Mostly Harmless

Chapter 1

Tim made it to his desk with barely a minute to spare and let out a small sigh of relief. He had fallen asleep out in the park and awoke as the night sky had begun to lighten to grey, slightly stiff and sore from his less-than-comfortable sleeping place and cold and damp from the early morning dew that had settled over him. A quick glance at his watch had told him he didn't have time to go home, so he had taken advantage of the gym showers once he reached NCIS, glad that he had remembered to re-stock his "go bag" recently. After hastening through his usual morning routine—minus his morning coffee—he rushed upstairs ready to start the day, albeit a bit rumpled.

Tony, not one to miss an opportunity to comment when something was amiss, turned toward Tim with an almost predatory gleam in his eye as the younger man dropped into his chair.

"Rough night, McGee?"

Tim took a steadying breath and plastered on a calm yet disinterested expression.

"No, it was fine. Slept surprisingly well."

"And where was that, McGee? Not at your apartment—we stopped by to check on you."

Tim groaned inwardly, annoyed at their terrible timing. "Just because I didn't answer the door—"

"Your car was not there, either," Ziva added, showing concern rather than the amusement her partner displayed. "Did something happen to it?"

"No, nothing happened." Tim glanced up at his teammates and decided that this time an edited version of the truth would probably give him the least amount of trouble. "I decided to go for a drive, and since it was such a clear night last night I decided to do a little star-gazing. I fell asleep out in the park. End of story." Tim saw a flash of confusion in Tony's eyes before the other man grinned.

"Only you, McGee." He returned to his desk and started to work on his computer, and soon Ziva did the same. The group was quite for a few moments before Tony broke the relative silence.

"See anything interesting while you were out there?"

"Just the stars, Tony. They're interesting enough." An inexplicable twinge of homesickness hit him and Tony immediately noticed the slight pause.

"You're hiding something, Probie. Does that mean you did see something? A UFO, maybe? Oh, I know!" Tony's grin grew wider. "You were abducted by aliens, but they brought you back 'cause they feared the wrath of Gibbs."

"They're not the ones who should," growled the lead agent as he strode into the bullpen and Tony ducked instinctively, eliciting a smirk from Ziva. "Grab your gear. Dead Marine in Capitol Heights." The team scrambled to follow Gibbs to the elevator and Tim let out a soft sigh of relief. Hopefully the case would be enough of distraction to steer Tony away from his personal life once again.

XXX

Metro was on the scene when they arrived and the team followed Gibbs as he went to confront the detective in charge.

"What do we got, Sportelli?"

"Glad this is one of yours instead, Gibbs. You people seem to attract the weird ones." Gibbs sent the man one of his patented glares and Sportelli chuckled. "Patrol officers found the body early this morning in that alley back there. Our techs ran his prints: Marine Sergeant Aloysius Gannon. His vehicle is still parked next to the alley," he added as he pointed to a black PT Cruiser with a Virginia license plate. "He's stationed at Quantico."

"So what's 'weird' about this one?" asked Gibbs.

"Wait until you see the body. At any rate, it's all yours." Sportelli nodded to his officers and they moved aside to allow Gibbs' team entrance to the alley, surprisingly clear of trash and other debris. The body was lying on its back just a few feet from the entrance and Ducky immediately knelt down next to the prone form. He let out a small gasp of surprise when he bent to examine the wound, and the rest of the team drew closer.

"What is it, Duck?"

Ducky continued to examine the area around the wound and carefully touched the edge with one gloved hand before he turned to Gibbs. "I must admit, Jethro, I've never seen anything quite like this." Gibbs leaned over Ducky's shoulder and took a closer look at the surprisingly bloodless damage.

"Does that-?"

Ducky carefully rolled the body on its side to examine the back. "It goes all the way through, and the edges appear to have been instantly cauterized."

"No blood at all," muttered Palmer. "That's…"

"Freaky," finished Tony. "Maybe it was your aliens, McGee." He turned to the junior agent and was surprised by the look on the younger man's face. "What's wrong?"

Tim jumped slightly and shook his head. "Sorry, I… That's definitely weird. The lack of blood, I mean. Do you think this was a dumpsite? He was killed somewhere else and that's why there's no blood?"

"Weren't you listening? The guy didn't bleed at all. That's the weird part. I'm with Ducky. I've never seen anything like this, either. What do you think, Boss?"

"I think we need to process the scene. McGee, shoot and sketch. Ziva, bag and tag. DiNozzo, start tracking down Gannon's platoon, find out who saw him last."

"On it, Boss."

Tim moved away from the body, thankful for the excuse to do so. He had managed to cover his shock fairly well, but he suspected Gibbs' hadn't been fooled, but at least he had time to come up with a better story. That was not, however, his biggest concern. Ducky may not have seen a wound like that before, but he had, and the significance of its presence had sent a cold stab of dread into his heart.

Something was out there looking for him. Why now, and why here, he wasn't completely sure, but one thing was certain. He had to find it, and fast, before it found him.

XXX

The rest of the morning was spent searching the scene and doing the neighborhood canvas. A bartender from the bar down the street from where Gannon was found said that he had seen the Marine leave the bar with his two buddies after last call, and had called a cab before the trio had left. A search of local cab companies revealed that Gannon's companions had been picked up and returned to their respective residences, and the driver declared that they'd barely been capable of walking when they were dropped off. The bartender also told the team that he had seen Gannon's car still parked where it had been found when he was closing up, and had believed that Gannon was sleeping off a night of drinking when the bartender left the area. There were no other witnesses to the events that had taken place in the wee hours of the morning and no working security cameras that covered the area, much to the chagrin of the team.

