The Guardians

Disclaimer—I do not own.

Prologue

Tony ignored the bickering of his teammates. They were constantly arguing over one thing or another. He was just about to tell them to shut up when Gibbs blew through the office calling out behind him. "Directors office now!"

McGee stuttered as he said, "A. . . All of us boss?"

Gibbs stopped at the foot of the stairs and said, "No McGee, I just felt like saying it."

Tony smiled as he quickly followed behind his boss. The others were quick to trail behind him as they all traveled up wards. Something in the bullpen caught Tony's eye so he veered away from the group and stopped to take a look at it. There in the middle of the pen were three very official looking people. One, who was most definitely the leader was tall and looked around officiously, studying their desks and work areas. The other two were definitely his lackeys and followed him around at a respectable distance.

Tony couldn't place it, but he was sure he knew the leader from somewhere, he just couldn't remember. Tony shook off the feeling of foreboding and slowly followed the others into the conference room. He stopped suddenly and looked around. Their team wasn't the only team there. Balboas team was also there, as were Ducky and Jimmy and Abby.

Tony quickly went over all the facts in his mind and realized that all the people in the room had recently worked a case together about two months ago. He wondered if something had come up about the case. He jumped slightly when a voice was cleared right next to him. He looked up to find everyone in the room looking at him expectantly. He looked to Gibbs who gestured and said, "Yah gonna sit DiNozzo?"

Tony smiled sheepishly saying, "Sure thing boss."

Once Tony was seated Vance stood up and said, "Ok, all of you that are here now worked on the Larsen case a month ago. . ."

"Did something go wrong with the case?" interrupted Abby as she leaned forward on the table.

Vance shook his head saying, "Not at all. It would appear that while you were all working in this case you all came into contact with a very powerful guardian. He is a reader who works for the government to search out any missed guardians and he couldn't be certain of whom, but one of you is apparently one also."

The whole room was in shock. Every one began throwing glances at each other, except for Tony who sat as straight and stiff as a pillar. His thoughts were racing a millions miles a minute. He couldn't believe his secret; which he had been hiding for years, had essentially just been exposed. Guardians; they were supposed to be an urban legend, a myth. An unreachable scientific feat; until thirty years ago when the whole world discovered that a secret government group had successfully been performing genetic experiments on such people since the early fifties.

Once the world had discovered them it became a political nightmare and human rights activist where instantly up in arms. Governments were under political fire and where facing serious repercussions. So as fast as they could, they set up programs for the guardians to help them integrate into society. They got jobs and were educated, they received free healthcare and automatically had all their expenses paid by the government as compensation.

They also became celebrities and soon their unique powers where sought after by mercenaries and terrorist and other governments. Guardians were actually being kidnapped and forced into using their gifts for unspeakable acts. So government's worldwide agreed that guardians needed to be marked and monitored for their own safety. So every guardian known to them was implanted with a tracking device and marked with a special tattoo to indicate their specific gift. In addition the governments' put in place a screening protocol since so many Guardians had integrated into society and had children of their own by this time. Every one had to be screened to see if they were guardians. A guardians gifts start to manifest themselves around the first grade. So every child who was entering school underwent testing. If they were found to be a guardian they were immediately tagged and marked and then enrolled in a special program developed by the government.

Tony dragged his attention back to the director in time for him to hear him say, ". . . Now settle down! If whoever it is would like to come forward now and save us some trouble later, that would be advisable or we can do this the hard way and have the reader come in here and scan you all."

Vance waited what seemed like hours to Tony and when no one came forward he sighed and said, "Alright then I guess Mr. Krandle is going to be coming in."

Vance nodded to his assistant Cynthia who stepped out of the room and then minutes later came back leading the same three men that Tony had seen down in the bullpen.

