This whole situation was clearly one big misunderstanding, and it's surprising. None of the five individuals involved had a blood lust or aggressive tendencies. In fact, they all tried to avoid violence in every situation. Somehow, though, a fight quickly broke out in the back alley between the Clarks and Team Gibbs, with almost no words spoken to start off with.

Apollo's wings came out, and he engaged Gibbs in a sort of dance; diving and lunging, an occasional hit, then more circling, diving, and lunging. While he was occupied with Gibbs, Ziva tried to take the flightling by surprise, and Apollo ended up fighting both agents at once.

Victoria, in an attempt to draw one or two of the agents away from her father figure, turned and ran into the darkness.

Tony watched as Victoria ran down the alleyway. Knowing that Ziva was busy helping Gibbs, he made the decision to chase the young woman alone.

As many new hunters are, he was too cocky to think that Victoria would be easy to handle.

Without waiting to let Ziva or Gibbs know where he was going, Tony dashed after Victoria, passing under the stone arch and moving farther into the alley. He splashed through a puddle and turned the corner, leading to a dead end. A high wall blocked his path, though Victoria was nowhere to be seen.

DiNozzo looked around, then glanced up. Though the night was clear and the moon shone bright, the shadows were heavy.

A dark form breezed past Tony, its force throwing him against the wall of this courtyard. A nauseating pop resounded in his ear as his shoulder dislocated; he bit back a cry of pain, and his gun flew out of his hand.

A light thud echoed against the walls as Victoria landed in a crouch. She had hitched up her dress slightly, but was unable to protect her hair, which was beginning to frizz up in the humidity. As she rose, her wings unfolded and stretched out to their full span.

It was the most breathtaking and horrifying thing Tony had ever seen. If he hadn't spent three months in training to fight this creature, he'd have sworn he was dying and that an angel was coming to collect him. He wouldn't dare move from his slumped position against the wall.

She didn't say a word, but instead picked up his gun. After testing it in her hands, Victoria realized she wouldn't be able to break it by herself. DiNozzo believed she was going to shoot him, but she had no intention of hurting him further.

The flightling raised the gun, and slammed it against the wall. It made a slight crunch, weakening. She yanked the magazine out of the gun and poured the bullets onto the ground. With one arm, Victoria tossed it over the wall, out of reach.

She turned to the man in front of her and regarded him sadly.

She almost told him he was lucky that he had picked her to hunt, and not some more vicious, unforgiving person...But from the look of horror and disgust in his eyes, she doubted he'd believe her.

Victoria gave Tony one last glance, before sighing and turning away. She extended her wings up and out, ready to take off. As she did, Tony used all the strength in his good arm to inch up the wall and into a standing position.

With one strong flap, Victoria was in the air, but not for long. Ignoring the pain shooting through his arm and shoulder, he used all of his strength to pull her back down. She fell and hit the ground with a gasp, the wind knocked out of her. Though she was stronger than Tony, she was smaller and lighter. It was easy to pull her up and roughly shove the gasping young woman up against the wall. In the span of maybe two seconds, DiNozzo had pinned the girl against the alley, grabbed hold of one of her wayward wings, and held it against the stones. Taking a large serrated knife out of his belt, the agent stabbed downwards as hard as he could, tearing through the wing and embedding itself several inches into the stucco wall.

Agony shot through Victoria's wing and up and down her spine. Tears springing to her eyes, the flightling choked out a weak but desperate scream.

...

Tim's head snapped up as he heard his surrogate sister scream. From his position on the roof he had easy access to any alley bordering the building. He had tried his hardest to ignore the sounds of shuffles, the rustling of wings, and the thuds that accompanied punches- trying his hardest to follow Apollo's orders. But he knew that Victoria was the one who screamed, and it frightened him to hear so much pain contained in one sound. He had to help her.

Following the noise, he came to the edge of the roof, and peeked down into a sort of courtyard- three walls and an outlet into the rest of the narrow alleyway. Up against the wall was Victoria, pinned by a knife, her face twisted up in anguish. A male hunter faced her, his back to Tim, ready to stab her.

McGee used his wings to smoothly glide down into the court, grabbing Tony around the waist and pinning his arms to his sides. This further upset the hunter's shoulder, causing him to hiss in pain. Tim shoved his captive into the corner, where he wisely stayed down.

With a deep breath, McGee came back to his senses. Approaching Victoria, he put his hand on her shoulder and gently shushed her gasps. "It's ok, you're alright. Look at me, Victoria."

Red rimmed sapphire eyes found his emerald ones, and the young woman whispered. "Please, Tim. Get it out. It hurts so much. Please."

"Ok," Timothy said again, trying to keep her calm. "Don't watch."

If she saw the knife and the blood, she might panic. Tony displayed great skill in this strategy, placing the weapon in a spot that made it impossible to move without worsening the injury. If she reached around to remove it herself, Victoria might have torn her wings further. Struggling against it would have the same disastrous results.

