Riverwise, Downtown Seattle, Washington

....

The sweet smell of hot coffee filled the air as Brooks sighed heavily, tending to the pan of bacon and eggs on the stove as Charlie nervously twiddled his thumbs from behind him.

He sat at the kitchen island, his paperwork that he packed away now spread over the marbled counter.

"So, what do you think?" He asked, the anticipation of Brooks' answer was making him tense as the seconds passed.

Brooks continued flipping the bacon as it sizzled, and took the eggs from the pan beside him. "Well," he started. "If you brought this to a normal guy, they would think that you're out of your damn mind."

"You've finally gone insane, and you might need to check into the looney bin."

Charlie let out a small laugh. "But, then again, you aren't just a normal guy." He said, watching him walk over to his toaster, as it sounded with a ding, the golden brown waffles popping up from the top. He swiftly took them out with his bare fingers, seeming to be immune to the heat.

"Nope." He turned to look at him with a growing smirk. "And I still think that you're out of your damn mind."

"Wouldn't be the first time you said that..." Charlie sighed, as he grabbed his coffee from Brooks, and his plate of waffles, bacon and eggs.

Brooks sat directly in front of him with his plate and mug as well, giving him a slight nod. "But, I do think you're onto something, old man."

Brooks gestured to Charlie's plate of food as he spoke again. "I know it's nothing compared to Donna's. Or Nadia's for that matter."

"But, go ahead and eat up. You'll need it for the road." He said with a knowing look.

Charlie let out an exasperated sigh. "You got that right. Driving downtown from Greyland is absolute hell." He said. "Taking the back roads could cut my time in half, but they're just too creepy at night, basically a maze."

Brooks giggles. "You saying you're scared of a tiny little back road, Charlie?"

Charlie scoffs. "Umm, you aren't?!"

Brooks gave him a sly grin. "If this is you trying to get me to escort you back to Donna's-"

"Never in a million years, city boy." Charlie scoffed.

Charlie looked at his plate and back at Brooks with an impressed grin. "Nothing's burnt! You've gotten a lot better since the last time." He took a sip of his black coffee and Brooks passed him the syrup.

"Oh God," Brooks rolled his eyes. "Last time, I only burnt the bacon because you nearly cut your damn finger off chopping bell peppers! And that was, like, years ago."

"So, you're saying I'm the reason why you were a horrible cook?" Charlie held in his laugh.

"....Just shut it and eat your breakfast, grandpa." Brooks teased.

"Hey, I still have some years left before any of that "Grandpa" mess." He took one bite of his eggs, and coughed. Brooks gave him an amusing grin, "You good, Char?"

"Lemme guess, you put extra pepper in them." Opposite of Brooks, Charlie was completely unamused.

"It gives them a good kick! You're such a soft ass." He chuckled.

"Remind me to never learn how to cook from your mom. Or anyone from your family." Charlie rolled his eyes, as he cut into one of his waffles.

"It's not my fault that we all like spice. It's only right that I keep it in the family bloodline." Brooks smirked, watching Charlie let out a small sigh of relief as he continued to eat. "Well, at least everything else escaped your 'spice' sabotage."

"Okay, fine, you geezer." Brooks teased. "I'll trade you my amazingly delicious eggs for one of my waffles." He wiggled his brows.

Without hesitation, Charlie pushed his plate towards Brooks. "You don't have to tell me twice, bring it here!"

"Oh and don't worry about the bacon, it's turkey." Brooks said.

"Thank God." Charlie huffed. "Donna would kill me if she found out that you gave me pork."

Brooks laughed. "Oh, trust me, she'd probably kill me for a lot less than that! No offense, but she got a serious case of generational resentment going on...."

"She just wants me and Paige to be safe is all. It's really got nothing to do with you. I swear." Charlie shrugged, his voice reassuring as he spoke.

Brooks scoffed. "Yeah, I'm still pretty sure that if she saw my face, she would claw my fucking eyeballs out of my skull." He almost shuddered at the thought.

