A/N: Even given my perpetual, shameless need to beat our favorite SEAL senseless, this one is a little different. Hope you enjoy. Should prove to be something interesting. Enjoy

Summary: Steve told Danno he worked the "other side." Danno assumes that means a sniper. But what if working the "other side" was much more than that, and what if Danny is about to find out exactly what Steve meant. Post Po'ipu.

Moscow, Russia- Sunday: 2330 hours local time.

Steve McGarrett laughed loudly, despite the complete lack of comedic value in the situation. After as much vodka as they'd assumed that he'd consumed, he was supposed to be well on his way to being roaring drunk. Which was exactly the plan.

The man next to him turned and began to speak in rapid Russian.

"The cards are unlucky for you tonight, eh Volkoff?"

Steve smirked drunkenly at the man before him and pretended to slur on his words as he replied in a similar fashion. "I'll win my money back tomorrow, Petrovsky, just you wait and see."

The rest of the table laughed at him. He smiled in return, even as his mind reeled in disgust at the sight of the six dirty men, all part of the radical, communist driven gang he was tracking. Their leader, Anton Ivanov, managed to kidnap a CIA op with top clearance and planned to ship him off to Hawaii to hack a satellite and break an extremely dangerous, painfully powerful man out of prison. Which was why Steve was playing cards in a freezing warehouse in the middle of the night with a bunch of violent, strapped insurgents.

It was a simple DA (Direct Action) mission that was all about the Intel. He had to find out how Ivanov was going to leave Russia with the kidnapped man, and then take down the rest of the gang. After which he got to fly all the way to North Korea to do something similar.

It was times like these that made Steve miss Hawaii, where he had his Ohana and it was warm and there were generally less Intel turned covert op political assassination missions.

"You going to bet on that piece of shit hand, Volkoff?" Petrovsky asked, throwing an arm over Steve's shoulder like they were best friends.

"You going to cheat all night, Petrovsky?" Steve replied, his mouth forming Russian as easily as it did English.

"Hey," the man replied indignantly, "I'm dealing this round anyways. I'm just offering some friendly advice."

Steve pretended to laugh drunkenly again. Secretly, he was glad the United States government was paying for this Recon mission, because he was sure it had cost a pretty penny, what with flying him to Russia as quickly as was humanly possible, paying off the right people to connect Steve to the Russian gang in question, and the huge amount dropped after hours of losing poker on purpose to a bunch of people who seemed to have expendable income.

His eyes sharp, Steve took note of the position of each man around the table. Petrovsky, directly to his left, dealt another round. Downing another shot of bad vodka, Steve grimaced at the useless hand. He knew Petrovsky was cheating, but it wasn't his job to oust a dirty card player.

He was here to find out how they were getting to Hawaii, and then to disband the remaining members of the gang. Because, really, they were only detrimental to society anyways.

Pretending to sway a little, Steve looked around wildly. "Hey," he spoke up, nudging Petrovsky in the arm, "Where's Ivanov? Isn't he supposed to play tonight?"

Petrovsky, ever the loudmouth Russian drunk, laughed raucously. "Nah, Volkoff. He's got business tonight."

"Business? What kind of business?"

"Business that doesn't concern a street runner like yourself," he leered, but continued anyways, clearly enjoying being the center of attention. "Word is he got his hands on an American- an American with something that could get Petrov out of that damned Korean prison."

"Oh yeah? What they going to do with that American son of a bitch?"

"Word is," he leaned closer to Steve to add to the suspense, "They got a ship in the harbor, one headed to Hawaii." He said the name of the island slowly, as though Steve might not understand to word. Steve wanted to scoff. If he didn't know the word, he wouldn't have been in Russia in the first place.

"When they leavin'?" Steve asked.

Petrovsky leered at him again. "Why you wanna know, Volkoff?"

Steve pretended to back off, hands raised in submission. "Relax, Petrovsky. I got a guy is all. A guy in Hawaii." He made his mouth struggle over the word. "I bet my guy can get Ivanov to the right place."

