FanFic: "Ground Fire" (Hawaii Five-0) - Chapter 9 of ??
H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*
CHAPTER NINE
It was entirely too quiet and at first, Danny merely lay on his back while making faint attempts at the once simple task of opening his eyes. As he struggled to remember what happened, a slow realization trickled into his mind that it shouldn't be this quiet. But there was no recognizable sound of any kind and it was disturbing until he realized that he was hearing something. It simply wasn't what he had expected.
But what did he expect? Not entirely certain, the fingers on his left hand twitched. The surface was pebbly, hard and very uneven. The sounds which were trickling in weren't human speech, but nocturnal and possibly even the hollow boom of a distant echoing thunder. He remained initially confused as his senses returned along with the faint stirrings of pain. As his fingers clenched reactively, he also realized that he was uncomfortably cold and not entirely well.
His first more conscious inhale was deeper and it brought with a stunning volume of cool, pure oxygen. On its initial refreshing heels though was a flair of very real, unanticipated bodily pain. His stunned groan at having received such mixed signals was loud in his own ears and Danny opened his eyes then, blinking in alarm when all he saw was pitch darkness. Weary and confused, he tried to shift and gasped softly as the ache settled again sharply in his side.
"Danny?" There was a shifting near him and a sound of shoe on stone sliding closer. Blinking in the darkness, Danny swallowed hard before finding any hint of moisture in his mouth. "Kono?" The presence was familiar and comforting, and Danny had no trouble identifying the shadows made darker by long hair.
"Are you finally back with me, brah? It's been awhile." There was another harsh shuffling sound as Kono eased down closer. She had failed at trying to wake him a few times as he began to fidget and murmur under his breath. Though he seemed confused and still weak, she was undeniably relieved to see his eyes truly open now.
Kono was indeed next to him; he could just make out the outline of her silhouette and then a glimmer of a genuine smile. But lacking energy, he was still loathe to fully find his voice to respond. He needed the ache in his side to calm to a duller throb and for his brain to catch up to the changes he was experiencing. However, it all just seemed too difficult as he feebly tested unfamiliar fabric clinging to shaky fingers and failed at shoving whatever lay across his face, off to the side.
"Yeah." He finally forced out another muffled sound. "Happ'ning?" Trembling and laying on an unforgiving surface, yet covered with what appeared to be a blanket was an odd change. Untangling himself from Kono's fingers, Danny insisted on at least tracing the oxygen mask to reassure himself that it was real. The situation was an enigma based upon the dire circumstances he could last remember.
"You need the oxygen. Leave it." Snaring his fingers back, Kono gave him an encouraging squeeze. Shortly after Steve had left the ledge, Danny had shown faint signs of returning to consciousness as the pure oxygen and fluids bolstered his flagging system. Brief movements had become soft murmurs of distress. Then Danny had stilled for a longer time only to open his eyes now in alarm.
Moving closer as he truly woke, Kono had to stop his searching hands as he turned to her in confusion. "It's oxygen. Do you think you could try some water?"
"Water? What's .. this?" The odd pinch in his arm drew his attention next and he weakly tried to shift his body again. The tight strapped sensation around his middle was gone, yet there was still pain and something felt very different across his stomach. Too many things were happening, none of which made sense to his beleaguered mind because he was sure that they were all still in the jungle.
"Kono?" He thought he recognized the rocky ledge and rolling his head to the side, he glimpsed a second silhouette and frowned. A very rumpled man was looking at him and that man resembled Al Totorro; the criminal they were assigned to protect. As his disorientation rose, Danny tried to move again. But another spike of pain that came with that attempt left him nearly breathless.
"Stop trying to move. Let me explain." The flux of pain was seconded by Kono's annoyed and very urgently whispered reprimands. "That line is intravenous for fluids. Listen to me, Danny."
Despite scolding him, Kono was smiling too as he became slightly more aware but not enough to get into any long conversations or explanations. She would have been pleased to explain the delayed sounds of gunfire that had begun, briefly escalated and then died away only a few minutes earlier. In a way, Kono had been stunned by their proximity to their hiding place. At one point, she was sure she could see the glimmer of muzzle fire. Even Tortorro muttered something about it under his breath. Now that the altercation had seemingly ended though, she and the criminal were anxiously waiting for help to return.
