Timothy McGee and Eleanor Bishop were sitting at their respective desks in the quadrant when Tony DiNozzo walked in from off the elevator.
"Are you two talking about how T.D. is suave with the ladies?" Tony asked his co-workers in a a chauvinistic tone.
"As much as we'd love to," Ellie said sarcastically as Tony took a seat at his desk, "We're actually talking about presents"
"For me? You shouldn't have" Tony replied.
"Again, as much as I'd love to, it's for Jake," Ellie told him, "Our third anniversary is coming up and I have no idea what to get him"
"I suggested maybe an upgrade for his laptop" McGee stated.
"Please, McGee, that's lame," Tony said, "A real man wants love for his anniversay. A real man wants an epitome of the relationship. A real man wants class"
"Okay, then," McGee said, "What does a real man want, Tony?"
"You see, if it was me, I'd give him a-" Tony began but he was interrupted by their boss, Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
"Save it, DiNozzo" Gibbs said as he walked to his desk, getting his gear.
"But I-" Tony started.
"Is it better than a dead marine?" Gibbs asked.
"Well, when you put it that way" Tony said as the three of them grabbed their gear and followed Gibbs out the door.
When they arrived at the crime scene, NCIS Medical Examiner Donald 'Ducky' Mallard was already there. Tony, McGee and Ellie went to talk to the few people who were surrounding the body.
"What's up, Duck?" Gibbs asked the man kneeling on the ground.
"Ah, hello, Jethro," Ducky said, "It seems that our victim was shot directly in his stomach. As you can see, the wound was large enough for the loss of blood to cause death in a matter of minutes"
"Who is he?" Gibbs called to his team behind him.
"Lieutenant Commander Scott Jones, Boss," McGee stated, walking up to the two, "Just got back from a mission in South Africa yesterday morning"
"The neighbours claim they didn't hear or see anything strange last night" Ellie said, walking up to the three men, along with DiNozzo.
"Half of them didn't even know he was back" Tony added.
"I'll be able to find out more back at the mortuary, Jethro" Ducky told Gibbs.
"Okay, let's get back to Headquarters then," Gibbs instructed his team, "I'll come and see you later, Ducky"
Back at NCIS Headquarters, the team were in the quadrant, showing Gibbs potential suspects on the big screen.
"Our major suspect is the guy I spoke to," McGee said, "Gary Gleisman, Jones' Second In Command. Was on the same mission in South Africa, returned the same day. Seems he never left Jones' side while on the mission"
"The other is a man called Joe King-" Ellie began but was cut off by Tony's snickering.
The three of them looked at Tony, who immediately stopped snickering.
"Something funny, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked sternly.
"Not at all, Boss," Tony said, stifling his laughter, "Continue, Probie"
"One of the neighbours stated that they saw Mr. King frequently visit the Liutenant's house while he was away on missions," Ellie continued as they focused back on the big screen, "It was assumed that the Liutenant's wife was having an affair with Joe King"
Tony couldn't help snickering again, which caused the three to stare at him. Gibbs gave him a glare.
"I know, Boss" Tony said.
And with that, he gave himself his own Gibbs-slap. Gibbs looked back at the screen. He went to say something but before he could, Ducky's Assistant, Jimmy Palmer, came running past them, screaming. The team looked at him.
"Yo, J-Man, calm down!" Tony said, which caused Jimmy to stop and look at them, "I know bodies are scary but you've been doing this for years now"
"Sorry," Jimmy said in between pants, "It's not the body that's scary. Well, it is. Kind of. But it kind of isn't. But then again, it is the body-"
"Palmer!" Gibbs stopped him, "What is it?"
"It's, well, it, it's, I'm sorry, Gibbs, but I just can't work here today!" Jimmy said, and ran off into the elevator, which was conveniently opening for somebody else.
"What got into him?" McGee asked.
"I'm afraid we've got a problem with the Liutenant" Ducky said as he walked towards the quadrant.
"What's wrong, Duck?" Gibbs asked.
"It's quite remarkable, and impossible at the same time," Ducky said, "Before I could even take the sheets off to examine him, he rose, and emerged from underneath. As a robot"
The NCIS team were gobsmacked. They couldn't believe Ducky of all people were telling them this. They expected it off Palmer, even Abby, but not Ducky Mallard.
"What?" Tony was the first one to speak, "A robot?"
"That's right" Ducky nodded.
"So, are you saying Liutenant Jones rose from the dead as a robot?" Ellie asked, trying to piece things together.
"If only it was just that" Ducky stated.
"There's more?" McGee asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid," Ducky began, "As Liutenant Jones rose, the storage cabinets started persistently knocking"
"You mean the other bodies down there awoke aswell?" Tony asked.
"It's quite possible" Ducky said.
