Synopsis: When Danny Williams is arrested for the murder of Marco Reyes and extradited to South America, an old enemy sees an opportunity to deliver a debilitating blow to Five-0. With two of his friends detained and time running out, Steve does the only thing he can…he has himself thrown into the prison with Danny. But will he be in time to save his partner. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-O and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing, so if you've read anything else I've written you know this going to bad before it gets good. I'm taking some liberties with the episode "Pono Kaulike" to fit my vision of the story. Don't kill me for it, it was one of my favorite episodes in Season 5.

A/N: Please take a second and let me know if you're interested in this being continued.

Chapter 10:

Skitters

The moment he'd questioned whose cell the bastards were entering, he got his answer. Feet shuffled through the dusty floor and quickly he was aware that they were hovering above him.

The feeling of hands twisting into his ruined clothes pulled his wandering thoughts into the present. The neck of his dress shirt cut into his skin as he was yanked upright. Pain flashed to life throughout his entire body and he groaned in response, his knees bashed painfully into the unyielding ground beneath him. It was all so trivial when compared to the knowledge that he wasn't alone in this. He wanted to laugh at that thought, the idea that his life ending would happen in some squalid prison thousands of miles from the home he'd created in paradise.

His breathing hitched slightly as his leg and broken ribs shifted without his consent. A low moan slipped past partially parted lips before he could clamp down on it.

"What the hell are you doing?! Leave him alone." Steve's manic voice cut through the pain as easily as a hot knife through butter.

A pair of hands slid under his elbows and Danny tried like hell to steady his uncooperative legs. His leg was screaming at him and his ribs were shifting dangerously inside his chest. But it was the fiery pinch of a needle that sent both pain and relief cascading through his system. Injuries he was pretty sure he didn't have attacked him and he unconsciously bit at his lower lip to keep from screaming. It almost felt like a liquid fire traveling along all of the nerves, crashing through the cells, and obliterating his ability to control his own reactions.

Memories that were as unpleasant as the pain attacked his mind and he found himself being dropped into situations that had literally skinned his heart until there was nothing left. The moment he'd learned that Rachel had met someone new and his hopes for reconciliation had been dashed into tiny shards of ice. His brother's death and the shock and immense sense of failure that had nearly overtaken his reason before Steve was able to bring him back to the reality of their situation. It was an overload of negativity and Danny felt himself trying to withdraw from the pain.

One thought kept him fighting like hell to stay present…Steve.

H50 H50

Steve watched in horror as the man shoved a needle into Danny's arm. A trickle of blood slipped down the detectives elbow when the needle was cruelly torn from his skin. But it was the shift in Danny's face that sent real fear washing through the SEAL.

The grimace had been replaced by a silent 'oh' of sheer agony. Danny's knees started to collapse; the men grabbed a set of manacles and 'clicked' them into place before hauling Danny's crumbling body up and attaching the chain to a hook that had previously gone unnoticed.

They stepped back and admired their handiwork and Steve felt the bile twisting through his gut at the scene before him. Danny was now hanging loosely from the wall, his knees had given way and the entirety of his weight was now supported only by those steel manacles. His face was a dirty mess of blood and barely sealed wounds and his leg looked painful where the knife had dug deeply into the large muscle of his thigh. The makeshift bandage was stained in his partner's blood. Danny's head lolled forward and only the deep quiet moan of pain assured Steve that his partner hadn't just been murdered before his eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Steve breathed out in a stilted whisper. His hands were shaking he was gripping the bars so tight. His right hand throbbed with pain that kept timing with his rapidly beating heart.

The man turned to look at him and then trudged across the narrow dirt aisle. He stopped at Steve's cell and for the first time the Five-0 commander noticed just how big this guy was. He towered over Steve by a good six inches and his shoulders were at least three feet wide. There was nothing friendly in his dark gaze; in fact he had the coldest eyes that the SEAL had ever seen. "Do you feel that this man is like a brother to you?" He had very little accent, which meant that, either he wasn't from South America, or he was educated. Either way? This guy was extremely dangerous and Steve would need to be careful.

"I'm not going to answer that." Steve hissed out.

The large man laughed and shook his head. "You don't have to commander McGarrett. I know the answer." His eyes drifted back to Danny's limp form and they hardened considerably. "I know what it is like to lose a brother." He shifted his attention back to Steve. "I lost my little brother too."

It took a moment for Steve to figure out where he was going with that statement. The only connection this man could have with them, in this place, was Reyes. But both he and Danny had been diligent in learning everything they could about the Cartel king. And nowhere had there been any mention of a brother. A burst of fear lanced his thought bubble. They truly had no idea what this guy wanted or what they were up against, because it was a lot more than just the guards.

