Tony woke up again, already used to the comfort of the bed he had been placed in. This time he was alone, and the dull pain in his extremities had degenerated into an aching soreness. Stretching out his arms, he winced when his shoulders, elbows and wrists all responded with various cracks and pops.

DiNozzo sat up warily. He looked at the clock next to his bed- it said 12:00 pm, and the sunlight streaming through the open windows seemed to correlate. It was noon, but of what day?

The memory of his teammates' abduction sent chills down his spine once more. He hadn't seen a single one of their attackers' faces. How the hell were they going to find them?

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Tim entered carrying a tray of tea and toast. "Hey! Feeling better?"

"Much better."

"You look better too."

McGee looked like he wanted to say more as he put the tray on the bed next to his friend, but Tony didn't give him the chance to speak.

"How many days have I been asleep?"

"Days?" Tim grinned. "Try hours. You got here last night."

DiNozzo's eyebrows raised in surprise- he felt like he'd slept for days!

"So what are we going to do?" he asked. "How are we going to find Gibbs and Ziva?"

McGee frowned. "I've been thinking about that. We were going to take you to Venice so you could show us what happened exactly, but now I'm starting to think that you should stay here."

Tony looked up from his tea and tried to speak through his mouth full of toast. After a few seconds of outraged choking, he cleared his throat and began indignantly, "What, am I getting left here? By myself?"

"Well, no, Victoria or Apollo could stay with you..."

"No way. I'm coming with you."

Obviously, the senior agent was very unhappy with the idea of being left alone with either of the Clarks. Even without the fact that they were flightlings- they were practically strangers (not to mention the fact that only a week or two ago he would have considered them murderers and monsters).

Most importantly, there was no way in hell he was going to sit back and let Tim try to find Gibbs and Ziva by himself.

"You've never been to Venice before," Tony argued. "You'll get lost."

"It's hard to get lost when you can see the city from above," McGee said, smirking slightly. "And either Victoria or Apollo will come with me while the other stays with you. They won't hurt you, Tony. They won't even talk to you if you don't want. I'll be back by tomorrow morning."

"I'm coming," the older of the two stated.

"You're not strong enough," Tim insisted worriedly. "You're in no condition to come flying or even be out of bed."

"Just because I can't lift a car over my head or fly doesn't mean I'm not strong enough to find my team."

McGee inwardly flinched at the "my" in Tony's sentence instead of "our". He knew it wasn't DiNozzo's fault that Tim had exchanged agent life for flightling life. It was true, he wasn't part of the team anymore.

But he was still part of the family. And he protected his family...which was exactly why Tony wasn't going.

"How am I going to get my suitcase McGee? Ever thought of that?" he challenged.

"I'll pick it up from your hotel."

"You don't have a room key."

"It was in your wallet."

DiNozzo glared at his little leather wallet sitting on the dresser, out of his reach and very much in Tim's reach.

"Tim, you can't leave me here," Tony said, suddenly serious. McGee sighed.

"It would be better if you were 100% later rather than 50% now. You'll be no help in saving Ziva and Gibbs if you die from something as stupid as a maltreated concussion. You've hit your head too many times to take it lightly."

"You sound like my mother."

"That reminds me, there are clothes in these drawers. They should fit you." Tim turned away, signaling that the discussion was over. But DiNozzo wasn't done yet.

"McGee, if you leave me here, I'll just get a cab and meet you in Venice."

Tony hadn't used this degree of manipulation on Tim since the kid was a probie. And yet, it still worked.

The younger man turned around quickly to face Tony, fear, worry and determination on his face.

"I'll tie you to the bed."

"Isn't that more Abby's style?"

"We did date for a while if you remember."

"Gross. I didn't need to think about that."

McGee didn't share his friend's grin, but instead leaned into the bedpost at the end of the mattress. He lightly scratched into the finish of the dark mahogany with his nails.

