Thanks to everyone for your wonderful reviews of the first chapter. To those of you who haven't activated private messaging, I thank you, too. It seems many of you did not appreciate the "evil" cliffhanger. I could say I was sorry, but then I would be lying... :) I hope to post on Mondays and Thursdays. As of last night, all is finished except the epilogue, and I am extremely thankful I made it that far!

Ho'okahi, Chapter 2

"Nine-One-One, what is your emergency?"

"Need… help. Five-0. Ex-explo…sion. Use phone to—"

"Ma'am, stay with me. We will triangulate your telephone signal and send help to you. Can you understand me? Stay on the phone with me."

"I hear you. I-I'm OK." Kono coughed and then her voice sounded stronger. "I'll be OK."

Kono pressed the button for the speaker to turn on, set her phone down on the ground and looked at her surroundings. Chin Ho was a few feet away, lying on his back, his face turned away from her, a portion of the metal door across his lower body.

"Chin!"

"Miss," the tinny voice came through the speaker on Kono's phone. "I have dispatched HPD and Fire and Rescue. Is this Kono?"

"Wait. Chin's hurt." Kono started to crawl to her cousin's side but cried out as pain shot through her wrist when she put her hand on the ground. She fell forward as the pain shooting from her wrist traveled all the way to her shoulder.

"Please don't move. And stay on the line. Talk to me."

"I'm OK," Kono assured the voice once again. "And yes, I'm Kono."

"Kono, this is Ellie in Dispatch. I know Chin and I remember you from when you were a young girl. Hang in there for me, help is on the way. Is anyone else involved?"

"Yeah." Kono raised up her aching head and looked around, realizing the enormity of the blast. "Danny and Steve… I… they're not here." She looked around wildly, beginning to panic. "I don't see them," she shrieked. "Wait. They have to still be inside. I need-"

"Kono, listen to me. You're injured. I don't want you to move. Do you understand me? Wait for help to get there."

Kono saw Chin's foot move and heard a groan from his direction. She knew better than to try to put her hand down again, so she picked up her phone and began to scoot the short distance to her cousin's side.

"Chin. Hey, can you hear me?" she asked, reaching his side as he groaned once again. He moved his head in the direction of her voice and she saw the blood covering his face from a cut at his hairline. He stared at her, dazed, before finally speaking.

"Kono?"

"Yeah, Cuz, I'm here. Take it easy."

Chin finally managed to focus on his cousin. "You're hurt," he told her, reaching up a shaky hand to touch the bruise already forming around her eye.

"I'm OK," she quickly assured him.

With another groan, Chin pushed the piece of metal off his leg, and then hissed when the movement caused pain to blossom in his right arm. Blood was freely dripping from a gash in his forearm, dripping onto the ground.

"That smarts," he mumbled, cradling the arm tightly to his chest. With a deep breath, he rolled to his left, onto his stomach, dropping his head onto his left arm when his entire world somersaulted.

"Chin, don't move," Kono warned him, still beside him, propped up on one arm, holding her other wrist close against her. "Rescue is on the way."

"That's good." He raised his head and glanced toward her, noticing the way she positioned herself to keep weight off her left arm and side. "Are you OK?"

She nodded, still shell-shocked. "I think so. Just got the wind knocked out of me."

"And you're bleeding," he nodded toward her arm.

She agreed and nodded back. "So are you."

Chin glanced where ten minutes ago, the front of the building had been. One metal door had been blown entirely off its hinges; the other hanging, twisted, by only its bottom hinge. Chunks of concrete and twisted steel filled the area and dust and debris continued to swirl around them.

"Any sign of Steve and Danny?"

"No, I… I… just found you. Chin, they are still in there. We need to—"

"It's okay, Kono, we'll find them," her cousin assured her. He managed to get his knees beneath him, wincing when his skinned knee touched the concrete. He stood, and then staggered, holding his hand to his head. "Head rush. Are your ears ringing?" he asked his cousin.

"Big time," she replied. "Like a gong going off. Can you help me up? I can't put pressure on my wrist, but my legs are fine."

"You sure?"

"Chin Ho Kelly, don't do it," came a voice from the phone in Kono's hand.

"Ellie?" he asked, and grimaced, taking the phone from Kono. "I'm OK, but we've got two team members who are not. We're gonna need a rescue team."

"On the way, big guy. You just take care of yourself and Kono for the time being. No moving around."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "I'm giving you back to Kono," he told her, then reached down a hand to pull his cousin upright. "Take it easy," he warned.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before letting go of his hand. "I'm good."

