Grimm - Nick Burkhardt's Final Battle

Chapter 2 - Trust Me Knot Spell

"Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides."

The SERT officers advance on Bud's shop, checking the fridge in the back of Bud's truck before stacking up at the entrances. Inside, Trubel votes to take the SERT officers on, and Monroe blurts out that Rosalee is pregnant, much to her chagrin. Nick is happy for them and apologizes for dragging them into this. Everyone moves to the back of the shop and Nick with Rhett by his side tells them he's going to turn himself in, but Eve and Trubel tell him he can't. Outside, the SERT team leader radios that they are in position, asking if they are clear to move in, but before he receives an answer, Hank and Wu pull up, sirens wailing, and tell Renard that he is under arrest. He tells them they can't arrest him, but Hank tells him he is under arrest for the murder of Rachel Wood. Wu points his gun at Renard after Renard refuses to give up his badge and gun. Hank takes Renard's gun and Renard tells them that they aren't coming back from this, and he tells the officers to execute their mission. Hank tells Renard, "You are relieved of command. You are no longer giving orders." He puts Renard up against the car and handcuffs him, as Renard tells the other officers to arrest Hank and Wu. Wu says, "Stay out of it, guys! This is a capital crime." Inside the shop, Eve tries to convince Nick not to give himself up, but Nick says, "They're coming in here. I don't want anyone including my son to get hurt. Now move out of my way." Trubel and Eve then step aside with Rhett behind Eve. Outside, Renard continues to try to get the officers to go inside the shop to get Nick, and Hank puts him in the back of the patrol car, and he and Wu drive away with Renard. Franco asks the SERT Team Commander what to do now, and she tells the SERT officers that they are clear to move. The SERT officers make their way into the shop, where they find everyone with their hands up. The SERT team leader searches Nick and finds the stick, asking what it is. Suddenly, a shock wave comes out of the stick, knocking all the SERT officers out. Nick then walks over and picks up the stick and Eve says, "Maybe they shouldn't have tried to take that from you." Outside, the SERT Team Commander asks for a status report.

Wu and Hank drive to the precinct with Renard. Renard tells them that they better think about what they're doing, and Hank tells him they are doing their jobs. Renard says that Nick is a dead man, and Wu responds, "Whatever happens to Nick is gonna happen to you."

Back outside Bud's shop, Franco and the SERT Team Commander try to get a hold of the SERT officers inside the shop. Suddenly, there are gunshots and Nick, disguised in a SERT uniform, runs out of the shop and says, "Burkhardt got away! Going south on Milwaukee. We are in pursuit." He gets into a SERT truck and sirens wail as the SERT and police vehicles speed away. When the coast is clear, everyone else from inside the shop carries the SERT team leader and puts him in the back of the truck Nick is in, and they all get in as well as Nick drives away. Monroe tells Nick about the way out of the tunnels that he and Rosalee found and starts drawing a map for Nick so he can find it.

Hank and Wu walk Renard through the precinct as shocked officers watch. They take him to an interrogation room where they talk about the murder of Rachel. Renard repeatedly denies killing her and tells Hank and Wu that they know this will never go to trial. Renard tells them that he was with his campaign manager, Conrad Bonaparte, the night Rachel was killed. When Wu asks where they can find Bonaparte, Renard says that he left the country. Hank notes that Renard has no alibi, so Renard says he is calling his lawyer.

Adalind gets a call from Renard, who tells her he was arrested for Rachel's murder. He tells Adalind that she needs to get someone to watch the kids and then come down to the jail because she is going to get him out.

Renard is put into a holding cell and he watches as a maintenance worker paints over the Black Claw symbol on the wall across from his cell. The worker then walks over to Renard and tells him this isn't right, before he woges into a Drang-Zorn. He tells Renard that if there is anything he needs, then let him know. Renard then tells the worker to get him a phone.

