Lying flat on his belly, G squinted at the underside of his car. Sam was crouching besides him, head cocked far to the side to try and catch a glance too. "Anything?"

"I think the muffler's loose", a groan. "Shit. Don't know whether it'll stay on until I get to a garage."

His co-worker sat back on his heels, frowning. "We got some tools and tie wire here. Maybe we could jury-rig something up so your muffler doesn't fall off?"

G hummed. "Yeah. Would be best idea. But, ah..." He glanced at the compound-owned garage. "Think we can use the vehicle hoist?"

"Vehicle hoist's occupied." A new voice pointed out and both men craned their heads around to identify the newcomer. Sam huffed out. "Hey, James. Occupied?"

Heller shrugged. "Yeah. We got a wreckage on it. Some idiot wrapped themselves around a tree."

G sighed. "And I don't think my muffler's going to stay where it is when I try to drive off the lot." He threw a particular nasty glare at the giant pot-hole in the middle of the way. "Gotta fix it and make sure I don't lose it on the way."

Heller just cocked an eyebrow. "And that's what you need the vehicle hoist for." He nodded. "Got it. Watch your heads." Then he walked to the side of the car, bent down, and picked it up like it weighed nothing.

Sam and G both blinked. "Man", the senior eventually grit out. "I'll never get used to you havin' Superpowers now."

"What are you saying? I had them since before I started working here."

"But you forget to tell us. That would have been a nice warning. Like, you could have mentioned in passing that you can throw around train cars and can turn into sharp things and fight giant monsters on a regular basis."

"New Marais's been a bit of an exception", Heller claimed. "Also, was literally the first time in two years I've done anything like that."

G furrowed his brows. "Still"

Sam jogged towards them, clenching some wire and tools in his hands. "And we showed him what we thought about his secrecy. Remember?"

"I certainly remember", Heller claimed. "It hurt."

G snorted and started wrapping his muffler. "C'mon. We threw shoes at you. And Kensi's heels or not, you took monster claws to the face and shrugged it off."

"It hurt inside". The Evolved mimed wiping away a tear. "I trusted you. And you pelted me with footwear."

"Uh-huh", Sam focused on trying to tie his end of the wire to a bolt. "Got any plans for the weekend?"

"Maybe get Ragland and Maya and go to the beach, or drive out for a picnic. Not sure yet. Why, you got another idea?"

"Ask whether you'd like to come around to have a barbecue?"

Heller grinned. "You know what you're getting yourself into, yeah?"

"I know. I'm moderately positive we can find us a moose or whatever it is you want barbecued."

"Appreciate it" The Evolved cut himself off at the sound of his phone ringing. With a casual shift to prop one half of the weight up on his shoulder, he freed his other hand to draw his phone from its holster on his belt. He frowned briefly as the ID told him it was his boss.

"Hetty?"

"Ah, James. If you're done dead-lifting Mr Callen's vehicle, please come to my office."

"What for?" He paused. "Shit, did this hypocrite woman finally get you to hand me over to these governmental dumbasses?"

Hetty chuckled. "No. Don't worry about Augustine, she doesn't have any kind of power over me. I do have a job for you, though."

He relaxed slightly. "Yeah. Okay. I'll be in soon." He shut his phone off, blinked, and glared at G, who stopped fixing his muffler and stood several steps away from the car to take a picture. The agent grinned and headed back to him, showing him the picture he'd taken- of him casually balancing a car on his shoulders and speaking on the phone.

"I'll send this to the others", G told him with a wide smile on his face. "Maybe call it 'Hard Working Co-Worker', or something. What do you think?"

Heller stared at him deadpan. "I think that I am fully capable of throwing this car at your face."

"Asheville?" He cocked one eyebrow, mulling over what his boss just opened with.

"Buncombe County, North Carolina" She clarified. "You'd be landing at Asheville Regional Airport and drive the last few miles to the city. The local Military Base is in need of us."

Heller frowned. "The DC branch and the New Orleans branch are both closer."

"And both are still reeling from the tragedy that was the Beast", Hetty explained. "Plus, the victim's one of ours. Went to Asheville to train the new conscripts. Now he's dead. Reports claim it's been an accident, but we still need to investigate." She spread her hands in front of her. "It is of utmost importance that we'll respond as quickly as possible. Tomorrow, or the day after that would be best."

He leaned back, eying the report in front of him. "What you're asking would mean I'd have to drop everything here and flit over to spend several days in North Carolina."

