Note: Hello! First off, thank you SO much for the reviews. They really are extremely helpful and I'm glad people like it! For now, romance isn't really going to be a focus at all…if anything just for humor! On another note- tomorrow night a new episode- yay! I strongly feel that on the show Lori's character has a much greater potential than the writers are giving her, so in my story I'm trying to create a better version!
Thank you so much for taking the time to review, and Happy New Year!
Chapter Two: It All Changes Here
"This case is going to be an excellent opportunity to try some new strategies."
"Yea, so," Steve pointed to the screen. "We've got a meeting between a huge cartel leader and a major Hawaiian distributor, thanks to a tip from a high up cartel employee who has gone rogue. The governor has personally put us on this because of our previous track record involving this type of drug case. Our priority is to bring in the two leaders- we take them down, and then HPD can use that information to infiltrate many other rings."
"You said new strategies. Are we going undercover?" Chin asked.
"No," Steve shook his head, "That's too risky. Instead, I want to switch around the way we do things. Lori and Chin, I need you two to be in closer, but not for action. You two will have be at a vantage point in case anything goes badly, Chin, you'll be our sniper. And Lori, hopefully you can use the close range to profile and pick up any additional information."
Lori almost looked relieved, but also very alert at these changes. She was very intelligent and talented, but her close-quarter combat actions had proved to be a vulnerability in the past few cases. On top of that, Kono was naturally skilled at this sort of combat and deserved to be in the middle of the action. So, it only made sense to keep Lori back at least until she received some training.
"Danny, Kono, we're hanging farther back, then going in hot." Steve was satisfied; everything had gone over relatively well.
Chin, Kono, and Lori started walking down the hallway. That left Steve and Danny. Danny was nodding at Steve, "Unbelievable."
"What?"
"Smooth. I'll give you that."
H50 - H50 - H50 -
"Two queens!"
"Three kings!"
"FOUR ACES!"
"Shit." Danny glared at Kono. "Rematch?"
"If you can handle it…" Kono laughed, her eyes twinkling.
Danny huffed and began shuffling the cards again.
Steve smiled as he watched his two teammates play cards in the backseat. He would look in the rearview mirror and watch the two become more and more competitive. He shook his head- never before had he seen such ferocity during a game of cards! Nevertheless, considering who was playing…he wasn't surprised.
His earpiece crackled with static. "Steve, are you sure they haven't been tipped off?"
"No Lori I'm positive. Just give it a little more time. Keep in touch."
Steve glanced at the dashboard. Seven o'clock. He expected some action within the hour. He sighed, apparently louder than he thought because Danny leaned onto the console. "If you want to play all you have to do is ask Steven."
"I'm going to continue keeping surveillance. You know the reason why we're here?"
Danny shrugged and resumed the game. "No way sweetheart you are NOT winning this round!"
After a brief internal struggle, Steve swung his legs over the console and grabbed some cards. What the hell, why not have a little fun?
Danny swatted at his arm. "Whoa whoa whoa, excuse me but what do you think you're doing?"
Steve gestured to himself. "Me? You wanted me to play. I took some cards. Now I'm playing. I thought this was how it worked."
Danny looked like he had a lot more to reprimand Steve on, but instead elbowed Kono. "Social skills aren't his strong point."
"Very funny Danny."
Kono glared at both men. "Are you two going to stop anytime soon or am I just going to have to play with myself?" Oh shoot. That sounded wrong. She tried to cover her blush by taking a sudden interest in the window behind her. When she turned back around, both Steve and Danny were grinning like idiots.
"You're good." Kono admitted grudgingly. Steve was giving her a run for her money.
"Let me guess? SEALS teach you how to play cards too?" Danny smirked.
Steve shrugged. "I'm not at liberty to say. Pay up partner."
As Danny was reaching for his wallet, Lori came on the earpiece somewhat panicked. "Steve, far left, someone's here. It's all about to go down."
Steve peered out of the window, checking out the warehouse parking lot. "Okay good work Lori. Stay calm- you've done stuff like this before. Keep an eye out. We're not moving in yet."
"Okay. Chin is almost finished setting up his sniper position. I'll be in touch." Steve felt for her, but he needed her to be closer so that she could put her profiling skills to full use. He, Kono, and Danny sat in the car hidden in the shadows; Lori and Chin had taken cover much closer near a crate.
"Danny's going to cross over soon. I want to do this slowly, we can't risk being seen."
"Danny, it's time for you to go. One of us will be five minutes after. These types of deals are tense and slow. For now, we're just observing. Once the second car gets here, we'll discuss the action plan when everyone is together."
"Copy that." Danny slowly got out of the car and winked. Kono watched as the shadows swallowed him up as he made his way to Lori.
"Here, Kono" Steve cleared some equipment off of the passenger seat, "Why don't you come up here?"
"Yeah okay, thanks." She gracefully hopped over and looked at Steve.
"So Danny and Lori?"
Kono, not expecting this type of conversation or what Steve was trying to get at, laughed. "You think so?"
"Did I not tell you about them and the Jersey slip situation? Okay well you've got to hear this one."
Kono's sides hurt from laughing so much, Steve had become so animated and hilarious as he told her all about the "missing key" and then how he had dropped it- and Danny's face when he did so. "They are totally hooking up….come on the jersey slip?"
Steve tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Yeah…" He almost seemed unhappy about the situation.
She spoke very slowly, not sure how to carry on the conversation. Did he want advice? "So…does that make you upset?"
"Well…okay yes. In a way." Should he say more? He knew that Lori and Kono were becoming good friends, and didn't want to make either feel awkward.
