A/N: And the story is finally getting started... as promised in the summary: Steve's off the Island and Danny.. well, I'll let you read...

CHAPTER FIVE

THE GANG OF FIVE GUYS

WILLIAMS' RESIDENCE - KĀHALA - O'AHU

Waking up, Danny rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. A loud, banging noise had hauled him from his sleep. Confused by the sound, Danny rolled his head to the left and glanced at his alarm clock standing on his nightstand. The bright green numbers showed ten fifty-nine PM. He had been asleep for maybe thirty minutes tops. Suddenly the noise stopped. Danny wondered if he should check it out, but his aching chest disagreed with him. He pulled up his blanket and closed his eyes again. Just when he did, the banging noise started again.

Reluctantly, Danny flicked his eyes back open. Slid out from under the covers and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. He tensed and grunted from the strain the quick movement put on his chest. He remained seated, waiting for the pain to subside. The banging noise continued, and Danny realized it was more than just a sound. Someone was pounding on his front door. He stood up, put on a cotton baseball short and grabbed his grey t-shirt hanging over the chair, and padded barefoot to the front door. While walking, Danny tried putting the t-shirt on, but that was harder to do with an injured chest than he anticipated.

By the time he reached the door, the banging had stopped again. Danny hadn't managed to put the t-shirt over his head yet. Instead, he gave up and tossed it onto the couch. Then he turned the door lock and opened it. He stared down his dark front yard. Nobody was standing on his doorstep. Danny leaned out the door, spotting someone standing in front of his living room window. Danny flipped the outdoor lights on. The brightness blinded him, so he squinted to see the person standing on his lawn.

When he recognized the person, Danny stepped perplexed outside. "Tani?"

"Oh, thank god," Tani sighed, relieved. "A second later, and I would've thrown a rock through your window."

Danny's jaw dropped as he spotted the rock in Tani's hand. "Seriously? What the hell is the matter with you? You nuts?" he exclaimed. "Why would you throw a rock through my window?" he questioned, confused. However, he was more curious about why his coworker was standing in front of him in the first place. "What-what are you even doing here?"

"Oh, relax," Tani dropped the rock back on the ground. "I called you a bunch of times, but you didn't answer your phone."

Still perplexed, Danny frowned. "So? You didn't have to come all the way out here for that."

Tani didn't answer. She spent a moment looking at his torso. Unable to throw on a t-shirt, Danny just stood there, shirtless. His collection of scars out in the open, along with the obvious chest tube taped to his rib cage. Tani stared on. Most people asked how he had gotten the scars. Tani didn't. She probably had heard the liver transplant story by now, and she had eye-witnessed the incident of the other two scars.

"I was asleep." Danny pointed out the lack of clothing. By the look on Tani's face, he doubted his coworker knew what time it was.

"Asleep?" Tani repeated, confirming Danny's time theory.

"Yeah, well, not anymore as you decided to keep pounding on my door, like a crazy person," Danny mocked. He eyed his coworker as she seemed lost in the situation. "Is everything okay?" He quizzed.

"Oh—yeah—no, everything's cool,"

Then Danny heard a dog barking, and it made him even more confused as he spotted his partner's dog sitting in Tani's car. "Why's Eddie here?"

"I-I just didn't like the idea of him being all alone, so I'm taking Eddie home with me. Just until Steve and Junior are back, you know." Tani quickly explained.

"Ah, I see," Danny scratched his day-old stubbled chin. Then it all made sense to him. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tani. "You didn't want him to be alone, or maybe you didn't want to be all alone? Which is it?"

Called out by the truth, Tani started rambling and came up with a weak excuse. "What? No, I'm not alone or miserable. It's just, you can't leave a dog in an empty house for God knows how long, okay?"

Danny grinned. "I didn't say you were miserable, but that's true. You can't leave a dog alone," he nodded his head at the dog. "If it's too much trouble for you, Eddie can stay with me. No problem."

"Are you miserable or alone?" Tani taunted, visibly enjoying her comment.

Danny pointed at his hurting chest. "Right now, I'm alone and miserable. How 'bout that."

