Hello! I was ambitious these last two weeks, lol.
Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading!
Fact #159: To be altruistic is admirable.
Season: 5th Season
He tossed his third cup of coffee of the day into a nearby bin. He'd been slowly trying to fill his energy tank throughout the day. Unfortunately, it took more coffee to caffeinate a dragon than it did a human, so he was only beginning to feel any sort of jolt. Keeping up with Grace all day was going to be interesting.
If he could keep up with a Navy SEAL whose motto was sleep is for the dead, he could keep up with his twelve year old daughter.
"Are you sure your friend is already here, Monkey? Because we should have gotten here a lot earlier," Danny said, warily watching the crowds of people lined up on either side of the street.
"She's here. That's who I'm texting," Grace said.
Danny placed a hand on her head and steered her around a couple of people while she texted. She was multitasking as it was, carrying one drink in the crook of her arm, another in one hand, and texting with the other hand. Grace had been convinced they could stop to grab a snack and bubble tea before the parade because her friend was going to be there early and promised to save them a good spot.
He didn't know how much trust to put into an twelve year old to save a spot on this busy street and hoped that a parent was with her friend. A wave of anxiety washed over him just thinking about Grace being by herself in this huge conglomeration of people.
Grace stopped. She looked up with a furrowed brow, scanning the crowd.
Danny spotted the waving arm before she did.
"Over there," he said and with a hand on her shoulder directed her through the people to the curb where her friend was waiting.
He smiled as Grace greeted her friend with a hug and handed her the second bubble tea she'd been carrying. It was Lana. They had been friends since Grace had moved to Hawaii as a little girl in a strange new land.
"Thanks for the tea, Mr. Williams," Lana said.
"You're welcome. I don't know why you and Grace enjoy chewing your drinks, but I'm glad you like it," he said.
"Danno almost choked on a boba when he first tried it," Grace giggled to Lana.
A woman leaned over Lana's shoulder with a smile. The pair of them had the same long brown hair and almond eyes with round cheeks. Danny recognized her instantly.
"You should take them to the Vietnamese dessert place sometime and let them try their drinks," Lana's mom said.
Grace looked up at Danny with wide pleading eyes.
Danny waved a hand around. "If me choking on a boba leads you to suggesting I need to try some other crazy drink, I'm immediately suspicious."
Kaliko laughed. "Maybe we'll go after the parade. I won't let you get something weird. Well, too weird."
"Well, I guess if I choke again, at least I'll have a nurse to do the Heimlich on me," Danny said.
Kaliko gave him a sly grin.
Danny shoved his hands in his pockets and stood next to Grace on the curb, a grin still on his face. He had gotten to know Kaliko over the years from both of the girls being in cheer, having slumber parties, going on field trips, and things like that. She was a single parent much like he was. Or at least, much like he felt. At least Grace knew both of her parents unlike Lana.
Lana grabbed Grace's arm and jumped up and down. "I hear the band!"
Had Grace been smaller, he would have thrown her up on his shoulders so she could see better. As it was, Lana and Kaliko had secured a pretty good spot along the street just inside the barrier that had been erected to keep the crowds out of the way.
"I remember marching in parades," Kaliko said. "You ever in any parades, Danny?"
"Rode on the firetruck with my pa one year. I was the envy of the fifth grade after that," he said. "Why were you in parades?"
"High school band," she said.
Down the street he could see the perfectly ordered people drawing closer and hear the drone of the brass and thump of the drums growing in volume.
"Band geek, huh? What did you play? No, no! Wait, let me guess." He glanced at her short stature and slender fingers. "It was the…flute?"
"Come on, brah, give me some credit. I was a percussionist. Had to keep all those lolos in line," she said.
Danny tapped himself on the chest. "You see, I was never into learning an instrument in middle or high school. Baseball was where it was at for me. Plus, I didn't want my cousins to pound on me for being a band geek."
"If you were a percussionist you could've beat them with your sticks," she said. She squeezed Lana's shoulders. "I'm trying to get this kid into something. Even if it's just the kazoo. You should think about getting Grace music lessons or something."
"When I hit the lottery, I'll sign her up for whatever she wants," he said.
Rachel could afford to get her piano or guitar or whatever lessons. Though he feared that if she did, it would happen to fall on his weekends with her. He supposed he could sit and listen to her at the lesson. But then how would she practice at his house if she took piano? He couldn't afford to get a piano.
That train of thought fell to the back of his mind as the beginning of the parade reached them. The band was from one of the colleges. The colorguard was first, and it was no surprise that Grace was excited about them. She already loved doing cheer. Throwing a flag into it wouldn't be a huge leap for her.