Petrovsky smirked. "Relax, Volkoff," he said, "We got people too, and plenty of them. People who're gonna make a huge impact. And, word is, Ivanov is leavin' tonight."

There it was, conformation of the contacts on Oahu, as well as the when and how of the departure of Ivanov. That was it. Time to play.

"Got it, boss," a voice sounded in his ear. Finally, Steve thought to himself.

Steve leaned back in his chair, and made to stumble up, holding himself up on his chair.

"Where you going, Volkoff?" Another man asked over the cards in his hands.

"I gotta piss." He stumbled forward. Bending over himself, he made like he was going to be sick.

"HEY!" Petrovsky cried, "You going to be sick, you do it somewhere else."

Steve, his back to the table, smirked to himself.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." He removed his hands from his stomach, now holding a military grade pistol in each.

Those low life Russian bastards never had a chance. Steve whipped around, taking down the first two with a head shot to each before anyone could even widen their eyes in surprise. Another two shots, and the next men went down as they were drawing their guns.

Bang. The fifth went down as he made to aim.

Bang. A sixth shot, and Petrovsky slumped onto the table as his gun clattered uselessly to the floor.

Steve observed the six dead with no compassion, or even emotion. On the island, death was one thing. But here? In the middle of nowhere with six sick, child killing bastards? Death was just a part of the job.

Steve dispassionately looked at Petrovsky.

"Goddamn cheater had an ace up his sleeve," He said, more to himself than anyone. Still, he was unsurprised when a voice responded.

"You would've won, boss."

"It's a shame, really. What a waste of perfectly good talent. The one to my right was counting cards."

"So were you."

"Yeah, but I couldn't do shit about it." He sighed at the scene before him, before calmly making his way to the door. "You know what to do, Davis."

"Release the methanol from the gas line, short wire the circuits. Kaboom. Got it. You out of there?"

"Am now."

Steve continued walking as, behind him, the warehouse burst into flames, the explosion rocking the ground as fire rained down on the snow- packed earth.

Pulling a satellite phone out of his pocket and shivering at the invasive cold, Steve reserved a sigh for nostalgia's sake, missing Oahu and his team more each passing hour in the frozen hellhole.

Jesus, I sound like Danno. He smirked beside himself, knowing that, when he got back home, Danny was going to have a hissy fit over his inexplicable absence for several days. Steve sighed, dreading the conversation.

Punching in the numbers, Steve held the frozen phone up to his equally frozen hand and resisted the urge to shiver, despite himself.

"McGarrett."

"Admiral. I have the Intel."

Five-0 HQ- Tuesday: 0900 hours local time.

Detective Danny 'Danno" Williams could say, with complete and absolute confidence, that his partner was off his rocker.

For one, the guy was completely MIA. He left a message for Danny on Friday, saying that he was sick and wouldn't be able to come in for a few days, and had not been heard from since. They went to his house, and the doors were locked. A note was left taped to the front door, in Steve's immaculately military script.

Danno,

Despite the fact that I'm sure you have a well though out speech about how I shouldn't play hooky, I really am sick. I'm sure you have better things to do than babysit, so don't bother coming in. We'll both be annoyed if you do. Don't think this means you have the week off; the perps won't catch themselves.

With all of my not inconsiderable love for you,

SM

The note was full of Steve's palpable sarcasm, and it was definitely written by him. Danny resisted the urge to knock down his door despite the warning.

The second reason Danny was sure his partner was batshit insane was that Steve seemed to have connections all over the island- hell, probably all over the world- and because of this was constantly in contact with shady, underhanded people, who did nothing but turn Steve into a cryptic, equally devious SEAL maniac. People like Bullfrog, who tried to kill every one of Danny's teammates. It was horrible frustrating.

The third reason that Steve McGarrett needed to be institutionalized and declared mentally unfit to be a member of society was standing in front of Danny in the Five-0 HQ, hands behind his back, calmly staring straight ahead. He screamed military, from his proper Navy attire to his short, severe hairstyle, and Danny knew that he was going to turn Steve into that super- freak ninja assassin persona that made the man so charming.

