Thanks to my Betas Sentinel and CajunBear. This chapter was starting to get out of control until I decided to split it up.

Chapter 35 News Worthy

The Bell 206B helicopter strafed over the top of the dam. Hanging from the side of the chopper was the shielded ball of a steadi-cam, while inside, a reporter would look into the lens of another camera. Both feeds were being sent back to the Station's News Producer to sort through as the Anchorman introduced the situation.

"Welcome to WXRY's 'News at Noon'. In our top story today: Last night, without warning, the citizens of the small town of Hamilton have found themselves in the same situation as the residents of New Orleans a few years ago when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the coastal town. Rising floodwaters have forced the populace to abandon their homes and the Governor to declare a 'State of Emergency'. We now take you live to our 'Eye in the Sky Reporter' Edward Gilleye."

The picture faded from the anchor desk to a split screen. One half showed the field reporter wearing a David-Clarke headset, the other a series of scenes of a peaceful lake.

"Thanks Paul. This is Tate Lake, just outside the town of Hamilton, last summer. It was built mostly as a flood prevention measure under Franklin Roosevelt's Administration to bring jobs and commerce to this region during the Great Depression. Collins Dam and Tate Lake is almost unknown when compared to its larger cousin Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, but it has stood here for the last 70 years bringing tourist, hikers, fisherman and boaters to the area. It has been the lifeblood of this small recreational town since the Great Depression. Now it looks like it is going to be the death knell of that same town it has guarded for 70-plus years."

In the helicopter, the pilot flew back for another pass around the center of the collapsing dam, the steadi-cam showing a series of cracks rising through the center of the dam, a huge column of water shooting fifty feet into the air.

"Here are the facts as we know them so far. Over the last few weeks, unseasonably warm temperatures have melted an unprecedented amount of the snow causing much higher than normal water levels. Now this is not an unusual occurrence; it happens every spring and the designers planned for this by leaving more than thirty feet of clearance between the lake's normal level and the top of the dam."

The pilot was an Army veteran trained at Fort Rucker, Alabama to fly Combat missions in both OH-58 Kiowa observers and UH-60 Blackhawk Medivacs. And since the OH-58 was the military version of the same bird, he had easily made the transition to the civilian Bell 206 flown by most news services. When the news channel requested entry into the flight area, the Corp of Engineers had made it plain that he was to stay well above the dam to avoid any risk of damage to his 'bird'. He didn't argue. The chopper circled the water column well above the danger level while the reporter kept up his monologue.

"What is unusual was the small earthquake that occurred last night. This Magnitude 3 quake wasn't even noticed by the residents. It didn't even rattle the windows of this small town that was first founded in the 1870's. Though as you can see, looking down at the top of the dam, it had a major effect on the future of the citizens of this rural hamlet. Within hours the streets of this peaceful sleeping town became creeks and streams where the water could reach 6 feet deep stranding dozens of families inside their homes."

"Hampering the rescue efforts is the speed in which this emergency came into being. There is also the issue of how fast the water is flowing through the town, as shown in this exclusive video." The view faded to show a small boat trying to maneuver to the side of a house. The pilot had to inch the boat to the side as the flow of water tried to push it back away from the house. Gilleye talked over the video. "Earlier we caught this dramatic footage of a very courageous rescue worker striving to save the family trapped inside their home by the rising floodwaters. I also want our viewers to remember that it is mid-November and the water temperatures are less than 55 degrees."

The video showed a man passing his children into the boat, one at a time, while the pilot fought the fast moving water. The father helped his wife into the boat and prepared to jump in. The pilot watching the man and his distance from the house didn't see the log that hit just as the man jumped pushing the boat out of the way. The man fell into the water and before the rescue worker could grab him, he was swept away.

The instant the man fell, although you couldn't hear him, you could see the pilot as he screamed what had to be "HOLD ON". The pilot turned the boat into the side of the house and fire-walled the throttle to get the stern away from the victim. At the same time the rescue worker, wearing his floatation and rescue gear, jumped after him.