The instruments passed by next, every black, white, and green clad person perfectly in sync.
The actual reason they had come to the parade followed the band. Sure, the floats were intricate and for Danny it was always a fun thing to see a firetruck, but it wasn't something he would have willingly dragged himself out of the house for. Grace, on the other hand, had used the fact that he couldn't really say no to her without a good reason to arrange this. Apparently, this parade didn't happen a lot and she didn't know when she'd get to go see one again.
Or that's what she said to lure him out of the house on this warm and humid afternoon, anyway.
Despite the fact she was a mixed blood, despite the fact he was a full blooded shifter, despite the fact her adoptive aunt and uncle were full blooded shifters, seeing dragons was still a thrill for a kid.
"Woah, look at those guys!" Lana pointed.
Danny couldn't help it. He had to pick apart and analyze everything.
The dragons Lana was pointing at were Amphibians. There were only two of them, but they had some of the more luxurious fins he had ever seen on a dragon. Completely impractical for swimming, functioning more as showy displays with brilliant colors, patches of iridescence, and delicate patterns.
He picked out several Drakes and Arboreals on different floats. There were a few Serpents with their long bodies and color shifting scales. It was all good until the Wyvern flew over.
Deep chest. Long wings. Ridge of scales. Crown of horns. Black scales. A torrent of fire.
His grip on Grace's shoulder tightened in preparation to yank her out of the way.
Then the Wyvern alighted on one of the floats and breathed the jet of fire straight upwards, much to the delight of the crowd. After his initial jolt of fear faded, he realized the Wyvern lacked the orange and purple splashes, instead having a strawberry red blushing on its wings and streaks of white down its flanks. Bright blue eyes glittered in a playful manner as it spread its wings wide and blew more fire harmlessly.
He relaxed his grip as the images of sickle claws and beady orange eyes fell back to the dark recesses of his mind.
Grace gave him a questioning look.
He faked a grin and gestured to one of the long and almost boneless Serpents doing acrobatics.
Grace wasn't a stupid kid. She wasn't as ignorant as her mother and occasionally even he wished she would be. She was aware that Five-0 had dealt with a Wyvern a few years back. She had seen the scars on his back, the faint burn marks that lingered on Steve's shoulder and chest, the jagged scars the talons had left on Kono's arm.
She grasped his hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
The small action almost brought tears to his eyes. In fact, it would have if the entire parade had not erupted into chaos at that exact moment.
He and Kaliko grabbed the girls and pulled them out of the way onto the sidewalk.
The runaway float careened away and tipped on its side in the middle of the street.
Car brakes screeched.
Glass shattered.
Horns blared.
People screamed.
Danny didn't even register what was going on. All he saw was a lot of people in danger, and though he ranted and raved about not being a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy, he was a trained cop and had been around Steve too long.
"Grace, stay here with Lana and Kaliko. I've got to go see if I can help," he said.
Grace waved him on. A pang went through his heart at how well she understood him and his need to help. He didn't think a twelve year old should be that understanding of a dangerous job such as his.
He raced out into the street, wary of any other oncoming vehicles. Cops were already starting to swarm onto the scene. The HPD officer closest to him must have recognized him and let him dash through the barricade they were setting up to keep civilians out of the way.
It was like a…well, like a parade blew up. There were float pieces and confetti and cars everywhere. As he approached the overturned float, he tried to make out what had happened. It only took the blink of an eye to flip everything upside down.
It didn't matter at the moment, though. He could smell gasoline.
He offered a hand to the driver of the float as he clambered out the busted windshield on the truck cab.
"You okay?" he asked.
The driver brushed glass out of his hair. "Been worse for wear before. What happened?"
Danny shrugged. "One second there was a parade, the next there was a multi-car and float pile up. Hey, maybe you should go get checked out by the paramedics, okay? Go ahead and clear the area."
The man stumbled towards the waiting ambulance that was pulling inside the police barrier. Danny could see paramedics and EMTs already on scene helping various victims.
He was about to walk away when he heard a weak noise.
He froze.
Between the sirens and the officers and the general mayhem, it took him almost twenty seconds to hear it again.
It was a very faint and muffled 'help.'
The overturned float consisted of a truck and trailer, both of which were on their sides. The bulk of the float had been straw bales stacked on each other with banners and paper mache decorations weaved throughout. Everything now resembled a heap of hay tangled with colorful bits.
He started to parse through the straw.
A claw snagged his hand.
He brushed more straw aside, uncovering a slender leg with short, hooked claws on the foot. It was one of the Arboreals.
"Hey, help's coming, okay? Just hold on," he said.
