I am so sorry this is so terribly late. I kept having interruptions and got out of the groove of writing after I had family visit.
Onto the show!
Fact #170: The ocean doesn't care about you or your feelings.
Season: 5th Season
"Five-0! You need to bring this vessel to a halt!"
"Five-0? As in, the Hawaiian state taskforce? That Five-0?"
Steve gritted his teeth. As if there was any other state taskforce called Five-0.
"Yeah, that Five-0," Kono said. She kept her borrowed rifle aimed at the crew members on the top deck.
The crew member that had started yelling at them as soon as they had surfaced from a lower deck of the vessel lowered his arms and scrubbed at his face. He waved a hand at another man that had been standing with his arms above his head. Steve thought he heard him say something along the lines of 'get Alistair on the phone', but it was difficult to hear the hushed conversation over the wind blowing across the deck and the waves slapping against the hull.
"Don't move!" Kono shouted as the second man started to turn and head toward the cabin.
The first crew member looked back up at them. "Do you want the ship stopped or not?"
"Fine. But the rest of you stay where you are," Steve said.
The whole three crew members stayed standing in place while the fourth ran up toward the cabin where the captain would be located. None of them looked very intimidating. He could see no prison or gang tattoos or firearms on them. The one that had taken charge talking to them was a round faced man with shaggy, curly brown hair and glasses, a UCLA sweatshirt, and dirty jeans. The others fell into a similar category, one that if Steve had to put a name on, he would label 'nerds'.
The first crew member gestured for them to come down from their vantage point. "Are you sure you're not with DROPS?"
"Who's in charge of this vessel?" Steve questioned. What was DROPS? What did that stand for?
The man held his arms out. "Do we look like well oiled drug runners? We're researchers and this is a research vessel called the Ichthyosaur."
Kono rolled her eyes. "Brah, we don't care if you're researchers. You kidnapped two cops and a handful of civilians. That's still a major crime, even if it was for science!"
"We didn't kidnap you for science! We didn't even know you were cops! We just wanted the DROPS members. They have warrants out for their arrest in California and New York," the man said.
The engines cut out and the vessel began slowing to a stop. At least they were being cooperative. And from what Steve could see, they weren't that far away from the island yet. Oahu stood silhouetted on the ocean in the November evening as the sky started to be bathed in reds and oranges on the horizon and night crept up from the east, the direction they were heading.
"So you're researchers and bounty hunters?" Steve asked. As far as he knew, the civilians didn't have any warrants.
The man tossed his arms into the air. "Will you just come down here? We'll explain what's going on once we hear from our boss."
He didn't trust the whole innocent researcher schtick the man was going for, nor did he trust who this boss was. When he and Kono had awoken in a cramped cabin with several other people, it hadn't taken very long for them to find their way out and locate a locker full of weapons. He doubted a research vessel needed to be as heavily armed as these guys were, even if he couldn't imagine any of these scholarly looking guys bringing a firearm to bear.
"How about you get me a radio or sat phone and then you start from the beginning?" Steve said.
The man sighed and dropped his arms. "Fine. But we really don't have time for this. Julio, bring the sat phone out here!"
As one of the other crew members turned and headed for the cabin, there was a commotion from the other side of the deck. Steve narrowed his eyes.
"Nobody move!"
Three other people appeared from around the ladder leading up to the cabin, also wielding borrowed weapons. Except these were not cops.
"Looks like McGarland and Jin got started without us," the woman with the short cropped blonde hair said. "Not too shabby, guys."
Steve clenched the handgun tighter. While the so-called researchers were more heavily armed than they should have been, he didn't know how dangerous they were. The one woman and two men that had appeared just now? Those three were dangerous. With just him and Kono, it would be hard to keep everyone under control if they blew their cover.
Which Kono seemed intent on keeping.
"You're late to the party," Kono said. She gestured with the barrel of the rifle to the three crew members on the deck. "We were just trying to get answers out of these guys."
"And they didn't seem too interested in giving them, either," Steve said.
The crew member in charge furrowed his brows and looked between them and the others with utter confusion. Steve willed him to keep his mouth shut. Perhaps revealing themselves as Five-0 had been premature, but he had thought the others would be down for the count longer. Or he had hoped, at least.