"Oh." Kono didn't know how to respond.
Steve suddenly turned, "Yeah I mean now Danny's going to be making goo goo eyes at her all day and then it's going to be that he doesn't want to ride with me anymore…which means I don't get to drive this car- because there's no way I'm going to be the third wheel in the backseat while they flirt and not get to drive."
Kono almost started laughing hysterically. Steve raised a brow. "I understand. You're worried about Danny being distracted and your partnership being tested…intense." Duh, it's not about LORI it's about his partner! With a sigh of relief and Steve continuing to tell her how the question of team members in a relationship was something new for 5-0…she looked at the time.
"I think it's time for me to go." She pointed at the clock. "I'd rather not cut it too close."
"Alright. And you're ready for close combat if it comes to that. But if you feel unprepared to be back in the field like this it's fine."
Kono rolled her eyes. "I can handle it, Steve. This isn't my first rodeo." She quickly got out of the car before he could say another word.
After the slowest ten minutes, Steve double-checked his guns and equipment, slowly got out of the car and crept around the crates until he reached the team. "Hey, guys." Steve suddenly appeared.
Apparently, his creeping skills were still in tip top shape- Danny confirmed this.
They all jumped, and Danny shook a finger at Steve. "Funny, Rambo, very funny."
"Well forgive me for being good at my job." Steve grinned and patted Danny on the back. "It's okay Danno, I'll teach you someday, you don't have to ask."
"Second car has arrived, cartel is here." Kono whispered.
Lori pitched in, "They're late because they're trying to show the Hawaiian distributor who is in charge. Even something as insignificant as timing can psychologically intimidate someone."
Steve nodded. There was a nice amount of space to cover before they reached their targets. "Lori, stay at sniper with Chin. If you pick up on anything important, tell me right away. Kono, Danny, let's go closer." He examined the situation. The two leaders each had brought two armed backups with them.
"On the count of three, we go in. We need the two leaders alive, but don't take any risks to do so. Ready?" He started counting. "One, two, three…"
"5-0! Get on your knees and place your hands above your heads! Now!" Steve shouted. He looked, one of the cartel guards had drawn his weapon and fired, but Danny had shot back.
The three remaining guards jumped into action, firing fiercely to protect their bosses. Kono effectively took them all out as Steve and Danny circled the two leaders. Both had dropped to their knees.
Lori and Chin ran up, looking around to examine the scene. "HPD is on their way." Chin patted Kono on the back. "Nice to see you back in action."
Danny stood back up after handcuffing the two men. "Now we babysit. Best part of the job."
Headlights flashed across the area where the team was standing. "Third car. Why is there a third car?" Steve shouted, immediately redrawing his weapon. "Everyone, back now!" The car's windows were tinted, and was coming at a high velocity towards the scene. As the car barreled closer, a gun could be seen coming out of the passenger window.
"Gun! Take the shot!" Danny yelled at Steve. Steve quickly processed the situation. The gun wasn't aimed at the team…it was aimed at the two handcuffed drug lords.
"No, come on!" Steve started shooting at the car, attempting to get closer. He only had a few seconds or the two prisoners would be dead, and then failed their mission. The noise of a gun being fired was a sound Steve never forgot. BOOM. One shot had gone through both of the prisoners, who had being kneeling back to back. The car made no attempt to stop as it whizzed by. Steve looked inside. No. There was no way…was that Adam Noshimuri in the backseat?
"Steve GET BACK!" Kono and Lori tried to make him step back.
"Did you see?" Steve shouted. "Hiro Noshimuri's son was in the backseat of that car. He's trying to send a message to me and Joe by inferring on a case."
"Consider it sent." Danny gestured to the dead men on the ground.
Steve furiously dialed the governor's number on his phone. "Pull the governor out of his dinner with the ambassador, I don't care!" He growled, "You tell him I want to know where the hell HPD backups where!"
His teammates looked astonished. "Come on, we're done here." They walked back to where the cars were parked.
"Look," Kono pointed at the dashboard of Danny's car. She handed a plain white sheet of paper to Steve.
You can tell the governor to blame this one on Joe.
He quickly folded the paper and stuffed it into the pocket of his cargo shorts. The first of the extremely delayed HPD backups had just arrived on the scene. "Meet back at headquarters."
Chin, Lori, and Kono silently drove off with Chin at the wheel. Danny and Steve followed closely behind. As he was driving, too fast as usual, Steve noticed Danny kept looking at him.
"I know what you're thinking," Steve told him, "I know who I saw in that car."
Danny sighed. "Then Joe's actions have now caused Adam to cross a line."
"Obviously Danno! Did you not just see him directly interfere- KILL- two people we were supposed to bring in?" Steve jerked his head around, full of adrenaline because of his anger.
Steve knew he shouldn't be taking this out on Danny, or anyone else (besides Joe) for that matter. Apologies didn't exactly come naturally to him, so they rode in uncomfortable silence for the next few minutes. They walked through the entrance of headquarters side by side. Steve was trying to formulate an apology, but Danny beat him to it.
"These reports are going to be so much fun to write." Danny muttered, breaking the silence.
Steve twitched, and their conversation habits resumed. "The governor is going to have a lot of questions." He agreed.
"Spidey senses still tingling?"
"I thought I was Superman." Steve deadpanned, and Danny laughed.
Okay so somewhat of a cliffhanger I'm sorry! I plan on having a confrontation with Joe in the next chapter, and some more Lori/Kono conversations. Please review- it's nice hearing what you like! Thanks!