"Suspect in custody, we're code 4." Hondo's voice echoes through the radio.
Street watches as Hondo marches the suspect to a patrol car, his eyes trailing it as it drives out of the parking garage. Something's wrong and he can tell that Hondo feels it too.
"All right! Who's up to grab a bite?" Luca asks, jogging up to where he and Tan are standing.
"Hell yeah, I'm starving," Tan says. Street stays silent, caught up in his thoughts as Chris and Hondo start towards them.
"Hold up guys," Hondo begins, "Something's off here, I just don't know what."
"You're right, it almost feels... too easy." That incites groans all around.
"Street man, that's as bad as saying the q-word." Insert eye roll from the accused.
"Enough with the superstition, I'm serious."
"Street might be onto something," Deacon butts in. "This guy's been on LAPD's Most Wanted for like 8 months and we caught him for a minor felony? Seems suspicious."
The group goes silent. They all seem to agree but nobody can exactly put their finger on what's wrong.
That's when Chris speaks up. "Does anyone hear that beeping?"
Before anyone can make a move, an explosion rings through the garage.
~~~
The first thing Hondo notices when he comes to is the ringing.
His eyes blink open to see Chris next to him. She's coughing, trying to sit up. He spots Tan and Luca across the rubble. They're helping each other up while looking around for Deacon. Said man is pinned under the debris, only a few feet away from Hondo.
Tan and Luca make their way over to Deac to try to free him. Hondo slowly gets up and follows them. Together, they manage to free him and carefully help him up.
"Everyone okay?" Nods of confirmation all around.
Chris is off to the side trying to get in contact with HQ, when Hondo notices something wrong.
"STREET! STREET!" He calls out. "Anyone seen Street?" Negatives from everyone.
He can hear the sound of sirens in the distance, the flashing lights bleeding into the wrecked parking garage.
The cruisers roll in first and it's not until they get the all clear do the ambulances pull in.
Hicks comes running in, stopping to make sure everyone's okay. When he reaches Hondo he asks the man about Streets whereabouts.
"He's gone, Hicks. No trace of where he went or if he went optionally."
"What you think he was taken?" Hicks asks, unbelieving.
"I don't know what to think. Nobody saw anything. One second he was here and the next..." Hondo trails off.
"We'll find him Hondo," Hicks puts a hand on the man's shoulder. "Let's get you guys checked out and back to HQ."
~~~
"Yes, 1315 Morris Court. Don't tell her too much, just let her know that I'll explain everything when she gets here." Hicks says into his phone. "Alright, thank you"
"What was that about?"
He spins to see Hondo and Luca walking into the conference room. Hicks waves them off dismissively, dispelling any further questions. The two officers share twin looks of confusion as their boss walks off.
"Does Hicks seem off to you?"
"Off how?" Luca asks, thinking back to the past few weeks.
Before Hondo could reply, the rest of the team returns.
"Where's Hicks?"
"He'll be back but for now let's get to hunting these guys down."
Hondo's words turn the focus back onto the case. As they get down to business, all thoughts of Hicks' strange behaviour are forgotten.
~~~
"Nothing. All this searching but we've still got nothing."
Deacon places a hand on Chris' shoulder as she huffs out an angry sigh.
"We still have time." Luca nods along with his words. "We'll find him."
Chris looks like she wants to say something else but before she can her attention turn to the hall.
The rest of her teammates all follow her gaze and spot Hicks walking over to a couple of unis. As they get closer, a figure comes out from in between them. The girl they saw meeting with Hicks a few weeks ago walks over to him, distress clear on her face. The older man pulls her into a quick, comforting hug before they start whispering in a hushed tone.
"Seriously, who is that?" Luca asks.
"And what is she doing here?" Tan finishes.
~~~
Athena drops down on the couch in Hicks' office, exhausted. The last few hours having mentally and physically drained the young girl.
"Make yourself comfortable, sweetheart. You can let the officer outside know if you need anything. I'm going to go help the team see if we can find who did this."
The girl just lets out a hum of agreement with a nod. Hicks pats her head as he walks out, the door clicking shut behind him. Athena opens up her laptop, intent on doing some of her own research. As she settles back into the couch, the softness of the cushions slowly lulls her asleep.
