Somewhere in China, two men were sitting together chatting incessantly about various topics. In all reality, one man was sitting in a cell looking a little worse for wear. That same man inside the cell was also the only one speaking, much to the annoyance of the handler. "So, hey, Mr. Handler, I have to say, you've not been very talkative these three months we've been here, you know. For three months I've had to fill this dark and dreary cell with mindless chatter because none of you will chat back."
The handler took a deep, calming breath that did nothing to calm his nerves and, through gritted teeth, he said, "You could just shut the hell up."
The man inside the cell, Drew Wu, thought about this for about half a second then said, "You know what? It's fine. I'll continue. I'm pretty good at filling the air.
"So, since you're the new guy – I thought we were supposed to have only one handler? You're like the third one I've had," Wu shook his head, pretending he had no idea why each of his handlers had left as if he hadn't annoyed them to the point of near insanity. "Anyways, I have to ask you. Maybe you'd know. Do you have any idea why they brought me to China, of all places? I find that incredibly racist, you know. Just because I'm Asian doesn't mean I'm automatically from China. I'm Filipino, if you must know. I don't even know Chinese. Hell, I don't even know Tagalog very well. Some Filipino I am. Hey, do you think I should've listened to my grandmother when she told me to pay attention to her Tagalog? I bet a second language would've come in handy while I was working as a cop, though, I'm not sure how much Tagalog specifically would've helped. Oh yeah! Do you think that, when I escape here, I can get my job back in Portland? I'm sure Natalia won't be too happy about my return since she's the one holding me captive, but I plan on shooting her anyways. God, I would love to shoot that woman. Have you ever thought about hurting a woman? I feel like that's wrong, but she has it coming. Maybe I'll save Juliette and let her pull the trig-"
The man stood up suddenly, the chair he was in falling backwards. The man's hands were shaking with rage as he unlocked the cell door and made a beeline for Wu. "I'm going to rip your fucking tongue out!"
Wu smirked. "Wow, the other guys lasted a lot longer than you did. You have serious rage issues, don't you? You know, I know a great therapist in Portland. You should go there, check it out-"
Wu was cut off by the guy screaming and tackling him to the ground. Right before the man could wrap his hands around his throat to finally shut him up, Wu saw an arrow go right through his throat. The man blinked a few times as he watched in shock as blood poured over his already dirty clothes before pushing the man's dying form off of him. He stood up only to see a hooded figure waiting for him to gather himself. He couldn't see the figure's face, but he could tell that under those dark clothes was a woman. "Who are you?" He asked. "Why did you save me?"
"Who I am is not your concern right now," she said. She sounded angry, but Wu sensed it wasn't with him. "Follow me."
Wu walked out of the cell door left open by the now dead guard. He followed the unknown woman down the hall. She killed several guards, her attack strategy similar to a style he'd seen used by an old friend of his…
In a soft whisper, he asked, "Are you a Grimm?"
She only held up her finger to silence him. They made their way to the ground level, finding that a lot of the guards were already dead. She must have killed them before coming to get me, Wu thought.
Once outside, they walked about a mile down the road into a black SUV. He briefly caught a glimpse of her eyes, which were shining with a silver glow. "You're a Grimm. You have to be. Now I'm really intrigued. Why are you helping me?"
As she drove, Wu heard the humorless chuckle come from the woman. "You are very observant. I am a Grimm, yes. The reason I'm helping you?" She paused for a moment before saying very vaguely, "Let's just say I have a problem with the deaths of Sean Renard and Nick Burkhardt."
"You knew them? I don't think they ever mentioned knowing another Grimm."
"I've had deals with Sean Renard in the past, but I knew Nick personally long before he became a Grimm."
"How?"
"Again, it's none of your concern right now."
