A/N: I'm back, sort of. For those of you reading my work for the first time or prior readers let me give you a bit of my back ground. I'm retired Army, hence the screen name, with 5 combat tours, two in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. I generally write to keep myself busy, which is most days, I find TV in general lousy and unless there's a hockey or baseball game the TV is off. Don't expect to find any of what I write it posted online, due to the crap it would probably stir up in the fandoms.
Before you read this work please heed this warning. I'm taking liberties with the characters, most will be OC. Finally, I don't like Morgan, at all, like not even a little bit. To say I dislike Morgan with the passion of a thousand burning suns would be an understatement. Funny thing is, I tend to write Morgan as close to how he appears to me on the show. He doesn't like to actually do the work he's getting paid to do; he has no respect for personal space, and he acts like an expert in things he has no clue about. His behavior makes it easy for me to have him killed or locked up for doing what he wants despite being warned not to do it.
May 2006 FOB Ramadi Iraq.
Six exhausted, dust covered and bloody Marines from the 3rd Battalion 8th Marines along with two Navy Corpsmen assigned to their platoon, in the same condition flopped down on the chairs in the dayroom inside the command blinding inside their compound. Each let out a deep sigh of relief knowing they had just taken out another group of insurgents without losing any members of their team. The tallest Marine in the group got up and popped a DVD in the player before returning to his seat next to one of the Corpsmen.
"Stretch, please tell me it's not Fast and Furious again," sighed one of the Marines.
"Can't," Stretch said with an exhausted laugh, "You know Doc likes to watch it to unwind. Makes her feel likes she's home."
"Damn right it does," the blonde female corpsman said elbowing Stretch. "Another year and I'll be back racing on the streets of southern Cali."
"Really?" Stretch asked with a raised eyebrow like he didn't believe a word she was saying.
"I figured you two would be playing house by then," the red headed female corpsman, nick named Stitch said.
"It's not in Doc's genes to settle down," A gruff voice said from behind them. "I'm just glad they could keep it in their pants over here." Everyone in the room broke out in laughter, including the couple in question. The blonde corpsman buried her face in the Marines chest trying to stifle her laugh.
"Good job out there today Marines and corpsmen. You took out the insurgents and found their weapons cache. EOD is on site to destroy them. The better news is, our replacements are here, we're going home." This caused all the people in the room to cheer and slap each other around.
"You heard the Captain, head to your racks and secure your gear. I'll stay back and get the details. Sparky make sure they shower," Stretch said.
"You're not worried about us," Stitch said with a giggle. The Captain let out a gruff laugh on his way back to his office. Before he entered it he turned around, "You bunk with Doc. In all my years in the Corps, I've never seen a neater room, so no."
"I'll meet you two in the mess hall," Stretch said as he followed the Captain into his office.
"So, Gunny, you going to make an honest woman out of Doc when you get back," The captain asked with a smile.
"We've talked about it a few times but decided to wait until we get out before we make a commitment like that," the gunnery sergeant said with a smile.
"You know my story, I almost made the biggest mistake of my life a few years ago, thanks to you I didn't," the captain said.
"That's what friends are for Sir. Permission to leave," the sergeant said before a smirk crossed his face.
"Dismissed," the captain said with a smile on his face as the Gunnery Sergeant left his office.
During the next year the tight group of Marines, along with the Navy Corpsmen continued to hang out together while stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as they waited for their service commitments to end. Sparky, Doc, Stitch and Stretch elected not to re-enlist while the rest of the team signed up for another four years. During the year Doc and Stretch flew home to get married with their friends and family. They set their plans in motion for when they got out by buying an office in a shopping center. During the years they were enlisted, they sent every spare dime to Doc's mother, and investment banker by trade, who invested it for them and deposited a few dollars, well maybe more than a few dollars for most of the country but for a woman of considerable wealth it was mere dollars, of her own. Stretch's sister was using her contacts to set up possible contracts for her brother and his wife for when they got his company up and running.
September 2007
Two bodies were snuggled under the covers of a king bed sleeping soundly when a soft tapping sounded on the bedroom window. One of the bodies, the female, stirred slightly and was pulled in closer by the male she was sleeping on top of. She gave a contented sigh and drifted back to sleep or attempted to. The knocking continued and got louder in the process sending the female from irritated to pissed off. She pried herself away from her lover and went to the window in question. Opening the curtain she saw a man outside she didn't know. She threw open the window and without asking questions or saying a word, delivered a straight right to the stranger's face, breaking the man's nose and sending him to the ground screaming in pain. Closing and relocking the window she climbed back in the bed and snuggled into her lover who was looking at her.