~~~
"Who was that?" Luca asks straight up when Hicks returns.
"That's not something you need to know."
Luca goes to further question him but Hicks manages to change the topic before he can.
Hondo catches Hicks up to speed and tighter the team start formulating a plan of action. With no knowledge of who or why this is happening the team begins to pour over every possible scenario. An endless pile of files and misery awaiting them.
~~~
A loud crashing sound rouses Athena from her sleep about 30 minutes later.
With her curiosity piqued, Athena fixes herself up before wandering out the door. Following the direction that the noise came from, Athena arrives in the bay.
She sees a toppled over punching bag and an agitated looking Chris next to it. She makes a fair assumption on what the cause of the noise was.
The first person who spots her is Tan but his attention draws the rest of the teams. Hicks waves her over and she settles with her back against the table he's leaning on.
"Have you guys found anything yet?"
"Not yet but we're still looking," Hicks replies while putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. The confused glances she gets from her father's team bring her to a realisation.
"You haven't told them." She states, looking over at the older man.
"I thought it was best not to since the situation doesn't seem to call for it." The girl lets out a small hum of agreement.
"Tell us what?" Hondo asks. Both the girl and commander shake their heads dismissing their concerns. Deacon senses growing tension within the team so he carefully changes the subject.
"Let's get back to the search. Any idea who would want to hurt Street?"
"Well there are certainly a lot of people that don't like him." Athena says with a snort.
"Do you know Street?" Tan asks. The teen nods slowly.
If only they knew
"I have some friends looking into this but until then it's all up to you guys."
With that Athena takes her leave, walking away while hearing the team whispering questions about her amongst themselves.
~~~
When Athena returns to Hicks' office and drops down on the couch, it finally hits her.
He's missing
Her dad. The only person that's ever been there for her, her whole world. He's missing and no one knows anything. He could be dead for all she knows.
WIth that thought, a tear drips down her cheek. The overwhelming emotions she's been pushing down come crashing out. Once the tears start rolling, they can't be stopped. She drops her head into her hands and cries. Cries for her father, for herself too.
After all, she's just a 15 year old girl wanting her dad back.
~~~
It takes a while but she pulls herself together. At least, enough to get up and get moving. The Streets have never been known for their ability to sit still.
She decides to go see if the team has made any progress. The thought of them not having found anything fills her head. The panic returns but she pushes it down, the need to find her father overtaking every part of the girl.
Determination fills her veins as she speeds up on her way to the others. Just as she walks through the door, the shrill buzzing of her phone rings through the room. Athena pulls it out to see the contact name of an old friend of hers.
Bringing the phone up to her ear, the girl greets her friend in Cantonese.
"Hey Yichen, you got something?"
"Hey Thena, yeah I found someone you might wanna check out."
"Alright, give it to me."
"Benjamin Hansley."
"Ok, got it. Thanks Yichen."
"Anything for you, Athena. I hope you find him."
"Yeah, me too. Bye Yi."
"Bye hon."
Athena turns to see the team all staring at her. She ignores the stares and looks Hondo straight in the eye.
"Benjamin Hansley."
That's all the older man needs to get the message. He immediately looks up the man in the system and starts pulling all the files and information they have on him.
"Benjamin Hansley, 45, history of assault and battery. He's got quite the long rap sheet."
They comb through all they have on Hansley to try to find a motive or last known address.
About an hour later, they found out the man was arrested by Street years ago and just got released. In the years that he was away his wife left, took the kids and all his money and now he has nothing and no one.
They trace his online activity and find a forum where he talked about getting revenge on who he thought was responsible for all of that. That's enough to get them a warrant and after tracing his computer back to an abandoned warehouse the team set off.
Hicks gives Athena permission to stay in the command centre and listen to the comms while the team hunts Hansley down. She hangs around and prays, something she hasn't done in a while.
Please, bring him back to me in one piece.
a/n - Hey guys..... I'm soooo sorry for the wait but midterms were getting to me and then course load got super heavy and then finals actually took me out.
but as always thank you for reading and feedback is welcome!