Together, they walked a bit shakily toward the hole in the warehouse wall and stared at the tremendous chaos before them. Chin pointed to the left hand side. "I had just walked through the door and Danny was headed over to back up Steve. He wasn't too far away."

Kono gingerly dropped back to her knees. "Then let's find out," she replied. "Danny? Danny, can you hear me?" she asked while pushing aside a chunk of concrete.

"Careful, Kono," he ordered. "We have to watch what we move. Who knows what else could fall."

"Chin," she turned toward him, determination on her face. "We have to get them out."

"I know. And we will. After help arrives." He looked back at the destruction and gingerly dropped to her side. "But it won't hurt to get a head start," he told her. "Danny. It's Chin." He had to stop and cough, holding his side as pain flared in his ribs. Gaining his breath, he tried again. "Danny, come on, let me know if you can hear me. Talk to us."

They stopped to listen, the silence mocking them.

"Hey, Brah, come on, please," Kono begged, then stopped when she heard a muffled sound. She looked at her cousin and saw the recognition in his eyes as well.

"Danny?" they both shouted.

"-m here," they heard his voice choke out and watched a piece of concrete near the floor tumble. When the dust cleared, they could see the heel of Danny's leather shoe.

"We've got you, Brah," Chin told him, kneeling gingerly on the hard ground. "Danny, we can see your foot. Help is on the way. Be careful," Chin warned when Kono reached for another chunk of concrete. "We need to leave it alone so it won't come down on top of them."

"—you hear me?" They heard a muffled voice from beneath the rubble.

"Yes, we hear you!" Kono replied.

He coughed raggedly. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, Brah, we're good," Chin assured him. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Been better. My legs are both pinned down, but other than that, I'm OK. If you discount the freight train going through my skull and the fact that I'm stuck, I'm just peachy. Just don't want the rest of this stuff to fall down on top of me. I'm in sort of a pocket where nothing fell except on my legs."

"Got it. I can hear sirens, so they'll be here soon. We're going to wait for them, Danny," Chin decided. "We might cause something else to shift and that wouldn't be good."

"Yeah," he agreed, and then began coughing once again. "You got McGarrett with you?"

"No," Chin replied.

"Damn, he was behind me," Danny realized. "Steve? Hey! McGarrett, can you hear me?"

The cousins watched as more of the concrete wiggled.

"Danny! Don't move," Chin ordered. "Stay still!"

"But Steve's in there."

"I know he is. We'll get both of you."

Williams coughed again, and then said, "He-uh- pushed me toward the door when everything blew."

"You said you are in a pocket," Chin began. "Can you see anything?"

"Well, it's pretty dark, but I can see a bunch of chunks of concrete with metal sticking out of it. Sounds like help has arrived," he added when he heard loud sirens suddenly stop.

"Yeah, hang tight, Brah. It won't be long," Chin assured him.

~~H50~~

Chin's "it won't be long" prediction wasn't entirely accurate. The rescue team took time to put up lighting so they could see what they were dealing with before actually moving any of the debris. They kept up a running dialogue with Danny for the duration. Dialogue which became more vocal the longer Danny was trapped.

They could hear another team yelling McGarrett's name from the side of the blown-out building. Once Danny was removed, they intended to triangulate their positions and hopefully find the other team member by digging inward from both directions.

EMS descended on Chin and Kono, treating their injuries. Kono's sprained wrist was wrapped and she had an ice pack on it to reduce swelling. In addition to the wrist, she had numerous small nicks and cuts from the flying debris and bruises developing on her legs and arms from the impact after she was thrown.

Chin had three steri-strips closing the cut on his forehead. He also bore several small cuts on his face, neck and hands from the fragments of concrete. His arm was wrapped with gauze in two separate places, both bandages already tinged slightly with blood. Stitches or glue would be required to close those gashes as well as one on his knee which was cut by the sharp metal of the door.

Each cousin was adamant that he and she would not be making a trip to the hospital until after their teammates were rescued. They sat on the back of two EMS vehicles, holding oxygen masks to their faces, watching the progress from the warehouse.

The rescue team on Danny's side had gotten quiet, concentrating on their movements, removing the rubble from around the trapped man. The pocket he was in no doubt saved his life, but thankfully they were close enough to see him. The last piece of concrete was removed from on top of his left shin, his shredded pants allowing the workers to get their first look at his bruised and bloody leg. A piece of twisted metal rested above his right thigh, and it needed to be pried loose before he could be pulled out.

"Come on, guys, just yank on it," Danny urged. "You've got to get me out of here so you can help look for Steve."