Tani eyed him sympathetically, but it didn't withhold her from making a sarcastic comment. "In that case, I'm not leaving Eddie with you. He'll be depressed by the time McGarrett gets back home."

Danny had to admit. "Well, they say I do have that effect on people, dogs; however, I don't know."

Tani smiled in a caring way. "Dogs are susceptible animals, so better safe than sorry."

"All right, fine." Danny rolled his eyes. He still couldn't believe Tani was actually standing at his door. Worried nonetheless. Either he scared her yesterday, or Steve gave her instructions, which Danny was almost certain of. "Oh, by the way, you might as well drop the act because I know for a fact that Steve put you up to this."

"Put me up to what?" Tani asked with a straight face.

"Checking in on me. See how I'm doing. That kind of stuff."

Her face didn't change at all. "No, he didn't. I was genuinely worried about you."

Danny pouted. Trying to decide if he should let her off the hook. It felt like she was telling the truth. But also like she was lying through her teeth. Both at the same time. "Here's a word of advice. Don't ever lie to a detective."

"Okay, bye now," Tani chuckled and started walking back towards her car. "I'm gonna leave you alone, so you can go back to bed."

"You should probably do the same," Danny suggested teasingly. He did appreciate her honest concern, so he added. "Thanks for checking up on me, though."

"You're welcome."

NAKAMURA FIELD- MILILANI TOWN - O'AHU

The next morning Danny drove down to the soccer fields to watch his little one during his first soccer game. Arriving, Danny searched for a parking spot. He guessed there were already about twenty cars parked on the small lot. The soccer fields seemed enormous, contrary to the parking spaces. Either the fields were usually used by the neighborhood only, or most people took the bus, but there were nearly enough spots to satisfy the number of people standing on the field today. Luckily for Danny, there was still one available at almost the end of the row. He turned the Camaro onto the last parking slot and turned off the engine.

Danny made his way over to the fields. The greenish turf stretched out for hundreds of yards. It actually reminded Danny of his own youth back in Jersey. His mother would drive him all over the Tri-state area to play little league tournaments on fields like this. Except this field had brown patches from the intense Hawaiian sun. With a nostalgic smile on his face, Danny strolled to the front of the green. Kids ran around, playing with each other. Bright-colored uniforms divided the kids into two groups, but that didn't seem to matter. There was a mix of yellow and blue. Too young to be minding the fact they were each other's rivals. A few feet away from the kids, there was a group of adults standing. Some were already sitting in one of those folding chairs on the sideline. Danny approached them as he had no trouble picking out his own blood. Charlie was jumping up and down with excitement. Rachel stood next to their son. She chatted with another mother.

Charlie came running straight toward him. "Danno!" He exclaimed. Danny was just in time to put his car keys away before Charlie jumped into his arms.

"Hey, buddy!" Danny lifted up the boy, but halfway up, his chest wound stretched. Danny went rigid, and he had to put his son back down. "Ai, sorry big guy."

"Danno, what's wrong?" Charlie asked with a crooked head.

"Nothing-nothing, you're just getting too big to lift, you know." Danny lied as he didn't want to upset his kid with another one of his injuries.

Rachel probably noticed the uncomfortableness as she meddled herself into the conversation by asking. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Danny cut off the topic and focussed back on his son. Squeezed him in his shoulder. "Are you excited?"

Charlie nodded eagerly. "Uhu, and you're here."

Not sure what he meant by that, Danny started to playfully tickle Charlie in his neck. "What'd you mean you're here? Of course, I'm here. I told you I'd be there, right?"

Rachel explained it bluntly for him. "Well, I didn't want him getting too excited because there's always the possibility that you have to work."

Danny abruptly stopped tickling his boy. Although Rachel probably didn't mean it as hurtful as it sounded. Danny wondered why she always had to make him look like the bad guy in front of their kids. He was used to her saying that in private as the importance of his job was almost always the start of their arguments. However, he was clueless about why she had to involve their kids from time to time. Maybe she did it because she knew Danny wouldn't say something back as he hated fighting in the presence of their kids. Instead, he would take the verbal blow and swallow the insult. Just like right at this moment.

Danny was put out of his misery when the coach called together the team. Danny ran his hand over Charlie's head. "Go get 'em, buddy." With that said, Charlie ran off toward the group of kids gathered on the field.

