***I am so sorry for the wacky formatting before! I normally click on the new chapter to make sure it didn't do anything weird, but I didn't this time. Thank you to white collar black wolf for letting me know so I could get it fixed!

If you picked a hundred random beach goers and asked them to describe the day, ninety-nine of them would likely respond with some variation of 'perfection' or 'paradise.' And to them, surrounded by soft white sand and a view of sparkling waves rolling beneath the almost abnormally blue sky above, with just enough of a breeze blowing to take the edge off the heat, and the phenomenon known as 'island time' in full effect, it did appear pretty close to perfect.

To those who lived and worked on the island it was simply another Saturday, and if you'd asked them the same question, you'd get a much greater variety of responses. The Five-O task force, for example, had already experienced a long and stressful day before lunchtime even rolled around, and relaxing on the beach was the furthest thing from their minds.

Three months before, a known member of the Samoa gang was found dead, body clearly having been beaten and official cause of death listed as 'repeat blunt force trauma to the head resulting in a fatal cerebral hemorrhage.' Despite the raw brutality of the scene, they'd found no trace evidence on the body or at the scene, and a trail so far beyond cold it was like it never existed in the first place.

Since that first body, ten more had been discovered and associated with the case. Every new body brought the bittersweet surge of hope that they might finally get a break, might find some bit of evidence that could give them some idea what was going on. The bodies were all known members of various fractions of organized crime on their watchlist, but never the same one twice and every time that thought they might be closing in on a pattern, another body or two was discovered and they had to start over again. It was equal parts disbelief and awe that no one seemed to want to take credit for some of the honestly impressive kills that had occurred- both in terms of complexity and in the boldness of some of their targets' executions.

The most creative so far had been the Yakuza enforcer getting strangled with the wires from his own home security system, personal firearm still tucked away untouched in its holster, and then sat at the dining table to greet his wife when she returned home from her biweekly visit to the hairdresser. Tensions were rising quickly between the various groups and distrust seemed to be growing just as quickly. They still hadn't found a single shred of evidence, all of the bodies appearing to be dumps or were made from a distance, and they were frustratingly still as clueless as they'd been after the first body was discovered.

They'd gotten a call just after two in the morning from HPD informing them two more bodies had discovered outside of an underground strip club called 'Conch,' after multiple reports of gunfire flooded 911 from the surrounding area. The already intense pressure to solve the case rose sharply when they arrived not to find dead gang members or known criminals as they'd come to assume, but the bodies of two kids who couldn't have been much older than twenty, and a third young man sitting on the back of an ambulance, oxygen masked clutched to his face with a stark white hand and a glazed look in his eye that spoke of shock. An EMT stood before him seemingly unnoticed checking his vitals.

It was the first time a civilian was killed by this budding mob war, and it sent a whole new type of pain through all of them when they'd pieced together the details. As it turned out, twenty-two year old Nicholas Jeffers and 21-year old's Zachery Thurston and Carl Morell had been walking the groom-to-be back to their hotel after a stag night at a nearby dance club when witnesses say two small groups involved in an argument exited Conch into a back alley. With three men on one side and two on the other, the argument was said to escalate until weapons were drawn suddenly with both sides opening fire almost immediately.

Jeffers and Morell were announced dead on arrival, while Thurston had been taken to emergent surgery and then the ICU in critical condition. It was still unclear if he'd pull through. The boy sitting in the back of the ambulance was the groom-to-be, Samuel Adams, and he was the only one of the group to survive the ordeal unscathed, though he was definitely traumatized. Three other young men came upon the scene a brief time after Five-O arrived, having used the 'Find my Friend' app to locate their missing group members when they didn't arrive back at the hotel as previously agreed upon, and when none of them responded to texts or calls.

As unplanned as the altercation seemed to have been, they finally got a stroke of luck and discovered a blood sample splattered against a cement wall near where the fire fight actually broke out. Fong was able to match the sample to a known member of the Italian Mafia, a man named Nicholai Giuseppe. Considering the Italian Mob had been fairly non-existent on the island previously, it gave them hope that they might finally be onto something.

Beyond the new designation being entered onto the scene, having a name gave them a starting point to look for known associates and associations. It seemed clear that their blood donor wasn't capable of pulling off the technical difficulty they'd seen so far, but that didn't mean his companion wasn't the skill behind the machine.

Nearing four in the evening, the Task Force reconvened over the table top computer to compare individual findings and brainstorm their plan for moving forward. None of their usual contacts on the island seemed to have any information on the newest chess pieces, but everyone seemed to be on edge and keeping tight to their own territory.

Steve wished he could simply send a new player in undercover to sleuth things out under a mask of anonymity, beginning to suspect it might be the only way to make any true headway. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be an option. It was a challenge they'd faced before- the criminal population knowing who the cops were, no matter how green or unknown they may have been, caught as they were within the constraints of living on an island of such limited space. It was a familiar issue, but one that never became less frustrating.