They stopped at an old airport that looked like it either hadn't seen traffic in years or had seen too much of it. She handed him a file then looked him directly in the eyes. For the first time since she saved him, he saw her face. She was an older woman with short, curly, brown hair and eyes that looked like a haunted version of someone else's, but couldn't quite put his finger on whom. "Listen to me. I am only going to explain this once so I need you to listen carefully. I am sending you on a secure plane to Portland. There is an address in there that I want you to go to. Memorize that address and destroy the paper. At that address, you are going to meet an acquaintance of mine. Her name is Trubel. She will explain everything you need to know. When you meet her, do not say anything else but these words. Tell her, 'Vivat Legitima Regum.' If you try to say anything else, she will not hesitate to kill you because she will think you are the enemy. Do not say anything else but that phrase, understood?"
"Vivat Legitima Regum. I got it," Wu said, nodding his head. "What does it mean?"
"Like I said, Trubel will explain everything to you." The Grimm explained. "Hurry to the plane. They are waiting for you," she paused, looking as if she were considering something. "I have a meeting with a Hexenbiest that I must prepare for, so I will not be travelling with you. Stick with Trubel. I will return to Portland as soon as my business is complete."
Wu nodded, not sure what was going on. "Wait!" He called. "How do I know that I can trust you?"
"Besides the fact I just rescued you?"
He nodded. "For all I know, you could just be another handler trying to mess with me, give me hope and then destroy it."
She considered his words carefully before speaking. "You're right. You don't know if you can trust me. You have every right not to trust me after everything that's happened.
"You might not be able to trust me, but I'm the only one that's helped you in three months. Even if it's a complete sham and I am a handler, I'm the only lead you have so I think it would be wise to take it, no?"
Wu nodded slowly. This woman spoke logically. She must have had this conversation a couple times before. "Okay, okay. I got it. Trust the Grimm."
She smirked. "See that you do."
She got out of the car with Wu and walked him to the gate before leading him to the plane.
Before he got in, she grabbed his arm and said, "Vivat Legitima Regum. Remember that or you will be killed."
"Yes, yes! I know. I got it."
She nodded and closed the plane door, Wu locking it from the inside. He turned to find an empty plane; he was the only one in there except for the pilots in the cockpit. Well, this should be entertaining, he thought.
He sat down and buckled himself in, preparing for the long flight. Hopefully we get there soon.
As boredom overtook him, he decided to take a quick nap before he had to deal with this Trubel character. He wondered what she'd be like. With a name like that he guessed she couldn't be exactly… pleasant. Was she a Grimm as well? He imagined that she was a big, burly woman with a name pronounced like 'trouble.'
His last thought before falling asleep was him thinking that with all these Grimms showing up, he knew there was only one Grimm he wanted to see and he was long gone. He hadn't even had time to grieve for his lost friends and coworkers. He would grieve later, however. Right now he had to make sure Natalia Renard lost the throne. He wasn't sure how to go about that, but the Grimm seemed to want to help him. With a Grimm on his side, he might be able to muster up enough people to fight with them.
He could do this. He had to.
Wu woke up with a jolt, leaping into action to kill whoever had woken him up. He was in his cell. They were coming for him. They were going to execute him finally for 'crimes against the Queen.' He couldn't let that happen. He had to kill his assailant.
Before he could kill anyone, however, he came back to his senses. He wasn't in his cell in China. He was on a plane to Portland, a plane which had apparently landed and the pilot was trying to escort him out. "Sorry…" he mumbled. "Didn't mean that."
"No worries, sir. We get that a lot," the pilot reassured. "There's a car waiting for you outside. Here are the keys."
Wu nodded. "Thanks."
The man put his left hand over his heart and saluted him with his right. "Vivat Legitima Regum."
Wu smiled awkwardly. "Y-yeah. You too, buddy." He patted the guy on the arm before exiting the plane. Well, these guys sure are enthusiastic…
It took Wu a moment to find the car; he hadn't realized he needed to use the alarm to find it. "Finally…" he said as he got into the vehicle. He looked at the address, recognizing the road as one close to Nick's old house. As he promised, he destroyed the address by ripping the paper into pieces and throwing them out the window, the wind blowing them across the parking lot. He began to drive, the familiarity of Portland washing over him, giving him a combined sense of wistfulness and dread.