"Oh, I don't doubt it," the blonde said. She looked straight at the crew member in charge. "Hello, James."
"Chelsea," James greeted tightly.
Chelsea approached him while the two men kept their guns aimed at the other crew members.
"Where is it?" Chelsea questioned.
James held his hands up. "I don't know what you think we have, but-"
Chelsea threw a punch that knocked him to the ground.
Steve had let his aim drift to the side a little, just to where the first thing to be hit if a firefight broke out would be an armed man instead of an unarmed crew member. Chelsea obviously had a better idea of who these people were and what was going on, and was getting aggressive with her interrogation of James.
"I left a message for Danny at the house, but we need to get a sat phone and let him know where we're at," Steve hissed.
"Preferably before the other two wake up and arm themselves, or these guys start shooting," Kono agreed.
Steve lowered his gun and tucked it in his waistband. "Hey, Chelsea!"
She stopped and looked up at him with a furious frown.
"He can't talk if his jaw is busted or he's unconscious," Steve said. He took a single step down the ladder to the main deck where everyone else was. "Let me take a crack at him."
"McGarland, I realize you were an interrogator, but this is my show, and I'll run it how I please," Chelsea growled. She returned to James on the ground. "Where is it? I know you wouldn't just leave it there, so either you or another vessel have it."
James rolled into a ball. "I don't know!"
Chelsea brought her leg back for another kick.
The vessel rocked sideways violently.
The force flung him against and nearly over the railing of the ladder. He managed to snag it with an iron grip and kept himself from going overboard. Kono slid across the ground before she got her feet braced on the metal side with a string of curses. She pulled herself upright, gripping the barrel of the rifle and using it as a crutch as the vessel rocked back to center.
Steve struggled back to the right side of the railing and looked up. "You okay?"
"What the hell was that?" she questioned.
Using that as a signal that she was fine, he directed his attention to the water below. The waves were calm and small, too tame to have rocked this size of vessel. They were alone with no other boats around out in the open water where night had started to fall.
"I don't know," he said.
He looked back at the deck below. Two crew members had scattered, James was attempting to pull himself upright, one of the armed men was on the ground, and Chelsea and the other man were holding onto various railings for dear life.
"You have it on the ship!" Chelsea yelled. She brought her gun up and aimed it at James.
This was enough. Steve highly doubted it would matter if they kept their cover now. He started to draw his gun as he finished his descent down the ladder with Kono on his heels. His foot had barely touched the deck when all the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end.
Kono froze behind him.
"Boss?" she asked, sounding like the young rookie that he had recruited to the team all those years ago.
His heart thumped a little harder in his ribcage. There was that feeling. The others seemed to feel it, too. The noise had died to a deafening silence.
He reached back and grabbed for her.
"Kono-"
The vessel rocked again, and this time, it was accompanied by screaming.
A week earlier….
It had been a while since he had gone undercover.
The underground fighting ring had included everyone but him. That time, he had been the backup while his team went undercover and then they had nearly all gotten killed by Jupiter. He was pretty sure that was the last time any of them had gone seriously undercover. Most cases were straight forward and required more door kicking and less subtlety.
"You really think this is a good idea?"
Steve glanced up at Danny leaning in his office doorway.
"Hey, you were the one that suggested it," he said and went back to his computer. He was giving his cover ID one more thorough scan before calling it good.
"No. No, I did not. I suggested that it would maybe be a good plan for the police to go undercover and infiltrate the group," Danny clarified, hands chopping this way and that to emphasize this was not what he meant.
"We are the police."
"You know what I mean. I meant HPD, not Five-0. This isn't even really our jurisdiction, is it? Aren't we supposed to handle the cases HPD won't touch with a ten foot pole? You know, Wyverns melting people into asphalt and attacking helicopters, bodies strung up in trees, terrorists, etcetera."
He tapped Enter on his keyboard and sat back, lacing his fingers behind his head and holding Danny's eyes with his. "Would you rather it be terrorists?"
Danny huffed and flung his hands out. "No! Of course I don't want it to be terrorists or serial killers or drug runners or human traffickers. But really, Steve? You're going undercover in an adrenaline junkie club?"
"I thought you'd think it's fitting," Steve said and smirked.
"It totally is, one hundred percent, fitting. But also ridiculous. We actually had days off this week, and then you go and volunteer to take over this case."
