They had called for an ambulance and were now waiting for news on the condition on their Jane Doe. There had been no identification so they had taken her prints but when they ran them through the system they didn't get a single hit.
So the good news was that she didn't seem to be a convicted criminal but the bad news was that they still didn't know who she was and the possible ties she had to Steve.
Dr. Melek came up to them and stopped, "she's stable, badly beaten but she'll live. She has three cracked ribs, a fractured wrist, a cartilage tear in her right knee and the list goes on. She's lucky to be alive"
Danny stepped forward, "can we see her? We have some questions that we need to ask her pertaining to who did this to her and why"
She contemplated the request then nodded, "yes but it would be best if you made if you made it brief, she has a lot of recovery time ahead of her. I'll show you to her room"
They followed her down the hallway and into a room where their victim was resting in a bed with a small cup of water in front of her.
When she heard them enter she looked to the doorway and gave them a soft smile, "I was wondering when I was going to meet you" her voice was raspy and she picked up the cup and took a small sip.
While Chin talked to the doctor Kono and Danny approached the bed and stood by the side, when Chin was done with the doctor he walked over as well.
"Hi I'm Chin, this is Kono and this here is-"
"Detective Danny Williams" she interrupted, smiling.
"I take it you know us?" Danny stated, crossing his arms.
Setting the cup down she looked directly at him, "only in conversation, Steve talked about you guys a lot. Would it be okay if you and I talked in private?" she maintained eye contact with him.
"Of course, we'll be out in the hall" Chin nodded to Kono and they both left the room, leaving Danny alone with their victim.
Having a feeling that he was going to need to he dragged a chair over and sat down, "He talked about you, a lot. I could tell just by the way he talked about you that he loved you, and would do anything to protect you"
"Since you seem to know me so well how about you tell me who you are?" he looked up at her and saw the hesitation in her eyes.
"We're going to find out eventually so you might as well tell us, besides you're the victim here, unless there's something I don't know"
The hesitation faded from her and she met his gaze, "there are a lot of things you don't know Detective Williams but to answer your question, my name is Sarai"
"No last name?" he inquired.
"My first name is all you need" she stated, unwilling to budge on the matter.
Danny shifted in his seat, a little uncomfortable with the way the power in the room resided in her, he wasn't use to that.
"Why were you used as a message for Steve?" he suddenly asked, putting on a brave face.
She wasn't fazed by the abrupt change in subject, "because Steve saved my life and the people that he saved me from want revenge"
"Of course it would be something like that! Can you tell me who the sender is?" he needed an answer, he needed to know who was hurting people as a message to Steve.
Hesitation came back and he also saw fear, which was understandable considering what they or this person had done to her.
Leaning forward he slowly reached through the bars and placed his hand over hers, at the touch she looked away from him, not wanting him to see her weakness.
"You don't have to be afraid, my team will protect you and put the people who did this to you behind bars" he tried to assure her, but she refused to look at him.
She wouldn't tell him, she couldn't! She had promised Steve that she would look after his team and if she told Danny who did this to her they would surely be killed.
"Can you at-least describe them to me?"
She still didn't look at him.
Sighing he started to pull away but she quickly grabbed his arm, pausing him.
"I know no matter what I say I won't be able to stop you from investigating but please be careful, there's a reason that no one crosses them. I did, and I barely came out of it alive" she continued to hold his arm then slowly released him and laid down in the bed.
Walking out of the room he leaned against the wall and ran a hand through his slicked back hair.
Now he was more determined than ever to solve this case, not only because Steve was involved but because he needed answers.
He had played with the idead that Wo Fat was involved but he quickly disregarded that thought because he wouldn't be this careless and he wouldn't have left her alive. Also, she had said "people" meaning more than one.
"She tell you anything?" he was suddenly asked, causing him to stop his internal thinking.