"That is the gist of it, yes." Hetty steepled her fingers. "Now, I know you are a busy man, James. Young Amaya will need you. However, I also know that you haven't had a real field mission since New Marais, and I thought that a change of pace might do you some good. Hence the offer."

Heller furrowed his brows. It was true- ever since that whole mess with Bertrand's Corrupted and the Beast, during which he- all of them, really- had been filmed and photographed exhaustively, the internal affair's been on his ass from the moment he returned to active duty. Likely to make sure the 'Conduit' (he wasn't one, but nobody needed to know that one) wouldn't turn on them.

Not something Heller ever entertained of doing, but after the first couple of weeks, it had gotten boring quick, until he got annoyed to a level he very nearly went on to quit his job and move to New Marais to hide out there. Maya and Ragland had talked him out of it, and his tail then began loosing up too.

And finally getting out of the city to just do things on his own, even if just for a few days, was tempting.

"By plane?"

"Your ticket's already waiting for you, and your papers will get you through all controls. No matter what Augustine thinks will be necessary." She took a sip from her tea. "Of course, if you think you aren't ready for this, I will assign Mr. Henna or Mr. Callen to head over."

Heller shook his head. "I'll do it. Like you said, could do me some good to finally get out on my own again."

"Wonderful", Hetty clapped her hands. "I'm quite confident that Mr. Henna would like to look after young Amaya too, for the time you're gone."

Heller nodded. "I'll talk to her in the evening, and get her ready for a few days."

Hetty smiled. "Don't worry. I doubt you'll have any sort of troubles with the assignment."

The air was crisp, and in shadowy ditches was still snow left. Heller huffed out, watching his breath float away in the shape of small clouds as he surveyed the area. He now understood why he preferred using military flights- there were no screaming babies on board (Maya had never been that loud), and it didn't take so long to get his luggage. Plus, there would be far less people who kept whispering behind his back. He grimaced briefly- Hetty had managed to get him through the checks with little scrutiny, but apparently the collective memories of people worked for longer than he thought. One and a half year obviously weren't enough to make the population forget his face, and he'd been subjected to more than one demand to be photographed with whoever spotted him.

Luckily, his glare still worked, so he managed to get past the crowds easily enough and quickly found himself outside on the frigid sidewalk. Spring was still struggling to establish itself this year, so he flipped the collar of his parka up to fend the cold off as he glanced around for his ride.
Eventually, he spotted a military truck further down the sidewalk, and he noticed the sign that said 'NCIS' that a bundled-up bored-looking soldier was holding up. Heller furrowed his brows- he was pretty sure he recognized that face, though much of his old life had been muddied up through the Hivemind.

Sometimes, he couldn't remember what his parent's face looked like, found them replaced for faces he was damn sure weren't theirs.

With a snort and a brief shake of his head to avoid going down that particular road, he moved closer, and the moment he got close enough for normal humans to spot details, the soldier suddenly stiffened and dropped the cigarette from his mouth in surprise.

"Sarge?!"

Heller paused, cocked his head, and finally recognition set in. "Corporal Frosty", he returned.

The man snorted, grinning. "It's 'Captain' Frosty now, Sarge."

"Congratulations" The Evolved moved close enough for the other man to grab his hand and pull him into a brief one-armed hug, letting go again almost immediately and beaming at him. Heller grinned back. "You got into any trouble when I fucked off without telling anybody?"

"Nah", the other waved him off. "They believed us when we told them we had nothing to do with that."

"And what about suddenly being without a sergeant?"

The Marine shrugged. "McCain promoted Hall."

"Good on her" Heller nodded. He took his luggage and shoved it into the backseat, then got in on the co-driver side. His driver backed out and started making his way out of the airport. Once they were on the freeway, Heller finally glanced at his previous subordinate. "How's it going, Andrew?"

"Better now", the other commented. "We've been in deep shit when you left, but then we heard about the kind of Hell that's been going down in Manhattan, so I can't really complain." He eyed his ex-superior. "Hope it was worth it, though."

Heller sighed. "Colette didn't make it", he admitted mournfully.

"Shit, man"

"Was too late. But I could save Maya. And I killed everybody who was responsible."

"Thought it were zombies back there?"

"Yeah, but the zombie virus came from our side", Heller informed him. "Had been created originally as a weapon to be used in 'nam. It only grew worse from that point on."