He'd shared his frustration with the governor earlier that day, but the sight of the man striding suddenly into the room was still unexpected and odd enough to draw the teams' undivided attention. "Officer Kalakaua," Denning began immediately, voice deep and directly to the point. Kono straightened further at his severe tone, preparing to carry out the request she could see coming, even if she didn't yet know what it was. "You will be receiving a secure transmission from the USS Seahawk in approximately five minutes from NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. I would like you to pull it up on the plasma screen as soon as it comes through."

"Governor?" Steve spoke up, tone questioning.

"I reached out to some of my contacts. Agent DiNozzo is currently serving as Agent Afloat for NCIS, but some years ago he worked for the Baltimore Police Department. Of his two years with them, nearly a year of it was spent undercover in the Baltimore fraction of the Italian Mafia. He was almost single-handedly responsible for the arrests and incarcerations of forty-two of its members, including every boss, underboss, and consiglieri in the city. His reports mention our unsub directly a number of times and I am positive he can give us some insight into this case." The man informed his brusquely, though the slightest hint of respect could be heard edging into his tone.

Steve crossed his arms, studying his boss. "Do you know Agent DiNozzo?" He questioned, wondering at the easy use of the tone he'd rarely heard from the man.

"Not personally, but I know of him. I was able to pull some stings and get you face to face with him- or as close to it as you can be in this case. Hopefully he'll be the break you need to get these people off our streets before any more blood is spilled."

"Has he been given any information?"

"Only that his knowledge of an old assignment is needed."

"Sir, the call is coming through." Kono spoke up softly, fingers automatically moving to fulfill her pervious instructions without further prompting. The five turned their attention to the mounted plasma screen as live video began filling the previously dark space.

A handsome man appeared before them, his dark hair as kissed by the sun as his tanned flesh was, face bearing tired hazel eyes and a scattering of lines just beginning to linger across his forehead- neither of which served to take away from his handsomeness. He wore a simple dark grey button up, with the top two buttons open and the faintest hint of chest hair visible in the gap left. An assortment of equipment was visible behind him, numerous screens lit seemingly randomly across the smooth metal backdrop, countless buttons, knobs and switches filling the remaining space and looking like a confusing mess to three out of five of the people watching from Hawaii.

Despite the crystal clear image the plasma screen was capable of, the video quality was uneven and their view subject to bouts of static lines cutting across the image "Ah, Agent DiNozzo. Thank you for being prompt." The Governor greeted politely, turning to face the screen more fully with his hands folded before him.

"The navy is always prompt." The man replied with a practiced, easy smile, a faint hint of something else just below the surface but well-hidden to the casual observer. "I was told you wanted to speak with me. How can I help you, Governor Denning?"

"Before we get started, let me introduce my companions. This is Commander Steve McGarrett, Detectives Danny Williams and Chin Ho Kelly, and Officer Kono Kalakaua. They make up the Five-O Task Force here in Oahu." The agent nodded politely and offered his own brief greeting to them as a whole before turning his attention back to the Governor.

"Approximately three months ago…" Agent DiNozzo listened intently as the Governor spoke, filling him on what little they knew and nodding at certain points in the story and silently compiling a list of questions he would need to ask when he was able.

He settled further back into his seat and waited until the older man finished his succinct summary.

"I remember Nicholai. He definitely wasn't boss material, but he was slick enough to always be in the right place at the right time. His cousin though, Roberto Morici, was one of the highest ranking members to survive the collapse of the family without seeing a cell. If Nicholai's on the island, I guarantee Roberto is too, and he's the one you need to worry about out of the two of them. He has the intelligence and tenacity to be a real player, and the suave to ensure a whole lot of loyalty. It's how he escaped handcuffs, actually. Every crime we threw at him was claimed by someone else. We had more confessions than prisoners that day." He drawled sardonically.

Steve stepped forward then, Denning gesturing him to speak up. DiNozzo refocused his attention easily and answered the questions posed to him as informatively and concisely as possible. Kono and Chin had both begun typing in the background, attempting to chase down leads as quickly as they were being offered as possibilities, while the other three focused their full attention on the screen.

They'd been talking for nearly ten minutes when Steve asked a question that drew surprised looks from every one of his team members. "You seem to know these guys pretty well. If this were your case, how would you proceed?" Their commander wasn't known for being open to suggestion, after all, but Steve found himself honestly wanting to know the answer, and that honesty shone through.

The agent looked at him considering. He opened his mouth to respond when a loud rumble roared suddenly to life and filled the speakers. A touch of long suffering annoyance peaking though carefully shuddered eyes as the agent waited for the noise to pass. He smiled tightly a couple of seconds later when quiet once again settled and then responded. "You haven't been able to catch any other leads? Not even superficial?" He questioned.

