A/N: Many thanks to my beta Trekkingalong, who suggested the title and destroyed my spelling and grammar mistakes

This is my first longer H50 fic, I hope you enjoy it.

The Great Escape

Waking up with your hands tied behind you back was not something that happened to him very often and it usually meant that nothing good would come out of the situation. Add a raging headache to that and Steve knew he was in for a bad day. When he finally blinked his eyes open he saw dusty concrete and a few feet away Danny.

He struggled up and into a sitting position. The second Steve started to move, the pain hit him full force and his breath hitched in response. From the tight feeling in his chest, Steve guessed that some of his ribs were cracked, if not broken. The throbbing of his head increased and Steve needed a second to force the dizziness and nausea back down. When his head cleared a bit, Steve tried to remember what had happened to land them here.

They had been in the Camaro on their way back to the palace. The next thing he could recall was the screeching of metal, the feeling of moving sideways and then everything went black. Steve cursed. Someone had deliberately crashed into them and kidnapped them. Taking a deep breath, Steve forced himself to calm back down. He needed a clear head to assess their current situation. First things first, Steve tested the strength of his bonds. A piece of rough rope was knotted tightly around his wrists and no matter how hard he struggled there was no leeway to be gained. Still wriggling his hands, the Commander took in the room, trying to find any weak points. The walls were simple white drywall. A small window sat high in one wall, letting in a stream of light. Opposite the window was a sturdy looking door.

Ignoring the door for the moment, Steve painfully got up on his feet and walked over to Danny. While his ribs protested against the movement, they did not grate against each other and he was pretty sure that they really were just bruised. One point in his favor. Steve lowered himself to his knees beside his partner and tried to wake him up. "Danny, can you hear me?"

The man in question groaned and moved his head slowly, revealing a small puddle of blood by his forehead. In the same movement, eyes opened and focused slowly on Steve.

"I don't know what's worse, waking up beside you or being tied up."

"Tied up," Steve replied, "I'm a joy to be around."

Danny's snort turned into another groan. It felt like every muscles in his body was hurting. And while his head was throbbing slowly with his pulse, it was his left arm that was causing the most pain. Sharp tendrils moved up his arm every time he moved his fingers and his eyes watered when he accidentally moved the arm.

"You alright?" Steve asked and watched as Danny forced himself up into a sitting position and leaned back against the wall. The slight movement had been near torturous on his arm, but the new position was not only more comfortable, but also allowed the blood to flow back into his right side. Looking at Steve through a slight haze, he noted that his partner was holding himself even more upright than usual and the man had managed to get yet another head wound.

"My arm feels broken and my head's ringing. What about you? You're bleeding."

Steve sat down against the wall adjacent to his partner. So the sticky feeling on his forehead was blood. Figured, because what was a concussion without blood? "Cracked ribs, head's ringing too."

"So what have you done to get us kidnapped?"

"Why do you think it was my fault?"

"Because whenever something bad happens, you are involved." Danny's shoulders twitched as he attempted to move his hands like usual. But every movement was cut short by the tight ropes and his broken arm that curtailed his attempts at gesticulation by sending fresh sparks of pain up his shoulder.

"We were t-boned by another car. It could be something 5-0 did, not just me alone."

"You think that this has something to do with the drugs bust?"

Only three days earlier 5-0 had taken down a major drug runner and had confiscated heroin worth at least 2 million dollars. The heroin was now stored in the police storage waiting to be burned after the trial.

Steve shrugged. "They have to know that we won't negotiate."

"Won't stop them from trying. Don't suppose you got any gadgets on you to get us out."

"I may still have a knife in my boot."

"And you're saying that just now?"

"It's called prioritization," Steve replied, "now would you check if it's still there."

Danny mumbled under his breath as he got up and over to Steve's feet. "Left or right?"

"Left." Steve lifted the foot in question.

"Can't believe I'm about to feel you up," Danny grumbled and turned around. It was not easy to search for the knife. The fingers of his left hand were nearly numb, still every movement hurt.

"If it's any consolation your arm is really broken," Steve said, staring at the swollen and blue lump that was Danny's forearm. Probing fingers stopped and Danny looked over his shoulder, "Really?"

"Oh yeah, definitely."