Hank and Wu discuss how long they can keep Renard locked up and what happens if he gets out. Franco walks over to get some answers about what's going on and tells them about the SERT officers all getting knocked out. He also tells them that the SERT team leader woke up in his truck six miles away, unaware of what happened, and that Nick got away. Franco says, "If you get a line on Burkhardt, tell him to turn himself in." He then walks away as Hank gets a call from Trubel. She tells him that they're going to the tunnels through the way that Monroe and Rosalee found, and that he and Wu should meet them. Hank has Trubel put the call on speaker and he tells everyone that he and Wu arrested Renard. After the call, Nick, Rhett, Eve, Bud, and Trubel find an old furnace door without a furnace inside, so they figure that's the entry into the tunnels. They all climb in and Bud worries about his family since he's probably considered missing. Nick asks Eve how she's feeling and she tells him, "Different... and the same, like... like there's two of me. It's very confusing." She then tells him that she is going to need to get the cloth from him to take to Rosalee because "after everything that happened to us, we need to know what it is and where it came from. The answer might be on the cloth." Nick disagrees about the answers being on the cloth and walks ahead. Eve looks at Trubel and says, "We need to find out where its power comes from before it kills one of us."

Monroe and Rosalee return to the spice shop for the first time since it was searched by SERT officers and find the door frame broken. They discuss whether they should open the shop or not, and they eventually decide to open the shop like it's a normal day. Adalind calls the shop and asks Rosalee if she and Monroe can watch Diana and Kelly for a couple of hours and Rosalee tells her that's fine. After the call, Monroe voices his hesitation about watching Diana after she "beamed" herself into the loft. He tells Rosalee, "If Diana, like, disappears, we can't be held accountable." Rosalee agrees, "I think we should call Nick and tell him to drop Rhett off before he go into hiding again."

The maintenance worker takes a phone out of his mop on his way by Renard's cell and slides it to him before continuing on his way. Renard calls Croft and tells him that he was arrested and that there is evidence that puts him at the scene. Croft tells Renard that since he knew the victim, it complicates things. Renard tells him to un-complicate it and hangs up. He sits down and suddenly hears the metallic sound of a bullet case as it falls on the ground by his foot. He then finds a gun next to him. He picks up the gun and looks at it and the bullet case, realizing it's the gun and the case of the bullet he used to kill Meisner. Suddenly, Renard realizes nothing is actually in his hands.

Down in the tunnels, Nick opens the metal box containing the stick. Eve tells him they need answers, but Nick is hesitant. Eve takes out the cloth and points to the symbols that she saw, but Nick tells her he can't see anything, and Trubel tells Nick she didn't see anything either. Nick tells Eve she needs to be careful with the cloth and Eve tells him she will be, adding that she doesn't think it's a good idea for him to carry the stick around all the time. Nick says it's the only reason he is still alive, but Eve responds, "Yeah. It's powerful. But we don't know where that power comes from." "Does it matter? As long as daddy has it, no-one can hurt him, also, he can heal any of us if he keeps it." Eve tells Rhett this does matter and points out what happened when the SERT officers tried to take the stick compared to what it did for them and Monroe. She tells Nick there is no risk in the tunnels, so she doesn't see how it would hurt for him to put it away. Nick looks around at everyone and puts it into the box, angrily asking if they're happy. Eve, Rhett and Trubel then head to the spice shop.

Monroe finishes fixing the door frame and wonders if he should go out and get some games for the kids, but Rosalee tells him it'll be fine. Monroe isn't so sure based on Kelly and Diana's gene pools. Just then, Adalind and the kids arrive. After introductions, Adalind and Rosalee take Kelly to the backroom, and Monroe is a little uneasy being left with Diana alone. He offers her a cinnamon stick, but before he can grab the jar off the shelf, Diana telekinetically makes it float over to her hand. In the back room, Adalind thanks Rosalee for watching the kids and tells her about Renard being arrested and how he wants her to get him out of it.

Nick acts a little strange, and Bud asks him if he is alright, telling Nick that it seems like he is a little antsy. Nick says, "They were wrong," and gets the stick out of the box, despite Bud pleading with him that it's not a good idea. Nick stares at the stick and Bud's voice gets distorted. Nick then quickly puts the stick back in the box and tells Bud they need to keep moving.