"Who was it Nik?"
"Hell if I know Gabe, now go back to sleep." They were just about to drift off when a loud pounding started on the bedroom room door.
"For the love of all that's holy what do you want Katheryn?" Gabe yelled.
"We're trying to have sex here," Anika answered causing the woman beating on the door to break out in laughter. The couple was already out of bed and putting on more clothes.
"You seriously want me to believe that?" she huffed as she opened the door, "you guys rattle the windows when you go at it. Care to explain why Morgan is sitting in my kitchen with a broken nose?"
"So that was Morgan," Anika mused. "He was banging on the window, when I opened it he tried to climb in, so I defended myself."
"Against Morgan?" Kathy asked with a huff.
"In her defense, I warned him not to use the window and she had just woken up. What's for breakfast?"
"That man will never learn," Kathy sighed. "Are you guys going for a run before you eat?"
"Of course," Anika quipped. The couple decided not to deal with Morgan and exited through the window causing Kathy to laugh. She returned to the kitchen where Morgan was sitting with the towel and icepack on his face.
"Did you learn anything this morning?" Kathy said as she glared at the small bearded man sitting at her table.
"That she packs a punch."
"Add, don't come over to MY house uninvited again," Kathy firmly stated.
"He lives here too," Morgan argued.
"No he doesn't. He's staying here until his house is finished, which should be sometime next week. I'm sure he won't mind you coming over but call first."
"I never had to before," he huffed as he left the apartment shaking his head. Kathy, Anika and Gabe would spend the rest of the day setting up the house for the party that night. Just after noon two of their close friends and business partners, Sparky and Stitch showed up. The four former service members started drinking once the decorating was done. They were joined just before dinner by their former commanding officer, his wife and teen daughter, who arrived bearing gifts, a bottle of scotch. Soon the party was in full swing, the courtyard crowded with tenants and Marines alike. Gabe and Anika decided to enjoy some alone time, so they retreated to the room they were staying in.
"Check it out, you got mail," Anika stated with a laugh as she tried to emulate the AOL voice. "Maybe it's another birthday wish. Check it out."
"Eh, why not. Uh, do you know this name?" he asked pointing at the screen. She looked over and scrunched her nose in thought.
"Wasn't he the dude we worked out with a few years ago when we taught those classes?"
"Right, right, good looking dude with a God complex. Give me a sec to check it out." He scanned for viruses and his software found a few. Once he dealt with them he looked over the coding. "Looks like some type of video game with all kinds of pictures but some of the coding looks off."
"See if you can fix it. I'll get us some drinks and we'll give it a go," Anika said before leaving the room. When she returned almost an hour later, she got caught up talking to her friends, she found Gabe still sitting in front of the computer.
"Any luck babe," she said wrapping her arms around him from behind.
"Not really. It was bizarre. I fixed the coding, entered the password and a bunch of pictures flashed across the screen. When they stopped, it started formatting the hard drive. I was planning on doing that anyway so no big deal. We might as well join the party," he said with a huff.
"I was looking forward to playing a new game too," Anika answered with a pout. They were chatting in the court yard with their former commander when his phone went off.
"Major Colburn."
"Congrats, you bastard, why didn't you tell us?" Anika said. He held up his hand to silence them.
"Hold on General, is there a place we can talk?" he asked Gabe.
"Sure follow me." Minutes later the small group of former marines and sailors were in the bedroom.
"Ok General, you're on speaker," the Major stated.
"I'm General Beckman with the NSA. Earlier this month Major Colburn signed on with us the be a liaison between the US Military and the NSA with the potential to take over the NSA when I retire. Earlier tonight our secure facility was broken into and all the Governments intelligence data was stolen by a CIA agent. Based on trace signals we picked up, he sent it to somebody."
"So let me get this straight," the Major began, "some CIA traitor stole all our nations secrets and sent it to an accomplice? Are there any theories on why or who they sent it to?"
