AN: Based on the reactions from the last chapter, I feel like I should apologize for making you all endure another near miss. But then again, it's fun inflicting cliff hangers on other people for once, so I'm not exactly sorry lol. Hope you all enjoy this next chapter!

Warning: depictions of violence

As it turned out, Dr. Sterling was a terrifying man. His seemingly ever-present teasing grin and dry wit disappeared, replaced by a severe expression and no-nonsense bark. No one dared to cross the irate doctor who was clearly looking for someone to fight after losing his patient. Growling, he mobilized hospital security with a speed and efficiency HPD could only dream of. He'd give Danny a run for his money in the ranting department, though his tone contained a lot less bluster than Danny's normally did.

Even Steve looked impressed and perhaps a tad intimidated, something Chin never thought he'd live to see.

But the expression was gone in an instant and the stony mask resumed its rightful place. It too cowed the hospital staff, the former Navy SEAL's death glare no match for these rent-a-cops who dared defy him. To anyone else, he appeared furious as his clipped answers and sharp tones discouraged anyone from approaching him.

Chin knew better. Steve wasn't angry, he was terrified.

The guy's best friend had been violently kidnapped, and Steve's mind was undoubtedly filled with a wide variety of nightmares that could be inflicted on the captured detective. Chin's own mind contained quite a few, all of them churning his stomach into a hurricane of nauseous bile.

Guilt was present in the emotions flitting across Steve's eyes too. After all, this had all happened while he decimated punching bags at the gym. He didn't doubt that the SEAL was engaged in a less-than-healthy game of self-blame at the moment, something that they didn't have time for with Danny in dire straits.

Therein lay the problem. The only person capable of getting Steve out of his funk was Danny, but Danny wasn't here. Which was precisely why Steve was engaged in his self-blame exercise. It was a vicious cycle that wouldn't resolve unless they found Danny alive. Fast.

Which was something that seemed to get more and more unlikely with every new piece of information.

It was clearly an inside job. Someone had disabled all of the security cameras on the floor, including the ones in all of the elevators and the stairwell. None of the nurses reported seeing anyone out of the ordinary or anyone that they didn't recognize. Even Sterling's hospital-wide duty roster check showed nothing amiss.

Now, they were gathered together in the small security office, Chin's breakfast long forgotten in the cafeteria after he abandoned it upon the announcement of the lockdown. He'd tried to track the residual trace of Danny's distinct signature, but it was too muddied by far too much foot traffic to provide him with any information. In other words, it was a total dead end.

So much for being the best tracker on the island, he berated himself bitterly.

He'd been given full access to the hospital's security, so he and Kono had tackled shifting through all the camera footage on the floor. Now, Kono shifted her weight anxiously, fingers curling and uncurling as she scanned the monitors. Steve was an anxious ball of energy and Dr. Sterling was a silent black hole of rage. Clearly, he was beyond pissed that this occurred under his very nose.

On the other hand, Sarah sat frozen in a chair in the corner, refusing to leave Kono's side once news of Danny's disappearance broke. As one of their only links to Kingsley, Chin didn't want to let her out of his sight.

"There has to be something here," he interjected, cutting off Steve's rising fury. "Whoever it was had to get Danny out of the hospital somehow, right? There's no way he made it through the entire building completely undetected, especially since he had Danny with him."

"He was probably unconscious," Steve growled, eyes borderlining on 'murderous.' "No way someone gets him out of here quietly if he's awake."

"It explains the empty syringe." Sterling nodded in agreement. "He's still suffering from some severe side effects from the incident yesterday, so he was certainly at a disadvantage during the physical altercation. But if he's drugged… well, that could seriously damage his system with the side effects he's experiencing. And his body can't afford to take much punishment right now, so finding him soon is critical."

"Gee, ya think, Doc?" came Steve's biting reply.

"Given my medical degree - which is one more than you have - yeah, I think!"

"Enough!" Kono snapped. "This right here?" she gestured at the two angry men, "is not helping Danny!"

"Kono's right," Chin cut in soothingly. "Right now, we need to focus on finding this guy's exit. Since Danny was probably unconscious, he must've used the elevator."