"I'll see you afterward," Rachel stated and was about to walk away.

With his jaw dropped to the floor, Danny pulled his ex back by her arm. "You're not staying?"

"Don't worry, I'll be back to pick him up. I just have to do a quick errand, buy some gifts, groceries, you know the usual," she clarified, increasing Danny's blood pressure. To top it all off, Rachel added. "Would you mind staying till the end?"

Unbelievable. Danny shook his head and turned away before he would explode. Then mumbled. "No place I'd rather be."

NAKAMURA FIELD - MILILANI TOWN - O'AHU

Danny found a quiet spot near the sideline. He could've joined the other parents watching the game, but he was okay with some alone time. Most of that crowd consisted of soccer moms anyway, and Danny didn't feel the need to weave his way into that particular circle. Rachel chose to put their kid up for soccer, so if anyone it be her, that should mingle her way in the community. But that was a debate for another time.

Of course, a few moms waved at him, suggesting he should come stand with them. He passed. Mouthed, he was good standing where he was. Right when he could use a distraction, Danny's cell phone vibrated once against his hip. He pulled it out of his jeans pocket. He briefly glanced at the notification— a text message from Tani. As Danny stared at his phone, the referee blew the whistle, starting the game. Danny sighed. If that text message contained anything work-related, he would hate himself. Even though Steve had banned him from the office, Danny would go in if they needed him. That's just what he did.

Danny unlocked his phone to read the entire text message.— Hi, just checking in. Again, sorry about last night. Hope everything's ok. Let me know if u need anything.— Danny let out a chuckle. The girl was clearly instructed to keep an eye on him while Steve was off saving the world or doing God knows what else. Danny quickly typed a reply, or at least he tried to. In his case, typing was never quick. He blamed his goofy thumbs. He hit send and shoved his phone deep in his jeans pocket. No more distractions.

The game started a bit slow. Not that Danny had expected anything else. He was watching tiny human beings run their legs off to get the ball. It was nothing compared to the USL Championship, which by the way, he didn't enjoy watching either. He would never tell his kid, though. If the boy was happy, he was happy too. Cheesy, but as simple as it gets.

Halfway through the game, it finally started to get a bit interesting. Charlie's team was leading the competition. They either needed to make another goal or keep the other team from scoring, and the game would be theirs. Out of nowhere, Charlie was running up front. Kicking the ball towards the goal and with a blink of an eye, he knocked the ball right in.

In excitement, Danny cupped his hand around his mouth and shouted. "Go, Charlie!" He cheered ecstatically as the little Williams ran with both arms up in the air. His teammates started high-fiving him.

While enjoying this moment a guy showed up next to Danny and greeted him. "Hey, man."

"Hey, how's it going?" Danny said, giving the guy a quick glance while not taking his eyes completely off the game. He vaguely recognized the man. Dark short hair. Medium height. Muscular in a fitness kind of way. Danny had seen the man before. He remembered. It was the father of one of the kids on Charlie's team, which one, he had no clue.

They were even. The guy didn't seem to remember either because he asked. "Which one is yours?"

"That's Charlie over there," Danny pointed at his boy running on the field. "He just made his first score." He beamed proudly with a giant smile on his face.

"Would be a shame if he had to grow up without a father, wouldn't it?" The man said, bitterly cold.

It made Danny's smile vanish like it was never there in the first place. He looked perplexed aside at the guy. "Why would you say something like that?" The words barely left his mouth when the man propped a gun against Danny's back.

The handgun was held low and straight. Danny could feel the cold steel muzzle pressing through his shirt, and although the sun was blasting warm rays down on him, the cold steel chilled Danny to the core. For some reason, Danny figured he wrongly identified this guy. The man holding the gun wasn't here to watch his kid's game. The man was on a mission. And he knew what he was doing. There was no tremor in the muzzle. No tension. Danny couldn't see if the man's finger was on the trigger, but he imagined it was. Meaning with one squeeze, this unfamiliar man could send a bullet straight into Danny's spine. And a bullet this close to the back would feel much worse than taking a shot to the chest from a distance.