"Marco Reyes didn't have any siblings." Steve answered in a shocked whisper. He was jumping to the conclusion of this conversation; at least he thought he was. Dark angry eyes turned back toward him.

"Marco wasn't my brother." He leaned closer, his teeth flashing dangerously in the low lights. "My brother was killed in Hawaii."

Shock wasn't a strong enough word for what Steve felt at that little revelation. One of their cases had followed them here? For what? Revenge… That was the only thing that made sense, but if that was the case, why bring Danny? Had it been him that killed this guy's brother?

"A lot of people die in Hawaii." Steve answered without thinking. Hell, he'd been responsible for his share of deaths on the cases they took…and so had Danny. So which of them had actually killed this man's brother?

He didn't say a word, the man simply turned and walked back to an unconscious Danny and slammed his meaty fist into the blonde's face. A smattering of blood flew sideways and then trickled down his pale face where the skin had split across his prominent cheekbone.

"Leave him the fuck alone!" Steve yelled, his voice was tight with barely suppressed rage. He wanted to kill this man. Not in the cop sense of the word, but in the waterboard him until his drown in his own fear and begged for release. The most primal parts of him roared to the surface and he could barely bite down on the uncontrollable rage.

"You want me to leave him alone?" A sinister smile spread across his face and he nodded once to the man next to Steve.

A fist connected with his kidneys and sent the navy man to his knees. Fire erupted along his lower back and spread quickly along his spine. He was hauled to his uncooperative feet and his hands were yanked behind his back and secured. He didn't know what with, only that he was now helpless to move them. The man leaned into him, his breath like a slap in Steve's face.

"We shall leave him alone."

With that Steve was hauled between two large men from the room, his fear climbing from his gut into his throat as he realized what was happening. They were going to leave Danny hanging in the basement as they did 'God knows what' with him.

"No!" Steve grunted through the pain. "He'll die…"

"That is the plan, commander."

A large door sealed off the view of his suspended partner, thus ripping the one comfort that he'd found since arriving in this hellhole violently from him. For the first time in a very long time, Steve didn't see a way out. Not only had he failed to get Danny out, he'd managed to leave his friend…his partner…his brother…to die alone in some stinking hole in the ground.

A tremor rattled through him and he realized that there would be no one to take care of Grace and Charlie. They would grow up not knowing what happened to their father. A loss unlike anything he'd ever felt knotted inside him and in this one moment of weakness, Steve couldn't find the will to fight.

He was hauled into the cell he'd shared with the Danny the first night and thrown down to the floor in a heap of spastic muscles and sorrow. His breath caught painfully in his chest and it had nothing to do with his injuries. A hate like nothing he'd ever felt before roiled inside him like a trapped pit viper.

"Just think, by this time tomorrow…you'll be in the market for a new partner." The guy just walked away after that.

Steve wondered if that was because he'd gotten what he wanted. Danny had been left to die for the role he'd played in Reyes's murder and Steve would be left to live with that knowledge. At least until the gargantuan man decided to come back and explain what the hell was really going on and who he was. Because try as he might, the commander still wasn't able to place the guy.

A stinging pain bounced around his back then up along his arms and he knew that he needed to get the flexi-cuffs off his wrists before he lost all feeling.

H50 H50

Pain is an interesting thing. It can drain a person of all will to survive or it can create a resolve that is unbreakable. The walls were telling him nothing as he struggled back into the pain…into awareness. Danny had tried to gather his drifting thoughts and tape them together with resolve. To some extent, he'd been successful. While in other ways he'd failed miserably. Once, after having been in a devastating car accident that had required multiple days in the hospital, the detective had felt something similar. Of course he'd also been on heavy doses of morphine at the time.

The pain that continued to plague him was receding to a manageable level, but his mind wouldn't cooperate with him. A pair of soft brown eyes skittered across his mind and he tried to grasp onto those kind eyes. They were young and supportive and he wanted so badly to see them, just for one more second.

A muscle spasm in his shoulders pulled him from those eyes and he crashed back into his reality. His toes were barely touching the ground and his arms were suspended above his head, supporting his not insubstantial weight. It was pitch black and it took him a moment to realize that he wasn't hearing anything else…which meant he wasn't hearing Steve.

He gasped as another wave of pain jenga'd its way up his body. "Steve?" He managed through the hissing cough.

Something moved in the corner, but there was no way it was big enough to be his partner. It was small and there was a distinctive 'clicking' sound as it moved. That was worse than knowing he was alone. Knowing that he was not alone.

"Steve?!" He called a little louder. The clicking thing hissed and then moved again and Danny wanted nothing more than to hear his obnoxious partner's voice in the darkness.

TBC…

Author's Note: Short I know, but the team is on the way and what does the enormous man have in store for Steve? Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed, you guys are awesome! More to come…

Please Review: Just say 'hi' or let me know you're all still out there. Thanks!