"As robots?" Ellie asked.
"I daren't open any to find out" Ducky replied.
"Let me see, Duck" Gibbs said, breaking his silence.
He didn't believe a word his Medical Examiner was telling him, but Ducky wasn't a liar. The four of them followed Ducky down to the mortuary, where Ducky had sealed the doors closed. What they saw proved that Ducky wasn't lying. There was indeed a robot walking around the room. It was like nothing they'd ever seen before. It had a solid silver casing, a big circle where Liutenant Jones' wound would have been. It's head was oblong, and hadsome kind of a handle above it. It had big black eyes and a minus shape for a mouth. Tony put his ear to the glass door.
"What are you doing?!" Ellie said.
"There's definitely knocking sounds coming from the direction of the storage, Boss" Tony stated, relieving his ear.
"So you're saying that's Liutenant Jones, Duck?" Gibbs asked.
"Indeed I am," Ducky said, "I know it may sound strange but that is indeed Liutenant Jones in there"
"Letting other robots out" McGee stated.
"What?" Ducky asked, turning his head back to the room.
The Liutenant Jones robot was indeed letting the other bodies-turned robots out of their storage.
"How is this even possible?!" Ellie asked.
"Either way, it's happening" Tony said.
"Quadrant, now!" Gibbs ordered, "You too, Duck"
They arrived back at the quadrant, where Tony, McGee and Ellie sat at their respective desks. Gibbs started giving orders.
"This case can't go on until we figure out what's happening with the Liutenant and the rest of the bodies," He began, "I want the three of you on your computers looking up everything you can. Anything you can find that relates to the situation. I want to know all of it! Ducky, did the Liutenant show any unusual signs of..transforming on the way back here?"
"Not that I can recall," Ducky said, "He seemed normal until just about as I was taking the sheet off. That's when he rose up as a robot "
"Boss, I think I found something" McGee said as he put a webpage on the big screen.
The page had a picture of a robot head much like the Liutenant's and was titled "Cybermen". There was nothing else on the site.
"Cybermen?" Gibbs asked.
"It does strike a remarkable resemblance to our Liutenant robot" Ducky stated.
"I found something else," Ellie said, bringing another webpage up, "I typed Cybermen in and this is what I found"
The page showed a full body picture of a Cyberman, which again looked exactly like the Liutenant.
"It doesn't say much, but if we are to believe the internet, who does these days, they're a species of alien-oh come on!" Ellie said.
McGee and Tony gave each other a glance.
"You don't believe in aliens, Bishop?" McGee asked.
"Not really," Ellie replied, "It doesn't have any logic towards it"
"McGee! Bishop!Back to these Cybermen-dead people research!" Gibbs ordered.
"Right" McGee and Ellie said, continuing typing things on their computers.
"I've got bad news, Boss" Tony said, bringing up another page.
The page was titled "World In State Of Panic As Dead Rise From Graves As Cyberdead".
"It's not just happening here," Tony said, reading through the article, "It's happening everywhere. America, Canada, China, Brazil, Australia. It goes on to say Britain has the most reported dead rising"
"Okay, tht's just ridiculous!" Ellie said.
"You want proof, Probie?!" Tony said as he got up and switched the TV on.
The lady on the news was terribly shocked as she was reading.
"This just in; the dead are rising. And not in the way churches predicted. Jesus has not returned. Some kind of robot God has returned and they are ressurecting the dead from all over the world as robots themselves. We warn everyone to stay inside, for their own safety"
"So, what is it, an invasion?!" Gibbs asked.
"The dead invading as Cybermen? Kind of makes sense" Tony said.
"Okay, why are you three so calm during a possible alien invasion?!" Ellie asked them.
Ducky pondered her question and looked at Gibbs, "She does have a point, Jethro"
"It's a long story" Tony answered the question.
"And we may not have time to explain it," Gibbs said, "DiNozzo, Bishop, go talk to Gleisman and King"
"When there's rising dead-people Cybermen out there?" Tony asked.
"One of them is our murderer, so one of them must be behind it," Gibbs said, "Take extra precaution. McGee, go to Abby. Find out anything you can about these Cybermen. Where they come from, what they do, how to get rid of them, ANYTHING!"
With that, the three agents were off in separate directions.
"Duck, come with me" Gibbs said as he lead him up to Director Leon Vance's office.
McGee rushed into Abby's Lab from upstairs.
"Oh, hey, McGee, so I found out-" Abby began but ws cut off.
"Forget about it, Abs!" McGee said as he stood at the computer beside her.
"What?" Abby asked.
"Just forget about the case!" McGee told her.
"Forget about the case?!" Abby said, "Are you nuts, McGee? Do you know what Gibbs would do if we forgot about the case?"