Danny had experienced what it felt like to get shot in the chest, and knowing how much that hurt, he rather not get clipped in the back. He had been grazed by a bullet on occasion, but he was coming up on twenty years on the job, and the only time he was seriously wounded with a bullet had been four months ago. Twenty years long, he dodged bullets and the past eight years on a daily basis. Many dangerous things happened during those years, yet it had taken twenty years for him to face death by a bullet. And as he was standing with a handgun pressed against his back, he didn't think it was going to take another twenty years for a bullet to possibly take his life.

Danny felt they'd been standing like this for a long time. But he knew that feeling was deceptive. It probably hadn't been more than a second and a half. "Relax, okay?" he tried. "Do you have kids yourself? A son? Daughter, maybe?"

The question caused a long, distracting pause. Then the man answered. "I have a son."

"That's good," Danny said, and his eyes flicked at his own son. Danny took a nervous breath. Then he turned his head to look over his shoulder. "Why don't you lower that gun, so we can talk?"

The muzzle of the gun was jabbed deeper into Danny's back. "I'm not here to talk." The man spoke urgently but quietly. With dominance. Not much of an accent, but there was something in his voice that sounded distinctive to Danny.

"Okay, then what are you here for?" Danny swallowed.

From the other side of the field, Charlie smiled and waved at him. Like he knew something was up. Danny didn't move.

"Oh, come on now, wave back at your kid," The guy urged. "Not waving back can't be the last memory he has of you."

Danny briefly closed his eyes. The idea of not seeing his boy all grown up made Danny's chest hurt in a way that had nothing to do with his bruised and injured right side. Danny did as told and forced a smile on his face, and waved back at his son.

To his own surprise, Danny had stayed calm. Comparatively, but he was done playing around. "You going to shoot me in the back, in front of my kid? Is that why you're here, huh?" he snapped."You should know that if you decide to pull that trigger, I will guarantee you yours will grow up without a father too." That may sound like a lousy threat, but Danny knew that if he couldn't take out the guy himself, Steve would do it for him.

"You have some nerve to threaten the man that's pressing a gun against your back," he stated, then started laughing amicably. He placed his left hand on Danny's shoulder and said, close to his right ear. "You don't know who I am, do you?"

The man was right about both. Danny did threaten him, and he also had no clue about this guy's identity. But if the guy wanted to kill him, he would've pulled the trigger by now instead of poking the gun a bit. So Danny decided to use the only tool he had access to— his attitude. "Well, it's hard to tell when I'm standing with my back at you."

"Let's take a walk then."

This changed everything. At first, Danny figured what could go wrong, right? The guy wasn't going to shoot him on a soccer field with kids running around. Now that they were leaving, Danny wasn't so sure anymore. The man confirmed Danny's thoughts as he clicked the safety catch off. He didn't need to that. Danny knew the statement wasn't meant as a suggestion. He sighed and did what the guy asked before a bullet would be lodged in his spine. Danny turned around, getting a good look at the guy this time. Dark hair, Chinese descent, wearing a pitch-black two pieced suit with a plain black collared shirt underneath. Danny recognized him. It was one of Jin Leung's guys. The other day this guy had guarded the door and asked Danny for a rematch. That's what this was about. Danny offended them with his rejection. Panic built up in his chest, and his heart started beating faster. If the head of the Chinese triad was coming after him, he was in real trouble.

"All right, if this is about me saying no to the rematch, then go ahead and tell your boss, mister Leung that I apologize," the guard pushed Danny toward the parking lot, and Danny walked ahead. "That's why you're here, no?"

Again, the man burst out in laughter. "I don't work for mister Leung," he said and then moved the gun up to the side of Danny's neck, pressing the muzzle right underneath his jaw. Danny stopped dead in his tracks. The guy was a complete psycho. He leaned in from behind and added. "And let me tell you that I have much more interesting things in mind than a simple rematch."

"You do, huh? I have to say, you kinda killed it with the spoiler alert there. I actually like to be more surprised, you know what I mean?"

"Oh, you'll be surprised," Danny believed him. The guy's eyes sparkled with anticipation and not the good kind. "You should know that there are no losers in my family, yet you made my son lose in front of his grandfather. You'll pay for that."

