Sam stared at Spike. He was in shock that he was trying to be made guilty. Sam suddenly yelped when his collar went off.

"Sam!" Spike shouted. The laptop fell to the floor as Spike leapt towards his friend. Sam was breathing heavily as the door opened. Stephan walked in laughing at the two. "Why did you do that?!" Spike growled, standing up.

"Because I can! I'M the one in control here, Scarlatti, not you!" Stephan said. "Plus, he deserved it after what he's done!" Spike looked down at Sam, who nodded that he was ok.

"What did he do that would warrant this whole mess happening?" Spike asked, evenly. He didn't want to have Sam shocked again.

"HE KILLED MY BEST FRIEND IN COLD BLOOD!" Shouted Stephan. He pressed the button again, but for longer this time. He wanted to hear Sam cry out in pain. To suffer and feel what he felt for all those years. Sam grabbed desperately at the collar and steeled himself against the few seconds of pain. Sam writhed around on the floor, biting his lip so hard that it drew blood. He didn't want to cry out, he wouldn't let this guy win. He suddenly heard a yell through the pain. The pain had suddenly stopped and when he got his breath back, he realized the yell was from Spike. His friend was being restrained by two men. He was struggling and trying to get to Sam. Stephan grinned as he walked over to Sam. Sam just laid there, trying to even out his breathing when he felt a weight on his chest. He looked up and saw Stephan with his foot on his chest and an evil grin on his face. "Remember this, Constable Braddock. It's the last thing you'll ever hear." He pressed harder onto Sam's chest, which earned a small

cry. "My name is Stephan. You killed my best friend, prepare to die." The door to the room crashed inward with a canister flying in. It exploded and smoke immediately began to fill the room.

"SRU! PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" Came Ed's yell. There was the sound of footsteps and more yelling. When the smoke cleared, Spike was in the hands of Stephan with a gun to his head and Sam was on the

floor, once more clutching his neck from the shock collar. With their friends still at the hands of those goons, the rest of Team One could do nothing but watch helplessly.

"Hello, Team One." Stephan said, releasing the button. Sam breathed heavily again.

"Stephan, just put the gun down. We can talk this through." Greg tried to negotiate with him. He assessed his two team members. Spike had a bruise on his cheek but no other visible injuries. Sam was hard to hell because he was lying on the ground.

"No, no we can't. Samuel Braddock is guilty of murder and he got away with it! He murdered my best friend on a call and you guys didn't arrest him." Stephan said. Spike shifted slightly and regretted it, because not even a second later, Stephan twisted his arm behind his back and quickly shoved it upward. Spike tried to prevent it to no avail. There was a loud popping noise and Spike bit his lip to hold back the groan of pain as he shoulder was dislocated.

"Stand up, Braddock." Sam slowly made his way to his feet. There was a tense silence through the team as they saw what was around Sam's neck. Spike decided that this was enough and stepped on Stephan's instep. Stephan yelled out in pain and Spike spun out of his grip and sent a punch to his stomach with his good arm. Stephan doubled over and dropped the remote for the collar as Ed and Wordy came over and disarmed him, but not before he sent one last shock to Sam that sent him to his knees. Spike slammed a foot on the remote, crushing it under his boot. Sam looked at him with a grateful expression. Greg and Jules rushed over to their fellow team members. Greg stood with Spike while Jules knelt by Sam.

"Boss, help me relocate my shoulder?" Spike asked. Greg nodded and Spike braced for the pain as his shoulder was put back into place. He knelt by Sam as well and pulled out a lock picking kit. Biting back the pain radiating in his shoulder, he worked to unlock the padlock keeping the collar around Sam's neck. "I'll get you out of this, Samtastic. Don't worry."

"I don't doubt you, Spike." Sam said. Wordy was standing with Stephan and keeping watch over Ed as he restrained the other men. Spike had just gotten the pick in when both he and Sam yelped in pain and, in Spike's case, shock. Stephan was just laughing as Sam writhed in pain on the floor. Wordy looked at Stephan's hands and saw the remote. He quickly grabbed it and threw it on the ground, shattering it. Spike quickly went back to work and got the lock off along with the collar. Wordy took Stephan out and Ed led the

other two men out behind them. The three took one look at Sam's neck and the red marks there and gasped. Spike growled and got up. He ran out of the room as Jules helped Sam up.

"Spike! Spike!" Greg yelled, running after his bomb tech. Spike didn't listen. He was intent on getting to Stephan. When he got to them, he shoved a cuffed Stephan against an SUV and had a hand on his throat, holding him against it. Wordy and Ed tried to pry him off but with one look from Spike they backed off, never seeing this murderous look in his eyes before. "Spike! Let him go. Sam's going to be fine. Stephan will go to jail and be prosecuted." Greg tried to reason. Spike seemed to not hear him. "MICHELANGELO SCARLATTI!" That got Spike to finally look at him. "Let him go." Spike just growled and turned his attention back to Stephan. He felt a hand on the arm holding Stephan against the SUV and he looked at the source.

"Spike. Let him go. I'm fine. It's just minor injuries. I'll be ok and so will you, but you need to let him go, Spike." Sam said, softly. Spike nodded at him and released his hold on Stephan, who fell to the ground on his knees, coughing. Sam led Spike away and over to the paramedics. They checked over the two and cleared them with instructions to Spike to keep on light work for a week and Sam to keep the marks on his neck clean and to be on light work as well after his fall through the roof. Sam patted Spike's back. Suddenly, he was wrapped in a hug from Spike.

"I'm sorry, Sam. This shouldn't have happened. If I didn't-" Spike was starting to say.

"If you didn't alert us, we would have never found you. You did good, Spike." Sam said. He pulled away from Spike and smiled at him, as he ruffled Spike's hair causing the bomb tech to smile back. Smack! "Ow! ED! What was that for?!" Sam held a hand to the back of his head.

"You gave us a bad scare when you fell through that roof. It sounded like you died on impact." Ed said. Sam narrowed his eyes at him. "Now I know it wasn't your fault, but you need to be more careful. If this keeps up, we might have to put a dog collar on you." Sam shuddered and then gave him a look and Ed took off with him in pursuit, the rest of the team laughing.

Well, that's the end of the story folks. I have two other stories (What the Hell?! and The General's Son) if you'd like to check them out.