In the morning, the two teams assembled at the boatshed. Hetty arrived last, bringing with her the directions for the day.
"Each team has been instructed to send a team of four to a training facility used by the local LAPD." She read from the paper she held in her hand and her eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. "It would appear we are playing a modified version of capture the flag." She continued. "Each team will be given blueprints in advance, and will need to place the opposing team's flag somewhere in the facility and then return to your designated 'home base' to await the signal to begin. No weapons are to be used, nor are you allowed to physically incapacitate members of the opposing team. Tagging them is sufficient for them to be captured, and similarly, tagging by a member of your own team is sufficient to release a captive. So who will we have on each team?"
Callen quickly glanced at his team - the choice to him was obvious.
"We'll have Sam and I, Kensi and Deeks."
"And for team DC?" Hetty asked.
"Tony, Ziva, McGee and I" Gibbs said, going with the obvious choice.
"Alright then." Hetty said. "May the best team win! And remember - be nice." She added sternly. "Ms. Jones, Mr. Beale, Ms. Sciuto and Dr. Mallard, we will have the opportunity to observe from Ops."
As Gibbs and his team arrived at the LAPD training facility, they could see that there were a number of structures set up, and a variety of wide open spaces. They had reviewed their blueprints on the trip over and felt moderately well prepared. Tony held the red flag, belonging to the other team.
"So where shall we place this baby?" He asked with a grin. "Any thoughts, Gibbs?" The team leader shook his head. "Any other ideas?" He asked, looking around. Ziva and McGee surveyed the blueprints in front of them, pointing out several possible locations. But it was finally Gibbs who spoke.
"It needs to be out of sight. But in an obvious place they won't expect." Gibbs said. He pointed to a small structure off to the side. "Put it on the roof of the shed." His teammates nodded in agreement.
"I'll do it" Ziva said, taking the flag. "We have a few minutes before the other team arrives." She added before taking off with the flag. Quickly, she scaled the building and tucked the flag into the gutter, before hopping back down.
"We need to find some place creative to hide it" Sam said. "It needs to be the last place that they'd think to look."
"Deeks' shorts is the last place I'd go looking..." Kensi said teasingly. But Callen's face lit up at the joke.
"That's brilliant. They won't think to look for the flag actually ON one of us." He said. "Deeks, you need to keep it tucked into your jacket pocket. You're the last one they'd suspect even if they do figure out it's on one of us." He continued. Sam shook his head.
"Are you sure we trust Shaggy with the key to the game?" He asked, still not quite sure. "It might be better off with Kensi."
"I have no place to hide it." Kensi said as she looked down at her outfit. With her jeans and long sleeved tshirt, there really wasn't anywhere to hide a phone, much less a flag.
"It's a perfect plan." Callen said. "They're going to go nuts looking everywhere."
At exactly 10:00, each team started at opposite ends of the field. A "jail" had been marked out at either end for holding captives, and a line down the middle of the field divided the facility into two zones for team Red (LA) and team Blue (DC). At the sound of a whistle, the game was to begin.
Callen and Sam quickly moved on the offensive, heading towards the largest structure on the blue side. They were certain the flag would be in the kitchen or one of the closests in the house.
Kensi and Deeks remained back to appear to defend their side.
Gibbs hung back as his three agents split up, and sat down with a bored look on his face. Ziva once again scaled a building and chose to hop from structure to structure to evade the other team. Tony ran quickly towards one of the smaller buildings on the red side, hoping to find the flag. McGee followed close behind, to distract anyone trying to capture his teammates.
Callen and Sam took advantage of the relative freedom to explore and search for the flag, lulled into security by Gibbs nonchalance and his team's offensive attack. They ran through the house, searching every nook and cranny for the flag, but of course having no luck.
Kensi took off after Tony, as Deeks put his climbing abilities to use to attempt to capture Ziva. He was unprepared as she gracefully jumped to another structure, causing him to curse and jump back down to resume his chase. Kensi quickly captured McGee, leaving Tony time to continue his search. Deeks took over escorting McGee to jail, leaving Kensi to pursue Ziva.
At the same time, Gibbs left his post and snuck into the house that Callen and Sam were busy ransacking. He approached silently, tagging Callen and then escorting him to jail. Sam was torn between retrieving his friend and continuing the search and chose instead to run while Gibbs back was turned, and begin to search another building.
With McGee secured, Deeks decided to go after Tony who was searching every inch of one of the three smaller buildings on the red side. He stealthily snuck around the side, taking only a second to glance through the window and confirm his target was inside. He continued around to the door and snuck inside but was surprised to see the room was empty. He cursed, realizing Tony must have gone out the window, and quickly exited to resume his search.
Kensi was following Ziva closely and had just about captured her on the roof, when she glanced back and saw that Callen had been captured. For a moment she prepared to hop down and free him, but a glimpse of red caught her eye.
"Our flag is on the roof! It's in the gutter on the small building over there!" She called out loudly, hoping her team could hear her. Sam emerged from the building he'd been searching, but was quickly tagged by Gibbs, sending him to jail as well. Kensi's brief distraction had been long enough for Ziva to get back to ground level and free McGee, as they ran for their own side to protect the now-located flag.
Deeks continued to stalk Tony, but after hearing Kensi's yell he knew it was time to go on the offensive. There were only 2 of them, whereas team DC had all four free.
"We need to get Callen and Sam free. One of us go for them, and the other can go for the flag. Which do you want?" Deeks asked quietly.
"I've got the flag. I can climb up there easily. You go free Callen and Sam." She said. "Let's go divide and conquer." She nodded to him, and they took off.
Deeks went first, distracting Ziva, Gibbs and McGee from seeing Kensi go for the flag - but then Ziva caught sight of Kensi and went after her instead. Somehow, Deeks managed to evade McGee and Gibbs, and made it to jail in time to free Callen. Callen took off to help Kensi, failing to notice Gibbs sneaking up on the quick-fleeing Deeks. Deeks was captured just as Kensi managed to retrieve the flag.
Ziva and McGee called for Tony as Kensi balled up the flag and tossed it to Callen who was heading for the red side. But they were all startled as a whistle was blown, indicating the end of the game. Everyone stopped and looked up, wondering what, exactly, was going on.
"The winner is the Blue team." the LAPD trainer announced, leaving everyone confused and sputtering.
"But what?"
"How?"
"We haven't even seen our flag?"
The trainer gestured for them to come to the screen in front of him, and Hetty's face appeared.
"Congratulations, team DC!" She said. "You have been declared the winners."
"But how did that happen?" Tony spoke up. "We didn't even find the flag?"
"Each flag had a GPS chip. The game was won when the flag was secured in your designated jail." She explained, giving a pointed look at Deeks. Reluctantly, he lifted his shirt and retrieved the flag. Ziva groaned.
"Well I guess that one backfired..." He mumbled. "Would have been nice to know that beforehand!" He told Hetty.
"You had all the infomation you needed, Mr. Deeks." She told him. "I look forward to seeing you all back here in an hour for lunch." She added, before severing the connection.