Steve was still sick and holed up in his house, and so Danny was left to greet the anonymous, uptight man in his stead.

"Can I help you?" He asked, trying not to use the tone of voice he generally reserved for Rachel.

The man turned around quickly, his sharp eyes looking Danny up and down before seeming to dismiss him as a threat. Danny was a little put out by this, but held his ground anyways.

The man nodded. "Detective Williams, I presume?"

Even the way he spoke set Danny on edge. It was concise, to the point, and uncannily Steve-like.

Danny nodded.

"My name is Admiral Sal Goodich; I'm with the U.S.S Florida."

"Well, Admiral," Danny said, trying his hardest not to compare this man to his partner, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to discuss a security threat with you and the remaining two members of your team."

Great. This was shaping up to be just a fantastic Tuesday morning. Nothing like a security threat and the U.S. Navy to start off the work week.

"Two? I'm sorry Admiral, but you're mistaken. There are three other members of my team."

Goodich nodded, irritatingly unsurprised by Danny's words.

"I know, Detective, but you see I don't count Steve McGarrett as part of the discussion because he is already fully aware of the security threat to the island and, by extension, the freedom of the democratic East."

Danny could hardly form words through his part shock/ part palpable frustration at the whole situation.

"What the hell do you mean, Steve already knows? Do you know where he is? He's holed up in his house with a nasty case of the flu." But even as he said the words, Danny began to doubt their veracity.

"He's not sick, is he?" Danny asked, frowning at the possible implications of the whole situation.

Goodich offered nothing beyond saying, "We ought to wait for the rest of your team, don't you think?"

Danny only grunted in response, tapping his foot against the tile floor in impatience.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Chin and Kono walked in together, obviously sharing a quiet joke. One look at the situation in front of them and they both quieted instantly.

"Hey, Danny, who's your friend?" Kono asked, eying the admiral in a way that only a native could to an obvious haole. Chin was less transparent, but to a trained, familiar eye, the calculation was evident behind his cool, dark eyes.

"He's not my friend." Danny said, before doing things properly and introducing the man to his comrades. "Kono, Chin, meet Admiral Goodich. He's here to discuss a security threat with us."

Chin looked around before inquiring, "Where's McGarrett?"

"He's not coming," the Admiral interjected before Danny could respond. "Commander McGarrett has, given that he was in the reserves anyway, been put back into active duty."

"What the hell?" Danny exclaimed. "With respect, Admiral, Steve has a duty to this island and to his team. You can't just pull him back into duty and ship his to god knows where with no warning."

"Don't worry," The Admiral placated, "It's only temporarily, I assure you. Plus, the Commander will be back on the island within the next few days."

"What's going on?" Kono managed to use a single question to ask everything Danny had been thinking.

"There's been a serious threat to the security of Oahu as well as to the democratic reign of the East." Goodich look gravely from one face to the next. "A group of Russian insurgents managed to get a hold of an agent from Langley- stationed at an embassy in the country- who has security clearance to almost every major United States military command center and satellite operation system in the world."

"How the hell could a group of insurgents get their hands on a very powerful and very well protected person? And, for that matter, why would we assume that the Russian insurgents could coerce him into hacking a network? And what does this have to do with us? Or McGarrett?" Danny felt as though the questions would never stop.

Goodich sighed.

"This has everything to do with you, Detective. The problem we face now is twofold. One, from the Intel we could gather, the agent from Langley, a Mr. Kahale, was born here in Hawaii, and the insurgents- under a man named Ivanov- claim to have locals helping them, who will blow up a place of importance unless the agent complies with their demands. From what we could gather, they want Kahale to hack the satellite stationed over North Korea, specifically the northern tip where there resides a prison. And in that prison is a man named Yuri Petrov, a former leader of the Russian radicalists in question and a very dangerous man. If Kahale complies, the satellite will have a jammed signal for exactly as long as it takes for Petrov to break out of prison. It could quite possibly uproot all democracy in Russia and start a war."