"You're not going undercover."
"No, but that means I'm the backup as per usual. I'll have to be ready to come bail you out of whatever hornet's nest you decide to kick, so no. It will not be a vacation for me. I'll have to be worrying about you-"
"Hey."
"-and Kono the whole time," Danny amended and looked at Kono as she walked in. "While I agree this case is completely up you two's alley, did you really have to go undercover during the World Series?"
Kono grinned and nodded toward Steve. "They got in contact with my buddy. We've got a time."
Even though they had done their due diligence on the group before going undercover, the adrenaline junkies were not quite what Kono had been expecting.
The case had popped onto their radar after a member of the group had shown up in the ER with a nearly severed arm. It was fair to say the so-called surfing accident had garnered some attention. Apparently, the attending nurses were familiar with this particular group of people coming in with various suspicious wounds, but this one topped the list.
HPD had gotten called at some point and through some means Steve had decided he wanted the case. Not that Kono was opposed. She could use a good case.
The person sitting across from her was Chelsea Sellers. She was a former Los Angeles police officer and looked like she could probably rip a door off its hinges despite being at least six inches shorter than Kono. She seemed to fall into the leader type role of the group, though they all appeared to have input on decisions.
Kono brushed her wet hair back. "Killer run today."
"Yeah, no kidding. You sure you're an ex-cop and not an ex-pro surfer?" Chelsea asked.
Kono laughed, smiling to hide the fear. Undercover for three days and she'd already been found out.
"Yo, I'm joking," Chelsea said and punched her shoulder. "A pro surfer wouldn't be stuck on the island with this group of lunatics. They could jet off to whatever waves their heart desired."
"Brah, I can't even afford to jet off to the next island," Kono said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
Steve sat down next to Kono at the same picnic table in the sand. A man named Braun Houser, a fitting name for a brawny man the size of a house, sat down next to Chelsea on the opposite side. He was a former Navyman, much like Steve's cover ID. Steve had been using that to try and buddy up to him while Kono attempted to get on Chelsea's good side.
"Braun was just telling me about some ice swimming you guys did in Alaska last year," Steve said.
"If you want to refresh your soul, that's how you do it," Braun said.
"Yeah, sure, nothing like an icy cold dip that makes your nipples so hard you can cut glass." Chelsea shook her head.
"Oh, you think that's bad, you should've seen what the cold did to me," Braun said.
They began regaling them with the finer points of what the water in a frozen lake did to the body.
Steve eyed Kono.
Kono felt the same. For a group of adrenaline junkies, they hadn't actually done anything very dangerous. So far in their three days since they had gotten accepted into the group on a trial basis, they had gone rock climbing and surfing. Usually Chelsea and Braun were with them, and other members would cycle in and out. Kono counted at least three others for a grand total of five members, but she hadn't seen the man who had nearly gotten his arm severed.
"Nice ink, McGarland," Chelsea commented.
Steve glanced at his shoulders. "Navy buddies talked me into getting them."
"You got a sweet little piece there, too," Kono said, nodding toward the tattoo that consumed most of Chelsea's left bicep.
"This guy?" She patted the faded ink. "This here is Jörmungandr, from Norse mythology. Though, given his descriptions, I'd say he probably started out as more than a myth."
Kono latched onto that. "Probably some kind of Serpent/Amphibian mix that was of unusual size, or something that made him stand out to the people of the time."
"May have even been a Marine dragon before they were hunted to extinction," Steve added.
Chelsea's normally passive face morphed into something akin to excitement. She smirked. "I think you're going to fit in fine with us."
Danny paced around the abandoned greenhouse covering what he was sure was a pool.
Three days in and Steve's report had been less than stellar. Other than a bruised knee from rock climbing, the adrenaline junkie nutcase group had done nothing worthy of nearly severing an arm. Then after the third day, the daily reports stopped. To say he had been worried was an understatement. The only thing that had kept him from calling in SWAT was the fact that Steve had a tracker in his watch and according to the tracker, he was still alive.
With Chin's help, they had managed to pinpoint both Steve and Kono late on the fifth day. The rest of the goon squad failed to notice them, but Steve must have been waiting for him to show up. The litter he casually dropped on the ground near the trashcan when the group left the bar on the North Shore had contained a note.
