A/N: I wanted to play with a Steve that has some kind of real super power. Yul wanted a Sentinel- people with enhanced five senses, and I obliged.
So the story is of 'first meeting' kind, Navy Steve and Police Danny crossing paths for the first time, and it gets the idea from Sentinel TV show, though not completely (Yul added some ideas of her own). You don't need to know the show in order to enjoy this.
The story is still under construction, we will try to release a chapter twice a week, and we would really love to hear from you, what you liked so far and what you, maybe, like to see.
Big thanks to Yul for ideas, grammar , wording and general fun.
New project, here we go! Hope you'll enjoy!
Chapter 1 - Something is seriously wrong with you
Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett spots him. It's just a quick flash, about 1,000 feet away, but Steve thinks he can catch up to him easily. He sees the sweat beading on Hesse's forehead, and even as his adversary is disappearing between the containers and into the warehouse, he can still hear his heavy breathing, his elevated heart rate. Hesse is exhausted.
Steve would have jumped up right after him, if it weren't for Lieutenant Rollins' hand on his left leg, squeezing lightly to remind him of the here and now. They are still taking cover behind the crates, they are still being shot at.
"Rollins, I saw Hesse. I need to get out there."
"How far?" She asks, and Steve suddenly notes the strain in her voice and looks at her.
"Shit, Cath!" She is leaning with her back against the crate, blood oozing from a wound in her left leg. Steve dives down as another burst of automatic weapon erupts around them.
"It's fine, I'm fine" Cathrine assures him, "Just a scratch."
He doesn't believe her, and he's had enough of this. She must detect something in his face, because her hand is squeezing again, and she's saying "Be careful."
Steve is nodding once. He releases a few bursts from his own weapon at the general direction of the shooters, so they don't get cocky, then he lowers his head, takes a deep breath, and concentrates.
It takes him five seconds to locate the sounds he is looking for amongst the noises of the docks and the approaching sirens. Two sets of heartbeats behind the crates a hundred feet to the left, another one almost straight ahead, slightly to the right. He takes out a grenade, then letting his senses guide him, pulls out the safety, counts to one and throws it towards the crates on the left. In sync with the blast, he rolls out of their cover to the right, and closes the short distance to a bunch of barrels, running low. Coming around the third shooter, with Rollins still providing cover fire, he takes him down with three precise shots. Steve doesn't bother to check his handy work. Through the dying echoes of the blast he can pick up only one, fast thrumming heartbeat of a dying men.
Three enemies down.
He runs back to Lieutenant Rollins.
"You got them?" She inquires, and he doesn't like the way she breathes out the question.
"Yes." but Hesse is still out there, getting away. She already has a field bandage package in her hands, and he takes it from her, tearing it open and quickly wraps it tightly around her leg.
The sirens are close now.
He zones out again, searching the far off warehouse. It is too noisy; muffled sounds of human beings all around. Damn.
"Cath," he can't keep the strain from his voice "He is getting away."
"Help me up." she answers immediately, reaching for his grip
"No, you need to stay still. First responders are almost here, Stay put." He doesn't wait for her answer and dashes forward, ignoring her protest.
He is so close, He can't let Hesse get away.
A few seconds later, the Commander is at the warehouse's entrance, stepping inside, slowly, carefully, well aware of the Lieutenant's absence from his side. He allows himself just a quick, brief exploration with his heightened senses, searching the huge space for potential danger, and for a clue as to the whereabouts of his prey. But the air is filled with a smell of fear and those muffled noises he heard before. He really needs to concentrate. He knows he is taking a risk, doing this without his guide next to him, but he can't help it. He fears he will never have such an opportunity again. He never came this close before. Satisfying himself that there is no immediate danger, he hides in a dark corner and lets his senses loose, reaching out further and further without moving a muscle.
The commander doesn't know how long it takes him to pick Hesse's scent. But at that very moment everything else is shoved aside, everything but that too familiar trail. So he goes out on the hunt, delving deeper into the dark warehouse.
