AN: Thank you all so much for all your support! This fantasy-ish genre is entirely new for me, so your encouraging reviews really mean a lot. I'm glad you all are as excited about this story as I am!

The story now jumps to the middle of season 1. All the canon stuff - like the pilot and how they met - still holds true. On with the story!

Since the beginning of Five-0's inception, Steve knew his teammates were elites. His extra digging into their personnel files and additional reconnaissance only confirmed his gut instinct.

He'd always been better than most at picking elites out of a crowd, especially considering that skill wasn't part of his own cocktail of powers. Despite the desire to hide in plain sight, elites still stood out - at least to him. They carried themselves in a particular way: confidence strides laced with a touch of paranoia. No matter the classification or potency of elite ability, power always had a tendency to boost a person's pride.

Some were arrogant, even. As far as Steve was concerned, most of the overconfident ones hardly presented themselves as threats. No, it was the quiet ones you had to watch out for, he learned. Truly powerful people - dangerous elites - never flaunted their power. Rather, they rested in it comfortably and never revealed it until it suited them.

His teammates fell firmly into the quiet category.

Kono was the easiest to spot; something he chalked up to inexperience and youth. Despite her incredible skillset, the rookie was still painfully young and innocent at times. She'd yet to see the horrors of the world and what it did to elites. Still, she guarded her status, most likely because of her former surfing career. One hint of extra skills would have her kicked off the circuit for good, no matter her abilities and precautions taken to ensure she didn't cheat.

To a less-skilled eye, Chin appeared as ordinary as the idiots who booted him out of HPD. In the end, his nearly unnatural calm gave it away. He was deeply in touch with the world around him, cloaked in a dignity and grace the SEAL hoped to emulate. His personnel file only confirmed his theory. Part of Steve wondered if his elite status was part of the reason they went after him so persistently.

But Danny had been the toughest to crack of them all. For how often the loud Jersey native talked, his new partner was frighteningly good at hiding and Steve wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it. Only the notation in Danny's file - the mandatory registration for all police officers, military, and any other government employees - told of Danny's gifts. Three words - Status: Elite, Mixed - was all Steve had to go on, and that made him a bit squirrely.

However, his teammates were good people first and foremost. Of that, he was very much certain, and their extra abilities beyond that didn't concern him one bit.

Until The Case.

Technically, it was two connected cases that blew this topic wide open, but that was hardly the point. Because in an incredibly short timespan, he'd learned more about his teammates than he thought possible - more about elites than he could imagine. What should've been a simple assignment exploded in their collective faces and forced each one to show their full hand.

It never should've come to this.

Gagging accompanied by a soft whimper interrupted his train of thought, spurring him to action. He crawled across the small, shifting space and rested his hand on his partner's heaving back. "Breathe through it, Danny. C'mon man, you really wanna break your streak now?"

Danny coughed weakly and curled into a fetal position on the floor, somehow managing to keep his stomach firmly under control. "Screw you," he murmured, eyes barely open. "We're… we're 'n this mess-s an' all you c-care 'bout 's my s-streak?"

"Well, it's an impressive record. I gotta keep my priorities straight, right?"

Snorting, his partner winced and cinched his arms tightly around his stomach. "It hurts, St've," he slurred as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hey, stay awake for me, buddy. Now's not the best time to pass out, huh?"

"'M n't gonna pass out."

"You're not even a little convincing. At least try to look conscious, Danno." Despite the lighthearted tone, Steve's words bore a foundation of truth. Worried, he noted how Danny tried and failed to push himself into an upright position. With a full-body tremor now wracking his frame, he barely had the strength to keep his eyelids open.

"Damn it all." Scrubbing his face with both hands, Steve rocked back on his heels and allowed himself a moment of self-flagellation. "You overdid it, D."

He didn't expect an answer, but Danny's stubbornness apparently refused to let Steve get the last word. "Yeah, l-l-like I h'd a choice, S-Steven."

Though he knew it wasn't intended as blame, Steve still felt overwhelming guilt punch him in the kidneys. Cursing himself under his breath, he let himself fall back onto his butt and looked everywhere but at the man who laid shaking on the ground.

A hand skittered up to weakly pat his knee. "'S not y'ur fault, y'know," Danny breathed. "Worth it-t. I'd d-do it again."

Well, crap. That hurt worse than guilt's sucker-punch earlier.

"It's not gonna happen," Steve vowed. "You're done for the day. Done for the month, actually."