Group is locking down. Think we have an in. Standby.
That would explain the radio silence, then.
Relying solely on Steve's watch to keep track of them was a gamble, but one they were going to take. Chin had all their frequent haunts mapped out and the old house in the middle of nowhere had become a favorite on the sixth and seventh day.
Then the watch stopped transmitting.
Now he was at the old house with Chin and an HPD unit on the evening of the seventh day.
He glanced up at the back of the house. Chin was still combing through the inside room by room. People had obviously been living at the house, as it wasn't in complete shambles and had power and water. The owner's name had been the fishy part, seeing as the guy lived on the Big Island now, but someone was paying the utility bills.
"Hey," he greeted Chin when he walked out of the backdoor. "Find anything in there?"
Chin shook his head. "Nothing obvious. Looks like they were in the middle of eating takeout and left in a hurry. Left their phones on the kitchen counter. Found Steve's watch next to the phones."
Danny rubbed a hand through his hair. "Okay. There didn't appear to be a major struggle in the house, which I assume there would have been if their covers had been blown. Maybe Blondie decided to let them into the inner ring and show them what they're really doing? Because while they're all crazy, I don't think they're the crazy adrenaline junkies with a side hustle we originally thought they were."
Chin set a steadying hand on his shoulder. "They'll be okay."
Danny was sure he said that for his own benefit as much as his. If Kono got killed on an operation, neither of them would ever forgive themselves. He vividly remembered the day she had stepped out of the waves and punched a guy before volunteering to go undercover for them, all before she had even graduated. Young and full of fire, needing guidance and experienced hands to help mold her. He and Chin were the seasoned cops, and while Kono was no rookie anymore, the point still stood. She was in their care.
Steve, on the other hand, was solely Danny's problem now that Cath had left for wherever it was she was going.
"Knowing Steve, they'll do something utterly ridiculous and stupid and probably blow something up before making a grand escape," Danny said in an effort to return the consolation.
Chin nodded and looked down.
Danny followed his eyeline down to the busted padlock on the greenhouse.
"So, you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking, huh?" Danny asked.
"Why padlock a greenhouse?" Chin raised a brow.
"And why put it over a pool? It's already so hot and muggy here, it's not like you need to keep it warm around the pool," Danny said.
Chin finagled the padlock loose, not a very difficult feat seeing as it looked like bolt cutters had recently sheared through it, and pulled open the door. He followed him inside.
The humidity slapped him in the face like a wet rag. It clung to his clothes and skin immediately, sticky and smelling strangely of salt and iron. Chin pulled out the flashlight he carried with him and turned it on.
They paused.
"Well, this keeps getting weirder and weirder," Danny mumbled.
The pool was full of water. Nothing too weird there. But around the pool was all sorts of medical equipment. Metal tables with tools sealed in cases. An ultrasound. What looked like a portable x-ray. The currently dark monitors and quiet machines with all wrapped in plastic to protect from the water stood in silent vigil in the greenhouse-turned-medlab.
"Looks like we have a Doctor Moreau on the island," Chin said.
"Please don't say that. Why can't they pick a different island to set up shop on, huh?" Danny edged up to the pool, pulling out his gun and flicking the light on.
The beam revealed that the pool was suspiciously empty except for the discolored water.
"Detective, Lieutenant, we found some...woah."
Danny pivoted and Chin shined his flashlight at the HPD officer standing in the doorway of the greenhouse.
"You said you found something?" Danny asked. He holstered his gun and stood up.
"Uh...yeah." The officer continued peering at the setup behind them.
Danny snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Care to share what you found?"
"We found a takeout menu with writing on it." The officer tore his eyes away from the medical equipment and handed the folded paper to Danny. Chin handed his flashlight to him.
"Why do you think it's important?" Chin asked in the encouraging tone Danny had come to associate with him when he was training younger officers like Kono many years ago.
The officer pointed. "Well, it says 50 at the top, and maybe that's meant to be for Five-0? But it's just gibberish below that."
"Pinpiz," Danny read aloud. "What the heck is pinpiz?"
Chin leaned over. "Looks like it was written in a hurry."
"Pinpiz, pinpiz, p-i-n-p-i-z," Danny muttered. He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Looks like Steve's chicken scratch. What would Steve mean by pinpiz?"
