Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators.
A/N: This is the manticore rescue referenced in Little Fuzzy Animals but does not depend on that story.
"Now can we storm it?" Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, Earthborn Alliance SEAL (Space, Air, and Land, named after the Old Earth naval special forces), reserves, head of the Five-0 anti-smuggling task force, demanded.
"No, Steven, you may not," his partner, Det. Danny Williams, formerly of Aloha Station Police Department, transfer from Capitol Station Police Department said, unable to keep the exasperation out of his voice.
"Why not?" Steve whined.
"Why not!? Why not?" Danny's hands began waving in agitation. "I'll tell you why not. Because there's five of us, Steven, five, and there's an unknown number of them, and 500 yards of open space between us and them!"
"But Buzz says there's no guards and no sensors that he can see."
"That is correct," Buzz, their demon fly guide affirmed.
Five-0 had been sent to Bailey's 7 to investigate reports of a slavery operation capturing and selling manticores, one of two sentient species on the planet; the demon flies were the other. They'd landed a day's trek away and made their way through the swamp and jungles of the planet with Buzz leading the way. Once Five-0 had arrived at the slavers' compound, they'd sent him to scout out the situation, reasoning that, being a native species, he was unlikely to attract attention. The demon fly was more than happy to oblige and had returned with the report that danger seemed to be minimal.
Danny's hands continued to wave. "That doesn't mean they're not there! There could be 20 guys watching us right now, for all we know!"
"Infrared indicates there's five," Chin Ho Kelly said, consulting his handheld scanner.
"Five of us, five of them. I say we go in." Steve stood up, ready to move. He was stopped by Danny's hand on his arm.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, SuperSeal! Let's stop and think about this!"
Steve sighed in frustration. "What would you do?" he demanded.
"I don't know, but there's got to be a better way than going in guns blazing." The detective turned to Lou Grover. "Lou, you're the former SWAT captain. What would you do?"
Lou rubbed his chin thoughtfully and surveyed the scene. The compound was fairly small, all things considered—just a large main building, probably for dwelling, and a smaller outbuilding, likely a hangar for their ship. There was a large pen strung with barbed wire holding about 20 manticores. Danny wasn't sure how such a flimsy construct kept in such large, presumably intelligent creatures, but they didn't seem inclined to escape. Maybe it was electrified. The whole thing was surrounded by a clearing, more than large enough to land a spaceship, and with a clear view of anybody coming after them.
"I'd scout the place…" Lou said.
"Which we did," Steve cut in.
"Then find a strategic vantage point…"
"Which we did." Steve again. Danny glared at him.
"Then I'd storm the place," Lou concluded.
"See?" Steve said triumphantly.
"Of course, I'd also have a whole squad of men and at least one sniper at my back," Lou continued, as if Steve hadn't said anything.
"See?" Danny mimicked.
"Screw this. We're going in," Steve said authoritatively. He addressed the fifth member of the tema, Kono Kalakaua. "Kono, find a vantage point and cover us with your rifle. Chin, Danny, Lou, you're with me. We'll surround the house and round up any bad guys. Buzz, you're our lookout. Let us know if you see anybody trying to sneak up on us."
"What should I do if I do?" Buzz asked.
"Buzz," Danny suggested. He didn't think demon flies could glare, but Buzz did a credible job.
The members of Five-0 checked their weapons and got ready to go in. "What about the manticores?" Danny asked.
Steve considered that. "I don't think they'll give us any trouble, and they shouldn't be in the line of fire. We'll take care of them after we arrest the slavers."
Danny seemed satisfied. "Fair enough."
"Ready?" Steve asked his companions.
"Ready," they chorused.
"On three." Steve held up his fingers and counted off. "One, two, three, go!"
Steve, Danny, Lou, and Chin charged across the clearing, fanning out to be harder to hit. They'd gotten about half way when a figure appeared on the porch of the main building. A shot rang out and exploded on the ground in front of Danny. He ducked and rolled out of the way. "Fuck!"