Silence. Danny remembered that the Admiral said the problem was twofold, but Chin beat him to the question.

"What's the other problem?" He asked, eyes clouded with apprehension.

"The admiral sighed again. "The only way to hack the satellite is to be in close proximity to the tower where the satellite feeds its signal."

Danny paused. "That tower is here, isn't it?"

Goodich nodded.

"I don't understand," admitted Kono. "If they have to come here, why don't we just shut down the island? We know where they have to go, right? We can catch them before they ever set foot on Oahu."

"Unfortunately," replied the Admiral, "Its not that easy. The satellite tower has a signal feed large enough that they could hack it from anywhere on the island with the right equipment."

"So where does that leave us?" Chin asked.

Goodich's response was not heartening. "We have no idea if the Russians mean business when they said they would blow up a public place, because the island is crawling with Navy personnel and nothing has been even remotely close to blown up."

"What's the time frame?" Kono asked.

"The Russians grabbed Kahale on Friday. We started receiving Intel on the situation on Sunday. As of now, all we know is that the Russians have left Moscow by ship that they are headed here. They could be on Oahu by this time tomorrow."

"So you need us to…?" Danny phrased it like a question.

"I need you to do what you do, and treat the Russians like any other case you have. Find out who the locals who are helping could be, find out where they could have planted a bomb, and find out where on the island they could go to jam a satellite signal without getting caught."

"And where does McGarrett fit into all of this?"

Goodich paused.

"He's working the other side," he answered unhelpfully.

Danny actually groaned. "That's the second time I've heard that term, Admiral, and I still don't know what it means."

"It's classified."

Danny scoffed. "If you want out help, Goodich, then you have to understand how we operate. It's Ohana." He could see Chin and Kono smirk at his use of the word. "It means full discretion and understanding between us. How are we supposed to work on this case if our boss is gone and nobody can even tell us what the hell he's up to?"

Goodich appraised Danny, and seemed to reevaluate his original dismissal.

"you'd have made a good soldier." He conceded just a little bit of information to the team. "Commander McGarrett works the other side. It means he and his team carry out the mission- the ones that the United States cannot take credit for- by any and all means necessary."

With that, he bid them adieu, turned on his heel, and left the building.

"What the hell?..." Kono stared after the man's retreating back in shock.

Danny was similarly disbelieving. Sure, Steve was a Ninja, but if Danny thought he understood what the Admiral was implicating… well, then McGarrett just graduated to… whatever came beyond ninja. Super Ninja?

Chin turned to Danny now. "Looks like you're the boss, Haole. What do you want to do?"

Danny shook himself out of his reverie.

"Uh… we need to track locals who have any history tracing back to Russian crime or this man Petrov. Kono, check and see if anyone in the system is currently on the island that matches that description, or has a history with this Ivanov person. Chin, map the island and find out the most optimal spot, in terms of satellite feed and stealth, for jamming the signal. Once they reach the island, they won't waste time in either blowing something up, or else jamming that signal if Kahale has already cracked. I'll talk to HPD and see if I can't find any place that will be the likeliest target for a bomb."

Chin and Kono responded immediately to his command, leaving Danny with his thoughts as he wandered towards HPD, his mind elsewhere.

What the hell are you doing, Rambo?

Somewhere north of Najin, North Korea. Tuesday, 1400 local time.

Steve found lush jungle and dense green foliage much more to his liking than the harsh cold of Russia, even if the forest was full of large insects, poisonous water, and several hundred guerilla soldiers who walked the perimeter of Najin Prison with incredible firepower and itchy trigger fingers.

The soldiers where a blip on the radar, really. They had no more military technology than a gun, and an outdated one at that. With state- of- the- art equipment and a team of some of the best operatives in the world, they would be SEAL food.

Still, when stealth was the mission, it was hardly appropriate to start open war in the middle of a jungle less than a mile from a maximum security prison that housed some of the world's most dangerous people.