"We know who stole it, Bryce Larkin. He was killed by one of my Agents with a perfect double tap, one to the chest, one to the head. I personally checked out the body to make sure he was dead, if he wasn't dead when I got there he would have been before they carted the body away, he ain't coming back," the General stated. "The only lead we have is from the device he used to send the program, and the trace we got from it. It was sent to someone in your area. I'd like to send an agent to check out any leads we may come up with."
"General, that won't be necessary," Gabe stated, "He sent it to me."
"What the fuck gunny," the Major snapped at his former Marine.
"Relax Alex, General," Anika said, "Gabe got an email from Larkin earlier today. We met him a few years ago when we were teaching ROTC Cadets at Stanford. We would sometimes work out with him in the gym or go on runs. Outside of that we never had any contact with him. We thought the email was a birthday wish. With the size of the file contained in the email we thought he sent us an old game. Gabe found viruses in the program then checked out the coding."
"I wrongly concluded that it was a game due to all the embedded images in the code. There were a few lines of code that made no sense. I removed them and fixed some lines of code that were wrong or broken," Gabe explained. "When I was finished with that, I fired up the game but the only thing that happened was a shit ton of pictures flashed across the screen. It lasted about twenty minutes then my computer began a hard format of the hard drive. As good as I am, the only way I could have stopped it was to pull the plug. Your agent can have my computer when he gets here."
"Your take Major?"
"Gunny's a true-blue patriot Ma'am, Silver Star, Purple Heart and Bronze Star for Valor. He saved my ass in Afghanistan. I'll put my oak leaves on the line that none of them are involved in this."
"Us too," echoed Anika, Sparky and Stitch.
"Very well major. I'll have an agent there tomorrow to pick up the computer. Don't forget, you have a meet and greet with General Stanfield in the morning."
"Is that wise Ma'am? You have intelligence that says there's a Serbian bomb maker in the area who's associated with the Golden Circle terrorist group. Those folks have no love for us, I can tell you," Gabe quipped.
"How the fuck do you know that gunny," a shocked Stitch asked. From the looks on the other faces in the room they wanted to know as well. He replied with a shrug.
"I may have an idea," Beckman said over the phone. "In a nut shell the program that Larkin stole contained all the intelligence data the NSA and CIA have. It was designed to be uploaded into agents who would then have all the data with them. The information was supposed to be made accessible when a visual or audible clue triggered it, like a scar. Major, I'll be flying in tonight. I'll push your meeting with General Stanfield to the right. Have your team meet me at Pendleton at ten hundred hours. I'll arrange a secure room and call you with the details, Beckman out."
"Don't we have a say in this," questioned Doc.
"Would any of you Marines actually turn down a call from your country?" Alex asked.
"Hell no, we'd just like to be asked," Anika added. "Besides our business is taking off, you're asking us to give up a lot."
"Guy's settle down. We don't even know what the General wants to talk to us about. If it's something we need to be involved with, I'm sure we can come to an agreement. There's still a party going on out there," Gabe stated. The group returned to the party and drank until damn near dawn. Thankfully for the four friends, who were suffering from massive hangovers, Colburn arranged for a van from Camp Pendleton to pick them up.
The small group was seated in a small secure room in the bowels of the 1st Marine Division Headquarters waiting for the General arrival. When she did arrive the only person in the room that stood was the Major. She gave a sideways glace at the people in the room, most of them had their heads on the table they were sitting at. She shook her head and moved to the front of the room. Colburn cleared his throat and the groups heads popped up and blearily looked at the General. A diminutive red head wearing an Air Force uniform.
"Morning Major is this your team?" the General asked.
"Not yet, they need to know what's going on before they say yes."
"They're Marines Major, just get them orders and be done with it," barked the General.
"Yeah, no. We're civilians Ma'am, we ETS'd (Ended Time in Service) months ago," Doc stated with a grin. "We're here because we all served with the Major and he asked us to listen in." The General looked over the assembled group and sighed. This was going to harder than she thought.
"Along with Larkin stealing the program, code named the Intersect, a joint project between the CIA and the NSA, we found reason to believe he was part of a rogue group of agents and former agents calling themselves Fulcrum. What their final end game is we don't know; we believe it's to either change or over throw the Government. Major I want you to lead a team of agents to flush out and eliminate these traitors."
