I have been creatively juiced this week, so I actually had this done on time with some time to spare for edits. Aw yeah.
Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading!
Fact #127: Small does not equal helpless.
Season: Between 4th and 5th Seasons
Danny hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Steve looked at him in question as he walked back over, rubbing his forehead.
"They good?" Steve asked.
Danny nodded. One hand flittered out to gesture at the empty auditorium. "They left a while ago. Before HPD even got here. They didn't even know anything had gone wrong, they just left and went out for sushi."
"See. Didn't have to worry in the first place," Steve said.
He didn't have to worry about his daughter and ex-wife being close to a crime scene, anyway. Or at least worry about not knowing how close they had been. He had known they were coming to the show at this theater tonight, and when the call had come in about a found body backstage at the very same theater, he may or may not have panicked. Especially after Grace hadn't answered his first two calls.
He did worry, however, about the body. What had happened? Who was it? Had Grace and Rachel been in any danger even remotely? Was there a murderer loose, one that had slipped away in the crowd? Or had it been an accidental or self-induced death?
Trying to channel his anxious paranoia into a more productive mindset, he observed intently the scene once they were led backstage.
HPD and theater security had rounded up the crew and the performers, taking statements and keeping them in place just in case someone turned into a person of interest. Among the performers clustered in the far left of the stage, he saw four Serpent heads peeking above the others. Two were fairly large individuals. Hopefully, they wouldn't be a problem. He knew from experience Serpents weren't easy to deal with.
To the right of the stage curtained off from the auditorium, yellow tape was strung up with HPD and theater security milling around it. Max hadn't arrived yet to collect the body, giving the crime scene photographers enough time to capture every angle to review later.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Steve barked at two of the civilian security officers inside the perimeter of yellow tape.
The younger man jumped, backing away from the body as if it had bit him. The older security officer was slower and more stone faced as he looked up from the body.
"Have you touched that body?" Steve asked.
"Not since we found him," the younger man said.
Danny took in the two officers. They wore black slacks with simple black blazers with the theater's security company's logo on the breast pocket. There were a few others standing around, and he knew the initial call had come from one of them.
"Who found the body?" Danny asked.
"I did," the older man said and stood up.
He looked to be in his mid to late forties, bald with a lantern jaw, wary eyes, and the build of a football player. His voice also had a deep register that commanded authority.
"I was doing my regular sweep backstage, found him, rolled him over to check for a pulse, and called the police. In that order," he said. His nametag read Jack Malone. "No one's touched him since then."
"Anything you can tell us about him?" Danny asked, side-eyeing his partner. Steve didn't appreciate other organizations interfering with their investigations, even if they were just doing their jobs.
The younger man, a Dylan Marsden, held his hands palms up. "His name is Akio Ikeda. He's one of the backup dancers in case one of the others rolls an ankle or gets sick or something. I didn't know him very well."
Danny looked back at Malone. "Did you have any threats made recently, any reason to suspect this may have been planned?"
Malone shook his head. "No. Nothing."
Steve crossed under the tape and snagged latex gloves from one of the CSU techs. Danny stayed standing while he crouched. Even with gloves on, he still had a little niggling feeling of dread every time he approached a body after the sarin incident. He'd let his partner do the dirty work.
Malone stood off to the side, glowering at them and the goings on of the theater. Marsden, on the other hand, watched with round eyes as Steve methodically checked the body over.
"I don't see any exterior wounds or bruising," he said.
"Huh." Danny folded his arms over his chest. He looked up at the nearest HPD officer. "Hey, did they mention anything about their friend acting weird or funny today?"
"I can go ask one of the officers that took their statements," he said, and then took off at Danny's nod.
Steve pivoted on his heel to look up at him. "You thinking he was on something?"
Danny shrugged one shoulder. "Either that or he had a heart attack or was sick or something else."
They shared a look of understanding at the 'something else'. They cast a glance back at the group of performers. A mysterious death in the presence of four probably venomous Serpents tended to raise red flags. Not that all Serpents would kill someone with a bite, just like most people wouldn't stab someone just because there was a knife in their hand.
The officer returned with another one in tow.
"I got the same story from most of the performers. Mister Ikeda had said he wasn't feeling well today, but he didn't appear to be extremely ill," the officer read off from her notes. "They said the flu had gone around the troupe a couple weeks ago and Ikeda thought that's all it was."
Danny looked down at the body. "Unfortunately, I don't think he's going to get over it in twenty-four hours."
Steve stood up and pulled the latex gloves off. He squinted at the group huddled on the opposite end of the stage. "Are all the performers and staff accounted for?"