"Look Tony, I'm worried about them. But I'm worried about you too. I can't risk your health- you can't fly at such an altitude or speed when you're so weak."

DiNozzo sighed.

"Tim, I know you don't want to go to Venice alone. You need me there. You might not be an agent anymore, but you know better than I do that we're better at solving cases like this when we work together."

It was Tim's turn to sigh, and he did so like a long-suffering parent. Tony was right...Tim wanted him there.

"Alright. But if you indicate that you're even the slightest bit too weak, I'm dropping you off at your hotel and leaving you there until I'm done."

Tony smiled his winning smile.

"That's good enough for me, Probie."

...

Victoria slid into her most comfortable pair of jeans and pulled her thick hair into a ponytail. The wind whipping at your face was a pleasant side effect to flight, but it was a pain to focus on aeronautics when your hair was in your mouth and eyes.

Carrying anything while in the air was a hassle, so she slid her wallet into her pocket, and nothing else. She didn't know how long they'd be in Venice, but she could always buy some clothes if need be. Satisfied with her appearance, Victoria went up to the roof, where Apollo was already waiting.

"Victoria? I thought you were staying here with Anthony," the oldest member of the Clark family said.

"Me? I thought you were staying!" she said in surprise. "By the way, where is Tim?"

"I'm here," McGee called, joining them. DiNozzo was right on his heels. "Tony's coming with us."

"What? How? Who's going to carry him?"

"I am, of course. I wasn't going to make either of you do it."

"Timothy, your friend is in no condition for the strain of long distance flight..."

"Trust me, I tried to explain it to him."

Tony had quickly become tired of being spoken of as if he weren't there, and interceded. "It was my decision. I'm helping you find my team."

Apollo and Victoria both shared a cautionary look with McGee, but let the matter drop.

The rooftop was too small for each flightling to spread their wings at the same time, so Apollo, being the oldest, went first. As he stepped to the ledge, his wings unfolded from his back, forcing Tim and Victoria to move out of the way. With a takeoff like that of a diver, Apollo was in the air, riding the wind currents up to a suitable height.

Victoria went next, choosing a running start. She didn't expand her wings until she had leapt off the roof, but quickly regained her lost altitude and moved to join Apollo, who was by now hovering far above them. Since she was still unable to master such a trick, Victoria was forced to circle around him several times, to wait for the two young men still on the roof.

Tony hadn't really seen either of the takeoffs, as he was too busy adjusting his weapons on his belt and buttoning up the windbreaker jacket that Tim insisted he wear. So, when he looked up, he was faced with a sight that still made his heart pound.

McGee turned around and stepped to the roof. With a roll of his shoulders, the feathered appendages sprang forth. Tim was still learning how to do this gracefully, which was evident when the edge of his left wing knocked over a flower pot. Ignoring the mistake, the young former-agent turned towards his friend, and awkwardly reached his arms out.

"I hadn't thought about this part," McGee admitted. "How would you prefer I carry you?"

"I'm riding...in your arms?" Tony asked. He had forgotten about this aspect as well.

"Well you're not riding on my back," Tim quipped. "Should I carry you under your arms, or...bridal style?"

"Uh...whatever's comfortable for you, I guess," DiNozzo said. It really didn't matter to him, but he didn't want to make a bad choice and have Tim accidentally drop him half way to Venice.

"You're the same size as me, so I don't think..." Tim's ears were tinged pink at the edges. "...I don't think bridal style will work."

"Under the arms then," Tony said, stretching his arms out. "You know, this reminds me of-" he was cut off as Tim, before he could change his mind, had grabbed him under the armpits and jumped off the roof.

DiNozzo didn't realize he had closed his eyes until they had reached Apollo and Victoria, who led them towards Venice.

When he did open his eyes, they immediately watered. He blinked at the warm summer breeze, and as the gripping terror left him, he couldn't help but smile.

The moon was waning crescent, forced to share its luminous duties with the stars and the city lights below.