"But he doesn't get off in the main lobby area," Kono continued the recap, "so where else could he have gotten off with Danny to get them both out of the building without arousing suspicion?"

Silence, then Sterling snapped his fingers. "One of the elevators goes down to the staff parking garage if you scan your ID. Most people prefer to take the stairs since the elevator lets people out on the far side of the garage where not many people park."

"Check it, Chin." Leaning over Chin's shoulder, Steve practically vibrated with nervous energy. "That has to be it."

Immediately complying, Chin found the right camera feed and played through the footage until the elevator doors slowly opened…

… and out came a figure in scrubs pushing a wheelchair. Even with the poor quality of the image, there was no mistaking that familiar shock of blond hair of the wheelchair's occupant. Almost immediately, the man in scrubs veered off camera into a security system blindspot.

Without prompting, he rewound the footage and paused it as the perp and his unconscious victim exited the elevator. For Danny was definitely unconscious - no awake person would slump at such an awkward angle. He was still unnaturally upright in the chair, almost as if he'd been somehow secured to the chair's back.

"Danno," Steve breathed, horror creeping into the normally carefully-controlled tone, "buddy, what did he do to you?"

Peering over Chin's other shoulder, Sterling slowly shook his head. "It's too hard to make out the face from this picture. Can't tell if I recognize them or not."

"This was taken almost an hour and a half ago," Chin said, pulling up the feed that covered the exit of the garage on a separate monitor. However, no car exited until a long line of cars pulled up.

"That matches the schedule for this morning's shift change," Sterling spoke up. "You won't find him in that mess. It's a madhouse trying to get out of here during shift changes."

"Kono, run the ID scanned in the elevator," Steve ordered, still staring at the image of his helpless partner.

"Already done." Flipping her own monitor, the rookie motioned the doctor over. "Came back to an Oliver Becker. Do you recognize him, Dr. Sterling?"

Studying the image, Sterling slowly nodded. "Yeah, I've seen him around. He's an orderly, working here for maybe 2 years. We've never really talked though."

A questioning glance at Sarah earned a silent, tearful negative shake. She didn't recognize him.

"I'll send this to HPD to run background - -"

"No!"

Everyone froze, all eyes turning to Steve.

"No one but the people in this room can know what's going on," he murmured, eyes still locked on the screen. "We can't risk someone digging deeper into Danny's history, and we also don't know who's on Kingsley payroll."

For the first time since they discovered Danny's absence, Sarah spoke up. "He pays lots of people," she whispered. "Policemen help him all the time. Sometimes they even bring him the elite kids."

Well, damn it. As much as he hated HPD, he'd really hoped that the whole Kaleo business was the last of the dirty cop mess.

"So what, we don't tell anyone Danny's missing?" Eyes wide, the young officer couldn't quite comprehend the magnitude of what her boss was suggesting. "That's not really gonna work, boss."

Sterling nodded in agreement. "I alerted hospital security, who notified the police promptly. It's protocol."

"Alright, then we cut them out of the investigation. Say that it's one of our own and we've got it handled." Steve confirmed, scrubbing his eyes with bruised knuckles. "If the hospital can be compromised, so can HPD and the Governor's office. A widespread, public investigation is only going to lead to questions that we can't answer. If Kingsley's name is brought up, people are gonna figure out pretty quickly why Danny was taken and we'll be in a world of hurt."

"What about Duke?" Chin asked, wholeheartedly agreeing with Steve but not loving the whole 'one-man army' mentality. "We certainly can't take down Kingsley's entire operation alone and Duke's trustworthy. We don't need to give him all the details, but he'll back us up if we need it."

"Fine. Call him and inform him of the situation and ask him to put someone he trusts on the Edwards house just in case they try to go after Grace. But let's wait to tell them our suspicions on why Danny's missing until we know more. For now, we say that we think it ties into the takedown with Vivoldi. Anyone else?"

Dr. Sterling cleared his throat, stuffing his hands in the deep pockets of his lab coat and rocking back on his heels. "Listen, you guys have no reason to trust me, but I'm not sitting this one out. I try to always do what's best for my patients and Danny's one of them. Plus, this is my hospital… I can't help but feel somewhat responsible."

"Not your fault," Steve growled, that dark look rearing its ugly head once more.