"Got him," Kono's voice rang in his headset. A shot came from behind him, catching the shooter in the shoulder and knocking him backwards.
The noise appeared to agitate the manticores, and they began shifting restlessly and making grunting noises.
"Steve, the manticores!" Danny shouted.
Steve didn't even spare a glance. "See if you can calm them!" He yelled back.
Danny veered off and headed towards the pen as the other four slavers appeared on the porch along with two more who came out of the outbuilding.
"Shit, Steve, there's more of them!" One of the newcomers fired at Danny and he fired back before diving behind the pen.
That was too much for the manticores. With a loud bellow, one of them charged the wire fence, bursting through it, the others following behind. The leader grabbed Danny's shirt and lifted him into the air, apparently about to hurl him aside.
"Stop!" Danny screamed. "We're here to help you!"
The manticore grunted and changed direction, tossing Danny onto his back instead of onto the ground. Danny landed hard in the space between the creature's wings and his shoulders. Danny wrapped his arms around the manticore's neck, hanging on for dear life.
The beast charged towards the outbuilding. "Are you crazy?!" Danny shrieked. "You're going to get us killed."
The manticore ignored him and continued barreling towards the gunman, who was firing at them as fast as he could. A shot grazed the manticore's side, but he was unfazed. Danny buried his head in his ride's neck and tried to present as small a target as possible.
When he reached the gunman, the manticore roared and lashed out, catching the slaver upside the head and sending him staggering. He dropped the gun, and the manticore crushed it beneath a huge, powerful paw. Threat disposed of, the creature looked around, apparently looking for more bad guys to charge.
Danny lifted his head and looked around, too. Another manticore appeared to have disabled the second gunman by the outbuilding. Chin, Lou, and Steve were cuffing the ones by the main building. Several manticores were standing guard.
Danny was impressed. The creatures were apparently pretty good fighters. He wondered why they hadn't escaped before. He looked at the ruined pen and saw the wires crackling on the ground. So it had been electrified. The manticores were probably just so spooked the shock didn't deter them.
Danny slid off the manticore and cuffed the two slavers the beasts had incapacitated. The detective took stock of the scene. Most of the manticores seemed to have scattered. Danny wished they'd been able to check them over for injuries, but at least they were free. And they'd captured the slavers, so they could hopefully track down their customers and liberate the manticores who had already been sold. Not bad. Except. . .
"Hey, Steve," Danny called. "What are we going to do with these dirtbags?"
That caught Steve off guard. Apparently, he hadn't thought that far ahead. "Lou, Chin, and Kono could guard them while you and I head back for the ship."
"That's at least a day. Are you sure you want to leave them that long?"
"Good point." Steve pondered the situation. His contemplation was interrupted by Danny's manticore grunting and pointing at himself.
Danny assumed the creature was volunteering himself as a guard. "Thanks for the offer, big guy," he said, "but they're better armed, and if they get free, they could be trouble."
The manticore shook his head. He reached for one of the captives and slung the man across his back, much like he had Danny, but considerably less gently. He motioned, and four other manticores did the same to the other prisoners.
"That works," Danny said, "but what about the rest of us?"
The manticore gave four whistles, and four more beasts appeared. "Nice," Danny said. "But we have one more in the trees." One more whistle, and a fifth materialized.
"That should work," Steve said. He activated his comm and addressed Kono. "We've got rides. We're coming to meet you."
The four members of Five-0 were soon standing in front of Kono and Buzz. Kono gave a low whistle. "Impressive. Are you sure they'll be able to carry us?"
"Yes," Buzz said. "Manticores are very good at hauling people through the jungle and the swamp. They should be very satisfactory transportation."
"No wonder they're sold as slaves," Lou commented.
"Okay, then. Everybody mount up," Steve ordered. Kono swung onto the waiting manticore and they moved out.
"Hi-ho, Silver, away!" Danny muttered. Everybody, including the demon fly and the manticores, glared at him.