Kono was the one who had asked the question but he addressed both of them, "nothing that could give us a sure lead but she told me that the people who did this did this because Steve had saved her life and of course pissed them off as a result"
"Steve did piss a lot of people off, the lists are endless" Kono added, leaning against the wall also.
"But only a few of them would possibly have a connection with our victim , did you get her name" Chin asked, hoping that by following their victim. They would find out who did this.
"She only gave me her first name, Sarai, said that was all I needed and we can't force her to give us her prints without a court order"
Kono quietly cursed while Chin tried to come up with another way, Danny did the same.
It was while Danny thinking that he saw the janitor making his rounds that he remembered the cup that Sarai had been drinking from.
"I think I may know another way" he waited until the nurse that had been in the room had left before entering again.
He saw that she had fallen asleep, due to something the nurse had given her most likely, making this a whole easier.
Quietly he walked up to the bed and reached across her to pluck the plastic cup off the table then just as quietly walked away. Exiting the room he walked back to Chin and Kono.
"Get this to the lab and see if you can get a print off it, I touched the edge so that one will be mine" Kono picked up a re-sealable plastic bag off the janitor's supply and held it open for Danny to drop the cup in.
"I'll call you if we get anything" resealing the bag Kono turned and headed for the nearest exit.
Danny walked in the same direction with Chin following behind him.
"Where are you going Danny?" stepping out of the way when a doctor and team of nurses were pushing a gurney with what looked to be a victim of a car accident.
"Back to HQ, I want to look up all of the known enemies that Steve had to see who would and could pull something like this off then when Kono gets a print run Sarai's name against them" he explained as he ducked out the door and fast walked to his car.
Chin stopped walking when they reached Danny's car, "I'll stay with Sarai then, call me if you get anything" Danny explained with a nod then climbed into his car and drove off.
Chin walked back inside the hospital to babysit their victim.
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Steve was awoken what felt like only seconds later but a young women who had a white kit with her, he couldn't make out much of her features though due to the poor amount of light.
"Leader sent me to treat your wounds so that they don't get infected" setting the kit down she snapped the clamps off and put on a pair of gloves.
"Could you lay on your stomach please?"
Doing as requested he rolled onto his stomach and got as comfortable as he could. When he stopped moving he felt her cleaning his back with what had to be antibiotic wipes by the stinging pain his back was now in. He clamped his hands down around the rags and ordered his body to keep still.
She remained relatively silent as she as she treated his injuries and only spoke when she needed him to move.
"What's your name?" he asked, wanting to escape the uncomfortable silence.
He could feel her hand pause on his back, then slowly start to move again "Lucy" finishing up his back she moved to the cuts on his arms and neck.
"My name's Steve, who taught you first aid?" he winced when she dabbed at the deep cut on his neck.
Setting the wipe down she picked up a tube of triple antibiotic ointment and gently rubbed it into the wounds on his back, the ointment didn't hurt as much as the cleaning but it was still uncomfortable.
"I know who you are, Leader and the Elders were very upset when you abandoned us and my father taught me first aid , he's a doctor" she said proudly, laying out a long strip of gauze then taping it down.
"What are you doing here Lucy? From the sound of it you're not a trouble maker"
"My father was busy treating one of the Elders so I volunteered" picking up another bandage she continued to bandage his back.
It took about an hour for her to finish and by the time she was done packing up Steve was on the verge of going back to sleep, his body and mind still exhausted from its ordeal.
"Thank you" he whispered, laying on his stomach, facing away from her.
She had been at the door when she heard him and she looked back at him; part of her did feel sympathetic towards him, especially with the knowledge with what was going to happen next, but the other part felt it was just! This man had abandoned them and cut off all ties, leaving them weakened and he had recently attacked a fellow clan member, she was debating on blaming her sympathetic side on the fact that she had just spent about an hour bandaging him up if she hadn't heard what he said next,
"I know you think I'm a traitor, I would think the same thing, but everything I did I did to protect the people I love. I'm guessing you've never left the compound? Leader and the Elders built it after my sister and I left, they aren't as trusting as they once were. All that I'm saying is that the clan is all you have ever known, you've never seen the outside; outside the clan there is love, happiness and friendships, concepts that are morphed and twisted to suit Leader and the Elders' needs" he insisted, wanting her to have a better life.
