Author's Note: This story is a little long, so I've split it into two parts.

If you message me or post a review asking to do artwork for my story, I will block you.

TW: Creepy crawly venomous beasties and a murderer.

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Dennis Morgan, Part One

May 10, 2023

Steve and Danny were in Waipahu looking for a young man named Dennis Morgan. He was a college student who had gone missing over the weekend. None of his friends knew where he'd gone, and he hadn't made it back for classes on Monday. His roommate was freaking out.

A neighbor down the street had suggested they check into the home of Arthur Anderson. "He's a real weirdo," the neighbor said. "Doesn't like people one bit, but he's an intern at Tripler. Why would he want to be a doctor if he hates people? I think he's got something weird going on at his house. I've seen people go in who never came out."

Or maybe you weren't watching when they came out, Steve thought. This guy was the nosy type. Steve imagined him with his nose constantly pressed up against his window as he watched what everyone on the street was doing. Still, it was a lead they had to check out.

They hadn't had to use their lock picks on a job before. They sat outside a neighboring house for an hour, watching for Anderson to leave. At last he came out, got in his car, and drove away. They knew from the nosy neighbor that Anderson lived alone. They left their car and walked up to the front porch. Steve pulled out their lockpicks and managed to pick the lock. "I'm sure 5-0 and HPD will forgive us if we crack a kidnapping case," he muttered. They stepped inside, closing the door behind them. Only then did Steve realize that the inside of the door had no doorknob.

They walked into the kitchen, hoping to find they could go out the back door, but they had the same problem. None of the doors to the outside had doorknobs. Instead, there were code pads next to them. Jerry could have figured out the codes easily. Danny tried doing it, but he had no luck. They could have broken a window, but there were bars inside all the windows. They had no way to get out. Then some vapor started coming out of the vents. At first it made Steve sick to his stomach. Then it knocked him out entirely.

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Danny woke up first. He was strapped down on a table. It reminded him of a lab table back in his high school biology class. His prosthesis was gone. His stump had been fitted into a tight metal ring. He couldn't pull free of it. His left hand ached more than it had before. It was no longer in the splint. Danny looked around and saw Steve strapped down on another table. There was a metal ring around the stump of his leg. He was still unconscious. A snake was slithering its way up his bare stomach. It looked like a rattler.

The room smelled like death. Danny couldn't see much beyond Steve, but he was pretty sure there were dead bodies somewhere nearby.

Danny was pretty sure he had been drugged. Something inside him wanted to warn Steve, but he couldn't figure out how to put words together.

A young man wearing a lab coat walked over to Danny. He had a file folder and a pen and — oh no — a jar of spiders. Danny hated spiders. "Hello," the man said. "I'm Dr. Anderson. I have a special treat for you." He twisted off the lid and emptied the jar on Danny's stomach.

Danny felt the bites right away. They burned. All he could do was groan in pain. The young man grinned. "You have been bitten by the redback spider. It's the Australian black widow. Painful, isn't it?"

Danny was in agony. He gripped his hand into a fist. If he could punch the smug look off this guy, he would.

"Ahh, you're angry at me." The man just grinned. He picked up a syringe and plunged it into Danny's shoulder. "There. That's the antivenom. You'll live. Now I must take care of my other new lab specimen."

He walked to Steve's side and picked up the snake. "Hello Bessie. Is this man not giving you any fun? He just won't wake up, will he?" He pulled out another syringe. "Well, we can't have him die just yet." He plunged the syringe into Steve's shoulder. Steve's eyes opened and he moaned. He looked around, his gaze meeting Danny's.

The man laughed. "Welcome back. I haven't drugged you. You're going to tell me why you were in my house, or I'll let Bessie loose on your friend there." He held up the snake and stroked its back. "This is how your life ends. You are my lab specimens. I will document your reaction to each venom, and in a few days, you will die."

"Won't tell you anything."

