"Why am I here?" Harper's words felt hollow. She'd said them twice with no answer. The man in the grey suit that was there when Harper arrived at the warehouse was leaning against the wall. He was on the other side of the metal table Harper sat at. She was getting annoyed by his smug look and lack of answers. "I'm going to ask one more time. And if you don't tell me-"
"You'll what?" he asked, smirking. He seemed genuinely amused by her. "You'll call Five-0 and have them arrest me?" Harper's expression changed. What exactly did he know about her? Had he been stalking her? "That's right," he said, walking closer to the table. "I know all about Steve McGarrett and his little team of sidekicks."
"Why me?" Harper asked. "What do you want?"
"It's not what I want," he said. He sat in the metal chair across from her and leaned into the table on his forearms. "It's what the public wants. It's what people with money want. You see, Harper…you may think I'm in this for the money or the glory. But really, I'm the only thing keeping you alive right now."
"So what? Am I supposed to thank you for kidnapping me?" she asked, raising her voice to a mild shout. This man was insane. "I don't even know what I'm doing here!"
"You're here to fight. The guy that used to have your room? Yeah, he's dead. That's why I got you," he explained.
"What?" Harper was baffled. Fighting? Harper was not a fighter. Not by any stretch of any imagination. The man nodded. "My name is Derek West, by the way," he said. "I'm kind of like your agent." Harper kept her mouth shut, and leaned back into her chair. If she wasn't physically strong, at least she could try acting like it.
Derek looked at her a minute, then sighed, sitting back. "Fine, be that way. Training goes from eight AM to three PM and the fights start at eight PM. It's free time in between that," he said. He stood and moved toward the door. Harper thought she was being a little crazy. But it was get out or die trying. She shot to her feet and hurried up behind him. He turned just in time for her elbow to jab into his nose. There was a crack and he cried out, crumpling to the ground.
She ripped his keycard off his lanyard and scanned open the door. The door started sliding open and, as soon as she could fit, she shoved herself through, into the hallway. She turned and bolted down the hallway. Derek, blood draining from his nose, pulled himself to his feet and pressed the red emergency button just outside the room, on the wall.
Sirens wailed as Harper turned down another hall. She had no idea where she was going. Everything looked the same. Red lights flashed on the ceiling and she drifted around a corner as men came into the hallway up ahead. She moved as fast as her feet could carry her. Men in black came from the hallway ahead of her and she skidded to a stop. Men were coming from behind her as well.
She turned and dashed the only way she could. Following that hallway, she turned and could finally see the elevator. She nearly slammed into it, hardly able to hit the brakes. The keycard slid on the pad, and blinked red. "No," she slid it again and again and again. "No!" She slammed her hand into the metal elevator doors, ignoring the burning in her nerve endings.
She turned around just in time to see a group of men in black walking up, a few with guns. Behind them was Derek, blood staining the skin below his nose a pale pink color. He looked angered, but also impressed. Harper held up her hands in surrender as they approached, stopping a few feet from her.
"There were no witnesses. It happened in the middle of the night, with no evidence left behind," Danny said. He was just pointing out the obvious. But Steve was not in the mood for anything Danny had to say that wasn't helping him find Harper. "What's your point?" Steve snapped.
Danny sighed through his nose. He, too, was affected by Harper's disappearance. "My point is that we have nothing to go on," Danny answered, calmly. Steve ran a hand over his face at the reminder. "Danny…"
"We'll find her," Kono said, trying to be the encouraging one, while giving Danny a look.
"How?" Steve asked no one in particular. He leaned into the touch screen table on his palms and stared at the picture of Harper on the screen. Kono and Danny shared a glance. It was obvious that Steve was not himself. It would be obvious to a blind man. Just then, Chin walked in from the hallway. "Hey, guys. I've got something you'll want to see," he said, walking over to them at the table.
Steve sidestepped, letting Chin stand front and center at the table. Chin typed for a second, and then a prison mug shot of an older-looking man appeared on the screen. "This is Jack Rugby, one of Harper's foster parents," Chin said. "He was just released from prison two weeks ago, and he arrived here on the island last weekend."
"Wait, he's the guy?" Danny asked. "The guy that hit her?"
Chin nodded. Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's go have a chat with Mr. Rugby," he said, glaring at the screen.
Harper let out a frustrated sigh that sounded like a groan, continuing to lightly hit her head on the wall behind her. She sat on her bed, alone. Escape was so close. And yet it left her grasp. Was it ever really truly in it to begin with? The door slowly slid open to reveal Bryan.
He shook his head, walking in. "Breaking Derek's nose isn't something new. But I can't say it was a good idea," he said. He sat a few inches to her left with a sigh. "He's such a tool," Harper said, her voice low and raspy from screaming at the wall for hours.
"Yeah, but he's right," Bryan said. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "He has the power to set the ring. If you go into a pre-matched fight, you're dead."
"What fight? What ring?" Harper asked, sitting forward.
"You'll see it tonight. Don't worry, you aren't fighting. I am," he said.
"Who are you fighting?" Harper asked, slowly.
"You don't know until you get in the ring," he explained. They were quiet. Harper couldn't imagine doing that. Walking into a ring surrounded by people getting ready to watch you fight someone? She couldn't. And she wouldn't. Not if she could help it. She leaned back and tipped her head backward, touching the wall. "I can't fight," she said, helplessly. "I don't even know why they took me. I'm not a fighter. I'm not strong."
"Obviously something about you says you are, otherwise they wouldn't have taken you," he said.
"Why'd they pick you?" she asked.
"I was a field medic," he said. "US Army."
"Steve was Navy," she thought aloud, in a whisper.
"Steve. Is he your boyfriend? The cop?" Bryan asked, twisting to see her face from his position. She nodded and he turned back to face away from her. "Steve McGarrett?" Bryan asked, twisting to look at her again. When she nodded, he chuckled. "How'd that happen?"
"We met surfing. Do you know Steve?" she asked.
"Met him in passing," he said. "So what's your story? You look haunted by something." He sat upright and turned from her to face the wall again. "Why do you-"
"It's in your eyes," he said. Harper was quiet for a minute. She didn't really want to tell all to this man. After all, she barely knew him. But she needed something to get her mind off of this prison. "I grew up in the foster system," she began. "I moved from home to home until I turned eighteen." He was quiet, but somehow Harper knew he understood.
She was oddly fascinated by the way he acted. The way he spoke. The way he moved. He was so familiar, but she couldn't place him. Then, it hit her. "Avery?" she asked, puzzled.
"That's my middle name," he said, not turning to face her. Harper was horrified. This man was not a stranger. He was her friend. And at one point, she'd saved his life. But she'd forgotten him after moving to another house, another place of pain and torment. She knew she'd met him before. But she never thought it was like this.