Detective Danny Williams brings his Camaro to a screeching halt just outside the loading zone of the eastern Docks. Stepping out of the car, he exchanges a quick glance with Meka. His partner nods in affirmation, he too sees the legs sprawling behind a bunch of crates. A distinct smell of gunpowder is hanging in the air. Both of them are taking out their weapons, eyes scanning the perimeter, as they slowly approach the crates.
"HPD, drop your weapons!" Meka shouts, and Danny looks up from the two battered bodies next to him, raising his gun automatically in the direction his partner is pointing his weapon.
A woman stands with her back to them, or more like leans heavily against some large boxes. A gun is held loosely in her right hand and a blood soaked bandage is wrapped around her left thigh. She slowly drops her gun, without turning.
"I am Navy Lieutenant Catherine Rollins," She yells, turning her head so they can see her profile "Please, You have to help him".
Danny approaches carefully, his gun trained on her, his eyes still searching around. Other officers are already behind them, he motions for them to spread out.
"Turn around slowly and show me your ID" Meka orders.
She complies, but keeps talking "Please, we need to hurry, we need to help him"
Danny nods to Meka when he looks at him, and Meka lowers his gun and steps up to her, taking the ID she is presenting, While Danny is keeping his aim.
"Help who, Ma'am?" Danny asks
"My Teammate, Commander McGarrett, he went alone chasing our target, I think he is in that warehouse there." She points behind her.
Meka nods "Seem legit" he hands her the ID back, and Danny lowers his gun.
"Detective," One of the officers now swarming the area reports to him "There is one more body over there except for these two."
"Your friends?" Danny asks the Lieutenant, but she already picked up her gun and now braving an attempt to run towards the warehouse, Danny jumps after her "Hey, wait, you are injured, Meka, get the paramedics" He tries to grab her hand but she pulls back, and hisses in pain.
A loud crackle then a low whoosh of air attacks his ears. Danny's eyes follow the sound. Fire erupts a few hundred feet away, engulfing the building the Lieutenant pointed at before.
"NO! STEVE!"
Danny usually considers himself a calm and rational person when facing stressful situations. At least this kind of stressful situations- emergencies that fall comfortably into his job description. So he isn't sure what causes the sudden panic in his very bones. True, these two simple words were shouted in terrible fear, the navy officer was clearly distressed, and he did believe she felt her teammate was in grave danger. But none of these should bring him to the decision to run carelessly towards the burning building, alone, with overwhelming sense of urgency clouding his judgment.
He manages to utter "Stay here!" before he is halfway there without his backup. When he finds himself still pushing forward, into the burning building, he calms his frantic mind with the knowledge that there are all kinds of emergency forces just outside, and they will get there in no time. It is not that he is completely alone, searching for an elusive Commander Steve that might or might not be there.
Then he sees him. A tall silhouette against the surrounding orange flames, just standing there, frozen, in the middle of the mayhem.
"Hey!" Danny calls "Over here, there's a way out from here!"
The man doesn't seem to hear him. Instead he turns around, like in slow motion , facing away from Danny, taking a few steps closer to the raging fire.
"Damn," Danny leaves his fairly safe position, from which he can still see the door, to step closer to the obviously shocked man. "What the hell are you doing, man! This way!"
There is no way that dimwit didn't hear that, but he still seems fixed on setting himself on fire, walking away from Danny, taking two steps and then freezing again looking to his left.
"Commander! Come on! Do not make me go in there!" Danny calls desperately, but the man turns to his left and walks slowly in between two highly flammable wooden crates.
By now Danny leaves all reasonable thought behind and runs after him. He knows that brains was not always a prerequisite to military service, but if this guy was indeed a navy Commander… Danny was just glad no massive invasion by sea was imminent.
"Hey! Commander! STEVE!"
That finally seem to get his attention. The man turns around and shoots a look at Danny. The gaze is so intense, that it stops Danny in his tracks, almost throwing him back, and every single thought drains from his brain. A gun comes out of nowhere and it is pointing at him. Instinct kicks in and his own gun returns the favor.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" The man demands
"Detective Danny Williams, HPD," He hears himself shout back "Lieutenant Rollins said I might find you here!" Some wit returns to his brain "Look, I could have taken you minutes ago when you were busy trying to find the correct way to set yourself on fire, so this is really not necessary." Danny motions to the gun "Let's save the introductions for later, we need to get out!"