Looking straight ahead, he could see Victoria and Apollo coasting, yet flying with a purpose. Looking down, he could see- no, no, he wasn't going to look straight down. That was a very bad idea, for while he was quickly adjusting to the shock of being up so high, he was not made for it the way his flightling companions were, and that knot that fills the human stomach at despicably high places was still present. He trusted McGee with his life, but felt the natural fear of falling.

"You sure you can make it all the way to Venice?" DiNozzo spoke for the first time since they'd taken off.

"You mean without dropping you?" Tim asked. "I'm sure. I can lift a refrigerator with one hand. You're not a problem."

"Show off," Tony muttered. McGee heard it, though his breathless laugh was lost to the wind.

They neared a thin patch of clouds, and as they passed through, the passenger of the two stuck his hand out to let the fog run through his fingers. They were strictly over water at this point, and the faded sound of crashing waves only added to the feeling of solitude and freedom. The night sky was less inky black than it was various shades of dark blue and purple.

Looking up to his left and right, Tony could see Tim's wings work and then go still as they manipulated the air around them. Though he hardly considered himself a man of science, Tony did have a degree in physical education, and knew quite a bit about muscles and bone structure. He found himself watching the muscle groups work under the feathered surface, and wondered how much power and force they could exert or withstand. He considered asking McGee (surely the Probie, who was a man of science, had already tested the possibilities) but quickly forgot the question for the time, as he spotted Venice in the distance.

The flight only took about twenty minutes in total, though it had seemed to last all night. They landed boldly on an open street that, at this time of night, was empty. The weather had not changed since Tony left Venice not two days before. The fog was still ridiculously thick, and only the old street lamps and the lights from various windows gave Tony vision. The water in the little canal reflected the light all too eerily; here, it could have been 1897 or 2097. There seemed to be a timelessness to the world that not even the flightlings' angelic appearances could contest.

"There's no time to lose," Apollo said. "Now where was it that you were attacked?"

"Not far from our hotel," DiNozzo answered as he gave them the location.

They found the exact spot in little time. Tony didn't see well enough in the dark to notice, but Tim couldn't help but wince- there was still the slightest bit of blood in the cracks between the stones.

"And you're sure you didn't see their faces?" Victoria asked.

"Positive. But I got a look at a couple pairs of dark wings."

"Well," Apollo began. There was really no gentle way to say this, that he could think of. "If they had been intending to kill either of them, they would have done it right here, in the alley. And they would have killed you, too."

Neither Tony nor McGee minded the graphic nature of the discussion. It sounded like crime scene analysis to them, and that forced them to think logically and calmly.

"So there's hope," Apollo said. "Why don't we go to the hotel and have a late night snack. I have a phone call I need to make."

To the annoyance of the hotel cafe workers, who were hoping to close for the night, DiNozzo and McGee each ordered some coffee and waited for Apollo to return from his call. Victoria had volunteered to fly meet some friends and gather information.

"Any news?" Tim asked as Apollo sat down at their table.

"Yes, though I don't know if that's a good thing. I called Simon, since he's usually privy to flightling activity in the area. As it turns out, a several young men have gone missing from Venice. And a few women too. All locals. All of them flightlings. Except for one, named Andrew Holland. But his grandmother was a flightling."

"Why would flightlings be going missing?" Tim asked.

"I don't know. The only explanation I can think of is the actions of some very overzealous hunters," Apollo said, looking at Tony.

"No, it's not any hunters. Nobody reported being out here."

"It's not hunters," Victoria interjected, entering and sitting in between Apollo and Tim at the circular table. "These men and women are all young people between the ages of twenty and thirty. And they're leaving their homes and their families of their own free will. A friend of mine's boyfriend just broke up with her, saying he had found a 'new purpose' or something to that effect. But he came back a few days later and tried to convince her to go with him. He frightened her, and she said no. She hasn't seen him since."

"Convinced her to go where?" Tony asked.

"Apparently, he didn't say."