"Is it shorthand?" the officer asked. "Or a code?"
Danny stared at it, saying it over and over again under his breath, feeling the shape of each letter as his lips made it. A lightbulb popped on.
He handed Chin the takeout menu.
"It's pineapple pizza. They're in trouble."
Steve barely caught Kono's arm when the second attack was initiated. His gun as well as hers spun away to the now turbulent ocean below, both of them swallowed up by white foamy water.
The brief scream was replaced with the rapid report of gunfire.
He desperately wanted to look over his shoulder, but kept his attention focused on his teammate. She ranked higher in his priorities. He leaned back, biceps bulging under the weight of her lanky body. Kono slapped a hand on the railing and finished pulling herself back on deck just as the vessel rocked the opposite direction, sending them skidding portside until they caught themselves against a ladder.
With her back ondeck with him, he was able to fully take in the scene playing out and why someone had opened fire.
"Oh my God," Kono choked out.
Steve's grip on the ladder tightened as the deck under them listed even more steeply to the side.
Claws grasped the portside of the vessel. A head rose up over the side again once Chelsea's yelling and finally her shoving Braun's gun down had caused the shooting to cease.
The creature's head was easily the size of a dumpster, blocky like one, too, with primeval features. Fins fanned out from either side of its jaws and ran from the crown of its head down its neck. Pale eyes scanned the deck below it as it heaved itself further aboard, crushing railing and pulling the vessel dangerously deeper into the water.
Steve's eyes finally flicked from the enormous creature to Chelsea who was yelling at James again.
"You have it onboard! She wouldn't be here otherwise!"
James was holding onto a metal fixture in the middle of the deck for dear life. "Okay! It's here, below deck."
"What are they talking about?" Kono questioned.
Steve didn't get a chance to answer.
The vessel bobbed in the water as it was pulled from the starboard side. The creature shimmied onto the deck, narrowly missing stepping on Chelsea's crew with its sturdy front feet. Its scales glittered with blues and greens and purples, certain areas even took on a bioluminescent glow in the dimming light.
Too close for comfort another set of claws had grabbed onto the side of the vessel. Steve grabbed Kono's elbow and pulled her upright, pressing her back against the wall behind the ladder.
Another head, even larger than the first, peered over. It had the same blocky features, but fuller fans and softer colors in its scales.
The deck fell into a strangled quiet.
"This is what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, Chelsea," James said from his huddled position in the middle of the deck.
"You stole it from us!" Chelsea stage whispered back. "We rescued it and were trying to get it back to full health."
"And in the meantime you made two Marine dragons surface!"
Steve glanced at Kono.
Marine dragons? She mouthed at him. Then her eyes widened.
Steve looked back at the deck.
A large eye stared at them.
The second dragon had lowered its head and had taken an interest in them. Conical teeth flashed in its mouth as it lifted its lips and rumbled. Steve could feel the rumbling in his chest. Then it began clicking.
The first creature dug its claws into the deck.
The metal screeched and groaned.
Voices of Chelsea's crew carried above the noise, growing in panic and volume, but Steve couldn't make out what they were saying. His whole world had zeroed in on the massive head that was mere feet from him and Kono. Powerful neck muscles bulged behind the jaws. He had seen large and muscular dragons before. Jupiter had been a powerhouse and the mutated Wyvern had been by far the largest living dragon he had seen. These two were the size of Titan, one of the largest dragon fossils discovered.
"Woah, woah, easy," he said as the dragon tilted its head and attempted to snag his leg like a curious dog. He kept himself between Kono and it.
It pulled its head away and above the deck, shaking itself and rumbling again. The vessel dipped lower as it, too, pulled itself further onto the deck and started to help the other pick at metal.
James stumbled by with his hands reaching and bouncing off various railings and walls to steady himself. The two dragons had forced him away from his original place and had put themselves between Chelsea and her crew and Steve and Kono and now James.
Steve grabbed James before he could stumble clear and yanked him into the safe space behind the ladder.
"You're going to tell me right now what's going on," he said.
James glanced back at the two dragons. The vessel listed from side to side, caught in a precarious balance between the combined weights of the beasts.
He sighed and looked back at him. His nose was broken and one eye was beginning to turn red and puffy from earlier.