"Doesn't change how I feel." He pulled a business card from his pocket. "If you guys need anything - especially once you find him - call me. Here's my personal cell number," he jotted it down on the back of the card, "and I'll keep everything on the down-low. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on things here and keep you all updated."

Taking the card for Steve, Chin canted his head gratefully. "I'm sure Danny will appreciate this, Doc."

Sterling laughed, eyes twinkling for the first time since this whole thing started. "Oh, he'll get a kick out of it. Pretty sure I heard him threatening to stab me this morning when I woke him up for a check." He shrugged merrily. "I don't get enough excitement in my life, so I'd love to see how that plays out."

After shaking Steve's hand, he strode out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, Sarah shifted in her chair and met their collective gaze with fire in her eyes. "You gotta find him, please! Mr. Kingsley will - - you - -"

The words trailed off into muffled sobs, her hands covering her face. Kono was already moving towards the distraught kid, gathering the little girl in her arms and shushing her gently. Somehow, Steve looked even more devastated than before.

"I did this," he heard the SEAL mumble. "I never should've left him."

"Hey," he interjected gently, patting his friend's back, "we'll find him, alright? We won't give up until we do."

Steve nodded, face rippling in an odd emotional dance before resettling in its expressionless mask. "Yeah… I just hope we're not too late."

His own fears aligning with those of his boss, Chin never agreed with any sentiment more than Steve's statement filled with hopeful dread.

We're coming, Danny, we're coming. Hold on.

~H50~

No matter how much he begged and struggled, they wouldn't let him go.

Rough hands squeezed his arms so tightly that he couldn't move, fingers bruising his much-smaller arms. They didn't seem to care when he cried out in pain, laughing as he futilely struggled against the restraint.

With nothing else left in his arsenal, he screamed at the top of his lungs for help. All that earned was a backhand to the face, effectively shutting him up.

"Yeah, that's right," one voice sneered. "Scream again and I'll do a lot worse than slap ya."

"This is the kid, right?"

One man pulled out a photograph, glanced at him then down at the photo before nodding. "This is him. Right, kid? This is you, right?"

The mocking tone twisted his stomach, but the picture shoved under his nose finally ceased his struggles. It was a photo of himself and Billy at the last baseball game before Billy had drowned. Mrs. Selway had taken it on her camera and said that she'd print up a copy just for his mom.

She never did.

"Wh-what do you want?" he asked fearfully, hating how his voice trembled. "Where's my dad?"

The horde of men around him only laughed. "Aw, you think your daddy's gonna come save you, elite? Why don't you use those powers and make us let you go?"

He was shoved forward - the unrelenting grip still bruising his arms - and he saw two more guys drag his father out of the wreckage of the car. Smirking at him, they dropped a limp Patrick Williams to the cement, the man groaning when he hit the ground.

"DAD!"

This time, he got punched in the gut. "What did I say about screaming?"

Sobbing, he renewed his efforts to break free. He succeeded after kicking backwards into a sensitive part of the male anatomy and sprinted towards his dad, but he barely made it two steps before being yanked back once more.

The guy who'd shown him the photograph stepped in front of him. "That's right, no one's coming to save you. Someone told us that you've got some rather 'special' abilities, so this'll go a whole lot easier if you shut up and do what we say."

"D'nny?" came his father's weak, slurred voice. "L-love y'u, son."

"Let me go!" he pleaded, tears streaming down his face. "Let me help my dad!"

"Oh, we'll take care of dear ol' Dad, don't you worry." Looking behind him, a small gesture prompted the guys holding him to drag him backwards towards a black van.

Still, he had a front row seat to that man pulling out a pistol and pointing it at the unmoving figure on the ground. "No, no, please, no!" he screamed, ignoring the sting of yet another backhand. "NO!"

BAM!

"DAD!"

Then something slammed into the back of his head and he knew no more.

~H50~

Whoever coined the term 'rude awakening' was clearly woken up at some point by a bucket of ice water being dumped in their face.

Danny was ripped from his drug-induced slumber using this particular method. It shocked his already-battered system, sending adrenaline coursing through his veins as his eyes popped open. Gasping for breath, he immediately tried to shield himself from the icy deluge only to discover his hands were tied behind his back.

