The text was limited to two words, but said enough for Gibbs to understand. He flicked the phone closed easily as he drove, the Secretary beside him.

They were headed to NCIS, to sort out the necessary channels for the web communication since the FBI were still in the midst of processing the building. Work had been suspended the minute they had found the bombs in the back packs of each of the dead men. Many were in panic.

DiNozzo greeted them at the elevator, shifting uneasily as his eyes caught the left over marks of the extent of the damage. They had been lucky to secure the use of MTAC; since Ziva had claimed to be the one behind the shooting, the majority of agents were under accusation by the Feds, along with Fornell.

Silently, they crossed the bullpen, the Secretary the only one to pause at the sight of the bullet holes and blood. It was easy to forget he hadn't seen the scene with the bodies.

A day and a half had passed since Alex had vanished, and none of the team had seen him since. Instead, the group had spent the time lounging round Gibbs house, always on guard but without a purpose, considering they had nothing to work on. SecNav spent most of the time watching the news, and Gibbs decided it was to know when the operation would be the most successful.

The Director met them at the door to MTAC, Fornell beside him. The two men nodded politely, before opening the door and allowing them inside. Ziva sat beside McGee at the console, one other technician in the room to smoothen the process.

Accepting the head set, the Secretary moved to the centre of the room and began to watch the streams of news from across the world pass by on the screen. The others moved to the seats to wait.

Fornell glanced at Gibbs skeptically. "You never did get me that coffee." He spoke quietly, inaudible to the rest of the room.

"So?"

"What's really going on here Gibbs."

The Director, glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, before standing and moving to the console, watching McGee work.

Fornell frowned. "What aren't you telling me?"

"It depends Tobias. What aren't you telling me?"

"Come on Jethero. This is bigger than just us, isn't it. Ziva didn't shoot those men. In fact, none of you did. But you know who it was."

Gibbs stayed quiet for a minute, watching the screen. "This is bigger than us, Tobias. And I mean that."

"What do you mean?"

"You work for intelligence, you work it out." He looked at him calmly for a minute before turning away again. "Somethings happening. Something no one is supposed to know about."

"You don't know either, do you?" Fornell snorted. "No wonder you're so cranky."

Across the way, the technician smiled, moving his gaze from the reflection and back to the screen.

"McGee, load up the lock code." The Secretary called out two hours later, startling the group from the dregs of their third coffee. Straightening, many stood and focused their gazes onto the screen as streams of code automatically flowed.

With a pause, he moved over to the console, slowly typing all the whilst watching for any sudden changes. Beside him, the technician continued to type, frowning harshly as he flicked between information. Cursing, his fingers flew faster, the screen beginning to darken and the lights flicker in the room.

"Send it now!" He growled as he continued to type, sliding to another computer as the console darkened and an image dripped itself into appearance on the screen. The SecNav glanced at it quickly, before swearing loudly and beginning to type faster. Again, the screen of the technician darkened, and he moved again, starting over as soon as he opened the command panel.

"McGee connect your phone into the hard drive."

Immediately, the man jumped to it, kneeling beside him as the screen slowly changed and began to darken. There was a bright flash, and the two were blinded, the technician unrelenting in his attack against the keyboard.

Ziva moved to his side, and glanced at his eyes, seeing them sightlessly staring forward. "Do you even know what you're typing?"

"Course I do." He snorted, flashing a familiar grin without turning. "But SecNav, you need to hurry the hell up, because I have a feeling I'm not going to last much longer against them."

The man ground his teeth quietly, knowing his typing speed was far from quick. It took him a few more minutes before he hit enter, and sat back, sighing. There was a minute as the clacking of keys sped up, before the screen went dark again.

Alex blinked as the world came into sight again, and he cursed, taking the phone from McGee and connecting it to his own phone. He tapped his fingers idly before glancing at the big screen to see the dripping image appear.

The group stood and stared at the white skull that spun, laughing silently at them. The animation dripped, slowly and realistically, disappearing from the screen at the bottom. Slowly words appeared in black across the skull, appearing and disappearing easily.

'Let the war of the world...'

'Begin'

MI6, United Kingdom

Alan Blunt stared at the screen of his computer at the laughing skull, mind ticking over the possibilities. Standing sharply, he moved out of his office, and was bombarded with similar images floating across every screen in building.

MSS, China

Bang Yu flew from her seat in her office, moving swiftly across to the main console in the room beside her own where she began to type rapidly. Outside, she could here calls of shock, before her secretary joined her, copying her ideas as they attempted to override the signal. There was a flash of light and the two paused, unable to continue as the screens darkened further and another skull appeared even on the separated network to the rest of the building.

AISE, Italy

Carlo Malfette growled and slammed his hand into the desk as he stared at the image floating across the screen. The skull laughed mockingly, and the knocking at his door did nothing to calm him temper.

"What?" He called out, watching as his deputy slipped into his office, and saw the image on his screen.

"It's across the whole building. Our main frames are fired, and we've lost everything."

"Damn it!"

MND, Switzerland

Fabian Cancellera stared out across the street that stood beside his house, ignoring the image that floated across his home computer screen. Through the window of the house opposite, he could see the same thing on an ordinary everyday TV, and he wondered just what the hell could have happened.

CNI, Spain

Marina Alabau watched as her boss walked in, seeing the turmoil that the IT division of the service was in. David Cal looked serious as he glanced at the power outage box, seeing the switches flicked to off, but the image still laughing on every screen in the room. He looked to Alabau, watching as she shook her head, face ashen as she realized the potential of the event against them.

NIS, Norway

Olaf Tufte glanced at Marius Nilsen as they strode towards the conference room, prepared to face the heads of internal departments to estimate the effects of the attack and try to limit the damage caused. In the minutes after the attack, every phone in the building had gone ballistic as calls from across the country came in to add to the turmoil.

GVMSI, Iceland

Alexander Petersson sighed with relief as the black screen vanished to a more comfortable one, one that had been anticipated for months. The white was stark and bright, but clean and promising after the dread that had been apparent. The small text gave him hope, and he clicked open the file, ready to do his own part in the mission.

FSB, Russia

Anastasia Davadova laughed cheerfully at the image that had preceded the skull. It was typical, and after having met the boy before, expected. It was amazing what a small action could do, and it inspired hope after so much silence. Albeit a little off the plan, but something that was needed, she recognized It would be a shame to loose him in the end.

(A/N) Argh! Such mystery and evil is afoot! Don't worry though! It looks like everything is going according to plan. Or is it?