"But what would that have to do with Agent David and Agent Gibbs being taken?" Apollo wondered aloud.

This had given Tim an idea. He hated bringing such a sensitive subject up, but he needed to know...

"Apollo. When you spent time with the D'Amicos...Thaddeus D'Amico and his family...you said they no longer existed...what happened to them?"

"They were killed shortly after I left them," Apollo said. "Hunters came and cleared them out. One of the few instances of flightling hunting with definite positive effects, I'd say."

"But...did you see...without your own eyes...did you see them killed? Did you see any of them when they were dead?"

"No, but several friends of mine did. Their house was rifled through afterwards, humans and flightlings alike went looking for souvenirs from the mansion. Flightlings got there first. They found bodies. It was all over the news, I'm afraid. Thank god the local flightling population was able to hide the wings before any reporters were on the scene..."

"Who lives in the house now?"

"I don't know. I could ask Simon..."

"No need. I think we'd better check it out."

"Wait, Tim," Victoria interrupted. "Maybe we should ask around first. If there are any unfriendly characters there, we should know beforehand."

"Where are you going with this idea, Timothy?" Apollo asked.

"Nowhere. I just think that if that house was the sight of flightling activities before, it might be now."

"You're right," Tony said. "I've got a gut feeling about it."

...

Gibbs hadn't slept a wink, despite his exhaustion.

Ziva's pacing was driving him crazy, but he didn't say so. After some discussion with the man in the next cell over, Andrew, they'd learned very little about their captors.

They'd lost complete track of time since they'd arrived, but based on the cracks of light through the walls they knew it had been at least a day.

They wondered if Tony was alright, or if he was lying in that alley, cut off from help or medical aid..if he had been found...if his body had been found.

Jethro pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind again. He could be thinking like that. He was just about to tell Ziva to sit down when the door at the end of the cavernous cell block opened. Ziva froze and whipped around to look at him. Gibbs stood to face whatever they were about to meet.

"We need more than three. Get on that tonight," a commanding voice ordered.

"Yes sir," someone said.

The two NCIS agents could hear footsteps approaching, and finally a groups of dark figures appeared in front of their cell bars.

The man who had ordered for more prisoners opened the cell and stepped in, his face finally visible from the little bit of moonlight they had.

He was tall and young, not much older than Tony, but there was something so frightening about him. His black wings folded neatly behind him, but they were enormous- even while folded, they took up a great deal of space. However, they were neither soft nor lush the way McGee's were. They were black as night- the two hunters didn't know that a flightling's wings could be so black. And they were brittle, too. Gibbs knew that the sheer force of those wings could most likely snap him in half, but it looked as though he could do the same thing to them.

Ziva was much more concerned with the man's face. He was stunningly handsome, but there was something so inherently ugly and frightening about him- as if his features, which looked strong and almost royal, were a thin mask covering all the evil in the world. The ex-Mossad agent had never given it much thought, but it suddenly occurred to her that this was what Death looked like: beautiful and strong, powerful, and attractive, and perhaps even confident, wise and all-knowing. But also mysterious, terrifying, consuming, and hellishly destructive. A void.

The man looked the two agents up and down appraisingly. They stood frozen, knowing that if they even tried to attack him, they'd be more than killed but rather destroyed. The specter nodded in approval and turned to his minions on the other side of the bars. "These two are perfect. More like them."

"Yes Thaddeus."

Thaddeus D'Amico turned to Ziva and practically purred. "A pity this one has to be used. Such a waste." He leaned towards her with a gruesome and somehow star-striking smile. As he neared, his eyes zeroed in on the two necklaces she wore. He practically ignored her Star of David, but quickly noticed the Clark family symbol.

"I know this crest," he said, holding the charm in his hand for closer inspection. Ziva chilled at the contact as if ice water had been poured into her nervous system.

The evil creature smiled again, but this time, it was a self-satisfied sneer. "Keep a close watch on these two. They'll prove to be quite the catch."