If the water had been still or even just slower the man could have stood up. But it was moving so fast that within seconds he was thrashing trying to avoid drowning. The rescue worker caught up to him and helped hold his head above water, trusting his partner in the boat to save them both.

Back in the boat, the pilot turned downstream at full throttle, the boat coming up on plane in seconds. He powered past both men in the water and turned into the current, using the throttle to try and hold his position

He had the victim's wife throw a line over the side in front of the two men and prayed. When both men had a hold of the line, he reversed the engine and turned the stern away and used just enough power to hold the tension on the line as the group floated downstream. Pulling themselves hand-over-hand the two men reached the boat and were drug aboard by the victim's family. As soon as they were aboard, the pilot shoved the throttle to the stops and spun the boat on its axis, heading for the rescue center before either of the men succumbed to hypothermia. The view switched back to Gilleye as he hung over the side of the chopper the flooded town passing by underneath it.

"As you can see from this footage, no matter the outcome of this disaster, the residents of Hamilton are in for a rough time. To assist in the rescue efforts, Army Corp of Engineers and State officials have called for assistance from both the Air National Guard and the civilian Team Possible. We caught up to Team Possible leader, Kim Possible, a short while ago."

In his New York home, Shunya Chidori suddenly turned up the volume on his TV.

In Middleton, the Tweebs were channel surfing when they heard their sisters name.

"Hey, Mom, Dad…"
"Kim's on the…"
"news again. She's doing…"
"something at that flood."

When the elder Possibles ran in to see what was on the news, Anne immediately called the Stoppables.

On the screen, Kim stood beside the lowboy as Sagara and Wade supervised the unloading of the Duck. Dressed in her normal purple striped black pants and short sleeved purple shirt that had additional long white sleeves dropping into her mission gloves, she fielded the rapid fire questions the reporter tried to toss at her. "Miss Possible, what's the plan of action for you and your team?"

"Our tech man has spoken with the Rescue teams and between them they decided that this equipment would be better in locations closer to the dam than the boats they've been using. It's amphibious and a lot heaver and taller than they are. That means we can drive right up to the houses in that area and get the people out. We also have a larger carrying capacity. We're not as fast as they are, but the plan is we gather the people and transfer them to either to high ground for waiting helicopters or bring them out ourselves."

"I'm sure most of our viewers have never seen a boat like this. What can you tell us about…"

Wade called, "KIM! We're ready to go!"

The reporter tried to ask another question, but she cut him off. "I'm sorry. We have to go."

"Miss Possible….." Kim ignored the reporter and ran to the stern of the Duck where she and Wade climbed aboard. As soon as they were over the side Sousuke turned the Duck down the side of the hill, heading for the rushing waters.

"Shortly after they headed into the raging floodwaters we caught this footage of Team Possible." He continued talking over the recorded video. "It clearly shows the teamwork of these young people in action."

"Here you see Team Possible's flying car, its pilot doing what they can to assist. We spoke to a senior Rescue official who said that weather conditions are making aerial rescues treacherous. Also the helicopters of the Air National Guard are not equipped with rescue equipment such as winches to raise the victims of this disaster. So the air units are to spot refugees and to try and get them some sort of life preservers until ground level assistance can arrive."

The distinctive image of the Sloth appeared just above the roof of a house. Ron wasn't as capable in the flight mode as Kim so he passed above the house as slowly as he dared. Kaname, hanging out the passenger side, dropped a bundle of life jackets to a family of seven that had taken refuge on the roof; too many to take in the Sloth anyway. But he circled until Sagara came driving/floating through the water to the side of the house.

"Once located, their position is radioed to either Rescue boats or Team Possible's amphibious vehicle, which we have since learned is a modified World War Two military transport most commonly called a 'Duck'. Where she got it or what modifications it has, we don't know at this time. However we will ask Miss Possible about it as soon as the current crisis has passed"

Wade had climbed back to the information center of the amphibian reading the sonar for underwater hazards while Kim replaced him on the cowling in the bow. Wade had Sagara drive around the house looking for the highest point.