Andrew snorted. "I know. I've seen those Whistleblower documents too. Fuck, could somebody please stop our government from killing its own people?"

"You're asking too much of our government", Heller pointed out. "Without my boss throwing around her weight I wouldn't have gotten off the ground in LA. Assholes think I'm too much of a loose cannon."

"So you're really NCIS now?"

"Yeah", he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry for not contacting any of you. Saying that a lot of shit happened is just an excuse. I've been an asshole on that front."

"No hard feelings there, Sarge. Honestly, none of us figured you'd walk outta Manhattan alive. And then everything else just kept happening." He eyed the other man. "So, about not getting out of LA, that true what was on TV? You one of these X-Men now?"

Heller snorted amused. Years back, he would have denied. Now- well, no use crying over spilt milk, right? He relented easily. "Basically"

"So it really was you that beat up that giant Monster over in New Marais?"

"I didn't fight it. I just jumped around like an idiot to distract it. Wasn't much I could actually do against the big guy."

"No? Thought you guys could throw lightning and fire."

"Nah. I can just grow pointy things and throw stuff. Drew the short stick on that front."

Andrew only grinned. "Still, it'll be awesome to have you at the base. Bet the team would just love to see you again."

"They're still around?"

"Blackwell's there, Hall's there, Johnson, Jones, Duke, Shugi, Decker", the other paused. "Also the major. Uh, maybe you should try to stay off his radar. The thing with you going AWOL didn't sit right with him. And no matter how much your boss smoothed things over with him, he's probably still going to try to rip off your head."

Heller only waved him off. "Bigger and meaner things than the major have tried."

"Can imagine that one, if whatever went down in New Marais is anything to go by."

Heller couldn't help but grimace awkwardly. "Manhattan's been a lot worse. New Marais was, with the exception of the Beast, a walk in the park compared to that. Didn't even get chewed on."

Frosty didn't fumble, but there was a short twitch in his jaw and the subtle whitening of his knuckles that was his version of a wide-eyed stare and a yanked-around wheel. "Jesus, you gotta tell us a bunch of stories if we have time- I mean, that giant bug monster wasn't as bad? The Hell, man, what went down in Manhattan?"

The Evolved grit his teeth briefly, forcing the bones beneath his skin to stop shifting. Too late to stop his claws from breaking through his skin, but not too late to reverse it. "Manhattan's dead. That went down."

His driver grimaced, but didn't look at the scales that were creeping up his arms. "Sorry Sarge, that was insensitive."

Heller huffed out, flapping his hand a bit to get some feeling back into it. "It's alright. Truth is, Manhattan's fucked me up just as much as it did the rest of the US. But I don't have the sense to lay down and just take it."

"Looks that way." Andrew nodded towards his arms. "You ever use that during your work?"

"Got no reason to, and we're living in a time when flashing those might cause more problems than two years ago." He snorted once. "So I hope you've gotten a good look, 'cause that was likely the only time you'll ever see it."

Frosty set his jaw again, and Heller cocked his head. "You don't think so, do you?"

"I don't, Sarge", the Captain replied. "This thing- something's fishy."

Huh. "You'll know more than I do. Hetty just told me it was an accident."

A scoff. "Must've been a freak accident then, Sarge."

Heller didn't ask, confident he'd be getting the answer soon enough. Not to mention it seemed as if Frosty was just as confused as he felt. So he shut up and watched the city as they drove through it. Asheville was on the larger side, with dozens of new constructions being erected. According to his current guide that was because millions of displaced inhabitants were now looking for a new home away from the ravaged East Coast, and several thousand had eventually found their way here. "Lots of folks moving in and out of the city", Andrew had told him when he first spotted his glance, "And lots of companies settling down, too."

It was nice to see life re-establish itself and starting to grow instead of being torn to shreds while screaming. It also filled him with dread, because in his experience shit was already on its way to the fan if things looked too good.

He shuddered briefly at the sound of Mercer's low chuckle inside his head. Whether he just imagined it, or whether the Runner was always listening to his thoughts, he didn't know. He just furrowed his brows and thought very hard "Stop invading my privacy, you scrawny son of a bitch." Just to be on the secure side.

He didn't know whether it actually accomplished something, but it put his mind to ease. And since Andrew wasn't saying anything else, he was free to watch the city as they drove past. The countless construction sides littering the streets forced them to use an insufferable amount of by-pass roads so Heller quickly lost his orientation. Screw this, this was why he preferred the rooftops.