A strange relief flows over him a split second later when that gaze leaves him in favor of inspecting their surrounding. And Danny can swear that it looks like the man was just becoming aware of the situation.
"Shit!" Steve lowers his gun "There are people in here, help me move this crate!"
It takes Danny half a second to join him, against his better judgment yet again. It is clear that the commander is not firing in all cylinders. Yet Danny was helping him push aside what felt like a concrete filled crate in the middle of a burning structure rapidly filling with smoke.
But there is a trap door underneath the crate, and behind it a young woman holding a baby, both dirty and frightened. Just as Danny is ready to acknowledge that maybe the man knows what he is doing, the Commander orders "Get them out!" and runs off in another direction, the wrong one again.
"What the hell?!" Danny yells after him, helping the woman out and guiding her towards the exit. Thankfully, the way is still clear.
"Danny!" he hears Meka's call. The Commander is trying to wrench open a crate thirty feet away.
"Meka, send in fire fighters, there is a woman heading your way, get her out!" He makes his way over to the death defying Commander "Buddy, whatever it is, it's too danger…" The crate's lid is thrown aside, then some wrapping materials. Two girls, teenagers, are being pulled out by the tall man. He spares but a glance at Danny, then rushes off in another direction.
By now, Danny is on board. So is Meka, who's entered the building. His eyes start to burn, he places his tie over his mouth and nose, and follows the erratic movements of the Commander around the huge, hot, smoke filled space. They pull out another young woman buried under a pile of barrels, then an old man with two boys held inside a small container. He can barely see through the heavy smoke, guided mostly by the Commander's heavy coughs. He needs to get him out, he needs to get all of them out. But the man doesn't heed his repeated calls, weak and breathy, and Meka pulls Danny back.
"Come on Danny, we can't stay here, the man is crazy. Let the fire fighters do this!"
"We need to get him out!" His eyes, blurred and watery, fixed on the tall shadow engulfed in smoke three feet away. There is a roaring clang from above, and Danny can see that the white hot metal of the catwalk hanging above the man is just about to give way.
"Commander!" the man is still oblivious, Danny tries what helped the first time "STEVE!". the Commander finally turns around, but it's too late. Danny shakes his partner's grip and dashes forward into the tall man with all his momentum, throwing them both out of the path of the falling metal. The deafening bang from behind him asserts his decision.
"Danny! Danny!" Meka's voice is frantic
"I'm OK…" He can barely hear his own voice. Without daring to take a deep breath he tries again "Meka, I'm fine. Get out, we'll find another way."
"OK, be careful"
The crazy commander is already struggling back to his feet, coughing and grunting. Danny takes a hold on his uniform sleeve, "Come on man. Let's get out of here"
"There are still people in there!" he points to a general direction, and Danny realizes he himself has no idea which way is out. Equally heavy smoke all around, the seemingly random movements of the commander around the space disoriented him.
"You can't help them, man" Danny coughs, pulling the stubborn commander back down where the smoke is thinner.
"We need to get them out!" the man insists. "I can hear them! I..." Danny is frustrated. He is just about ready to leave him to his suicidal tendencies, but the man is looking straight into his eyes now, and that gaze again, still very intense yet now mirroring his own desperation, takes whatever little breath he has left. He leaves the Commander's sleeve and grabs his forearm instead, squeezing hard, fingers digging into the flesh, while he keeps eye contact.
"There is nothing more you can do here, Steve." Danny says calmly. "Please. Can you tell which way is out?"
The Commander looks at him for a few seconds, then his focus seems to wander again. Danny strangles a frustrated groan, but the guy is back, nodding slightly. "Yeah," Steve says softly "follow me."
A/N: So? Do you like superpower Steve? Should we pull him out of that burning building, or just leave him there may he rest in peace :P ?