The scene search revealed very little evidence, and no trace of Gannon's attacker. Abby voiced her frustration to Tim but he was secretly relieved. It made his job easier, since he wouldn't have to dodge awkward questions that would most certainly have arisen if what had killed Gannon had left any evidence of its presence.

On the way back to NCIS, Tim sent a quick text message to Penny, using a code they had established many years ago, which he knew she would understand: get Sarah and get out of the area as soon as possible. He was grateful that this was one thing she would argue with him over, and could only hope that Sarah would cooperate. He didn't want to have to worry about his family while he was hunting the unwelcome visitor.

Tim went through the motions of investigating, doing background searches on Gannon himself, as well as helping Abby search for an implement that could have caused the damage to the Marine. After a more thorough examination, Ducky had admitted that the weapon could have been a sharp metal object that had been heated enough to create the effect, although he had found no traces of metal in the wound itself. Unfortunately that further complicated the question of how Gannon had wound up in the alley in the first place. They started treating it as secondary crime scene, but there were still no indications of where Gannon could have been taken prior to being dumped in the alley, or how he had been removed from the scene and returned.

Tim tried to make himself as unobtrusive as possible as he followed Gibbs' barked orders and watched the tension levels climb when each new search or file accesses ultimately led to a dead end. Finally, when it became apparent that there was nothing else they could do that night, Gibbs sent them all home with the order to be back in the office by 0600. When he was certain the others had gone, Tim made his way down to autopsy to get a better look at the damage done to Gannon.

The cold room was silent, and Tim carefully opened the drawer enough to see the wound in the man's chest. He held his hand over it, measuring the diameter of the hole, as that bit of information would tell him something about who, or what, had wielded the weapon.

"What are you doing?"

Tim looked up and saw Palmer standing in the doorway. The agent bit back a curse and quickly withdrew his hand.

"Nothing, Palmer. I just came down for another look. We're still trying to figure out what caused this and I thought I might get a few more ideas for a search."

"Tony thinks it was a ray gun or something," Palmer said with thinly disguised enthusiasm. "Maybe a new secret weapon…or aliens."

"Tony watches too many movies," Tim muttered.

"True," Palmer replied with a grin. "Besides, why would aliens just kill a single Marine? You'd think they'd go for a bigger target."

Unless they were only after a specific target. "I really have no idea. What are you still doing here, anyway?" Tim asked, trying to get the younger man off on another tangent.

"Oh, I was studying. It's pretty quiet here. Makes it easier to concentrate. What are you doing here? I though Agent Gibbs sent everyone home?"

"He did. I was on my way out and decided to take a detour. You know, get an idea where to start tomorrow."

"Makes sense. I was just getting ready to head out myself. Come on, I'll walk out with you."

Tim really didn't want to waste any more time before starting his search, but it didn't look like he had much choice in order to avoid suspicion.

"All right, let's go."

Both men walked out to the parking lot and headed for their respective cars. Tim was almost to his vehicle when he heard a startled exclamation from Palmer.

"McGee, look out!"

Tim spun and instinctively ducked as a beam of energy shot towards him. He rolled and swept one leg out at the dark shape approaching, knocking it to the ground before it could fire again. A bolt of pain shot through his leg as it connected with the attacker but he clenched his teeth and threw himself on top of it, pinning it momentarily before it started to buck wildly. His hands scrambled across its surface as he searched for its weak spot. Finally, just as he feared it would gain the upper hand again, he found the spot he was seeking, grabbed the small ring of metal as hard as he could and yanked. He felt his attacker grow still beneath him and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What in the hell?"

Tim looked up to see Palmer standing a few yards away, looking more freaked than Tim had ever seen him. Great…

"What…what is that?"

Tim rolled off the attacker and got to his feet as he stared down at the thing sent to destroy him. It looked human on the outside, but the mass of wires the Tim had pulled free destroyed that illusion. "I really don't think you want to know."

Palmer looked up at Tim, then back down at Tim's attacker, repeating the movement twice before a stubborn expression appeared on his face. "Yeah, I think I do. What is that thing? Why did it go after you, and…how did you know how to stop…it." Tim saw realization dawn on Palmer's face as the younger man's eyes widened. "Did that…was that what killed…?"

"Sergeant Gannon? Probably, but I have no idea why. It shouldn't have fired at anything other than its target."

"You?" Tim nodded. "But why?"

"That's a long story," Tim muttered and was surprised to hear a nearly hysterical laugh.

"I think I'm used to those by now."

"Yeah, good point." Tim glanced around, surprised that no one had come to see what the commotion was about, and noticed the lights on the security cameras were out. That would explain it. He wasn't ready to explain his secret to anyone, let alone the Autopsy Gremlin, but the current situation had limited his options.

"Listen, Jimmy, I'll tell you what I can, but first," he pointed to the thing at his feet. "I have to get this out of here. I don't have much time." Much to Tim's surprise, Palmer merely nodded and bent down to lift the feet of the attacker. Tim recovered quickly and grabbed the arms as the two of them dragged it over to his Porsche. He popped the trunk and they managed to get it inside and shut the lid.

"Now what?" Jimmy asked, looking for all the world like he was having the time of his life.

"I need to take it back to the alley. I'm pretty sure that's where it came through."

"Came through from where?" Jimmy's eyebrows shot up. "Wait, did this come from the future? Like Terminator?"

Tim groaned. "No. Look, I'll explain later, but—"

"Got it. Well, what are we waiting for?" Jimmy hurried to the passenger side and climbed in. Tim paused for a moment, not sure what he was getting himself into. Finally he climbed in the driver's seat and carefully drove out of the Yard. As he made his way back to the alley, he decided that things could be worse. At least Palmer wouldn't make too many movie references along the way.

He hoped.

TBC…

One more chapter to go.