Summary: A trebuchet, a cargobob, and the support Crew all waltz into a heist and pull of the greatest rescue ever. Of all time.

Chapter 31

"PULL!"

Geoff opened his eyes and snapped back to full consciousness with a jolt as a loud mooing sound filled the air for a second time that night. Above him another cow streaked through the air and crashed into the police chopper above him. The chopper blades shredded the object into wet bits of debris that rained down on them. Geoff smelled blood on his face. The police chopper was smoking and it spiraled off course before crashing into the water.

Geoff looked up, as did Michael and Ryan. A cargobob was soaring above them, staying with them as the gunner unloaded into the pursuing police boats. They had barely registered this when another larger boat carrying a trebuchet—a trebuchet?!—pulled alongside them, following their path.

"What the heck?" Geoff asked, sitting up. As he did, something hit him in the back of his head hard and he swore, grabbing for it and examining it in the fading light. It was a hook. Looking up, he saw the cargobob above him with a mounted machine gun and a face peering down at him.

"Jeremy?" Geoff asked incredulously.

"Everyone grab on!" Jeremy shouted, his voice in their ears over the headset.

"How—?" Ryan started to ask but another voice cut him off.

"We moved the trebuchet and stayed with you," Lindsay said. "Did you really think we'd leave you on your own?"

"Fake AH Crew for life!" Kerry's voice added.

Ray rolled his eyes. "Boo!"

"No time!" That was Matt. "Grab on, we're getting you out."

"Wait, we have wounded," Ryan said. "Jack and Gavin are unconscious and—!"

Ryan broke off as he, Geoff, Michael, and Ray threw themselves flat on the boat to avoid a renewed spurt of gun fire from the police boats. In the distance they could see the light from three more inbound choppers. Just how many policemen was Los Santos willing to sacrifice?

"Hang on!" Jeremy yelled. He aimed the giant machine gun at the boat and fired without pause. The armor piercing round overwhelmed the boats and several dropped back while others caught fire from damage to their motors. The helicopters slowed their approach to try and remain out of Jeremy's range, but it also meant they were not in range of the Crew.

"We have a window," Jeremy said. "You guys need to get Gavin and Jack on that boat!"

"How?" Geoff asked.

"We could throw them on the boat," Ryan suggested.

"Excuse me," said a voice weakly in his ear.

Everyone jumped and turned to look at Jack who was getting unsteadily to his feet. He blinked through the dried blood on his face and looked kind of dazed. He took in the scene: the helicopter, the boat with the trebuchet (trebuchet?!) the sounds of sirens and the empty guns littering their own boat. "So we need to get on that boat?" he asked, peering at the boat speeding along directly next to them.

"Um…yes?" Geoff said, battling surprise and more than a little relief that Jack was on his feet.

"Done," he said. He stumbled across the boat, hauled himself up the side and jumped before anyone could say another word.

"MOTHER FU-" Geoff yelled in fear, diving to catch Jack even though he knew he'd never reach him.

There was no need. Jack has put all of his remaining strength into that jump and he cleared the gap between boats...barely. He caught the side of the boat and hung on and maybe would have fallen if not for Lindsay, Ryan, and Michael's quick thinking. Michael flung himself halfway off the boat to steady Jack while Lindsay grabbed his parachute straps and pulled. Ryan had Michael by the leg and kept him in the boat while he and Lindsay hauled Jack inside. Michael let go of Jack and his head and part of his torso were temporarily submerged and dragged long in the current until Ryan hauled him back in the boat.

"JACK, YOU IDIOT!" Geoff roared.

A thumbs up from the floor of the boat was the response.

"What about Gavin?" Kerry asked.

Michael and Ryan were already unbuckling him. Ryan, being the stronger of the three, grabbed Gavin by the wrists while Michael and Geoff each took an ankle.

"On three," Ryan said and they started to swing Gavin's limp body back and forth in the cramped space. With each swing they increased the momentum and force. "One...two...THREE!"