What he said had her thinking, she had always wondered what the outside world looked like and if they were just as weak and corrupted like she had been taught in school.
"Are humans truly as weak and corrupt as we have learned, or are they perfect beings that do not know hate or any other ill thought?" she questioned, almost hoping that he would tell her otherwise.
Turning himself around he pulled himself up and sat down on the bed of cloths.
"I will admit that they have their faults but there are people who are good and lead happy, loving, productive lives. You just have to give yourself a chance to see that" he persisted.
It looked like she was about to say something but chose not to and instead quickly exited.
Sighing in defeat he carefully laid back down and tried to go back to sleep.
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Danny sat behind his desk, pouring over all the known enemies of Steve's but he was still getting nowhere. He had one pile exceptionally large pile of potential suspects and a very small pile of passed over suspects.
Setting the file in his hands down he closed his eyes and pinched his nose, the abuse his eyes had taken from barely blinking for the past hour was making him see double. Resting his eyes for a minute he then opened them back up and went back to work.
As he was picking the file back up his cell rang, he saw Kono's name flashing and quickly picked up.
"What do you have?"
"Lab ran the print and we got a hit in the system, her name is Sarai Jenkins, 23 years old, has lived all over the Hawaiian islands and has numerous offenses in breaking and entering and carjacking" Kono read off from the computer in front of her.
Danny got up from his desk and walked to the smart table, "okay hang on a sec." he typed the name into the system and soon had the same file up on the hanging screens.
Scanning the screens he stopped when he read something that caught his attention, "it says that she was suspected of being a part of religious cult back on the Niʻihau island, but it doesn't give much more information than that due to the island's secrecy of its affairs"
"Well it's going to be hard to get anything more than that, people of the Ni'ahua islands don't like visitors and the only way you can even get on the island is if you are approved for a supervised tour" Kono added, like most never having personally stepped foot on the island.
"Good work Kono, I'll see you when you get back to HQ"
"later brah"
Setting the phone down Danny went back to looking over all the known associates that she had, he stopped when he ran across a familiar name, "Kally Langley" running back into his office he sifted through the files until he found the one he was looking for. Going back to the smart table he brought up another record, Kally's, and scanned the information.
He knew he had his connection when he stopped at the known associates, Sarai Jenkins, and she was also implemented as the leader of the religious cult in Ni'ahua.
Taking both files he got his phone out and dialed first Chin then Kono, telling them that he was headed back to the hospital to talk to their victim again.
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Walking into the room he met Chin and Sarai who were resting in chairs. Chin got up from his chair and walked over to him,
"I take it you found something?"
"Yeah, I found the link" walking past him he walked over to Sarai, she had a knowing look on her face, she knew he had found out and there was no use denying it.
"Your name is Sarai Jenkins, you have a record for various breaking and entering charges and carjacking and you have been suspected of being in a religious cult back in Ni'ahua, with Kally Langley, as your leader" he flipped open Kally's file and showed her the picture, she looked away, hating the image of her.
He set the file, open, down on the table along with her own, and continued, "five months ago Steve led a raid to a suspected cocaine factory and when he got there he took down the boss, one Kally Langley, she was set to serve twenty years but she escaped police custody and hasn't been heard or seen from since; she's a ghost and she threatened to kill Steve numerous times"
Finally meeting his gaze she sighed in defeat, "Steve said your were good, yes, she did this to me but she wasn't alone, she had two of her followers with her, I don't know they're names. As for the cult, yes I was a part of it but due to different beliefs we parted ways, she wasn't too happy about that, obviously"
Chin was listening from the door and turned when he felt someone tap his shoulder, turning he saw that it was Kono.