The two officers, must have been younger ones seeing as Danny didn't recognize them from his time at HPD, glanced at each other and then the woman looked back down at her notes.
"It appears that two performers, a stagehand, and a lighting tech are all unaccounted for," she said.
"Great. Who rounded them up in the first place?" Danny questioned, flipping a hand out at the numerous HPD and security details.
"My people did," Malone said gruffly. "Once we found the body, we attempted to get everyone contained as quickly as we could."
"Well, you missed a few," Danny quipped.
Malone glared. He reminded Danny of one of the football jocks that used to try to pick on him in high school, the operative word being 'try'. Even at that age, he didn't take too kindly to someone thinking they could pick on him because he was short, or not as rich as them, or was smarter than them.
Steve purposely stepped in between their line of sight, breaking up the stare down. He had his phone up to his ear. "Chin, you have anything?"
Danny tore his eyes from the weathered man to his partner. Chin and Kono had arrived first and gone directly to the security booth where the camera feeds were. They'd agreed long ago to let the two tech wizards handle things along those lines. Then he had arrived followed by Steve and Catherine, who had been directed to help HPD lock down the perimeter of the theater.
"Nothing?" Steve said. "Okay. Yeah, keep looking. We've got to locate some missing crew members."
"I take it that their search is proving fruitless?" Danny guessed.
"Chin said they couldn't see anything suspicious on any of the camera feeds, but two of the cameras are out of operation," Steve said.
"Hmm, you don't say." Danny tilted his head back to look up at the rafters and catwalks above them where the security cameras should have been positioned. "How convenient, huh?"
"Danny, you go with Marsden. I'll go with Malone," Steve directed.
Danny held a hand up. "Wait, what? Why?"
"They'll know the theater's layout better than us. We'll be able to cover more ground," Steve explained. He grinned. "Unless you'd rather go with Malone?"
He'd rather punch a brick wall than go with a man reminiscent of childhood bullies. "No, no. I just don't want to accidentally get tasered by jumpy over here."
Marsden, a younger man in his late twenties, looked absolutely bewildered and twitchy. It was probably the first time anything bigger than a fan trying to sneak backstage or kids tagging cars in the parking lot had happened.
"I thought you liked kids," Steve said.
Danny gave him a withering look. "Come on, Marsden, you're with me. You better not get me lost or dropped down a trapdoor or something, okay, kid?"
"Yes, Sir." Marsden leapt forward to follow. "Wait, a trapdoor?"
Steve patted the officer's shoulder as he passed. "Good luck."
"How long have you been doing this gig?" Danny asked to break the silence.
Marsden had proved to be less of a talker than his partner was. Other than a couple of 'Yes, Sir's and 'This way, Sir's, he had been quietly following Danny's lead through the network of hallways and rooms backstage.
"Couple of months, Sir," Marsden said, pointing the flashlight into a supply closet.
"You can quit calling me Sir," Danny said.
"Sorry. Force of habit. Malone was in the Army and likes being called Sir," Marsden said.
"Kind of big meathead, isn't he? You like working for that guy?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at the kid.
Marsden shrugged. "It's a job. When he says jump, you say how high? You only make the mistake of asking why once."
Danny's phone pinged with a text. He paused to read it.
Found one of the performers crying in a bathroom stall. Stagehand was out back smoking.
"Looks like they found two of our missing people," he said. He typed back as quickly as he could with his goofy thumbs.
Zip on our end. Keep looking?
The three dots appeared for a few seconds before the text came through.
Yes. Gonna question Malone. Acting strange. Didn't want to search bathroom. Uneasy when we found performer. Have bad feeling.
Careful.
He slid his phone back in his pocket. He shined his light at Marsden, who was twiddling his fingers. Actually twiddling his fingers as he waited for him to finish.
"You bored, kid?" Danny asked.
"Huh?" He stopped messing with his hands. "No, sorry. Just nervous. All I've ever done is asked someone to put away their phone during a performance."
"Didn't exactly think you'd be dealing with a possible homicide when you signed up for this job, huh?" Danny asked.
"Not really. Well, maybe."
"Maybe?"
"The other guys and I joke that one day Malone might kill one of us, but it's always been a joke."
Danny started forward again, heart thudding harder at the thought of his partner being alone with Malone. Then again, they might have met back up with HPD and be surrounded by officers by now. He was probably fine.
Flashlight braced across his gun hand, they poked deeper and deeper into the theater bowels. He was aware of Marsden hovering uncomfortably close behind him, and he only hoped he didn't get popped with his stun gun on accident if he spooked.