Geoff, Michael, and Ryan gave Gavin one last swing and released him. His body flew through the air in an oddly graceful arc of gangly flailing limbs and soared straight into the other boat. Lindsay looked up just in time to see Gavin coming at her and she dove screaming out of the way.

Jack was not so lucky. The rest of the crew heard a bellow of pain as Gavin disappeared into the boat and landed right on top of Jack.

"We've got them!" Lindsay confirmed.

"Get them out of here!" Geoff ordered. "To a hospital or something but get out."

"On it!" Lindsay and Kerry replied. Lindsay saluted with a grin and the boat pulled off, making a hard turn east and racing to what they all assumed was land.

"We have choppers flanking us!" Michael announced suddenly, much to everyone's dismay. The helicopters that had been keeping their distance were now moving to either side of the cargobob, guessing correctly that they wouldn't be able to maintain fire on both of them.

"We gotta go!" Jeremy said. "Grab on."

"Geoff get up there and climb!" Ryan instructed shoving Geoff in front of him. Geoff grabbed the swinging rope and, injured arm protesting, began pulling himself up towards the chopper. Ryan signaled from Michael to go next before turning to Ray.

"You go, I'll lead them off!" Ray said without turning around.

Ryan scowled. "Oh hell no, we are not doing this again." Ryan grabbed Ray by the back of his hoodie and yanked him away from the steering wheel. Immediately the boat began to slow and the rope was jerked forward. "GRAB ON!" he yelled to Ray, who had no choice but to do as he was told. Ray had barely scrambled onto the rope when Matt lifted the chopper. Ryan felt his feet leave the boat, one ankle bumping the steering wheel. The boat spun and turned with the lack of driver, causing several police boats to crash into it, resulting in another chunk of wreckage. Ryan, unable to climb up the rope before liftoff, hung on to the hook itself as his feet dangled high above the ocean as they rose into the air.

"Pull us up, pull us up!" Michael shouted to Jeremy who was trying to reel the hook up, but it wouldn't turn. It was jammed. This was not good. The helicopter on their unarmed flank was closing in and now the entire crew was hanging exposed for the helicopters. They had to take evasive maneuvers.

"Everyone hang on!" Jeremy yelled, taking back up his position as gunner.

"Oh don't you do it!" Geoff yelled, realizing what was about to happen.

"Matt, serpentine!"

"Don't you—AUGH!" Geoff broke off and screamed in tune with the rest of the Crew below him. Matt pushed the cargobob forward with a huge burst of speed and began turning in 90 degree angles to the left and right, weaving from side to side to escape the barrage of bullets from the now firing helicopters. He tried to give Jeremy a chance to shoot, but in doing so, Geoff and the others were flung side to side and spun around as the rope twisted and turned.

"I'm gonna puke!" Michael said.

"YOU BETTER NOT!" roared Ray and Ryan below him.

"I need a better angle!" Jeremy said. He was able to hold the choppers off, but couldn't concentrate fire with the weaving. When the Crew was out of danger, it would be easier. "Guys, you gotta climb up!"

"I fucking hate you Jeremy!" Geoff shouted, but nonetheless he did as he was told. It was very slow going since he was swinging and whipping on the rope. Twice he nearly slipped off completely and dangled from one arm. He finally drew level with the helicopter's floor.

"JEREMY!" he shouted over the machine gun. "I need a hand."

Jeremy abandoned the gun and grabbed Geoff under the arms, hauling him inside as quickly as he could. The kid was pretty strong so it was easy. As soon as Geoff had his hands and one knee on the floor Jeremey returned to firing at the helicopter on his side. He had taken out one of the gunners, but not the pilot or the mounted gunner. The other helicopter thankfully did not have a mounted gun and the firing from it was patchy at best as it tried to keep on path with Matt's serpentine flying.

Geoff levered himself up through the opening and collapsed, lying on the relatively solid floor of the cargobob for a moment in relief. He didn't have time to dawdle though and he before turned back to the hole, peering down at his Crew. "Come on Michael!"