That was the only reason the Korean Soldiers remained alive as Steve and four other men ran silent through the forest, dodging the men they would normally kill as they made their way towards the prison.

Timing was everything. They had to make sure that, when the satellite failed over the prison and all surveillance would be scrambled, they were there to ensure that Petrov remained incarcerated by any means possible. The tricky thing was that Petrov, who simply knew things the international community needed to be aware of, was to be kept alive for testimony at the UN summit in four months time.

Not killing, though it pained Steve to admit it to himself, was what made this mission so difficult. It only added to his irritation towards global politics that this man was so necessary, that they would risk what was not only one of the most strategically placed U.S. Naval peacekeeping areas in the worlds, but was also Steve's home.

There it was. Like a barbed- wire hellhole, Najin Prison rose up out of the jungle. Steve stopped and held up a fisted hand. As a unit, his men stopped with him. Using his hands to communicate, he indicated that three men should create a perimeter, while he and the fourth- a Chief Warrant Officer they called Pinks on account of his overtly red nose- would enter the prison and, with the help of the trustworthy guards, ensure Petrov remained incarcerated.

The three men left, each headed in a different direction. Together, Steve and Pinks, using a circuit jammer much like the one that helped blow up that Russian warehouse, cut the electrical power to the fence, scaled it in quick order, and stealthily made their way to the north guard tower. In it would be two of the only trustworthy guards at the whole prison. They would let the SEALS monitor Petrov in his cell until Steve's team and the navy in Oahu could catch Ivanov.

A single knock at the door of the north tower would alert the guards to their presence.

Knock.

Nothing. No answer, no movement. His rifle aimed in front of him expertly, Steve gently pushed open the door of the tower. The room beyond was a surveillance room with screens depicting each prison cell.

On edge, Steve stepped cautiously into the room. There should have been some sign of the guards by now. Something was wrong.

And then he noticed the smell. The acrid, distinct smell of powder explosives.

Shit.

"Go!" He whispered to Pinks. The officer turned on his heel and sprinted from the tower without a second though. Steve followed. They made it less than thirty yards before the north tower exploded. The explosion knocked both of them to the ground, and Steve could feel the fiery metal rain down upon them. A piece of burning shrapnel sliced into the left side of his jaw line like a knife through butter.

No time to worry about that now. Steve hopped up, grabbed his charge by the collar to hoist him up, and shoved him forward. He began to run.

Pinks, cutting the fence power once more, clambered over. Steve was hot on his heels.

They ran another three hundred yards before stopping at the rendezvous point, where the other three SEALS were already positioned, guns aimed, securing a perimeter for their commander.

"Get me a satellite phone, now." They obeyed without question, and a phone was in his hands in seconds. It took about that long for a rag to find its way to his bleeding jaw, but he waved it off and instead motioned towards Pinks, who sat upon the ground sporting the telltale signs of a concussion. He bled from the ear.

"McGarrett."

"Admiral. Najin was a failure," Steve said quickly and concisely, "We were compromised."

A pause, and then… "Petrov?"

Steve paused this time, dreading having to tell his admiral what he glimpsed before the tower exploded.

"He's gone, sir."

"Damnit."

"It must have been a ruse, Admiral. They already have Petrov. They don't want to jam the satellite over North Korea; they're going to skew the signal over Oahu. They're going to sneak him onto the island."

"Ivanov has to be less than ten hours away by boat, Commander. Petrov will arrive not long after they tamper with the signal. You need to get back here ASAP. We need you to take down Ivanov and his team. Timing is everything, Commander. Petrov can't know he's been made until we can catch him again."

"Do I have permission to take Petrov down if the need arises, sir?"

"You do, Commander. See you when you land." The line went dead.

Steve looked around at his men. Pinks was concussed, but he was still as SEAL and, injury or not, he would not complain as they trekked back to the city and to where they could commandeer an airplane from a generous North Korean military air base.

"Okay, we have less than ten hours to get back to Oahu," Steve told his team. "We need a plane, and we need one fast."