"What's going on?" she whispered, not wanting to interrupt.
"Danny's talking to her about a Kally Langley, sounds like she's the one who did this and has ties with Steve"
They both focused their attention back on the two in front of him.
"How did Steve save you?"
A faraway look appeared in her eyes, along with a fond smile, "it was about three years ago..."
~flashback~
Another punch landed to her face and she fell back, pain radiating all over her body.
The never ending blows had been going on for about ten minutes out and each blow seemed to be stronger than the last. Her head collided painfully with the hard floor and she saw stars.
She was pulled up again a roundhouse kick was delivered to her gut, gushing all the wind from her and making her light headed.
"You should know better than to cross me Sarai, and to believe I trusted you!" Kally landed an upper punch to her jaw and she flew back to the ground, the violent blow finally beginning to affect her conscious state.
Something must have happened though because suddenly a loud explosion rocked the room and yelling could be heard, people were running in different directions and she could hear Kally yelling at someone, she couldn't move her head to see who though.
Through the ruckus she managed to hear a male voice, and this stunned her because no male was allowed on the premises so this was obviously the man who had caused all this.
When the crumpled form of Kally landed only a few feet away from her she nearly screamed, but her head was too foggy to open her mouth and form any type of sound and her body was heavy.
A pair of legs in black cargo pants stopped beside her she stiffened, afraid that he was going to hurt her but was stunned when he knelt down beside her and gave her a reassuring smile, "it's okay, I'm here to help" slowly, so as not to startle her, he helped her up from the ground and held onto her until she was able to stand on her own.
Now that she was standing she could see the destruction. The door had been blown off its hinges and lay in pieces on the floor a foot away, unlit candles had been knocked over and people who hadn't gotten out of the explosions way in time lay unconscious or dead on the ground.
"We got to get out of here, now!" holding his hand out, she hesitantly took the hand and was quickly led out of the building and deep into the wild.
They must have run for hours before finally slowing down and coming to rest in a field. The sun was falling in the horizon and bugs were chirping, making a serene moment but nothing about this moment was serene, there was still the possibility of being caught and tortured.
Sarai collapsed to the ground and breathed in relief at finally being able to rest after so much running. Steve more gracefully sat down beside her and uncapped the canteen that was attached to his side and handed it to her, with a quick 'thanks' she chugged until her thirst had been quenched.
Handing the canteen back to him she laid down, closing her eyes and breathed in deeply.
It finally struck her that she still didn't know the name of the man who had rescued her, or why for that matter.
"What's your name?" he asked, beating her to the punch.
"Sarai"
"Nice to meet you, I'm Steve, you're probably wondering why I saved you"
She sat up and looked at him, a little stunned at how direct he was, "what are you mind reader?" it wouldn't be the first time...
He laughed, "no, I just assumed those were some of the questions that you had, I know they would be mine if our positions were reversed"
That made sense, but she was still a little cautious, after all she had just met the guy and didn't know what his intentions were.
"So, why did you?" she prompted, bringing her knees up to her chest to wrap her arms around.
"Don't take this the wrong way but rescuing you was just an added bonus, I had only expected to go in there and put an end to Kally but I put that goal aside when I saw you and I knew that I had to get you out of there. You might as well know that I'm from another clan, back in Oahu but I stripped all ties with them a long time ago" he took a drink from the canteen and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Mulling her thoughts around she came up with an appropriate response, "but if you severed your ties why would you come after Kally? It's not like a rogue to care about clan enemies, you must have a grudge with her in some other way"
"Kally and I have a very complicated relationship but the summary is that her and I were promised to each other in order to bring peace to our two clans and unite them, making both even more powerful, but I didn't want to so I ran, I took my sister Mary with me and we ran. We had been planning on leaving for a while, we didn't want to be a part of the clan world anymore, but this was the final straw that put our plan into motion. Understandably, Kally was not pleased"
"but that doesn't explain why you want her dead"
"She came after my sister, she had put a bomb in her car but luckily the bomb went off before she was actually inside but it did give her some serious injuries. I knew it was her as soon as I found the note that she had left me in Mary's hospital room, it said 'you broke my, now I'm going to break yours' I just put the pieces together and after that I started tracking her down" getting up from the ground he dusted his pants off and held his hand out for her to take, she was reluctant to get up, the urge to sleep was a very attractive thought.