"Donna can be sweet when she wants, don't get me wrong." He started. "But, if she's mad at me... I'm keeping my distance. I already have to deal with my mom when she's angry, I don't need any other problems..."

"But before we get sidetracked anymore..." Brooks pulled a few of Charlie's papers close to him. "Let's get back to more important topics."

He silently skimmed through the stack, as Charlie spoke. "Do you think there's anything that you can do?"

Brooks sighed heavily. "Other than reporting this to my mom, who would then report it to Selene, which will ultimately get us both in trouble?"

"I'm afraid not." He shook his head. That's out of my jurisdiction. And out of my pay grade unfortunately."

Charlie's shoulders slumped. "Come on Brooks, you're the best detective that I know-"

"And that's all I am." Brooks interrupted. "With my status, I have no authorization to step even ten miles within these sites."

Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, look, all I need you to do is confirm that what the detectors are picking up is tainted magic. Then, we'd know for sure that the Chaos Order is in on this."

"Yeah, and if they catch me, they'll put me on suspension. Again." Brooks debated. "The only reason I haven't been thrown out completely out of the circle yet is solely because of nepotism-"

"It's because you do good work." Charlie reassured him. "Great work, actually. Not just because of Marie."

Brooks chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Geez already got enough butter on my waffles, no need to butter me up any more."

"I'm being serious, Brooks." Charlie said. "Just trust me on this."

"When I was still working under Selene, around 90 percent of the things that I investigated, I was right about. So, even if I have the slightest hunch about anything, you bet your ass that I'm going to follow it." He continued.

"I know. I'm not doubting your intuition, Charlie. Believe me. Mom's told me plenty of times. It's just..." Brook's voice was serious, but he grew hesitant with his next words. "Charlie, I thought that you and Donna said that you were done with all of this-"

"We were." Charlie told him. Well, at least I was. But...things are getting a lot more complicated."

His voice quivered as he continued. "I have to make sure that my family is safe. That nothing happens to Donna or Paige. Donna and I are all she's got."

Brooks still treaded with caution as he spoke. "Which is why you need to think about what Selene is saying to you." Charlie huffed at what he was saying, clearly distraught as he ran a hand down his face. Brooks continued to speak. "Let them handle this. The more you get involved-"

"I can't just sit here and do nothing, Brooks!" He gritted his teeth. "I did that for about ten years, and it nearly drove me insane."

Brooks gave him a sympathetic look. "She isn't doing it to punish you, Char. You know we're all trying to protect you, just like you're trying to protect your wife and Reyna's kid-"

"How would you feel if you were so close to solving one of the most interesting cases in your career and your boss just tells you to drop everything?" Charlie looked at him with pleading eyes. "You have the chance to save innocent lives, and all of sudden you can't do your job to make that happen?"

Brooks sighed. Charlie was smart, turning the tables like that. He became a detective to help people. He knew exactly how Charlie felt right now. "....You already know my answer. No one's gonna stop me from doing what I do best."

His shoulders relaxed as he heard Brooks. "Exactly. Thank you."

"....So whatcha got?" Brooks asked.

Charlie sat up and began to shuffle through the papers on the counter. "For years, any activity even remotely related to the Order was pretty much dormant. I had nothing to go off of."

"Then, all of a sudden," He quickly handed Brooks a sheet of paper with a map of Nevada. "The readers in Henderson picked up a disturbance about 12 miles northeast outside of Andel Falls."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Wait." Brooks' brows knitted together as he thought. That's Maple Grove Forest."

"Specifically in Law's Clearing..." Charlie added. "Where Sophia died."

"These numbers are pretty damn high, Charlie. Brooks stared at the paper in his hands. "Whatever went down there, it's definitely giving me a creepy vibe."

"I have a hunch. And...it's a crazy one." Charlie shuffled his seat. "This has to be related to Damien somehow.

Brooks' eyes immediately shot up from the paper to look at him. "Charlie-"

He stopped him. "I know how it sounds."

