Hood Won't Open/Hood Latch Issue

So...

My passenger hood latch appeared to broken. My wife is much handier than me (I am man enough to admit that.) She assisted me with getting the latch out and released from the tension cable. We noticed that the part worked fine out of the car but would stay slightly open when under tension. She decided to release some tension from the driver's side to see if that would allow the latch to fully close so that the catch would push the top/left part down and push the left/bottom side (that was staying open) out of the way and therefore locking the catch.

That did not work. We finally determined that the rubber boot that tucks into the hood latch cutaway was preventing the latch from fully closing. She tested it and it didn't fully close the passenger side of the hood, so she decided to push it down manually WITHOUT the cross member support that holds the radiator steady and has the hood release back in place.

Now....

The hood won't release because there is zero tension on the cable. What I had hoped would be an easy DIY project has now made it as I don't feel I should be driving the car far with the radiator not fully supported and, of course, have a hood that won't open.

What do I do now? I am sure this is similar to when the cable pops or the handle breaks. I am concerned with an expensive repair. All the while, I had a brand new hood latch I could have used but I don't think that would have fixed the original problem. How do I get the damn hood open considering there is no tension on the inside handle and there is no hood release on the outside to manipulate, either?

And, we still have the issue with the hood latch not working properly unless bypassing the rubber sleeve/boot. The hood engaged but still did not fully latch without being forced.