They turned a corner. Danny jumped as the beam of light landed on a figure hovering in the corridor. Marsden yelped.
"Damn it," Danny cursed and approached the body. He shined the light on him. "You recognize him, Marsden?"
Marsden nodded numbly. "That's…that's Isaac Mann, the lighting tech."
Danny cast his eyes upward. The tech was hanging from a rope that had been tied off on one of the exposed support beams overhead. Either a suicide or a homicide disguised as a suicide. He looked back at Mann, examining his face, neck, and arms for any signs of a struggle. No marks or bruises stood out to him.
"Radio it in. I've got a sinking feeling that our missing performer has something to do with this," he said.
Marsden nodded and unclipped the radio from his belt, turning his back on him and the gently swinging body.
As he pulled his phone out once again to snap a photo to send to Steve, movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He whipped his head to the side just in time to catch a glimpse of a white robed figure bolting across the corridor further down.
"Let them know I've got eyes on a suspect!" he shouted at Marsden and took off after the person. "Five-0, freeze!"
This is what he was always warning Steve not to do. Don't chase after a suspect without backup. Don't be a bonehead.
He rounded the corner and paused. A black bag sat ominously in the middle of the corridor. No person in sight. He let out a shuddering breath. His first thought was bomb. His second thought was where did the person go? This particular corridor was a dead end.
He got his answer to the second one when he was knocked forward from behind. He managed to brace himself, his wrists protesting at taking his weight and his gun skittering away to land by the bag.
There was a thump behind him.
Feet ran by him. He reached out and clasped a thin ankle, tripping the person. He couldn't let her get to the bag or his gun.
She fell more gracefully than he did, rolling and striking out with her heel.
He barely managed to jerk his head back and reduce the nose breaking kick into a clip in the jaw. It still rattled his teeth and made his eyes tear up.
She yanked her ankle free.
Shaking his head, he lunged after her, more prepared to handle her feisty nature. He grabbed her shoulders, using her own momentum to spin her towards the wall.
"I said freeze!"
She planted a foot on the wall, finishing the spin and using it to tackle him. Though he had five inches and close to a hundred pounds on her, the angle at which she hit him bowled him down.
He brought his leg up as he landed on his back, flipping her over his head.
Where was Steve or Kono when he needed a martial arts expert?
He jumped to his feet at the same time she did, but this time he was between her and his gun and the bag. He ducked a showy yet not very effective roundhouse kick. Falling back on his scrapping days in middle and high school, he delivered a one-two punch, the first missing and the second landing home.
"You need to stop and raise your hands above your head, got it?" he said.
She hissed. She feigned a punch, took a step back, and then leapt at him with her right hand held above her head.
Danny took the open palm hit to his left forearm. He was startled by the amount of stinging it caused, until he glanced at his forearm and saw bloody claw marks.
She swiped at him again, scratching his right shoulder straight through his shirt.
Golden wheat scales glittered under her eyes and down the bridge of her nose, nictitating membranes slid across her eyes, sharp teeth glinted behind her lips, and pale claws glistened with his blood.
This is exactly what he'd been afraid of.
He made a grab for her as she aimed for his face. He reached around his back, pulled his cuffs out, and quickly snapped them on her one wrist.
"Listen to me! These are titanium alloy. You shift, you shatter your wrists, you understand?"
He nearly missed stopping her leg as she swung it up between his. Using his hold on her leg, she pushed off the floor with the other and sprang up on top of his shoulders, twisting herself backwards with her legs hooked around his neck.
They fell in a heap on the floor.
Danny grunted. She snapped the other cuff on his wrist. Pinning his shoulders with her legs, she placed her claws on the underside of his jaw over his jugular.
"Get me out here, or I kill you," she said with somewhat broken English.
He held his hands up in surrender, nodding. "Okay, okay. The whole theater is surrounded and crawling with cops, though."
"Not whole theater. Not all cops," she corrected.
"What do you mean not all cops?" he asked. Stall. Stall until Steve showed up. Not that he felt like he was in inescapable danger. There were still a few tricks up his sleeve, he just didn't like pulling them in public.
"Get me out," she said.
"Well, you gotta let me up to do that, okay? Let me up, I'll get up slowly, alright?" he said.
She released her impressive hold on him, moving with him as he carefully and deliberately got his feet under him.
"Where cuff key?" she questioned.
He spotted Marsden cautiously making his way down the corridor towards them, coming up from the dead end. One of the rooms down there must have had another entrance.
"The key is in my pocket." He pointed with his free hand. "How do I know if I unlock you, you won't just shift and kill me, huh?"