So were his feet. Wonderful.

Shaking, he focused all of remaining energy on bringing his erratic system back under control. If anything, he felt significantly worse than the last time he'd woken up in the hospital. His body continued sending him confused signals - exhaustion, achiness, cold, emptiness, and that odd prickling feeling that accompanied a power expenditure. And, oddly enough, his skin at the base of his neck twinged and burned when he moved his head.

In other words, he felt like crap.

Unfortunately, the jerks who dumped ice water on him weren't content with letting him lie there and be miserable in peace. An expensive leather loafer dug into his chest and forced him onto his back, a position that rested all his weight awkwardly on his bound arms.

Squinting, he desperately forced his eyes to focus on the figures looming over him. There were several muscular blobs with guns in hand, nothing more than hired hands. However, the man whose loafer so rudely shoved him on his back was anything but a lackey. No, this was the man in charge and he looked the part from the expensive but subtle clothes to the assessing look in his eyes.

Though he was most definitely the leader of whatever operation this was, he wasn't what Danny pictured at all. The truly villainous overlords tended to have some sort of gravitas about them, an aura of evil authority even. It led to certain presumptions, all of which were wrong in this guy's case.

To put it bluntly, this man in front of him was a slimeball.

From the top of his too-gelled hair to the tips of his thousand-dollar loafers, his entire persona was one that screamed "scumbag" - a wealthy scumbag, but still slimy as hell. After all, all the perfume in the world can't mask the smell of sewage.

He was tall, and it wasn't just because Danny was lying on his back looking up at him. It sort of looked like someone stretched him out and forgot to fill in the rest. Jet-black hair - clearly dyed - was locked into a swooping hairstyle that required far too much product. Long, slender fingers stroked a jutting chin, lips permanently curled into a slight sneer. Custom-made slacks and a tailored shirt completed the ensemble, highlighting just how spindley the guy was.

Despite rudely interrupting Danny's well-deserved sleep, the man just silently stared at him with a look of mild interest. Fortunately, Danny was more than happy to get the ball rolling.

"Let me guess," he rasped, clearing his voice and recalling Sarah's frantic warning. "You would be Kingsley. 'Fraid we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Detective Williams with Five-0 and you're under arrest for kidnapping."

Normally, his sarcasm completely infuriated even the most patient of captors. See, it took a special kind of arrogance to abduct someone - especially a cop - and that pride led to a complete absence of any sense of humor. Moreover, they typically didn't take someone talking back to them very well.

And yeah, was instigating this powerful guy while he was in a drained state a good idea? Probably not. But, as his Ma could attest, he'd never really been great at doing the smart thing.

So he fully expected a blow of some kind - probably a kick to the gut from one of his crazy-huge bodyguards - but Kingsley only tilted his head slightly at the sound of his name. With a vaguely amused expression, his gaze dissected Danny with an intensity of a cat stalking a drowned rat.

Sick of the silence, Danny heaved a long sigh. "Y'know, this whole stoic vibe you got going is kinda lame, no offense. I mean, obviously you want something. Why don't you stop wasting my time and just get on with it? I mean, I got dinner plans later and I'd hate to miss them."

In response, the man actually chuckled. Then, he crouched and stroked Danny's cheek with those long, cold fingers, earning a growl from the restrained detective.

"For someone with your abilities, you talk too much," he said silkily. The strong slap came out of nowhere, stinging Danny's already bruised cheek. Blinking back the reflexive tears, Danny continued to defiantly meet Kingsley's gaze.

"Here's how this works." Folding his hands, Kingsley tilted his head and smirked. "You don't speak, move, breathe unless I allow it. You're nothing and you will be treated as such. Fortunately, your elite skillset has some value to me, which is the only reason you're not dead. So you will do as instructed at all times or suffer the consequences, and I don't believe you'll enjoy the consequences."

"Wow, that's truly inspirational," Danny drawled, hiding the spark of fear a particular word had lit inside of him. This situation was getting familiar in all the wrong ways. "Honestly though, I'm not a huge fan of blind obedience, so I'm afraid I'll have to decline your generous offer. How 'bout you let me go, I put these cuffs on you instead, and I take you and your buddies to jail?"

