A/N: Continued thanks for reviews and alerts. :)

We've Got Fun and Games
Chapter Three

She circled on the edge of the chosen battlefield for a reason, namely to make sure if this went sideways too early she could distract them from Danny for as long as possible. It was probably a futile gesture, but she didn't care. Kono would defend Danny to the death, and if he could somehow get to the Jeep while Nahale was busy killing her, she would count that a noble way to go. She had no intention of either of them dying today, but Danny had a little girl to raise. He came first. She smiled, because she knew Danny would rank it the opposite way.

Equal parts anticipation and dread rolled through her, a now familiar dichotomy. Despite the concern that she was moving too slowly, with a cautious eye on the trees surrounding her for Nahale or his hired guns as they also picked their way through the trees, she reached her position without a snag. Something niggled in the back of her exhausted brain about that, but she tried to quell the thought that their trap for Nahale was somehow also a trap for her and Danny. It probably was. They knew Nahale knew she and Danny would try for the vehicles. Kono hoped that he wouldn't anticipate the few surprises she'd managed to rig around the perimeter of the clearing, though. She only needed to even the playing field, create enough chaos for her and Danny to get into a vehicle and go. She had limited ammunition and had to make every shot count.

Her vantage point was the best available short of scaling a tree, which was impossible and would only make her visible to Nahale if it were. Kono wasn't about to complain about it not being one hundred percent optimal. So long as Nahale or one of his men didn't sneak up behind her, which she was pretty sure wasn't going to happen, she had a decent line of sight on the most of the clearing, van, Jeep and dirt road. That she and Danny had managed to make it back to the cars without a skirmish (or plain getting capped in the head from out of nowhere) was better luck than they could have hoped for. She needed it to hold, just a few more minutes.

She knew beyond a vague inkling that they were coming now. She didn't know how she knew, she just did, and Danny really needed to be in place within the next minute if this was all going to work even halfway.

"Okay, Danny, time for you to do your thing, brah," she whispered.

It'd been a solid hour of her prepping the area with frequent checks on him and constant, paranoid looking over her own shoulder. There hadn't been much time for chitchat. Much as Kono knew it would have been best to keep Danny conscious and talking, the situation simply hadn't allowed for it. Too many of the times she'd gone back to Danny's side, he'd been unconscious and the times he hadn't been he'd been too busy pretending he wasn't ill with pain and shock to utter more than a word or two.

"Come on, come on."

It turned out she missed the hell out of Danny's voice when he was quiet. Talking to herself was of no comfort at all. Worry that the down time had made it so Danny wouldn't be able to do this mounted with every passing second, followed by worry that Nahale had found him after all and it was already too late.

Finally, though, she saw Danny break cover. Kono frowned. She wasn't sure the rest period he'd had was going to be enough. She wasn't sure it was entirely fair to call passing out from blood loss a rest period. Even from a distance, she saw how shaky he was, how he was barely staying upright. Danny was tough, tougher than she'd ever given him credit for before witnessing his force of will in action here. Seeing him now, though sent a jolt of flat-out panic through her. He was paper white and her top (formerly a favorite) was red again with fresh blood. Oh shit, oh fuck, thinking Danny could do this was a big mistake. She almost broke her position.

As Danny reached the back end of the (fake) black police van, though, there came a whooshing sound and a muffled grunt from the left of the clearing. Then another and another from right and far center. Kono smiled. She wished she'd had the luxury of trying some of the other neat tricks McGarrett had been teaching her on their off hours, things Danny would call insane but Steve called essential survival skills for when in hostile territory, but the warning systems she'd put in place served their purpose. She saw Danny slide down with his back against the van, more of a semi-controlled fall than planned movement. His gun hand was up, as ready for the attack as he could be.

It wasn't ideal, and the traps sprang too fast, but Kono didn't have the benefit of thought anymore. She watched three men approach the vehicles. She took aim carefully but quickly, fired on all three in rapid succession and watched all three go down. She pursed her lips, unhappy to have to kill them instead of wounding so they could be brought to justice but she had no choices here. Her opening salvo set off a flurry of activity, as gunshots rang out. She heard the distinct thud of bullets embedding into metal, and saw holes pierce the van wall way too close to Danny.

Danny flinched, but fired a few shots to the right. Kono couldn't see whom he was aiming at, and a disadvantage of distance, but the ventilation of the van stopped for the moment. As long as the enemy broke cover, she could protect Danny. As long as they stayed like her, hidden, Danny was on his own. She chewed her lip. Had she mentioned how stupid this plan was? Her nerve endings felt like they were on fire. She began her descent back to the clearing, not being as careful as she'd been on ascent but still hyper aware of her surroundings.