Soon enough, he was driving up to the house. Considering this might be a safe house for what could be the only rebellion against Natalia, he decided to park down a ways and walk to the house so as not to draw suspicion to several cars parked outside. He took a deep breath before knocking a few times. He huffed in annoyance before knocking again. "Hello? Anyone in there? I need to speak with someone named Trubel."
It only took seconds for the door to open and for someone small but strong to tackle him to the ground. He felt several fists connect with various parts of his body before he gathered enough consciousness to fight her off. He studied his attacker for a moment. She was a young girl; she couldn't be older than twenty-one. She was pale with short, black hair and black clothes to match. He braced himself for another attack before the Grimm's words rang through his head.
"Wait!" He said before she could attack him again. She stopped and he quickly gasped out, "Vivat Legitima…" Crap, he thought. There's another word. What's the other word? "Vivat Legitima… Regulus? No, that's not right…"
The girl stopped, eyes wide. "I recognize you. You were King Renard's recon guy, right? His intelligence coordinator?"
Wu nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes! Yes. I'm Drew Wu. That's me. Intel guy. I'm here to help you. Or, I actually don't know what you all want me for. I was rescued by a Grimm in China and she sent me here to find a woman named Trubel. I know you want me to say the password but I really can't remember the last word…" His eyes suddenly lit up in recognition. "Vivat Legitima Regum! That's it! I got it."
The young woman nodded. "Come in, then, Mr. Wu."
He smiled. "Thanks, though you can just call me Wu," he paused. "You know, I didn't catch your name."
She smirked at him. "My name is Theresa Rubel, but most just call me Trubel."
He scoffed. "You're Trubel? Wow, I was not expecting that. I was expecting a more…"
"A more masculine woman?"
"More or less," he agreed.
She nodded. "I get that a lot."
They walked into the house, the place looking like your average home in this neighborhood, but when you went downstairs into the basement, it was a whole different story. It was like an entire military base had been built beneath the two-story home. Computer monitors were set up in the main room, bunkers down every hallway. There were emergency buttons all down the halls. Wu was sure that if you pressed one, all the gates would close, sending this place into complete lockdown.
"Wow," Wu said. "You've got a pretty nice setup down here. How did you even manage to get all this stuff in here without Natalia finding out about it?"
"Very carefully," Trubel said simply. "This isn't our main HQ, though. Not anymore. We're transferring a lot of our stuff from here to the warehouse location." At Wu's questioning glance, she said, "We have a lot of new members. We thought this house would be big enough, but apparently there are a lot more people willing to fight for the Grimm and the Royal than we originally anticipated."
Wu smirked. Nick and Renard had a lot of allies.
A sound echoed through the room. A phone was vibrating. Trubel pulled out a phone from her pocket, staring at the screen for a moment before answering. "Hello?" She said. There was a beat of silence before Trubel's eyes widened. "You found them?" More silence. Trubel rolled her eyes. "They were here the whole time? Why would she keep them here, of all places?" She paused. "I'll get right on it. You want me to bring the new guy?" Though whoever was on the other end couldn't see it, Trubel nodded. "Alright. Let me know if you find anything else about the other prisoners," she hung up.
"Who was that?" Wu asked.
"That was the other Grimm you met in China. She wants me to take you to the correctional facility on the Columbia River to snatch two people."
"Why are we breaking people out of jail?"
"They didn't actually commit any crimes. I'm sure you know them."
"Who are they?"
"Adalind Schade and Martin Meisner. They were put there for 'crimes against the queen.'" Trubel said.
Though Wu was ecstatic to be able to see his friends again, he hesitated. "And you trust this other Grimm? How do you know she's not leading us into a trap?"
Trubel sighed, running a hand through her short hair. "She said you were skeptical," she muttered. "That Grimm? She has a lot invested into this whole thing. She's the leader of our entire organization."
"You guys are big enough to be an organization?" He shook his head. "Never mind that. Ignore that. Why does she care? I thought Grimms didn't care so long as wesen died?"
She nodded. "She was that way at one point," she took a breath, thinking for a moment if she should say what she wanted to say, then decided to go for it. "The Grimm you met, well, she found me when I first became a Grimm. I was scared, and to be completely honest, I thought I was going crazy. What sane human could see the things we Grimms see?" She took a breath, steadying herself. "I wouldn't have survived without her. She saved me. So yes. I trust the woman with my life.
