AN: Hopefully I'm not spoiling you all too much with two chapters in two days. :D Enjoy your reading!

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt but the General is on the line for you." A man stated from the doorway. The team had thought that there were only three men helping Mark. Now they knew that there were at least four.

"Damn. And just when things were getting good too." Mark growled as he took his hand off of Jules neck. He was pleased at the hand print that was now on her neck. He would have to add to that later. "It seems I must go for now my dear Juliana. But don't worry, we'll pick things up right where we left off."

At that Mark stood and grinned at Sam.

"It's time to go see what General 'Badass' Braddock wants. I wonder if your dear old daddy knows that you're missing yet."

With that Mark and his goons left the room, leaving the team angry and confused.

Chapter 7 – Samtastic

As soon as the door clicked shut behind Mark the room was filed with angry voices.

"I swear if he puts a hand on you again…" Ed was saying.

"What Ed? What are you going to do? You know good and well that there is nothing that we can do chained up here like rabid animals." Wordy responded.

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him!" Spike was chanting. He was pulling at his chains trying to get free so that he could protect his teammate and friend.

"Guys we need to calm down and think about this! Getting angry and lashing out like this isn't going to help anyone." Greg was trying to reason with his angry team.

"Braddock, so help me, if he rapes me I am going to kill you more slowly and painfully than he ever could. This is all your fault. We are here because of you. This is all on you!" Jules screamed as she pulled at her restraints. She couldn't believe that man had touched her the way he had. "You don't even care about us! About how he's treating us! You're just over there like you're better than all of us. You're supposed to be a part of this team and right now the only thing you are is the source of pain!"

"Guys. Guys!" Lou called trying to get their attention. The team was reeling out of control now because every person in the room wanted nothing more than to rescue Jules from the threat Mark had made towards her.

But Lou had seen something that no one else had. He had seen Sam's face and knew that his teammate's breaking point was imminent. He could see the indescribable pain in Sam's face. Here Sam was, chained up, beaten, almost drowned, and bleeding, and there was nothing that he could to rescue Jules from what Mark had planned. Yet here the team was, well most of them, hurling the blame at Sam as if somehow this really was all his fault. All Sam had done was follow an order. An order that had gotten his best friend, his brother, killed. Now they were all just dealing with a man out for revenge. There wasn't anything that Sam could have done to foresee this, or to prevent it.

"GUYS!" Lou screamed at the top of his lungs. He waited for several beats as everyone in the room except Sam simply looked at him. "You are all acting like five year olds! You're blaming Sam for something that is out of his control. I mean come on guys! Greg and Wordy already get it, the rest of you aren't dumb. Think about it. Why wouldn't Sam look at me and Spike during our torture? What happened during Ed's? He begged Mark to stop and it made it worse. It was exactly what Mark wanted. Didn't you see his reaction? He wants us to be pissed at Sam and you're playing right into it."

Lou took a deep breath as he saw that he was finally getting through the hard heads on the team.

"Do you remember what Mark said about why we were here?" Lou met the gaze of first Spike, then Jules, then Ed. "He said, 'You are here purely to provide more pain and psychological torture for Braddock.' Have you even thought about what that means?"

Lou paused to let his words sink in. He could see that he was finally getting through to the team. Now he just needed to get them all on Sam's side, willing to help, before he'd be done.

"Think about this. Why would us being here, us being tortured, provide more torture for Sam, if he didn't care about us? It only works because he cares for us and he's a protector. From day one he's done nothing but his best for this team. He's had our backs more than we've had his. Starting the moment we got here he's done nothing but try and help us!" Lou sighed. "When Mark was beating Ed Sam tried to get him to stop. Sam screamed at Mark to let him take Ed's punishment. But instead Mark increased the beating on Ed. That's why Sam's seemed impassive ever since. He had to to protect us."

Lou looked to Spike and could see the wheels turning in Spike's head.

"Spike, why do you think he completely ignored us while we were being shocked?"

"I thought it was because he didn't care." Spike answered quietly. He was starting to see that he had been wrong. So completely wrong.

"But it wasn't because he didn't care…was it?" Lou encouraged.

"No." Spike swallowed hard as he looked to where Sam hung. His teammates head was lowered to where his chin rest on his chest and he could see the quick breaths that Sam was taking in, as well as Sam's blood dripping on the floor below and mixing with the vomit that was there. "He was trying to lessen our pain."