"But apparently, as you can see here, this 'Duck' is able to drive through this fast flowing stream of water as easily as it drives on the road."

Sousuke came in from downstream until the bow nosed against the side of the house. Wade clambered over the windscreen and placed a special single pole ladder into a slot in the cowling. Kim grabbed a rope and horse collar and shimmied up the pole.

"Here Kim Possible is demonstrating her trademark bravery and agility, climbing to the roof of this house to help the family trapped by the rising floodwaters."

When she got to the roof, Wade pulled the ladder out and secured it again. Kim placed the collar around the man on the roof, who argued for a minute. He looked from her to his family and back again, before he let her lower him to the waiting Duck.

He had obviously wanted his wife and children to go first, but her reasoning soon became clear. Wade secured him to the Duck with a lanyard and had him assist in catching the children. Kim lowered the oldest first to help keep the younger ones under control after they were passed into the passenger area of the Duck.

Once the kids were down, Kim lowered their mother. Kim walked across to the opposite side of the roof, drew something from the holster she kept her grapple in and fired it into the roof. It was a steel stake with an eyelet through the top. Then she hooked a carabineer through the eyelet and passed a loop of rope through the carabineer. She rappelled into the Duck, hooked off to the waiting lanyard and pulled the rope out of the carabineer. Once everyone was aboard, Sousuke backed the Duck and turned into the flooded streets, heading to the next house where they repeated the operation.

The news agency edited out the only problem they faced: That of the news helicopter buzzing overhead trying to get closer shots. At one point, the reporter was almost ready to hang out the side of the chopper and interview one of the refugees.

That is until Kaname called Headquarters and reported in. Two minutes later, a National Guard Blackhawk Gunship showed up, squawking over the Guard Channel "You are interfering with rescue operations and risking the lives of both Rescue Workers and civilians. Return to your authorized altitude or face the consequences." They only had blue practice shots on the rails, not the white warshots, but the pilot of the news chopper smiled and kept that little factoid to himself. It worked wonders shutting up the reporter in the back berating him to get closer and closer. He grinned, thinking about the look on the reporter face as he was 'driven off'.

"At the collection point, Kim Possible's mission partner and boyfriend, Don Toppable…." He reached up and held the earphones tighter to his head. "What, are you sure?…That can't be right….She said what?….. OK, OK, Ron Stoppable…are you sure that's right?...Ron Stoppable and an assistant have landed their car and are working directly with the Air National Guard to get these people to safety."

Once they had a full load, Sousuke followed Wade's directions to a hill, where Ron had landed the Sloth, and unloaded the refugees. There was two more Blackhawks orbiting overhead. As soon as the refugees were on solid ground Sousuke plunged the Duck back into the water heading to the next house. The helicopters came in to collect passengers and drop off more life vests while Ron and Kaname helped load the refugees into the helicopters. Once the refugees were away, Ron and Kaname tossed the vests into the back seat of the Sloth and took off again.

"As you can see, Team Possible is a well oiled machine. Hopefully they and the other rescue workers can get to the rest of the people here before the dam threatening the town gives way. According to the information given to us by the Corps of Engineers, it isn't a matter of 'if' it's going to happen, but a matter of when."

The view switched back to a shot of the column of water shooting from the base of the dam. Pieces of material, rock and concrete the size of motorcycles were being tossed thirty feet into the air by the stream of water. "As you can see from this live footage, the pressure of the water is forcing out more and more debris from the inside of the dam itself. Washing away the interior of the structure holding back millions of gallons of water from pouring onto the town below. The water in the lake is currently 15 feet above flood stage in the lake. That means it's nearly ninety feet deep at the dam itself. From what we've been told, depending on when the dam finally collapses, there could be a wall of water forty feet high crashing down into the valley."

"We will be standing by to bring you the latest news from this tragedy as it happens. This is your WXRY 'Eye in the Sky' Reporter Edward Gilleye reporting. Back to you Paul."

