"Crap!" O'Neill exclaimed, keeping his voice down. "So close, and then the way out is blocked by those idiots!" He glared at the guards standing near the hole in the fence, quite some distance away. They were clearly talking about something. He just hoped it was not because they had discovered the break-in.

"If they had found the hole, would they not have called for assistance, instead of remaining there?" Martouf said, clearly having thought of the same as O'Neill.

Their group had just turned the corner of the storage building. They had gotten safely out the same door as they had entered, and walked along the large building. No one seemed to have discovered anything. It would be really bad luck if they were detected just as they were on their way to escape unharmed.

They hurriedly pulled back to the relative safety, hidden behind the corner of the building.

"Maybe they have, and are just guarding the place until they can get reinforcements?" Sam suggested.

"It is possible..." Martouf agreed. "In that case I should attempt to sneak up on them and stun them with my zat'nik'tel."

O'Neill considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Do it."

"Be careful," Sam told him.

He flashed her a quick smile. "Always, Samantha."

As silently as possible, Martouf crept towards the guards, taking care to stay in the shadows close to the wall. The guards did not notice him, and when he had gotten close enough, he fired at one of them, felling him.

The other guard cried out just as Martouf fired at him, but did not have time to do anything else before losing consciousness.

Sam, O'Neill, and Argent hurried to where Martouf/Lantash were standing. Martouf straightened, after taking the weapons from the two guards.

"Awesome!" O'Neill grinned.

"We should leave quickly. Someone may have heard us, even should the guards not have called for reinforcements," Martouf said.

"Agreed, let's get out of here." O'Neill began pulling at the opening they had cut in the fence earlier, making it larger again. "You first, Carter."

Sam crawled out, and O'Neill was almost through as well, when they heard yelling from behind.

"Damn, guards!" Argent exclaimed.

"Crap!" O'Neill said. "Get out of there, quickly!"

"Watch out!" Sam called. "Behind you, Martouf!"

Martouf had only just started to turn, when one of the guards he had stunned earlier hit him over the shoulder with a baton. It was a grazing blow, since he had managed to move out of the way some, but it was still enough to cause him stumble. The other guard was awake as well, and while still lying down, he was able to pull out his knife and stab Martouf in the leg, causing him to cry out and fall, still out of balance from the other hit. His eyes flashed, as Lantash took control.

Argent turned to help, but was shot with a zat'nik'tel, proving that at least some of the guards had been armed with Goa'uld weapons. Martouf neither had time to raise his own weapon, or in any other way defend himself before the guards had stunned him as well.

Sam and O'Neill were outside the fence, and when they moved to crawl inside and see if they could rescue the others, the guards shot the fence with their zat'nik'tels. Sam and O'Neill let go of it just in time, or they would have been stunned as well. More guards were swarming towards them, and they realized they would not be able to help Martouf/Lantash and Argent.

"Come on, Carter!" O'Neill said. "We can't help them."

"We can't leave them!" Sam exclaimed, getting a desperate edge to her voice.

"We'll come back for them - with weapons and reinforcements. Come on!" he ordered, surprised by Sam's strong emotional reaction.

With a last, deeply worried look at Martouf and his brother, Sam turned and followed O'Neill. They ran into the thick shrubbery, and made it away into the darkness, despite several shots zipping past them very close by.

Martouf woke up in what was obviously a holding cell of some sort. Lantash had awoken some time before, and confirmed his suspicion.

*I believe Samantha and O'Neill made it away. Your brother is locked up here with us. He is not yet awake.*

*I am relieved Samantha and O'Neill managed to escape. They have all the data we found, except for the pictures my brother took with his... cell phone. Hopefully, what they have is enough to track down Ba'al and capture him and any others involved in this conspiracy.*

*They are unlikely to give up on us. Such is not the Tau'ri way. They will attempt to free us,* Lantash reminded him.

*I believe you are correct. We should attempt to escape on our own, though, as we cannot risk them being captured as well. Why do you think my brother is still unconscious? A zat'nik'tel shot should not have such a strong effect.*

*We had been injected with a sedative. It is likely he has as well. The effect on us was minimal, and I was able to filter out the rest quickly. Still, we must have been unconscious for some time, as the guards have had time to carry us here and lock us up.* He moved his shoulder, and straightened. There was only a minimum of pain. *I have almost finished healing the damage from the blow to our shoulder. The wound in our leg is mending as well, and is no longer bleeding. It was fairly deep.*

*Yes, I suspected that. I am, as always, grateful you are such a great healer.* Martouf 'hugged' Lantash.