"That's right." Lou half smiled. "He was just looking out for us buddy. Think about it. Mark wanted a reaction out of Sam. Because he didn't get it he ended our torture sooner than he would have otherwise. Think of the pain Sam spared us from."

"I've been so wrong." Spike whispered as he looked down at the floor, ashamed.

"And you Ed. You've been nothing but a big old bully to Sam from the moment he joined the team. You're our Team Leader, our example. Why do you treat Sam differently than you did all of us when we joined the team? Is it because we didn't pick him? Well let me tell you something Edward Lane. You need to seriously rethink your leadership methods if you want me to respect you from here on out."

Ed swallowed hard. Lou was right, his actions towards Sam up to this point were beyond unacceptable. Why had he treated Sam differently? Ed knew it was because of Sam's background. He had expected perfection from Sam from day one and had been pissed when Sam was anything but.

Looking up Ed looked at Sam, really looked at him, for the first time since they had arrived here. Sam was thoroughly beaten and exhausted both physically and emotionally. Had he had a part in that? The answer was clear to Ed. Yes! The state of his teammate was just as much his fault as Mark's. Now he wondered if he was ever going to get the chance to make things right with Sam. Would they even make it out of this alive? Would Sam?

"And you Jules. You're worse than any of them. I thought you were a good profiler. One of the best on the team! But, somehow, you've blinded yourself to who Sam really is. He is a man that is still hurting over the loss of his best friend and you can't even see that! Do you think seeing Mark treat you that way was easy for Sam?" Lou took another deep breath. His anger at his team was dissipating and he hoped that his words really had gotten through to them.

"All you see in Sam is his faults, but you've never once acknowledged that he has strengths too. I mean think about it. What man do you know that can take what's been done to Sam and keep as silent as Sam has. Sam had been beaten, electrocuted, stabbed, cut, water forced down his throat, and chilled to the bone and yet not made but a single sound of pain. That's not normal!" Lou looked around at his team and saw an approving smile from Greg.

"None of us have treated Sam like we should have since the moment he joined the team. All of us are at fault here. I simply hope that I get the chance to begin to fix things with Sam. I pray it's not too late." At that Lou leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. His words to his team had taken everything out of him and he was completely drained. He decided to let his team think on his words in peace.

Jules was reeling inside. Lou was right, about everything. They had all acted horribly towards Sam simply because he hadn't joined the team in the traditional way. She had no clue how Sam had endured everything that he had, and so silently to boot. As she looked up at Sam her heart suddenly broke for the ex-soldier as she finally began to process what he had gone through with killing Matt, and everything else up until this moment. Sam was stronger than all of them, a better person that any of them ever would be. And yet there was a very real chance that he wouldn't be leaving here alive.

Jules closed her eyes as a tear escaped. What had they done?

Sam had heard every word, every single word, that had been spoken and it helped begin to heal the shattered pieces of his soul. He hadn't thought that the team liked him at all. Sam had felt as though he had intruded on a tight knit family that would rather he shoot himself in the privacy of his tiny apartment than take the time to get to know him. But now it seemed that they were finally starting to see him for who he was.

Pain flared in his chest again and Sam took a slow deep breath. He had to get his pain under control before he could do anything, and he had to do something quick because he didn't know how long it would be before Mark came back in and made good on his promise to violate Jules in every way.

Sam focused what energy had left inwards. He closed his eyes and concentrated on filling his lungs with one long, slow breath after another. Sam counted out the breaths in his mind as he used his sniper and survival training to push the pain down so that he could do what needed to be done.

Finally, after several long minutes he slowly opened his eyes and spoke into the dead silence.

"Spike, how many pounds of pressure is needed to snap a chain?"

Spike looked up. He had heard Sam say his name but wasn't sure what else the man had said.

"What?"

At this point the men had the attention of all of Team One.

"I asked how many pounds of pressure would be required to break a link in a chain." Sam repeated as he lifted his gaze to meet Spike's.

Ed sucked in a breath as he saw the determination in Sam's gaze. This was no longer the man that joined Team One. It wasn't the man who had been beaten to within an inch of his life. No, this was the look of a deadly JTF2 soldier who had a mission. Ed knew in that moment that they were going to be getting out of here, and soon. He just couldn't help but wonder how.

