Binding Fate

Heathen Warfare

Renard sat in his apartment on his laptop staring at the anonymous email, he had tried having it traced but it was to no avail. He grew more and more curious about whoever sent him such a cryptic message. Had they been keeping him and Burkhardt under surveillance? If so how long have they been doing so and what kind of information had they gathered?

The bastard had a surplus of questions and absolutely no answers. He couldn't count on anyone within Nick's inner circle due to their lack of trust in him, that much he knew. Juliette was still oblivious to the supernatural world of Wesen and the Captain still didn't feel like being near her would be a comfortable option. The Grimm himself didn't trust Renard by a longshot.

The only lead he had on this mystery group was their alias.

Darkspire.

...

Nick had never seen such a form of guerilla combat in his life, neither as a cop nor as a Grimm. The roaring blast of automatic gunfire cut through the air like a chainsaw, the shouts of his newfound allies against the hostiles were warped, walls of the house were practically obliterated.

As Nick shot down a Darkspire operative he heard Veronica shout for him. He turned and saw her making way towards him. She shouted his name as she ducked for cover while firing her sidearm.

The male Grimm felt an ocean's worth of guilt rain upon him along with the gunshots, how could he drag Veronica into this? How could he put her in harm's way so quickly?

Nick dived to where she was, landing to the left of her. To his relief she didn't seem to be harmed, he noticed the ballistics vest hidden under the blazer of her pantsuit. It was a new high-grade armor that was flexible, light-weight, durable, and more advanced than most military-issued ones, Nick had one on himself.

"Are you alright?! Are you hurt?!" Shouted Nick over the sound of combat.

"I'm fine," answered Veronica. "They knew it was a trap! I don't how but they knew!"

"We need to regroup!" said Nick as bullets and debris hailed upon the room.

The federal agent commanded the squad to do as Nick had just suggested as she replaced the magazine of her weapon. Nick reloaded his firearm and followed Veronica's lead.

The two Grimms worked together in perfect sync, firing in both the same and opposite directions as they went on. They cut through enemy agents like an unrivaled force not meant to be reckoned with. The Darkspire agents were retreating and were met with what was left of the Watcher tactical team. In almost an hour the hostiles were apprehended, six out of the thirty Endezeichens were left alive from the fight, the Watcher lost six of the thirty-five agents they had brought.

***

Nearly an hour after the rogue Grimms had been placed in detention Nick and Veronica had received word that Sarah Klein was discovered alive in an uncharted warehouse in the local harbor.

"We got a shot of the license plate from the van that blew up before it was blown to kingdom come." said the Huntress, "We traced it from here to its point of origins through traffic cameras."

"Speaking of wrecked vehicles." said the homicide detective mournfully, gesturing to the charred remains of his Toyota Land Cruiser, which had been destroyed in the warfare.

Veronica stifled a laugh, trying not to be amused at her partner's misfortune, assuring him that CILESO would have it replaced.

"Listen, I owe you an apology," said Nick as they made their way back in Veronica's SUV. "for not taking you or what you thought into actual consideration."

Veronica froze, shocked at not only the apology rather at what she saw behind Nick's eyes: hurt; pain that she had never seen him wear before, much less revealing. It usually took longer for Nick to speak about his problems.

"Things haven't been going so well for me, personally that is, and I've felt like diving from one case to the next was the best option instead of talking about." went on the male Grimm, letting it all out to Veronica the way he used to. "Because of that, I dragged you into a situation that would've been so much more costly had things not gone the way they did and I am so, so very sorry."

"Nick, if you ever need someone to talk to or to lean upon you have to remember that you have friends you can rely on," responded Veronica looking her fellow Hunter in the eyes.

"That's kinda hard to do when they're all pipelines to the source."

"Well, now you have someone who isn't" Veronica smiled as she said this while Nick raised a brow. "because I'm here to stay."

"Seriously?" asked the other supernatural warrior, hoping this wasn't a joke.

"Seriously, I'm back."

Nick smiled and said, "Then I guess so are we."

"We most certainly are."

At that moment the two Grimms felt a familiar magnetism that had once been suppressed by both sides. Yet somehow it felt so right.

"I'll see you around Nick," departed Veronica.

"See you around," responded Nick. "Malia."

Veronica felt a sparkling sensation, Nick was one of the few people in her life to know her actual first name and freely use it, she had always gotten people to refer to her by her middle name but with Nick it was different.

3 years ago

Nick was walking into the Academy, carrying a duffel bag. He looked around to his fellow applicants; he was certain about his choice.

Later during his training, Nick had gotten started on First Response and Emergency Management. He was on his way to combat training when he noticed a brunette woman with no one to train with. Out of an impulse that he couldn't explain he joined her.

"Excuse me, do you need a sparring partner?"

"Yeah, my old one dropped out."

"Same here, " Nick extended his hand and introduced himself. "I'm Nick Burkhardt."

"Veronica Donovan."

The instructor blew his whistle and the pair automatically partnered up with each other without a single doubt in mind.