Tony instantly began focusing all of his power on visualizing his abilities into a box and closing the lid on them. It was a technique his mother had taught him when he was younger and had first started displaying his abilities. He held his breath as Mr. Krandle walked around the room slowly making his way over to Vance. He stopped and lingered for just a second between Gibbs and Tony's chairs. Tony held his breath and concentrated even harder on his technique. A wave of relief washed over him as the man finally moved on. Tony could feel the relief wash over him as the man moved on, though he still stared straight ahead not looking at any one, afraid that of he did they would be able to tell his secret. He increased his focus on his technique making sure that he was bearing down firmly on the lid. He jolted back to awareness when Vance said, "Alright everyone except agents Gibbs and DiNozzo may leave."

Tony could feel his stomach drop. A fine sheet of sweat broke out on his skin and he suddenly found that he was having trouble swallowing. 'No' he thought to himself, 'This can't be happening.' He had worked so hard and had done everything in his ability to keep his secret, a secret. What did this mean for his job now? He knew that most guardians didn't work in law enforcement. It wasn't unheard of, just very uncommon. Most agencies didn't want the added hassle of having a guardian as an agent. There were certain rules and guidelines that had to be adhered to strictly, not just for the agency but for the guardian as well. Things like extra physicals for the guardian and they had to be marked with a special tattoo and then have a locating device implanted, and the team working with the guardian was required to have extra training and other various things and the guardian was never allowed out in the field if they were hired they were always, always a desk agent.

It was quiet in the conference room for quite a long time as the occupants waited for one of the others to speak. After what seemed like ages Mr. Krandle stepped forward saying, "I am truly sorry for this horrible inconvenience. But as you know the guidelines regarding guardians are very clear and need to be followed to the letter for the safety of the guardian and all those around them. So that being that. Agent DiNozzo, why don't you begin by telling me how you've been able to hide your powers? Surely you were tested when you were younger."

Tony put on his best mega watt smile and said, "I think you have me confused with some one else. I am not a Guardian. I have no powers."

Mr. Krandle shook his head and said, "Please! Agent DiNozzo, I am one of the best readers in the United States and I take my job seriously. Now. Be honest and tell us the truth."

Tony set his jaw firmly and focused his attention on to the table. He kept his gaze steady as he envisioned his box buried under a mountain of rocks. He was so focused that the next question caught him off guard.

"So tell me agent DiNozzo when did you receive your current injuries?"

Tony's eyes grew to the size of saucers as he said in a voice that was barley audible, "I . . . I don't know what your talking about!"

It would have sounded better if he could have managed to put a little more force behind his voice, make it sound more powerful and sincere, but as it was it confirmed the mans statement that there was indeed some sort of injury. Gibbs finally stood up and grabbing his agent by the shoulder turned him so that he was facing him and said, "Come on DiNozzo out with it."

Tony looked Gibbs in the eye and silently pleaded with him to not do this right now.

Before Gibbs could make up his mind of whether or not to push Tony into answering him. Mr. Krandle spoke up from behind, "He currently has some broken ribs, a concussion, and I would check out his wrist. I can not at this moment tell you if it is broken; because he is blocking me, but there is a definite possibility."

Gibbs sighed and shook his head saying, "Leon you better get Ducky up here."

Tony slumped down even further into his chair. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that the people left in the room were all looking directly at him. He suddenly became aware of a strange sensation. It felt as though there was some invisible force flowing freely through his body. He could feel it in his mind, searching for his box and then gently tugging at it getting ready to open it. Tony began to panic a little and tried with all of his might to prevent the box from opening, but he was just a fraction of a second too late and the invader was able to open the box just enough that the power came rushing out.

Tony jumped up from his chair yelling, "STOP!" but he was to late. The power instantly flooded through his body giving him such a rush of energy that it overwhelmed him and stole his breath away throwing him backwards into the far wall. It continued to surge out across the room like a force field and knocked every one back as well. Apparently the other man had not been expecting that either because he was leaning heavily on the wall gasping for breath and looking at Tony in complete shock. Tony was the first to recover him self, he grimaced as he slowly pushed himself up the wall using it for support and said, "You should have asked! You had NO right. Do you realize what you have done?"