The doctor's eyebrows went up. He walked back to Danny and was about to put Bessie on his stomach. Danny moaned. He was still in pain from the spider bites. "I don't know if he can survive a rattler bite after several redback spider bites."

Steve sighed. He was in pain. "Looking for Dennis Morgan."

The man tilted his head. "College kid. Lives down the street. No. He's not here."

"5-0. Our friends. They'll look for us."

"But they won't find you. My basement is soundproof. No one will hear you call out." He used a pair of tongs to return the spiders to the jar. Then he walked away. "I'll be back with the bullet ants. They won't kill you, but they'll make you wish you were dead."

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Alani patted on Sammy. It was seven in the evening. The little boy had been crying for his daddy. Danny and Steve should have been home an hour ago. Something was wrong. She went to the refrigerator. Danny had put a list of emergency phone numbers on it. She would call Lou Grover.

She dialed the number. Sammy was crying. She put him in his high chair and gave him some Play Do. That usually pacified him a little. "Hello, Lou? This is Alani Williams. I'm calling because Danny and Steve haven't come home yet. They were going to be here at six to go to dinner and talk about Sammy's birthday party. I've called and called, and neither of them answers his phone. Something is wrong."

"Do you know what case they were working on?"

Alani looked at the notes Danny had given her. After the week they'd had, he was giving her information about each case. "They were looking for a college student named Dennis Morgan. He went missing over the weekend. Here's the phone number of their client." She read off the number.

"OK, we'll find them, Alani. Do you need to go into work? Renee can take the boys if you do."

"No, I called off. I'm scared, Lou. And Olina will be devastated if something happens to Steve."

"Renee's on her way to you now."

Alani breathed in deep. "Thank you, Lou. Bye for now." She hung up the phone then called Ralph. "Ralph, Alani here. It's time to start praying. Danny and Steve were supposed to be home at six and they aren't here. They aren't answering their phones. Something is wrong. I'm really scared."

"Maria and I will be there in a few minutes," Ralph said. He was always a calming presence.

Five minutes later, Ralph knocked on the door. Alani let him and Maria in. Ralph's arms came around her. He wasn't her father, but he played a fatherly role to all of Steve's ohana, and he had designated himself a grandfather to all of their children. "They'll be back," he said softly. "I know they will."

Charlie came running in. "Is Danno home?"

Alani wrapped her arms around the little boy. She couldn't love him more if he'd been born to her. "Not yet, sweetheart." She got down and looked him in the eyes. "He'll be back, keiki. I'm sure of it."

He leaned into the hug. She didn't understand how Rachel could have walked away from this sweet little boy in favor of a boyfriend who didn't want children. She would regret it one day. "I love you, Charlie."

"I love you too, Mama." He kissed her on the cheek, then went to pat on Sammy. "Your daddy will be home soon," he said to the little boy. "He loves you so much." He kissed Sammy on the forehead, then ran over to climb in Ralph's lap. "Hi, Grampops!"

"Hey, buddy."

Alani looked at Sammy. He had applesauce smeared all over his face and shirt. "Oh, little boy," she said. "I'd better bathe you and put clean clothes on you before Daddy gets here."

"Dada?" Sammy's eyes filled with tears.

Maria came over and pulled Sammy into her arms. "I'll clean him up." She balanced Sammy on her hip and put an arm around Alani. "They'll be OK. Go talk with Ralph."

Renee rang the doorbell a few minutes later. she came in and pulled Alani into a hug. "I've been here before, honey," she said. "They'll be home. Steve and Danny are two of the strongest men I know."

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After calling both Steve and Danny and having no luck, Lou called the number Alani had given him. A young man answered. "Hello?"

"Is this Craig Devonshire?" Lou asked.

"Yeah." He didn't sound like he was bothered about anything.

"Craig, I'm Captain Lou Grover of Hawaii 5-0. You hired my friends Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams to look for your friend Dennis Morgan."