"Well, ummm….." Spike stammered. The question had caught him off guard. "It depends on a lot of things really. The temperature in the room. The condition of the chain. If there is already a weak link. What the chain is attached to."

Sam broke eye contact with Spike and looked up. He looked quickly and carefully at what he could see of the chain.

"Let's say the room is cold, the chain is in good condition, there is no weak link to be seen, and it's hung over a sturdy pipe in the roof." Sam stated as he looked back to Spike.

"Well, it also depends on how thick the chain is." Spike commented.

Lou almost laughed at how clueless Spike was at the moment.

"Let's say three hundred pounds is hanging from it." Sam almost smiled. He wondered how long it would take for Spike to catch on.

"Well, it could take anywhere from eight hundred to more than one thousand pounds of pressure. In all honesty there is a better chance of breaking the pipe it's wrapped around then the chain itself." Spike answered. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason really." Sam answered as he looked up again at the chain. He had heard rumor that this could be done. It was time to see if he could do it in his weakened state. The Special Forces soldier in him told him to just go for it.

Ed watched closely as Sam lifted up on the tip of his toes and grabbed the chains holding him just above the shackles. Sam then took a deep breath and twisted himself around, twisting the chains together as he did so. Once the chain was twisted around several times Sam adjusted his grip, closed his eyes for a moment, then let out a slow breath as he pulled himself up to where his feet were above his head. How Sam did that after being beaten so much, and in so much pain, was beyond Ed's comprehension.

The whole team watched as Sam pulled himself up the chain. It wasn't until Sam was a good seven or eight feet up the chain that he stopped. Jules could see his face clearly and the pain reflected in his eyes about undid her. She didn't know what he was going to try next but she knew that whatever it wasn't was going to cause him even more pain than he was currently in.

Sam pulled in a long deep breath, ignored the pain that radiated through every fiber of his being, and closed his eyes. It was time.

All of Team One watched, mesmerized by the site before them, as Sam let go of the chains. Sam fell to the ground with a sickening thud followed by a loud clanking as metal fell down around him.

As Sam hit the ground he felt pain rip through his shoulder accompanied by a sickening pop. He couldn't keep in a loud groan of pain as he lay on his side on the cold ground.

"Samtastic!" Spike whispered loudly in awe. He couldn't believe that Sam had actually tired it, and it worked!

"You can say that again." Lou agreed.

Sam ever so slowly moved to a seated position as he tried to push down the pain. He still had work to do. As he carefully pushed himself to a stand he looked around him at the broken metal pipe that lay on the floor at his feet. The chain that held him was still in perfect condition, but the pipe had broken freeing Sam, even if only a bit. That wouldn't stop him though.

Looking around Sam knew that his shoulder was dislocated. He knew that he couldn't fight with it in that condition. As his gaze met Wordy's he knew who to ask.

"Wordy, I need your help." Sam walked over to his teammate. "The fall dislocated my shoulder and I can't fight with it like this. Can you help me?"

"Sam I…" Wordy started to argue.

"Wordy, please. They're going to be back in here any minute. Now, I can fight through the pain, but I can't fight with a dislocated shoulder. Do you know how to rotate it back into place?"

Wordy took in a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah, I know how to do it."

Sam sank to his knees in front of Wordy and pulled his left arm close to his chest. He met Wordy's eyes and nodded. He was ready.

Wordy took in a slow, deep breath before putting one hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Are you ready?" Wordy asked as he looked Sam in the eyes.

"Just do it." Sam nodded as he gritted his teeth.

Wordy grabbed Sam's arm and rotated his shoulder up and in at just the right angle until he heard and felt the joint pop back into place. Sam, much to his credit, made not a sound. However, Wordy could see the pain Sam was in from his tightly closed eyes and clenched jaw. He kept his hold on Sam until the younger man finally let out a breath.

"Thanks Wordy."

"Anytime Sam. You okay?" Wordy was concerned.

"I'll be fine. They'll be in here any minute. I'm sure the sound alerted them to the fact that something was going on in here." Sam slowly stood and took in another breath. "What they don't know is that this time I'm ready for them."

Team One watched as Sam gathered the chain that had kept him bound for so long. He moved towards the door and had just taken up position where he wouldn't be seen upon someone first entering the room. Sam had gotten into position just as the door opened.

"What's going on in here?!"

AN: Well? What did you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts in a review.

Also, thanks to purpwithapen for your inspiring words. I hope I did them justice!