"Great, just great." The blond detective continued searching for the knife and was finally successful. Carefully he pulled the small knife out of its sheath hidden in the boot and once he had a secure grip on it, presented it to Steve. "Jackpot."

HPD had called them as soon as they had identified the car. Now Chin and Kono stood silently in front of the wreckage that was their company car. The driver's side was badly dented, the passenger side was smashed against a tree. Both airbags had been deployed and were now laying flat against the dashboard. The fabric was smeared with blood.

"What have they gotten themselves into now?" Kono asked, worry clear in her voice.

"Nothing good, cuz." Chin said and stepped closer to the car. There were several long, black scratches along the driver's door. The only sign that there was foul play involved in the accident. His fingers ghosted over the scratches, only touching them, when Kono stopped beside him.

"There are no cameras close by that could have recorded anything," she said and despite her comment, took another look around, hoping that they had missed something. But in this part of the city there were hardly any houses, much less CCTV.

"But we have some clear tire tracks. We should be able to figure the make out." Kono continued with her report.

Chin sighed and stood up from his kneeling position. The neighborhood was rural, more trees lined the street than houses. Chances were small that someone had actually seen something. And even if they had, it didn't necessarily mean that they would tell the police. Still it could never hurt to try. "Have the uniforms go door to door, check if someone has seen something."

Kono nodded and stared absentmindedly at the car for a second before asking: "We'll find them right?"

Chin turned to face her, "Yeah, we'll find them and knowing these two, they'll probably find us before that."

There were times when he really appreciated working in the governmentally funded task force. This was definitely one of them. With access to nearly all databases, it was relatively easy for Chin to find the make the tire tracks belonged to. From there he checked which cars were rigged with this type of tire. Next he checked how many of the cars were licensed on Oahu and he cross checked those with any convicts. And he got lucky. He just had sent the address of Paul Jensen to his phone, when Kono stepped into the squad room.

"As usual no one saw anything. The old man who called the police said that he heard the crash, but was too scared to go out and look."

"One Paul Jensen drives a black Mazda CX-7, which has the Turanza as standard equipment tires. Those match the tracks we found." Chin grinned, happy that they had caught a break so early in the case.

"Are you up to some special interrogation techniques a la McGarrett? "

"Sure cuz. I always wanted to hang somebody off a roof."

"Would you please sit down? You're making me dizzy." Danny complained after he had watched Steve pace their small prison for the past hour. "Unless you found a way to blow up the door with dust, there is nothing you can do right now."

Steve stopped for a second, looked at Danny sitting on the floor, cradling his broken arm and resumed his pacing. He'd taken a look out of the small window earlier, after they had cut through the ropes, and had seen nothing but green grass and blue sky. It was frustrating, not being able to do anything. Pacing was his way of relieving some of the pressure until he could release it on their kidnappers.

The door was firmly shut, some lock from the outside and the hinges welded shut. No way to get any leverage, no way to open it from the inside. Steve stared at it on his nth circuit of the room, but the thing still didn't open magically by itself.

"There won't be any pineapples on my cast." Danny's statement came out of the blue and it managed to stop Steve in his tracks. He needed a second to understand where that had just come from. When he couldn't follow the route Danny's brain had taken to reach that conclusion, Steve turned around, "What?"

"My arm's broken, so I'm gonna get a cast. And since I know my daughter, she's going to decorate it. Then you and your three-year-old mentality will get jealous and you'll also want to sign my cast. I just laid down the ground rules. No pineapples on my cast."

Steve blinked at him for a second or two, then nodded, "Okay, but what if Grace wants to paint a pineapple on your cast." And really why the hell they were talking about decorating casts, while they were locked up god knows where and by god knows who, eluded him. But he did know, this could only happen with Danny.

"Oh no, she wouldn't do that to me. Grace knows my feelings about that fruit and respects them." To emphasize his point Danny shook his head.

Steve snorted, already thinking about ways to actually get a pineapple on the cast. He missed Danny's smile of triumph at being able to distract Steve for at least a second. It would do them no good to constantly mull over their current situation and how they got into it. And knowing Steve, he was blaming himself for it.

"Could you please sit down, just for a second?" Danny asked, "If you're spending all your energy on pacing right now, you can't go all Action Man on them later."