"Nothing that's stuck. We've hit a lot of dead ends."

"And you've got thirteen bodies? How many of those were within the last month?"

"Eight." The Commander replied without needing to glance at the file. "Four of those were within the last week. The two last night were the first civilian casualties, and that number might still rise to three depending on how their friend recovers over the next few days."

The agent frowned at the relatively rapid rate of escalation. "From what you've told me, it sounds like they might be there to clear the way for a higher ranking Mafioso to come in. It would explain why the victims are so diverse- they were setting out to warn off their future competition while carving out a niche of their own. There are a few other possibilities, of course," He continued, lines deepening further across his brow. "but those are even more concerning." The man looked off to the side of the screen for a brief moment before looking back at them. "You said you want to send someone in, but that you don't have any options?" Steve nodded silently. "I was able to keep my cover intact when the syndicate broke up, just in case they ever needed to send me back in. With how fast and how hard it all went down, things got pretty chaotic. We got our primary targets, but more secondary targets got away then we would have liked. My personas own exit went unnoticed alongside all the others."

The Governor took back over the conversation then. "What exactly are you offering, Agent DiNozzo?"

The agent on the screen glanced down at his watch and then off screen once again before he responded. "I can hop a bird and be in Hawaii in less than three hours. If you'll accept my assistance, I'd like offer it however I can." He paused, his face betraying the internal debate he was having.

Seated as comfortably as he could manage back aboard the naval vessel, Tony considered leaving off there and accepting whatever decision the Governor may come to deciding his role in the case. In all honesty, he realized that hesitation may have stemmed from his own, deeply buried, reluctance to dive back into the world he'd once become so entrenched in, so attached to, that it felt like an extension of himself.. Or what true bit of himself he allowed to surface during that time.

Italians were renown for their family values and close knit groups, and the stereotype more than carried over to the darker side of their society. Tony wouldn't have been as undeniably successful as he'd been if he hadn't forged some semblance of those bonds in truth. As someone who'd never really known what family could be like, the first time he truly felt hatred for himself occurred silently as he was observed observing the blank countenance of the man who'd so readily named him 'figlio, and whom Tony felt more loyalty and love towards to this day than he could ever even attempt to muster towards his own father at any point of his life.

Realizing his thoughts were getting away from him at a time that was so beyond inappropriate, Tony forced himself to bury his own unexpected rush of emotion and press onward with his own hard earned stoicism blanketing his expression. "All respect meant, Governor," He finally continued, deciding to go with blunt honesty and hope for the best. The unexpected news coming from the unexpected phone call had put him too much on edge for any type of subtlety to read as true, and so why bother dancing through the farce of it when he could just skip it completely? "I've heard of your taskforce. You're definitely making waves through law enforcement circles, if nothing else, and I admit that the results on paper are impressive." He did pause slightly, tilting his head as he considered his exact wording. He was expecting to work with these people, after all.

"But?" Governor Denning pressed after a moment, one brow raised pointedly as he waited.

He looked away from the politician and scanned over the task force once more, starting with the young woman and ending with the Commander, where his eyes lingered as he continued. "But, they're not known for their light touch or subtlety. The men you're looking for? I guarantee they're already a mile ahead of you. They can predict your next step before you've decided what it's going to be, they're that good. You might get lucky and they might get sloppy again, but I doubt it'll happen. These guys have always been smart, and they've had a decade to get smarter since I've known them. They're not known for making mistakes. You want to take them down before any more blood stains your streets? Then you need my help, and getting me on screen like this isn't an easy feat, and I give you one more pass before the powers-that-be shut it down." He finished with a quiet confidence in his words and in himself that many tried to fake but few were truly able to achieve as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched.

A multitude of looks were exchanged and silent conversations held, but they didn't leave him waiting as long as he thought they might. "You make a strong case for yourself, Agent DiNozzo. Let us know your ETA and we'll have a car waiting to pick you up." The easy acceptance and offer boosted the islanders up a few points in his eyes; from the scuttlebutt he'd heard, this team had grown used to the loose reins they had, and that they were all too happy to utilize power plays to exhibit force on those who they came up against. Perhaps it came from working under Gibbs for so long- Gibbs who shunned interagency cooperation in much the same manner he shunned his ex-wives, but he wasn't used to being welcomed so readily into someone else's jurisdiction. Rather, he'd been half expecting to have to try and talk himself onto the case.

The governor excused himself a few moments later, with a promise to meet him in person on the island the next day. Tony stayed on with the Five-O team while they hashed out a few more details and exchanged contact information before they too said their temporary goodbye's and disconnected. Tony glanced down at his watch one more time, mind racing.

He had a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it.

tbc

Notes:

Thank you for giving this new story a shot! I do have it mostly planned out in my head, if not yet written down. Please let me know what you think! I will release chapters as I have them finished, and your feedback is always appreciated and helpful in keeping me motivated! Addio!