Brooks continued to speak. "That whole thing with him was decades ago. You guys killed him-"

"It might've looked like we did." Charlie explained. "But, we had no idea what we were doing back then. We were kids, Brooks."

"He had a group. Thousands of people worshiped him. The detectors are off the charts in that area specifically. There was a high concentration of energy there."

".....I think they might be trying to resurrect him." He said. "The only he needs is a suitable host and before you know it, that asshole is back."

Brooks huffed, putting the paper down, with a dumbfounded look. "But for what?"

"I don't know." Charlie shrugged. "But that's the only reasoning I've got behind these crazy numbers."

The both of them sat in silence, processing the information before them.

Charlie's voice grew tense as spoke. "We thought he had a vengeance before, but I bet he's been waiting for something like this." For a moment, it felt like he wasn't even talking to Brooks.

"I know damn well, he's gonna do whatever it takes to make our lives ten thousand times worse than last time." He continued.

"He's coming..." He mumbled with a small nod.

"I can feel it in my bones."

Brooks let out a small nervous laugh, but Charlie could see the fear in his eyes, when they looked at one another. "Ominous, much?"

Charlie shook his head in defeat. "Brooks, I wish I was over-exaggerating about this. But, something is about to happen. This is why I need you. You're a quick thinker and a great problem solver, just like me."

Brooks ran a hand through his hair. "So, lemme get this straight. You want me to sneak around to these extremely guarded sites without the permission of my department, my mother, the Feds and S.I.R.E to confirm your loopy ass theory about Damien's cult resurrecting him?!"

"...Yes." Charlie answered hesitantly.

"I can't believe this...." Brooks sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat. "Alright, fuck it. The cases that I have nowadays are boring as hell anyways."

"...If you really think I'm the only one that can do this right, then, fine." He gave in.

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked seriously. "If Marie ever found out that you willingly took part in me breaking the rules, she'd tear you apart."

"Wrong. She'd tear both of us apart if she found out. And probably your wife too." Brooks jokes, a small grin on his face. "But that just means you'll have to keep working that rusty ass brain of yours to cover up our whereabouts."

"Okay, I can do that." Charlie nodded firmly. "You're risking your job to do this for me, so I guess I can sacrifice a little more."

Brooks quickly scanned over the scattered papers on the counter and sighed heavily. "All I know is that if you're spot on about this, Greyland could be in a lot of trouble. Hell, the entire state could be in trouble."

"Well, let's hope we can stop whatever's coming." Charlie responded. "For all our sake...."

….

Brooks watches as Charlie drives out into the streets, giving him a quick wave goodbye, before going back into his house. He shuts the door letting out a sigh. "Char, what the hell have you gotten me into now?"

He said to himself.

The clock on his television read 4:24 am, and he rubbed his eyes in annoyance. "Don't think I'll get to sleep anyways." He mumbled under his breath, making his way to the kitchen to clean up the mess he made cooking for Charlie. It'd been years since he last saw him or Donna. Sure they'd talk every now and then but seeing him on his doorstep definitely took him by surprise.

It made him realize how much he missed them, and how much he missed his real family. He looked over at a picture on his wall. His mom, dad and brother all crowded together beside him. He had just finished up at the police academy. They all seemed happier back then, his mother smiling bigger than anyone else.

His ears perked up at the sound of his phone ringing on the kitchen island, and he quickly dried his hands to pick it up. "Dawson speaking, how may I help you?"

"Ah, morning, Mrs. Peters." He said brightly.

"There's a strange noise in the air vent, again?" His brows creased listening to the call.

"Uh huh."

"Uh huh."

"Yes ma'am."

He sighed with a quick laugh. "Well, Mrs. Peters, I'm pretty sure that sound you're hearing is your cat in the vents, again."

"Oh no, it's not an emergency at all." He walked over to grab a pen and his notepad, sitting down in one of the seats from kitchen island. "But I'll notify the station that your cat needs help getting out."

