A/N: Hello all, sorry for the long wait, but I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being so patient with me. Happy reading.

Chapter 16: The Grate Escape

Using all his strength, Steve heaved Danny into the air - while at the same time Danny pushed off the wall. In his mind, Danny figured he's slam into the ceiling of the drain pipe and would be washed back against the grate, but surprisingly, Steve was right, and into another cylinder Danny found himself. His hands slipped against the wall, while his legs and feet were still caught in the current. He was slipping fast, right back to where he'd come from, when he finally caught ahold of something protruding from the wall.

"I got it!" Danny called as he hung in the current and could feel his partner grab ahold of his legs.

"All right, hold on!" Steve said and Danny could feel his partner using his body to get him through the current.

Steve fought against the current as well. It was fast and hard. He didn't have any shoes on. He was tired. His body ached. But here they were, finally it seemed like they might have found a way out. So he continued to fight until he was right next to his partner, hands grasping the same rebar outcropping.

"All Right. We got this. Now you climb up there." Steve said once he'd gotten to where he knew he needed to be. "The sooner we can get out of all this water, the better off we'll be, even if we just have to wait this storm out. Now you're going to need to use my body to help you move higher into the tube. We can't stay like this. Once you're secure, I'll follow you."

"What if this is another trap?" Danny asked fearfully.

"It's this tube, or that drain and the weight of the current and the rising water. If we can't get out of the manhole, then we'll just have to wait and then maybe we'll be able to move on once the flood waters have subsided. Either way, you're not going to last much longer if the water keeps rising. So go!" Steve ordered.

Danny huffed, but tried to move on. Freeing one of his hands from it's stronghold, Steve felt down Danny's back until he reached his partner's waist band and grabbing a good hold, he helped to lift Danny up. Thankfully, with the added assistance, and his stellar upper body strength, Danny was able to reach up and caught ahold of the next rung, and then the next, until he caught his foot on Steve's shoulder, felt his partner grab his heal and push again, and then Danny was up and out of the water.

"What do you see up there?" Steve called when Danny's foot had followed him and Steve was left handing down below with the current pulling at him.

"Nothing yet, let's get you out of the water first!" Danny answered, anchored his feet, on one of the rungs and one he pressed on the other side of the tube as he reach down between his legs and grabbed Steve's wrist. "You ready?"

"Yes, get me outta this, Danno." Steve answered and felt Danny's tug as he reach with his other hand up higher.

5-0

"Do you still have us?" Chin asked out loud as he and Lori stood in the rain with Joel Kuluski. They waited for Kono and Noella to catch up.

"Still got you." Catherine answered in the ears of the Five-Os. "Back-up is on the way, along with your dear french from EMS. We still have no idea where Gladys is though, or Doris. So be very careful out there."

"Got it!" Chin said with a nod as Kono and Noella caught up. "Track Doris's phone." He added.

"We're trying too," Toast answered, "but it would seem the woman turned it off. Like she thinks that can stop me."

"Of course she turned it off." Kono huffed and tried to cover her head with her arms, in the pounding rain.

"It just makes the puzzle a little more fun for me. Don't worry about it. I'll find her." Toast added optimistically.

"All right, let's keep moving!"

"How much farther?" Kono asked soaked through and muddy.

"The trail head is just beyond the ridge and then it dips down. We'll be near the vent when we come out of the jungle but the drain is further down." Joel answered as he pointed through the rain.

"Can we get to the drain any quicker?" Kono asked.

"We could cut through the jungle but in this weather that would make things more dangerous." Noella piped in. "Mud slides, sink holes, you just never know what you might come across if you disturb the wet jungle."

"We'll stick to the trail." Chin sighed and pushed forward. "But we have to hurry."

"This has been going on for a long time now. What are the odds that we find them alive?" Noella asked in a hushed voice as she reached out and grabbed Kono's arm.

Kono could see the worry in the soaked stranger's face, in the fading light of an already stormy, dark, day.

"It's Steve and Danny. If what you say is true and you found them arguing, I'm going to guarantee they are fighting even the rain at this point. If it were anyone else, I'd be worried, but it's Danny and Steve, and those two have fought their way out of a war zones and worst. We'll find them. Alive." Kono said and forced the optimism that she wasn't actually feeling.