"Oh, yeah." Lou heard a tinge of regret in Craig's tone. "Dennis messaged me last night. He forgot to tell me he took his girlfriend to Maui over the weekend. They got food poisoning and they decided to stay there while they recovered."

Lou rolled his eyes. "Did you tell McGarrett and Williams about this? Because they're missing now."

"Damn. I forgot. I'm sorry, man."

Lou hardened his tone. "It's Captain." Lou was ready to arrest the kid, just to put a scare in him.

"Sorry, Captain." The young man sounded penitent. "I hope they're OK. They're decent guys."

Lou growled into the phone. "You'd better hope they're OK. I'm this close to considering you an accomplice if something bad happened to them."

The line went dead. Lou called back. To his credit, Craig answered. "You need to tell me where they might be looking."

"Umm, they talked about checking Kawela Bay. It's Denny's favorite place to snorkel. Other than that, I'm not sure where they went."

Lou hung up the call. He got Junior on the line. Cole was visiting his father on the Mainland. "I think Steve and Danny are in trouble again. Idiot kid didn't tell them that the missing person they were looking for had checked in. Now Steve and Danny are missing and not answering their phones. The kid thinks they were going to check out Kawela Bay."

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Alani was sitting with Ralph and Maria. Renee was making dinner for the kids. The smells were making Alani nauseous. She jumped up and ran to the bathroom.

When she came back, Ralph leaned forward. "You haven't told Danny about the baby yet, have you? If you had, he would have told everyone."

Alani shook her head. "I don't know how. Charlie and Makai wear him out. I'm old enough that there's a risk of Down Syndrome. Not that it would keep me from having the baby, but I'm not sure what Danny would think."

Ralph smiled. "That man will love any child you give him," he said. "You know how Danny is with kids."

She nodded, relieved. "I was going to tell him last night."

Ralph put an arm around her shoulders. "They'll both come home again. I'm certain of it."

There was no luck that night in the search for Steve and Danny. Alina slept alone in her bed. She wore one of Danny's shirts and hugged his pillow. It smelled like him. She cried half the night. The rest of the night she prayed.

Alani offered the guest room to Ralph and Maria. There was a crib in the room for Sammy. If he couldn't have his daddy, he would like being with Ralph and Maria.

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Arthur Anderson pulled on his latex gloves and pocketed the phones his new lab specimens had been carrying. He tapped in the code to open his front door, then walked down to his car. The phones were turned off now so no one could ping them. He drove into Honolulu, parked the car, then got out and walked down a deserted alley. He dropped the phones near a dumpster behind a bar. Then he went back to his car. His specimens were waiting. He could hardly wait to see how they reacted to the bullet ants.

He wished he knew which car was theirs. He would move it into his garage. But all he had was a key. It must be an older vehicle, as there was no key fob. He could check each vehicle on the street, but it was too likely he'd be spotted by a neighbor. He didn't want to risk that.

Around midnight, Anderson grabbed the jar of ants. He would put his specimens through the same ritual that a certain Brazilian people used as an initiation rite. He submerged the ants in a sedative, then stuck them into large gloves woven from palm leaves, stingers facing inward. He took the gloves down to the basement. Soon the ants would regain consciousness. When they did, he blew cigarette smoke at them. It made them aggressive. He woke up his two-handed specimen, then put the gloves on his hands. He watched as his subject began to shake uncontrollably. It screamed in pain. He always dehumanized his specimens. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the heart to carry out his research.

Five minutes later, wearing thick gloves to protect himself, Anderson pulled the gloves off of his subject's hands. Then he went over to his other new specimen and slid the glove on its remaining hand. He slid the second glove over its stump. "There we go."

Anderson knew the ants were stinging because his subject groaned and pleaded. It was in full command of its speech now. It screamed and cussed. The pain, so Anderson had read, was similar to that of getting shot. One entomologist had written that a bullet ant sting felt like "walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel." That awful pain would continue unabated for at least twenty-four hours. After five minutes, Anderson pulled the gloves off of his subject. He had no fear that either specimen could escape its bonds.