Eventually, they left the city limits and headed towards their destination: A medium-sized compound with some buildings, vehicles of all kinds, a large concrete area in the back, and several people in uniforms.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Heller frowned briefly at the feeling of something off, but that vanished quickly. Nothing serious, he figured. He cleared his throat and glanced at his current guide. "Okay, now what? You gonna take me to the body, the crime scene, or some place I can stay at? Super powers or not, I still need to sleep every now and then."

Frosty grinned, and quickly waved one of the Rookies over. One short introduction later the young man took Heller towards the barracks while the other went to inform his superior. The room he'd been assigned to was likely one for the upper brass- desk, bed and an own bathroom. There was also a sizable jutty just in front of his window, which added a few points to his current dwellings, in his opinion.

He dropped his utility bag, went towards the bathroom to refresh himself (planes were gross), called his daughter to give her a short sit-rep, and grabbed his kit to head back downstairs and out of the building. Frosty was there to receive him- though he wasn't alone. Heller swallowed briefly, then straightened his back and set his face into a blank expression. Major McCain stood in front of him, looking even more grizzled than he remembered him from his days in the army.

And here he thought getting promoted to base commander in the home land would ease things up, but apparently McCain never got the memo. Well, the old him would have been somewhat scared, the new him had already faced down scarier and as such, wasn't impressed.

Still, he crossed his arms behind his back. "Sir"

McCain scoffed once. "You're not on my squad anymore. At ease." He shook his head. "NCIS now, boy?"

"Yes"

"Well, guess this whole mess had one positive result." The major exhaled and ran his hand down his face. "When Harrison told me just who got sent here, I instantly rang up Hetty. I don't know whether she knew, but I'm glad to see your damn mug again."

"Sir?"

"You've always been the most stubborn asshole back on the squad. The most stubborn asshole that didn't let go of a mission until the job was done correctly. And we'll need this here."

Heller glanced at the captain, then towards the major. "Frosty said something of the sorts. I know I was supposed to investigate an accidental death, but I assume that was just the code for 'I got no fucking clue', right?"

"Got that one right", the major snorted. "Now, I know I'm the base commander and I'm supposed to do a ton of other shit, but one of the guys under my command got himself killed in one of the most violent ways I have ever seen, and I want to nail whoever's responsible." He gestured towards one of the smaller buildings at the edge of the compound. "So I want to be in there with you if you start examining the body, and I'd like to hear your opinion on the whole matter."

"Because", Harrison added, "We are at our wit's end, and you probably have some experience on the weird-death-front, right? Since you're friends with conduits and all."

Heller frowned. "You think it's the work of a conduit?"

"Don't know what else it could be."

The medical wing was a short, two-story flat roof building. McCain was leading the way as they walked through the main entrance, startling a nearby nurse. The doctor, summoned by her aide's yell, merely raised an eyebrow at the major.

"Major McCain, if this is about the body, you know we can't do anything until the official-"

"That's why I'm here", the major cut her off, "I got your official right here."

The moment Heller came into view, the doctor froze. Like, full-body lockdown froze. Just for a second, because it broke the moment McCain was continuing with his introductions, and she more or less jerked around to focus on him. The major didn't seem to notice anything, since he was already walking towards a set of stairs leading down.

Frosty certainly did, and he glanced at Heller with a confused expression. The Evolved glanced back, feeling equally off the kilter. He was pretty certain he'd never seen that woman before in his life, and still, she seemed familiar? "Who's that?" He whispered.

"Doctor Moore", his companion replied in an equally hushed tone. "Technically, she's the base doctor here, keeps us idiots in one piece. She's also our coroner in cases we don't want to go through the local channels."

"This case being one of those?"

"Yeah."

Heller hummed. "Okay."

Frosty just arched an eyebrow. "What, no question why she's looking like she's gonna faint?"

"I'm a conduit. Not much love left for us at the moment." He shrugged. "I get it."

McCain had meanwhile managed to drag the doc into his conversation. She willingly relayed whatever information she had managed to acquire after the initial autopsy, and her tenseness had vanished by the time the group walked into the morgue below the main building. It was cooler down here, if not as cold as outside, and six stainless steel lockers sat on the far wall.

The doc went towards the lower left one, and pulled it open in a cloud of mist. For a split second, Heller actually expected agent Kuo to appear out of nowhere, but he shook his head with a short snort. She was in New Marais, and busy keeping all the other conduits in line. The icy mist was just that, icy mist from a cooler designed to store bodies.