This again stopped Steve on his circuit and he turned to look at his partner, "So I actually have your permission to go all Action Man on them?"

"Yes, you have my permission. Now sit down."

At this admission a shit-eating grin appeared on Steve's face and Danny almost felt bad for their kidnappers.

It was not quite dangling someone over a roof, but tying Jensen to his motorcycle and cruising at a leisurely pace for a couple of blocks with him running behind was a good substitute. Steve would have been proud. Jensen had screamed the second Chin had pulled the throttle of the bike, so the Hawaiian detective had taken it easy. Still the man had lasted longer than they would have thought and only after Chin had ran through a red light, did he start talking.

Jensen and a friend of his had been hired to kidnap Steve and Danny. By chance they had seen the Camaro after the meeting with their new employer and had decided to take action. It wasn't a well thought out plan, which was why it probably had worked. Jensen had forced the Camaro off the road and with his buddy had knocked out a dazed McGarrett. Danny had already been out. Both men had been dragged into the Mazda.

When Chin heard who the employer was, he needed to suppress the urge to drive around another block with Jensen tied behind his bike.

"I've run drugs for him from time to time. He knew I needed some money and he offered me the job."

"Where is Arnett keeping them," Kono nearly growled the question and Jensen actually paled a bit.

Arnett was the second in command of the drug ring they had busted the previous week. And together with a few goons, he was the only one who had gotten away. Now it looked as if he wanted to get his goods back.

"He has a house somewhere in the forest in Nu'uanu." Jensen said, "I don't know where exactly. Please you have to believe me."

Chin looked over to his younger cousin and nodded curtly. They wouldn't get any more information out of him.

Kono had initially followed Chin on his motorcycle and now they secured Jensen in the back of her Chevrolet. The office laptop was open on the hood of the car, Chin already scouring the HPD database for any houses leased or owned by Arnett or any of his known compatriots, while Kono informed HPD. Not only would they need backup for the bust on the house, but someone needed to pick up Jensen and find his partner.

The second Chin found the address to Arnett's house, the first police cruisers turned into the street.

While still not quite accepted by part of the police force, his work with the 5-0 had helped Chin to rebuild his reputation. Therefore it was easier not only for him, but also for Kono, to issue orders that were going to be followed. An APB was sent out on the radio for Jensen's partner. While one unit took Jensen back to the station, the other three followed Chin and Kono to the address in Nu'uanu

As they drove through the Honolulu streets, both 5-0 detectives hoped that they wouldn't be too late and that they would find their friends safe, if not sound.

They had sat in silence for the past half hour. The only sound was their synchronized breathing. Suddenly Steve sat up straighter, his whole body going rigid. Danny looked over at him, a question on the tip of his tongue. But Steve stopped that by pressing his finger against his lips. It was then that Danny heard it too. The first noise they heard from the outside world since they had woken up inside their prison. Footsteps coming closer.

That slightly maniac grin was back on Steve's face, as the Commander got up stiffly and took up position beside the door. Danny stood up too and stopped underneath the window.

They made eye contact and Danny nodded shortly, showing Steve that he was ready for whatever was about to come.

Then the sound of the door being unlocked echoed through the room. Seconds later the handle turned down and the door opened. Steve reacted immediately and grasped the wrist that was opening the door and pulled the attached man into the room. With the same momentum Steve turned the man around and shoved him face first into the wall. He used his right hand to hold tight to the new comer's wrist, high against the man's back and pressed his forearm into the man's neck. Steve's left hand had unconsciously secured the left hand of the intruder. The whole move only took seconds and Steve had the man pinned.

Danny just barely saw the figure of a second person in the door way. The second Steve had pulled the first man into the room, the detective grabbed the door and viciously slammed it into that figure. The man tumbled to the ground, groaning and while dazed his was still moving. After swinging the door back open, Danny kicked him hard in the head, knocking him out.

One handedly Danny searched the man and took a 9mm from him. With the gun secure in his hand and aiming high, he stepped out of the door and checked the hall. When he saw no one, he stepped back inside, careful of the body on the floor and lowered the gun. "Clear."

This time Steve nodded back and leaned into the man trapped by his arms.

