Binding Fate

Double the Donovans

Nick had never felt more tension in his entire life. He was standing next to Veronica across from her father, who was keeping an impassive face. He had a feeling that the older Grimm would be keeping a close eye on him and Nick wasn't looking forward to seeing Will Donovan disappointed. They were in a viewing room watching Agent Knights interrogate a Darkspire operative, so far as to say that they got little was an understatement. They got bupkis.

Nick, both Donovans, and the Director watched as Kyla fruitlessly apply pressure point torture on the Endezeichen. They were stunned, this should've cause muscle spasms along the spinal cord, causing compressions on the spine. The Darkspire Grimm was even more impassive than Will Donovan.

Just then Agent Goodward came in, he had been tasked with running identity and background check on the captured operatives.

"Alaric, what do you have on our guests so far?" asked Director Raymond.

"Nothing, these guys don't show up on anything- there are no records on any of them whatsoever."

"Darkspire must've had any proof of their existence erased when they were recruited." implied Veronica.

"I don't think that's the only thing they did, " pressed Nick. "Those scars, they must have come from some form of endurance preparation, they were trained to not react to any kind of interrogation."

"Makes sense, if the suicide attempts didn't work out then they'd have to hold out a while and keep their mouths shut." agreed Will.

"You said that they didn't show up on any records, did anyone collect their DNA?" asked Nick. "If we can run a test through the system, compare their DNA to other recorded lines of Grimms we can find their family members."

The Director snapped his fingers and told Alaric to work on it.

"Their lack of response, it doesn't look natural." voiced Will.

"Could be the side effects of some kind of drug therapy," said Veronica. "We should run a tox screen. If can trace a drug we might be able to find the dealer which means finding a buyer."

Everyone focused on the chained Grimm in the other room, captivated by his inhuman resilience. Captivated horrifyingly.

...

Hank was watching Renard from his desk -analyzing the literal bastard- when Wu came over handing him a copy of an autopsy report.

"I heard about Nick's transfer, a few other officers are planning on surprising him at one of his favorite bars, " said the Sergeant. "everyone wants to give him some kind of farewell party, "

"Sounds good, " responded Hank, only half-listening to Wu.

The Sergeant picked up on his friend's behavior and easily figured that it was Nick-related.

"You okay? I get that your partner leaving can be troubling-"

"Thanks, but it's Juliette I'm worried about, " said the Detective, redirecting the conversation. "when she found out about Nick leaving for CILESO she wasn't exactly excited."

"What, does she think that she drove him away somehow?"

"By the looks of it, yeah."

Just then Sergeant Wu got called to Tech and left Hank to himself. The Detective mulled over his statement about Juliette, she truly did seem distressed over Nick's departure from the department. The senior investigator knew that the two didn't separate on amicable terms, he knew that much by looking at Nick's attitude, but that wouldn't mean that Juliette would be indifferent. He knew how much their relationship meant to both of them and if Juliette's memories were back then she would find herself on the other side of the neglectfulness. And it would not be a pleasant experience.

...

Juliette was at home looking through photos of her and Nick, thinking about the fate of their relationship. It had taken so many hits, a good many of them dealt by her. She told him to leave her alone for the rest of her life and she hadn't bothered to maintain any form of communication with him for the past couple of months. She wasn't even sure if there was a relationship left to repair.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door. When she opened the door she saw Roni, Kelsey and one other person she hadn't expected to see with them: Rosalee. The veterinarian let the three inside but was still confused as to why they were here.

"Uh- not that I'm not happy to see any of you and I don't mean to be rude, " questioned Juliette. "but why are you here?"

"Rosalee came to us and said that you needed a bit of uplifting, " answered Kelsey.

"Yeah, also on a side note we finally got to meet the infamous Rosalee," added Roni.

The Fuchsbau chuckled, genuinely glad to finally meet Juliette's Kehrseite friends.

...

After a debriefing, everyone was given an assignment; Knights and Goodward were assigned to identifying the captured Endezeichens, Will was told to follow a lead on a possible Darkspire arms dealer, and Nick and Veronica were to investigate any other developments in other leads. While Nick was to Agent Knights, Veronica approached her father. She knew that gears were turning in his head and she had to set the record straight before the gears settled.

"Only one person outside our family can refer to me by my first name, " said the female Donovan. "Nick is that person."

William Donovan's brow shifted when he heard this, he wasn't aware that Burkhardt knew Veronica's middle name. She didn't make a habit out of telling people her full name.

"That's how much he means to you?" asked Will.

Veronica nodded firmly at this.

"Even after all that time you two were apart?"

"Yes."

Burkhardt meant a lot to her, a real game-changer.