After stroking his doubly-bruised cheek, Kingsley rose and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I see you still don't understand the current arrangement. Consider this your final warning - an offer of grace, as it were, because of your truly unique abilities."

"Hate to break it to you, but I have no idea what 'abilities' you're talkin' about. I mean, my Ma always thought I was special, but moms are like that. 'Course you wouldn't know since you're a son of a bitch, but hey, you - -"

And that's when fire erupted in his veins, completely cutting off his sentence.

He vaguely heard some poor sap screaming - only to later realize that it was himself - but he didn't care. No, the only thing concerning him was pain. It ripped through his muscles and seared his brain, burning through his body with relentless glee. And there was no escaping it.

Electricity, he knew instantly without consciously thinking it.

Holy hell, he was completely and utterly screwed.

It lasted for what felt like an eternity, an inescapable torment that seemed specifically designed for him. When it finally ended, Danny laid gasping on the cement, still feeling that particular blaze tearing him apart.

"I really did warn you," he heard Kingsley say nonchalantly, the spidery voice coming from what felt like a great distance away. "Perhaps now you understand your position."

Swallowing the coppery tang in his mouth, Danny squeezed his eyes shut and forced his breathing to settle. "I think I'm beginning to get the picture, yeah."

The following burst of electricity didn't last nearly as long, but it somehow hurt more.

When he caught his breath once more, he blinked his eyes open to find Kingsley right back in his airspace waving a black fob in his face. "I can do this all day, Daniel. Can you?"

Unfortunately, his stupid powers didn't give him much choice in the matter. He'd be conscious for every second of this particular torture. However, he doubted the man would ever get tired of watching others in agony judging by the sickening grin twisting his face.

For the love of Pete, Danny, keep your damn mouth shut for once in your life!

Sound advice.

Grinning as Danny stayed silent, Kingsley patted Danny's cheek twice in a gesture that was anything but friendly. "Smart move. I knew you'd get there eventually." Tossing the fob up in the air, he caught it and held it in front of Danny's face. "See, this is connected to a chip that we implanted somewhere under your skin. Quite a nasty thing, really. All I do is press this button and…"

A zap of electricity had Danny's back arching off of the concrete.

"Oops. My finger slipped."

Feeling as though his insides were slowly being dissected and subsequently boiled, Danny grit his teeth against the whimper threatening to escape. He couldn't do this - wouldn't do this - after what'd happened before. But he could buy time until his team showed up with guns blazing to pull him out of this mess. Even with Steve mad at him, Chin busy with the case, and Kono watching the formerly captured kid, they surely noticed he was missing by now. Surely they were looking for him.

Although, someone had spilled the beans on his secret. He could count the number of people who knew on one hand, and that list consisted of his team, his daughter, and his doctor.

No, no. He trusted his ohana, even with this. They weren't like the Sellways.

… right?

Gotta trust someone sometime, he chastised himself. And there were no better people than Steve McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, and Kono Kalakaua.

Another slap brought his attention firmly back to the present, back to Kinglsey's evil grin and lustful gaze. "Now that we're on the same page, you're going to give a little demonstration. Then, you're going to explain exactly how it works - your power makeup, side effects, and so forth. Then, I'll consider letting you rest."

He didn't say a word, just blinked up at the slimey man.

Kingsley rose and two goons took his place, grabbing Danny under his armpits and hauling him none too gently to his feet. His knees immediately buckled, but the unrelenting grips held him upright. Someone cut the bonds on his ankles, though his hands unfortunately remained cuffed. They didn't even wait for his head to clear before they shoved him in the direction of a smaller side room.

The smaller room vaguely looked like an examination room in a doctor's office. There was a padded table on one end with that crinkly paper, a sink, and a cabinet full of medical supplies. The only thing that didn't fit was the wooden chair in the corner with leather straps on the arms and legs.

Didn't take a genius to figure out what that was for.

Two people already occupied the room - one clearly a doctor and the other was the guy who kidnapped Danny at the hospital. Smirking, Danny noted that the man's face was a mess and his nose was definitely broken.

"Ouch," he said sarcastically. "Hope you don't got a girlfriend, buddy, because she's definitely not gonna like the new look."

At least they didn't shock him again. However, a punch to the ribcage was equally debilitating.