Monroe goes to the back room to get Rosalee as she plays with Kelly. Monroe tells her he wants to show her something, so they go to the main room where Diana has multiple jars floating around. Diana asks if Rosalee likes it, and Rosalee tells her it's beautiful but that she needs to be careful. After Diana touches a jar and makes it briefly burst into purple sparks with no remnants left of the jar at all, Rosalee tells Diana that it's probably time to put the jars back and offers to help, but Diana makes all the jars float back to where they were on the shelves. Trubel, Rhett and Eve arrive and Diana recognizes them both from when she was warning Nick. Before turning her attention to Rhett. Eve tells Rosalee they need to find out more about the cloth, so Rosalee grabs Kelly, and she, Trubel, and Eve go down to the basement. Monroe nervously says, "Are you just... leaving me up here? All alone?" Diana responds, "You're not alone. I'm here, and so is Rhett." She then smiles and asks Monroe what he wants her to do now. Before Rhett speaks up, "I think we should play a board game. What board games do we have uncle Monroe?" Monroe smiles and goes to the other room to get a board game.

Adalind meets with Renard in an interrogation room and he tells her he doesn't have an alibi for the night Rachel was killed, but they both know he didn't kill her. Adalind asks, "What do you want me to do? Turn in our daughter so you can get out of this?" Renard tells her no, but she is going to be his alibi. Adalind is afraid that she'll perjure herself and end up in jail too. She tells Renard she has three kids to take care of and Renard responds, "I'm not going to jail for a murder I did not commit." Adalind asks him why not since he isn't going to jail for a murder he did commit. Renard snaps back and tells her she owes him, but Adalind doesn't back down and says, "I owe my children, and if I have to choose between me going to jail and you going to jail, good luck with the grand jury." She then gets up and leaves.

Bud and Nick make their way through the tunnels, but they pause when they hear a metallic clutter up ahead. They then see a light, so they quickly turn off their lights and hide around a corner. Nick gets his gun out, but he and Bud are relieved once they realize it's just Hank and Wu. Bud tries to describe what the stick did to the SERT officers and they start talking about what Renard was charged with. Nick brings up the fact that even if they bring Renard down, he will still be on the run. Nick tells everyone they will have to let Renard go to get him to drop the charges against him. He says, "Renard doesn't want to go to jail any more than I do, so we need to talk." Nick then tells Bud that he should head home to his family.

Adalind gets a call from Nick as she walks through the precinct. He tells her, "I need to make a deal with somebody who I don't trust." Adalind tells him that he'll need a Trust Me Knot and Nick asks how it works. She says, "It's pretty simple, actually. Whoever signs the Trust Me Knot has to do what they promise, or they choke to death, like a hangman's knot around their neck." She then offers to do one for Nick, but she tells him she has to get a few things first. He tells her to meet him where she first told him she loved him.

Wu and Hank go to Renard's holding cell to get him out, despite Renard not being so sure about the situation.

Renard is taken to the loft, and Nick tells everyone regarding Renard, "He has an alibi. Me. I know where he was and what he was doing." He then says it might complicate both their lives if he testifies that he was killing Bonaparte. Hank tells Renard that isn't why they're at the loft and Wu tells him they're there to help him. Renard asks how they will do that and Nick, Hank, and Wu describe to him the deal they're offering, drop all the charges against Nick and reinstate him into the department, and they'll give Renard an alibi for the night Rachel died. Nick tells him the alibi will be Adalind, but Renard tells him he already tried talking to her and she turned him down. Nick tells Renard that she'll testify and Renard responds, "Look, even if she doesn't, I don't believe she will. I'm not dropping the charges against you until I'm cleared by a grand jury." Nick counters that Adalind won't testify until the charges are dropped. Renard asks, "So how do we get around this little mutual distrust of ours?" Adalind walks out with a rope and tells him it will be done with a Trust Me Knot. She says to take the cuffs off Renard and Hank does. She hands an end of the rope to both Nick and Renard and tells them that this is a blood oath, so whoever breaks it first will die. She states the conditions of what each must do, and they both agree. Adalind woges and bites her hand, dripping blood onto the rope. The blood starts to spread throughout the rope. Adalind then retracts as the blood spreads until the rope is completely red. She takes the rope from Nick and Renard and recites, "Si fides solvitur nodus interficit. If the trust is broken, the knot will kill." The rope starts winding upwards until a noose is formed.