They remained still for some time more, allowing Lantash to complete healing their injuries.

Argent groaned and rolled over on his side, opening his eyes. "Martouf?" he said, spotting the other man sitting against the wall. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine, thank you. We were injected by some sort of sedative."

"Ah, yeah. That makes sense. I wasn't sure if it was just the aftereffects of being shot with that stun gun, or what."

"No. Though that, too, gives you an unpleasant, painful sensation for some time afterwards. It should long since have passed by now, though."

"Right. The voice of experience." He grinned.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Argent frowned. "I seem to remember you were fairly badly wounded. You got hit by a baton... and one of the guards stuck a knife in your leg."

"Yes... fortunately, I managed to move out of the way some, so my shoulder was not as badly injured as it otherwise would have been." He moved the shoulder, rotating it to show that he was fine. "It's not a problem. The leg is fine too."

"I see. That's good," Argent said, looking surprised.

Martouf rose. "We should attempt to escape. I have already examined the door, and I believe it may be possible to get out, if we can find something with which to pick the lock. I have studied it, and the bolt which is supposed to keep the door locked seems to not have extended fully, and I believe I may be able to force it back. Do you have anything which we can use?"

Argent searched his pockets. "No, they've taken everything." He looked speculatively at Martouf again, then at his torn pant leg that was completely drenched in blood. There was also a small amount of blood on the floor, and now he spotted a bloody bandage beside a bench in the corner. The criminals must have put that on Martouf, not wanting to risk their prisoner bleeding to death. "How can you walk on that leg? From the amount of blood, the wound must be deep..."

Martouf looked down on his leg. "You need not worry. It is no longer bleeding."

"Is that why you removed the bandage?"

"It was soaked in blood."

"Yes, exactly."

Martouf took a deep breath, and conferred briefly with Lantash. "I have increased healing. The wound on my leg is gone."

Argent frowned. "You have 'increased healing'."

"Yes... but I'm not a werewolf, if that is what you think."

"I believe you - the DNA analyzer would have told us if you were."

"Of course." Martouf looked relieved.

"What then?"

Martouf thought about what to answer, while he methodically searched the room for anything he could use to try and force the lock. "I am human... mostly... except for some... changes. Enhancements, I guess."

Argent rolled his eyes. "Meaning what? The Air Force made those changes? Is that the cause of the foreign DNA?"

"No... and in a way, yes." He looked at him. "I don't think I'm allowed to talk about it. I am sorry." Martouf checked under the bench, and discovered some thin metal rods which were part of a structure that fastened the bench to the wall.

"Figures! You guys have more secrets than anyone I've ever met before!" Argent complained.

"Quite possibly," Martouf agreed, more concentrated on the bench than on the discussion.

Lantash took control, grabbed hold of the bench and pulled, hard, ripping the bench from the wall.

"Whoa! Are you trying to get the guards to come back with all that noise?" Argent exclaimed, shocked. "Why don't you just go ahead and rip the cell door open instead?"

"If it was as weakly constructed as a normal Tau'ri holding cell, I would have. The lock on this one is much sturdier, though," Lantash said, remembering to use Martouf's voice.

"Okay. Sure." Argent snorted, not believing him. "Tau'ri? What's that?"

"Another word for Earth."

"Not one I've ever heard... but I guess I should start expecting that from you."

Lantash did not answer, but just examined the thin metal rods which were now partially torn off. He took hold of one of them and ripped it off. "I believe this should work."

"Sure they didn't use werewolf DNA for those 'enhancements' you said they've given you?"

"I am sure," Lantash said, as he kneeled down by the door and started to fiddle with the lock.

Argent sat up more straight, and slowly shook his head. "You know, when... if we get out of here, I'm going to want to hear an explanation... for a lot of things!"

"Yes, I assumed as much." Lantash made a sharp twist with the thin piece of metal, and there was a sharp click. He immediately pulled the door hard, and the rest of the lock snapped. He got a very pleased expression. "I believe we are one step closer to making it 'when' we get out of here instead of 'if'. Are you coming?"

"Of course." Argent smiled wryly at him. "Nice work, by the way."