Anderson attached a heart-rate monitor to each specimen. "Ahh, your heart rates are accelerating. You are experiencing edema in your arms. And your lymph nodes are beginning to swell. Most likely you are paralyzed. Can you move your hands, Specimen One?"

"I'm Commander McGarrett," the specimen said.

"No. Not anymore. You no longer have a name. You are a thing for me to experiment on. Show me whether you can move your hands."

The specimen's hands tightened into fists. Its face was red, its eyes burning with fury. "I'm going to kill you."

Anderson chuckled. "No. You won't have a chance to do that. I'll leave you now to experience the agony. It will last a full day; sometimes it lasts longer. Later today, I will return with the cobra."

He picked up the palm leaf gloves. The ants would go back in their jar for his next specimen.

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Steve turned his head toward Danny. "Stay with me, Buddy," he said. "We're going to find a way out of this." The pain of the stings was hard to ignore, but he had been trained to handle pain, even excruciating pain. "Box breathing, Danny. It will help."

Danny's eyes were wide and glassy and he was shaking. But he started the special method of breathing Steve had taught him: Breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, leave the lungs empty for four seconds, then start the process over.

Gradually, Danny nodded. "It's a little better. Feels like I got shot, though."

"Yeah. That's why they're called bullet ants. I've been bitten by one before, on an op in South America. There are tribes that use them as an initiation for leaders. I had to let one bite me to gain their trust." He groaned. "I've gotta get my leg out of this ring. It's way too tight. I'm sure it's cutting off the blood supply. I don't want to lose any more of my leg."

"Anderson said we're going to die here."

Steve glared at him. "No. We won't. We're going to get out of here and get desk jobs somewhere, and I'm going to marry Olina. Sammy's birthday is next week. We can't die."

He was trying to get his hands free from the cuffs. He'd done it before. In the past, he'd managed to squeeze his hands through the cuff, but now his hands and arms were swollen because of the stings. He couldn't get free.

Hopefully Lou would ping their phones and find out where they were. They would have given off a signal from the front porch. After they came inside, the phones were jammed. But if Lou came in, he could become Anderson's next victim. Steve wanted to get free, but not at the cost of his ohana. He frowned. "5-0 can't come after us. They'll get caught too."

Steve's leg ached where it was caught in the metal ring. Strangely enough, paying attention to that pain took his attention off his hands. He was starting to get nauseous, too. He'd missed at least one dose of his anti-rejection meds. "Danny," he said quietly. "I think I might be rejecting your liver. I missed my meds."

"Damn," Danny said. "I'm sorry, pal."

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Lou had been pinging Steve and Danny's phones ever since Alani called him. He didn't get any results. Early in the morning, he tried again. This time, he got a location. He and Junior followed the signal to a homeless encampment. Both phones were with an elderly man. He wouldn't have been able to harm Steve or Danny. Lou showed his badge. "Where did you get those?"

"I found them on the ground behind the bar on South Beretania, a block from HPD."

"They belong to my friends. Did you see them?" Lou showed him a photo of Steve and Danny.

The man shook his head. "No. Didn't see them at all." Lou didn't see any sign that he was lying. The man handed the phones over. Thankfully, he was wearing gloves. He wouldn't have gotten fingerprints on them. Lou pulled on his gloves before touching the phones. He put them in an evidence bag and handed them to Junior. "Take these to the HPD lab. See if there are any fingerprints on them. I'm going to find out if they were at the bar."

"Sure," Junior said. HPD was an easy walk from the encampment.

Lou drove to the bar, which was closing down. He went inside, displayed his badge, and held up the picture. "Were these two men here at all?"

The woman at the front desk shook her head. "No, neither of them came in here. I worked all night, so I would have seen them.

Lou frowned. He decided to go back to his car. He would go meet Junior at the lab. He pulled up Eric Russo's number on his phone and called him. "I need you to come to the lab right now. Danny and Steve are missing."