"Good, we're not agents, this means we can go home," Anika moaned her head still on the table, "my head is killing me." The group got up to leave but stopped when they heard them Majors telltale grunt, the one that meant sit the hell down. The General raised an eyebrow at how the group responded to the Major. Maybe the Major's idea would work.
"Ma'am, this is the team I want. I'd put any team of agents you send up against my team and guarantee they get their asses kicked," Colburn stated.
"Really, do tell."
"Sparky, comms demo guy, you want something blown up or not to blow up, he's your man. Need communications, he'll make it happen. Stitch, medic engineer, you get hurt she'll fix you up. Need a part designed and built, she's your girl. Doc, patch you up, need to get somewhere in a hurry or need a car, she's your girl. Doc and Stitch can break into anywhere if needed. Stretch, best sniper in the Corps. You've probably heard of Piranha; he makes them look like an amateur. In addition they're as hard core as it gets. You'd need more than ten agents to do what these guys can do."
"You've convinced me Major," the General said with a beaming smile, "the question is how do we get them on board?"
"You could try asking us," Sparky said, smiling right back at the General.
"Seriously, just ask, would you be interested in helping the Major take down a domestic terrorist organization?"
"Yes, we're in," Doc said for the group, "we have some terms before we agree. We go back in the service we left, with promotions to the next rank. We'll meet all the physical and other requirements of that service."
"We'll work in the civilian community, not from a base or in uniform," Sparky said. "No restrictions on what we do when not on duty, our off-duty time is our own."
"We have a business that's doing well, DSSS, focusing on cyber and physical security. We've been looking at expanding our work force. The buildings on either side are empty and for sale," Stitch added with a sly grin. The Major was sitting there with a shit eating grin on his face watching his team play the General like a fiddle. He had no doubts she was playing them as well. Beckman started laughing and need a few minutes to calm down. She'd sent her aide off earlier to get drinks and food for the group and he just returned.
"Cut the shit," Beckman said with a grin, "and tell me your plan." This made the major smile. The group looked at Gabe and gave him a nod to explain it to the brass.
"I'm sure you want someone to keep an eye on me until we figure out how this thing in my head works," Gabe began. "We use our business as a front for the operation. We're located in the same shopping plaza as a Buy More. It won't look good if our shop suddenly becomes a high traffic area. To prevent that, you buy and renovate the stores on either side of us, say a hot dog place and lingerie store and place your agents in there. Connect the basements and make it a secure area we can get briefings in and conduct the operation from."
"That's all well and good gunny, but your pretty well known to former Marines, many of who are in the NSA," Beckman stated.
"Stretch has that covered," quipped Stitch, "Allow me to introduce the members of your new team, General. Leading off Sparky, formerly known as Ryan McAdams, James Baker FBI. Batting second, yours truly, Stitch, formally known as Debora Kurtz, Carina Miller DEA. Batting third and loving wife of Gabe, Doc, formally known as Anika Hansen, Sarah Walker CIA. And batting cleanup, Stretch, formally known as Gabriel Smythe, Chuck Bartowski CIA. Our CO formally known as Major Alex Colburn USMC, Major John Casey USMC NSA special agent. Last but not least, formerly known as Dr. Katherine Smythe, Dr. Ellie Bartowski Neurology West Side Medical Center."
"Still with the baseball references, Deb?" Gabe asked with a smile. She smiled back at him and took her seat.
"Give me a week and our new identities will be rock solid from birth till now, including our files in the agency we picked," Gabe boasted. Beckman let out a groan when she heard what he said. She pinched the bridge of her nose before speaking. She looked over at the major who was still smiling.
"I'm sure I don't want to know the answer to this but how will you make that happen and won't those new names stand out?" she questioned.
"How many NSA agents to you know or have heard of by name? Not that many I'm guessing," Doc said with a grin. "As the major said, Gabe's the best hacker in the world. Hell half the info we got on insurgents was through Stretch. The captain knew we didn't have time to wait for the political hacks to make a decision, so he turned Stretch loose."
"That true Major," Beckman asked with a frown.
"Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six, Ma'am," Colburn stated.
"Brilliant, consider it done. I suggest we meet at zero eight hundred tomorrow at DSSS so I can conduct your oaths of enlistments. Bring your sister so she can be read in on the operation and we can make further plans. You best be getting to L.A. and meet with General Stanfield and see if the place is secure." The group got up and left, heading back to Burbank while General remained behind. She picked up the secure phone and placed a video call.