"Chelsea and the others, DROPS as they call themselves, used to work for my company before they went AWOL," he said. "They appropriated some equipment for themselves and got themselves tangled up in a far bigger mess than I think they realized."
"What's DROPS?" Kono asked.
"Dragon Relocation Organization and Protection Services," James said. "It's a rogue band of dragon enthusiasts who try to protect dragons. But this time, they basically kidnapped a kid."
"That explains Chelsea's obsession with dragons," Steve said. He looked up at the two dragons busily tearing away at the deck.
"How did they kidnap their kid?" Kono questioned. She braced her hands on the ladder and wall as the vessel bucked and one of the dragons let out a hoarse bark.
"I don't know for sure. Probably got tangled up in fishing netting or something similar, and DROPS found it or responded to a tip. But we keep tabs on things like this and found it really odd that three mauled whale carcasses washed up on beaches over the last two months. Then, we finally got a lock on them. They've been circling Oahu for a month, probably because Chelsea had the kid locked up in a pool."
"That's what was behind the house," Kono said and shared a look with Steve.
The jaws of the two adult dragons looked strong enough to crush a car. The jaws of a kid would probably be able to take an arm off. That was likely their so-called surfing accident.
"Who do you work for?" Steve asked.
James grimaced. "Chimera Labs."
The dragon centered research facility Danny had mentioned before. The one that Graham guy they had rescued out on the washed out trail was a guinea pig for. The one that for some reason sent a chill down Steve's spine whenever he heard its name uttered.
The vessel dipped and popped up suddenly.
James cursed as his head rebounded off the wall and fell to his butt and Steve landed on his knees. Kono held onto the ladder with white knuckles.
The two dragons rattled and clicked at each other, feverishly pulling and tearing at the deck. They had completely ripped away a portion of it and the first creature had slunk through the hole to the second deck where its desperate calls reverberated under their feet. The second creature hooked a hind foot on the edge of the vessel, making the deck level out again.
Unfortunately, Steve could tell the vessel was taking on water. There must have been damage below along its hull. That might have been what they had done with the first two hits.
"They're going to shred through this thing," he said and winced as he got to his feet.
"What if we gave them the kid?" Kono suggested.
"You would have to get around those two, first," James said and pointed.
Steve didn't think they even could get around them if they wanted to in the first place. He glanced around. There wasn't much he could think of to do. This was not a situation he had prepared himself for. Dragons? Yes. Dragons of this size in the ocean? No.
"What's the protocol for this?" he asked.
James looked at Kono and then back at him. "Are you talking to me?"
"Yes, you. Obviously your company is aware dragons this big exist. What's the protocol?" Steve said.
James shrugged. "I don't know! We've never come across Marine dragons this closely."
"Great. Think they'll leave before they completely sink us?" Kono asked.
Steve shook his head. "It's already starting-"
The first creature emerged from the hole in the deck triumphantly with what must have been the kid. It was about twelve feet long from nose to tail and dangled from the larger creature's jaws like a baby alligator.
Steve saw it coming too late.
The first creature slithered off the deck quickly. The weight and quick backward motion of the second creature catapulted him off the deck. For a couple seconds he was weightless, then landed. Hitting the water was like getting backhanded. It knocked his breath from his lungs and hugged him tight with a cold embrace.
Fortunately, he was familiar with the ocean's many faces and moods. He kicked and followed the bubbles to the surface, nictitating membranes shielded his eyes from the sting of saltwater. Waning light surrounded him when he surfaced, the normally tranquil blue waves dyed a menacing black in the falling night. Before him, the vessel leaned sideways in the water like a dead fish, its deck ripped open and its innards falling out.
He whipped his head around.
"Kono!"
Several yards away, Kono erupted from the water, dragging James with her.
"Steve!"
People yelling carried on the waves. The vessel groaned. The two creatures had vanished into the water. At least, that's what he thought until something bumped his legs.
He ducked under the water to get a better look.
A pattern of glowing lights lit up the silhouette of an incredibly long body. The silhouette eventually took on a more discernable shape and he realized with a start he was face to face with the second creature. His heart hammered. Skin prickled. Primal fear flooded his veins.
Without thinking, running on pure instinct, he shifted.
