Chapter Text
Danny is not happy this morning. He knows, some people - Steve, Rachel, his mum, Sang Min, Kamekona, the post office guy, the bakery person, whatever - would tell you that he is never a happy person. But that's a lie. He might not be the flowers everywhere, sunshine and rainbow kind of lunatic, but that doesn't mean he is an unhappy person.
Not at all.
But on this morning he's definitely unhappy.
His neighbors made a ruckus the night before, so he fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning and consequently overslept. Due to said oversleeping he had to rush through his morning routine and had no time for coffee, or for his normal pick me up in case of unhappiness, coco puffs. Besides that, the traffic is horrible, the weather is terrible and there have been too many people bumping in to him.
So no, Detective Danny Williams is definitely not a happy person right now.
His mood doesn't improve when he enters the office and Mr McGarrett is nowhere to be seen.
Chin and Kono on the other hand are standing at the table.
Unfortunately, their frowns indicate that whatever it is that they're discussing is not going to make him feel any happier.
"Anyone get hurt?"
"Unfortunately. They had to shoot him to get him off the cashier. It's still not sure whether or not he's going to make it."
"Damn..."
Danny steps up to them. "A new case?"
"Not for us." Chin turns around. "There's been another case of Feral Behavior though."
Danny clenches his jaw and looks away. "That's what, the fourth one now?"
Kono nods. "Yeah."
"Do they know anything more?"
"Not that I have heard of."
Danny opens his mouth to ask something else, but the glass doors swing open and Steve strides in. "Get your stuff, Governor just called - we have a new case."
They're standing over the dead body of a drug pusher the HPD has had their eyes on for a while now. To be honest, Danny's not quite sure why Five-0 got the lead on this case, but he's not going to complain. Well, he is, loudly and at lengths, but he's not going to complain to the Governor. He's not that dumb.
They're standing in an alley, connecting two semi busy streets. At night it's probably mostly deserted with all the surrounding shops closed down for the night.
In daylight though they're attracting quite a few onlookers, held back only through the yellow police lien and - more importantly - the officers keeping them back.
"Alright, what've we got?"
Kono looks at her notes. "Nick Burgess, age 34, working at Docksen and Son's mechanic shop. HPD suspected him of distributing drugs, but so far they haven't been able to find any evidence. They've requested a wiretap a few days ago, but nothing so far."
"Cause of death?"
At this Noelani, who's been examining the body, pushes the body up a bit so that they could see the upper part of his back.
"I obviously can't say anything for sure before the autopsy, but it looks like he died due to a gunshot wound. It hit a lung so he couldn't call for help."
Steve nods and crouches down in front of the victim, rifling through his pockets.
Danny looks the man over. He's wearing a sports coat over a shirt, well cut jeans and leather shoes. The watch on his wrist is too bit to look nice, but it rather efficiently screams 'money'.
"Wallet's still here and nothing seems to be missing."
He throws the keys he finds on the victim at Danny. "We'll take a look and see what we can find. Chin, Kono, dig into his background and look into everything HPD has on this guy. "
Danny nods, but stays where he is. Steve stops after a few steps, eyebrows raised.
"Danny? You coming?"
"Just wait a sec will you?"
Steve raises an eyebrow but does as he's told for once. Danny looks around. It's a pretty average place. Not too dirty, but neither the strange cleanliness of expensive places. There are people milling around, but it's not extremely crowded.
Danny breathes in deeply, tries to figure out the scents, to filter out important from unimportant. He registers the tang of salt and seaweed, but dismisses it immediately, as it's always everywhere on this island. There's sunblock, flowers, the smell of tar and perfumes.
There's also a strange overly sweet and acidic smell he can't place. He crouches down to follow the smell
Burgess.
He picks up one of his hands and smells it.
"What is it? You got something?"
Danny frowns. "Not sure yet. There's some kind of residue on his hands, but I'm not sure what it is."
"We'll have the lab look into it."
Danny nods and gets up, his knee protesting a bit at the movement.
Now that he's dialling down his sense of smell, other impressions filter back into his awareness. The uneasy whisper of the people around him, the shuffling of some, the distrustful gazes people throw at him, civilians and officers alike.
He clenches his fists and shoulders his way past Steve.
"You coming or what?"
The way to Burgess' place is silent. Steve opens his mouth a few times, but it takes him a while to actually voice what he's got on his mind.