"Who are you and who had us kidnapped?" Steve growled in the man's ear. The only sound that came from the guy was a choking groan.

"He needs air to speak, Steve. Lay off a bit." Danny said calmly, one eye still on the second intruder on the ground, the other on his partner.

"Sorry, my bad." Steve replied and squeezed the man's throat with his arm as a warning before letting up some of the pressure.

"I'm just hired. I don't have anything to do with this." The voice was muffled by the wall and slightly strained by Steve's near choking grip, but still understandable.

"If you hadn't had anything to do with this you wouldn't be here," Danny pointed out, "Now answer the man's question. I'm sick of this room."

Steve increased the pressure on the man's neck for a second, reminding him just who was in charge.

"Okay, okay. The guy's name is Arnett. I don't know what he wants from you. He just paid good money."

Steve and Danny exchanged glances and the blond detective pulled a face. Their assumptions had been spot on. Not that he liked that.

"Is he here right now?"

"Yeah, he waits upstairs in the living room."

"How many more?"

"Just two. All in the same room."

Steve released his hold on the left hand of the man and used his now free hand to bash the other man's head into the wall. Unconscious, the man sank to the ground and Steve quickly frisked him, coming up with another 9mm and the keys to their prison.

"You want to take Arnett out now, right?" Danny asked, already accepting his fate.

"We have him at a disadvantage right now. He won't expect us."

"I have a broken arm and he has two goons. How can he be at a disadvantage?"

Steve just grinned in reply and indicated that Danny should leave the room. The detective mumbled under his breath that Steve was going to get them killed one day, but still stepped into the hall.

After he had pushed the second body out of the doorway and further into the room, Steve locked the door behind him.

"After you princess," Danny said, waving his gun roughly in the direction of the stairs.

They moved close together, backs against the wall. The stairs were silent and empty, as was the ground floor kitchen. The late afternoon sun flooded through the large window, blinding both men for a second.

"Where do you think is the living room?" Danny asked.

Steve shrugged, "We check every room until we find it."

The first room they checked was the bathroom and Danny bit his tongue to stop a comment from escaping. Judging by Steve's look, the man was well aware of it.

However they found the right room on their second try. Just like the first door, Steve opened it and Danny went in first.

The three men occupying the room were surprised by the armed intruders and at first offered no resistance. But when the front door burst open and the yells of 'Police' rang through the house the man started moving.

Neither Steve nor Danny wasted a second and their guns went off nearly simultaneously. The two goons hired by Arnett went down, even before they had the chance to draw their guns. Only seconds after they had taken the shot, the two 5-0 detectives stepped further into the room and away from the door, aware that the sound would attract the incoming police force.

Seconds later the door jamb was filled with Chin and Kono, both wearing bullet proof vests and staring at their bosses.

"Didn't I tell you they'd be just fine," Chin said and holstered his gun. Behind him more police officers entered the living room, the rest securing the house.

"There are two more locked in the basement," Steve said, placing his gun in the waistband of his cargo pants and retrieving the key, throwing it at one of the officers.

In the back of the room, Arnett didn't even try to fight the arresting officers, instead just swore at the 5-0 team.

"This story I have to hear." Kono chuckled and stared at the bloody men in front of her.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure Steve will tell you all the gory, impressive details. I need painkillers first."

Three pairs of concerned eyes immediately moved to him. "Ambulance is outside," Chin said, "How bad is it?"

"Broken arm and all that moving didn't do it any favors," Danny replied and aimed a finger at Steve, who was just about to say something, "and before you start, you can book 'em yourself, SteveO."

It was nearly a week before Danny actually got his cast. The swelling had to go down first. Grace was with him at the doctor's office that day. She had not seen anything being cast before and was curious. Additionally it gave her a head start in the cast decorating business. She even brought her felt-tip pens.

Instinctively knowing that the rest of the team would also need some space on the cast, Grace simply painted a dolphin with a 'I love Danny' underneath. Kono attacked him with the pens five minutes after he entered the office and decorated the cast with a surfer. Said surfer was later attacked by a shark drawn by Chin. Predictably Steve painted a pineapple across the remaining white surface. But that was okay, because the cast was heavy enough to clobber someone over the head with.

The End