"Come on, we have to get moving, Kally probably has troops looking for us and I want to get off this island, there's a jet waiting for us just beyond that brush over there as soon as we're back on Oahu you can rest in a comfy bed"
Hesitantly she took his hand and helped him pull her up, she was still a little uncertain about Steve but so far he had been sincere on his promises and the thought of sleep was a big boost.
They both jogged through the brush and came out on the other side to the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, a jet.
Following his lead she ran to the whirling aircraft, keeping her head down low as she climbed into the back. She almost fell out of the jet when it jerked up into the air but was saved by Steve grabbing her arm and pulling her up to sit down on a seat.
With the feeling of finally being safe she allowed her eyes to close and her head relaxed on Steve's shoulder.
She was finally safe.
~Flashback~
"He brought me back to his house and let me take a hot shower then made me something to eat along with a warm bed. No one had ever been that nice to me, especially a complete stranger. He also helped me find my own place to live and covered my tracks" she of course had left out the bit about Steve's involvement in the clan, her own clan as well and had altered the reason why he wanted to kill Kally.
Danny took what he had just been told and mulled it around in his head, it sounded like something Steve would do but he had this nagging suspicion that she was holding back.
"Steve was a good man, sometimes I envy his ability to think for others but I know that it was also his Achilles heel"
Tears were slowly welling up in his eyes but he didn't let them fall, he had could cry about his lost love later, right now he needed to focus on the now.
"There's going to be a round the clock guard on your door until we capture Kally and her people, I promise you we are going to get them. Thank you for your time" standing up he walked out, passing Kono and Chin who quickly followed after him.
Danny whipped out his cell phone and called HPD, requesting a round the clock guard on their victim's room, HPD had been notified by them earlier that it was possible they would be needing their assistance.
"What's the plan Danny" Chin asked, walking in stride next to his cousin.
"We're going back to HQ and gathering more intel on Kally Langley"
Walking out of the hospital he went straight to his car and drove off, Kono and Chin driving behind him in their own respective modes of transport.
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A loud groan from the door awakened Steve from his dreamless slumber and he squinted his eyes from the sudden long stream of light that invaded his sensitive eyes.
Two dark figures entered the cell and roughly yanked him up from the ground and, holding him up by the underarms, dragged him out of the cell and down the thin hallway back towards the 'fun' room.
Only when he was inside the room this time he was thrown onto the ground and shackles were attached to his wrists and ankles.
"Do you still think what you did was worth all this?" asked the unmistakable voice of Leader as he approached him from behind.
Steve tried to turn his head but Leader was in his blind spot.
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
His cockiness was vanquished when a strong blow the head caused his vision to go white for a second, "you still have that annoying sense of humor, we'll have to fix that won't we. Bring him in!" the sound of the door opening reached them and he heard the padding of heavy footsteps approaching along with the squeaking of something else, like the squeaking of rusted wheels.
The owner of the heavy footsteps walked in front of him and parked the trolley to the side, the trolley was too tall to see what was on it but he knew that what it held was not going to be pleasant.
"Steven, this is my old friend James. He has a certain knack for making people suffer. I'll leave you to your work" patting Steve on the head he left with his followers, the door locking behind them.
James didn't say a word as he picked up what looked to be a cattle prod, he turned it on once, Steve didn't know if he did that to heighten his fear or if he was just checking it out, probably a combination of both.