Pinks, despite his overtly dilated pupils, spoke up.

"Sir? We're less than fifty miles from the Chinese border. We can borrow a truck, and fly out the second we cross the border."

Steve nodded curtly, agreeing with the idea.

"Okay, we have to get back to Oahu, and then find Ivanov, and take him down while not alerting to Petrov- who will be flying in on a small, unmarked aircraft hours after Ivanov docks- that he's been compromised."

"Let's move."

Five-0 HQ, Tuesday: 2300 hours local time.

Kono wanted to hit her head on her desk in frustration. After a moment of consideration, she went ahead and let it thump onto the wood, earning her an immediate headache.

"Slow going, cuz?" Chin asked, leaning against the desk and offering her a cup of piping hot coffee.

Gratefully accepting the drink, she nodded her affirmation to the question.

"No kidding. All day, and I'm no closer to finding anyone who could possibly be aiding the Russians. If they're here, they're not in the system, and no one has a reported connection with Ivanov." She look up at her cousin. "Any luck on your end?"

"A little," he replied. "I've mapped the island, and cross referenced the part of the island with least surveillance that would also be optimal for jamming a satellite signal."

"And?"

"And I found the likeliest spot." Chin brought up a map of Oahu on the screen in front of them, and highlighted an area on the northeastern shore where there was very little population movement. It also, consequently, was a huge dock for large freighters like the one the Ivanov and his men were rumored to be arriving on.

"Ten miles in from the dock is a cell tower that can feed the signal jammer easily and still remain completely free of unwanted civilian or military personnel; the place is basically deserted."

Kono smiled despite her frustration. Finally they had a lead. And a big one at that; they knew where Ivanov was landing. It was perfect.

At that moment, Danny walked into the office, talking into his cell as though his ex- wife was on the other end.

"Yeah," he said curtly, "I understand. Okay. Will do Admiral." He hung up.

"That was my favorite uptight Navy ninja," he told them. "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that Steve is- sort of- on his way back to the island. The bad news is that Steve is coming back because Petrov already broke out of prison, and they think he's headed here by plane as we speak."

Kono couldn't help herself. "What the hell?" She asked, staring at Danny, who looked more irritated than usual.

"My thought exactly," he replied. "I guess Petrov was nowhere near the prison he was supposed to be in, and Admiral Goodich claims that they believe Ivanov was setting a false trail with the satellite over North Korea. They think Ivanov is actually trying to get Kahale to jam the signal over Oahu so that they can sneak Petrov onto the island."

"Well, at least we know where Ivanov will land," Chin assured him.

"We do?"

Chin showed Danny the same map Kono had seen minutes before.

"Damn," Danny breathed. "Chin, there are literally hundreds of freighters in that dock."

"I know," replied Chin unhappily, "but at least it's something."

Danny nodded. Kono suddenly began to feel the sheer hugeness of the task they were undertaking. She wished, though she would never admit it, that Steve was around. With his less- than- innocuous connections and quick thinking attitude, she was sure they would have a foolproof plan of action.

"Danny," She said, "What do we do now?"

"We do three things," the man replied with certainty. "One, we watch the docks like a hawk for ships coming and going and follow all personnel who pass through the vicinity of that cell tower. Second, we keep searching for a bomb threat because we can assume that Kahale hasn't done a thing for Ivanov. Third, we can prey like hell that McGarrett will show up before Petrov."

"So…" Chin seemed to be trying to sum up the situation. "We're going to try and stop a dangerous Russian from getting an even more dangerous Russian onto the island, while not alerting the more dangerous man that he's going to get caught. All while assuming there's a bomb threat to the island. And without knowing whether or not the can even jam the satellite because we don't know if they've cracked their hostage."

Danny paused. "Yes," he answered, "That pretty much sums it up."

Kono did not feel any better. In fact, she was even more sure they had no business handling this case at all.

China/ Korean border- Chinese Air base. Wednesday: time unknown.

They got lucky. Either that, or the gods finally decided to repay Steve for years of bad karma. He was leaning towards the former.