Once the feed was cut the pilot called over the ICS that they had to refuel and turned to the airbase 20 minutes away. They landed and, since it was just himself and the reporter, the pilot had the ground crew filled the JetRangers tanks to the limit. With basically no load the helicopter had no problem with the added weight of the fuel.

"Wade, how're we doing?" They had just dropped off another load for the National Guard Blackhawks to pick up and turned into the torrent again.

He pulled a list on the screen and said, "Not bad, Kim. The Sherriff says there should only be a few more houses to check. We got all the easy ones, now we have to get the houses closer to the river. Sagara, our route is on the heads-up display." Wade manipulated the controls, "We have to be careful around this area because it's close to the river itself. From the looks of things, we're gonna have to drive upstream and cross to the other side. The river's flowing pretty fast so instead of fighting it, we need to use the flow to get us on site."

"Roger."

Kim called Kaname in the Sloth, "Kaname, Wade is sending you the next locations." She glanced at the teen as he started tapping away. "You guys head over there and check things out.

"You got it. We're on our way."

When Sagara reached the river, even though the whole area was flooded, you could tell where the banks were. In the flooded areas the water was flowing over the top of countless underwater obstructions, everything from park benches and fire hydrants to cars wedged in between trees, making it choppy with eddies and swirls.

The water in the middle of the river seemed smoother flowing, but it was also a lot faster. Sagara engaged the azipods and carefully started across, nosing into the deeper waters of the river. Once fully afloat, he started across keeping the bow angled upstream to try and keep the amphibian on course. Aiming for directly across to the far bank was impossible, the rate the river was flowing was well above the Duck's top speed. But since Wade had brought them in well upstream of where they needed to be, as they drove across the river, they floated downstream to intersect with their landing point.

All the way across Wade called out course adjustments and watched the sonar for underwater hazards. Reaching the other bank, Wade directed them to a shallow slope. Sagara idled the azipods and engaged the road wheels and the Duck crawled its way out to merely flooded ground.

Overhead, Ron circled the homes in question. The first turned out to be a single story residence that appeared to be unoccupied. At least they hoped it was because the water was reaching three-quarters of the way up the front door. Either the residents had already escaped, they were trapped, or they were dead. The second was a two story home and had a family scrambling trying to get to the roof through an attic window.

Ron dove in and brought the Sloth around so Kaname could drop enough life preservers to the family. The man was furious that Ron wouldn't come any lower. He looked like he was about to start throwing his children up to the Sloth to get them to safety until Kaname pointed toward the oncoming Duck.

Above the Sloth, the X-ray news chopper returned to record the events. The reporter called in to the studio to break in live. His instincts were screaming at him that something was going to happen. It didn't take long for the studio to go live.

"This is Edward Gilleye coming to you live from Hamilton and Tate Lake. We just heard over the radio that the last of the refugees from this stricken town have been found. We are currently over Team Possible's position where they have moving to rescue the last of the people into their amphibian."

Both Teams stayed in contact, so Sagara stopped beside the single story home first. This time he passed control of the amphibian to Kim and climbed over the windscreen to the cowling in front. He hooked off to a rope and clambered onto the roof of the house, beating in the roof with a hammer, stopping and listening for a moment. Then he laid a line of something in a one meter circle, inserted a tiny cylinder with wires coming out of it.

Overhead the returning news chopper circled as most of the viewers were wondering what he was doing. They got the answer when he retreated over the ridge of the roof and set off the explosive, blowing a neat hole in the roof.

"Whoa! Apparently someone on Kim Possible's team has experience doing forced entries. What you just saw was a breaching charge. They're used to quickly open a way into a building for Troops to hit an enemy from a direction they don't expect. It's much faster than trying to cut your way in with an ax or a chainsaw."

Back on the roof, Sagara drew a flashlight and disappeared from view through the hole, the rope playing out behind him. He emerged a few minutes later, grim faced. Jumping to the cowling he waved Kim to go the next house.

Kim asked "Sagara?"