"Be patient, Detective," one of the team commented, knowing Danny was worried about his partner. "We're taking baby steps."

"Well, do a 'leap' and be done with it."

Chin walked over to the doorway to check on Danny's progress. "Hang in there, Brah. Like he said, 'be patient'."

"Easy for you to say," Williams groused, and then took his first look at Chin Ho. "Hey, you OK? That cut on your head might need stitches."

"I'll be fine," Chin assured. "You've been hit by shrapnel, too."

"Chunks of flying concrete kinda hurt, don't they?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Chin agreed, and then pointed to his bloody knee. "And the hard landing didn't help matters."

Danny raised his head and looked behind him, then turned back to Chin, opening his mouth to speak.

Chin Ho shook his head. "Don't, Danny. They'll find him."

"Well, you'd better be right," Danny replied as Kono walked over to them.

"Hey, Cuz, you doing OK?"

She rolled her eyes. "My keeper wouldn't let me leave the bus. Said I still appeared shocky. So I had to wait until she started talking to someone to make my escape. How are you doing, Danny?"

"You know, just layin' around, twiddling my thumbs."

"OK, here we go," the lead rescue worker said. He turned to Chin and Kono and held his arms wide. "You two need to move back." He turned back to Danny. "Ready?"

"Need you ask?"

"Let us do the work. Since we can't get a backboard all the way in there, we're going to lift by your arms and legs in case you have injuries you don't realize. Once we get you out, we'll get you on the board."

"Come on, guys, let's do this. Get me outta here."

"On three. One. Two—"

An ominous creaking sound was heard above Danny's head and they paused in their count.

For a millisecond.

"Three – move it!"

The team pulled Danny out of his pocket of rubble in the same moment that the cubbyhole he was lying in disappeared in a pile of wreckage and choking dust.

"Everyone back!" the rescue squad leader ordered when they were descended upon by EMS techs along with the rescue workers from the side of the building. "The entire building is unstable," he warned, holding back the people. "We're setting the perimeter back twenty feet."

Danny was quickly placed on a backboard which was loaded onto a gurney and wheeled back toward the ambulance, Chin and Kono following.

"Hey!" Williams tried to turn around to see the workers. "Steve is still in there. Get busy."

"Detective, before we start digging, we need to make sure the area is safe. And right now, it doesn't appear to be. We're going to get set up before we begin extraction. And it will be a slow process."

"He was right behind me, I know he was," Danny told him, then started a coughing jag while he tried to catch his breath. The EMS tech replaced the oxygen mask that Williams once again pushed aside. "You won't have far to look, I'm telling you. Just clear out that stuff. He was right behind me."

"They'll do their best," the tech assured him, forcing the mask back on his face past Danny's flying hands. "Now, you let them get you to the hospital."

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm not going anywhere." Danny's proclamation was halted again by his coughing.

"Work with us, Detective," the tech ordered, holding the mask in place. "You need to get checked out. This leg needs stitches and you've got numerous other cuts and scrapes and who knows what other internal injuries. Anything feel like it is broken other than your leg?"

Danny jerked free from the mask and held it in his hand. "No. And the leg isn't broken either. But I'm not going anywhere until Steve is out of there."

"Us, either," Chin stated for both Kono and himself.

Danny held the mask back on his face and took a couple more breaths of fresh air before lifting the oxygen once more. "So do what you need to do here," he told the tech. "Because I'm staying."

"We'll wrap the leg, but seriously, it's a mess. You need a hospital… the sooner, the better."

"Then clean it and wrap it," Danny ordered, slapping the mask back onto his own face, and turning to Chin and Kono. "We'll wait for our partner for as long as it takes."

~~H50~~

Dark.

Heat.

Pain.

He tried to hold onto a single thought, but his brain wouldn't cooperate.

Or couldn't. Maybe nothing worked.

Intense, agonizing pain.

The kind that won't let go.

He tried to move away from it, but his body refused.

The pain wouldn't stop.

It was everywhere; his head, chest, back, leg. He wanted to get comfortable. Anything would be better than this.

But nothing moved.

Cloying heat. It was all around him; inside him.

He couldn't get a breath into his starving lungs.

Where was he?

Utter blackness. Were his eyes open? He couldn't tell.

Eyes.

They burned with a fire inside.

His skull was on fire. Flames licking the backs of his eyes.

Burning his tears before they could fall.

And the noise. Unending.

He was in total darkness, but it wasn't quiet.

He would give anything to be able to hold his hands over his ears just to get away from the roar.

But the noise was inside his head.

Why?

Where was he?

And why was he alone?