The tang of gasoline and all this dry straw would result in a bonfire if a spark ignited anything. And of course, it was one of the non-fireproof dragons buried under it all.
Shoveling straw away like a madman, he at last located the Arboreal's head. It gasped and struggled. More straw started to avalanche down.
Danny blocked the straw from burying its head again and pushed what had already fallen away.
"Hey, hey, take it easy, babe, take it easy," he said. He looked over his shoulder. "Hey! We could use some help over here! We've got someone buried in this fire hazard!"
"Please…" the Arboreal whispered. She was trembling and her yellow eyes watered. "Please don't leave me."
Danny gently set a hand on one of her horns. "I'm not going to leave, okay? We're going to get you out of here, understand? Are you hurt? Can you feel everything?"
"I-I-I don't know," she said. She grimaced. "I think my right leg's screwed up, and my gliding wing is throbbing."
Danny winced in sympathy. Messing up a wing was no fun. He knew that a gliding wing wound on an Arboreal would transfer to the back once they shifted into human form, he'd seen it happen on Steve several times.
She gasped again and tried to pull herself upright from her position of laying belly down on the street.
"No, no, don't move. You don't want to hurt yourself even more, okay?" he said. He looked back at the line of police. "Hey! I said we need some help over here! We've got an injured dragon and a fire hazard!"
Two officers were engaged in a heated debate, pointing at him and then at each other. He recognized the older officer, but not the younger one. Must have been a cadet fresh from the academy.
The cadet waved off the older officer and ducked under the police tape. She jogged over to him.
"You say 'fire hazard' and all the sudden they want the fire department to handle it," she said.
The Arboreal huffed out a strangled sob.
"Can she move?" the cadet asked.
"She's got a messed up leg and wing, and who knows what else. I would rather let the paramedics handle this one, but can you smell that?" Danny asked.
The cadet sniffed. Her eyes widened. "Gas."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," the Arboreal cried. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me!"
The cadet crouched down. "Don't talk like that. It's our job and we're not going anywhere until you're safe."
Danny was impressed by the coolness the cadet had around the Arboreal. In his experience, cadets were a little edgy around dragons unless they had been around them before.
The cadet started digging straw away from the rest of the Arboreal.
"Hey, what're you doing?" he asked, batting away more straw as it tried to cover her head again.
The cadet barely paused. "I'm doing something. Something's better than nothing."
"Okay, I get it, but be careful, huh? We have to keep her head clear so she can breathe, understand?" he said and waved a hand at the section he had already dug out around her head. "So start at the top."
The cadet opened her mouth and then closed it. She grunted and then started to push straw away from the topmost of the pile.
He shook his head. He was starting to get a better idea of why the older officer had been arguing with her.
Soon the straw pile was at a point where he could help dig instead of shielding her head. They heaved sections away, careful of where they stepped. Her lanky limbs and gliding wings were sprawled out under there somewhere.
Suddenly the cadet cursed.
Danny stopped. "What? What is it?"
"I see smoke."
He exhaled harshly. He was fireproof, but shifting in the middle of downtown with this many people around? No, thanks. And besides, the Arboreal and cadet weren't fire resistant.
"Okay, babe, you're going to have to move. I know I said not to, but we've got to get you out of here," he said.
The Arboreal scrambled to get up, using her one foreleg to prop herself up. Her breaths came in quick, short pants as she struggled. "I can't! I'm stuck! I-I-I think my tail's under the trailer."
Danny joined the cadet in cursing. He looked back over his shoulder at the busy police and emergency workers.
"Hey! We need help here!" he yelled.
He clambered over the straw towards the trailer. Where were the firemen when he needed them? Or all those brave citizens that picked cars up off of children? He'd settle for a few scrawny officers at the moment.
"Cadet, get ready to help pull her out if need be," he said.
The cadet nodded, though looked unsure of how to go about pulling out an awkwardly shaped dragon. He took a deep breath and braced his shoulder against the trailer. It was a long gooseneck trailer, easily a couple thousand pounds. Maybe in dragon form he'd be able to leverage it enough to free her tail, but as a short, compact human? Not so much.
The trailer gave under his strain.
He raised his brows in surprise, and then looked further down the trailer.
One of the Drakes and the Wyvern that had been in the parade were shoving on it, the Drake's densely muscled shoulders bulging and the Wyvern's horns grating on the metal as it shoved with its head. The Drake hooked its claws under the edge of the trailer and lifted.
"Okay, she's out!" the cadet shouted.