"You alright?"
Danny glares at him. "Yes of course I'm alright, why wouldn't I be?"
Steve tilts his head from side to side. "Well, you seem a little bit high strung."
"I'll tell you why I seem high strung, Steven. I am high strung because I am tired and because I have not only a maniac as a partner, but as it appears, also maniacs as neighbors. I am high strung because I have yet to have a decent cup of coffee today. That's way I'm high strung."
"So it's got nothing to do with the way the people acted back there?"
Danny raises his eyebrow. "How they acted? You mean, their morbid fascination with someone who's been killed in the street? Well, Steven, while I might not like that kind of behavior I do have a few years of detective work under my belt, so believe it or not, I have encountered this before. "
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
"No I don't know what you mean. Also, considering how delusional you usually are I don't think I even want to know what it is you think you saw."
Steve ignores him. Of course he does. "Their treatment of you."
"What kind of treatment? I didn't interact with anyone enough to have them treat me in any kind of way.
"The way they looked at you once you showed that you're a Lycan. The way they talked and acted."
"So, some people are prejudiced assholes. I am touched, truly, I am deeply touched by your concern, but I have encountered this kind of behavior my whole life. It sucks, yes, but I can't get mopey over every dickhead I encounter."
Steve's quiet for a moment.
"I know you can't. But this is different, isn't it?"
Danny stays quiet.
"There are dickheads, yes, but now it's not just dickheads. It's way more people than normal."
Danny looks outside at the landscape hurrying past the window.
"It's not."
"It is. And we both know-"
"Shut up, Steve, just shut up."
And he does.
At least for now. But Danny knows his partner and he's pretty sure that this is not over yet.
Scratch that, he's one hundred percent sure. Steve's like a dog with a bone. Once he's got something in mind he's not letting go, can barely get his jaws to open up again.
So no, he is not going to let this one go.
Burgess' place is small and in dire need of a new coat of paint. Not at all what Danny expected considering the wad of cash he had in his wallet and the watch on his wrist.
He pulls out the keys and opens up the door. The inside is surprisingly clean.
They search the place but can't find anything connecting him to either a potential attacker, or any kind of illegal activities.
They do find a receipt of a pharmacy behind the emptied out bin, but nothing else.
Danny breathes in again, but even with his nose he doesn't find anything.
He finds suspiciously little.
"Something's not right here."
"What do you mean?"
"A house no matter how clean it's kept, always smells of something. Soap, last night's meal, anything."
"This place doesn't?"
"It smells as if no one's lived here. No food smell, no coffee, no toothpaste. Nothing." He blinks. "I don't even smell Burgess."
"Then I'd say you're right. There's definitely something not right here."
"Question is, babe, is this not his place and he was carrying the keys to this apartment just to be able to keep up a facade, or is it actually his place and someone managed to go through it and clean it up so thoroughly that there's no trace of smell left?"
"You know of anything that would be able to do that?"
Danny shakes his head. "Not without leaving one hell of a smell of its own. Bleach could erase, vinegar overshadow most smells, but they've got their own scent. There's nothing of the sort here."
"Alright. We'll have someone go over the place with a fine toothed comb, see if there's something we missed and try to find out if there's a possible other place for Burgess to be staying at."
They head back to headquarters and drop off the receipt in the lab on their way back, although they're holding little hope that the medicine he bought will hold any significance, or that there will be any other useful information on there.
They're just about to leave, when Eric calls out.
"Hey, Uncle D, wait a sec."
Danny rolls his eyes and turns back.
"What have I told you about calling me that?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, just, sorry." He doesn't say anything else, just looks past Danny at Steve.
After a moment he shuffles around. "Sorry, Steve, could you maybe give us a sec?"
"Uh, yeah, sure." Danny doesn't turn around, but he can basically see the confused face by the tone alone. "I'll wait in the car. D."
Eric grins and Danny heaves a long suffering sigh. He's surrounded by idiots.
When the door closes behind Steve he turns back to his nephew.
"Alright, what was that all about?"
Eric chews on his lips and Danny's suddenly a lot more concerned about what's going on.
"Eric? You alright?"
"I..." He sighs. "Yeah no, not really. I know you're busy, but do you think we could... I don't know, get together tonight? Or tomorrow? Or something? Get Gracie and eat dinner, watch a movie, a sleepover?"
