Chapter 10 - Timothy McGee's POV

*Beep beep... Beep beep... Beep be-*

"Timothy McGee speaking" I said, answering the phone.

"A-h, yea, h-hey McG-G-Gee. Is Z-Ziva there-re?".

I frowned.

Was that-?

"Alex?" I questioned.

"Y-yea. It's m-me" He replied.

"Why... Are you alright?" I asked confused and he laughed slightly, "Y-yep. Just p-perfect. Bad signal tha-that's all".

I frowned again.

That didn't sound like a bad signal.

At all.

"So, h-hey, listen-n, is she t-there?".

"Who?" I asked.

"Z-Ziva".

"Oh, right, yea, she here. Well, not here exactly, but in the lab with Abby and DiNozzo. You want her?" I asked again.

"N-no. That's ok... Y-you're the t-techie, right?".

I smirked, "Yep".

"... C-could you tr-trace this c-call?" He asked suddenly and I slowly nodded, "Sure... But why?".

"... I m-may or may n-not have stumbled-ed a-across somethin im-important" He replied.

I sighed, "How important?".

"A dead marine".

I immediately went straight to the lab.

"Oh, hey, McGeek, how's your geeking go-".

"Tony?" I asked, cutting him off.

"Yea?".

I glared at him, "Shut up".

Silence.

I turned to Ziva, holding out the phone, "It's Alex".

Silence.

Then she grabbed the phone, "Alex?".

She frowned, "Where?".

"Right... No, no, we'll be there" She continued, "Just give us- ... What? Seriously? You got to be kidding me... Ok, yea, fine, 10 minutes tops".

Then she hung up.

Staring at the phone for a minute, she finally turned back to us, "... A dead marine. John Knox. Killed the same way as the last".

"He was... Chopped up?" Tony asked and she nodded slowly, "But Alex...".

"Ziva?" Abby asked quietly and she frowned, "He... He tried to stop it".

I gulped.

That wasn't a bad signal.

"... We gotta get Gibbs" Tony announced suddenly, and I slowly nodded, "He's with Vance I think, in the office".

Hesitating for a minute, I turned back to Ziva, "... Alex, is he-?".

"Hurt?" She asked, "... Yea".

We all silently sped up our pace.

"You sure about this?" Tony whispered, as we all silently stepped out of the van.

Ziva nodded, "This was the address he gave".

"Then it must be right" Gibbs said firmly, "Now come on, down here".

Double checking my weapon, I clocked the gun, and followed the rest down the dark alleyway.

I have expected someone to jump out and yell 'SURPRISE!'.

But it didn't happen.

And it wasn't going to.

Then suddenly, Ziva stilled.

Frowning, I followed her gaze down to the end of the alley.

Where three people became visible.

First, a body on the ground, sliced and chopped up the same as the man we found before, with his dog-tags in the middle.

Second, another man, around 30 years or so, with dark features. He was currently sitting down with the axe pinning his shirt to the brick wall behind him.

And third, the familiar blond teenager, who was sitting down aswell, leaning up against the wall across from the murderer.

Silence.

Then Ziva suddenly ran over to him, "Alex? Hey, are you ok?".

Nothing.

She frowned, "Alex?".

He still didn't move.

Completely worried now, she shook him slightly, before turning to Gibbs, "Boss, what's wrong with him?".

"N-nothing's wrong-g with m-me, Ziva".

We all jumped slightly at the voice, sharply turning back to Alex.

If it weren't for the fact that we knew it was him who had just spoken, it would seem as if he hadn't changed at all.

"Then... Then what are you doing?" She asked confused and he smirked, "Staring contest".

We stared at him.

Silence.

Then Tony burst out laughing.

"Y-you... You're having a... A staring contest? With this guy?" He asked, pointing at the man pinned to the wall.

Alex nodded again, before suddenly grinning, "You just blinked Fox. And don't you dare try to deny it".

And to our surprise, the murderer laughed.

"Alright, yea, fine. You win Cub. Best of seven?".

"No w-way man, I've w-won fair and square. F-Four to me. One to y-you. Deal-l with i-it" Alex shot back, still grinning, "Now c-come on, your-r rides h-here".

The man stared at him for a minute, before glancing over at us, "... NCIS?".

Alex nodded.

The man looked over at Ziva, "And she is...?".

He sighed, "Fox, t-this is Ziva David. Z-Ziva, this is Fox... Ben Daniels".

They both slowly turned to each other.

"You're Ziva David?" Fox asked, the same time Ziva asked, "You're Ben Daniels?".

Then suddenly, Ziva walked over and slapped him.

Fox slowly turned back to her, "... Wow. You hit worse than Wolf".

Another slap.

"... And you're twice as feisty, too".

She raised her hand again but was abruptly stopped as Alex stood up and grabbed her wrist.

She turned to him, shocked, but he cut her off before she could speak, "L-Leave him. It's n-not wise to hit-t a 6ft 4 Navy Seal Officer".

Fox sharply turned to him, "How the hell did you know I joined the marines?".

"Are you kidding me?" Alex shot back, "Y-you REAK of m-marines".

"How do you even do that? List off everything about me when it's been years since we last saw each other?".

Alex smirked, "It's n-not just you. I can d-do it with ev-everyone".

"Really?" Fox asked, "Cause I bet you couldn't do Snake if you saw him. He took a REALLY strange turn in career".

"T-Then call 'im up" the Teen challenged, "I b-bet I c-could... C-could... C-could...".

Silence.

A split second later, Alex collapsed.

Fox glanced down at him for a minute, before looking back up at us, "... Shit".