When he doubled over in pain, someone came up behind him and unfastened the cuffs. Just as quickly, they dragged his hands in front of him and re-cuffed them. His shoulder muscles screamed at the move, and he gingerly rolled them out as they cramped.

"Fortunately," Kingsley said in a completely neutral tone, though his eyes betrayed his excitement, "you're going to remedy that. Heal him."

A thousand curse words threatened to spill from Danny's lip, but he bit them back just in time. "Heal him?"

"Yes. Whenever you're ready."

"I'm not a doctor. How am I supposed to 'heal' him?"

Danny was fairly proud of the incredulous, confused tone he'd mustered, but it only made Kingsley's face twitch in annoyance. "Don't play coy with me, elite. I know everything already and I'm quickly running out of patience. So, cooperate or suffer the consequences."

"Look, I would if I could, alright?" Danny held out his bound hands in a pleading motion. "But I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Even if I was an elite - -"

"Oh, I know you're an elite." Kingsley motioned to the doctor, who handed him a manila folder. Flipping through it, the man found exactly what he was looking for and waved the paper in front of his face. "This is from the medical section of your official personnel file. I believe that this confirms your status."

Heart sinking to his stomach, Danny shrugged. "That doesn't mean I can just go around healing people. I'm pretty sure no one can, elite or not."

"Perhaps." Lord, Danny hated this schmuck. "But there's a rumor that people in my line of work have uncovered. Apparently, someone found an elite with a bit of Soul in their makeup, and that elite had the power to heal people from anything. He was unfortunately lost, but I do believe I just found him again."

"Who, me? You're insane!"

That earned the longest shock yet, Danny collapsing to the ground and writhing until Kingsley released the button. Curled on his side, he rested his forehead against the cool cement and gulped for air as his body literally rebelled against the influx of non-biometric energy.

Buy time. You just need to buy time.

Hauled to his feet once more, he focused on the sneering face of Kingsley. "Heal. Him."

It took several more seconds for Danny to rasp a reply. "You can electrocute me all you want, but that doesn't change anything. I can't do what you're asking."

Judging from the twisted amusement in his eyes, Kingsley intended to do just that. "I believe you lack incentive to cooperate. Please know, though, that what's about to happen is precisely what you asked for. And you can stop it at any point."

Before he could blink, the goons holding him up threw him into the wooden chair. One held him down while the other unlocked the cuffs. Immediately, he threw a punch and caught the guard in front of him in the cheek. He got no further though, as a huge fist to the side of his head had him seeing stars.

More sets of hands joined the first, some holding him down while others forced his limbs into the restraints and buckled them tightly. One final strap was secured across his chest and biceps, making it absolutely impossible to move. Only then did the cruel hands release him.

I've got a bad feeling about this.

What followed was an indeterminate amount of time in hell. Shocks, punches, even small slices with a scalpel were all utilized - carefully doled to inflict maximum pain with minimal damage. By the time it all ended, Danny's throat was scraped raw from screaming.

And Kingsley had watched it all with a hungry expression on his face.

Eventually, the guards stopped after one particularly long dose of electricity. Danny couldn't contain the small whimpers anymore, his head sagging against his chest as he heaved for breath. His entire body was on fire, virtually rippling with pain. Now, even when they weren't shocking him, the abundance of electricity continued to rip away at his sinew.

Buy. time. Buy. time. Buy. time. It was an endless mantra punctuated by his harsh breaths.

Bending down in front of the tormented detective, Kingsley grabbed his chin and wretched it upward to meet his gleeful gaze. "Are you ready to cooperate?"

Danny coughed, wincing as the fingers dug into his jaw. "I'd love t' help, bu' I can't heal p'ple. 'S impossible."

Though he fully expected another shock, nothing happened. Instead, Kingsley released his face and rose. "Then I suppose we'll have to find something to properly motivate you."

The way he said it sent shivers down Danny's spine, the snake's tone dark with malicious glee.

No, he didn't like the sound of that at all.

So we finally get to see Kingsley (special thanks to Empress Akitla for helping me come up with an appropriate image for this scumbag). It really is Five-0 against the world in this story, which is something I've really enjoyed reading. Thanks for reading!