He just shook his head and said, "Go." Kim backed the Duck as Sagara returned to the front seat and retook control while Wade called in the cleared location.

The reporter zoomed in to see the grim expression Sousuke had. "Either there was no one in the home or they are apparently dead. The standing orders to leave the deceased behind while other victims are waiting to be rescued. Time, space and resources are to be saved for the living."

Since he was vastly more experienced with explosives, anytime they were needed, they had decided Sousuke was the one to use them. That was the reason he had been the one to go up this time. Inside he had knocked holes in the ceiling to look into each room of the home. The bodies of the elderly couple he had found floating in the flotsam of their bedroom wasn't pleasant. But he had a duty to the living. He could recover the bodies or he could use the space in the Duck for the living

The living can be saved, the dead can't.

Sagara maneuvered the Duck to the next house on the block. The water was deeper here. Driving up to the house the Duck was afloat as much as it was rolling. When they reached the next house, they repeated the process they established for the situation. Wade set the pole ladder, Kim went up and started lowering people onto the Duck. This was a typical rural area and they tended to large families. The grandparents were visiting with the slew of grandkids, spoiling them rotten the night before. Now there were four adults, two of them in their fifties, and three kids, stair-stepped between ten and six; no where near enough to overload the Duck that could carry a dozen fully loaded Combat Troops. The adults asked Sagara about their elderly neighbors and got nothing but a grim look from him.

Once everyone was aboard, Wade called from the communication console, "The Sherriff says this is the last load. Let's get out of here." He brought up the route and loaded it to the heads-up. Sagara turned to the course and started out. Wade called up to Kaname and told them to head for the rendezvous.

"Team Possible has loaded the last of the people in the area and are ferrying them to safety. No one currently knows what the toll in human life tragedy has cost. But it's obvious that it would have been much higher were it not for the efforts of all the Rescue teams, the National Guard and Team Possible."

The pilot kept orbiting overhead, watching out for cell towers, other aircraft, anything that could get him killed. Something caught his eye. After eons of training, the human eye is drawn to movement. From this altitude, you could see for miles, and in the distance something moved. Something big. Snapping his head around, he saw the dam settle. Then it settled more. Then along a stretch that had to be two hundred feet long, it just disappeared.

It's amazing how fast the mind can work. In what seemed hours, but was really seconds, he processed what he was seeing, ran some calculations and figured the people in the craft below had about six to eight minutes to live. Unless something happened.

Over the guard channel, everyone heard the call from the Corp of Engineers personnel onsite. "Flash, Flash, Flash, all water units cease operations immediately, get clear. Repeat, all water units cease operations immediately, get clear. All airborne units get to 100 feet AGL and stand by"

Combat trained reflexes took over and he practically auto-rotated down beside the Duck. The exterior view through the Steadi-cam through three axis's as the JetRanger plummeted to the surface. Back in the studio the producer screamed at his technicians to not lose the feed.

Settling into a stable hover, the pilot keyed the external PA. "It's down, ya got about six minutes." He guided the chopper sideways until the skid was almost on the side of the Duck. The reporter heard what the pilot had said and scrambled to open the side door.

The mother went first to grab her children, followed by the grandparents. As more and more passengers were added, the pilot increased the collective to compensate for the added weight, now cursing his nearly full fuel tank.

Sagara knew about what the bird could carry. The pilot, reporter, four adult and three kids would likely overload the helicopter. Adding Kim and Wade would really be pushing it. Plus his 90 kilos and the chopper would never get back into the air. The pilot knew it too. Right now the only reason he was staying in the air was he was in ground effect. The air was being compressed beneath his rotors, effectively giving him more lift. But in order to get to safety, he had to get airspeed. And the more weight, the faster he had to go to lift out of the danger area.

Sagara looked around. Everybody except Kim, Wade and himself were aboard the straining helicopter. And he knew he was about to get some arguments. He leaned down to Wade and hollered in his ear, "Load-sensei, I apologize.", confusing the young genius.