"He doesn't care about the case at the moment, either," McGee said, "We've got bigger problems"
"Bigger problems?" Abby asked, "What's bigger than solving a murder?"
"You know how I went back in time and met some aliens?" McGee asked her.
"Yeah, I still can't believe that! You were so lucky! That selfie with you and-" Abby began.
"Yeah, well, you're about to do the same" McGee told her.
"Meet aliens? But why?" Abby queried.
"Our Liutenant, he kind of rose from the dead" McGee stated.
"That's so cool! Weird, but cool" Abby exclaimed.
"As a Cyberman, a robot-alien thing" McGee said.
"That's just creepy" Abby said.
"Here we go, found something...Uh-oh," McGee said, "You don't want to meet these aliens"
"Why not?" Abby asked, hands on her hips.
"Because with humans, they either delete you, which I assume means kill, or upgrade you, which I assume is what happened to the Liutenant," McGee explained as he read, "There's nothing here about them using the dead or anything, though"
Meanwhile, outside the sealed off mortuary, Gibbs, Ducky and Director Leon Vance were standing, watching the ybermen wander around the room.
"You're saying your dead marine is one of those robots?" Vance asked the two of them.
"Mmhm" Ducky nodded.
"And the others are the rest of the bodies?" Vance continued.
"Indeed, Director" Ducky responded.
"And they're now aliens?" Vance asked, looking at Gibbs.
"That's what we believe" Gibbs replied.
"What do they want?" Vance asked.
"The question is, what are they doing? Just wandering around" Gibbs stated.
"I've seen this pattern of behaviour in living patients with a mechanical eye a few times," Ducky said, "The eye piece moves around for a bit, adjusting itself, working out what it is and what exactly it needs to do. It could possibly be the same with them. Coming from the dead, they're brand new entities, they're not sure what they're meant to do"
"What do we do with them?" Vance asked, "They can't just roam around in there until they figure out what it is they do"
"That's why I brought you here," Gibbs said, "I need your permission to move them"
"Move them? Move them where?" Vance asked.
"A safe house?" Gibbs asked no one in particular, "Anyhere where they can't harm anyone in this building, if they need to"
"Good idea, but be careful, Gibbs,"Vance gave the all clear, "I'll let the other agencies know to do the same"
He ordered some marines from not far away to come in and round the dead Cybermen up. They distracted them by having Gibbs be the bait. He told them whatever it is that they wanted that he could take them to it. Gibbs and the marines lead the Cybermen down the emergency exit stairs and out the door. Tony and Ellie noticed this as they were returning to the building. They rushed up to him.
"Gibbs, what are you doing?!" Ellie asked.
"Taking them to a safe house so everyone else is safe" Gibbs told them.
"Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear" Tony stated.
"What did Gleisman have to say?" Gibbs queried as Tony and Ellie followed him and the marines.
"Gary Gleisman was nowhere to be found," Tony began, "Neighbours said he up and left when the Cybermen started entering the neighborhood. Doesn't fit. Why would a creator run away from his creations, wouldn't he be joining them?"
"And Joe King?" Gibbs continued asking as he lead the Cybermen away.
Tony gave another little snicker. Ellie just rolled her eyes and began her sentence.
"Joe King has no knowledge of outer space at all, he is a bit loony, but whoever killed Liutenant Jones has to be behind this, and since King knows nothing about aliens.." She said, then trailed off as all the Cybermen froze in their footsteps.
Gibbs, Tony and Ellie stared at them.
"Men!" Gibbs called to the marines, "What's going on?!"
"We have no idea, sir! They just stopped!" One marine called back.
Just then, McGee came rushing out the door towards them.
"Boss! I found alot of stuff!" He said, then stopping where they were.
"What's going on?" He asked as he stared at the Cybermen aswell.
"They just stopped in mid-stride" Ellie said.
"What for?" McGee asked.
"We don't know" said a marine.
Just then, they heard jet sounds coming from the ground where all the Cybermen were. They looked at the concrete and saw fire underneath the robots' feet. Everyone watched as all the Cybermen, formerly bodies from the NCIS Morgue rose high into the sky...and exploded among the dark clouds.
"Where are the remains?" A marine asked, looking at the ground as the rest of the marines noticed and began looking around.
"You don't see that every day" Tony said, still staring at the sky.
"No you don't" Ellie stated, not taking her eyes off the sky either.
"So is the Liutenant's case genocide now?" Tony asked.
"I don't think that counts" McGee replied, he was also staring up at the sky.
"How do we determine who the murderer is?" Ellie asked the question on everyone's mind.
Gibbs simply looked at his team, whose heads were literally up in the clouds.
"No evidence, no witnesses, no body to examine, I think we can leave this case alone" He told them.