Danny's chest clenches and he pulls Eric against himself for a short moment, squeezing him.
"Been a while since our last pack night, hasn't it?"
Eric nods and hugs Danny back, his grip bordering on too tight, before letting go.
Danny has to keep in mind to have him over more often until this situation is resolved. It's always hard when people act suspicious of them simply because of what they are, but it's worse now. And it's made even worse by not having their whole family pack around to give them stability and safety. Eric's come a long way from home and while Danny knows it's because of Hawaii and the opportunity here, he also knows that part of the reason he came was that his uncle was here. Their relationship has never been simple, but it's always been a close.
And Eric is still so very young. It's got to hit him even worse.
"Yeah, we'll do a pack night. I'll see that I can get off work at a reasonable hour."
"What about Gracie? Isn't she at Rachel's?"
Danny pulls a face. "Yeah, she is. But I'll see if she can come over for the night."
Eric nods. "Thanks, Uncle D."
Danny nods and pads him on the shoulder before turning and heading back to the car.
This time Steve doesn't wait with his ambush. The moment Danny's buckled in he fires away.
"What was that about?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you are way too curious about other people's business?"
Steve snorts. "You know, I might consider it if it wasn't you who's complaining."
Danny just hums and looks out of the window.
"So?"
"So what?"
"What was it about? Eric's not usually shy about talking in front of others."
"No he's not, which is why I respect that he doesn't want anyone else knowing what it is he wanted to talk about and will continue not telling you about it."
Steve hums, before nodding. "Alright, fair enough."
Danny blinks. "That's it?"
"Of course, what did you expect?"
"I expected you to keep on prodding and poking."
"I'm not unreasonable."
Now it's Danny's turn to snort.
"I'm not! And your answer was very reasonable and I respect Eric's wish."
Danny squints at him suspiciously. "So if it'd been something about me, you would have kept prodding?"
Steve grins. "Of course!"
#
Rachel is letting him have Grace for the night. Danny's not sure if it's actually her attempt at being civil or if it's more for Gracie's sake. He really hopes it's her attempt at being civil, because if he thinks about his little girl experiencing the same behavior that he has to endure, he's going to go feral himself.
Though considering her age it's probably even worse for her.
And there goes his calm.
Danny's gripping the countertop with too much strength. His knuckles turn white and he can feel his claws shifting. Moments before he actually does a shift and let them out - and in the process scratch the countertop rather badly - he manages to take a few deep breaths.
Yes, he's pissed off and he's resolved to keep an eye on it, but tonight's not about that. On the contrary, it's about taking a step back from all the stress and refuel in the circle of what little pack they have on this island.
He grabs the popcorn he'd originally come to the kitchen for and goes back out into the living room.
The space between the couch and the TV is covered by soft blankets and pillows and some of Grace's old squishy animals that she still sometimes likes to get out for comfort, even though she has Danny promise not to tell anyone.
If she pulled them out in front of Eric - not that Eric's ever going to make fun of her for it - she must be really rattled.
Deep breath.
He lowers himself into the pack pile, handing over the popcorn.
"Alright, what are we watching?"
Danny drops off Grace at school the next day. She's a lot calmer than she was before and he resolves to make a pack night at least once every week she's with him.
It won't just help both her and Eric. Danny feels more settled as well.
He hopes to hell that they find out whatever's going on soon, though. The faster this is over, the better for every Wolf.
#
Three days later and they've still not made any headway on the Burgess murder. It's frustrating but that's police work for you. It doesn't always pen out and even if it does, it's not always easily wrapped up. Sometimes it takes a while.
In the meantime Danny's mood plummets again.
He's alone in his office and for that he's insanely grateful. It's all over the news. Yet another case. A paramedic went feral on a call. Both he and the elderly woman he came to treat are dead. The second EMT is still in the hospital, no news on her condition.
He wants to call Grace, wants to call Eric, see how they're dealing, but he can't, not right now, because right now he isn't calm, right now he can't give them any kind of stability, any kind of reassurance.
He's too unstable himself. He wants to rip someone apart, wants to think there's something that causes this, something he can take on, something he can fix.
Instead he's left to deal with his own anger and helplessness while trying to be there for the two young pack members who've gathered around him.
He's not sure he's able to do this.
There's a soft knock on the glass door. His head is heavy and it takes him way longer than it should to lift it. He expected to see Chin, but it's Steve who's standing outside the door, not barging in, waiting for Danny to allow him inside.