She lost sight of Danny this way, but that had always been part of the plan. Kono had to put trust in him over doubt the same way he was doing with her. He had less ammunition than she did and would make every shot count until she was back at his side. All they had to do was draw Nahale out; she'd have just as soon ditched the assholes in the rainforest and come back for them later, but Danny had insisted they had to apprehend Nahale or risk him going to ground. He was, of course, right, but it set her on edge, lessened the thrill she felt at this actually going well, all things considered.

The thrill was short-lived anyway.

The hairs on the back of Kono's neck stood up a millisecond before she heard a twig snap right behind her. This was almost worst-case scenario; the only thing worse would have been getting shot. She didn't want to deal with one-on-one combat, but like so much that had gone down today, she had no choice. Before whomever was behind her could shoot her point blank, Kono spun and twisted, legs up in a roundhouse kick. It was Nahale himself. He staggered back a few steps, but didn't go down. She took advantage of his faltering step, regained her footing and kicked the gun out of his hand.

Nahale didn't seem distressed to lose his weapon. He laughed, recovered quickly and went instantly on the offensive. Like so many, he underestimated her based on her slim figure. This was, in fact, one of her biggest advantages. Guys like him thought they could take her with sheer brute force, and it was true he had height and weight advantages. He came at her straightforward and clumsy, though. The lack of finesse in his movements made it easier for her to slide away from his fists, dodge his blows and land a few of her own. He threw a left hook, she spun away and landed a foot to his knee. He tried a right uppercut, she ducked and punched him in the kidney.

Kono held her own but frustratingly didn't make progress against Nahale and she felt her strength depleting fast. The deep bruise on her chest from being shot and the restrictive nature of the vest worked against her, but she could not relent. She continued bobbing and weaving, punching and kicking, until all of a sudden she became aware of something, distracted.

The forest was silent except for her grunts and the occasional thump of a landed punch. Gone were the gunshots. Gone were the shouts of Nahale's men, to each other, at her and Danny. Gone were the sounds of wildlife. Oh God, Danny. Kono faltered a fraction of a second, and it was all Nahale needed. He landed a blow straight into her breastbone, knocked the breath out of her lungs. His arm snaked around her neck and pulled her back before she could recover enough.

Fuck. Kono squirmed, but already her vision was clouding. Too fast, too soon. She was in a position where brawn would best her and both of them knew it. She was so tired, strung out from the whirlwind of the day. Had it only been a few hours since she and Danny had landed at Hilo? It was surreal, the things that started to float through her head. The exhilaration of catching a wave on the Pipeline. The way Chin's smile lit up her soul. The taste of her mom's traditionally made laulau only brought out for special occasions. It was life-flashing-before-eyes stuff, except one thing was not nebulous at all – the regret of not getting her and Danny out of this.

"Aitae," Nahale panted into her ear as he squeezed his arm against her throat. He clicked his tongue.

Kono stumbled on jelly legs as Nahale half carried her to the vehicles. To Danny, who had to be dead. Quiet it was too quiet, except when the static in her ears started swelling.

"Pua ting, les find yo'wah haole first, yeah?"

It sent a shock of pure rage through Kono, gave her a burst of energy. Maybe she was already dead, but she wasn't going to make it easy. She dug her heels into the soft earth, choked as Nahale tightened his grip on her neck. She didn't bother trying to wrest the arm away, but concentrated on coordinating her own arms. One good elbow jab was all she needed and she couldn't seem to manage even that. Instead, she inched ever closer to passing out, when suddenly the pressure on her neck released a little. The added oxygen made her head spin, but her vision cleared quickly. It was her chance to overpower him, but she blinked and went still rather than continue the fight with Nahale.

There were three men sprawled next to the van. Four, if Danny was included. Three of them were dead. Danny was somehow … not. Kono gasped, for air and at the sight of her friend's waxy face and the weary dullness in his eyes from where he kneeled by the back tire. The Glock he's obviously lifted from one of the corpses in his raised, shaky right hand.

"I said, let her go," Danny said, voice harsh with pain and exhaustion. "You deaf?"

"What're you going to do, Danny?" Nahale said with far too much humor in his tone, like he was ready to let out another one of those belly laughs of his. "You can barely see straight, I'll bet. You wanna risk your sweet friend like that?"

"What's it matter? Either way, she's dead, right? I accidentally hit her or you choke her out, then you lose your shield. Bonus with that one is that you're dead too."

Danny flicked his attention to Kono, met her eyes. The look wasn't a flash, it was slow and considered and it was telling her something she knew without even knowing. This was what he and Steve did all the time; she got their strange simpatico better now. His lips drew into a thin, white line in a face that was increasingly grey. She wanted to nod but Nahale had her head tilted just high enough her range of motion was limited. She knew what she had to do if this had a prayer of working. The quaking of Danny's arm grew worse with each passing moment.