Eric got to the lab about the time Lou did. They walked in together. Junior handed Eric the phones. He dusted them for prints. "I think the person who tossed these was wearing gloves, but sometimes prints come through a glove — especially latex gloves, because they're so thin."

He managed to lift a print and ran it through the system. It brought up the name Arthur Anderson, an intern at Tripler. His address was in Kahuku.

Lou wrote down the address. "Let's go, Junior. Call the police at the Kahuku substation. We'll need them as backup. We'll tear the place apart to find Steve and Danny."

Junior made the call on the way to the HPD helipad. A chopper was waiting for them.

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Maria got up early to get breakfast for Sammy, Makai, and Charlie. When Alina came out of the bedroom, Maria gave her a stern look. "Alani, dear, you didn't sleep a wink last night, did you?"

Alani shook her head. "No." She put a hand to her mouth. "I never called Olina."

Maria took her by the arm and walked her back to the bedroom. "Rest. We'll watch the kids. Ralph can call Olina. You need sleep." She pulled Alani into a hug and crossed herself. "Father, please comfort Alani and give her peace. Let her sleep. Bring Danny and Steve home. Amen." She guided Alani into the bedroom and to the bed. "Rest, my dear. The kids are safe."

"Thank you." Alani felt a little better. She was still frightened, but she appreciated Maria's prayer. She hugged Danny's pillow close, closed her eyes, and was asleep in a matter of minutes.

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Officer Anela from the Kahuku substation drove Lou and Junior to Anderson's house. It was only seven in the morning, but Lou pounded on the door.

An elderly woman answered. "I'm looking for Arthur Anderson," Lou said.

She shook her head. "My grandson hasn't lived here for years. I can't tell you his current address. He never told me."

Lou showed his badge. "I'm part of 5-0. I'm coming in to look for him."

She glared at him. "Do you have a warrant?"

"Ma'am, I'm 5-0. I don't need one." He went into the house. A bad smell was coming up the stairs from the basement. He and Junior walked downstairs. They found a mixture of dead creatures. Mostly animals, but a few of the remains looked human to Lou. "We need HPD to catalog all of this," he said.

Suddenly the door closed. Lou ran up the stairs and tried it, but it was locked. Then he heard a gunshot. A minute later, the door opened. Officer Anela was standing there. The woman lay moaning on the floor. "She had a gun and was about to shoot me," Anela said, "but I got her first. We've called for an ambulance."

"Get a crew down here to catalog the remains we found," Lou said. "Most are animals, but there are some human remains too. Junior, let's search this place from top to bottom."

They searched the entire house, but Steve and Danny weren't there. They had to figure out where Arthur Anderson lived, and the old woman wasn't willing to tell them anything.

"Maybe Tripler will have a current address for him," Lou said as he and Junior walked back to the police car. "Give Jerry a call and see if he'll hack into their database for us. He'll want to help Steve and Danny."

"Sure. I'll message him now." Junior pulled out his phone and his fingers flew across the screen.

Lou shook his head. "You young people don't talk to anybody anymore. It's a crying shame."

Junior shrugged. "I talk to you, Cap." He got a message back from Jerry. "He says he'll check into it right now."

Two minutes later, he got another text. "The address Tripler has is in Kahuku, Cap."

"So he moved somewhere and didn't update his address. He's probably continuing whatever he started in the basement in Kahuku. I hate to think of Steve and Danny falling into that."

At last Anela came back to the car. He drove them to the Kahuku substation. Lou sighed heavily. He wasn't sure what to do from here.

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Steve closed his eyes and thought about Olina. He wanted to be with her. He had to find a way out of this place. His wrists were too swollen for the cuffs. They ached. His hands burned. Danny was right, those bites felt like getting shot. He could move his hands, but he couldn't move them much. He had managed to make fists before, but he'd lost some mobility since then. It would come back eventually. If he lived.

Anderson had said he was coming back with a cobra. That could kill within half an hour. Would he give them the antivenom? "I love you, Olina. I love you, Sammy," he whispered. "Somehow, we're going to come home."