Maybe he does have a sense of self-preservation. Entering a Wolf's territory uninvited is never a wise decision, but especially not if they're agitated.
Then again, Steve's never cared about that and the idea of him having any kind of self-preservation is more than ridiculous.
So it's something else.
Danny waves him in and Steve strides in, sitting down heavily on the couch
"We're taking over the case."
Danny blinks. Maybe he's missed something.
"I'm sorry, what? I think you might have forgotten to voice the other half of that sentence."
Steve just stares out through the window panes.
"Hey, Mr thousand-yard-stare, someone in there? What case?"
Steve squirms. Steve almost never squirms.
Danny's not sure whether his curiosity or his dread is stronger right now.
"Steven. What. Case."
Steve sighs, as if it's Danny who's difficult, as if Danny is the one that makes everything harder, when he's asking a very simple question that, considering that he is actually a detective and thus will be working on whatever case Steve has decided they take over, is one that really needs to be answered before any kind of detecting can proceed.
"The cases of Feral Behavior."
He doesn't look over, keeps staring through the windows. When Danny doesn't react he glances at him, before snapping his gaze back again. Danny's not really sure what his face looks right now. It feels pretty blank, if he's honest. But who knows what Steve reads into it.
"There's something wrong about what's going on, that's not normal. And it doesn't look like HPD is getting any headway and the Burgess case is at a standstill and this case really needs to be-"
"Okay."
"-dealt with... What?"
Now Steve looks at him, turns even and stares straight at him.
"I said okay."
Steve blinks. It's like watching the loading screen on a Windows.
"What? No, no rant about... I don't know, overstepping or forcing myself on cases or-"
"No. No ranting." Now it's Danny who looks away. "Thanks."
There's silence for a moment. Then, in a soft voice that Steve very rarely uses:
"You're welcome, Danno."
They're gathered around the tech table. "Alright, what have we got so far?"
Chin starts pulling up reports.
"Six cases of Feral Behavior over the last two months. So far six people dead, one permanently injured, five still in the hospital. The wolves who've gone feral are Jim Ishihara, 25 works as a fireman." He pulls up a picture of a young man, tan skin, black hair artfully tousled and a big smile on his face, another picture of a slim black Wolf next to it. "His brother's managed to take him down before he could hurt anyone."
Chin swipes the pictures of Ishihara, both in human as well as Wolf form to the side, pulling up a new one. A woman, pale, long brown curls, round face with stylish glasses. A sturdy, sand colored Wolf on another picture. "Second case, Mirela Hopkins, 34, mother of two little boys. Works as an emergency dispatcher. Hurt two co-workers before she got shot. One of them lost an eye. She's still in the hospital."
Danny is glad that there are no photographs of the kids.
Another set of pictures, this one of a smiling young woman, darker skin, her thick black hair cut short and she's showing off some kind of certificate. Her Wolf form is a light brown with dark fur covering her back. "Third case, Leah Regensberg, 26, works in the ER. Killed two people, hurt five more before they were able to take her down."
More pictures. Danny knows that there have been several cases, but seeing them being pulled up, one after another, makes him nauseous.
These pictures show a man with dark, graying hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His Wolf is big and sturdy, fur almost white, but light and dark gray patches covering his head and back. "Fourth case, Kealoha Motooka, 46, works as a teacher. Got a girl in Kukui High School. Went feral during grocery shopping and assaulted a cashier. Police had to shoot him to get him to let go of the victim. He died in the hospital. The cashier is in a coma."
Danny closes his eyes and swallows. Tries not to think of that girl and what she's just lost. He opens his eyes again and glances at Steve. His jaw is set. He's probably thinking about the same thing - only he doesn't need to imagine it, he can just draw from memory.
Danny shifts until his shoulder presses against Steve's arm.
Chin pulls up another set. A man with white hair, face wrinkled, smirking at the camera. His Wolf is slim, brown and black fur streaked with white. "Fifth case, Officer Rafael Velasco, 71, attacked his gardener. Daughter and son-in-law shifted and managed to get him down."
"The gardener?" Danny looks at Steve who's voiced the question he didn't dare to ask himself.
"Got lucky, only minor injuries." He's not quite able to suppress the sigh of relief.