"Yes, ma'am, I do remember your granddaughter from last time. What was her name?"

"Courtney! Yep, there it is."

"Um..." He lets out a nervous chuckle. "Oh, I certainly appreciate the offer, Mrs. Peters, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now."

"Yes, Courtney is a very beautiful woman. Unfortunately, my kind of work doesn't really allow me to make time for dates-"

Brooks jumped up, seeing a quick blur of black coming from the corner of his eye. His breath was caught in his throat as he quickly stood up from the island. Something was here. And they just went inside his office.

"Hey, Mrs. Peters?"

"Can I call you back?"

"Okay, I'll make sure to do that."

"Bye bye, now."

Being careful not to make a sound, Brooks tensely stares at the door, swiftly grabbing a knife from the wooden block. He held the knife firmly behind his back, swallowing the fear that was gradually creeping up, with every step he took.

He grabs the door knob, holding his breath as he quickly opens the door, checking his surroundings. His eyes dart in every direction and he carefully steps inside his office, making sure to look behind the door before letting his guard down.

His shoulders slump in relief, letting out a long breath.

The wooden floor beneath his feet squeaks and with that he knows that he's not alone. He quickly turns around only to be met with the intruder face to face. In a blur, they rush up to him, tackling him.

His back thuds against his desk, holding back the intruder's hand. It was purely instinctual and thank God for that, because he could finally see they had a knife of their own.

He takes the risk, using only one hand to hold the knife back, immediately punching in the throat. To his luck the intruder reeled back, gasping for air, as he dropped the knife.

He punched him again, knocking off his mask. He stumbled back as blood poured from his nose, but Brooks wouldn't dare give him time to recover.

With every ounce of strength that he could muster, he scoops the knife from the floor and pushes him into the wall, knocking the wind out of him.

"How many of you?" His voice was low and menacing. The intruder struggled under his grasp, but Brooks wasn't letting up. His eyes bored into the man. "How many of you are there?!" He insisted through gritted teeth.

"Fuck you." The intruder purposely spits blood in his face. Brooks jaw clenches in anger, his breathing grows heavy. Without a second thought, he impales him with the knife, twisting it deeper into his stomach. He screams in pain, struggling to get out his next words.

"He's in here! In the office!"

Brooks only had a few seconds to react as the office door swung open.

He spotted the intruder's gun in the holster and-

BANG! BANG! BANG! Not even a second later the other man was shot down, hitting the floor with a painful thud. Brooks rests the gun's muzzle on the first intruder's head and he begins to struggle against him, whimpering and crying.

"Stop." He ordered.

"You'll survive. You only need to tell me one thing."

The man spoke quickly. "My name is-"

"I'm not asking who you are." Brooks said. "Won't take me long to find that out, anyway."

"I'm only gonna say this one more time. And if you can't answer me," Brooks nods towards the intruder behind them bleeding out on the floor. "You'll end up just like him. Understand?" The man quickly nodded his head.

"How many of you are there?"

"Just me, Ortiz and the driver." The man stammered over his words, trying to answer as quickly as possible.

"Swear it." Brooks pressed the nuzzle deep into the center of the man's head. "I swear! I promise!" He cried.

He was beginning to shake, quickly losing every bit of his nerve. "Listen, we're just following orders, okay?! We have nothing against you." He looked at Brooks with pleading eyes. "Just let us go and I'll tell them we killed you-"

The man's radio began to crackle and another voice came through. "Colson! Ortiz! Do you copy?"

"I heard gunshots from outside!" The voice said, clearly panicked. Brooks could see that the intruder was going to try something. Judging by that call, the dead guy behind him was Ortiz."

"Colson." Brooks said. The man immediately looked him in the eye. Brooks gave him a threatening look as he slowly shook his head no. "Don't do anything you'll regret."

"Tell him everything's fine." He ordered.

The man cleared his throat before answering. Sweat beading down his forehead, he began to speak. "No movement yet. Ortiz is just trigger happy. Over."