Danny scoffed and muttered something under his breath that Steve didn't quite catch. Probably a good thing, he decided, since his partner could out-swear even the most seasoned sailor when he had a mind to.

He was about to respond in kind when the motion beneath them finally slowed to a gentle rock. Less than a minute later, footsteps stomped towards them with intention clear in each stride.

It was time.

Part of Danny was still aware enough to catch the change in atmosphere and know what it meant. "Watch your back, Steve." His voice - though still weak - was unwavering, as though he'd mustered all his remaining strength to make sure Steve heard him. "You gotta take care of yourself first, alright? I'll be fine."

"Not gonna happen."

"Please," Danny was nearly pleading now, the hand on Steve's knee clenching with frantic desperation, "we need to buy time. Just… don't do anything stupid, alright?"

Then Danny's eyes finally slid shut, though the uncontrollable tremors running through his body showed he was still semi-conscious. And despite Steve's need to see Danny's blue eyes to assure him that he was okay, he refused to begrudge his friend the rest he desperately needed.

No, Danny didn't need to be awake for this next part - this undoubtedly unpleasant part.

Steve turned and faced the door as he heard the clatter of a deadbolt sliding free, positioning himself between it and Danny. Muscles tensing, he once again cursed the case thrown in their laps that led to all of this. Then, he offered up a prayer to whatever deity might be listening as he prepared for what came next.

~H50~

The Beginning of the End

It all started in a rather typical manner, otherwise known as a phone call from the Governor on a Saturday morning. Somehow, in the grand equation of things, this seemed to be payback for every time Steve used the "I have the Governor on speedial" excuse to claim jurisdiction over whatever the hell he wanted.

At least Danny didn't have Grace this weekend. That was perhaps the one brightside to Steve calling him at an ungodly hour that morning. Not that he particularly enjoyed working on any Saturday, but it definitely beat sitting in his crappy apartment staring at the walls reflecting how his life sucked. Plus, the overtime pay would definitely help his bank account, which was stretched alarmingly thin this month.

(and every month since he moved to this expensive rock in the middle of the damn ocean.)

So he'd rolled out of bed with minimal complaining, found a clean shirt and pair of slacks, poured himself an extra large cup of coffee, tightened his tie, and headed off to the office.

It only dampened his mood a little to see all three of his teammates already there, bright-eyed and far too energetic for this hour.

"Surfing, really?" he said, gesturing at Kono's still-wet hair. "We get one day a month to sleep in and you get up early to voluntarily drown?"

"Technically, we didn't even get our one day," Chin pointed out helpfully as he sipped his own coffee.

"Yeah, don't remind me. Might as well give up tryin' to recover my catastrophic sleep debt."

That earned a chuckle from the older detective, though he probably didn't realize that Danny wasn't exactly joking. He couldn't remember a time where he didn't feel completely exhausted, wrung out. Not that he dared to mention that to his teammates. The last thing he wanted was three extremely determined and talented people digging into the reason behind his weariness.

So he merely grinned with Chin and Kono at his own expense as Steve strode out of his office with his classic aneurysm face plastered on. Without another word, they gathered around the smart table and waited for Steve's briefing.

"Yesterday, HPD arrested a small-time dealer suspected of being linked to one of the main distributors of fentanyl on the island. They managed to flip him by offering him time off his sentence if he gave up his suppliers. But there was a complication and now we're being brought in."

"Okay, let me just stop you right there," Danny interrupted, allowing a bit of his peeved attitude to sneak into his tone. "You're telling me the Governor called us in on a freaking Saturday because of the statement of a rinky-dink drug dealer?"

"Yeah," Chin chimed in. "I mean, this sounds like HPD's jurisdiction. No complication could possibly be big enough for the Governor to step on their toes and give this case to us."

"How about the dealer turning up dead in the interrogation room before he could give anything up?"

All three stared at him in stunned silence for a moment, then Kono whistled. "Damn, boss. What the hell happened?"

"That's what the Governor wants us to find out."

"They don't know?" Incredulous, Danny gestured wildly with his coffee mug. "They got, uh, security cameras in HPD interrogation rooms last I checked. And it happened in the middle of a freakin' police precinct! You're tellin' me no one saw or heard anything?"

Steve shook his head, moving from his spot at the head of the table to the access keyboard on the screen of the table. "Nope. Not even Duke and he was stationed at the desk that day."

"Well, there goes my comment about the incompetence of HPD. If Duke missed it, it's gotta be pretty baffling."