Michael was almost level with Geoff. As soon as his head popped up through the hole in the floor that contained the hook, Geoff reached down and hauled him up inside, though not as easily as Jeremy had given his twice injured arm. Once Michael was inside he took the other side of the opening as Ray climbed up.

"Almost there Ray!" Michael said, reaching for his friend.

At that moment, Jeremy hit something on the police helicopter that made it shudder and made the firing stop. He let out a whoop but it quickly turned into a yelp from both him and Matt. The police helicopter had taken a direct hit to its blades and one of them exploded. The helicopter tossed and turned and streaked through the air right towards them.

"Shit, shit, SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" Matt yelled, pulling hard to the left to dodge. At the same time, Ray had reached for Geoff and was only hanging on with one arm. The sudden jolt from the chopper wrenched him back and he lost his grip on the rope.

"RAY!" Geoff dove out of the helicopter for Ray's outstretched hand and just managed to close on it. Michael flung himself on top of Geoff to keep them all in the chopper. Everyone, including Ryan, screamed in terror.

"OH DEAR GOD!" Ray yelled as he kicked and writhed as the open air and ocean below him.

"Hold still!" Geoff said as he and Michael both pulled. Ray did as he was told and with a quick tug from Jeremy felt himself lifting up into the chopper. The three of them collapsed in a heap as Matt straightened the cargobob and Jeremy resumed position.

"Sorry guys," Matt called.

Ray threw his headset at Matt's head.

"Coming around," Matt announced. "Focus fire on the last one. We're gonna do this!"

Jeremy resumed position and the others turned to look down the hole at Ryan who looked back up at them in terror as he swung, unable to climb the rope.

"DO SOMETHING!" he shouted. He really did not want to die like this.

"The rope," Geoff said. "We'll pull him up with the rope!" They probably should have thought of that earlier, but oh well. Geoff grabbed the rope. "Michael, you're stronger, get in front of me. Ray get behind me. On three we start to pull. Together we'll get him in." Ray and Michael each grabbed the rope. "Hang on Ryan!" Geoff shouted. "One, two, three…PULL!"

They pulled with all of their strength and the rope lifted, Ryan lifting with it. It wasn't much but it was a start. "PULL!" Geoff said again. They all pulled again and Ryan lifted some more.

"I can't hang on much longer," Ryan said fearfully. "And I may be getting shot."

"PULL!" Geoff said again. "Pull…pull…pull!"

With each pull they lifted Ryan little by little. They were over halfway there when the machine gun in the cargobob clicked suddenly and began to unwind. They were out of ammo. The police helicopter had been able to dodge around them by zooming in close and staying on the opposite side from Jeremy.

"Uh oh!"

"PULL!" Geoff yelled. "PULL!" Jeremy leaped forward and grabbed hold, helping the others who began reeling Ryan in like a fish thanks to Jeremy's added strength. Ryan's head popped up through the floor and Michael and Geoff grabbed him by the elbows and hauled him inside just as the chopper opened fire. The others dove away from the open sides, squatting practically on top of each other behind the few feet of wall.

"Matt, get away from him!" Jeremy ordered as bullets pinged around them

"They're too fast!" Matt said through clenched teeth. "The cargobob has taken a lot of damage, I don't know how much more it can take."

Jeremy swore.

Slumped against the walls of the cargobob with bullets flying around them, Geoff, Michael, Ray, and Ryan exchanged looks. They were out of ammo, almost out of cargobob, and out of speed. There was nothing left. They could all see it in their mind's eye: eventually the onslaught of bullets from the police helicopter would prove too much for the cargobob and it would crash. They may escape it, sure, but they'd be in the water. Kerry and Lindsay may come back for them, but by that point more police reinforcements would be on them and they would be in another firefight for their lives. It was never going to end was it?

Geoff sighed heavily. "It's never going to end, is it?"

"No," Ray answered after no one else spoke. "Not while we're under the Syndicate's thumb. It will always be one fight to the next, living job to job and day to day, That's no way to live."

