"Shit! Full arrest! DeSoto, compressions. Joe, can you intubate him?" Kel barked.

"Unable, his throat is like hamburger, and almost swelled shut. Going to have to trache him." said Joe Early, as he started laying out instruments to cut into Mike's throat, while Charlie attempted to ventilate Mike with the ambu bag, with little success. In the meantime, Kel was injecting Epinephrine directly through Mike's chest wall, into his heart. Watching the monitor, he told Roy, "Pulse check." Roy stopped compressions, and all watched the heart monitor screen. "Beep...Beep...Beep,Beep,Beep...Beep,Beep,Beep,Beep,Beep,Beep,Beep"

"V-Fib! Paddles!" Kel ordered. He grabbed for the defibrillator paddles that Brian had gelled and ready. Holding them to Mike's chest, Kel barked out, "Charge!" Brian hit the button, counting, "100...200...300...400. CLEAR!" All hands backed off as Kel discharged the hopefully life-giving shock. "No conversion. Do it again. C'mon, Mike, don't let the bastards win." This time the conversion worked, with a sinus rhythm showing. Deep sighs of relief came from all involved, as well as those watching, as Dr. Early finished the last suture on Mike's tracheostomy.

"Okay, that was NOT fun. C'mon, Copter 10 should be landing in the parking lot soon. Let's go guys. We'll leave the scene in the capable hands of Lt. Crockett and Vince." Kel said.

Lt. Crockett, Vince, and the members of the stealth team, who all knew Mike well, and respected the quiet engineer, gave a big sigh of relief now that Mike's heartbeat had stabilized. Vince walked over to Mike, who was now on the Stokes, gently placed his hand on Mike's forehead, and whispered, "Hang in there, my friend. I'll come up to visit you soon."

Within minutes, Mike and Dr. Brackett were in the helicopter, on its way to Rampart, with Squad 51's paramedics assisting.

Chet, Marco, and John were also on their way, via ambulance with Dr. Early and Roy DeSoto as their attendants. "All right, guys, now, truth. Where are you hurt? I can see fatigue and dehydration. Did they let you eat or drink?" Dr. Early asked. "No, we weren't allowed." John answered, "Squeezing Marco's dislocated shoulder was one of their favored methods to make us obey. Chet took a couple of shots near his left kidney area, and I might have some bruised ribs on my left side. They mostly went after ... Mike." As John said Mike's name, he was horrified to hear his voice crack, and feel tears flow. Looking at his crewmates, he saw they were also having a tough time right at this moment.

"It's okay, fellas. This is a delayed reaction to the trauma." Dr. Early said.

"What trauma? It was Mikey that was fucking beaten!" Chet yelled.

"Yes, but witnessing something like that is almost as hard to bear as being beaten itself. Especially with Westin telling you it was all your fault it was happening to Mike." Roy stated calmly.

"Just remember, it was NOT any of you guys' fault. Westin was the evil one, and it all lies on him." Dr. Early reiterated.

"Dr Early, I'm worried about Mike. If he does get through all the physical abuse he took, what's this going to do to his mind? I mean, he already had flashbacks from the original episode over 20 years ago." Marco said quietly, almost staring off into space.

" Well, we will have to wait and see, and take it one day at a time. I would like to ask you to be as patient as possible, and not to get upset if Mike lashes out at one of you. He's going to have a long road to go, and needs all the support he can get. Remember, you guys are the only family he has."