"She taught me that I needed to kill wesen, no questions asked. She said they would try to kill me no matter what so any time I encountered one, I should make sure it would never see me or anyone else again. I didn't agree with senselessly killing wesen at first, but after trying to convince wesen not to kill me and getting hurt in the process, I guess I just gave up. Kill or be killed, right?" She laughed, but there was no humor behind it.
"Eventually, though, word got to us that there was a Grimm here in Portland defying everything she had taught me. He was doing the right thing and we both knew it. Maybe it was our proud Grimm instincts, but we didn't like admitting we were wrong. We wanted to go meet this Grimm that was changing everything. We wanted to teach him a lesson about how dark wesen truly were and that they must be stopped at all costs.
"We actually saw him. I was ready to attack him, but the other Grimm stopped me. She had this look on her face that was a mix of shock, resigned sadness, and pride. In a split second, she went from this Grimm filled with so much hate to a completely different person hell-bent on changing herself for the better. She saved my life so of course I went along with her change. We would still be killing wesen if it wasn't for the famous Grimm of Portland.
"She never told me his name, though I figured it out on my own after some digging. That guy's name was Nick Burkhardt. I was angry at first, but now I can see why she never told me his name. That guy was probably the only weakness she had."
Wu furrowed his brow. "Her only weakness? Is it because of how she knew Nick before he became a Grimm?"
Trubel nodded. "Yeah," she paused. "I shouldn't tell you this; she didn't want anyone to know, but all of this is probably confusing to you unless you know her name and her relationship with Nick.
"That Grimm you met is Kelly Burkhardt. She's Nick's mother."
Wu took a moment to take that in. "Nick told me his mother and father died in a car crash when he was twelve."
"Yeah, his father did according to Kelly, but the woman in the car wasn't her. It was a friend trying to get home to Nick and take him to a safe house. Kelly hadn't made many friends being the type of Grimm that she was and the wesen were coming to take their revenge. After Kelly discovered that her husband had died, she left, letting everyone believe she had died as well in order to save her son."
Wu nodded. "Yeah, I got it. So I guess she's fighting against Natalia for being responsible for the death of her son, right?"
"Yeah, that's right." Suddenly, another sound from Trubel's phone echoed through the room. She looked at her phone, then said to Wu, "Come on. Our ride is here. We have to get to the correctional facility as soon as possible. We have intel saying that Meisner and Adalind are going to be moved to a new location. If we don't get them now we'll lose them again."
Wu nodded. "Then let's go."
Wu seriously wondered what the hell he actually did as a cop because it was way too easy to break into the prison. If it's this easy to get in, I wonder how easy it is to get out?
They searched around for a while before they were stopped by an officer. The guy looked like a kid, if Wu were being completely honest. Trubel and Wu looked ready to fight to the death when, out of the blue, he said, "The rightful kings have fallen, an enemy takes their place. You've fought a long time to meet the enemy face-to-face. What do you say then what do you do before the enemy meets her doom?"
Trubel spoke quickly. "Vivat Legitima Regum, and then I run her though." The guard nodded slowly before the man placed his left hand over his heart and saluted with the right. "We have Miss Schade and Mr. Meisner in our sights. Right now they are being placed in a truck that we have overtaken. They will be escorted off the facility where we will meet at the rendezvous point."
Trubel nodded. "Then why are we here instead of at the truck?"
"Because," the man explained. "We needed you to come take a look at this."
The three walked into what looked like a communications station overlooking the prisoners. "We were able to get into the system with a little… persuasion of the Black Claw lackey over there."
Wu turned, seeing a dead guard over in the corner. "Black Claw?" Wu asked.
"It's what Natalia calls her army." She explained quickly. "What did you find?"
"Nothing, at first, but we dug a little deeper. We found this video, but it won't play. Every time we try to open it there's some kind of password box that pops up."
