Deputy Director Jerome Craig was sitting at his desk working through a mountain of paperwork when his head suddenly jerked up and he seemed almost to sniff the air. After a moment or two he returned to his work but then paused as he saw a bird perched on the window ledge outside his office.

Jerome hastened to the window and opened it to let the creature in. He stepped back cautiously, allowing the visitor plenty of room.

"You OK there?" he asked.

The bird's head tilted a little and Jerome seemed to take that as some acknowledgement.

"How long?" he asked.

For answer he got a high-pitched chatter before the bird flew on to Jerome's desk and pecked at his keyboard.

"Careful," admonished Craig. The bird gave him a baleful look before flying to perch on the chair in front of his desk. Jerome peered at his computer screen and nodded. He looked at his watch, "We'll wait," he announced.

For this, he got another menacing look before the bird began to run his beak over his talons.

"Hey," said Jerome, "Attend to your personal hygiene at home, can't you?" The bird gazed at him once more but seemed to decide that there was humour behind the words. The bird stopped his cleaning but jumped up and down on the chair in a fidgety way.

"Patience," said Jerome calmly, "We'll sort this out."

Three more minutes passed and then there was a rushing sound: Jerome saw a mini tornado spin on his chair and then, after a loud popping sound, he saw Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo sitting on the chair.

"You OK?" asked Craig, apparently unfazed by the transformation of a bird into the Senior Field Agent of the Major Case Response Team.

Tony shook himself in a manner reminiscent of a bird settling its plumage and nodded.

"I'm guessing," said Jerome cautiously, "That you didn't do this yourself?"

It turned out that Tony's baleful look didn't diminish even when it was no longer coming from a bird's eyes.

"What do you think?" he asked crossly.

"I didn't think so," said the Deputy Director, "I felt something."

"So did I! And it wasn't pleasant," snapped Tony.

"What happened?" asked Jerome.

"I went down to Abby's lab …"

"Ah," said Craig.

"Next time, I'm gonna make Gibbs deliver her damn CafPows!" said Tony with unwonted bitterness.

"Yes?"

"I'd just got through the door when I got hit by … something."

"What?"

"Not sure," said Tony thoughtfully, "But it felt odd – with an overtone of nasty. Very nasty. Before I knew what was going on I was changing …"

"Changing? How so?"

"Changing into something else … it looked like the blue budgie my Aunt Clara had in England … you know, a parakeet."

"And?"

"And I decided I didn't want to be a parakeet – blue or otherwise – so I took steps …"

"Or wings," said Jerome with an unwise attempt at humour which was met by another of Tony's hard stares. "So, you changed into a merlin," he continued more soberly.

Tony sighed discontentedly, "Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a cliché but I didn't have much time to react."

"Good work," said Jerome pacifically as he tried to make up for his ill-advised joke.

Tony nodded, "Then I couldn't get through the window – it wasn't open wide enough, so I changed into a wren and slipped through."

"And then changed back to the merlin?"

"Felt safer," admitted Tony, "I mean, I know a merlin falcon isn't huge but it's fierce enough to scare off potential predators."

"And came here," said Jerome.

"Thought you should know," said Tony. "And I needed somewhere safe to stay. Thought it was best to stay changed for the recommended five minutes."

Jerome nodded gravely, "Because you always follow the rules!"

Tony grinned for the first time since he had discarded his feathers. "Well, you know … but seriously, I thought this was a time to follow protocol."

"What do you think happened? Is Miss Sciuto OK?"

"I think so. She was jumping and down with excitement when it happened. And I looked back quickly before I got away, she looked all right."

"Does Miss Sciuto have … APs?" asked Jerome.

Tony frowned, "I didn't think so. In fact, I'm sure not. I mean, I know she dabbles in voodoo and tarot and stuff like that, but I've never thought there was anything going on. For one thing, I'm not sure she'd be able to keep anything like that under wraps."

"That's my feeling too," said Jerome. "You know, just before your arrival, I thought I felt something going on. Something disturbing … but I thought it was just a bad smell coming from somewhere."

"Then what do you think happened?"

"You're sure Miss Sciuto was the only person in the lab?"

"I think so. But I wasn't paying much attention. I wasn't expecting to get ambushed … or at least, not by that! If I'd been more alert I would have fended off the attack and we'd be OK. Abby would have thought that whatever she did hadn't worked."

"We are where we are," said Jerome, "No point second guessing ourselves."

"Deputy Director Craig, are you drawing up your own rules?" asked Tony, "Been sharing too much coffee with Gibbs?"

"Not exactly," said Jerome, "But, as you've just come to appreciate, rules can be useful."

"Yeah, I guess," said Tony ruefully. "Hey, you mind if I get a drink … transforming always dehydrates me."

"Help yourself. But steer clear of the alcohol … you know …"

"Yeah, I know … protocol," said Tony helping himself to a glass of sparkling water.

"What are we going to do?" asked Jerome.

"I guess we need to find a way to explain how I disappeared on my way to the lab," said Tony. "And make Abby think nothing odd happened."

Jerome sighed and pulled a pile of blue forms from his desk drawer, "I hate filling out these requests for FMIs."

"FMIs?"

"Forgetful Mind Implementation."

"You could always wait and just do an Emergency FMI," suggested Tony.

Jerome shuddered and drew out a large lime green form, "Not if I can help it," he said firmly, "EFMIs are even worse. I'm surprised the Board don't want them filled out in blood."

Tony nodded sympathetically.

"And anyway," said Jerome, "I don't want to do any kind of FMI yet. We need to find out why Miss Sciuto did what she did."

"And how," said Tony. "And that might be more important."

"Why?"

"We already fairly sure that Abby doesn't have APs … my best guess is that she just liked the idea of changing something into a blue parakeet – she'd think it was cute. And Abby doesn't have a bad bone in her body – if she was able to do something like that, it wouldn't have had that nasty aura."

"So, you think someone else was behind it?"

"I think so."

"Who?"

"No idea," said Tony.

Jerome looked sombre once more, "Someone using Additional Powers unscrupulously?" Tony nodded. "That's serious, Tony. I'll have to notify the Board that we think there may be APIs …" he saw Tony's questioning look, "Additional Powers Incursions," he explained. "We may be under attack!"

Tony nodded as he considered what the next move should be but before he could speak, both men twitched and Jerome said, "We've got a visitor."