Chapter 6

Hearing returned first. He wasn't happy about that. It was too loud. The alarm appeared to be gone, but still, it was too loud. He tried to take stock of his current situation. He was lying on the floor. He could feel the coolness of the bare floor under his cheek. What more could he figure out without moving?

I think I'm breathing. That's an improvement.

So he hadn't died. That was good, too. Then, he thought he could hear something other than the sound of the computers.

Voices.

Legion!

Tim opened his eyes and sat up, looking around for the next test. His head started spinning a bit with the quick motion.

He couldn't see anyone.

The glass panels were gone. Everything looked normal.

He was on the floor by the computer station. He was breathing heavily, but he was breathing. Had he made it in time? Had he succeeded? Did they get out? Had they been able to get free? Obviously, he was alive, but what about the others?

He could still hear voices, though. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he could hear them. He just couldn't see anyone.

"Am I hallucinating?" he whispered.

He got onto his hands and knees and then pushed himself to very shaky feet. He wasn't sure he could actually walk. So instead of trying, he leaned against one of the racks and kept breathing deeply, trying to get as much oxygen into his body as he could. He'd been starved of it far too much recently.

"McGee!"

That couldn't be Legion. Legion didn't know his name. Or at least Legion had never used his name, but the roar of the computers distorted the voices and he couldn't discern who it was. And Legion had never failed to make itself heard. So it must be a person.

Still, Tim wasn't sure he could shout back. That would take too much effort. Instead, he just stood where he was, trying to get enough energy that, by the time he could see another human being, he would be able walk and not look like a wimp.

"McGee!"

The voice was louder now. Closer.

He still couldn't say anything.

"McGee!"

Then, he saw Gibbs, Dr. Kosir, Tony and Kate. They were alive. He hadn't failed. He was so relieved that his knees went weak and he sagged against the rack of computers. He hated that he was doing that, but he hadn't managed to get his energy back yet and just the sense of relief sapped him of his meager reserves.

"You're alive," he said, breathlessly.

"Of course we are," Tony said. "No way would we let a computer kill us off."

"You were the one freaking out about it, DiNozzo," Kate said. "We started to feel it a bit, getting a little breathless, but it was a big enough space that we were okay. ...once Gibbs told Tony to stop talking."

"Hey!"

"And then, suddenly, the glass panel retracted and the air rushed in and we could breathe normally. It was weird, like nothing had happened at all," Kate finished.

Dr. Kosir ignored them all, ran to the computer station and started typing furiously, while Gibbs, Tony and Kate walked over to Tim.

"You all right, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah," Tim said. "I'm great. Perfect. Stupendous. Amazing. And...other stuff..."

Tony laughed. "Somehow, I don't believe you, Probie."

Kate leaned over. "What's this?" she asked, picking up something from the floor and holding it out for them to see.

Gibbs looked at it and then, weirdly, tilted his head to the side and looked down.

"What happened, McGee?"

"Huh?" Tim asked.

Gibbs pointed down at Tim's feet. Tim felt his brow furrowing in confusion as he looked at Gibbs. After a moment, he followed Gibbs' finger down to the floor...or rather down to his feet.

The back of his right shoe and sock were missing and there was a bloody scrape on his heel. Not deep by any means, but that glass panel had been more dangerous than he had thought. If he had been a little slower...

"Huh," Tim said, unable to think of anything else to say.

"You all right?"

"Just... getting my... my breath back... Boss," Tim said.

The eyebrow raise. Tim hated the eyebrow raise. It asked the worst questions without Gibbs saying a single word. In fact, you were more likely to answer questions Gibbs hadn't actually meant to ask just in a desperate attempt to answer the questions he was asking.

"Why are you wet, McGee?" Kate asked suddenly, feeling his suit jacket. "Did you go swimming in here?"

"Or is that sweat?" Tony asked. "Maybe you need to hit the gym."

Tim was relieved when Gibbs looked away from him to glare at Tony. After a moment, Gibbs looked back at Tim, but again, he was interrupted, this time by Dr. Kosir.

"There. Gone," Dr. Kosir said.

"What?" Tim asked, gladly looking away from Gibbs' eagle eye.

Dr. Kosir turned around. "I deleted Legion's entire protection program. We have copies of it elsewhere and we can find out what went wrong, but it's no longer in Legion's system. I told them that it wasn't ready yet, but they wanted a trial run and it seemed to be working fine. I was beginning to think that I was wrong, but I was worried that we might have missed something important. Looks like we did. I wish that Petty Officer Annexstad hadn't had to pay the price of that. He was only the messenger. It wasn't his fault."

"Messenger?" Tony asked.

It was as if he'd lost any concern about speaking to them. Dr. Kosir answered right away.

"It was the Navy that was pushing to do the first tests. They were hoping for a defense program that could keep anyone out of any secure area, something that could adapt to circumstances. It would take a supercomputer to do that."

"It... definitely adapted," Tim said softly.

Gibbs looked at him again and the eyebrow went up again.

"Agent McGee, would it be possible to have you recount what you encountered in here? It would be invaluable to know what Legion did and how the systems we already had in place were adapted."

"Later," Gibbs said, sternly.

"Of course. There's no rush," Dr. Kosir said instantly. "We won't be putting this back on line for a long time."

"Yeah," Tony muttered. "I would think your computer committing murder would be something that might cause a delay."

"Let's go. We still need to finish up and get back," Gibbs said. "We'll be in touch, Dr. Kosir."

"Of course, Agent Gibbs. I hate to say this, given the circumstances, but all of this is still Top Secret. The details of Legion can't be discussed outside of this building."

Gibbs turned his glare on Dr. Kosir and then gestured for them to follow him. Now was the dreaded moment. Tim wasn't sure he could walk yet. He really didn't feel like he had the energy for it. He was exhausted.