Chin rolled his eyes at the mainlander's disdain. "They think it was a dirty cop? I mean, it isn't a far jump after what happened with Kaleo."

"I'm not ruling anything out here." Pulling up the responding officer's report and crime scene photos, Steve magnified the wide shot of the interrogation room. "Whoever did this, they did it cleanly. The detective questioning him went out to call his attorney so they could make the deal and to chat it up with a couple of his buddies about his career-making bust. Came back half an hour later to a dead drug dealer still handcuffed to the table. The door was locked and, as far as the cameras show, no one came in at all during that time."

Tilting her head, Kono studied the image. "There's… nothing. No signs of a struggle, no blood, no obvious wounds to point to a COD. We sure this was even a murder, boss?"

As he studied the photo himself, Danny couldn't help but agree with her. The walls were still that dingy yellow-green combination unblemished by the scarlet of fresh blood. Everything was still in its proper place - including the drug dealer. He sat slumped in that rickety, uncomfortable metal chair, looking for all the world like he was just taking a nap.

Apparently, Chin was on the same page as his cousin as well. "He is a drug dealer," he dryly pointed out. "He's not exactly living a healthy lifestyle. Maybe he accidently overdosed, or sampled some tainted drugs? Nothing here really screams foul play."

"I thought the same thing, but it's definitely murder. Max ran a few tests and found poison in his system - a fast-acting, painless toxin that presents no outward symptoms. There was a puncture wound on the side of his neck, so it definitely wasn't self-administered."

"Well, how fast-acting are we talking?" Kono chimed in as she started sorting the different photos in different categories. "Could he have been exposed before he was arrested?"

"Max said ten, maybe fifteen minutes. He's still trying to narrow down on the exact poison, but he thinks it's some sort of hemlock-based toxin. Can you pull up the security footage and play it at 4x speed?"

Steve drummed his fingers on the table even as Kono complied and Danny hid a smile behind his coffee mug. Sometimes Steve reminded him of a kid pulling their parents towards a playground - impatient and practically exploding from pent-up energy. For a highly decorated Navy SEAL, the guy was an oversized child half the time.

And the other half… Well, from what Danny had seen, he was extremely thankful Steve was on their side.

Kono had the recording up, scrubbing through it at Steve's requested playback rate. With eyes locked on the lone occupant, Danny still blinked in surprise when - seemingly out of nowhere - the man's head dropped to his chest and limbs went limp. "What the hell?"

"Kono, rewind it ten minutes before he moves and play it at a normal speed."

She complied, and they all watched with intense focus as… nothing happened. No one entered or exited the room or even walked past the door as far as they could tell. The room remained completely empty except for one nervous drug dealer fidgeting nervously in the chair.

"Well," Chin raised an eyebrow, "that's different. I've never investigated a murder with no murderer before."

"We should check the vents." Danny took another huge gulp of coffee; there wasn't enough caffeine on the freaking planet to deal with a case like this. It was in the same category of crazy as the Twilight Zone. "I know Max said he found an injection site, but we can't rule anything out yet."

Rubbing her chin, Kono nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that mark could've been from something else. It's kind of a long shot, but we've got no signs of someone coming in and injecting him with anything."

"Kinda hard to poison somebody when no one else is in the room with the victim," Danny added dryly. "Unless the victim decided to off himself in a real creative way.'"

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Morbid today, aren't we? What happened to your joyful spirit?"

"Lost it in the divorce. Any hope of getting it back vanished when I was partnered with you and started working Saturdays."

"Children, children, please." As the eldest of the team, Chin easily adopted a long-suffering tone and slipped into the 'peacemaker' role before the argument could start. "Not to ruin my chance to fill my need for daily entertainment, but we should focus. You guys can fight this out in the car later. In the meantime, what's our next move?"

Straightening, Steve's expression morphed back into his 'command' face. "Alright, we need to narrow down how exactly someone managed to murder this guy without getting seen by anyone or the cameras. I'd also like to get some background on this guy and figure out what he knew that got him killed. Chances are we can kill two birds with one stone: catch a killer and take down a drug ring."

"Sure, why not?" Danny muttered into his coffee. "Not like it's the weekend or anything. Let's go for broke."

"You say something, Daniel?"

"Who, me? Never." Smirking innocently, Danny jabbed his unoccupied hand in Steve's direction. "We just gonna stand around here all day or are we gonna do some real police work?"

To that, Steve rolled his eyes. "You and I are going to HPD to see what we can dig up. Chin, Kono, can you two look over the security footage and these reports? Maybe there's something we're missing. And try to compile some background information on our victim; see if anything stands out as to who did this."