Danny and the other two dropped the trailer and cleared away from the straw just as the first licks of flames appeared in rapidly patches. The fumes from the gasoline caught with a hearty boom that was more bark than bite. Until it reached the gas tank of the truck.
The remaining civilians finally screamed and ran as the tank exploded and sent debris flying.
Firemen, EMS, and the police descended around the injured dragon and the glowing fireball that was once a colorful float. Danny stared stunned at the burning vehicle. They had barely gotten her free in time.
"…Sir…you…Sir?"
There was a hand on his shoulder.
Shaking the ringing from his ears, he turned to look at the cadet who was watching him with big brown eyes.
"Huh?"
"Are you okay, Sir?" she asked again.
"Oh," he waved a hand around, "I'm perfectly peachy, you know? Just wondering how my calm and relaxing afternoon once again took a one eighty. How's the dragon? Is she okay?"
The cadet glanced over at the paramedics trying to figure out how to maneuver around the lanky Arboreal.
"She's not on fire, thanks to you," the cadet said.
Danny pointed at her. "Thanks to us. I didn't see that smoke."
The cadet grinned.
Danny's returned grin fell. He whipped around. "I've got to go find my daughter. She was here with me. I left her with her friend and her mom."
The cadet nudged him towards the sidewalk. "Go! HPD's got this, Detective."
He was halfway across the street when he turned around. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Tani. Officer Tani Rey," she said proudly.
"If you ever need a glowing recommendation, let me know, okay? But maybe you should listen to your commanding officer a little more, huh? Don't want to make him any grayer than he already is."
The cadet waved him off.
Danny ducked under the police tape and back onto the sidewalk. He scanned up and down the street. They may have taken off when the float exploded. He trusted that Kaliko would have kept the girls far away from the thick of it.
Following a hunch, he walked a little ways up the street and turned into a patio outside of a coffee house. Sure enough, Kaliko was there on the phone with both girls sitting at a table next to her.
"Danno!" Grace leapt up and ran to meet him. She hugged him tight, then made a face. "Ugh, you smell like gas or something."
He looked down at his clothes. They were covered in straw, grease, confetti, possibly some gasoline, too. He lost more clothes this way, except he didn't even have anyone to blame but himself this time.
Kaliko held out the phone, what he now noticed was Grace's phone, to him. "Brah, you better talk to him."
Danny furrowed his brows and held the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"
"So you call me the danger magnet."
He pulled his phone from his pocket. Three missed calls and seven texts from Steve. His partner had resorted to calling his daughter.
"Wait, how did you find out what happened so fast?" he asked, moving to sit down at the table with the girls. He could already tell he was going to be stiff and sore tomorrow.
"It's on the news. And Five-0 got called in to help."
Danny laughed. "I could've used you and your caveman strength about ten minutes ago."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. There was a dragon trapped under one of the floats and everyone else was busy with so much chaos, it was just me and a cadet trying to dig her out before the whole thing combusted," he said. He pressed his lips into a fine line at Grace's wide eyes. "I'll tell you more later. I've got Grace and her friend here with me. Where are you?"
"Standing outside a dragon transport truck a block down from the burning float."
"Dragon transport? Why?"
"A group of teenagers drove two trucks into the parade. A couple of them were dragons. Completely plastered. A few of them tried to flee."
"And I'm guessing they didn't get very far."
"Hey, I'll talk to you later. Duke just got eyes on the last kid they're trying to catch."
"Be careful, Super SEAL," he said and hung up.
He looked at the girls. Lana looked downcast while Kaliko tried to soothe her, and Grace just looked exasperated. Like she had expected her afternoon to turn sideways at some point.
Danny hated that she had come to expect that when she spent time with him.
"How about we go to that dessert shop you wanted to take me to, huh?" he suggested. He plucked at his shirt. "I've got spare clothes in the car."
Lana perked up and looked her mom. Kaliko nodded and shot him a thankful look.
He patted Grace the arm. "Come on, Monkey, let's go see if I can try boba again without dying."
Grace sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. "Danno."
He smiled.
At the very least, she would always remember her time with him. Now if only he could convince her mother that wasn't a bad thing…
Next time on "Dragons", the team is whisked away to an island where a survival show is being filmed. If only the contestants had to contend with nature alone, they may have been fine...
Okay, question time. Would you guys rather have a two week gap between postings and get a bigger chapter? Or would you rather me post two smaller chapters once a week? I was working on three different chapters this last week. It was insane. I haven't done that in forever. But, I've got one planned out that I'm thinking will be a decent sized chapter, and would like to know if you'd rather have it broken up into small chapters or wait for one big chapter.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading, reviewing, faving, and following! Stay safe! See you in the new year! ;)