Wu spoke this time. "Download the whole system. As incredibly stereotypical this is, and I'm probably a disgrace as an Asian, I'm pretty sure I can get into the video. I worked with tech support a lot while on the force." He was momentarily saddened by the fact that he might never be a cop again, but now was not the time.
A voice carried over the kid's radio. "Barry, come on. We've got minutes before security comes back on. Hurry up!"
The kid – Barry – spoke back into the radio. "Okay, Roddy. Are you still in the system? Download the information on the computer in this com room. Can you do that?"
"Can't you do that, big guy? Or are you finally going to admit that brains more important than brawn?"
"Roddy, I don't give a rat's ass about this right now-"
"Hey! I take offense to that." Roddy interrupted.
"Fine, yes, yes. Brains are cooler than brawn. Just download the information and help get us out of here."
Meanwhile, Wu leaned over to Trubel. "They fight like a married couple."
Trubel smirked. "Believe it or not, those two might be headed that way. They don't know it yet, but they're basically dating."
"Into the gossip around here, huh?" Trubel just shrugged, but Wu gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. At the precinct, I never lost a bet about gossip around the place. I even had Nick and Renard pegged."
She laughed softly. "Well, that's Barry Rabe and the guy on the speaker is Roddy Geiger. Barry is a Jagerbar and Roddy is a Reinigen. You can imagine how weird that is, a bear and a rat, but somehow those two make it work."
Wu nodded. "It's like a Romeo and Juliet concept, except actually it's not because that whole thing was a disaster."
Trubel just nodded before taking the radio from Barry momentarily. "Is the system good to go, Roddy?"
"Tagged and bagged, baby!" Roddy said. "Not that I'm calling you 'baby,' Miss Trubel…"
"Thanks. Now get us out of here."
"You're not gonna be able to get out the way you came. There are guards coming your way. In a few I won't be able to see you because we blacked those cameras out." There was some shuffling before Roddy said, "Just stay where you are. I think there's some air ducts above you that you can get through. Easy enough."
Barry rolled his eyes. "How about I just knock the guards out and then we can walk out the way we came?"
There was silence. "O-Okay. That… That works, too."
Barry smirked. "See? Brawn wins."
"How about we just agree that they're equally important?"
"You got it, Roddy."
They waited behind the door for the first guard to walk in, Barry knocking him out with a woged fist. Trubel and Wu took out the other guards, Wu panting a bit more than usual. "Man, I am out of shape."
"You're also malnourished." Trubel said.
"Thanks for the reminder." He deadpanned before following Barry and Trubel out of the complex. They drove to a location on the other side of town. It looked like your standard warehouse until you took the elevator down. It revealed a high tech facility filled hallways of what looked like military-style bedrooms. In the center was a tech room where Wu was officially able to meet Roddy Geiger, who stood up to shake his hand. "It's an honor to meet the man who served the kings!" He grinned. "Plus, Nick saved my life, more or less. And Barry's. We owe him at least this much."
"Thanks, you know. For all this. I know Nick and Renard would be fighting right along with us if they were here." He paused before shaking himself from his momentary grief. "Where are Adalind and Meisner?"
"They're in a temporary holding cell down the hall. We were waiting for you to show up, honestly. We're trying to remove the magickal containment band on Miss Schade's wrist, but she won't let us near her and neither will Mr. Meisner. I think they'll trust us more if they see a familiar face."
Wu nodded. "I'll head right over there, then. Can you pull up that file in the meantime? I want to take a look at it."
"Yeah. It'll be up when you get back."
Wu turned to follow Trubel to the cell containing Adalind and Meisner. Once he walked in, he said, "It's been a while, hasn't it, you two?"
"Wu!" Adalind said. "Why are you here? Where have you been? What's going on?"
"Long story, but these people are trustworthy, I promise. I'll explain everything as soon as I can. Right now, these people want to get that containment band off your arm, Adalind."
She nodded. "Okay."
The two guards that Wu didn't notice were in the room approached Adalind slowly as if they were approaching a rabid animal. The blonde rolled her eyes before taking the key out of one of their hands and opened it herself. She woged for a moment, the Hexenbiest coming forth after such a long containment, before returning to the regular Adalind.