Rosalee, Eve, and Trubel work on trying to figure out more about what is on the cloth. After making a mix of phenolphthalein and red cabbage water, Rosalee suggests testing it on a corner of the cloth first, but Eve suggests trying it on a different cloth first instead. Rosalee grabs a cloth from a shelf and hands it to Eve. Eve then uses a brush to apply the mixture onto the cloth as Adalind walks downstairs. She tells them about her meeting with Renard and about the deal he and Nick made. She tells them that Nick is on his way over, but he is taking the long way. Adalind asks what they are trying to do with the cloth and Rosalee tells her, "It's an ancient cloth that has some writing on it, and we're trying to read it." Eve applies the mixture to the cloth and initially nothing happens, but, suddenly, the section of the cloth with the mixture sizzles and disintegrates. Diana, Rhett and Monroe come downstairs and Diana tells Adalind she thought they were leaving. Adalind tells her they will soon but that she is trying to help everyone see what's on the cloth. Diana asks if she can try and steps up on a stool, and she woges her eyes. She tells them that she can see "little pictures and some strange writing." Rhett stand beside her and touches her arm and his eyes go pitch black as his Grimm eyes come out. Nick arrives and Trubel tells him that both Diana and Rhett can see things on the cloth. Diana states that she recognizes Nick as Rhett's daddy, and Nick thanks her for what she did. He asks her if she can draw what she sees and Diana agrees before asking Rhett to draw as well. While Diana and Rhett draw, Trubel gets a call from Hadrian's Wall telling her that she is leaving Portland in four hours. She tells Eve and Nick that they just want Grimms to come, including him. Before Nick can say anything, Monroe points out what Diana and Rhett drew. Eve and Rosalee note that they've never seen anything like it, so Rosalee tries to search the Internet for answers.

Hank is looking at the forensics report involving Renard's fingerprints in Rachel's murder case when Nick's APB pops up. He closes it as Wu walks up slightly worried that their evidence against Renard is too strong. Hank gets a call and is told that the grand jury is being convened for Renard in two hours. Wu says it usually takes three days to convene the grand jury, but Hank tells him they're making an exception because Renard is the captain and mayor-elect.

Rosalee has no luck in finding anything about the cloth symbols on the Internet. Trubel's phone chimes and she tells Nick that she has to go. She tells Nick she wants him to come with her, but Nick tells her someone has to stay back and deal with Renard. Trubel tells Nick, "You better be alive when I get back." She leaves as Monroe gets a call from Hank. Monroe puts the call on speaker and Hank says they need Adalind down at the courthouse now because the grand jury is being convened.

Adalind sits down next to Hank and Wu as Renard's court case begins, with Croft as the judge. Croft states, "Captain Renard, having thoroughly reviewed all the evidence with the district attorney... it is my opinion that the evidence clearly does not support this case going to trial." Wu, Hank, and Adalind are shocked. Croft dismisses the grand jury and tells Renard he is free to go. Renard walks over to Hank, Wu, and Adalind, and he says, "You remember that deal we had, right? Well, you never testified, so the deal is off. I'll expect your resignations on my desk in the morning." Renard then goes to Croft's office where Croft and D.A. Hurtz are waiting. D.A. Hurtz states, "That couldn't have gone better, I don't think." Croft tells Renard to be more careful next time and Renard tells him, "I will, and as soon as I take office, I'm gonna clean house in Portland." D.A. Hurtz woges into a Höllentier, and Croft also woges. They tell Renard that they hope that includes the Grimm and his friends. Renard tells them it will. Hank, Wu, and Adalind meet with everyone at the spice shop to discuss what happened at the courthouse. Nick tells Adalind she is going to have to move back in with Renard and Adalind is competently against the idea. Nick tells her,

"He's coming after me. And if you don't go back, he's gonna be coming after both of us."

Renard smiles as he leaves the courthouse before making a call. A woman answers, and Renard tells her, "I want Burkhardt found."