He walked closer to Steve and without warning touched the tips of the prod to his ribcage and sent wave after wave of electricity through his body. James' face remained passive, almost curious at the amount of pain that Steve was exhibiting.
Taking the cattle prod away, only for a split second, he then touched the head to Steve's shoulder. A muffled scream strangled deep inside Steve's throat as his body thrashing in all directions until he removed the device again.
Steve kneeled gasping and clenching his eyes shut in pain, but he expected that another wave was on the way. Looking up he watched as James moved the prod back to his body, a moment of panic went through him when he saw where the prod was headed.
As soon as the prod connected over his heart his scream was glass shattering, but the scream was cut off rather quickly when his heart stopped from the electrical trauma.
This didn't faze James at all. Setting the cattle prod back down on the trolley he picked up an adrenaline shot that he had personally modified himself, tapped the bubbles out, then calmly unlocked Steve from the chains and laid him out on the ground. Kneeling down next to him, he took the cap off and lifted his hand and drove the needle down into his heart.
Pushing the stopper down he quickly yanked the shot out and pressed both of his hands on Steve's shoulders, keeping him in place. Almost immediately Steve's eyes snapped open and his breathing came back online in rapid gasps. He tried to move but was held down by the weight on top of him.
Steve's body vibrated underneath him, the adrenaline coursing through him wanting an exit strategy but unable to find one.
It took about half an hour before the drug left his system and his body stopped vibrating well enough where James could re-shackle him.
Still breathing heavily Steve watched as James picked up another toy and ran, no caressed more like it, his fingers along the metal side of the metal contraption he was holding. Steve certainly couldn't place it.
Pressing a button the machine came to life and the sharp needles that were attached whirled around in lethal circles.
Bringing the deadly weapon closer James held the mechanism an inch over his abdomen, Steve could feel the breath of the needles whispering over his skin.
When the needles made contact an eruption of pain tunneled out of his throat and he blacked out from the excruciating amount of pain that the mechanism induced.
He was brought out of unconsciousness when James threw a bucket of water at his face. Still a little disoriented he could only hear as the assumed bucket tumbled to the ground and a pair of footsteps took a few steps away from him.
A loud hissing sound met his ears and his head somehow managed to shoot up and saw that James was now holding a blow torch and watching the flame dance in the air. Steve had no problem categorizing James as a psychopath/pyromaniac.
James must have finished playing with his fire when he lowered the torch and walked back to Steve, the torch blazing hatefully, excited for the taste of skin that he was about to receive.
Without even the slightest bit of emotion he ran the flame along Steve's arm, setting all his nerves on fire, he moved the torch to other parts of his body as well but he soon grew tired of that and filled up another bucket of water and threw the contents at his burning body. A loud hiss actually emitted from his skin and steam rose up to the ceiling.
Just as he was going back to choose another toy he was interrupted by the opening of the door and the reappearance of Leader and three of his followers trailing behind him.
"Excellent work James, your father would be very proud that you are continuing on his legacy with such fine craftsmanship" Leader praised as he inspected James' 'work' all over Steve's body.
When he touched one of the burning spots along his arm Steve could barely contain the hiss that escaped him as he ran his finger along the burn.
Getting up he instructed his followers to unshackle Steve and drag him back to his cell, he would be sending Lucy back in to tend to his wound, to, as he quoted, "tend to the rogue".
As he was being manhandled Leader said, as a taunting goodnight, "sleep well Steven, tomorrow begins the second step of your reprogramming and if you thought this was pain, wait until you see what else is up my sleeve" with manacle glee he smiled and led James out of the room, continuing to praise him.
Steve did not normally admit weakness, but he was fearful that he wouldn't make it through whatever Leader had planned for him next, at least not as the person that he was now.
Leader's plan was working, he was finally starting to break him.
A/N: I hoped you enjoy this chapter, I know I had fun writing it and I do not have any medical knowledge about the adrenaline shot other than what I read online so please do not chastise me because I know the info. isn't completely accurate. Please Review!
