witches have taken him, Gold? Surely you have some idea."

"Where is Detective Rogers?" Tilly then shouted angrily when she suddenly burst through the front door of the bar and rushed towards the older detective she had worked with since before she ever met his partner. "We were supposed to meet up for our daily game of chess over forty minutes ago. But he never showed and it's not like him. I finally went out to try to find him, until I saw on the telly through a store window that he's been accused of murdering some doctor and of abducting Eloise and one of the hospital's patients locked up in the psycho ward. It can't be true. I don't believe he would kill anyone like that. And after all the trouble he went through trying to find Eloise, he would never turn around and kidnap her himself."

"Tilly, just calm down and listen to me," Weaver answered when he stood as well as the young woman came up to him. "You're right. Detective Rogers would never do those things and we all believe he's innocent. He's been framed, yet I'm not sure how to prove it. But first we have to find him."

She looked at him with confusion and in concern as she asked, "What do you mean, find him? Is he alright?"

Regina shook her head sadly and with worry she responded, "We believe he's been kidnapped."

"We don't too many details just yet," Gold quickly replied with a partial lie in order to avoid revealing that he had been taken by three witches, one of whom happened to be the very woman Tilly had tried to warn him against only days ago out of worry for Rogers. "Only that he had been taken when rescuing Victoria and Ivy Belfrey from their own abductors. I'm going to find him, Tilly. And we're going to prove him innocent as well. But if I'm going to do that, I am going to need your help once more. You just have to assure me you will work with me this time if you wish to join us in helping him. Not alone like you've always done until now. Can you do that? I don't want to see anything happen to you as well. More importantly, Rogers would never forgive himself if anything happened to you in trying to save him."

"I never should have resisted when you asked me to work with you a few days ago," she answered regretfully while she looked between the three heroes she was standing among. "It's like I told you then… I want to help him. This time, I will do whatever you need me to do. What do you need from me?"

The Dark One smiled while he glanced over at Regina and Zelena, then turned back to his informant as he pulled a cell phone that wasn't his own to give to her and responded, "I need you to remind me why I made you my number one informant in the first place. Go walk the streets and look for information about two men who may go by the name of Stabbington. They are apparently twin brothers. One has a long scar across his cheek and the other wears an eyepatch. Both men are believed to have the tattoos like the one on the back of the ogre statue you brought to my attention. If you learn anything, call me on this phone or come to me with any information. You cannot attempt to help Rogers alone. Have I made myself clear?"

Tilly took the phone from him and worryingly looked between the senior detective and the two women, one of whom she didn't recognize as she hadn't yet met her, then took a moment to think it over before she finally replied, "All right. I'll do it. I'll get in touch with my usual contacts. Thank you, Weaver."