"For what?" And Sagara smoothly knocked the boy cold.

"For that."

The pilot keyed the PA again, "Hurry!"

Kim and Sagara tossed the unconscious boy onto the deck of the helicopter. They looked at each other and knew they were both thinking the same thing. Kim broke the tableau by pounding the side the cockpit and thumbing them on their way.

The pilot knew he couldn't argue. He was barely keeping the chopper in the air as it was. The three hundred plus pounds the two represented meant he could get what he had out, or they would all get caught. He carefully eased the stick forward and they were gone.

As soon as the helicopter was on its way, Kim looked around and climbed into Wade's seat, while Sagara settled into the driver's. They fastened their seatbelts and Kim said, "I guess those modifications of Wade's are gonna get a trial run. We're both thinking about trying the same thing, aren't we."

"I believe so. I spent a lot of my off time back on Merida Island swimming in the open surf. I hope Load-sensei's modifications work. These are not the conditions I think he had in mind for them. I'm heading for the largest intersection close by. Better we have a roadbed beneath us then being driven into the mud."

Kim opened the covers to a couple of switches and flipped them. A hatch on the transom at the back of the Duck opened and a series of fabric covered ribs moved up across the open area of the vehicle. When they were in place, the texture of the fabric changed, becoming stiff, almost like metal, completely inclosing the open passenger area. In front of the windscreen, a series of plates rose to meet the new roof line.

Inside when the armor covered the windscreen the heads-up display added an external view. Sagara turned towards the oncoming tsunami as Kim started calling down a checklist, "High pressure air tanks are fully charged. Positive internal pressure. Retracting antennas. Closing all watertight doors. Hull watertight. Engine off, switching to batteries. Ballast tanks flooded. We're set. Let's just hope our CG is low enough to keep us upright and we have enough ballast to stay on the bottom."

The only idea they could come up with was like diving into the surf when swimming in the ocean. Instead of trying to go over the top of an oncoming wave, you go under it. Through the heads-up Sagara saw the wall of water twenty feet high just before the view went dark.

The 206 was so loaded he could barely maneuver, let alone fly. The only chance he saw they had was to fly straight at the onrushing wall of water and catch the current of air rising in front of it. Seconds before impact, he pulled on the stick and rose enough to clear the wave front.

Kicking the pedals, he spun in the air and dove back the way he came, staying in the added ground effect to build more airspeed. He thought to himself, 'Just like surfing back in Hawaii when I was at Schofield Barracks.'

He was too busy trying to get his overloaded bird back to the barn to notice, but the Stedi-Cam captured images of Duck being covered by the wall of water.

The studio producer gasped, "Dear God, please tell me we got all that."

"Every second went out 'live' Boss."

In New York, Shunya Chidori started saying a Shinto prayer as Ayame cried.

In Middleton, a bawling Anne Possible sought solace in her husbands arms, while, for once, the twins were speechless.

In the Stoppable home, Dean and Barbara watched in shock. Barbara had her hand to her mouth as she said, "Oh Dear God."

"Flash, Flash, Flash, all water units cease operations immediately, get clear. Repeat, all water units cease operations immediately, get clear. All airborne units get to 100 feet AGL and stand by" Ron spun the Sloth on it's axis and headed back the way he came, cursing to himself about how he "knew we should'a stayed close by."

When they got back to the position all they could see was flooded landscape. Kaname was trying to make sense of the instrument panel while Ron circled.

"Duck, Sloth, come in. Duck, this is Sloth, come in." She scanned the panel, "No beacon, so the Duck's not totaled. No communications though. If they're submerged, they would have pulled in the antennas. Ron, what do you think?"

He looked out his side trying to catch a glimpse of olive-drab. After a few minutes he replied. "I trust Wade with my life and I've trusted him with KP's for years. He and Sagara modified the Duck. And if the Tweebs can fix it so the Sloth can run underwater, then I'm not worried about Wade working on something that could go on the water in the first place. They'll show up. We gotta land cause we're about on fumes."