Chapter Text
“Hey brah, I’ll catch you later, yeah? What an EPIC night!” Nahele called out to Koa as he got into the back of his Uber. Koa rolled down the window and threw up the Shaka, sticking his head out the window hollering, “Chee hoo!”
Chuckling, Nahele returned the Shaka and watched the Uber pulled away from the curb, bass from the club still thumping faintly through the humid Honolulu air. Nahele stood beneath the glow of a streetlamp, hands shoved into the pockets of his pants as he watched the taillights disappear toward Waikīkī.
What started out as a chill night celebrating graduating from U of H turned into an all out rager with lots of shots, loud music and dancing. Now, for the first time all night, the city felt still.
The usual chaos of Ala Moana had faded into distant traffic and crashing waves somewhere beyond the maze of concrete hotels and sleeping storefronts. Palm trees swayed lazily overhead, their shadows stretching long across the empty sidewalks. Even the air smelled different now — saltier, cooler, carrying the scent of the ocean instead of sweat, liquor and street food.
Nahele checked his phone - 1:57 A.M.
The walk to his apartment was only around fifteen minutes, and on nights like tonight he didn’t mind it. It gave him time to come down from the rush of the evening and let the ringing in his ears from the loud music slowly fade.
He started walking toward the corner near the closed ABC Store, sneakers scraping softly against the pavement. Across the street, an old city bus hissed past nearly empty, its fluorescent lights casting pale flashes across the road before vanishing into the night.
That was when he noticed the woman.
She stood alone beside the entrance of a narrow alley between two buildings, maybe fifty yards ahead. Long black hair drifted in the breeze, covering most of her face. She wore a pink dress that hung strangely still despite the wind.
Nahele slowed.
At first, he figured she was probably another woman from the club waiting for a ride. But something about her felt off. Not dangerous exactly — just out of place, like she didn’t belong standing alone in the middle of Honolulu at two in the morning.
As he got closer, she lifted her head slightly.
“Excuse me,” she said softly. Her voice barely carried over the rustling palms.
Nahele glanced around. The street was empty besides the two of them.
“Uh hi… you okay?”
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she pointed down the alley behind her.
“I think someone is following me.”
Nahele hesitated, the hair on the back of his neck beginning to stand up as an uneasy feeling settled in his chest.
Every instinct told him to keep walking. But another part of him — the local-kid instinct drilled into him by aunties, uncles, and especially Steve— said you don’t leave someone alone if they’re in trouble.
He stepped cautiously toward the alley entrance, trying not to look nervous.
“You want me to call somebody?”
The woman shook her head quickly and glanced over her shoulder.
“No,” she said, her voice tight. “I think he’s still back there.”
Nahele looked past her into the alley, confusion flickering across his face as he wondered why she only wanted his help and not HPD. The narrow passage was dimly lit by a weak security light mounted above a dumpster, shadows stretching across the cracked pavement. For a second, everything seemed quiet.
Then, from somewhere deep inside the shadows, came the unmistakable scrape of metal against concrete.
That noise was enough for Nahele to turn back toward the woman.
“Hey, uh, we should just keep moving,” he said quickly. “I don’t know where you were headed, but—.”
The words caught in his throat. She was gone.
Nahele blinked and looked around, suddenly confused. The woman in the pink dress had been standing right behind him only seconds earlier, but now there was nobody there. No footsteps hurrying away, no sound of a door opening or closing, nothing. Just the empty street and the warm breeze moving through the palms overhead.
“What the hell,” he muttered under his breath. The uneasy feeling in his chest shifting into the terrifying realization. He was the one being followed. He quickly headed towards the club, trying to reach a more populated area before whoever was in that alley decided to come after him.
Officially fearing for his life, he pulled out his cellphone with trembling hands. He knew it was late, but this was bigger than simply helping a woman in need. She had clearly been part of whatever this was. Her job was probably to lure some unsuspecting victim into the alley before the real attack started.
Dialing the one person he trusted most, Steve’s face popped up on the screen as Nehele lifted the phone up to his ear.
After a few rings, a groggy voice finally answered, “Nahele, everyth—”
Cutting the head of Five-0 off Nahele frantically said, “Steve, I’m at—”
A ragged scream tore from his throat before he could tell Steve where he was. Blinding pain exploded through his back as something struck him hard from behind. His phone flew from his hand, clattering across the pavement as Nahele crashed to the ground.
“NAHELE!” Steve could be heard screaming his surrogate son’s name into the other end of the phone. “Nahele, hang on kid, I’m coming for you.”
Nahele could barely process anything beyond the searing pain in his back. Every attempt to move his right arm sent a jolt of agony racing through it, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Before he could even catch his breath, another brutal blow landed, driving him closer to blacking out. The bat struck his shin with a sickening crack and Nahele cried out as he instinctively curled into himself, trying to shield what he could of his body as the attacks kept coming.
“Stop,” he gritted out between clenched teeth. “What the… what the hell do you want?”
The attacker didn’t answer. Instead, a shoe connected with the side of Nahele’s head and everything went dark as he lost consciousness.