The tray slid soundlessly from the hatch as the doctor pulled it out, revealing a sheet-covered body. She flipped the cover around his head off, and Heller hissed through his teeth. The doctor flinched slightly, though he decided to ignore it. "Chris Morrison", he said simply. He remembered the man, bubbly and energetic, excited about his new teaching position when he left their base. "Ah, shit. What happened?"

Harrison tilted his head, brows furrowing. "When we noticed he was missing, we went on to search for him. Eventually found him inside a storage room. That was around...two in the morning."

The doctor cleared her throat. "At that time he'd been dead at least six hours. Twelve at most." She grimaced briefly. "Lots of factors can change the way the body changes after death, especially things like loss of fluids", she explained. "Which is why I can't give you a closer estimation."

"Loss of fluids?" Heller perked up at those words- and immediately noticed Frosty and McCain cringe back slightly. Which meant massive loss of blood. And he knew how anything between one and six liters looked like if spread across every surface.

McCain cleared his throat. "Doc, if you would?"

The woman grabbed the sheet covering the body, inhaled once, and pulled it back. Heller's eyebrows shot up. "That...is a big hole." Wasn't the worst he'd seen, but it was definitely one of the more devastating injuries.

It was a gaping injury larger than his fist (a little smaller than his Hammerfists, though) smack in the middle of Morrison's ribcage. The edges showed clear signs of having been torn open, and the ribs had been spontaneously cut off. The sternum had been punched clean through.

Beyond the grisly opening, he could see heart and lungs, seemingly in good shape.

"Okay", he glanced at doctor Moore. "I'm going out on a limb and guess he didn't get himself blown up or impaled on something."

She seemed a bit surprised by him talking to her, but caught herself quickly when his words settled in. "No", she agreed. "No scorch marks anywhere on the body, no explosion. And Impalement would mean that the wound edges are pointing inwards, but those point into the opposite direction."

His eyes narrowed instantly. "It came from inside his chest?"

"Apparently" Doctor Moore went on to grab something from a nearby tray, and Heller quickly recognized it as a single rib. "But that's not the only strange thing I discovered. First off", she grabbed the bone with both hands and just bent it. But- that shouldn't be possible, because bones would break before they'd bend.

Frosty's eyes nearly fell out of his head as he voiced exactly what Heller was thinking. "Uh, doc? Bones shouldn't do that, right?"

"Exactly. Unless they've been dunked into acid that would have removed the calcium. I can however confirm that this is a bone from Corporal Morrison, and I haven't tampered with it any further than me removing it."

Heller snorted. "Dissolving the calcium from bones needs days, and that should have left traces, no?"

"That's just it", and for once the doc seemed to be frustrated by something else than his presence. "I have examined him three days before his death as standard health check. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's why we figured something else is going on", McCain threw in, expression grim. He glanced at Heller. "When I asked for the NCIS to send somebody, all I wanted was to get somebody who knows his way around conduits. And they sent me you."

"Conduits, sir?"

"Correct. The Shit-show that was New Marais, you had giant bugs, right?"

Heller blinked. "There were. Used to be human until they became Corrupted." He furrowed his brows. "But- these things rarely killed. They needed live humans to bolster their ranks. The only things that actively killed humans were those big things, and if one of those was around, we wouldn't have much in the ways of a body, 'cuz they would just swallow a guy whole."

Doctor Moore hissed through her teeth, and shook her head. "We have to assume that we have a similar case here. Predation through an unknown creature."

That got his attention, and the Evolved turned to face the doctor fully. "Predation?"

She grimaced, and lifted the bone for him to see. On the frayed end were several barely discernible scratches. "Initially, I thought these were stress fractures, but with the bone unable to fracture as of now, I came to the conclusion that it were teeth marks. On the inside of the thorax. Something ate its way out of Chris Morrison's chest."

Author: We need more Prototype content that captures Alex's Alex-ness. Screw that, we need more Prototype content in general (as long it isn't Idiot Main Character becomes the Prototype, or self-inserts, or gay pairings).

Now, this may start like a NCIS crossover, but it's really an Alien Crossover.

I promise to try to upload every week, but I also started school again, hoping to become a carpenter. Meaning, I will probably have problems getting chapters ready on time, so just that you know.

Now, enjoy!