Then it all made sense. This guy was Jin Leung's son. The father of the Kung-Fu kid Danny had knocked down two days ago. Danny swallowed again. He did feel threatened, but he wasn't going to show that. If he did, it would be game over, and a bullet would be send up his brain. "Well, no offense, but if a guy like me can take out your son, you might want to give him a few more fighting lessons."

That's when Danny went too far. The triad's son whistled like he was calling out the rest of his wolf pack. Car doors opened, and four guys stepped out fast. When you see four guys get out of a car like that, you either run like hell in the opposite direction without hesitation, or you stay put. And while you prepare yourself for a fight, you look ahead neutral, you check their faces, and look back at them like you're saying, is that all you got? Truth was, it's smarter to run. The best fight is the one you don't have. But Danny had never claimed to be smart. Just obstinate and, on occasion, stubborn.

Danny stayed put and scanned the four guys. They were all outfitted the same. Pitch black two pieced suit, black collared shirt underneath. The outfit didn't seem expensive or anything, but Danny figured they meet the demands when you work for the Chinese triad. It was purely an assumption that they worked for the triad, but looking at those guys, Danny's theory got confirmed. Because the guys inside the suits looked capable. Big guys, in a muscled kind of way. Two faces were inked with tattoos. The other two seemed strong enough to destroy anything that came in their way. All four were certainly ex-cons or ex-fighters or ex-both. Conclusion. Definitely part of the Chinese triad.

The four guys fanned out in a loose arc around them. Danny held up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right. Easy, okay?"

Leung's son put the gun away and stepped in front of Danny. The guy joined his men while he smiled with triumph like he'd won. Danny smiled back. It hadn't even started. Danny observed the gang of five guys standing around him. The muscled guys seemed loyal, ready to charge whenever their boss would say so. The scumbag standing on the far left was the alpha man of the group. He would be the first to come to Danny. He could tell because there was something about the way those dark brown eyes flicked back and forth between the boss and Danny himself.

"Take him." Jin Leung's son ordered.

With that order, the dark eyes stopped on Danny. He was right. The guy exploded towards Danny, except the dude standing second from the left joined him. They came in together, shoulder to shoulder, and with their heads low. They tried to drive Danny backward and have him stumble and fall. At which point, the other two could pile in together and stomp him and kick him to their hearts' content. That was not going to happen.

Danny head-butted the first guy full in the face. He whipped his head forward and smashed it into his nose. The guy looked like he got hit in the face with a bowling ball. It pulped his nose and jarred his little brain around. His legs gave out, and he dropped on the ground like a puppet with the strings cut. The second guy went straight down with only an elbow to the jaw.

The next opponent popped up in front of Danny before he realized it. The guy was four times the size of Danny. With those muscles, he could snap Danny's neck as easily as breaking a twig in half. The guy swung his big fist at Danny. He dodged left in time, but the fist caught Danny straight in his ribs. The blow landed hard on the injured side of his chest. Knocked the air right out of him, and he crumbled to his knees.

Pain radiated across his body, and it left him dizzy. Before Danny could get back up on his feet or fill his lungs with oxygen, he was grabbed from the front by his throat. And jacked up from the concrete by two giant hands strangling him. With his vision getting dark around its edges, Danny fought against the tight grip. The guy lined up for another shot at his chest. If it landed, Danny was a dead man. He knew that much. So he leaned back and kicked the man in the groin. It worked every damn time. The big guy let go of Danny and went down. He fell on his knees and pitched forward on his face.

With his feet back on the ground, Danny propped his hands on his knees. His body was in desperate need of oxygen. Only there was no time for him to get any. A hand was put on Danny's right shoulder from behind. It was the last guy standing. He turned Danny's upper body sideways and then crashed his left fist onto Danny's right temple, a little above his eyebrow. It was a colossal blow. Explosive. Danny's head snapped violently sideways, and his legs gave way, and he fell to the ground vertically like clothes slipping off a hanger. It was game over.

— TBC / HAWAIIFIVE0 —

A/N: Whoops, more whump coming you're way next Monday!

Hope you enjoyed it, and I always love to hear what you think of it!