Kono takes over from Chin, using her tablet instead of the table. "Then today, sixth case." She pulls up the picture of a man, tan skin, dark hair pulled back into a bun. "EMTs were called in after an 82 year old woman, Harriet Brighton, got injured after she fell down. They arrived and started treating her, when one of the EMTs, Joshua Naeole, 31, went feral. He killed the woman and put his colleague in the hospital. Naeole is dead, his colleague's still in critical condition."
Danny lets out a breath, his gut churning.
Steve nods, his face determined. "Alright. Age, gender, ethnicity, everything's different. We need to find out what these people have in common, see what might have caused this.
"Lou, talk with the hospitals and ME's, see if there's anything in their financial and medical history that could lead to a break. Jerry, dig into their backgrounds. Chin, Kono, you and Danny and I are going to talk to the friends and families of the people gone feral."
#
"We're very sorry for your loss."
Danny looks at the stiff posture of Mrs Regensburg, at the slumped and defeated look of her husband. How they're not touching, there's a hand width between them.
She sniffs.
"I'm sure you are."
Danny suppresses a sigh. He can't blame her, she's just lost her daughter and she can't even mourn her like anyone would, because the public is ripping her apart, is making her out to be some animal, some mad monster.
She's just a young woman who wanted to help people. Danny swears they're going to find out what's going on and they're going to put an end to it. There's not going to be another Leah, and young Wolves like Grace and Eric will not be regarded with distrust and hate anymore.
They're Wolves, but they are no mindless monsters. They're not the stuff of nightmares any more than any other person.
Teeth are no more deadly than a knife or a bullet.
"Can you tell us if there was anything unusual in the days before Leah's break?"
She laughs, a hollow, empty sound.
"What, you mean like, was she sleeping outside, howling at the moon, ripping apart the neighbor's rabbits?"
Danny suppresses another sigh and sits down next to Steve. He looks straight at Mrs Regensburg and when she turns to look at him he shifts. It's just a partial shift, just enough to elongate his teeth, to make his brows and beard bushier, to make his ears become slightly pointier and his nose turn gray-ish.
He snaps his shift back and looks back at her. "Trust me, that is not what we are thinking."
She closes her eyes for a moment, breathing in. She loses a bit of her rigid air, slumping a bit.
"I'm sorry."
Steve nods. "Don't worry about it, we understand."
She smiles sadly. "No you don't." There's no bite in her words this time.
She's not wrong.
"There wasn't anything really. She was a bit stressed, but she's been doing a lot of long shifts recently."
"Did she always get stressed like that?"
"Well... Leah's..." She swallows. "...was a very calm person. It's not easy to rile her. When she's stressed she becomes a bit quieter, talks mostly in one word sentences. She doesn't usually get snappish like she did this time, but, with everything that's been going on, how could anyone blame her?"
#
"So everyone's saying the same thing. In the days leading up to the break they all became more and more aggressive, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Vics have nothing in common so far. Not the same neighborhood, no payments at the same bars or bookshops or anything. Five of the six vics are working in some kind of first responder job, but one's a teacher."
"Anything in their medical history?"
"Mirela Hopkins was treated for an underactive thyroid. Leah Regensberg was taking hormones and Motooka had recently gotten a tetanus shot. The tox scan from the last two is still standing out, but the four others had no other medication but the state provided shift-suppressors."
"Same is probably going to come back for the other two."
"That's not all, though." Chin pulls up several reports, showing a chemical composition. "There have been traces of Atropine in their systems." He looks down at the tech table and pulls up some kind of report. "It can be found in plants like Belladonna or Devil's Trumpet. It can be poisonous but apparently it's got quite a lot of medical uses as well. It can for example be used to reduce muscle spasms or secretion during surgeries. It can also be used as an antidote or to counter act a too slow heartbeat.
"ME's not sure what to make of it or how it got into their system. But so far that and the fact that they all went feral is the only thing connecting all four of our victims."
Jerry comes over with quick steps, his gaze fixed on the tablet in his hand.
"Guys, guys, I think I got something. Look at this."
He pulls up a map. Several places are littered with red spots.
Steve cocks his head and frowns at the display.
"What're we looking at here?"
"You are looking at something seriously disturbing."
Steve raises his eyebrows at him. As do Danny and Chin and Kono. Lou just shakes his head.
Jerry looks up at them, blinks. "Alright, alright. I looked into what's going on here and tried to find out if it had happened before. Thought we couldn't rule out that there was something organized or something natural behind it."