He wasn't sure what time it was. Maybe Danny could connect to the internet and figure it out. "Hey, Danny, can you figure out the time? And can't you send an email with your brain?"

"Sorry, pal. I haven't been able to do that since Dr. Abrams removed the first neuroseed." Danny sighed. "Maybe I can figure out a way." He closed his eyes.

Steve closed his eyes too. He wasn't much for praying, but now seemed like a good time. Please get us home, God. We both have good reasons to get home. We have family waiting for us, worrying about us. Amen.

Danny grinned. "I figured it out! And Anderson doesn't have any code on his Wi-Fi. I'm sending Lou an email now. Do you remember the address of this place?"

"No. But it's Awanani St. in Waipahu. It's a small blue house a couple doors northwest from my green Chevy suburban. Tell him not to let the doors close on him. I think that's what triggered whatever knocked us out. And tell him to bring paramedics."

"Yeah, yeah. I said that already."

They heard a door opening and feet tromping down the stairs. Steve groaned. "He's coming. Tell them to hurry."

"Tell whom to hurry?" Anderson asked. "There's no way you're talking with anyone."

"You're a dead man, Anderson," Steve growled.

"Am I now?" Anderson's pointer finger traced a line across Steve's jawbone. "I can't imagine how you'll accomplish that. You can barely move."

Steve glimpsed in Danny's direction. Danny blinked in Morse code. COMING. GETTING CHOPPER.

Anderson lifted up a cobra. "Look who I brought to see you. This is Stella. Now, I only have one antivenom. I have to decide which of you will get it."

"Give it to him," Steve said, looking at Danny. "Tell Sammy I loved him. He's yours now."

"Awww, how sweet. So very self-sacrificial!" Anderson patted Steve on the shoulder. "I'm actually going to flip a coin. Heads, you win. Tails, you lose."

Danny hadn't said anything. Steve could see that he was struggling. He would argue that Steve should get the antivenom, but Steve didn't want that. He wanted Danny to live. When Daiyu Mei had tried to kill Danny, Steve had prayed in the chapel at Tripler, "Take me, not him." He was saying the same thing now, even though he had so much to live for.

Anderson flipped a coin. He looked at it. "Tails. That means Specimen Two gets the antivenom." Then he held up a medical device. "You're lucky I'm a medical intern, Specimen One. I'll put you on a ventilator. I'm not ready for you to die just yet. There are many more lovely venomous creatures in my menagerie. I want to see how you react to them. You're the first specimen I've had who could make fists after being stung by bullet ants."

"You should see what I did to the one that stung me in South America," Steve said. "It didn't live long."

Anderson held the cobra near Steve's face. Steve squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want the creature to spit venom in them. That could lead to irreversible blindness. If he survived this, he didn't want to be blind again. He wanted to look into Olina's eyes at their wedding.

The cobra hissed and Steve felt venom hit his eyelids. He didn't dare open them. Then he felt the cobra's fangs sink into the end of his stump. Soon, he was struggling to breathe. He felt a tube sliding down his throat. He heard the hum of the ventilator.

A needle was plunged into his arm. Anderson said, "This medication will keep your heart from being paralyzed. And now for Specimen Two."

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Danny also squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn't a foolproof way to avoid venom in the eyes, but it would help some. He felt the venom hit his eyelids. Then the cobra bit his stump. A minute later, he felt a needle in his shoulder. "There. You've had the antivenom."

Danny was writing another email to Lou in his mind. Tell the paramedics Steve was bitten by a cobra. He's on a ventilator and a medication that will keep his heart beating. He needs the antivenom. He sent the message.

A moment later, he had a response from Lou. We'll let them know. We're almost there.

Anderson chuckled. "Goodbye for now. When I come back, I'm going to inject you with platypus venom. The pain from that will last for weeks. Not that you'll live that long." Danny heard him tromping back up the stairs.