"No need shift to kill you," she spat. She held out her hand expectantly.
Danny fumbled getting into his pocket, playing up the part of a nervous cop in an effort to buy Marsden enough time to get close enough to use his stun gun. He pulled the key out and dropped it.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized.
She curled her lip at him. "Stupid cop."
He crouched down to grab the key. He shot Marsden a subtle glance.
Marsden rushed forward. Danny popped up, twirling the woman around and trapping her with her cuffed arm across her chest, securing her other wrist in his free hand.
She kick-flipped the stun gun out of Marsden's hand.
"No! You die now!" she yelled.
She turned into a writhing mass of shifting muscle and bone. Danny was about to get called on his bluff of the cuffs being titanium alloy.
Marsden launched into them, taking them both down to the ground.
He could've cursed the young man and called him a bonehead for knocking all three of them down, but he focused instead on shifting his own scales out for protection against the wildly swiping claws and snapping teeth of the performer.
Sharp teeth bit his arm, drawing blood and stinging like the devil. Rigid scales dug into his unprotected chest and belly. He quickly rolled out of the way to avoid getting crushed by her, though she appeared to be a small Drake without much meat on her.
She screeched suddenly, tensed up like a board, and slumped to the side.
Marsden sat up on the other side of her, holding his stun gun with wide eyes and hair askew in every direction.
"Are you okay, Sir?" he asked.
"Grab that key," Danny said, pointing at the key on the floor just out of arm's reach.
Marsden leapt to his feet, snatched the key, and handed it to him, all the while keeping his stun gun trained on the twitching Drake.
Danny unlocked himself from her hurriedly. He pulled his pinned leg out from under her and, in a moment of either ingenuity or stupidity, he snapped the other cuff around her thin ankle. If she came out of the haze from being tasered, it would be a lot harder to make a getaway hobbled like that.
Feet thundered down the corridor behind them.
"Danny!"
He pivoted, holding his left arm against his ribcage and applying pressure with his hand. She had gotten him good with her claws and teeth in that arm.
"What happened?" Steve questioned, slowly lowering his gun upon realizing the situation seemed to be under control.
"Oh, you know." Danny waved his blood coated hand around. "The usual. Got into a kung fu brawl with a suspect who turned out to be a dragon and barely made it out without serious damage, no thanks to you. What happened? Why're you so late to the party?"
Steve frowned at him and holstered his gun. "We came as soon as we got the call on the radio. Let me see."
Danny offered his arm up, letting Steve examine it. All things considered, he thought it had hurt worse when he'd been shot in the bicep both times or almost had it cleaved in half by a thug during Burke's investigation.
"You definitely need it cleaned, maybe stitched," Steve said and let him tuck it back against his side. He surveyed the scene as HPD descended on the Drake with proper containment gear. "Max is collecting Ikeda and Mann, now."
Danny tilted his head. "She really wanted that bag."
Steve approached it warily. He pulled a glove from his pocket and flipped the unzipped top open. "It's empty."
"Empty? Are you sure?" Danny questioned.
"Yeah." Steve stood up. "We'll have forensics take a look at it. Might be able to tell us if there were drugs or explosives in it."
"Great. What about Malone?" he asked.
"Chin and Kono have him. We're taking him back to the Palace to question him more thoroughly," Steve said. He picked Danny's gun up off the ground and handed it back to him. "And you complain about me always losing my gun."
"Shut up," Danny grumbled and holstered it. He looked over his shoulder at Marsden. "Hey, kid!"
Marsden tore his eyes away from the officers processing the scene and jogged over to meet them, stun gun still in hand.
"You did good, considering this was your first rodeo," Danny said.
"Thank you, Sir." Marsden grinned. He looked down at his stun gun. "That's the first time I've ever stunned anyone."
Danny returned the grin, grateful that the right person had been stunned. "Give your statement to one of the officers here. I've got a date with a paramedic."
Marsden's head bobbed eagerly. "Yes, Sir. Hope your arm gets better."
As they walked away, Steve nudged his shoulder. "See. You do like kids."
"I should, considering my partner's just an overgrown child."
"You love me." In a more serious tone, Steve added, "It's going to be a long night."
"Yes. Yes it is. There better be coffee ready when I get to the office after getting this arm checked out. And malasadas."
"Why the sudden need for junk food?"
"Comfort food, babe. Comfort food. I need comforted after almost getting my butt handed to me by a tiny woman."
Steve sighed and shook his head, but Danny knew there would be coffee and malasadas waiting for him.
Next week on "Dragons", Max examines the two victims, Steve is uneasy, and Jae the delivery man has a bad day.
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