They made it to the air base in less than an hour, since Officer Davis drove more crazily than Steve himself. They were on a plane with more than eight hours to spare before Ivanov was supposed to dock. Still, they were going to cut it close.

They had several hours to kill now, and Steve began discussing a plan with his team. He trusted the SEALS under his command, but every passing minute made his wish with greater vehemence that he was back on his island with his team. Five-0 worked together seamlessly and efficiently where this group of boys spent more time arguing than actually formulating ideas.

"Stop!" Steve finally commanded, after Officers Davis and Franco almost went to blows over possible approaches to the situation.

"You ladies done?" He asked. They shut up and stood down. Steve nodded, pleased that they at least could follow orders.

"We are going to do this right. We have to let Ivanov dock, and follow him to wherever the hell he's going. We need eyes and ears on the situation. Speers!"

The youngest member of the team- a chatter specialist from Maine- came to attention as best he could while sitting in an airplane.

"Sir?"

"How's your Russian, soldier?"

"Perfect, sir!"

"Good. Plain clothes, Speers. I want you on the island as surveillance. Listen to all chatter you can find. The radio, the streets, anywhere. I don't care if you hack the whole goddamn Navy base. I don't care how you do it, but I need Intel on possible bomb locations, civilian movement, anything- no matter how arbitrary it may seem. If you find a local in league with Ivanov, take him out, soldier. It's your job to see to it that the people are as safe as possible, if the bomb threat turns out not to be bogus. Got that, kid?"

"Yes sir!" The boy cried, saluting him. Despite the fact that they had several more hours before landing, he moved to find civilian clothing and shed his dirty, used combat gear. Steve envied him; it just wasn't suitable clothing unless one was actually in combat. His boots were muddy, and his pants were slightly singed from the explosion in Najin. He was able to shed his coat and sit in just his t- shirt, but he still felt uncomfortably tied down to his heavy gear.

I've gotten way too used to civilian life, he mused to himself, Danny would be proud.

"Davis, rendezvous with the Admiral. Confer with him and come up with the best political solution to Petrov's imprisonment or, damnit it all if it comes to it, execution."

"Yes sir!" Davis replied, saluting much like Speers.

"Franco, I need you to contact the U.S.S Enterprise and find the airplane with Petrov. Hack every radio frequency tower if you have to."

Franco responded the same way.

Steve turned to Pinks. "Officer Pinks, first you need to find a medic." Pinks nodded resolutely, the man's sheer lack of indignant response only more affirmation to the Commander that the explosion caused a head injury. "After, rendezvous with my team at Five-0 HQ. At the rate we're going, we'll beat Ivanov by at least two hours. We'll use that time to get Intel from my team on the island and reformulate a plan of attack if we have to."

He addressed all four men on the airplane now. "We need to take down Ivanov at all costs. All men under his leadership are considered to be a threat to the state and will be dealt with with deadly force." Not one of his men even blinked at this. "Petrov ought to be apprehended alive, but if he threatens the security of anyone- and I mean anyone - on my island, we will use deadly force. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir!" They chorused as one. Steve nodded, pleased.

"Sir?" Questioned Speers, sitting back down in his seat, wearing jeans, a T- shirt, and a pair of sneakers. Steve could see the outline of a gun strapped to his ankle.

"Speers?"

"Where are you headed?"

Steve looked at him. The kid was barely twenty five, fresh out of the academy and eager to prove himself. It was clear the question was a hard one for him to ask.

"I'm headed to the other side."

Speers nodded, and held out his hand. "If this goes to shit," he said, "It's been a pleasure, sir."

Steve took the kid's hand without hesitation.

"The pleasure's been all mine, kid."

Speers moved away, and his spot was replaced by Pinks, why was up and moving even with the clear concussion. The boy was a trooper.

"Pinks," Steve began, looking seriously at his charge, "I need you to do something for me. When you get to Five-0 HQ, find Detective Danny Williams. Give him a message for me…"