She waited until Danny returned his gaze to Nahale and his jaw tightened with resolve, then she went completely limp. It was an old trick, and old tricks usually worked well. Nahale swore and grappled with her, then there was a loud report of the Glock and Kono fell backwards on top of Nahale. She lay, stunned, for half a second. She heard someone groaning, wasn't sure it wasn't herself. Snapping her brain back online, she realized with some amazement that she was okay. She rolled to the side, off of Nahale. He had a good-sized hole in his left shoulder, but was already moving for a discarded handgun. Oh, nuh.

Kono scrabbled to her feet and kicked Nahale on the chin. The crunch of her boot on his face was highly satisfactory. Nahale didn't move after that. She stared at him for a few seconds, then at the aftermath of the gunfight. Six other men, all told, plus the one back at the fake lab. They'd done it. They'd actually taken out eight heavily armed men by themselves. Stunned elation filled her, buoyed her through her muscles beginning to protest again the rollercoaster of adrenaline highs and lows.

"You're under arrest, asshole," she said breathlessly to the unconscious man and turned to grin at Danny.

Danny gave her a lopsided smile and said, "Hey, it worked," before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped to the ground in a heap.

"Danny."

Through it all, Kono hadn't felt the level of fear that iced her veins at that moment. She landed on her knees next to her fallen friend, one hand flying to the gun to remove it from Danny's limp fingers, the other to clasp his wrist in search of a pulse. It was there. She let out a breath and pulled herself together. They'd won the battle, but she wasn't sure the war was over quite yet. She reassessed his bullet wound, worried at her lip that he might have picked up an infection already. The blood oozed from the now exposed hole and she wanted to throw up. That was as much a reaction to everything as it was queasiness, she told herself. When she looked back up to his face, she found Danny conscious already, watching her mutely through hooded eyes.

"Hey," she said. "What do you say we get out of here?"

"Sounds good," Danny said, voice craggy. "Van. Nahale can go back there. Might have to hotwire it."

"Don't worry, brah." She had to work to keep her tone light. Kono winked at Danny. "Steve's taught me all kinds of things."

She wouldn't be able to say, later, how exactly she'd managed to triage and get Nahale's heavy ass into the back of the van (after clearing it of arms – the dealing of which was apparently the infamous Luna's new venture) or how Danny had once again gotten to his feet to clamber into the passenger seat. She wouldn't recall how she ended driving far too fast, causing Danny far too much pain with every dip in the road she hit, until she could get reception on a cell she'd lifted from a dead guy. Until Danny simply closed his eyes and didn't open them again no matter how much she yelled at him.

Everything was a giant blur of too many sights, sounds and touches, until there she sat alone and numb and clad in scrubs in a waiting room at Hilo Medical Center. Well, not completely alone. Kono was vaguely aware of a concerned nurse who hovered in and around her space every once in a while, and Hilo's police chief paying her a personal visit with an air of shocked disbelief that one of his detectives was, in fact, secretly a drug kingpin.

She didn't care about any of it, her eyes pinned on the door for the doctor's appearance. She needed to know she hadn't killed Danny by trying to get him help fast, by pushing him into a gunfight when half his blood had been drained out of him. The pull of shock and exhaustion was strong, but if everything had been a blur, what was clear was that she was not going to succumb until she knew about Danny.

Who she didn't expect to see walk through the wide, doorless entry to the waiting room instead was Chin Ho Kelly, his eyes dark with worry. Or Steve McGarrett hobbling on crutches right after him with the identical expression on his face.

"Cuz," Chin said softly.

Kono didn't care about pretenses or being strong. She leapt to her feet, crossed the room, barreled into her cousin's arms and held on tight. He whispered vague words into her disgustingly dirty hair, rocked her a little like she was a child. Kono felt Steve's hand on her shoulder.

"You should be in a bed, Kono." Chin's voice was thick, louder now.

"No, I, not yet."

"Danny, is he … ?" Steve asked, voice low.

"I don't know." Kono reluctantly broke from Chin's embrace. She swiped at her runny nose and sniffed. "I haven't heard anything."

"I can help you with that," someone said from behind their huddled circle. "You're his family, I presume?"

They turned as one, and Kono's knees nearly buckled at the expression on the doctor's face. With Chin on one side and Steve the other, there was no chance of that.

"I'm Doctor Kuoha, I treated Detective Williams." The doctor was short and lean, his expression grim. "As you know, he sustained a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen which went untreated for a number of hours. There's infection from that, but I think we'll get it knocked down in short order. We're transfusing him due to the extreme blood loss, but all in all, he's a very lucky man. No major internal damage was done despite the circumstances. Once we get the fever down and the antibiotics do their job, I think he'll recover nicely."

There went her legs again. Kono leaned on Chin. Her ears buzzed. Danny was okay. She stared at her cousin, then Steve. She knew they'd tell her if she'd interpreted that wrong. Steve's eyebrows were doing that weird thing they did.

"Boss," Kono said. "Did I tell you we caught Luna?"

Then she fainted dead away.