Danny frowns and looks back at the map.
"So you're saying that it's happened before, at those places?"
Jerry nods and clicks. All but one town disappear.
"Furness, Colorado, 2004. Four people go feral, killing others. Two are shot, one disappears afterward, one kills himself. Cause was never found. Stopped as suddenly as it started." He clicks again. Another cluster of red dots appears. "Croton Creek, Utah, 2009. Three Ferals, two dead." Click. "Wolford, Idaho, 2012. Six going feral, four dead." Click. "Fairview, Nevada, 2015. Four Ferals, one killed." Click. "And here we are. Oahu, Hawaii, 2017. Six incidents,three dead."
They stare at the map. No one has anything to say, not even Danny.
A moment passes, before Kono asks in a quiet voice: "How hasn't anyone noticed this before?"
"This is the first time it's happened in a bigger city. More media attention for one, and..." Jerry glances at Danny, who pinches the bridge of his nose.
"And more prejudice in smaller towns. No one is surprised when Wolves go feral, because that's just what we do, isn't it?"
Steve puts a hand on his shoulder, still staring at the red dots on the map. "So we've got a serial killer."
"Looks likely."
Steve closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Well done, Jerry."
Jerry nods. "Thanks. Kinda wish this wasn't what I found though."
"Yeah. But it's going to help us to keep it from happening anywhere after Oahu."
They end the day late and without any real results. It's frustrating and it's disappointing and it's making Danny's skin itch.
He's banging around at home, not caring about the ruckus he's making. It's a good thing Grace is not there or she would lecture him.
God he wishes Grace was there.
Danny tries to go to bed early hoping that he'll calm down if he gets enough sleep for once. But no matter what he tries, he just keeps tossing and turning.
The next morning Danny is anything but well rested. Just another wonderful start for work. The only upside is that he's up so early that he has no problem getting his coffee. The downside is that somehow he still gets neither malasadas nor Coco Puffs.
He's at the office for about an hour before the rest comes in. Rationally he knows that they're not actually late. At least not any later than the usual island time lateness. He knows that he came to headquarters way too early, but it doesn't change that it pisses him off.
He glares at them as they come in but stays in his office.
Steve comes over a while later.
"Hey, Danny, you alright?"
Danny snorts.
"Why wouldn't I be, everything is peachy."
Steve frowns, but Danny ignores him, tries to ignore the itch under his skin.
"Besides the fact that you look like shit you've also been glaring daggers at us ever since we came in."
"Well, please do excuse me, but there is a case to work. A case I thought you cared about since you decided we take it on." He turns back to his desk and growls. "Though I guess it's not a big surprise that I'm the only one who does actually care."
"What the hell, Danny? Of course we care about the case! We've been working it all day yesterday, trying to find any kind of break and trust me, we will not do any less today. But as you so often remind me, it's no use working without sleep, because then you only miss things that you'd have seen otherwise."
Danny keeps staring at the desk in front of him. Steve is right, of course he is right and Danny has known this is exactly what's going on since they all came in, but something inside of him keeps growling and roaring, and he just wants to yell at Steve.
He doesn't
It takes a lot of effort, but he doesn't yell at him.
Danny takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment before releasing it. Twice more and he feels the itch recede.
He closes his eyes and runs his hands over his face.
"I'm sorry, Steve, I know that you care about this case. I'm just..."
Steve comes around the desk, leaning against it next to Danny.
"Hey, I know. It's alright."
He squeezes Danny's shoulder and he relaxes. Just slightly, just a bit. But it feels like he can breathe again.
Kono pokes her head through the door and, after eying Danny for a second, says: "Hey, brah, I got something!"
Danny jumps out of his chair and is out of the door before Steve's even crossed the room.
"I'm not sure it's actually something relevant, but remember our friend Burgess? You said that he had a sweet substance on his hands. Turns out it's from a flower called Angel's Trumpet. Highly poisonous - and you can win Atropine from it."
Danny stares at her for a second before turning to Chin, so fast he almost trips over his own feet. "Pull up anything we have on the Burgess' murder."
It takes them another two hours, but finally they've got something.
Over the last two weeks Burgess called three numbers repeatedly. One belongs to his girlfriend Stacy Henshaw, who they've already spoken to during their previous investigation. Though they hadn't officially lived together it had been weeks since Burgess' had last slept at home instead of her place.