"Mister President, the intersect project is a go," Beckman said with a sigh.
"You don't look or sound very excited General; the Major give you a hard time?"
"No Sir. Major Colburn was all in, his team however makes the Dirty Dozen look like choir boys. I'll fill you in when I get back."
"Director Graham is screaming that he should have an agent on the team as well. As head of the CIA I can't keep him out of the project which started off as a joint effort between your agencies."
"Tell him you want Agent Sarah Walker on the team. Explain he needs to wait a week before contacting her. Say she's deep under cover with the NSA."
"Why a week? Can't you contact her now?" a confused president asked. Beckman rubbed her temples before addressing the President.
"Because she won't exist until then," she said with a crooked smile. "None of the team will for that matter. Major Alex Colburn won't be leading the team, a Major John Casey will be. Same Major, different name. His team is setting it up. For plausible deniability its best I leave you out of the loop. You're smart enough to figure it out what's going on."
"Happy hunting Diane," and the President cut the call wondering what the hell was going on out there yet knowing he was better off not knowing.
Back in L.A. the team contacted the General just prior to the speech he was going to make. Doc and Stretch found the food cart covering the bomb and Sparky was able to disarm the bomb with little fanfare. Sparky and Stitch worked to find the bomber and caught him as he tried to leave the building. He tried resisting until Stitch twisted his arm roughly behind his back breaking it, after that he was more than willing to co-operate. When the mission was complete they returned home and readied themselves for the morning briefing.
The following day found the new recruits and Beckman in the conference room of DSSS working out the final plans for the newly assembled team plus one doctor who for some reason found the entire thing to funny for words.
"So let me get this straight," the doctor said with a giggle which morphed into a full-blown laugh, "I'm now Ellie Bartowski working at West Side Medical, instead of Katheryn Smythe on the staff of Sandford Medical Center all because my idiot brother and his wife decided to play a game they knew nothing about?"
"That's a bit harsh, isn't it Kath?" Anika asked her sister in law, "but true none the less."
"Nope," she said popping the p. "For the four of you delinquents it's about par for the course. A long par, maybe even a par five with a water hazard in front of the green."
"Delinquents?" Beckman said with a raised eyebrow. Alex just shook his head. He was one of a handful of people who knew the true nature of his team.
"They didn't tell you," Kathy squeaked before breaking into laughter again. She began rubbing her hands together as she leaned towards Beckman, "This is going to be so much fun. Those four trouble makers couldn't get a pet rat with their pasts if they were subject to a back ground check. Sparky was arrested several times for making bombs in his basement, to as he says, 'blow up trees in my yard.' Stitch was arrested several times for breaking and entering, auto theft and computer crimes. Doc, grand theft auto, fraud, breaking and entering. My brother was never arrested but we had more visits from the alphabet soup about mysterious event's taking place on government servers than I can remember. It would take me all day to list the shit those four got into back in the day." Beckman felt faint when she heard what Kathy was saying. She had just hired felons to work for her.
"Relax General," Gabe quipped, "You could put your best computer people on checking us out and they won't find a trace of our past. I made it so tight we never existed. The names we're currently using are squeaky clean. Our new names will be just as solid. The only problem is our prints and DNA are on file with the government, where they have to remain considering we're going to be in the service again."
"Dear lord what have I done," Beckman moaned into her hands.
"Hired the best team you could get for what needs to be done," Kathy stated firmly. "You'd need a team of at least twenty agents to get all the skills these four have."
"General, I think you have two options," said a grinning Sparky, "learn all about us or burry your head in the sand and hope for the best. Based on the fact you want us to conduct, what would be considered illegal covert operations on American soil against citizens without a warrant, my guess would be you want to learn about us."
"He's got you there," said a beaming Kathy. She turned to look at her brother, "What the hell possessed you to pick Chuck for a name?"
"It sounds nerdy," Gabriel said with a laugh. The briefing on her teams past and life stories would take most of the day. At the conclusion of the briefing Beckman swore them back into the service and promoted them as promised. Beckman stayed and talked with Alex for a while making sure they were on the same page. Just before leaving she quipped, "Good luck Major Reisman." Alex Colburn could do nothing except break out laughing.