The dragon's head came closer. Whiskers reached out and touched him. Steve swallowed and clamped his gliding wings close to his body. He felt very tiny next to this creature and wasn't sure why he had shifted. Some part of him hoped that seeing a fellow dragon would perhaps ward them off. Another part of him wanted to be accepted by them, show them he was one of them. A third part just felt safer in dragon form.
The water vibrated with the low rumbling. Below his feet, another strip of lights pinpointed the first creature. It let out a long, low moan and started to approach.
And then as suddenly as they had appeared, the Marine dragons dove back into the depths of the ocean.
Steve surfaced again. A tremble racked his spine. The light had pretty much failed completely. Only a sliver of red burned on the horizon. He exhaled and hoped the dragons below had truly gone this time before he observed the chaos above the waves. At least he was fairly certain none of the humans would be able to tell who he was, or that he was even there in the poorly lit wreck radius.
He looked back up at the vessel.
It creaked in the gently rolling waves. Several other survivors had taken the plunge and floated in the water around the mangled vessel, or had piled into the single life raft that had survived. He could make out Chelsea and Braun with his now adjusted vision.
The cabin was still intact. Maybe he could climb up there and get to the radio or sat phone.
"Yo, Boss."
He sank lower in the water and glanced at Kono. She pointed.
"We've got company."
In the distance he could see a light approaching them. Not the organic blue and orange glow of the dragons. This one was a stark white light. The hum of an engine accompanied it. Perhaps that's why the dragons had scattered abruptly.
The boat slowed once its searchlight alighted on the wreck.
Then over the loudspeaker came his favorite sound.
"Steven, you better still be alive. I got on a friggin' boat to come save you in the dark in the middle of the ocean."
He chuckled and shifted back down into human form. Danny was the ultimate backup.
Steve stepped off the Coast Guard boat at the marina. He had never been one to love solid ground, but it was a relief once he set foot on the dock. The ocean had always been vast and intriguing to him, the mystery of what lay beneath the waves part of his love for it. Actually getting to see what was in the depths tonight, well, he privately appreciated the fact something couldn't come up from underneath him on land.
"Surprisingly, no one died," Danny said.
He looked over at him. "Huh?"
Danny waved a hand around while they walked up the dock. "You know. Usually when something bad happens and you're involved, a lot of people die. Who knew two giant dragons would cause less destruction, and I'm still not sure I totally believe you on how big they were."
"Why would I make that up?" he asked. He stepped between two HPD squad cars in the parking lot.
"I don't know, but I'd like to think you were fibbing at least a little bit on their size, because I'm officially never ever getting in the ocean ever again."
Steve nodded ever so subtly. He ruthlessly pushed aside the slight shiver that appeared when he thought about getting in the water, because the ocean wasn't something he would easily give up. He figured Danny would eventually get in the water again.
"How'd you find us, anyway?" he asked, stopping by the driver's side of the Camaro.
Danny jerked his thumb to the passenger side. "I've got the keys this time. Enjoy being chauffeured around for once."
"Come on, Danno, I wasn't injured."
"From what I heard, you got launched off the deck of the ship and slapped the water," Danny said, not budging. "Or, at least, that's what Kono told me."
"Fine," Steve grumbled and switched places with him. He settled in the passenger seat and buckled himself in. "So how did you know where we were?"
Danny started the engine and guided the car out of the parking lot. "We'll just say I got your pinpiz message and started tracking vehicles big enough to carry several people and a mysterious pool creature which led us to a marina which led to me punching someone and then eventually, somehow, I wound up on a Coast Guard boat and we picked up a distress call and then you know the rest. Do you know how long it took us to figure out what the hell pinpiz meant?"
"But you figured it out," he said.
"You better be glad Chin and I are good at what we do, because otherwise you'd still be floating around out there in the ocean tonight and would probably have become a midnight snack for two Leviathans."
Steve grinned. "That's why you're the backup."
Danny sighed.
Next time on "Dragons", the team gets a visit.
Wow. Wow. I can't believe it took me this long to write this. A month. I used to write this kind of chapter in a couple days. I'm old and slow now, I'm so sorry.
Thank you guys for sticking with me despite the fact that my writing has slowed down considerably! I'm still working on this fic, it's just slow going, and I don't think anyone's more frustrated by it than I am. I hope you guys enjoy when I post even if there are several weeks between chapters. ;)