The second is one of his friends. He's been under police observation and a call to Duke tells them that he's apparently been frustratingly unsuspicious.
The last number is the landline of a Mrs Jannat Golyan - who just so happens to own the pharmacy to which they found the receipt at Burgess' place.
Danny might be wrong, but he doesn't think it's common to call your pharmacist at home several times a month.
It's not much, it may even be nothing, but Danny will take it.
For once he doesn't complain about Steve's very special brand of driving, just grips the handle and stares through the windshield.
Outside the house they gather around Steve, eyeing the pretty white bungalow with suspicious gazes.
"Chin, Kono, you take the front, we'll go around."
Steve and Danny carefully make their way around the house. Unfortunately they notice that there's not just one back door, but two.
"Who the hell needs three doors?" It's not like it's an overly huge house either.
Steve just rolls his eyes and motions for Danny to stay at the door while he moves further around until he's at the lanai.
"We're in position."
The doorbell rings and they hear Chin, both through their comms and quieter from in front of the house. "Five-0. Mrs Golyan, we need to talk to you."
There's nothing for a moment, but then Chin starts talking to someone. A moment later Danny can see movement through one of the windows and the side door opens slowly. A moment later the person on the other side throws it open.
A fragrant, familiar smell, sticky sweet, hits Danny. He can't suppress the growl that rips out of his throat, as he starts running after the person.
"Stop! Five-0!"
They don't stop, not that it comes as any surprise.
Still, Danny would love it if their perps decided to listen to them. Just once. It would be wonderful.
Danny has almost reached them, when they snap around. A split second before he barrels into the man he sees the gleam of a knife. He twists around, tries to dodge it, but can't avert it completely.
He doesn't feel it, but he can see the blood seeping through his sleeve.
Danny should back off. He should use the advantage of having a gun. Should stay away from the reach of the blade.
But he doesn't.
Instead he attacks.
Despite the lucky hit he got in, the man isn't skilled in any kind of way. It usually wouldn't take much to take him down, but he's desperate and what he lacks in finesse he makes up for by pure force, getting in more hits and even manages to cut him twice more with the knife. But between the training from his cop days, the training Steve has forced onto him and his sheer anger, even the perps bigger size and muscle mass don't get him out of getting subdued.
Steve reaches him, looking at the suspect on the ground and then at Danny.
Then at the cut on his arm. And his upper thigh.
"What the hell, Danny?"
"What the hell what, Steven?"
"What was that?"
"That was me following a suspect that was trying to evade us. What's your problem?"
Steve's expression darkens and Danny is half convinced he can hear his teeth grinding together.
"My problem, Danny, is that you got knifed and that that's probably the best outcome out of such a reckless action."
"Reckless action? Do you really want to lecture me on reckless action? That's really rich."
"So you admit that this is the kind of behavior you'd ream me for if I would do it?"
Danny glares at him. When the suspect moves he kneels more fully on him.
It's probably constricting his lung capacity, but he really doesn't care right now.
"So you're allowed to go all Rambo, but then you turn around and get pissed at me if I do it just once? You're a damn hypocrite."
"For one, I was trained to go 'all Rambo'. For another, Danny, this isn't just you going Rambo, this is you being reckless and not caring what's happening."
He backs of, his posture loosening.
"Go home, Danny, get those cuts looked at and calm the hell down. When you're ready to think like a rational being, then get back into the office." He looks straight at Danny, not a trace of amusement on his face. "Before that I don't want to see you there."
Danny gets up and shoves Steve in the chest, his other hand clenched tightly.
"You know what? Fuck you, McGarrett." There's a voice in the back of Danny's head, yelling at him to stop. He doesn't. He can't. "You only care about whatever the hell concerns you. To hell with anyone else's thoughts, right? As long as you get your revenge, as long as everyone obeys whatever the hell it is you want to do, everything is fine. You don't even know what it means to be in a team that doesn't jump at your every command."
Steve's mouth is pressed together in a thin line, but he just grabs the suspect and hauls him up and towards the cars.
"Yeah, right, and now you run. You always run."
There's no response and Danny shoulders past Steve and the suspect, past Chin and Kono, who stare at him with wide eyes, until he's in the car. He doesn't look back as he peels away from the curb with squealing tires, barely glancing at the rest of the traffic.
~~*~~