Victoria obediently shut her eyes and turned her head away as Tim carefully gripped the hilt of the blade.

"Ready?"

She bit her lip and nodded.

With one tug, McGee was able to remove the knife from the wall and the wing. Free at last, Victoria swayed. Tim held her up, and she looked up at him.

"Thank you," she said, hugging her brother. Tim returned the hug, then let go as she stepped back. "Can you make it?"

"I can't fly at the moment," she said. "But I can walk."

With that, the two flightlings turned to the corner, where Tony was pressing himself into the shadows, watching the exchange.

DiNozzo looked at his situation carefully. There was no way he could scale the wall on a good day, much less with a dislocated shoulder. He had his flame gun, but his two opponents would tear his head off before he ignited it. They were blocking his path to the alley. It was over.

Tony sighed, his heart aching. This hunt was the reason he trained, all in preparation to avenge his best friend, and he couldn't handle it. He was going to be killed the same way his partner was killed- by monsters. He had failed; he couldn't protect himself. Sorry Tim, DiNozzo thought sullenly. I tried.

Speaking aloud for the first time, he said to the flightlings, "kill me quickly, you bastards."

Tim looked at Victoria, who shook her head. No, neither of them had any intention of taking a life tonight. "Come out of the shadows," Tim ordered, knife ready just in case this was a trick.

After a beat, Tony did as he was told, leaving the shadow to stand in a small patch of moonlight, finally facing McGee.

Tim's wings stretched up in surprise. How did this man look so familiar...?

Suddenly, he knew. Everything came at him in full force, hitting him like a wall of ice cold freezing water. He remembered everything.

Images flashed through his mind. Of his father, his mother. Of Sarah, of his life as a navy kid. Getting his high school diploma. MIT. His first girlfriend. His old car. His dog. Everything came at him, and soon his most important memories surfaced. He was Timothy McGee. He lived in Silver Springs, Maryland. He had a life in America. A job. He was an NCIS agent. He solved crimes. His team -his family- consisted of Ducky, of Jimmy, of Abby, of Ziva, Tony, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

All of this came at him at once, as if all the synapses in his brain had fired at the same time. Indeed, he might have been seizing for all he knew. He could feel himself shaking, his wings quivering. Tim went pale and his breathing labored. All this in the span of five seconds.

"You alright?" Victoria asked him, inching closer. DiNozzo just blinked at them, not knowing what was about to happen.

Tim silently nodded, turning to the man in front of him.

"Tony," he said quietly, smiling slightly from sheer happiness. "It's me."

DiNozzo blinked once again in confusion. "Who-" he began, but as he looked into the emerald eyes of the younger man in front of him, he knew exactly who it was.

"Tim?" he gasped, eyes widening. McGee nodded, smiling. Victoria watched them in confusion.

"McGee? You're alive?" Tony affirmed, and once again Tim nodded, stepping forward to hug his friend. But as he reached out, DiNozzo shied away. "You're one of them?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but...wait," Tim frowned. "You're a hunter? Why? Since when?"

"Since you died," Tony said. "You died, Tim. We saw you. You stopped breathing. That thing-" he snapped, gesturing to Victoria. "And her friend got to you before we could."

"That thing," Tim said forcefully, "saved my life. They're my family."

Victoria's eyes sparkled with delight to hear Tim call her and Apollo his family, but she let them continue in silence.

"She almost tried to kill me!" DiNozzo said. "McGee, she dislocated my shoulder."

"In self defense!" Tim said before Victoria could intervene. "Why were you hunting her in the first place?"

"Because she's dangerous! She's a freak-"

Tim wasn't sure if he was more hurt or angry. Tony saw his mistake and tried to back peddle. "I mean-"

"She is a freak," McGee said. "But so am I." His wings stretched out to full span for emphasis. His eyes darkened in warning. "But we didn't come to your house to kill you."

"Oh right," DiNozzo shot back forcefully. "You just invited a bunch of soul-suckers into your house. No big deal-"

"Enough!" Tim said, his wings flapping in anger. His command echoed of the walls of the alley. Tony recoiled slightly. "What have they done to you, Tim?" he asked.

"Given me a second chance," Tim answered. "They saved my life."

"Saved it? You aren't Tim McGee anymore. You're a monster."

It was McGee's turn to recoil. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Victoria grimace and wince. 'Monster' isn't a word one uses lightly.

Tim picked up Victoria, as she was unable to fly. "Maybe I am," he said, and with a few powerful flaps, they were on the roof, leaving DiNozzo alone. He stood that way for five minutes, in silence, when Gibbs and Ziva finally found him.

"Did she hurt you?" Ziva asked, inspecting Tony's shoulder.

"I'll live."

"Did you get a look at the son?" Gibbs asked after making sure his own kid was alright.

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And," Tony said dully, looking at his boss. "You're not gonna believe who it is."