Glancing over, Tortorro caught her eye. Her confidence in the other half of her team's success was innately intact and quite obvious. Nevertheless, she remained well aware of her surroundings and on guard despite caring for the wounded detective. With a concerned sigh, Tortorro turned back towards the hill. Squinting and listening hard, he did his best to pay attention.
"You're doing a little better at least." Kono squeezed his fingers again in warning as Danny tried to investigate the IV line. He was still trembling and she was far from pleased about his erratic pulse. But Steve's fairly recent impromptu arrival and Danny's subsequent waking after a diligent round of triage were an utter relief after the frightening last few hours. She watched as his frown deepened across his forehead while he cataloged the strange additions, including the fact that his feet were even elevated.
"Danny. You aren't listening to me." Kono continued to chide him. With some amusement, she watched as he closed his eyes and then reopened them to seek her face. Persistent herself, she gently helped to elevate his head to offer him small sips from the newly arrived canteen.
"I don't get it." His whisper was a bit stronger. She had to grin again at his increasing level of disbelief as he eyed the water-filled bottle. Putting two and two together wasn't bringing back any logical equations that made sense to him. "What's going on?"
"Well." Her answer was simple and she was almost proud in being able to flummox him even more. "You missed Steve, Danny."
"Who?" The stunned expression was instantaneous and Kono had to stifle a laugh at the honest response. He clearly wasn't thinking straight yet.
"Steve, lolo." Kono gently teased while gently fixing the blanket so it lay more smoothly across his chest. "Steve and Chin are here. We're leaving soon after they take care of our little problem down below. Do you think you could drink some more water?"
"Wait. Someone's coming." Interrupting the soft murmur of conversation, Tortorro had remained up against the rear wall of the craggy ledge. On his knees, he listened actively to the sounds which were definitely getting closer. Peering and squinting into the shadows he was positive that he saw one and then two different shapes making their way closer to the rocky outcropping.
"There." He whispered urgently again. "Two." Catching her eye, he pointed meaningfully off to his far left towards two shadows which were steadily coming closer. With one hand on Danny's chest, Kono spun towards where Tortorro pointed and readied her weapon. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see anything beyond the first few feet of where they all sat.
"What's .. wrong?" Under her hand, Danny shifted and then groaned in pain. Anxiously shushing him, she stayed low and ready as tried to follow the criminal's line of sight.
"Kono!" With no need to be quiet, Steve's voice suddenly rang out once and she literally laughed in relief while struggling to her feet. His voice carried upwards just as the two dark, imposing shapes came fully into view. "It's all clear."
"Welcome back, boss." Kono responded in kind only to be enveloped in her cousin's arms before she could fully find her balance. Her muffled whisper into Chin's shoulder was abruptly cut off as he pulled her in even more tightly. "Chin! Hey, cuz. Not so .. hard!"
Next to them, Tortorro remained seated but took the liberty of thumbing the small lantern back on now that they did seem truly safe. He obediently stayed where he was though as the Five-0 team reassembled themselves.
"How's your head?" Chin was holding Kono at arms length to look into her eyes and check her wound. He was dismayed by the dampness of her hair which he recognized as blood from the wound to her temple. Gently using his fingers, he tried to push it back to see it better for himself. "You got knocked around pretty good."
"It's not so bad." Kono grinned, trying to avoid his seeking fingers as they snagged annoyingly in her mussed hair. "Chin, I'm fine. It's good!" Seconds later, he had to spontaneously hug her again though despite a startled laugh. After the long internal war he had for hours about finding her whole and alive, he had no choice.
"Sure you are. But I'm still going to look." With a softly pleased laugh of his own, Chin's attention then focused on her arm and he soon had the medical gear lined up to manage her own required triage. "Steve's right, you have a concussion. Let me check this out, cuz."
"M'fine. Check Totorro first." She hissed as he used alcohol wipes to mop up the still bloody head wound. Batting his hands to the side, Kono pointed to the slouched seated shape of their special charge. With an impatient frown, Chin looked at Tortorro to visually inspect him from head to foot.
The convict blinked numerous times before slumping back tiredly against the rock wall when attention turned his way. "What?"