"But what choice did we have?" Michael asked. "We signed up for this. We knew."

"Did we?" Geoff asked. "Or did we fall into it because that was what was expected?"

No one had an answer for that.

"We're gonna die up here," Ray said. "And the others will be killed off by Burnie because we failed. Fuck."

Ryan had been silent until now, but he removed his face mask and reached into his jacket. "The least we can do is give ourselves a grand send off." He pulled out the last remaining "weapon" that he had and offered it to Geoff.

It was a flare gun. A green flare gun. Achievement Hunter green, to be exact. Geoff would laugh if he didn't know that this was going to be their way of saying goodbye. He refused to think of Griffon and Millie and of everyone the Crew was leaving behind.

"Make 'em remember us, Boss," Ryan said quietly. Geoff looked at the others and they all nodded resignedly.

Geoff sat up and crouched by the opening in the side of the cargobob. He waited as the gunner in the police helicopter paused to reload and he shifted position, framed by the cargobob as he aimed for the sky. The others moved until they were beside him and Ray shouted "Let's play!"

Geoff fired. He wasn't aiming for the chopper, he was just filling the sky with green. The boys yelled and cheered around him as the police helicopter took up a firing position, determined to go out yelling their heads off in defiance. Bright green flares filled the sky, stark against the blackness and visible for miles. They shouted for all they were worth as Geoff fired and fired. He was running out of shots quickly, but it didn't matter. The helicopter opened fire and Matt swerved the cargobob instinctively just as Geoff went to fire his last shot. He was thrown off balance and the flare went straight instead of up in the air.

The flare raced towards the police helicopter, which made no effort to avoid it since they did not expect it. In one of those perfect moments, the universe aligned and the flare zoomed at an angle into the open side of the police helicopter, ricocheted into the cockpit, and exploded in a shower of green sparks.

They all heard the horrible, painful scream of the pilot as his clothes and seat ignited. The police helicopter spun around as the pilot shrieked and abandoned the controls. The gunner was dumped out of the side as the chopper went out of control. The pilot was frantically trying to put himself out and was stumbling through the cockpit to the back of the chopper, still screaming before he too was thrown out of it from the spinning. Both men crashed into the sea below and the police helicopter went down right after them, meeting its end in an explosion of seawater and green fire.

It was dead silent in the cargobob. Geoff and the others had stopped cheering and were frozen with hands in the air and, in Geoff's case, flare gun still poised. They watched as the gunner and pilot fell and then as the helicopter crashed and they continued to stare as the cargobob headed further out to sea, their mouths all hanging open.

After a minute, Geoff slowly lowered the flare gun and looked at it incredulously, as did the others.

"Did you just—?" Ryan asked, but broke off still in disbelief.

They all looked up at each other in utter bewilderment before looking back out of the cargobob. There was no pursuit, no police, just them and a clear path.

"Guys," Geoff said. "I think…uh…." He shook his head. "I think we may just have escaped."

They all looked at each other again and then Ray raised his hands and gave a very unenthusiastic, still bewildered, "yay."

That did it.

"YES!" Michael screamed and the entire Crew erupted into cheers. "YES YES YEEEEEEEES!"

"We did it!" Jeremy shouted as Matt whooped and yelled behind him.

"The Puerto Rican wins. YAY!" Ray shouted again.

Ryan was laughing uncontrollably, sounding more than a little insane.

The celebration continued with a lot of high fives and manly hugs. As the skies remained clear, Matt finally got ahold of himself long enough to start heading towards land and Ryan took charge.

"Get Lindsay or Kerry on the phone," he instructed Jeremy. "We'll rendezvous with them and find out how Jack and Michael are doing. "Once we do that, we'll let Burnie know what's happened. With any luck we'll be fine, but who knows. Geoff?"

"Yeah Ryan?"

Ryan tossed him his cell phone. "Call Griffon and tell her we're bringing you home."

Geoff grinned. "You guys, you are the best friends a crime boss could have."