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Chapter 7
Misunderstanding
The next morning, Gibbs came down to see Alex up and dressed.
"Going somewhere?" He asked
"I thought I would come over to the navy base with you today." Alex said, expectantly and hopefully, he was looking forward to fighting Ziva. He was still a bit sore but
"Really?"
"Oh, come on... I've been lying on this settee for three days now and not done anything."
"Alright; but there's nothing to do at NCIS. So you'll still be bored."
"I'll be alright. I'll have someone to talk to." Alex smiled and followed Gibbs to his car.
Gibbs sighed. It was going to be a long day...
They reached the NCIS building and Alex looked up at it in awe, he really wasn't expecting it to be that grand.
He followed Gibbs inside.
DiNozzo was stood in front of Ziva's desk chatting to her.
"I reckon Gibbs is intimidating the boy, just like he does in interrogation. Y'know, the way his blue eyes search you brain for the truth and..." DiNozzo stopped as he noticed Ziva's gaze shift. "He's right behind me isn't he? Hi Boss."
Ziva chuckled a little and shook her head in amusement. Then there was another snigger. DiNozzo spun round and saw the boy behind Gibbs smiling.
"Hi, you're... Alex?"
"Yeah, Alex Rider. Please to meet you." Alex said politely. He stuck out his hand and Tony took it.
"Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo." Alex smiled slightly at Tony's pride of his title.
(2 hours later)
Gibbs' team sat down at each of their desks, up to their necks with paperwork and files. Alex sat and studied each of them; McGee was busily typing away and there was an occasional beep from his computer (was he really doing paperwork?), Tony was tapping his pen impatiently as he tried to think of what he was supposed to be doing and all the while snatching glimpses of the co-worker who sat opposite to him. Unfortunately, it was rule number 12 – never date a co-worker. Ziva was clearly a faster writer than the rest, her pen scribbling down notes and the she was on to the next file. She would occasionally flick around something on her computer. Gibbs was typing away at his own computer, taking sips of his coffee frequently. The office was silent apart from the buzzing of the rest of the building. It was odd.
Alex was sat on a chair McGee had pulled up for him. He had his knees tucked up to his chest as if he were protecting something.
Everyone simultaneously snapped their heads up as Gibbs' phone rang out loudly, breaking the silence of their office space.
"Yeah, Gibbs... Aright..." He snapped his phone shut ad stood up. All of his team's eyes were on his.
"Go on the, grab your gear. We got a dead Corporal in Norfolk."
"Am I going?" Alex asked.
"You sure Alex? It's not the nicest thing in the world to see." Gibbs asked.
"I think it would be interesting and... educational. Anyway, what's nice about my life?" He chuckled slightly. It was what his school would say on a letter concerning Thorpe Park as a school trip.
"If you say so." Gibbs grabbed his bag and so did his team and they headed for the lift.
Arriving on the scene, DiNozzo assessed the surroundings, snapping pictures of the scene. The body was in the middle of the road, sprawled out with a bullet hole between his eyes. Alex was the last to get out of the car.
He looked over the body. The man before him was youngish; obviously he'd only been in the Navy for a short while. He had dark hair cut in the normal military style and had tanned skin. His eyes were open and glazed over from the breakdown or iron behind the eyes which creates potassium, making the eyes go cloudy but you could still see the original colour of his eyes; a mesmerising deep green. He was wearing a pair of dark board-shorts and a white t-shirt.
Ducky was crouched over the body, looking around to see if there was any more information they could get about what'd happened. As Ducky, with the help of Palmer, turned over the body Alex noticed a small light pinkish mark on the back of his leg. He took a step forward to try and make out what it was. A scorpion. It had been branded into the back of the man's leg.
"Scorpia." Alex said bluntly.
"What?" Gibbs asked, turning towards the boy.
"Scorpia... the man was Scorpia."
"How do you know?" DiNozzo asked.
"There's a brand on the back of his left leg. It's only small. It's in the shape of a scorpion." A burning sensation ran down his leg and he bent down to touch the mark on his leg with his cool hand. Flashes of the menacing eyes of that man filled his memory. He felt sick. He took a deep breath and the nausea seem to leave him; for now.
Ducky took a closer look. "You're right, my dear boy. Perhaps this man was a sleeper."
"Or a double agent..." McGee cut in after going through his portable finger scanner. "It says here that his platoon was attached to the CIA for a year."
"It's possible, I know people within MI6 that are double agents" Alex said, remembering the time he'd had at Malagosto and the way Ash had too.
"OK, let's go. I think we have enough evidence so far, we'll send the blood and prints off to Abby and we'll go from there." Gibbs suggested. Alex was still stood frozen to the spot, staring at the body that lay before him.
A dark shadow was cast over him as Gibbs stood there. He looked up. "Come on kid. We need to go now." He smiled weakly and heard Alex mumble something. "Pardon?"
"I'm not a kid." He repeated bluntly.
Ziva was about to go and have a break, which normally meant she was going to the gym o the floor above them. "Alex," She said. "Come with me..." She beckoned him to follow and he did so. DiNozzo eyed them suspiciously.
Alex followed Ziva into the lift. As soon as the metal doors closed Ziva spoke. "It gets easier, I promise."
"Really, don't you realise how many dead bodies I've seen... and caused." Ziva's brow furrowed, confused.
"How do you mean?"
"I mean, I've been on eleven missions in the past two year, not one of them failed." Ziva flicked the switch that stopped the lift, something Gibbs often did.
"How many people have you killed Alex?" Her eyes were serious and her dark brown eyes melted into his own ones.
"It's classified."