She was forever surprising him and he shook his head in wonder when Chin intently glanced his way. A few minutes after the lead Five-0 officer had left them, she had begun to heave again off to the side of the ledge. The smallest sips of water were refusing to stay down. She was ill, dehydrated and concussed yet steadfast in her mission: the safekeeping of one very worthless, Al Totorro.
"Uhh. Well." Tossing his cuffed wrists uselessly in his lap, Tortorro's mouth gaped at first. "No. I'm right here."
No he didn't feel well. But he shrugged about his arm and winced about his aching ribs. In the dim light, his police protector was gray with fatigue and still, she forged on. He narrowed his eyes in confusion and made sure that her teammate stayed precisely where he was as he declined immediate help. "No. Her first. I can wait."
The Asian officer nodded and continued on with what he had begun. Seconds after applying a clean white bandage to his cousin's temple, he was worrying about the jury-rigged dressing on her arm.
"Tsssh." The odd disagreeable sound from Chin made Kono look down. It was reddened and inflamed; and no doubt, extremely painful. With a kind smile, Chin grabbed the antiseptic and a fresh pile of clean bandages. With an unhappy wrinkle of her nose, Kono readied herself for the much more painful care of the deep cut. "Let's fix this up. We have to get you all home."
Watching the attentive care, Tortorro melted backwards even more, feeling as if he was intruding on their well-established familiar routine. Baffled, he clammed his mouth tightly closed and only moved to accept a fresh canteen of water when the Asian officer calmly handed it to him.
"Danny. You're awake." Turning on additional flashlights, Steve was on his knees once more checking on his partner's poor condition, surprised to find Danny's eyes opened.
"Steve?" The lights were dim and Danny was still making slow mental adjustments. He blinked, squinted and then frowned as he fuzzily stared up at Steve's face. He anticipated seeing Kono and certainly not his partner regardless of what he'd just been told. But of course, that was exactly what Kono had meant when trying to describe the appearance of the emergency blanket, oxygen and intravenous inserted so carefully into his arm.
"Hey." Under the oxygen mask, a small smile finally made it to Danny's lips.
"Hey yourself." Grinning back, Steve calmly talked to him much as Kono had just done. "You look a little better, partner." While Steve considered Danny to still be shocky and he was frighteningly weak, his general waking state was certainly a much better sign. Their journey was far from over though and Steve made their next steps clear as he rechecked the pressure bandages and Danny's distressingly low vitals. "We're good here and have a chopper ready on the beach."
"Great." Weakly, Danny rolled his eyes at the concept of another flight and Steve chuckled at the silently communicated joke.
"You don't have to do a thing, Danno." Though it wasn't too far, the few miles back would be an arduous chore for the three. He and Chin would need to be careful with each so they all made it back as safely as possible. "You're getting a free ride, buddy." Waiting for the sketchy agreement, Steve had the portable stretcher out and was assembling it with a much too practiced ease. But instead of moving Danny, he turned to Tortorro as if finally remembering something.
"Ribs you said? Let me see your arm." Steve's terse demand was met with a hesitant nod. Feeling as if he were eight years old, Tortorro sat as quietly as he could while the Five-0 officer gently palpitated his ribs. He mumbled a curse when the fingers connected with the two offending bones up high under his right arm.
"Cracked pretty good but they don't seem too bad." Steve made an approving face because their ward would likely be able to manage the trip back down to the beach without too much difficulty. Dragging the medical supplies to his side, he cut away the old makeshift bandage on the through and through. As with Kono's slashing wound, the criminal's arm was also red and weeping, testament to the budding infection.
Tortorro couldn't control his pained verbal reaction when Steve diligently poured antiseptic and then deftly packed the wound with clean gauze. Within minutes though, the ugly trussed bandage had been replaced with a professional looking and much more soothing wrap.
"If you try anything, you'll be dealing directly with me." Tortorro set his lips defensively when Steve grabbed his bound wrists. A silver key suddenly dangled between them. "I need you to behave yourself. I can't have you falling in the middle of the night and breaking your damned neck."
Tortorro gently massaged his wrists once the cuffs were removed. "This is the one and only warning you're going to hear." Steve reiterated dangerously. Not quite able to find his tongue for an adequate reply and not needing to guess what had happened to his brother's hired help, Tortorro managed an acceptable facsimile of a nod when Steve waited for confirmation.
~ to be continued ~
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