The radio came to life again. "Stay alert, stay focused, over and out." The voice said. The man looked at Brooks for confirmation.

"Good." Brooks said dryly.

But before he could get another word out, Brooks plunged the knife deep into his neck, a haunted look washed over him, the sound of gargling and struggling movements filled the room, until it suddenly stopped.

As he left the room, he could see something beside the door. With a closer look, it seemed like a tracking device of some sort. "What the hell?"

Were these assholes tracking him? No, whatever they're tracking is showing movement and pretty fast movements too, almost like they were moving in a vehicle. And then it dawned on him.

"Charlie." He muttered shakily. "Oh shit!"

He could barely get out of the room almost immediately seeing a blur of a stranger blocking his path to the front door. He was dressed in the same gear as the intruders he just killed. The driver.

BANG! BANG!

He ran as fast as he could to the next room. Nearly slipping as he felt one of the shots tear into his shoulder, knocking the wind out of him.

He dove into the bathroom, quickly shutting the door and locking it. A searing pain began to spread through his right arm, and blood began to seep out as he looked down at it.

"Damn it." He grunted under his breath. It hurt like hell, the pain was almost mind-numbing, but that was the least of his worries, he had to get to Charlie. Taking out this bullet lodged in his good arm could wait.

"Don't be scared now, Detective!" The driver shouted.

"You're running away from a little rifle?! I thought you were supposed to be the best of the best!"

"You mean to tell me you're a fraud or something?" He said.

So, they've been keeping tabs on him too? Who the fuck are these people? "Fuck, where is it?!" He whispered to himself. He looked for the loose piece of wood under his feet, unable to move his right arm completely.

"How about you come take a look at your boys? Then you'll have your answer." Brooks replied arrogantly.

"Don't need to." The driver edged closer to the door with every second, as Brooks struggled on his search along with trying to bear the pain from his shoulder." "They did their part. I wanted to get a look at you myself-"

"What?" Brooks interrupted. "You wanna kill me yourself?"

"Thought that was obvious." The driver said creepily.

"The famous Brooks Dawson. The youngest and greatest detective in Seattle-"

"There you are." He muttered to himself.

He flipped up the plank with a grunt, revealing a semi-automatic pistol, along with the bullets.

Brooks was growing annoyed by the driver's voice. And to think he was actually going to have a solid few hours of silence before work. Now he's hiding in his bathroom from a stranger that wants to kill him, and he has to go on a rescue mission. Go figures. "Enough of the dramatic monologue! This isn't about me!"

"What do you want with the old man?!" He asked, quickly loading the gun, trying to ignore the pain. The blood trickling down his arm made it harder to grip the gun, and to make matters worse, he was wasting time with this weird driver guy. Time that he could be using to get to Charlie.

"That's none of your business, Detective." The driver answered. "All you need to do is get out here and let me shoot you to death."

"Then Charlie is all ours-"

"Nah, fuck you." Brooks snapped. "Not while I'm still breathing."

The driver laughed. "You're talking big, for someone that's about to bite the dust."

"I'm growing tired of this. Get the fuck out here, asshole!" With a loud thud, the driver began to kick the door. The impact made contact with Brooks' shoulder and he fell forward, clenching his jaw in pain. It took a lot more energy than usual to just grab the gun and stand up.

"Don't make me shoot this door down. I hate doing more work than I have to!" The driver barked as he continued to kick the door.

His heart was beating out of chest, struggling to hold the gun straight with labored breaths. It was so hard to breathe. Was he really going to wait until this idiot broke the door of the hinges?

The driver was still settled on breaking the door down to get to him. Cursing and going through just about every way he could think about killing him and Charlie.

There was no way out of this. He steeled himself for the door to come off its hinges, with his finger on the trigger. The door finally flew open and not a second later, Brooks shot.

A large bang echoed through the house and there was nothing but silence. Brooks stared at the man, watching him grab at his neck as it squirted out blood. He fell back onto the floor struggling to breathe.