Though Kono nodded, Chin shifted almost nervously before interjecting, "Actually, I'd like to go to HPD as well. That's my old precinct… might be able to turn something up you two would miss."

The comment, made in Chin's typical casual tone, still managed to trigger Danny's alarm. Frowning, he noted his friend's clenching fists completely at odds with his relaxed posture.

Apparently, Steve noticed it as well. Exchanging a glance with Danny, he nodded. "Sure, Chin. Kono, you good here on your own?"

"Shouldn't be a problem, boss. I'll call if I need anything."

Danny didn't miss the fact that her eyes were glued on her cousin even as she replied to Steve. Nor did he overlook the silent conversation they seemed to have as he followed Steve out the door.

"So that was strange," he said later as they drove to HPD. Well, Steve drove - Danny was once again a passenger in his own car. "And not the good kind of strange, either. I only get this feeling when I'm about to get jumped in an alley."

"You've been jumped in an alley?"

"Yes, Steven, I've been jumped in an alley. Unlike you, I had to walk a freakin' beat and Newark isn't exactly known for safety after midnight. Now can we please get back on topic?"

Steve smirked, which was a fairly solid indicator the man would bring up the alley thing again at a later date. "I'll admit it was unusual," he said, returning to their initial conversation. "Chin never misses a chance to show off the capabilities of his smart table and he almost always begs off going to HPD."

"He doesn't just 'beg off.'" Danny made air quotes, hands now thoroughly engaged in the conversation. "The guy avoids the place like the plague! He hates it more than I do, and that's saying something. Not that I blame him - hell, half the time I don't even wanna go!"

"Is there a point to this other than you venting your hatred towards HPD?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny twisted in his seat to face Steve. "My point is that Chin, a man who would rather get shot than walk into his old HPD precinct, willingly volunteered to come with us today with absolutely no reason why. Then, he and Kono have an entire conversation with just facial expressions. That not seem weird to you at all?"

"Yeah, Danny, it's strange, alright? But what do you want me to do? I'm not gonna call Chin out in front of everyone just because he's acting a little off."

"I didn't say you should. But I would like to know if you have some sort of plan for how we're gonna proceed with this, alright?" Sighing, he ran his hand through his disheveled hair. "It could be nothing, but I haven't lived this long by ignoring my gut."

He waited as Steve pulled into the HPD parking lot, his partner's brow wrinkled as he thought the situation through. When Chin pulled into the spot next to him, Steve nodded once and reached for the handle. "Just keep an eye on him."

"'Just keep an eye on him,' he says!" Opening his car door, Danny flapped a hand in Steve's direction. "I bow to your, uh, tactical prowess, SuperSEAL. I see the Army really trained you well."

"Navy, Danny, it was the Navy. And y'know, that joke wasn't even funny the first time."

"You two should really think about driving separately to crime scenes," Chin interjected, his typical grin on his face as he teased the two. A quick glance showed nothing amiss - at least as far as Danny could tell, anyway.

"Waste of gas," Steve dismissed the comment, leading the way to the door, "and a great car like the Camaro deserves to be driven by someone who appreciates it."

"Whoa, eyyyy! I appreciate my car just fine, thank you! I'm sure I'd appreciate it even more if I got to drive it myself instead of just paying for all the repairs from you damaging it. How's that being 'appreciative,' huh?"

Chuckling, Chin locked step with Danny as they both ignored the stares and not-so-quiet whispers coming from the gaggle in the HPD bullpen. Of course, Steve did no such thing, pointing his patented death glare in the direction of anyone who dared open their mouth.

Sometimes, it was nice having a loyal Navy SEAL as a teammate. As they passed the newly cowed detectives, Danny shot them a smirk and a little wave. "How's it going, guys? You learn how to solve cases yet or are you still practicing for this year's softball tournament?"

Chin's snort made the renewed glares totally worth it.

See, it wasn't that Danny didn't trust Chin. He had proved himself worthy of Danny's trust several times over, especially with Meka's case. But something unsettled his friend, and anything that shook the unflappable Chin Ho Kelly was worthy of Danny's concern.

Keep an eye on him, Steve said.

Both eyes, Danny silently vowed. I'm not getting blindsided.

Not again.

I hope I've piqued your interest! Excited to be writing a case-centric fic again (and you KNOW I got some fun whump ahead). I would love to hear your thoughts on this and can't wait to share more of this story with you!