Shoot the hostage

'I'll have to shoot the hostage,' Steve decided. Danny closed his eyes briefly. Reasonable hostage takers were too much to ask for, but could Steve at least be reasonable? Yeah, that'll be a first, Danny thought, quickly opening his eyes again before his lunatic of a partner could put his stupid plan into action.

'Steve, have you completely lost your mind?' he asked in what he considered a reasonable tone under the circumstances. Before Steve could reply, Danny continued.

'You must have because sane people don't shoot hostages. We don't shoot hostages. I repeat: we do not shoot hostages. The police – that's us - protects the public. Remember how our motto is to protect and serve? Now, hostage takers, on the other hand; they will try to harm the public. When they do that it is our job to prevent that from happening. Hostages getting hurt is bad, okay? We are meant to save them. Saving them does not include shooting them. Do you get any of this?'

Steve did not get this. At all.

'In Speed, Keanu Reeves…'

'Speed? Speed?' Danny exclaimed, incredulously. 'First of all, Harry requests to be shot. Secondly, Harry is a police officer. Keanu Reeves would not have shot an innocent civilian who has no idea what the hell is going on. Also, Keanu Reeves is not actually a real cop. Harry is a character played by an actor. Speed is a movie. Movie. Reality. Do you see the difference?'

Steve did not see the difference.

'It worked…'

'I don't give a shit if it works or not. You do not shoot a hostage! You just don't. Why are you so insane?' Danny implored.

Steve did not know.

'You're a backseat negotiator, you know,' Steve said, sliding a new magazine into his gun.

'Alright, pop quiz. There's a standard hostage situation: one gunman, one hostage, what do you do? A. Ignore protocol. B. Attempt suicidal plan, endangering civilians, fellow officers and yourself. Commonly referred to as 'pulling a McGarrett.' C. If all else fails, shoot the hostage. D. All of the above,' Danny ranted, really getting worked up now.

Steve grinned.

'You're a closet Speed fan,' he pointed out.

'Yeah, Speed is an excellent movie. But contrary to some people I don't use it as my guide to proper police procedure,' Danny argued.

Steve shot the hostage.

(***)

'He's asking to speak to the officer who shot him. Is that okay? Steve?' Kono asked. Danny smirked, while Steve rolled his eyes. Relishing what was about to happen, Danny accompanied his partner to the wounded hostage.

'I'm Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett. I'm the one who shot you,' Steve said. The hostage – a chubby guy in his mid fifties – gazed up at him with watery eyes. Here it comes, Danny thought.

'Thank you,' the man blubbered. What? Steve clasped the man's offered hand into his own.

'You're welcome,' Steve said, looking incredibly smug.

'Oh, for the love of…' Danny muttered.

'Who knows what that jihadist would have done,' the man added. Steve and Danny exchanged a glance.

'He was not a jihadist,' Steve gently corrected.

'Well, a Muslim anyway,' the man asserted.

'Not as far as I could tell,' Danny replied. 'Not that it matters. He did not operate out of ideological motives. He wanted money.'

'Definitely a foreigner, though.'

'Nope, an all American asshole,' Danny responded, sorely tempted to add, 'like you.' He felt so much better knowing that the guy who'd thanked Steve for shooting him was a fucking idiot.

The end.

(***)

Author's note: Reviews are always appreciated.

Also, I'm thinking about writing a series of one-shots (or a multi-chapter story) about Danny's propensity to be a backseat-everything. It would be nice to know if anyone is interested in reading that.