Brooks left out a heavy sigh of relief. "Well, that sucks."

"Guess making you talk is out of the question...."

He grunted as he leaned on the doorframe. The pain was really getting to him now.

The driver was still spitting and gurgling, and Brooks tried to ignore it as he reached for the keys to the van outside. He nearly shuddered at the feeling of warm blood on the bottom of his socks as he reached for his phone on the counter, and quickly dialed Charlie's number.

He waited and waited as the phone rang. "Come on, Charlie. Pick up the fucking phone." He dialed again, hissing as sharp pain traveled through his arm again. "Fuckk..." He mumbled as the phone rang again and again with no answer.

He huffed as he took the phone from his ear, and dialed another number. He felt relief as someone finally answered.

"Hey! I've wasted enough time already, I'm gonna make this quick."

Brooks sped through the hallway and snatched up the GPS tracking device from the intruders on the floor. "Charlie's in trouble. I'm gonna need backup-"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Just some people over here, I'll send you the location on the way." He quickly took his socks off and slid his feet into his sneakers next to the door.

He looked back at the mess that he made from fighting. The driver was lying there finally dead from his wounds, papers were scattered everywhere from his office and it was definitely going to be hard to clean this blood up. He sighed heavily.

"....And I need someone to clear these bodies for me."

....

Charlie's phone rang over and over, every time reading Donna's name. He gave in, putting the phone to his ear.

He sighed, steeling himself. He knew he was in for the scolding of a lifetime. "Hey, hun-"

"Where are you?! I've been calling you for hours." She was clearly angry, but the tone in her voice only resulted in sharp whispers. She probably didn't want Paige to hear her.

"I'm sorry, I...." Charlie began to search for the right words. She would be livid if she knew about his detour to Brook's house. So here he was, lying to her again. "...I got held up at the museum, and my phone was off-"

"Charlie." He immediately stopped talking. It was almost like she demanded him with just the sound of her voice.

"I have been up all night, trying to make sure that you're okay." She said tensely. "I'm being about as lenient can be, especially since you've been better."

"So, can you please just answer my calls so I know that you're safe?" She begged with a huff.

He knew she was tired of this. And he was too. Everytime they were forced to keep so many things under wraps, it disgusted him. All he could do was reply with a defeated sigh. "....You're right, sweetheart. I'm sorry, it's just there's a lot on my mind and I want this opening to be perfect for you-"

"Aw, I know." She said softly. "Sometimes I just get worried because you're out there alone."

"I'll be home in about thirty minutes, so can you hang in there just a little bit longer?" He reassured her. "I could bring you back some of those muffins you like from the bakery...."

A laugh escapes her. "Char, is this your sneaky little way of saying you're sorry?" From her voice, she sounded exhausted but he could tell that she was smiling.

"Maybe....but if you don't want them-"

SLAM! Before Charlie could react, a large black van crashes into him. He loses control of the wheel, skidding across the highway. He crashes into another car, the sound of crunching metal filling his ears. He finally comes to a stop in the middle of the road.

"....Charlie?! CHARLIE?!" Donna's voice was screaming on the other end. He could barely make her voice out as his ears rang loudly combined with the sounds of blaring horns.

His head throbs and he grunts in pain when he touches it, blood pooling down the side of his face. Donna's muffled screaming is the only thing that was keeping him awake. Every muscle he moved to get to his phone was excruciating. He yelped in pain when he finally moved his leg. Something was broken.

His fingers grazed over the broken screen, trying to reach as far as he could. "Donna..."

The sound of a blaring horn catches his attention and his eyes widen as another truck collides with him. The crash flips him off the highway completely, and he can only brace himself as he's jostled around. The car flips over and over, metal flying every which way.

His heart hammered in his chest and he could barely catch his breath. The air from his lungs leaves him everytime the car hits the ground. The car smashed into a tree, the sound of glass and metal was the only tree Charlie heard, and the world faded to black not long after.