A/H: Hey Five-O fan! The new season has me full of optimism, so here is a chapter to help you all along. Hope you're ready for some Danny and Steve whump!

Chapter 14: Drenched in Despair

The transmission ended with a crash and a curse as everyone listened helplessly in the bullpen. Steve and Danny worked through their situation, arguing as they went and scrambling to grab whatever they could and then bolted for the open end of the pipe.

"It wasn't long enough!" Toast stated, cursed again, and then slammed his hands down onto the table top.

The static silence in the bullpen was only broken as Lori and Charlie rushed in with the two strangers.

"What happened?" Lori asked as all eyes turned to her.

"We heard them, and then it was gone." Kono whispered from her place on the floor and Lori rushed to her side to join her.

"We know where they are." The strangers stated in unison. "Come, we'll take you there now. Danny and Steve sent us to find you."

Kono and Chin scrambled to rush after the two strangers, and Lori was ready to follow, but Doris held her ground.

"Why should we trust you?" Doris demanded. "You could be working for them." She added and motioned at the images plastered around the room.

"You don't need to trust us, but we know where Danny and Steve are, and we know they are trapped in a maze of booby traps and rushing water, and if the rain continues as it is, they are dead either way."

"Take me to them!" Kono ordered.

"I'm going with you!" Lori stated.

"Me too," Chin added and moved to the door. "The rest of you can stay here and find that cabin."

"You're really going to just run off?" Doris asked in shock.

"Yes," Chin answered, "Those are our people out there. If we don't take this chance there may not be another one and we'd be letting them down. Toast, you'll see our every move and track us all the way. Send all the help you can wrangle and have them follow us as soon as possible." Chin ordered as he broke his death stare with Doris and turned to the rest of the people in the room whom he knew would back him up no matter what. Then he bolted after Kono and Lori who were already hot on the heals of the strangers who were determined to show them the way.

Doris spun on Toast in that moment, as soon as Chin was out of the room, daring him to go against her. He straightened himself out, pushed the laptop aside and dug in his heals. He was not about to be bullied by this woman. "I don't work for you. Steve is my boss, and if Steve's not here, I take orders from his team, not his mother!"

"I'm on that back up, Toast. You track our people!" Catherine stated at the sight of Toast defiance.

"Catherine, we've got this. Back-up will be all HPD." Grover stated as he turned to Duke who nodded his agreement and followed the SWAT captain out.

"Then I guess I'm on the property, and the two strangers." Catherine changed gears as Doris stared on in disbelieve.

"Prove to this woman that they just want to help." Toast stated with a huff and turned off the world around him as he glued his eyes to the computers before him.

"I'm not Toast savvy, but I can keep working on this laptop." Charlie jumped in and stepped toward the computer. "I've broken my share of encryption, in my line of work!"

"Thank's Charlie!" Toast winked.

"Do you people not know how to take orders?" Doris growled.

"Not from you." Toast stated without taking his eyes off the computer system.

"I'll find Gladys myself." Doris spat and marched for the door.

"You would think her son would be priority number one." Charlie whispered to Toast when Doris had stormed out of the room.

"You would think, but I think Doris is only in this for Doris."

5-0

Steve gathered all that he could into the pockets of his cargo pants before the rain water swept it all away, and he rushed to follow Danny.

Running down the tunnel, the two men hit the deck as the flames erupted once more. Drenching themselves in the water that was now ankle deep, and rising very quickly, they escaped and skittered along as low as they could get, as the water moved quickly around them and pushed them forward.

Once out of the reach of the fire, the two friends cautiously tried to stand and gain their bearings - having a lot of trouble trying to gain their footing in bare feet, and in the now very slippery passage.

"Danny!" Steve called in the darkness as he felt his friend hesitate and slip down again.

"I caught on something," Danny stated as he tried to get up but felt the cutting of something razor sharp.

"Stop, don't move!" Steve yelled as he lunged forward, caught his hands on something and stopped. "It's razor wire. I bet it's strung all over the tunnel and at all different heights just to catch us and cut us into pieces! If we're not careful, this stuff could take our heads off like that polo player!"

"I'd like to keep my head, thank you very much!" Danny stated and grabbed Steve's shirt. "Lead the way."

Moving toward the walls now, Steve felt his way, slowly, as the water rose faster and faster, along the wall. He was looking for the hooks or bolts that attached the wire to the concrete of the walls. With his hands flat against the wall and the bolts of hook protruding, he was less likely to cut his hands to shreds. When he'd find one he'd warn his partner and being very cautious, even through the water was rising up the walls itself, they moved slowly through the maze of wires, stepping over or crawling under, as they went. They wasted a lot of time, being so careful, but they also didn't loose any limbs.

Then suddenly, in the darkness, they came face to face with a solid mass.

"It's a wall. Steve, we're trapped by a wall. We can move forward and we can't go back. This is it!" Danny panicked as he felt along the solid concrete slab.

"It's not a wall." Steve stated over the rush of the water. "The tunnel has just gotten smaller to slow the flow of the water. The water is flowing under it for now." Steve added and shook his friend. "We're going to go under it. Take a deep breath and follow me."

"But we don't know how long it is or how deep, or if there is even space on the other side!" Danny protested.

"There will be space on the other side. Trust me!" Steve said. "Now come on."

Danny nodded and followed his partner. The movement of the water was fast and furious, and it felt like it took for ever for them to surface, but finally they were slammed into another grate and were able to pull their heads out of the water to take in air once more.

The ceiling of the passage grew high again, but not as high as before. Steve felt along the grate, looking to the lock or the bolts, but found none, then, fighting against the heavy current he felt along the ceiling.

"Good news and bad news, Danno." Steve stated as he dropped his arms and let the water push him against the grate.

"Give me the bad news, first." Danny sighed as he struggled to keep his head out of the water.

"This grate is built into the concrete. It's likely the last one before the whole passage opens up into a river or the ocean."

"What's the good news then?"

"Well, if the grate is here to keep debris from hitting the natural water on the island, then there has to be a way for workers to get down here and clean out the trash. I think found the edge of the manhole." Steve stated.

"But..." Danny carried on.

"But, I can hardly reach it, so I am going to boost you up into it and I hope that there is a ladder. Then you'll have to help me. I'll give you a boost, you get the best grip you can and then tell me so I can use you as leverage to get myself out." Steve explained.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Danny asked as he coughed on the water that was rising dangerously high for the shorter man.

"It has to work, Danno, because this is the end of the line."