"Tell us what's going on, Wu," Meisner said.
Wu went into his tale. "To make a long story short, I was in China where I was rescued by a Grimm – not this one." He pointed to Trubel. "She sent me back here to Portland to meet this Grimm. This is Trubel. Trubel and the Grimm who rescued me are leading an organization to overthrow Natalia. They have catchphrases and everything."
Trubel gave their organization's salute to the three. "Vivat Legitima Regum. We are the Ultores."
"The Ultores?" Adalind said, making a face. "You mean the Avengers? Why not just put on a cape and call yourself Iron Man?"
Trubel laughed. "One, Iron Man didn't wear a cape. Two, capes are impractical. Have you ever seen the Incredibles?"
Wu smirked. "She's snarky. I like her."
"Who is the Grimm that rescued you? The other head of the organization?"
Wu looked to Trubel, asking permission. "Go ahead." She said.
He took a breath. "Kelly Burkhardt. Nick's mom."
Adalind looked personally offended. "Ignoring the fact that she is supposed to be dead, she willingly rescued me? You do realize that I'm the Hexenbiest Renard ordered to poison her sister, right? Not to mention she's one of the most feared Grimms across the damn globe! Why is she helping maintain us? I figured she would've liked to see this war play out. Wesen killing wesen seems like her thing," she spat.
Trubel nodded. "Yeah, that was her thing. But then she heard her son was doing the right thing so she figured she ought to do the same thing. Plus, Natalia killed her son. Do you think that she would stand idly by and let it all go?"
Adalind shook her head. "No, probably not," she muttered.
"Okay," Wu said. "Come out here. I've got some computer fun to handle."
Adalind, Meisner, Wu, and Trubel walked into the center of the compound while Roddy was staring mindlessly at this password. "What the hell does this even mean?" Roddy said to himself.
On the main screen were a simple password box and one hint. The hint was simply this: The Snake's 42.
Wu thought about this for a long time. Then he smirked. "I don't even have to hack this!"
"What's the password, then?"
Wu laughed. "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life."
"How in the hell did you get that from 'The Snake's 42?'" Meisner asked.
"It's elementary, my dear movie-deprived friends. You see, the number forty-two is in reference to a quote from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This guy was asking about the meaning of life. So, I replaced 'forty-two' with 'the meaning of life.' So now we have 'The Snake's the meaning of life.' It took me a minute, but 'The Meaning of Life' is also a movie made by Monty Python. The snake has to refer to his last name."
Roddy nodded. "Alright. I'll try it."
Roddy typed it out and, sure enough, it worked. Immediately the video began to play. Though what they were seeing was poorly lighted, it seemed they were watching through a surveillance camera. The time stamp on the camera was fairly recent. There were a bunch of guards shouting in German and running towards a stairwell. They watched as blue fire shot down the stairs and literally burnt the guards alive. One of the guards ran to hide in the corner of what looked like a dining area. Then, much to the viewers' shock, four people they instantly recognized ran down the stairs.
It was Nick, Renard, Monroe, and Rosalie.
Sound began to play over the video and Nick's voice washed over them, soothing their grief and worries until all that was left was a fierce determination. "We're coming," Nick said, his voice sounding like an omen of death to whoever was against him. "I want you to tell your Queen that we're coming." He then proceeded to burn his hand into the flesh of the man in front of him.
The video ended and there was a long silence before Roddy and Barry began to jump and shout, running down the halls to say, "They're alive! The kings are alive!"
People began coming out of their rooms by the masses. The video was played a dozen times before they had everyone shouting and cheering. Trubel made a whistling noise and everyone quieted down. She took a breath before smirking. She gave the Ultores salute before shouting so everyone could hear: "Vivat Legitima Regum! Long Live the Rightful Kings!"
Everyone returned the salute and the phrase. Adalind, Meisner, and Wu found themselves saluting and cheering right along with them.
Somehow, Nick and Renard were alive and they had singlehandedly saved Monroe and Rosalie. The kings were making their move. No one had any idea where they were or even how to find them, but that didn't matter. This had given them something none of them really had until this moment.
They finally had hope.