The others started to leave, but Tim stood where he was. He didn't want to try walking. Maybe they'd just not notice he wasn't moving and he could get his breath back and then catch up. But, no. They stopped and looked back. Kate now looked overtly concerned.

"Tim?" she asked.

Uh-oh. First name. Better get moving. He straightened and took a step.

Only one. His knees buckled and he was genuinely impressed by how quickly Gibbs was back there, catching him before he fell to the floor.

"Sorry, Boss. I really am okay. I'm just tired."

"Don't apologize."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to," Tim said.

"Tim, what happened?" Kate asked.

"Lots of things. I'm fine," Tim said again.

But while he was embarrassed by having his boss carry him along, Tim was grateful for the support because he was really feeling lightheaded for some reason.

The walk out of the supercomputer went by in a bit of a blur as far as Tim was concerned. He just tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. But they got out a lot faster than he had gone in. It was a distinct relief when the door closed behind them, muffling the sound of the CPUs. In fact, Tim let out a sigh. He'd never felt like his ears had been harmed by noise like that before. He wanted to be where it was completely silent. No talking, no humming, nothing. Just quiet.

They didn't say much of anything as they walked back down the hall toward the elevator. It seemed like a long time since he'd last been there. The further away they got from Legion, the better as far as Tim was concerned. It got quieter and quieter and that meant his ears could start to recover from the noise. They went through the decon, removed the shoes and gathered up their own. They didn't bother putting them on. They just carried them onto the elevator.

When the elevator started to rise, Tim felt himself sagging a little in Gibbs' grip and tried to straighten. He was still a little embarrassed that he couldn't seem to make himself walk. Gibbs didn't say anything (big surprise). He just shifted his grip slightly. Tim wondered if he'd be in trouble for this later.

The elevator doors opened and Ducky and Jimmy were both right there, looking very concerned.

"Oh, dear," Ducky said. "Timothy, whatever happened?"

Gibbs lugged Tim off the elevator and sat him down on a chair.

"Check him out, Duck. Does he need to go to the hospital?"

"I... I'm sure I'm fine," Tim said. "I'm just tired."

"Duck?"

"Stay seated, Timothy," Ducky said sternly as Tim started to pretend he could stand up on his own. "I don't have any tools here for working on the living, but I can at least take your pulse. So sit still and be quiet."

Tim swallowed and did as he was told. Ducky measured his pulse and then looked at him with disconcerting intensity.

"Timothy, your heart rate is very high and you seemed flushed. What happened?"

"I... I... just... had to... do some... some tests. The... the computer set them."

"While I'm sure being tested is not relaxing, your heart rate is just shy of tachycardic. And I find it hard to believe that a simple test would be sufficient to raise your heart rate that much."

Tim wasn't sure why he was reluctant to say just what had happened, but he really didn't want to talk about it with everyone staring at him. He really felt worried about being judged by what had happened. He didn't look up at the others, but Ducky didn't look away from him and there was an interesting expression on his face, one that Tim couldn't decipher.

"I think perhaps questions and details can wait. While you do seem to be all right, Timothy, I would be happier if you were thoroughly evaluated at a hospital. Better safe than sorry."

"Who tried to come down?" Tim asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Ducky asked.

"The alarms. Legion said there was a breach."

"What alarms?" Kate asked.

"How could you miss them?" Tim asked. "They bored into my brain."

"There wasn't an alarm by us," Kate said.

"You sure that wasn't you making the computer mad, Probie?" Tony asked. "After all, you were the one trying to get back there."

"I wasn't moving when the alarm sounded," Tim said softly. "It wasn't me. I thought that... that... either you must have... needed to get out, th-that you were desperate and and and just tried to break the wall down... or... or... someone tried to come down. The alarm was so loud."

"The alarm must have only been where you were, Agent McGee," Dr. Kosir said. "In protective mode, Legion can set off the alarms. I wouldn't have expected them to be confined to one spot, but Legion does have that capacity. I've never seen it used, but I can see how it could happen."

That must have been the last test, Tim realized. The test was whether or not he could manage to get through with the sirens blaring, the demands for verifying his identity, culminating in his final nearly fatal experience. All those thoughts passed through his mind, but his verbal response was much less eloquent.

"Oh."

"Enough talking," Ducky said. "I think you should been seen by a doctor, Timothy, and I'm sure you'll need some time to rest, regardless. Jethro?"

Gibbs must have nodded. Tim found himself just kind of staring into the middle distance until someone took him by the arm and lifted him up. Tim stumbled a little as he started walking again.

"Sorry. I'm tired," he said.

Whoever was supporting him at the moment didn't reply.

Must not be Gibbs. He'd tell me not to apologize. I guess it's Tony.

That much decided, Tim didn't bother looking up from the floor. If Tony wasn't talking, he wasn't going to do anything to change that. Instead, he chose to watch where he was putting each foot so that he didn't embarrass himself. If there were silent conversations happening around him, he didn't care. They were silent. And that was really nice.

Before he knew it, he was out of the building. He sighed with relief again.

"Done with computers, Probie?"

Yep. It was Tony.

"Maybe for today," Tim said.

"Figures." There was a pause. "But hey, glad you were there. I'm sure I couldn't have done the computer tests."

Tim looked at Tony in surprise. A genuine compliment? Tony glanced at him and grinned.

"Don't get used to that, Probie."

Tim found himself smiling back a little bit. "Wouldn't dare."

Then, they were at the car and Tim was being lowered into the car. It took a moment, but he suddenly realized he was in the front seat. He never got the front seat when the team was together. He wished he felt better so that he could appreciate it. As it was, he put on his seatbelt, leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes.

Thank goodness it was over.