With that Tony pushed his way out of the room making it inside the elevator with the doors closed before his body gave out and he collapse to the floor. He left the rest of them in the room speechless with shock and wonder. After a few minutes of silence Mr. Krandle asked reverently, "Do you have any idea what you have?"

Vance turned a questioning eye towards him and said, "No. Why don't you enlighten us?"

"That . . . That man is a very, very powerful healer. I have never come across one as powerful as him."

The rest of the room stood in silence trying to absorb it all. Ducky coming into the room asking, "What in all that is holy is going on here?" interrupted their shocked silence. "I just saw Anthony rush out to the elevator, and he did not look well Jethro."

Gibbs shook his head and letting out an expletive rushed out of the room as well. He ran through the onlookers and the oglers. He pushed past the gapers and whisperers. He raced down the stairs all the way to the ground level parking and burst out the stairwell door in time to see DiNozzo stumble and collapse against his car. Gibbs swore again as he rushed over to DiNozzo's side. He fell to his knees next to his agent. He finally took a good look at his agent for the first time that day, and what he saw did not make him very happy. His agent did not look good at all, he had a fine layer of sweat covering his skin, he was breathing hard, and favoring his right side, "Damn it DiNozzo!" Exclaimed Gibbs one more time when he realized that, that tumble he took with the suspect the other day wasn't just a little tumble. Gibbs shook his head. 'How did his agent manage to keep all this from them? Hell he had even gone two rounds in the ring just the other morning.'

Gibbs was brought out of his thoughts when he was pushed aside by Ducky and Mr. Krandle. Gibbs instantly went into defensive mode and pulled Mr. Krandle back saying, "Oh no you don't. Don't you think you have caused enough trouble as it is?"

"Agent Gibbs don't you think that if I could I would change how things went? I can feel what this man means to you and your team. And I can feel what you mean to him. But all that aside he is a very special person with a very powerful and special gift and as much as you or he may not like it right now I am trained in how to deal with these kinds of things and on top of that I am also a medical doctor who knows how to treat people like him. I can help."

Gibbs seemed thoughtful for a second before he said, "Fine but the minute he says so you're gone."

The man wisely just nodded and the turned back to Ducky and Tony. Gibbs stood of to the side and watched as the two doctors did what they could, before the ambulance had even arrived Tony was awake again and arguing about the necessity of going to the hospital, "Ducky!" He exclaimed, "I'm fine! I don't need to go!"

Ducky just shook his head and firmly stated, "Regardless of whether or not you are physically need to go to the hospital, I am afraid the guidelines state that even if you are only suspected to have guardian abilities you must go to the hospital and have the necessary test performed."

Gibbs was shocked when Tony started banging his head on the pavement and letting out small inarticulate sounds. Before he even knew what he was doing Gibbs found himself by his agent's side gently holding his head to stop him from causing any more damage. Tony looked up into his bosses eyes and silently pleaded for him to fix it somehow. Gibbs sighed and said, "Listen to me DiNozzo. I'm gonna go with you and I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Tony shook his head and said, "You won't be able to stop him when he finds me."

"Who? When who finds you?"

"I can't say his name boss. But now that it's out he will find me and he will come for me. That's why I can't go to the hospital it will just make it easier for him to get to me."

Gibbs was about to ask him what he meant, but saw that Tony had closed down. He saw the far away look in his eyes. Saw how his face was emotionless. It frightened Gibbs when the only reaction they got out of Tony was when the paramedics stated that he was dehydrated and that they needed to start an IV. Tony instantly freaked out and only calmed when Gibbs forced the medics to back a good twenty feet away.

After they got Tony calmed down they decided that they would take him to the hospital in Gibbs's car. While they helped Tony up off the ground Gibbs and Ducky exchanged worried glances as their friend moved with an air of depression.

Hey guys I would like to say thanks to my beta CALLEN37 and that I would really appreciate some feedback about this story. So even if its good, bad or somewhere in between I want to know. Thanks and enjoy.