"Nothing is classified; you're too scared to tell anyone. You'll only hurt yourself!" Ziva was angry. Alex could feel tears of anger behind his eyes but he pushed them away, just as he'd done so in the past. He knew Ziva was right. She turned the lift back on and they carried on their way to the gym. When they reached the gym Ziva wandered off the ladies changing room to change into a more suitable attire. She came out wearing thin tracksuit bottoms and a white t-shirt.
"Let's go then." She smiled at Alex; she'd seemingly forgotten the conversation in the lift. Alex ducked under the ropes of the boxing ring. They would spar for a while. She was eager to see how much like his father he was.
Both of them got into a fighting stance.
"I'll go easy on you, Alex." Ziva told him, knowing he was injured.
"No, I think I'll be going easy on you, actually." Alex smirked. The pain from his back seemed to have gone and the wounds had been healing well, so the doctor told him.
"If you say so." They stopped the chit-chat and began to prepare themselves.
Ziva was the first to make a move. She kicked out to Alex's torso but he saw it coming and squatted down to dodge it. As he got back up he delivered a roundhouse kick. Ziva hadn't predicted it and took a hit to her shoulder. She stumbled backwards. She had a few seconds and rolled her shoulder round in its socket making sure she'd not dislocated it. Alex made his way forward and Ziva once again took up her stance. She punched him in the shoulder and again in the solar plexus. Alex blocked several of her punches and dodged many of her kicks and Ziva had done the same. She kicked out a roundhouse kick and it connected with the top of Alex's back. Right where he'd been brutally stabbed in that family's lounge. He keeled over breathing heavily. The pain clouded his thinking.
Ziva stopped. "Are you alri-" She didn't have time to finish before Alex lashed out at her with another powerful round house kick. It hit her in the chest this time, winding her. Alex had been sucked in to the moment and he didn't realise that he wasn't actually in danger and was to stop. He lashed out again, his foot connecting with the back of Ziva's leg, causing her to crumple to the ground. Flashed of men from his past hazed his vision and he couldn't stop punching and kicking out.
In the distance somewhere the lift pinged and Tony came into the room. He only saw Alex stood up in the middle of the boxing ring, fighting no opponent.
Hadn't Ziva brought him up her? He thought.
"Alex?" He shouted. "Alex! STOP!" He repeated.
He saw Ziva's figure lying o the floor. He went through the ropes of the boxing ring and tried to pull Alex off of Ziva. He was surprisingly strong for his age and size. He managed to wrap his hand around his neck and pull him off that way.
"STOP!" He shouted. He saw Alex's eyes as they looked up at him in confusion. DiNozzo saw the coldness and hurt in them and dragged him out of the boxing ring. Sitting Alex into a chair on the sideline, he pulled out the handcuffs that were attached to his belt and cuffed him to the chair. Alex still seemed to be in a daze as he made no resistance to him being put there.
As he went back over to Ziva he pulled out his mobile and called Gibbs.
"We have a problem, a big problem; you need to get to the gym now." He didn't wait for a reply and snapped his phone shut. There was blood smeared on the mat of the ring. He swallowed.
"Ziva?" He said reassuringly. "Ziva, can you hear me?" No answer. He rolled her over onto her back and saw the blood covering her face.
"Oh my God Ziva." He said. He put his two fingers on her neck to feel for her pulse. It was there. Tony let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
There was a slightly mumble just as the lift pinged and Gibbs came charging out.
"What happened?"
"Alex and Ziva were having a fight. Just a competition though, I suppose." He stroked back a lock of Ziva's long dark hair and her deep brown eyes fluttered open.
"Where's Alex?" She said. She tried to sit herself up but the pain in the limbs was too much.
"He's over there. He was trying to kill you Ziva." Tony explained. Ziva shook her head.
"No, he wasn't. Something happened before. I made him snap. It was my own fault." Tony helped her up into a sitting position and she looked over at Alex. Blood on his t-shirt and blood on hers too. Gibbs was crouched in front of him. Talking at him, if you could call it that, it was more shouting.
"What were you thinking Alex?" He shouted into his face, but Alex didn't answer. "Answer me!" Gibbs' face was contorted with anger. Ziva felt bad for him.
"Help me up Tony." She asked and tony took her by the arm and helped her up from the bloodied floor. She put n arm round his shoulder and they made their way over to where Gibbs was.
"Alex?" Ziva saw his head turn to her and those eyes looked up to her. They weren't as full of rage, coldness or anger any longer. Just terror. "How many Alex?" She asked firmly. She put a hand up to her nose which was bleeding.
"Twelve." He replied sullenly. "Most of them were unintentional or I just caused them, some I actually did." He sniffed, blood from his nose going into his throat and making him cough. He sat out the copper-tasting blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "And you said it got easier. After how many does it get easier?"
"What are you on about Alex? Twelve what?" Gibbs asked impatiently.
"Just leave him Gibbs, please. And remember Tony's rule, number three: never underestimate your opponent." Tony smiled. "We underestimated each other."
Ziva left the room and returned to the changing room where she showered to rid of hers and the boys blood. She binned her clothes and put her work attire back on. Looking in the mirror above the sink she could see a bluey-purple bruise forming on her face.
Alex was still in pain, though most of it had gone now. Tony had let him take some painkillers. Gibbs had called Ducky up to the gym to check over Alex. The stab wound on his back had opened up and was now bleeding profusely, so was one on his stomach. His face was beginning to litter with bruises.
He didn't like the fuss. Ziva got her answer, now he just wanted to leave. He was tired but knowing that as soon as he fell asleep the man would be back to torture him he was put off snoozing.
Wasn't expecting the chapter to be so long (2335 words and 7 pages) ) But here it is and I hope you enjoyed it
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